Emotions run high among parents of slain Arkansas boys

Cnn ^ | August 20, 2011 11:08 a.m. EDT | the CNN Wire Staff

[redreno]

Jonesboro, Arkansas (CNN) -- Crazy.

That is the word John Mark Byers, whose stepson Christopher was among three second-graders killed in West Memphis, Arkansas in May 1993, repeatedly used to describe Friday's release of three men convicted in the boys' murders from a Craighead County Courthouse in Jonesboro.

It is a sentiment shared by Steven Branch Sr., whose son Steven also was slain -- but for entirely different reasons.

[navysealdad]

zero

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

What was the evidence against them?

Bascially a spoon-fed confession by one of the kids, who has an IQ of 78. The cops spent 12 hours giving him details, telling him he could go home if he said he did it.

The lead juror also lied to get on the jury so that he could convict, based on what he'd read in the papers, and was talking to the prosecutors during the trial, telling them what they had to do to get a conviction.

[dforest]

I watched a show on ID channel about this case. There were people they had much more on than these boys.

I concluded they were probablt innocent and wrongly convicted.

Juries can sometimes get it wrong as is evidenced by the Casey Anthony jury.

[GOPsterinMA]

Yes and yes.

Also, nice non-run by Rusty in WI.

[Impy]

This must the “Arkansas three” I heard about on a promo for the nightly news, I forgot to see what it was about.

If they’re indeed innocent, poor guys.

Seems like what every defendant on every episode of “Law and Order” says is true, sometimes the government just wants a conviction, whether they’re guilty or not is an afterthought.