The West Memphis Three are Free!

Parent Cafe
1

<p>It seems so sudden. Yesterday there was the unheralded announcement of a hearing to be held today, and then the three were moved from prisons to a county jail with their belongings, and today they are free men.</p>

<p>I just don’t quite understand why they had to change their pleas from not guilty to guilty in order to be freed. They all maintain that they are innocent (which I believe). Was this just the quickest way to get them out of prison for all concerned? It doesn’t seem as though the state’s attorneys had any problem with this, so I assume the guilty pleas are just a legal maneuver to free them immediately without the need for a new trial.</p>

<p>Any insights?</p>

2

<p>

</p>

<p>Looks like they pled “guilty” in return for time served. Who is to say what would have happened at the retrial? I suspect that the prosecutor gets assurance that they won’t be sued with this plea.</p>

3

<p>so I assume the guilty pleas are just a legal maneuver to free them immediately without the need for a new trial.</p>

<p>That is what I heard.</p>

<p>An aside, my online friends contemplated a drinking game- take a drink every time it was mentioned " Eddie Vedder * formerly* :wink: of Pearl Jam, was there"</p>

4

<p>They entered Alford Pleas,which means they maintain they are innocent, but acknowledge that it appears that they prosecution has enough evidence to convict them.</p>

5

<p>An Alford plea is a rarely used agreement that recognizes the imperfection in the legal system and allows there to be some measure of justice in a case. The defendants plead to the charges, but maintain their innocence. It is similar to a sentence commutation in many ways. The plea deal does not preclude new evidence of their innocence from being presented to authorities leading to a full pardon. The agreement does not include any parole and it completely removes the death sentence. There are some stipulations that the men must not commit a felony during a certain period following the deal or they could be returned to prison.
<a href=“http://www.freewestmemphis3.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=266:the-west-memphis-three-are-free&catid=37:press-releases&Itemid=83[/url]”>http://www.freewestmemphis3.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=266:the-west-memphis-three-are-free&catid=37:press-releases&Itemid=83&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>That sounds pretty reasonable. I’ve read that there was some evidence suggesting that one or more of them was guilty (things they said aside from one’s controversial confession, a knife found in the possession of one that was consistent with wounds on the victims), but the new DNA evidence obviously trumped those.</p>

<p>Now I wonder if they will get any compensation from the state of Arkansas for the time they spent in prison. Probably not, unless they manage to conclusively prove their innocence. I read that they are still planning to try.</p>

7

<p>probably not as they “pled guilty” using something that says the prosecutors had enough to convict… therefore it wasnt a wrongful conviction.</p>

8

<p>Why did Misskelley confess to the murders and implicate the others as well?</p>

9

<p>NYT reported that Miskelley has an IQ of 70, and I think the argument is that he was easily influenced to say whatever the police wanted.</p>

10

<p>Yet another case that illustrates why the death penalty is simply unacceptable.</p>

11

<p>And wasn’t Miskelley also only 17 at the time of his arrest? It wouldn’t be hard to manipulate a 17 y/o disabled kid into confessing.</p>

<p>I remember this crime well. My heart broke for the parents of the victims. We were discussing this at work today - you feel your children will be safe if they’re riding bikes with other kids. Is there any word on re-opening the investigation, given the DNA evidence?</p>

12

<p>One victims father commented outside of the courtroom today that he was convinced they were innocent, another commented that the state was releasing murderers.</p>

13

<p>The only foreign DNA at the scene was from a hair that was “consistent with” (not a 100% match for) the stepfather of one of the victims, but the hair was found in the rope binding one of the other kids, not the stepson. That is the only physical evidence of any kind that implicates anyone at all.</p>