Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines and Johnny Depp: Defending the West Memphis Three

If they did it they belong in jail if not then let them go.

The West Memphis 3 were found guilty and lost every appeal. Echols (one of the 3) was seen in muddy clothes near the crime scene. He bragged about the murder to two other teenagers, stating he killed the three boys. This was presented as evidence at the trial. Echols also had a history of psychiatric treatment. His reported actions included brutally killing a dog, starting fires at his school, threatening to kill his teachers and parents and stating he liked to drink blood. Baldwin (another of the 3) confessed to a friend and described the crime to this friend. This evidence was presented at trial. Fibers on the murdered victims’ clothing were found to microscopically similar to things in the Baldwin and Echols homes. The DNA evidence does not link the stepfather to the crime. Hair fragments could have been on one of the boys through simple contact long before the crime. West Memphis 3 confession, physical evidence http://bit.ly/cOT2ft

The infamous Salem Witch hunts of 1692 set forth a proclamation that any human accused or having looks out of the normal socities standards were prime candidates for witchcraft. Wherein this time it was the work of 4 adolesants girls that made accusations against numerous peoples of the community and surrounding areas ranging into the high hundreds. Once these accusations were made the subjects were then arrested and "questioned" rigorously about their involvements in such practices. Even for those who were not interested in what was going on around them, were looked upon with disdain great absurdism if they did not comply with their societies beliefs, so undoubtedly they joined the hunt. (300 years later it lives again) If I were just a few years older at the time of these murders I, unquestionably, would have been brought in and interrogated for the crimes. Fortunately for me I was 13. On the other hand my next door neighbor Jason Baldwin, my life long friend Jessie Misskelley and my neighborhood Depesh mode/INXS listening buddy Damien Echoles were taken instead. The ignorance still exists today. So many people are fighting for a cause they have no idea about, not in the slightest. Your books your films your celebrities are misleading the entire situation to the point that there is no just cause. The grave notion that "oh well Hollywood has taken a stand for these 3 people so we should too" is exactly what got us here in the first place. Believing in false adversity and public retribution is the misguided morals the put 3 lives out of the notion of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The entire country was focused on the profiling of guilt. Now everyone is chanting "FREE THE WM3" and "LET THE GO" ..how can everyone so easily forget that that is not the song you were singing in 1993. In those times it was "I HOPE THEY BURN IN HELL" and "LAKESHORE IS FULL OF DEVIL WORSHIPERS THEY ALL NEED TO BE THROWN IN JAIL" The ones who did speak out against it were subject to harassments, threats and foul mistreatments from authorities down to the public. The parents of both the victims and suspects crossed paths every day. This is not a huge city. The malice that was put on the parents of the suspects was pure torture. The community practically screamed at them for raising devil worshiping killers. Everyone out there saying "let have fundraisers, lets have protests" HELLO.. where the hell have you been?? We've been doing that for almost 20yrs now. Those who ask my opinion I reply simply in that you are not worthy of my opinion. Go watch MSNBC and Court TV and be lead like sheep. I find it very odd that the people with the lesser knowledge seem to be heard higher than that of individuals who were actually present. Do you really believe parents and relatives of these 3 suspects were even in the slightest amount capable of securing any form of justice? Not one of the made more than 13-17,000 a year. We lived in less shelter than your average garage. It sickens me how maniacal people are even to this day. You solicite this rhetoric of justice and purity yet when it comes down to it you cowar behind your 150K homes and donate 24 cents a day to Haiti when that money was earned from the blood of the innocent.

"THESE MEN NEED ANOTHER TRIAL....SEEMS 2 ME, THERE HAS BEEN ENOUGH EVIDENCE 2 WARRANT ONE...I WOULD HATE 2 THINK THAT THEY R AFRAID...INSTEAD OF "CORRECTING" A MISTAKE..THEY INTEND ON "HIDING" ONE!"

"...As part of a job (reporter) I went to many prisons and listened to many prisoners. None were guilty (out of some 25,000 I had contact with over the years and in many different prisons). All were abused by guards. All were unfairly convicted. All confessions were coersed..." -cambier lingua. _ It would be hard for me to imagine anything more horrible than innocent persons being tried, convicted, and sentenced, sometimes to death. _ we cannot allow ourselves to become cynical and turn a blind eye to such claims. _ Even one such miscarriage of justice would be too many, the sad fact is that it happens far too often.

This is another sick side of justice. LET THEM GO!!! Thanks to all the known singers and muscians they may have a way out. Many have gone to prison or been killed and didn't even do anything, but they (the cops) wanted to be big and find the killers (wrong!)

I live in West Memphis and well remember the terror felt by any with children after this horrible crime. If indeed there is something to be found by DNA evidence, after 17 years, I would think it reasonable to give them a retrial. All evidence shown in court was not reported in the media, so I don't know if they have sufficient swabs or other evidence to prove it. However, for this community to realize that for 17 years a killer has walked free, it would be agonizing. If they are indeed innocent, then how after all these years could the actual murderer be found?

Maines stated that " we are.................." Who is we? This Patti Smith claims that she saw an arch angel in a dream etc and this is supposed to be? I havent heard about any of this people expressing concern about the Rancher who was shot on U.S soil in Arizona. I havent heard any of these people expressing concern about the Sheriffs deputy that was recently ambushed or the two State troopers that were shot and killed in Alaska over the weekend. I have to agree with another poster regarding putting on shackles in Prison to tight. I have also wotked with Prisoners and when the Police woujld bring them in off the Strret or on a return trip from the Hospital many prisoners would complain about their handcuffs to be too tight. Another person would alwayts check by putting two fingers between their wrist and the cuffs. They were never too tight etc.

I am very disappointed that Vedder feels the modern world should have no ties to Christianity. I guess God and decent values are soooo yesterday!

i lived in memphis during the time this tragedy happened. i also thought that an adult had done this terrible thing. now that dna is available they deserve the right to have that dna tested. let's be fair about it. the one who confessed is not all there mentally, the other just a restless kid wearing black clothes and listens to loud music, and the other, i never heard a word about him. let's just see if the dna does not changed things for these men(now) if it were you in their situation you would want testing done as well.