off-topic: wm3

[SilentRealm]

i discovered the story of this in a magazine i bought last night, and after reading it, i was horrified with this.

It's about 3 young men convicted of murdering 3 little kids (one is on death row), despite the complete lack of evidence (in fact all the evidence that could clear them was conveniently 'lost'), for what reason seems merely to be because the main guy convicted was a fan of metal and wore concert t-shirts.

so i checked out the website also. www.wm3.org, and thought I'd ask everyones opinions on this story and have you heard of it before?

 

[Yngvai X]

Yep, I remember seeing a very good documentary on it (that I would watch again if I had the chance). The soundtrack was all old metallica songs from MoP (possibly some other albums too) - funny thing btw, metallica let them use the music for free.

It is a shame and just shows how horrible some parts of this country are. I wonder if other countries also have areas of inbred ignorant savages or if we're the only ones

 

[scanner313]

I saw the HBO documentary on this case as well. And from what I recall there was some evidence linking these "kids" to the murders. The problem the one kid (Damien Echols, I think that was his name) had was he acted like it was no big deal. He gave the impression that he wasn't scared and had no worry about being convicted. It made him seem arrogant as if he was trying to defy the prosecutors. It made him look guilty, whether he was or not.

I thought the most interesting thing about this case was the fact that this kid Damien answered some questions that favored the prosecution. In a backroom scene his lawyer asked him why he answered that way and he said "I was kind of zoning out up there. I wasn't really paying attention" (or something like that) and he was laughing about it. His lawyer just looked at him and said something like "Well, it's only your life we're talking about here. I guess that's not important enough to stay awake?" in a disgusted voice. It was just amazing how this kid is being accused and tried for a murder he says he didn't commit, yet he doesn't even care that he is helping th prosecution make their case because he's bored. If that was me, and I had nothing to do with it, I'd be nervous as hell on that stand. I sure as hell wouldn't be falling asleep or day dreaming.

The other kid he was tried with didn't seem the type to kill anyone, but he was so quiet and frail he might have just gone along with this Damien kid, who seemed like the type who might try something like this. He claimed to be into Wicka, yet he had all sorts of black magic symbols on his drawings and in his writings. Not to say this makes him a murderer of course, as anyone who listened to Iron Maiden or Slayer as a teenager (as I did) could be accused of being a murderer. But his defense was really weak.

Honestly, I wasn't there, and I don't know that they killed those kids, but from what I saw in the documentary I can't say they didn't do it either. That Damien kid definitely has the demeanor and personality you would associate with a sociopath. He just didn't care at all what was going on.

I'll tell you the one thing I thought was really shitty about the defense: They tried to make the one kids step father a possible suspect inorder to raise doubt in the jury's mind. They actually accused this guy (in so many words) of being the one who killed the kids because he had a brain tumor. I thought that was pretty low.

Anyway, Silent, you should see if you could get a hold of that documentary. It is a pretty good portrayal of the events and I think it would make you question this a little more. Like I said, I don't know if these kids really did this, but I can't say for sure that they didn't either. I saw their website and wasn't convinced of their innocence.

 

[SilentRealm]

i went looking at every site i could find on the subject after that, trying to find any possible evidence that would in fact link the teenagers to it, and the only evidence there was, was fibre's that could 'possibly' be from a shirt, but could also 'possibly' be found on many other items you can buy in any store. what convicted them was testimonies from people who mostly later admitted to lying about, and the so called 'confession' from the boy with the 72 IQ who didnt even have the details of the murder right, after hours of illegal interrogation and coersing from the police.

you cant say just because of his demeanour that he must be guilty, people can act strangely when theyre in shock. and we all know teenagers can act like shitheads when theyre feeling defensive, it doesnt make them capable of murder (especially such a horrible one).

The reason i brought this topic up here is because everyone here is into metal, maybe a few people into wiccan, its outrageous that you can be railroaded for a crime based on your interests, even though they have no relevence to the case (the murder was shown by experts to have been mostly likely a crime of rage, there was nothing to indicate it was a satanic ritual).

i have heaps of other stuff i could go on about with this, I've done as much online research as I could, trying to see both sides of it.

As someone who likes metal and has interest in things like occult literature, it makes me sick that this kind of injustice can happen, especially in a 'civilised' society.

 

[scanner313]

Silent,

I never said the kid was guilty because of his demeanor. I'm simply stating that his reaction to the trial and what he was being accused of was very typical of a sociopath. Serial killers and people who murder children are typically sociopaths.

Yes, teenagers can be shitheads, but this kid Damien was down right scary in how little he cared about what was going on. He showed absolutely no emotion at all in regard to the details of the murders or his own precarious situation. It just didn't seem normal (in any way, shape or form) for anyone who was facing the death penalty to be so cool and calm about the whole thing. Typical sociopathic behavior.



I'm not saying they are guilty, I'm simply saying that Damien sure could be. The other kid, Jason, who he was tried together with doesn't seem the type. Yet he's so shy and withdrawn that I think he'd do just about anything Damien told him to do.



Anyway, find a copy of the documentary (the first one) and you'll understand what I'm saying about Damien. After seeing it, he may not appear so innocent to you either.