© Danny Johnston / AP Photo
Damien Echols, right, one of three men who pleaded guilty to crimes they say they did not commit, and his wife Lorri speak to reporters after the three were freed at the Craighead County Court House in Jonesboro, Ark., Friday, Aug. 19, 2011.
Damien Echols, right, one of three men who pleaded guilty to crimes they say they did not commit, and his wife Lorri speak to reporters after the three were freed at the Craighead County Court House in Jonesboro, Ark., Friday, Aug. 19, 2011.
The case shows we see what we expect to see. That can mean innocent people go to jail while criminals remain free.
Last week, the "West Memphis Three" were released from prison, having spent half their lives - 18 years - behind bars for crimes they almost certainly didn't commit. So what made prosecutors and investigators sure they had the right guys, and why were those beliefs, once established, so hard to reverse?
The crimes for which the three Memphis men were convicted were brutal. Three 8-year-old Cub Scouts were found dead, hogtied and apparently mutilated. The police decided early on that it was likely the boys had been victims of a satanic cult killing, which led them to consider self-described Wiccan teen Damien Echols, a young man with asymmetric black hair, a pale face and oddball taste in clothes and music. They hauled in an acquaintance of his, a minor named Jessie Misskelley, who had an IQ of 72, and interviewed him for hours without his parents or an attorney present. Finally, he confessed, implicating Echols and another friend, Jason Baldwin.
