Yahya Sulaiman
28th March 2005, 23:28
Three Americans named Damien Echols, Jesse Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin were falsely accused and convicted of mutilating and murdering three children in my home state of Arkansas in 1993. I know they were falsely convicted. If you want to know yourself, all you have to do is see the documentary Paradise Lost, and preferably also the sequel documentary Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. (A third film on the subject is being made and is scheduled for release next year, and it will be originally released in theaters this time rather than simply on the HBO channel like the first two.)
Or just consider the fact that the bite marks on the victims did not match the dental records of any of the three culprits, and that the prosecution was so desperate about the undeniability of this fact that they actually put it to the jury that the marks were caused by a belt whipping! I've seen the photographs of the unmistakable bite marks, folks, and you can see them too in the film Paradise Lost. I wish I could give you a link, but the only site with those photographs that I've ever been able to find (and believe me, I have searched and searched) is apparently no longer running.
You may be wondering why this matters so much to me. It's because my father was involved as an expert who was consulted, and was ignored along with all the other experts who proved the defense attorneys of the three defendants to be right in some way or another. Search as you might, you'll never find a better child and adolescent psychiatrist than my father, Dr. Richard Livingston, one of the most renowned psychiatrists in the state, if not the nation. His career is brimming with success and universal respect. His qualifications are deeply extensive. He has been subpoeaned as an expert witness in more trials than I can count (although he was only consulted for this trial rather than subpoeaned). He's even been on the Montel Williams show. ;)
Because of all this renown, with all these qualifications, with all this consummate skill at child and adolescent psychiatry, he was sent the anonymous case file (or whatever you'd call it) of Jesse Misskelley in order to determine if Jesse (the retarded person among the three falsely convicted people) was metally apt to represent himelf in court. My father concluded (and I'm telling you, he's never wrong about these things) that Jesse was not, any more than a child would be. Nevertheless, Jesse stood trial, and like the others, was convicted--based on no evidence whatsoever--and given life plus forty years.
Jason got life without parole. Damien Echols, the so-called "leader" of the group and "chief murderer", got the death penalty, and is still on death row for this crime that he did not commit, fighting it every step of the way.
The official site of the West Memphis Three is http://www.wm3.org/ . Please visit the site, find out the facts, watch the two films to which I've referred, look at both sides, see the obvious truth, and become a West Memphis Three supporter. Until lately I quite unexcusably haven't been involved with the cause, but now I'm getting more involved, and I want as many of you as possible to do what you can as well to petition, protest and do anything else to help these three, innocent people escape prison (and in Damien's case, death). There is hope yet. Please help.
Look here (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/memphis/index_1.html) for facts.
Or just consider the fact that the bite marks on the victims did not match the dental records of any of the three culprits, and that the prosecution was so desperate about the undeniability of this fact that they actually put it to the jury that the marks were caused by a belt whipping! I've seen the photographs of the unmistakable bite marks, folks, and you can see them too in the film Paradise Lost. I wish I could give you a link, but the only site with those photographs that I've ever been able to find (and believe me, I have searched and searched) is apparently no longer running.
You may be wondering why this matters so much to me. It's because my father was involved as an expert who was consulted, and was ignored along with all the other experts who proved the defense attorneys of the three defendants to be right in some way or another. Search as you might, you'll never find a better child and adolescent psychiatrist than my father, Dr. Richard Livingston, one of the most renowned psychiatrists in the state, if not the nation. His career is brimming with success and universal respect. His qualifications are deeply extensive. He has been subpoeaned as an expert witness in more trials than I can count (although he was only consulted for this trial rather than subpoeaned). He's even been on the Montel Williams show. ;)
Because of all this renown, with all these qualifications, with all this consummate skill at child and adolescent psychiatry, he was sent the anonymous case file (or whatever you'd call it) of Jesse Misskelley in order to determine if Jesse (the retarded person among the three falsely convicted people) was metally apt to represent himelf in court. My father concluded (and I'm telling you, he's never wrong about these things) that Jesse was not, any more than a child would be. Nevertheless, Jesse stood trial, and like the others, was convicted--based on no evidence whatsoever--and given life plus forty years.
Jason got life without parole. Damien Echols, the so-called "leader" of the group and "chief murderer", got the death penalty, and is still on death row for this crime that he did not commit, fighting it every step of the way.
The official site of the West Memphis Three is http://www.wm3.org/ . Please visit the site, find out the facts, watch the two films to which I've referred, look at both sides, see the obvious truth, and become a West Memphis Three supporter. Until lately I quite unexcusably haven't been involved with the cause, but now I'm getting more involved, and I want as many of you as possible to do what you can as well to petition, protest and do anything else to help these three, innocent people escape prison (and in Damien's case, death). There is hope yet. Please help.
Look here (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/memphis/index_1.html) for facts.