In the link below is a column in the Arkansas Times Online today by Damien Echols. In typical Echols fashion, it’s filled with half truths and flat out lies. Let’s keep him honest with some bullet points about the many problems with the column. 1. Consider the source. This column was published in the online version of the Arkansas Times, a small, non-mainstream ultra liberal Arkansas paper that is mainly read online. The Times is published by Alan Leveritt, the ex-husband of the WM3’s #1 fan girl, Mara Leveritt. Leveritt is still a sometimes contributor to her ex-husband’s paper. She was a frequent contributor during the years the WM3 were in prison and was a ring leader of the “Free the WM3” movement. He book “Devil’s Knot” falsely accused step-father Mark Byers. The movie based on the book points the finger mainly at step-father Terry Hobbs. The Leveritts are certainly not known for their unbiased reporting on the WM3 case. 2. “Scott Ellington, the prosecuting attorney for Arkansass Second Judicial District, said in a recent interview that, ‘There are no ongoing investigations by governmental investigative authorities’ concerning the West Memphis Three case.” –Damien Echols While this may be true, Echols fails to mention WHY there are no ongoing investigations by “governmental investigative authorities.” The truth is, once a suspect pleads GUILTY to a crime, there is nothing to “investigate.” The WM3 were given a chance to present their supposed “new evidence” to a new judge at a hearing granted by the AR Supreme Court scheduled for December 2011. Instead of presenting that evidence, going for exoneration, and potentially opening the door to sue the state of Arkansas for millions in a wrongful conviction lawsuit, the WM3 offered to plead guilty to the crime in exchange for time served using the Alford Plea. They closed their own case, which HAD BEEN REPONED by the state. The case is closed because the WM3 closed it themselves by pleading GUILTY. 3. “DA Scott Ellington should keep his promise to review new evidence given to him by my defense team in a meaningful manner, and he should avoid giving comfort to the real killer and discouraging new witnesses from coming forward by proclaiming that the case is closed.” -Damien Echols Although the case is considered “closed” due to the guilty pleas, Prosecutor Scott Ellington has made it very clear that his door is always open to hear “compelling evidence” from the WM3 and their defense team (if such a team even exists anymore). You can hear him say it here starting at 1:16:45: clintonschoolspeakers/lecture/view/west-memphis-three-past-present-and-future If the “new evidence” presented in the movie West of Memphis is any indication of the new evidence the WM3 have, then they have nothing. Nothing presented in “West of Memphis” is enough to prove the WM3 didn’t do it, or someone else did. Again, because they pled guilty the burden of proof shifts from innocent until proven guilty, to guilty until they prove their innocence. It’s on the WM3 and their attorneys to come up with “the real killer,” not the State of Arkansas. They had a chance to present their evidence and gain exoneration, but chose to throw it away by entering guilty pleas. 4. “I for one am tired of reliving the horror of my arrest, wrongful conviction and the 18 long years, dying every day in an isolated cell, waiting to be executed.” –Damien Echols Which is why he keeps CHOOSING to profit from the crime he pled guilty to committing by writing books, making movies, doing paid public appearances at “horror conventions,” etc. This is 100 percent pure BS. He LOVES the attention and the money that comes along with being a convicted murderer. Otherwise he would not keep thrusting himself into the spotlight. 5. “…we neither were exonerated nor were the real killer(s) brought to justice. We continue to fight for both.” –Damien Echols Again, he was not exonerated because he CHOSE to plead guilty. The prosecutor has said the door is open for the WM3 and their attorneys to present “new evidence” in the case. Who, exactly, is “we?” Does the WM3 “defense team” even still exist? Who are they? Who do you contact if you are the “real killer” and want to confess? If you are a witness who has info? What are the names of Echols current attorneys? Who is paying them? What exactly are they doing? Damien has been 100 percent wrapped up in various money making schemes for nearly three years now. First he sold magick wands online. Then he owned a reiki studio in Salem. Then he produced a movie. Then wrote two books. How does one have time to search for the “real killer” when all ones time is spent profiting from the crime? Who are his attorneys and what are they doing right now to find the “real killer”? How does promoting a love letter book help find the “real killer?” These are all questions Damien never addresses. 6. “We have tried through the U.S. federal court in Washington, D.C., to obtain case files and records of forensic testing performed by the FBI at the request of the West Memphis Police Department during the initial investigation of this case. Incredibly, the FBI says that it cannot find those records.” -Damien Echols Not exactly sure what he’s talking about here. He has claimed in several interviews that there are 200 pages of FBI files on the case that he is trying to get his hands on. The FBI was only minimally involved in the WM3 case. It was a local case, handled by local police. If anyone knows what the heck he’s talking about, do tell. Sounds like a bunch of smoke and mirrors to make it sound like the FBI has some super secret info that might exonerate the WM3. If that’s the case, surely the all-star WM3 attorneys would have secured that info long ago. More BS, in all likelihood. 7. “People are still compelled by this story and want answers to the many lingering questions surrounding the case. True closure wont happen until those questions are answered.” –Damien Echols Thats the one and only completely true statement in this completely lie-packed column by convicted triple child killer Damien Echols. Here is the link to Damiens column: m.arktimes/arkansas/only-the-guilty-want-closure-in-west-memphis-three-case/Content?oid=3364262
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 18:34:05 +0000
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