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A review by cindytheskull
Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three by Mara Leveritt
5.0
This book was brought to my attention after the YouTube Feed kindly told me there was a "48 hours" special in which Johnny Depp had something to say. Until that point, I hadn't heard of the West Memphis Three.
Interested in the case (as I am in many others), I immediately searched for other information regarding this story, and saw all three episodes of the HBO Documentary "Paradise Lost", which played a big role in the attention this case got over the years. I got to the book soon after.
This story is sad for so many reasons. Sadly enough, the "West Memphis Three" are the fourth, fifth and sixth victim of this case. Christopher, Michael and Stevie were the first, second and third.
I didn't have the chance to follow the case from the start, I was just five years old when the three eight year olds were killed. I was six when three innocent teenagers were put behind bars for it. But in 2011, when they were finally released, I was 24, and while I had lived my life as a free person until then, those guys had spent 18 years in prison.
This story could be a very well thought thriller. Three children have been found brutally beaten in a ditch, hogtied with their own shoelaces and completely naked. Three kids stuck in the Bible Belt are wrongly accused of their murder because they're different. Jessy is borderline mentally retarded, Jason loves listening to Heavy Metal and drawing skulls and crosses, and Damien wears black, is a Wiccan, has long black hair and has an history of mental illness.
But this story isn't fiction, and the excellent writer does not want the story to be read as fiction either. The account is thoroughly documented and full of references to the actual trial and media coverage of the case. Every single event in and out of court is told from the eyes of all those who took part to the case, from the policemen, to the private investigator, to the families of the victims and the suspects and the false witnesses.
It is impossible to believe that listening to Heavy Metal music and reading Stephen King books would make someone a murder suspect, worse even to see that it made three convicted murderers. These guys have been locked up for evidence which cannot even be described as circumstancial. Their only luck has been the extensive media coverage, including the HBO Documentary of the trial, which got them some big attention. Musicians, Actors and Journalists have taken them under their wings, and they have finally been freed.
But this story has no happy ending. Justice has not been done to the three victims, their murderer is still on the loose. And the three wrongly accused had to enter an Alford Plea to avoid them filing a law suit against the state who kept them in jail for 18 years. They've lost 18 years with their families, they've lost their youth and their health.
And still, more wrongly convicted sit in their cell waiting for someone to help them get the justice they deserve.
Interested in the case (as I am in many others), I immediately searched for other information regarding this story, and saw all three episodes of the HBO Documentary "Paradise Lost", which played a big role in the attention this case got over the years. I got to the book soon after.
This story is sad for so many reasons. Sadly enough, the "West Memphis Three" are the fourth, fifth and sixth victim of this case. Christopher, Michael and Stevie were the first, second and third.
I didn't have the chance to follow the case from the start, I was just five years old when the three eight year olds were killed. I was six when three innocent teenagers were put behind bars for it. But in 2011, when they were finally released, I was 24, and while I had lived my life as a free person until then, those guys had spent 18 years in prison.
This story could be a very well thought thriller. Three children have been found brutally beaten in a ditch, hogtied with their own shoelaces and completely naked. Three kids stuck in the Bible Belt are wrongly accused of their murder because they're different. Jessy is borderline mentally retarded, Jason loves listening to Heavy Metal and drawing skulls and crosses, and Damien wears black, is a Wiccan, has long black hair and has an history of mental illness.
But this story isn't fiction, and the excellent writer does not want the story to be read as fiction either. The account is thoroughly documented and full of references to the actual trial and media coverage of the case. Every single event in and out of court is told from the eyes of all those who took part to the case, from the policemen, to the private investigator, to the families of the victims and the suspects and the false witnesses.
It is impossible to believe that listening to Heavy Metal music and reading Stephen King books would make someone a murder suspect, worse even to see that it made three convicted murderers. These guys have been locked up for evidence which cannot even be described as circumstancial. Their only luck has been the extensive media coverage, including the HBO Documentary of the trial, which got them some big attention. Musicians, Actors and Journalists have taken them under their wings, and they have finally been freed.
But this story has no happy ending. Justice has not been done to the three victims, their murderer is still on the loose. And the three wrongly accused had to enter an Alford Plea to avoid them filing a law suit against the state who kept them in jail for 18 years. They've lost 18 years with their families, they've lost their youth and their health.
And still, more wrongly convicted sit in their cell waiting for someone to help them get the justice they deserve.