By Melissa Antoinette Garza
For the past thirteen years, I have been somewhat obsessed with the way fear, deceptive police practices, and a shoddy investigation resulted in three teenage outcasts being found guilty of murders they did not commit. The cases against Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley Jr. occurred in 1994 when the trio were found guilty for brutally slaying three young boys.
HBO showcased the witch trial in a total of three documentaries directed by the very talented and underrated Joe Berlinger. The trilogy started with the 1996 Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills which initially presented a case without bias and in effort to find out what really happened. The documentary took a different tone when it was made obvious that the boys on trial were being railroaded by a dishonest prosecution, corrupt officers and a judge who already had his mind made up .
I wasn’t introduced to the case until a college friend showed me both the original documentary and the sequel Paradise Lost 2: Revelations in 2001. From then on I was hooked. I shared the films and the story with everyone as I could not believe in this day and age listening to heavy metal music and having an interest in alternative religions was enough to imprison anyone. That along with remembering my own high-school years and being able to relate to Damien and Jason made the case that much personal. Thankfully, many others held the same interest and did not stop fighting until the three were finally released in 2011.
The state which was obviously in fear of a major lawsuit due to the criticism of how the case was handled did all they could to keep the men in prison. Still, the believers did not quit their fight so in a very cowardly maneuver the state held the death penalty over Damien’s head and forced the trio to take an Alford Plea which allowed them to proclaim their innocence while pleading guilty. Thus, they were released with time served.
For years, a film adaption was discussed. I anticipated it for so long and then one day, I saw the trailer on Hulu and on the next I saw the film on Netflix. I couldn’t believe that it came out so quickly without any real publicity.
I had always thought Michael Pitt would have been a perfect choice for the role of Damien as he is a versatile underrated actor who has many of the same facial characteristics that Damien had when he was first arrested. That said, I wasn’t disappointed with the choice of James Hamrick. Actually, the overall casting was done quite well.
I was surprised that the movie’s major focus was on Pam Hobbs (Reese Witherspoon). I suppose the thoughts behind the way in which the movie was crafted was that most knew the story of The West Memphis Three from the documentaries and this was a chance to tell the story of Pam who started off believing the prosecution’s lies, but in the end suspected her husband Terry (Alessandro Nivola) and also questioned the testimony and actions of several other individuals who the police dismissed, never questioned and even went as far as to cover up some incriminating information to ensure a slam-dunk case.
The movie was well done and overall the casting was great. It was great to see Witherspoon flex her acting muscles and show she’s much more than the innocent yet sassy romantic interest. The emotional impact Ms. Hobbs felt at the missing and subsequent finding that her son had been murdered was fully examined, explored and wonderfully portrayed by Witherspoon.
In the end, prior to anyone watching the movie I would highly suggest viewing the documentaries. Otherwise, some may assume that some performances, namely Kevin Durand’s portrayal of Mark Byers (Kevin Durand) was over-the-top. Byers was a stepfather of one of the boys who was murdered and his actions afterwards were highly controversial and suspect. Though he initially condemned the WM3, he came out in later years proclaiming their innocence. Still there is something seriously wrong with Byers and Durand did a magnificent job showing it.
There was one individual I believed was let off way too easy which is another reason I’d prefer people watch the documentaries prior to the film. Inspector Gary Gitchell (Rex Lynn), in my opinion, is one of the dirtiest, scummiest people on the face of the earth. There is no doubt, he was under a lot of pressure to solve the case before him, but rather than conduct an honest and thorough investigation, he browbeat Jessie, a teenager who had a very low IQ, for 12 hours, and only taped 45 minutes of the conversation. In that 45 minutes there were more inaccuracies than accuracies. If that wasn’t bad enough, Gitchell coerced the accuracies by correcting any mistakes about the time of crime, the type of material used to tie the victims, etc and just had Jessie agree with the promise that if he confessed he could go home to his father.
Though a lot of this is addressed, there are scenes where Gitchell looks like a decent man who was over-his-head rather than a callous son-of-a-bitch who cared more about booking someone for the crime than finding out who the guilty party was. Even if he had believed the WM3 were guilty in the beginning, when it became evident that there was zero evidence supporting the claim, rather than admitting fault and working to help get them out of jail, he did everything he could to keep him there. Which he did, for 17 years. If there is a hell, Gitchell certainly deserves to be there.
That said, I think Judge Burnett (Bruce Greenwood) did an amazing job showing how bias Burnett was from the get-go. In his allowance in letting unqualified testimony condemning the boys in and disqualifying important facts that would have surely led to a dismissal, one can’t help but hope he was released from his duties on the bench. He certainly doesn’t belong there. The real Burnett until the bitter end tried to force the WM3 to stay in jail forever. Thank God, he wasn’t the end all and be all.
Still, I can’t help but believe the story is unfinished. The WM3 need to be completley cleared from the charges and deserve compensation from the state for the 17 years they lost due to the absolute and unarguable corruption which kept them behind bars.
As for the movie, definitely watch it – but read the book and watch the documentaries first! Also, for those who don’t like The Blair Witch Project: Book of Shadows, give it another watch with the mindset that it was made by Joe Berlinger. Though editing hindered the full point from getting across, I still enjoy the film immensely. The message is, that telling the public, fiction is fact and reality TV is honest, is dangerous and ill-advised. Regardless of the source, (a.e. the police, lead officials, television personalities, and news anchors alike)society needs to hold those who are dishonest about important matters accountable. It is our job as the public to question and critically examine information that is force-fed us. Otherwise, anyone could end up like Damien, Jason, or Jessie. Twelve jurors found them guilty despite zero evidence because they believed the police, prosecutors and a judge who had no qualms making his opinion known. Blindly 12 people went along with those they viewed as honest and respectable members of society who put three teenagers in prison because of the books they read, the music they listened to and the way they dressed.
Thank God they’re out of prison now, but justice hasn’t been served and will not until they are declared innocent and compensated for their time lost. No money in the world can make up for the 17 years they lost, but it is the very least that should be done.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10
