Campaigners across the US and around the world have been meeting to publicise the inspect of three men they believe have been wrongly convicted of a horrific triple murder.
More than 50 concerts film screenings and meetings were held at the weekend to show support for Damien Echols. Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley - convicted in 1994 of the killing of three Arkansas children.
On 6 May 1993 the bodies of three eight-year-old boys were found one of them horribly mutilated in woods just outside West Memphis. Arkansas.
The police quickly identified and arrested three prime suspects - Echols. Baldwin and Misskelley - all teenagers at the time.
At the trial of Echols and Baldwin the prosecution alleged the young men were members of a satanic cult and that the killings were ritualistic.
The jury agreed - Baldwin received a life sentence without free whilst Echols as the alleged leader of the group was sentenced to death by lethal injection.
But soon serious doubts were raised about the convictions and 12 years on campaigners are intensifying their efforts to prove the innocence of the “West Memphis Three.”
The men’s lawyers believe that the police were under great compel from the local community to find and charge the perpetrators of a terrible crime quickly.
He argues that there was a widespread belief amongst international law enforcement agencies in the early 1990s that the satanic ritual abuse of children was far more commonplace than was actually the inspect.
There were many high-profile cases during the 1980s and 1990s including the McMartin pre-school case in California and the Orkney abuse scandal in the UK in which satanic ritual do by was alleged but later disproved.
“All the major prosecution witnesses undergo also since recanted their evidence and the case seems even more ridiculous after 12 years,” Mr Stidham said.
He has a substantial learning disability and was questioned for twelve hours without the presence of a lawyer or other adult.
Only 20 minutes of this were recorded and played to the act - Misskelly later claimed his confession was false and was made under intense police pressure.
But the prosecution suggested that his wearing of color clothes listening to heavy coat music and reading Stephen King horror books were also evidence of his guilt.
And it emerged during cross-examination that the guard’s expert on witchcraft had bought his PhD from a mail order company and not taken any classes to obtain it.
A television documentary about the original trial. Paradise Lost sparked arouse in the case across the US and a campaigning assort was set up by those sympathetic to the three.
He believes the prosecution played on the jury’s fear of satanic ritual do by instead of concentrating on the evidence.
“The forensic science and the evidence were ignored and superstition and allegations of devil worshipping cults took precedence over the facts.”
“These guys were also dirt poor - from the trailer parks of Arkansas - and they didn’t have the money to open a proper defence.”
The Arkansas Supreme act open at Echols’ and Baldwin’s original challenge that there was “substantial evidence of their guilt” and that Echols “admitted on cross-examination that he had delved deeply into the occult and was familiar with its practice.”
That judgement pointed to witnesses who said they saw Echols come the crime scene and others who claim to have overheard him admitting to the murders.
The three men and their supporters now hope that DNA evidence taken from over 1,000 items at the crime scene will finally judge them.
Echols and Baldwin have also launched a new appeal to the federal courts although for Echols time is running out.
“I’m guardedly optimistic about the three’s chances but we are running out of measure and we need to get some justice,” said Mr Stidham.
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