172. Web-Series Reviews – 28

Some more documentary reviews… Nobody makes documentaries like Netflix or HBO!!

Paradise Lost – The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)

Paradise Lost 2 – The Revelations (2000)

Paradise Lost 3 – Purgatory (2012)

Details from Wikipedia…

The first film documents the events following the arrests of Misskelley, Echols and Baldwin for the murders of Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch, whose naked and hogtied bodies were discovered in a ditch in a wooded area of West Memphis, Arkansas, known as "Robin Hood Hills".

Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky interviewed numerous people connected with the case, including the parents of the victims, the parents of the accused, members of the West Memphis Police Department (WMPD) and all the defendants involved in the trial.

The first trial to be covered in the film is that of Misskelley, a trial which was severed from those of Echols and Baldwin since it was Misskelley who confessed. Emphasis is placed on the fact that there is a strong possibility that the confession was coerced. Interviews are conducted with Misskelley himself, his family and friends, and his attorney Dan Stidham. Misskelley is sentenced to life in prison.

Part two of the film documents the trials of Echols and Baldwin. Like the coverage of Misskelley's trial, there are interviews with both defendants, their attorneys and their families. The families of the victims also share their views.

The second film, Revelations, takes place five years after the events depicted in the first film, as Damien Echols, one of the West Memphis Three, who were all recognized guilty of the murders in 1994, appeals his lethal injection sentence. It mostly focuses on John Mark Byers, the father of one of the victims who has grown increasingly obsessed with the West Memphis Three, and on a support group who is convinced that the three are innocent. The film was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Nonfiction Special.

In the 3rd film, Damien Echols's defense team has hired some of the most renowned forensic scientists to collect DNA and other evidence that had never been tested during the 1994 trials in hopes of getting a new trial. The defense teams and supporters of Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley have uncovered new details that occurred during the trial that led to guilty verdicts against them.

Central are the allegations of jury misconduct with the jury foreman discussing the case with an attorney during the Echols-Baldwin trial and bringing Misskelley's confession into deliberations even though it was not let into evidence. The forensic experts have uncovered DNA and new witnesses that focus suspicion toward Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the murder victims.

A hair found in the ligature that bound one of the victims is a match to him, he has told several conflicting stories concerning his whereabouts during the time of the murders, and he has a history of violence against his wife and possibly his stepson. While many are convinced he should be considered a suspect, the West Memphis, Arkansas Police Department have only questioned him and do not consider him a suspect.

Appeals for a new trial based on the new evidence have been denied by the original trial judge. But in November 2010, the Arkansas Supreme Court threw out that ruling and granted an evidentiary hearing scheduled for December 2011, to decide if the evidence is enough for a new trial. This brings new hope to the defendants and their supporters that they will finally get the fair trial they never got.

In August 2011, four months before the hearing is to take place, the prosecutors and defense lawyers talked over a plea deal that would allow the three men to walk out of prison, on the condition that they plead guilty but can maintain their innocence (Alford Plea). They reluctantly accept the deal. After 18 years and 78 days, they walk free from prison.

Excellent documentaries!!  I saw the 1^st one and then the 3^rd one and skipped the second one.  Both of them were excellent.  You see the accused age over time in the 2 documentaries.  You get to hear both sides’ versions.  All the three accused spent more than 18 years in jail, for a deed that might not have done by them.  It shows how vulnerable people are coaxed to confess and how their lives get ruined. 

Cheers till next time!

Today’s Observation

Those who don’t study the past will repeat its errors!  Those who do study it will find other wats to err😊