“West Memphis 3″ Free After 18 Years in Prison

amien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin — better known as the “West Memphis 3” — are free men today, having accepted a rather complicated deal that required them to plead guilty to the crime. The trio have spent half their lives behind bars for a crime they did not commit.

The New York Times has a bit of background on the case:

The grotesque nature of the murders led to a theory about satanic cult activity. Investigators focused their attention on Mr. Echols, at the time a troubled yet gifted teenager who practiced Wicca, a rarity in the town of West Memphis. Efforts to learn more about him, spearheaded by a single mother cooperating with the police, led to Mr. Misskelley, a passing acquaintance of Mr. Echols, who is borderline mentally retarded.

After a nearly 12-hour interrogation by the police, Mr. Misskelley confessed to the murders and implicated Mr. Echols and Mr. Baldwin, though his confession diverged in significant details with the facts known by the police.

Largely on the strength of that confession, Mr. Misskelley was convicted in February 1994. Mr. Echols and Mr. Baldwin soon after were convicted in a separate trial, largely on the testimony of witnesses who said they heard the teenagers talk of the murders and on the prosecution’s theory that the defendants had been motivated as members of a satanic cult. Mr. Misskelley’s confession was not admitted at their trial, though recently a former lawyer for the jury foreman, filed an affidavit saying that the foreman, determined to convict, had brought the confession up in deliberations to sway undecided jurors.

An award-winning documentary, “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills,” was released after their convictions, bringing them national attention. Benefit concerts were held, books were written a follow-up documentary was made and the men’s supporters continued to pursue their freedom. Many residents of West Memphis resentedthe presumption that outsiders knew the details of the horrific case better than they did. But in recent years some, though not all, of the victims’ families have begun to doubt the guilt of the three men.

Steve Branch,  Stevie Branch’s father, objected to the plea deal, telling the judge “If you go through with this, you’re going to open Pandora’s Box.” But it matters little now. The three men are free and will now attempt to clear their names and start their lives.