West Memphis Three

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I just recently studied this case some. Originally, I believed what the prosecution for the state said, these guys must simply MUST be guilty of this sick crime because the state found them so and they must have reason to or they would be found not guilty. Case closed for me, so I never paid attention to this. Just today I read something online about it though which really leads me to believe this people did not commit the crime and they should be exonerated.

After reviewing the man-hole theory, it makes perfect sense. The three boys liked to play in the man-holes in their neighborhood because they liked to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. However, one of the boy's step father told his step son Steve Branch, one of the victims, not to play in them anymore and if he was caught he was going to get a whipping or "his ass busted" as they say around these here parts. Since Michael Moore was the leader of the three, he talked Steve and the other boy into playing in them anyway. Terry Hobbs figured, when he couldn't see the kids, they must playing in the man-holes after he warned Steve not to so he went looking for them, dwelling more and more on how pissed off he would be if he found Steve in one when he told him what would happen if he caught him. So, he goes and finds them in one and first he attacks Steve so badly he either injures him or kills him, then he attacks the other two because they are witnesses. Terry Hobbs has a history of violence towards his step son Steve.

What do you all think? Could that be motive and Terry Hobbs killed his step son in heated rage because he did something he was told not to, defying him? One of the boys had a wound like his leg had been knocked against a step made of rebar like that in the man-holes and it looked like he had been slammed against the concrete the manholes are made of or that exists in the drainage systems. One of the kids had a wound on his head consistence with being dropped with tremendous force head first onto concrete.

So now I am thinking these WM3 dudes are truly innocent and spent 18 years behind bars for nothing.

What do you think?

And another thing. One of the kids, Christopher Byers, told witnesses he was running away from home because his father, Mark Byers, whipped him for skate boarding shortly before he disappeared. Christopher Byers did not have a key to his house and could not get in after school. So, obviously, Christopher Byers was in some kind of hot water with his parents before the kids disappeared.

Christopher Byers was also the one with the most injuries. This suggests the person who killed him was angrier at him than he was the other two, so maybe it was actually Mark Byers who committed the crime?

Any ideas?

Whoever committed it, I am convinced, did it because they were angry the child did what he was not supposed to. Broke the rules. It might even have been manslaughter but no way the other two could have been.

Below is a link to a pic of JM Byers, scary looking guy if I ever saw one! And he looks big and strong enough to commit the crime and his son Christopher had the most injuries of the three and had already been whipped with a belt earlier in the day, so you know the old man was pissed already anyway. It's plausible.

http://www.jivepuppi.com/recent_news.html

About prosecutors in general . . . it's like a train leaving the station. At a very, very early stage, the focus shifts from finding the truth to making the case.

I think we need significant snd substantial changes in our criminal justice system.

There are all sorts of unanswered questions about why John Mark Byers has slipped through the cracks and that he is in good with law enforcement. He sounds like a really violent character though, much worse than Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin or Jessie Misskelley although those three aren't perfect, either. Still, it's a question of who had the motive and opportunity and could do the crime without anyone noticing. It just seems like the step father would be able to do that more easily than the three teens. How did the teens know where to find the boys?

Besides, it doesn't sound like Jason Baldwin really ever did anything to anyone and he was a good student and all. It's hard to imagine him involved in this plot. But it is easy to imagine John Mark Byers full of rage and taking it out on three kids.

I know it sounds paranoid but it makes me nervous typing this even because JM Byers looks like the type that would send someone after me or come after me himself and he doesn't live that far away. Why do cops let these types roam the streets?

I found something else that's interesting. First thing I thought of when I saw that pic of JM Byers with the shaved head is that he is most likely into WWF and pro wrestling. Many people around here are. Look at this wrestling move. It is consistent with the injuries:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piledriver ... _wrestling)

It is called a Pile Driver and considered dangerous. Could this be the cause of the basilar skull fractures?

The cops in most small have no idea how to investigate crimes like these since they rarely deal with homicides of this nature,usually it's a crime of passion where someone shoots someone in a jealous rage,or they are drunk,no mystery who the killer is.
If this had happened in a larger metro area with better trained cops and forensics we might know what really happened.I think there is a reasonable doubt that the boys were innocent.

Then there is another suspect, a highly questionable, disoriented, bloody man in the bathroom of a restaurant a short distance from where the bodies were discovered. Cops were called but they took the incident lightly and the officer who responded did so by going through the drive thru, never leaving her car. Then later, after the crime was discovered, police collected dry blood from the restroom but lost this crucial piece of evidence. This guy could have been a drug connection of John Mark Byers (who was into illicit drugs and a police informant.) Could he have helped commit the crime? Probably we will never know now. Let's just hope he is in jail for another offense, shall we?

I've lots of opinions about this case. I've followed it for years. Living in a small town in AR for half a decade made those opinions both vociferous and very, very complicated.

This has been a NOAA bulletin: Tirade coming, Category 4. Denizens with low-lying tolerances for vitriol are advised to evacuate in the next 18 to 36 hours.

I can understand not wanting to discuss suspects because they could still be out and I would be more reluctant if I were in Arkansas. I would worry about them finding out who I was and coming after me or something irrational like that. But, since I am at a bit of a distance, I am not too paranoid. It is disconcerting that whoever did it is still at large. I read JM Byers was in prison for drugs and would get out soon. Not sure how long ago it was posted or if the guy is still in prison or if he acted alone or with others or what. Scary these people are still out roaming the streets though.

Oh, it hadn't anything to do with that. I was clear on the other side of the state. WM is in east-central Arkansas. I lived way out in the boonies in NW Arkansas. I'm almost certain that one or more of the kids' parental units were involved.

I doubt killing them was intentional. They were kids being kids-- doing stupid things that grownups don't want them doing. Grownup thought if they were any kind of parent, they should have complete and utter control over the kids' actions. Got angry, figured they were going to beat the kids until the kids learned to listen like kids should...

...and the kids died.

Dunno how many times I've been told to treat kids that way. That I'm not spanking them hard enough or often enough, that I need to shut my mouth (I raise my voice quite often) and use my belt (if I do have to spank them, it's a swat on the butt with an open hand, 'cause my daddy always said anything else could get out of hand and he was right).

Sad. Tragic. I'm sure the killer(s) have to fight their own consciences every day. Yeah-- sympathy for a babykiller. The vast majority of abusers do it because there's some seriously painful f**ked-up s**t in their heads. Hence the cycle.

The opinionated vitriol comes in when I start discussing why these kids ended up in prison (on death row, in Echols's case) and rotted there for so long even after it was patently obvious that they had the wrong folks.

It will have to wait. My kids need hugs.

It's very very sad and depressing which is why I will probably stop reading about it and researching soon and not discuss it any more.

That kind of stuff makes me very angry, too. Because the system didn't want to admit it had made a mistake, and thus greatly compounded the original mistake.

Hello BuyerBeware,I'm in the boonies in NW Ark also,not far from the Buffalo.
Howdy cousin

Oh wow. I was on the north side of Beaver Lake, up in Garfield. Great place for an Aspie redneck, really. Great people-- or at least, they were good to me. One of the few places I've been where being Pagan and an Aspie wasn't a problem . But boy was I ever thankful to have been born straight and white .

That's the first thing that really twists my tail about the WM3 case. They got blamed as part of the 1980's "Satanic Panic" crapola. They got blamed because they were outsiders in societal terms, and that should frighten all of us. All human beings, I mean, not all people on the spectrum-- but it's doubly scary for autistics. "Act normal or you're running a hell of a risk." That's not cool.

They liked heavy metal, Stephen King, black clothes. Damien Echols was known for making snide comments about being a witch or some such when people would harass him for his music and his clothes. Ironically, he wasn't at the time-- he was just a teenage kid with an attitude-- but did become Wiccan in prison.

People were afraid of them because they were different. And with a bunch of "leaders" whipping up that fear for their own reasons, they got railroaded.

On the other side of the coin-- You know why I think they spent so long in jail?? Because of the venom of the backlash. I don't know how many comments I've read about "ignorant toothless banjo-picking hillbillies." Now I grew up in West Virginia and loved living in Arkansas, so being a banjo-loving hillbilly myself I might have a bias, but-- When people all over the country are calling you names, are you really going to be likely to consider the possibility that you made a mistake that requires reconsideration??

Aspies might be-- logical and all-- but your average human being is going to go on the defensive. Big time. And that's exactly what happened. I knew a lot of perfect decent rednecks who knew damn good and well that those kids were innocent who just didn't want to say anything because they were sick and tired of being put down and called names by people who think they're so much more enlightened that a mistake like that couldn't happen to them.

There was lots of weird Satanist stories that went around this area at the same time, cattle mutilations and someone called one of the small school districts and said they were going to sacrifice a blonde blue eyed virgin,they didn't have classes that day because of it.Anyone with any sense knew it was just kids that called the school,and their ruse worked,they got a day off.
That's true about the cultural prejudice,I had someone new to the area tell me I was real lucky that new people were moving in because we were so inbred we needed new blood.
WTF ??How is that even o.k. to say??Or they think it's just like Deliverance,they see someone in an old work truck and think they are going to get jumped.
And since we really do have fewer murders here the cops just don't really have the experience to investigate serious crimes.Most homicides in this county go unsolved,but on the other hand it's been a few years since we had one.
The worst problem we have is meth,take that out of the equation and the crime rate would be mostly DWI(were a dry county).I still leave my keys in the car but things are sketchier than 20 years ago so now I keep a handgun around.Ten years ago I never even locked my
doors at night.
It's still the most peaceful place on earth,I can't see the road and when the leaves are on
the trees no lights anywhere.It was that way in the winter till some idgit put up one of those night watcher lights on the mountain.I fantasize about shooting it out :lol

Yesssss! My old neighbor has one of those lights. I used to sit out on my steps and fantasize about shooting it out!!

I'm outside of Pittsburgh on the north side now. Too many people, too much attitude. I miss listening to the coyotes sing. Oh, well. Maybe when the old women are gone I will go back out West.

I never locked my door unless I was going to be away for days. I would sometimes leave my keys in the ignition so I wouldn't lose them. Everybody knew everybody. Strangers would smile and wave on the road. Old men down at the gas station basically adopted my kids for grandkids.

So many things I miss.

If that's inbred and ignorant, maybe learning and genetic diversity are overrated.

Ain't it the truth