November 12, 2007
Lyon College News Bureau

Author Mara Leveritt talks about
controversial West Memphis case

By Andrea McAlister
and Codi Richardson

In 1993, three 8-year-old boys were murdered in West Memphis. Despite the lack of hard evidence, police arrested three teens, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jesse Miskelley, for the murder. Award winning author Mara Leveritt visited Lyon College Tuesday, Nov. 5, to discuss these issues, which she has written about in her book “Devil’s Knot.”

Leveritt likened the story of the West Memphis Three to the Salem Witch trials. “This case,” she says, “will be looked upon as the kind of hysteria that happened in Salem.” She said the case will be used as an example of how hysteria can influence the outcome of a court decision.

The basic premise of the case is that three teenage boys, Echols, Baldwin, and Miskelly, abducted and murdered three 8-year-old boys as part of a satanic ritual. The crime caused widespread paranoia in West Memphis, and there was a lot of pressure to convict these three boys.

All three were convicted with no physical evidence. The police found no motive, no weapon, and no DNA evidence, and all three maintain their innocence to this day. Echols was sentenced to death and is now on death row. Baldwin and Miskelly were both sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In the spring of 2007, the defense fund for the boys hired prominent forensic analysts from outside the state to reassess the evidence in the case. This team found DNA from two men, neither of which is either of the three young men who were convicted. They also attributed the scrapes and mutilation of the bodies to animals. The new theory of this case, according to the defense team, is that the boys were drowned and all injuries were post-mortem and were inflicted by animals. The case is pending an appeal before U.S. District Judge William Wilson.

Leveritt also described that lack of organization and evidence that the police used against the boys. The police brought one of the teens, Miskelley in for questioning. They persuaded Miskelly, who was described as “borderline retarded,” that he would get the reward money for the boys’ murder if he knew who did it. So he gave a confession. However, he later recanted the confession.

“It was a fractured, faulty, and very inaccurate telling of the tale,” says Leveritt. The police began to use suggestion in order to get a more accurate confession.

This was just one of the many incidents where the teens were misrepresented. It was the misrepresentation, along with the belief that the murders were committed as a part of a satanic ritual that made the case known worldwide.

“Interest in the West Memphis case is global.” Leveritt also discussed at her lecture how the “sense of awareness (for this case) is much broader than most of us realize.”

Celebrities such as rock musician Henry Rollins; Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam; and one of the creators of the cartoon, “South Park” have shown interest in this case. Also, people from as far away as Australia have responded to this case. There are many people that believe in the innocence of the three teens convicted. There is so much support, in fact, that the money that has been donated to the cause of the three teens has recently been put to use hiring some of the best investigators to go back over the evidence and research the 14-year-old case.

The lecture concluded with a book signing by Leveritt. The message she expressed in the book: “For Justice!”

For more information concerning the details of the original case and efforts on behalf of the “West Memphis Three” visit Leveritt’s website, www.maraleveritt.com or an advocacy webpage containing all documentation from the case and methods to contribute to the cause, www.wm3.org.

Mara Leveritt signs her book, "Devil's Knot," after her lecture Tuesday night in Nucor Auditorium.