Today is West Memphis Three Awareness Day. Make yourself aware. Recent DNA testing - agreed with the prosecution after much wrangling - have resulted in developments said to be significant and could mean a new trial.
Learn more about the facts and news in the case at the West Memphis Three site and contribute to the WM3 Support Fund.
If you think it couldn’t happen to you - think again. It can. It has. It does.
Black Flag - Rise Above
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December 13, 2007 at 3:12 am
A Vela
For Immediate Release
The Cure Donate Autographed Guitar to
Aid in Death Row Inmate’s Defense Fund
Alternative rock band joins the fight to free the West Memphis Three
December 8th, 2007: San Francisco, Calif.— The Cure will be auctioning a customised Schecter RS-1000 acoustic guitar to raise money for the defense fund of three wrongfully-imprisoned Arkansas men. Damien Echols (who is on death row), Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr.—also known as the West Memphis Three (www.wm3.org) —were convicted for murdering three elementary school children in 1994.
This special guitar was not only designed to lead singer and guitarist Robert Smith’s specifications—maple body with spruce top, maple and rosewood neck and specially designed white pearl moon and star inlays—but it was also used in the studio by the musician this year.
The guitar is signed by all four-band members—Robert, Simon Gallup (bass), Jason Cooper (drums), and Porl Thompson (guitar); and features a unique Cure logo drawn by Thompson, who is responsible for the majority of the band’s artwork down the years. It also includes a “Free the West Memphis Three” message written by Smith.
The auction will last for 14 days—from December 11 (Echols’s birthday) to December 25—one day for each year the West Memphis Three have spent behind bars.
The starting bid for the instrument has been set at $999.
“It is my hope that through Skeleton Key Auctions, both funds and awareness will be raised about the travesty perpetrated on these three innocent men,” said Anje Vela, president of Music4Life. “Cases like the West Memphis Three’s are a blemish to our justice system. No innocent man or woman should be left to rot in prison without recourse, just because they lack the financial resources for a fair fight. Skeleton Key Auctions is grateful for bands such as The Cure who have generously donated to this cause.”
For further information about the guitar and to place a bid, log on to http://www.thecure.com or http://www.skeletonkeyauctions.com.
December 13, 2007 at 4:16 am
tamboosh
Wow! That’s amazing! I knew I loved The Cure for a reason.
May 28, 2008 at 11:56 pm
A Vela
For Immediate Release
West Memphis Three Supporters
Stage Events Worldwide
WM3 Awareness Fundraisers Will Attract Defenders from Around the Globe
May 22, 2008: San Francisco, CA — Supporters all over the world are working on West Memphis Three events, with events already being planned in more than 35 cities and 30 states, from Adelaide, Australia, Anchorage to Milwaukee, from Portland to Bay City, MI. The three Arkansas men, dubbed the West Memphis Three, were convicted of the 1993 murders of three elementary school children. Since Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky chronicled their trials in the HBO documentary, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, a groundswell of support has formed around Echols, Misskelley, and Baldwin—support that includes a wide array of artists such as Metallica, Henry Rollins, Eddie Vedder, Winona Ryder, Trey Parker, the creator of “South Park,” and Natalie Maines.
Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin—all teenagers at the time—were convicted in 1994 for the brutal murders of three eight-year-old boys (Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers) in West Memphis, Ark. despite flimsy circumstantial evidence—the bulk of which centered around the trio’s alleged involvement in a Satanic cult—and a questionable and factually-inaccurate confession extracted from mentally-challenged Misskelley—the three have been serving stiff prison sentences for over a decade. Misskelley was sentenced to life plus 40 years, Baldwin is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, and Echols—who was deemed the ringleader of the attacks thanks to his love of black clothing and Metallica—is currently on death row as he waits for the outcome of his appeals.
June 3, 2008 marks the 15th anniversary that Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley were arrested for murders they did not commit. In July 2007 DNA evidence proved these three young men should never have been convicted. New DNA evidence will be revealed at the upcoming hearings scheduled for September 8, 2008 – October 3, 2008.
Events to raise money for the West Memphis Three’s defense fund are scheduled to take place in cities all over the world. The events will take place from May 30, 2008 until October 31, 2008. For more information on these events, and the West Memphis Three’s case, log on to http://www.wm3.org.
For more information about these events, please contact Anje Vela or if interested in planning an event contact: velaent@gmail.com
“If we don’t hurry, if we don’t hustle, if we don’t raise money, if we don’t get them out eventually…soon we will know in this nation, by clear DNA evidence that we’ve killed an innocent man.” John Grisham
http://www.innocenceproject.org/news/playvideo.php?file=/Images/1359/grisham_fritz.wmv&title=Dennis%20and%20Peggy%20Dance,%20and%20John%20Grisham%20discusses%20The%20Innocent%20Man&time=03:07