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THREE MEN sentenced to death and life sentences for the killing of three young boys 18 years ago are set to be released after agreeing a plea bargain with US authorities.
Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Junior were all convicted of killing three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis in 1993. Echols was sentenced to death, while the other two were serving life sentences.
The men still maintain they are innocent, but say they pleaded guilty to first degree murder because it was the best thing for them.
Speaking at a press conference today, Echols said he was a little overwhelmed at being among so many people again having spent so long in ‘virtually’ solitary confinement. He said the group would “still try to clear our names. The only difference is now we can do it from the outside instead of having to sit in prison and do it.”
Jesse Miskelley Senior said he wasn’t sure what his son has planned for after his release, but that they would be having a party that night. He said he wants ten buckets of chicken when he gets out, he told WREG.com.
Misskelley said he was worried about his safety in prison every single day. Baldwin said justice had not been done and said the authorities are still not trying to find who really murdered those boys.
Baldwin’s lawyer said his client had resisted going through with the agreement “as a matter of principal”, but that he had done an honourable thing by helping to take another person off death row (meaning Echols).
A lawyer for Echols said that today’s decision indicates the state’s acceptance that the men were innocent. He said that no reasonable jury would convict these defendants at a new trial, given the new evidence that had turned up since the original case.
The three men are being released on ten years’ probation. The AP reports that a legal move known as the Alford Plea means that despite changing their plea, the three men can maintain their claims of innocence.
The trio were the subject of a 1996 HBO documentary, Paradise Lost, which generated support for a campaign calling for their release.
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The report suggests the reason for the continued practice was linked to the “unswervingly Catholic ethos” of the hospital at the time. The hospital had an absolute ban on artificial contraception, even when it became both legal and broadly accepted in other hospitals.
The amount of damage ‘Catholic ethos’ has done to vulnerable communities here is almost incalculable.
There is still a ban on the prescription of contraception in hospitals with a catholic ethos.
The list of tertiary hospitals without a catholic ethos is pretty short.
It is ironic that the Catholic hierarchy are swanning around the RDS preaching redemption whilst these women are in chronic pain as a result of their policies.
And yet no sign of any apology, not a peep out of them. Disgusting.
I find this article very difficult to read . I suffer from chronic pain , but the pain and upset that was done to these women …on purpose, is deplorable. All thanks to religious ”values” where they preach that the family is all important. Yet they damaged irreparably ,one of the life and care givers in these families. Episiotomies were bad enough but ffs this is nightmarish. Some hospitals were against the epidural due to the ”ethos” of the same hospital until relatively recently…
I hope these women get satisfaction or acknowledgement of some sort or other and as another poster has said , there the good old catholic church are having a conference a few km’s away from these ladies ,enough said .
The ”unswervingly Catholic ethos” of the hospital at the time resulted in these women being mutilated and maimed for life. The unswervingly Catholic ethos of the country at the time also resulted in children being tortured, raped, buggered and incarcerated.
The legacy of this Institution is appalling and while the current consensus seems to indicate a less ”spiritual” attachment to the regime and a selective rejection of it’s dogma 84% of the Irish people are happy to associate themselves with, what now appears to be considered, it’s cultural legacy! Unbelievable!!
What will it take to remove the ‘ethos’ excuse in hospitals and schools that has caused so much damage to the people who these facilities were set-up to help and protect? Not one state school or hospital in the UK or France has this requirement and it does not impact one way or the other on the delivery of services. Doctors have their own ethos to apply to, teachers who complete a HDip could also fulfil an oath to protect and educate children, and that should be the end of it – remove these parasite from their only vestige of control, and let people decide their belief based on their belief, not access to service.
The list of tertiary hospitals WITHOUT a catholic ethos is pretty short. Within the catholic hospitals the prescription of contraception is technically not allowed.
this procedure was used on me in castlepollard and here in uk a couple of doctors commented while i was in labour but i never fully understood till i looked it up today and yes it fits with my constant aches and pains ..running the loo .. i had pre enclampsia and went blind as the supposed nurse smith came towards me i was 16 yrs old been in labor since friday mornng its now monday afternoon .. then i go blind .. 24 hrs later i come round .. in chronic pain and hips killing .. other girls never mentioned anything to me .. its been in my head for years that my pelvic bone area is in 2 halves almost as it moves if i say try and move something with my foot as leverage i cannot it feels like its come apart …ive had those suspisions for years and what with the doctors comments it all adds up
whoever made these decisions and for whatever reasons is almost certainly never going to be fully understood . the important thing now is that all of the incredibly brave women who endured this barbaric procedure , including my own lovely mom ,are treated with the dignity and respect that they so deserve . the government need to stand up and look after the ladies now . give them access to their medical files, redress through the courts and proper medical care .
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