Captain Jack and the West Memphis Three*
Posted by BKisida | Arkansas, Politics | February 26, 2010
The CBS News show 48 Hours Mystery will have Johnny Depp as a guest this Saturday and the topic will be the West Memphis Three case. Depp, like many people around the world, believes that Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jesse Miskelley are not guilty of the crimes they were convicted of.
I can’t imagine how they could possibly try and summarize this case into an hour-long show. The story has been developing since 1993, and two documentary films and a great book by Arkansas author Mara Leveritt have been devoted to the complexities of this story. I urge Arkansans to watch the 48 hours episode, which will air Saturday night at 9 pm.
*UPDATE: Here’s the full episode. I actually think they did a pretty good job of condensing the important elements into a one hour show.
Also, Arkansans should be aware that the prosecutor in the video (the one sporting the moustache who says that on a scale of 1 to 10, the integrity of his case is an 11) is John Fogleman, a current candidate for the Arkansas State Supreme Court. He’s going to have a hard time, as he should, overcoming supporters of the West Memphis Three. Mara Leveritt sufficiently makes the case against Fogelman’s candidacy here.
Thanks, Brian. I’ll probably skip this show for the reasons you cite, but I’m looking forward to the third installment of HBO’s Paradise Lost (whenever that may be).
Someone should also shoot a doc of Leveritt’s Boys on the Tracks, which, if you haven’t read, is just a notch less scandalous than the West Memphis case.