'Life in a 6'' x 8'' Concrete Box Awaiting Execution'
Imagine spending a quarter of your adult life in the confines of a 6 x 8 feet concrete box? A small window is the only source of light in what is a very cold, dark and isolated room. Twenty, thirty, forty years is a long time. It is an especially long time when you are innocent of the crime that put you behind bars. A crime which will ultimately lead to your death. Welcome to life on death row. Not all are innocent but some are, including Damien Echols who spend exactly 18 years and 78 days on death row in Arkansas’ Varner Unit Supermax Prison.
"West Memphis Three Mugshot" by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_Three#/media/File:West_Memphis_Three_Mugshot.jpg
When word got out that three young boys had been murdered, news outlets across Arkansas whipped up into a frenzy[1]. It only took days before the media gave the homicide investigation a name – ‘the Robin Hood Hills Murders’, which quickly became a catch cry thanks to the 24 hour news cycle. Initial reports paid particular attention to the brutal nature of the murders[2]. Notable American media outlets such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and People Weekly were obsessed with possible links between the crimes and a satanic cult. A 1993 People Weekly article reported on a statement made to police from Misskelley, who described how ‘cult-like rituals’[3] were carried out just before the teenagers killed the three boy scouts. The New York Times article also fixated on these elements claiming that the three teenagers frightened residents in the town because of their so-called fascination with ‘devil worship’[4]. These were unfounded allegations based on a statement given by Jessie Misskelley who endured a 12 hour interrogation and only a fraction of it was recorded by the investigating police officers[5]. While, the articles mention that there were inconsistencies in Misskelley’s statement, neither news outlet made no attempt to highlight possible police coercion[6].
From the time that Echols was arrested in June 1993 up until his conviction, the mainstream media made no secret of their belief that he was guilty[7]. The Echols death row case reinforced Bock and Andres’ research – that news media coverage of capital punishment is rarely ever neutral[8]. The 1993 People Weekly article was a classic tale of sensationalism – Echols a gothic, high-school dropout, who worships the devil[9] was casted as the villain. All of this is purely circumstantial. Not according to the article which gives the impression that because Echols listened to heavy-metal music, liked the colour black and was sexually active he must be a murderer. And this came off the back of a couple of unnamed witnesses. In the New York Times similar accusations were also made about Echols’ character following his arrest[10].
'West Memphis Three', http://image.frompo.com/1f2a56de52c7c9eaf5192560ed0cd6d2
Furthermore, neither article provided context to Echols fascination with what was perceived to be ‘satanic worship’. Located at the heart of America’s ‘bible belt’, where men, women and children are ingratiated in an extreme Christian culture, it is hardly surprising that Echols immersed himself in heavy-metal music. Inevitably, minorities in small towns are perceived as outsiders whose behaviour, choice of ideology, cultural tastes and appearance threaten the dominant makeup of that particular community. In the case of Echols, his dissidence of Christianity and blatant disregard for community norms made him appear an evil and deranged sinner, the perfect target for a botched homicide investigation. This lack of key information coupled with the fact that the press were indulging in idle speculation, served to further prejudice Echols’ character creating the impression that he was guilty long before the trial ever began.
1994, http://www.3news.co.nz/world/3-men-convicted-in-1993-cub-scout-slayings-go-free-2011082017#axzz3bFbUB5Sq
At the time of Echols’ arrest in 1993, during the trial and his subsequent conviction on the 19th of March 1994, the American journalism establishment in general, failed in their responsibility to put Arkansas’ criminal justice system under the microscope. According to David Protess[11], this is because journalists simply relay information from law enforcement officials to the public, especially when someone has been arrested for the crime[12]. Fear of a murderer on the loose has been relieved and therefore, the public is not interested in hearing or reading contradictory evidence. It wasn’t until a number of investigative journalistic pieces – the documentary series titled ‘Paradise Lost’[13] and the publication of the book Devil’s Knot[14], that Echols’ death row case finally generated media scrutiny. By 1996, after two years in the media wilderness, the first Paradise Lost documentary was released and American news outlets decided to take another look at Echols’ conviction. For example a New York Times report which discussed the Paradise Lost film also began questioning the gothic stereotypes surrounding Echols’ character – in contrast to its initial reports three years earlier[15].
Gradually, American journalists became sympathetic to Echols’ plight thanks to a host of advocacy projects, journalistic investigations and celebrity endorsements. By 2004, even the state media amped up its support for Echols’ case to be reviewed with the Arkansas Times publishing a story that one of the prosecution’s star witnesses had fabricated her testimony due to police coercion[16]. On the 19th of August 2011, the Supreme Court accepted Echols and his counterparts Alfords plea[17] and the three were released from prison with time served. Undoubtedly, journalists played an instrumental role in pressuring the Arkansas criminal justice system to accept appeals from Echols’ defence team.
Olivia Fougeiro http://www.npr.org/2012/12/27/167867715/lies-death-and-redemption-in-memphis
Media scholar James Ettema argues that investigative journalism is fundamental in capital punishment cases and it must “stand ready to assert that what the majority decides may be wrong"[18]. The press must have the courage to challenge death penalty verdicts if it feels that doubt has been casted on the credibility of the court proceedings. It makes us wonder, would Echols and his two friends have been convicted if the media had done its job initially? Perhaps yes. What is important is that at some point this cycle of sensationalism and hysteria disintegrates, so that journalism can perform its role as a ‘fourth estate’.
[1] David Protess cited in Matthews, G 2011, ‘Media coverage of wrongful convictions shows distinct pattern’, Arkansas Times, http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/media-coverage-of-wrongful-convictions-shows-distinct-pattern/Content?oid=1892433, 31 August, viewed 26/05/15.
[2] David Protess cited in Matthews, G 2011, ‘Media coverage of wrongful convictions shows distinct pattern’, Arkansas Times, http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/media-coverage-of-wrongful-convictions-shows-distinct-pattern/Content?oid=1892433, 31 August, viewed 26/05/15.
[3] Lambert, P 1993, ‘Rites of Murder’, People Weekly Archive, 21 June, volume 39, issue 24, http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20110659,00.html.
[4] New York Times 1993, ‘3 Teen-Agers Accused in the Killings of 3 Boys’, New York Times, 6 June, viewed 20/05/2015, http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/06/us/3-teen-agers-accused-in-the-killings-of-3-boys.html
[5] Leveritt, Mara 2003D, ‘Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three’,
[6] Lambert, P 1993, ‘Rites of Murder’, People Weekly Archive, 21 June, volume 39, issue 24, http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20110659,00.html
[7] Lonnie Soury cited in Matthews, G 2011, ‘Media coverage of wrongful convictions shows distinct pattern’, Arkansas Times, http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/media-coverage-of-wrongful-convictions-shows-distinct-pattern/Content?oid=1892433, 31 August, viewed 26/05/15.
[8] Bock, A.M. & Araiza Andres, J 2014, ‘Facing the Death Penalty While Facing the Cameras', Journalism Practice, volume 9, issue 3, p322.
[9] Lambert, P 1993, ‘Rites of Murder’, People Weekly Archive, 21 June, volume 39, issue 24, http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20110659,00.html.
[10] New York Times 1993, ‘3 Teen-Agers Accused in the Killings of 3 Boys’, New York Times, 6 June, viewed 20/05/2015, http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/06/us/3-teen-agers-accused-in-the-killings-of-3-boys.html
[11] Professor of journalism at the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University.
[12] Matthews, G 2011, ‘Media coverage of wrongful convictions shows distinct pattern’, Arkansas Times, http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/media-coverage-of-wrongful-convictions-shows-distinct-pattern/Content?oid=1892433, 31 August, viewed 26/05/15.
[13] Three documentaries: Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996), Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000), and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011), directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky.
[14] Mara Levitt 2002, ‘Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three’, Simon and Schuster, New York.
[15] Rosenberg, H 1995, ‘Heavy-Metal Monsters?’, New York Times, 10 June, viewed 26/05/15, http://articles.latimes.com/1996-06-10/entertainment/ca-13465_1_heavy-metal
[16] Hackler, T 2004, ‘Complete fabrication: a Crucial Witness Says Her testimony in the West Memphis Three Case Wasn't True, But a Product of Police Pressure to Get Results in the Death of Three Children’ Arkansas Times, p1-5, 7 October, viewed 26/05/15, http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/complete-fabrication/Content?oid=1886107
[17] Is a formal legal admission of neither guilt nor innocence but recognises that the prosecution had enough evidence to convict them: Legal Information Institute 1992, ‘Alford Plea’, Cornell University Law School, viewed 20/05/2015, https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/alford_plea
[18] Ettema, S. J 2007, ‘Journalism as Reason-Giving: Deliberative Democracy, Institutional Accountability, and the News Media’s Mission’, Political Communications, volume 24, issue 2, p146.
