What Was The Fault In The Case Of West Memphis Three

In 1993, the fifth of May started out as just another typical day for the community of West Memphis. But as sunlight turned into darkness, the seemingly innocent day unveiled a series of horrific events that would forever carry on in infamousy. Earlier within those 24 hours, three 8-year-old boys went on a bike ride in the Robin Hood Hills area but never returned home. The worried parents of Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Hobbs soon contacted the police officials after noticing a great lapse in time since the last sighting of their boys. Following the news of the missing children, a search party was assembled and, together, the West Memphis residents and police department combed through the wooded area where the boys were last

One of the main pieces of evidence that prosecutors used against the West Memphis Three relied on the confession given by Jessie Misskelley. This so-called “confession” consisted of a story that placed both Echols and Baldwin at the scene of the crime, included information directly fed to Misskelley, and above all, contained major discrepancies within the story Misskelley provided versus the events that actually took place. During the first recorded confession, Misskelley incorrectly identified the time of the murder more than once, claiming that the “events took place about 9:00 a.m. on May 5” and later “chang[ing] that time to 12:00 noon,” which was still incorrect(). He also mentioned that “[the three boys] had skipped school that day,” when, in fact, they had attended class and were accounted for, along with misidentifying the item used to tie up the boys, claiming the item was rope when it was actually shoelaces that were used(). Misskelley also implied that the victims were raped, though no evidence supported his indication. Misskelley’s confession proves to be an inaccurate and non credible source due to major inconsistencies that follow the failure of alignment of the times and events that took place on the day of the murder. The reason behind these fallacious claims is most likely attributed to a coerced confession on behalf of the police officials involved in the interrogation process. Misskelley, who had been diagnosed with borderline brain functioning and holds an IQ of 72, was suspected of being coached information by the West Memphis police department in order to