From The Archives: Burk Sauls Of The West Memphis Three Support Group1

by Lily Suicide

On May 5, 1993, three young boys, Chris Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch, were brutally murdered in the town of West Memphis, Arkansas. Grieving and looking for answers, the town allegedly bypassed evidence pointing at probable suspects. Instead, they prosecuted three teenage boys who were unconventional for the town of West Memphis. The boys, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Miskelly, wore black and listened to heavy metal music. They would later come to be known as the West Memphis Three.

There was what many critics call a coerced confession from Jessie Misskelly, who had a below average IQ. Jessie Miskelly recanted his statement the next day, stating that he had been put under extreme pressure and psychological warfare by the West Memphis police, but by then it was too late and the fate of three young men rested uneasily in the hands of the judicial system. They were convicted of murder in early ’’94. Jessie Miskelly got life plus 40, Jason Baldwin received life without parole and Damien Echols – at only 18 years of age – was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

Luckily, there were cameras in the courtroom, and they were used for the making of the HBO documentary Paradise Lost. Burk Sauls first saw Paradise Lost in August of ’96. He watched it and watched it again. At the end he was always left with the same feeling that many other people were left with: “with a lot of empty spaces, unanswered questions and doubts.” Many people became angry after watching Paradise Lost. Burk Sauls, Kathy Bakken, and Grove Pashley decided to do something about it. They launched the WM3.org website and the West Memphis Three support group, as well as eventually appearing in the sequel to the first HBO documentary, Paradise Lost 2.

I caught up with Burk to talk about the case, as well as Damien Echols’ memoir Almost Home, written on death row.

Read our exclusive interview with Burk Sauls Of The West Memphis Three Support Group on SuicideGirls.com.