I have been meaning to make a brief mention of an article last weekend in the NYTimes about the West Memphis 3. For those not familiar with the West Memphis 3, the name refers to the three teen-age defendants convicted in 1994 of the murders of three young boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. According to the Times, the " convictions were based on an error-riddled confession by [one of the defendants], who later recanted, and testimony about satanic cults. Scant physical evidence was presented." The criminal case was the subject of the truly affecting documentary Paradise Lost and its sequel Paradise Lost 2. I now see that another sequel is on the way.
The article itself doesn't really focus on the legal proceedings, it's more about how new developments in the case have affected the residents of West Arkansas.
After reading the article, I did some research on the legal stuff and I did see that there is a pending habeas case for one of the defendants. Currently, that same defendant also has a pending collateral proceeding before the Arkansas Supreme Court. It appears that the habeas case was stayed until the state remedies are fully exhausted. The other two defendants still have pending state collateral proceedings at the trial court level.
But the article got me thinking about my favorite documentaries about criminal cases. There was a stretch where I was watching nothing but documentaries, so I did get through a bunch of those. I think outside of Paradise Lost, the other two that I enjoyed the most were Brother's Keeper and The Thin Blue Line.
Brother's Keeper was by the same directors as the Paradise Lost movies, so I guess you can say that I am a fan of their flicks (except for Blair Witch Project 2: Book of Shadows). It really is a astonishingly moving film. I highly recommend it. While there are no habeas angles to the case, it does take place in upstate New York, so there is some connection to the issues here. Sort of.
The Thin Blue Line was directed by Errol Morris. He really has his own storytelling style, which makes the movie really fascinating. He uses a lot of crime scene re-enactments, which was trailblazing at the time it was made. As for any habeas angles, I was not able to find any. I don't think it ruins the movie to say that the defendant was later exonerated and set free. But that appears to have been done through a state court collateral proceeding.
Anyways, it looks like its going to be a dreary weekend weather-wise around here in New York, which is probably why I got movies on the mind.
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