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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 20073
[Crime]
Date Posted:
9/25/2008
5:41:30 pm EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 17,996
RSS: 14,184
Comments: 4
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WM3: Witnesses Could Prove Alibi In Case Of Boys’ Slaying, Says Lawyer
Author: Associated Press Source: Texarkana Gazette
Title: WITNESSES COULD PROVE ALIBI IN CASE OF BOYS’ SLAYING, SAYS LAWYER
  A former lawyer for a man convicted of killing three West Memphis boys 15 years ago testified Wednesday that he knew of people who could have provided proof of his client’s innocence but he did not call them as witnesses.
Paul Ford, who represented Jason Baldwin at his 1994 trial, said that while Baldwin’s mother and an uncle could have provided an alibi for Baldwin, they would not have made good witnesses.
Ford spoke Wednesday at a hearing in Craighead County Circuit Court before Judge David Burnett on whether Baldwin received adequate legal representation during his 1994 trial in Jonesboro.
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Community Thoughts: There are 4 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Understandable... | Sep 27th. at 12:59:57 pm EDT
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Friday Scott (Middleton, Wisconsin) - Email Me
That a lot of Pagan folk resent the constant barrage of ignorance and defamation that come out of conservative Christians and areas like that.
Yes, it's all too easy to believe that someone under Pentecostal indoctrination might end up committing violence against our kids, cause in too many churches, they do in fact *teach* we deserve it.
When you've had enough of those types shouting *at* your kids, baselessly calling *you* evil, then, it does become sadly believable that someone might act out on it.
Frankly, the same prejudice that we hear so much of was applied to these kids over their manner of dress, ... just over being different.
There are a lot of fine people in the South, and yes, many of them Conservative Christians. Many of these fine people don't come gunning for us, but they can blithely believe you're a Satanic baby-killer or some degree of such while *still* feeling they're being very nice people.
So, while, yes, one shouldn't stereotype people as hicks, ...they're not actually the ones in danger of being sent to jail on trumped-up charges based in hysteria. There *is* an element of fear there that we do have to deal with, and some of us are all too familiar with the ways this can operate.
I don't think the answer is more division and mockery, but to try and draw an equivalence between how people who are actually-threatened might react to the very kinds of bigotry that contributed to this injustice, and how those who willfully rely on ignorance and abuse their power...
Well, I don't think that's quite fair, either.
Especially if you're *around* people who may be taught 'you need killin.' It's not always kind humor, but sometimes a bit of humor helps deal with the fears some actively try to create in and about us. Kind of comes with the territory of being a minority, however little many of us may be really used to thinking that way.
I agree that we ought to take the high ground with civility: that's just more productive, but neither am I in a hurry to rebuke people too harshly for 'reverse prejudice' especially under circumstances such as these.
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| Stop The Derisive Comments | Sep 27th. at 9:12:44 am EDT
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foreverknightfan (Dardanelle, Arkansas) - Email Me
I'm getting so sick of the hick stereotyping whenever this story comes up on Witchvox.. I've posted about this before on a similar WM3 article Wren posted. The regional derision comments are BIGOTED, spiteful and mean and uncalled for. We're supposed to be BETTER than that.
Why Wren allows such comments to be posted is beyond me.
As for the story, the first lawyer made a mistake in not allowing the alibi wiitnesses to take the stand. It would have cast doubt on the charges and claims by the prosecution, which might have helped Echols.
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| Stereotypes | Sep 26th. at 11:32:57 pm EDT
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Mysteries Child (Garfield, Arkansas) - Email Me
I doubt anyone would argue with the following statement: "Stereotypes, and fear, are largely responsible for the wrongful imprisonment of these men. It is wrong to stereotype people, or to act on those stereotypes because you are afraid."
Everybody on the same page???
OK. So... why is it OK to stereotype Arkansans (Alabamans/Missippians/Georgians/Carolinians/Missourians/Kentuckians/West Virginians/Texans/and People-Who-Live-In-Louisiana) as a bunch of bigoted, ignorant, inbred, banjo-pickin Fundie hicks???
Please bear in mind that this is coming from someone who believes that it is an unforgivable failure that she has not personally managed to get these guys freed in the two years she's lived in Arkansas.
I do not deny that fear based on stereotypes played a huge role in the fraudulent conviction. I do not argue that that was right, or even forgivable. These men are owed an acquittal, an apology, and 15 years of their lives back, with awards for pain and suffering. So far, the only person I've heard say "I'm really sorry" is an Arkansan. From West Virginia. Who sincerely believes that, since the State of Arkansas wither cannot or will not meet the requirement, the State of Arkansas has a debt to pay to the Universal Bank of Karma.
HOWEVER. Before anyone here climbs up on their high judgmental horse, consider the following hypothetical headline: "Pentecostal Teenagers Found Guilty In Beating Deaths of Wiccan Children."
Do you find it easy to believe??
Do you have to remind yourself to question it??
Did you remember to remind yourself to question it??
Was your first thought something along the lines of, "I knew it would happen-- they're all evil"??
Did you, on some base level, sort of want it to be true??
Do you consider yourself a bigot?? Would you describe yourself as a hateful person?? Are you a religionist??
I think the "hate" going on in this case, today, is that people in positions of authority hate the idea of admitting that they made a mistake so much that they'd rather kill one innocent man and let two more rot in prison than admit that, in their somewhat psychotic zeal to bring closure to a tragic case, they collectively FUB, f*ck*d up big.
Public ridicule, honestly, does nothing but exacerbate that problem, placing them more on the defensive and leaving them more and more emotionally invested in insisting that they were right.
People get railroaded in the Bronx, too, you know. And in Chicago, and in DC, and in Queens, and in LA, and et cetera. It's not limited to largely rural areas with a large percentage of conservative Christians and relatively low socioeconomic status.
*I* resent it, and I'm on *your* side. I could ask you to reconsider, if not your stance, then some of the terms you use to articulate it.
Or I could start making nasty jokes and comments about know-it-all city slickers.
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