LET ME BE CLEAR: I FIND IT REPUGNANT TO BEG A GOVERNOR TO PARDON MEN WRONGFULLY CONVICTED. BUT PLEASE CONSIDER: 1. Last week, a reporter asked the governor’s office about the petition I’m promoting. John Lyon of the Arkansas News Bureau reported that an aide to Gov. Mike Beebe responded that, “the governor has never issued a pardon to anyone who claimed innocence, believing that claims of innocence should be decided by the courts,” and that, “The way to obtain a true exoneration is through the court system.” 2. I agree. However, the West Memphis Three spent close to 20 years in “the court system” while they suffered in prison. Due to the Alford Plea the men signed—under duress—in 2011, “the court system” is now through with them. 3. At this moment, the State of Arkansas stands rock-solid on the claim that Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley murdered Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers—a contention that much of the rest of the world finds absurd. A pardon would not change that stance. BUT, it would represent the first official acknowledgement that this case somehow troubles the conscience of this state. 4. That would not be meaningless. First, it would begin to turn the course of this state’s shameful history with regard to this crime. Second, it could provide political cover for a prosecuting attorney inclined to reopen the investigation into the children’s murders—the necessary next step in restoring confidence in Arkansas’s interest in justice regarding this case. 5. Finally, while a pardon would be a terrifically imperfect action, it would at least be an action—and the right one at that. Since the men’s release from prison three years ago, this case has wallowed in in the big lie of their guilt, like a hog mired in muck. The state has freed these three convicted child-killers. Now the governor should pardon them. Then perhaps our courts could undertake a critical review, like after an airplane crash, to determine how this case went so dangerously off-course and how to prevent such disasters in the future. If Gov. Beebe opts not to grant these three pardons or take some other corrective action, hope for a new investigation into the murders is dimmed, the injustice visited on Jason, Damien and Jessie continues unabated, and Arkansas’s image will continue to suffer in the eyes of the world. (I suspect that Damien agrees with all or part of this, as he has signed the petition below and asked his FB followers to do the same.)
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 16:01:30 +0000
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