Musicians Aim to Free the West Memphis 3

ByABC News
September 29, 2000, 8:15 PM

Sept. 29 -- Warning: This CD could kill you. It sounds dramatic, even far-fetched, but thats the message the bands and the label behind the Free the West Memphis 3 benefit CD hope to convey: The type of music you listen to could land you on death row.

The compilationwhich hits stores Oct. 10is an attempt to call attention to the arrests and convictions of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelleyand in the case of Echols, his death-penalty sentencing.

Known as the West Memphis Three, the teenagers were accused of the brutal 1993 murders of three small boys in the Robin Hood Hills neighborhood of West Memphis, Ark., in 1993 and were later tried and convicted, though there were no witnesses and no concrete physical evidence against them.

The trial, captured in the acclaimed documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders in Robin Hood Hills, saw prosecutors link Echols to Satanist writings, ignore alleged evidence that could have cleared the three boys, and call attention to the Anne Rice and Stephen King novels they read, the color of their clothes (black), and the type of music they listened toheavy metal.

Hopes For a New TrialThe artists and producers behind the Free the West Memphis Three CD, who include the Supersuckers, Eddie Vedder, Tom Waits, Rocket From the Crypt, The John Doe Thing, Joe Strummer + the Long Beach Dub All Stars, and Steve Earlehope to raise money that could assist Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley in receiving a new trial. It seems to us the injustices stemmed from the music these kids were listening to, and the solution may come from that as well, says Danny Bland of Aces & Eights Records. Along with label partner Scott Parker, Bland became interested in the plight of the West Memphis Three through The Child Murders, as well as its sequel, Paradise Lost II: Revelations.

Its such a music-oriented issue, Bland says of the conviction.