DNA could clear 'Satanic' triple murder teenagers

[Eugene]

Source: The Observer

DNA could clear 'Satanic' triple murder teenagers

After 15 years, the verdict in case that shocked
America is denounced as a travesty of justice

Paul Harris in New York
Sunday November 4, 2007
The Observer

The horrific crime shocked a nation. Three young boys,
cub scouts, were tied up, murdered and their naked bodies
dumped in a drainage ditch.

As a Deep South community bayed for justice, attention
focused on a group of misfit teenagers, heavy metal fans
accused of killing the children in a Satanic ritual. The
case became a sensation at a time when a 'Satanic panic'
over cults was gripping 1990s America. All three were
found guilty. Jason Baldwin, then 16, and Jessie
Misskelley, 17, got life sentences. Damien Echols, 18,
was put on death row, where he remains.

Now evidence, including DNA samples, has emerged to
suggest the real killers are still at large and that three
innocent men have been behind bars for almost 15 years.
'No reasonable juror would convict... knowing what we
know today,' said defence lawyer Dennis Riordan.

-snip-

Read more: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2204901,00.html

[Quantess]

1. Watch "Paradise Lost" about this case.