Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three

Justice Knot #1

by Mara Leveritt

In 2011, one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American legal history was set right when Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley were released after eighteen years in prison. Award-winning journalist Mara Leveritt's The Devil's Knot remains the most comprehensive, insightful reporting ever done on the investigation, trials, and convictions of three teenage boys who became known as the West Memphis Three.

For weeks in 1993, after the murders of three eight-year-old boys, police in West Memphis, Arkansas seemed stymied. Then suddenly, detectives charged three teenagers--alleged members of a satanic cult--with the killings. Despite the witch-hunt atmosphere of the trials and a case that included stunning investigative blunders, a confession riddled with errors, and an absence of physical evidence linking any of the accused to the crime, the teenagers were convicted. Jurors sentenced Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley to life in prison and Damien Echols, the accused ringleader, to death. The guilty verdicts were popular in their home state--even upheld on appeal--and all three remained in prison until their unprecedented release in August 2011.

With close-up views of its key participants, this award-winning account unravels the many tangled knots of this endlessly shocking case, one that will shape the American legal landscape for years to come.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, History, Mystery, Audiobook, Book Club

419 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 2002

About the author

Mara Leveritt is an Arkansas reporter best known as the author of Devil’s Knot (Atria 2002) and Dark Spell, (Bird Call Press 2013), the first books of her intended Justice Knot Trilogy about three Cub Scouts who were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas and the case of the three teenagers who were convicted of the murders and then, 18 years later--and after pleading guilty--were abruptly set free. A 2013 feature film staring Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon and Stephen Moyer is based on Devil's Knot. Leveritt’s earlier book, The Boys on the Tracks, (St. Martin’s Press 1998, republished by Bird Call Press, 2011) focused on the political intrigue surrounding the still-unsolved murders of two Arkansas teenagers.
Leveritt is a contributing editor at Arkansas Times, where she has written extensively about the prosecution of Tim Howard, an African-American man, for the murder of his best friends, who were white. After Howard spent almost 15 years on death row, a court found that state officials had not released potentially exculpatory evidence to his defense lawyers at trial--a violation of law. A new trial has been scheduled for September 2014.
Leveritt also blogs on her website about law, police, courts, and prisons. She has won several awards for her writing and posts the photo here of herself in cap and gown because she is so unabashedly proud of her honorary doctorate of humane letters from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
As Leveritt is new to Goodreads, she has started by adding books that influenced her to her bones.

Reviews

[Brentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a prosecuting attorney (I put bad guys in jail), and I regularly work closely with the police on investigations. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone (judge, attorney, cop) involved in criminal investigations with life or death consequences. I think I read half the book with my mouth hanging open because I was so shocked at the conduct of the police and so incredibly disappointed at the prosecutors who presented the case in spite of such glaring issues.

There is always pressure to catch the bad guys, particularly when the criminal conduct is as horrifying as what happened to the victims in this case, but as a prosecutor, my biggest nightmare isn't failing to catch the bad guys, it's incorrectly catching a good guy. In all honesty, I don't believe Jesse Misskelley or Jason Baldwin were involved, but I'm still not sure about Echols (not because he was goth). Regardless, the one thing I AM sure about is that there's no way ANY of these guys got anything that any ethical prosecutor or judge could remotely call a fair trial, and I am glad that they were finally released.

[Johann (jobis89) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“This story is a children’s tragedy. The victims - and there were many - were all minors.”

If you like your books to leave you full of absolute rage at the criminal justice system and sincerely concerned about how people can get locked away on pretty much zero evidence, look no further than Devil’s Knot.

The case of the West Memphis Three is an incredibly popular one, and I think it resonates with a lot of my followers in particular, as quite a few of us like to wear black clothing or band tees and read Stephen King and have an interest in the occult. Does this suggest we are capable of murder? Well, the prosecutors of this case seem to think so. Bear in mind, this did take place almost 30 years ago in what has been described as a narrow-minded town, but that doesn’t lessen how absolutely fucking terrifying this case is.

With her journalist background, Levitt has penned an incredibly consuming and immersive account of what happened over the course of this trial. Even if you have watched all of the Paradise Lost documentaries, there is still new information in here. She does not leave any stone unturned. Nor does she necessarily force her own opinion on you, she merely gives you all the facts and leaves you to decide for yourself what you think happened.

My one minor grievance is that the book only covers events up until 2001. There is a short update from 2011, but I would really love a newer version of this book, as I would love more on the suspicions surrounding Terry Hobbs.

In case it isn’t obvious, I absolutely loved it. A new true crime favourite and I would highly recommend to all my fellow junkies. Just be warned - you will get fucking angry. 5 stars.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remind me not to wear a black t-shirt next time I'm in Arkansas. For those who have seen the two "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" documentaries, you should know that the films barely scratched the tip of the iceberg. For those unfamiliar with the case, in 1993 in the town of West Memphis, three 8-year-old boys were found murdered in a ditch near a truck stop. The unbelievable investigative and judicial shit-show that followed resulted in three teenagers being convicted, with no physical evidence whatsoever, other than the fact that they were into Metallica and one of the kids checked a book on Wicca out of the library. The cops decided the motive for the killing was that the teens were in a satanic cult and the murders were a a ritual killing, even though there was no sign of occult activity at the scene. The book piles on maddening details of the "amateur justice metted out" (according to Henry Rollins's blurb on the back cover), such as the initial coerced--then recanted--confession by one of the convicts (a kid with a borderline mentally retarded IQ) whose 12-hour interrogation (only 45 minutes of which was recorded) was filled with inaccuracies, the constant blockings by the biased trial judge of anything the defense did to help their clients, leaks to the media, numerous second-hand witnesses who all admitted to lying after the fact, the prosecutors calling to the stand an "occult expert" who was then revealed by the defense to have gotten his PHD through the mail, random sticks and knives brought in to the jury as "evidence" that had no fingerprints, dna, blood, etc., numerous other suspects not followed up on by the police (many of whom were under investigation themselves for corruption prior to the case), and so on and so forth.

[Sharon Orlopp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book from cover to cover on an international flight. Even though the West Memphis Three have received a lot of attention and press, I wasn't fully aware of all the details until I read Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three. Author, Mara Leveritt, was a contributing editor to the Arkansas Times. She has won the Arkansas Booker Worthen Prize twice for her investigative journalism that resulted in her two books, Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three and The Boys on the Tracks: Death, Denial, and a Mother's Crusade to Bring Her Son's Killers to Justice. I definitely want to read The Boys on the Tracks: Death, Denial, and a Mother's Crusade to Bring Her Son's Killers to Justice.

In 1993, three eight-year-old boys were brutally murdered, and their bodies were discovered submerged in water in the Robin Hood woods. Three teenage boys, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Miskelley, were arrested 30 days later with flimsy, circumstantial evidence regarding possible satanic cult rituals.

The police investigation, the judge, the attorneys, the press....you name it, it factored against the young boys/men.

There were several documentaries and movies made about the West Memphis Three including: Paradise Lost (1, 2, and 3), West of Memphis, and Devil's Knot. The early Paradise Lost documentaries raised awareness and public interest. Metallica and several heavy metal bands got together and created a concert and CD focused on the West Memphis Three.

Highly recommend!

[jv poore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Want a book that will make you so mad you want to punch someone in the face? Detailing an almost deliberate, definitely despicable, miscarriage of justice DEVIL'S KNOT will either have you reaching out to help innocence projects or forever burying your head in the sand.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

[The prosecutor] is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done. As such, he is in a peculiar and very definite sense the servant of the law, the twofold aim of which is that guilt shall not escape or innocence suffer…
- Berger v. U.S., 295 U.S. 78, 88 (1935) (Justice Sutherland delivering the opinion of the Court)


The eighteen-year saga of the West Memphis Three began on May 5, 1993, when three eight year-old boys (Steve Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers) were reported missing in the town of West Memphis, Arkansas. The boys’ bodies were discovered hogtied in a drainage ditch. They had been beaten to death; one boy, it seemed, had been mutilated (much later, experts would say this wound was likely caused post-mortem, by animals). Soon, suspicion centered on three teenage suspects: Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin. The motive derived by police seemed tailor-made to garner headlines. The three young boys, they claimed, had been sacrificed as part of a satanic ritual, orchestrated by Damien Echols.

And why not? The boys were outsiders. They were weirdoes. They wore black and listened to Metallica and probably painted their nails on occasion. In a predominantly staid and Evangelical community like West Memphis, it was tantamount to a declaration of guilt.

The facts guaranteed national headlines. The press descended on West Memphis. There was a distinct lack of forensic evidence. No blood stains or fingerprints or DNA. Misskelley, who is developmentally disabled, was convicted based on a questionable “confession” in which the interrogators supplied much of the information. Echols and Baldwin faced equally-questionable snitches. Infamously, the State called a mail-order PhD to testify as to the occult. All three boys had alibis. Nothing tied them to the crime scene. Other than satanic hysteria, they had absolutely no motive for murder. Nonetheless, they were convicted. Echols was sentenced to die.

That should have been the end of the story.

The evidence was flimsy, but evidence-light convictions happen every day. Baldwin and Misskelley should have grown ancient in prison. Echols should have been poisoned in the death chamber.

There was a variable, though. A variable that most criminal defendants don’t get.

Documentary filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky had covered the whole thing. Granted unprecedented (and probably inappropriate access), the documentarians released Paradise Lost in 1996. Critical praise was wildly positive. More importantly, it inspired activists to demand a harder look at the case. These activists, including celebrities such as Metallica, the Dixie Chicks, and Peter Jackson, worked tirelessly to keep Echols, Misskelley, and Baldwin from being forgotten. Eventually, a crack legal team, using an Arkansas statute regarding new evidence, won their clients a new trial. Before that trial began, the State of Arkansas offered a rare deal called an Alford plea. The defendants pled guilty while still maintaining their innocence; the judge sentenced them to time served. They were released, though as felons.

This incredible story has been well-covered. Berlinger and Sinofsky made two follow-ups to Paradise Lost. Jackson funded a separate documentary called West of Memphis. All four films are excellent, and show you everything you need to know about the West Memphis Three.

Accordingly, Mara Leveritt’s The Devil’s Knot is at a distinct disadvantage. First off, however good her book is, it is going to be compared (and found lacking) to the Paradise Lost trilogy. Secondly, The Devil’s Knot was published in 2002, five years before new DNA evidence came to light. This is a case that lasted a generation, and Leveritt’s book arrived right in the middle of the story. Not only does it lack a conclusion, but it misses the cases’ biggest twists and turns.

Leveritt was an Arkansas journalist who covered the original trials of the West Memphis Three. To her unending credit, she was one of the few local reporters who questioned the convictions. In fact, she cameos in Revelations: Paradise Lost 2. Even though The Devil’s Knot is hopelessly outdated, her role in the larger story is important to note.

I knew the limitations of The Devil’s Knot before I got it. As a defense attorney, I’m a huge fan of Paradise Lost, but a documentary can’t cover everything. I had certain professional questions regarding the trials that I hoped Leveritt could answer. And she did. Anyone interested in the WM3 is well advised to read this, if solely to understand the legal maneuverings that never made it to the film. Many wrongful conviction cases come about because of inadequate defense work. I’ve heard of capital cases out of Texas and Louisiana where untried, untested, or uninterested attorneys are roped into defending life-or-death cases. That didn't happen here. West Memphis justice leaves a lot to be desired, but you can’t fault the men appointed to represent those teenagers. Leveritt does a good job showing the uphill climb they faced with a judge who didn't seem to understand the adversarial process.

The trial takes up about two-thirds of the book’s length. The final third is kind of a mishmash, covering the initial appeals and life behind bars. Leveritt also attempts to shift blame to a different suspect, but does so in a confused and unfocused manner. (Her suspect is likely not the actual killer).

I’m not going to recommend The Devil’s Knot, save for WM3 completists. In the end, it is a victim of the momentum it initially helped create. The story kept on after publication, and those subsequent events render this effort nearly moot.

Thus ends the book review. Now comes the movie review. I can’t recommend the Paradise Lost trilogy and West of Memphis enough. What happened to those three young boys accused of killing three young boys has important implications that need to be addressed.

I’m old fashioned in that I believe that the criminal justice system was designed to protect citizens from government overreach. We have safeguards so that the State can only strip you of your liberty after surmounting a very high bar. I also like to believe, again, due to my old fashioned nature, that the State is dispassionate; that the State is interested only in justice; that the State would gladly rectify errors that come to light because the State should have no interest in keeping innocent citizens in prison.

As Justice Sutherland wrote in Berger v. U.S., all the way back in 1935, the prosecutor: “May prosecute with earnestness and vigor…But while he may strike hard blows, he is not at liberty to strike foul ones. It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one.”

Alas, my desires, and those of George Sutherland, are often not fulfilled in court. We talk a lot of the systemic flaws in our criminal justice edifice. That is all well and good, because there are serious race and class prejudices baked into the punitive pie. Here, though, the breakdown is less systemic and almost all human. It came down to individual decisions made for individual reasons; not individuals representing the State, or the law, in all its perceived majesty. Starting with Inspector Gary Gitchel telling the press his certainty about the WM3’s guilt was “11” on a scale of ten, the West Memphis Police painted themselves into a corner where those accused must be guilty, no matter what. I don’t think the prosecutors did this – at first – to simply frame Echols, Misskelley, and Baldwin. They probably truly believed they were guilty, and thereupon used dubious means to prove it, all the while closing their senses to all exculpatory evidence. Far worse is the continuing insistence by the State, its prosecutors, and the judge, that they convicted the actual killers. The position is long past untenable, yet they cling to it.

The State, you see, is not dispassionate. It is, rather, made up of men and women with reputations to defend; men and women who have to live with themselves, and so convince themselves they are blameless; men and women who would rather perpetuate a mistake than to fix it. There are a lot of ways to change the system, but the hardest thing might be changing human nature.

[Misty Marie Harms · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I could have jumped back in time I would have body slammed majority of the people involved with this case. The prison time would have been worth it. Meet Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley who spent 18 years in prison for killing three boys, in 1993. The only thing is they didn't commit the crime. But why should that matter in West Memphis. Convinced the boys were in a satanic cult they were railroaded straight to prison, and in Damien Echols case, death row. Finally in August 2011 they were released. This case is shocking and shows how easy it is to be convicted for a crime you didn't commit.

😾😾😾😾

[Mary Books and Cookies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuck the police, fuck the prosecutors, fuck the fucking judge.
I've never been this angry after reading about a case.
All the children involved in this deserved better. All of them.

[Daniel Koehler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I live in Little Rock and have met Mara several times. She is a terrific investigative journalist and writer of non-fiction. I read her "The Boys on the Tracks" about the suspicious deaths of two young boys for political expediency during the Clinton Administration in Arkansas. A marvelous and chilling book.

Devil's Knot is the story of the West Memphis Three, three Delta teenagers convicted of the ghastly murders of three third graders in 1992, The story is highlighted by gross incompetence on the part of the police dept and the kangaroo courtroom tactics of Judge Burnett, who it appears, had made up his mind about the outcome of the trial before it began. Mara states in the foreword that the case is a direct parallel to the Salem witch trials in MA in the 17th century. Damien Echols was targeted as a "satanic cultist" based on the mere fact that he wore all black and checked out Cotton Mather's book on Witchcraft from the library. He was given the death sentence for killing three 8yr old boys based on the coerced confession of a 67 IQ co-defendant who was denied counsel and "confessed" after 11 hours of interrogation in which he contradicted himself several times over.

Subsequent evidence cleared the defendants in 2011 but not without them serving 18 years in prison, with Damien Echols serving this time on death row. Napoleon Bonaparte said, "Never ascribe to malice what may be best explained by incompetence." However, in this case, the corruption of the justice and law-enforcement apparatus in West Memphis makes me certain incompetence alone was hardly the best explanation.

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just keep shaking my head at the absurdity of this court case. It's a total witch hunt with obvious hate mongers.
The murder of three eight-year old boys needed solving. It was a backwoods southern town that did not accept nonconformity. It had a high Christian population, so it expected everyone to believe in a blonde headed, blue eyed Christ. Country music ruled the airwaves. And there was no such thing as mental illness.
These three boys, because that's what they were, BOYS, were railroaded by the system that was put in place to protect the rights of all citizens. ALL citizens regardless of differences or abilities. They weren't perfect. They had petty crime records. But they were hated because they wore black, listened to heavy metal, painted their nails, and wrote poetry. One researched alternative religions. None were satanists. Yes, there was a hate crime perpetrated. It was perpetrated against these three teenagers. So not only do we have the heinous homicide of the boys in the woods, there was the unjustified persecution of Damian, Jessie, and Jason.
I understand there is a second book that picks up from the appeals? I'm reading that asap
I know how the story ends but I still feel so irate

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is phenomenal.

I have followed this case for so many years...I live in Memphis, so this happened about 20 miles from my house. I remember everything so vividly and this book is a dead on accurate RELEVANT gem.

If you don't know anything about the West Memphis Three...this book is an excellent starter.

on a side note, I got to meet Damien last month at a book signing in Oxford, MS. and he was a charming humble and very well spoken man. It was a pleasure to get to listen to him speak.

But I digress, Read This Book.

[Ellen Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hefty wallop of a book, Devil's Knot will FUCK YOUR BRAIN UP and make you like it. It's true crime in the best sort of way; horrifically true and sad and it will grab you by the metaphorical balls and never let go.

[Rheama Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

* Long review. Not sorry. The book / topic are worthy. *

Devil's Knot is a crystal clear analysis of the West Memphis Three investigation and trial. An alphabetized index and four hundred fifty footnotes leave no room to question the integrity of Mara Leveritt's research. Every source is cited, a breath of fresh air in a case swamped in hearsay and gossip.

My thoughts …

Jessie Misskelley

Seeing his "confession" word for word on paper is painful. Every time Jessie's story doesn't fit the evidence (which is most of the time), investigators gloss over his statement and put words in his mouth to continue their own narrative. For example, Jessie repeatedly said he went home. Every single time, a detective interjected with something like, "So when you went back to the scene the boys were tied up?"

Jessie agreed with every suggestion. Why? Because, unfortunately, Jessie has a low IQ, and he wanted the reward money to buy his father a new truck. Despite the investigators best coaching efforts, Jessie never fully caught on to what they wanted him to say. Multiple problems remained with the confession including time of day, manner of death, binding material, and descriptions of sexual assault that were not confirmed by autopsy.

Jessie recanted this confession and maintained his innocence throughout his trial. After being sentenced to life, Jessie flipped again, claiming the confession was actually legitimate.

Leveritt puts this choice in context. Damien and Jason were about to be tried, and prosecutors were desperate to get Jessie's confession back in good standing. They needed his eyewitness account to compensate for their lack of evidence. To this end, they met with him outside of Dan Stidham's presence and promised a jailhouse visit from his girlfriend, Susie, if only he would testify to his original statements.

We've already established that Jessie is short-sighted and easy to manipulate. He agreed to this “deal,” but in the end, he decided not to testify against Damien and Jason.

Victoria Hutcheson

Speaking of that reward money, years later Vicki admitted she lied about Damien taking her to a satanic ritual. Her true motive should have been clear from the start considering she didn't even know Damien but offered herself up to investigators as a self-appointed undercover agent anyway.

Vicki manipulated her friend, Jessie, into an introduction by saying she wanted to hook up with Damien. At the time, she was thirty-two and Damien was a teenager. The West Memphis PD was totally on board with that creepy idea and even suggested Vicki put a tape recorder in her bedroom. Nothing came of it except a lot of lies on the stand. Which leads me to wonder ...

What. In the hell. Was wrong. With the West Memphis Police Department?

I mean besides extracting a shady confession from a mentally challenged individual and encouraging a grown woman to seduce a kid. Oh, and stealing seized drug money and firearms from the department stash, but that's another story.

A lot of people in this department either knowingly built a case against three innocent boys OR they were hysterical enough to convince themselves of their guilt. Either option is terrifying. Given the culture and climate of the time and place, I wouldn’t be surprised if they truly believed they were putting satanic murderers behind bars.

West Memphis, Arkansas

“A friend of the Misskelley family said that Jessie 'wasn't into Satanic worship. He was into country music.'" Let that statement marinate for a second.

He wasn't into Satanic worship. He was into country music.

If I have to point out the flaw in this logic, get off my Goodreads right now.

Leveritt does an excellent job depicting local opinion about this case. From magazine and newspaper articles that reported gossip as fact to family members of the victims who publicly stated they didn't understand the point of a trial. "Just fry them already."

The defendants’ taste in music and books (Metallica and Stephen King … gasp) was a hot topic of discussion both before and during the trial. People genuinely seemed to find this information relevant to the murders. Not to mention that Damien had eleven black t-shirts. What kind of defense attorneys would allow this kind of questioning in the courtroom?

Court appointed lawyers with little to no experience, that's who.

To be fair, these lawyers were forced to spend hundreds of hours working a case with no guarantee of appropriate compensation. The prosecutor flooded them with irrelevant paperwork, refusing to provide only the material they planned to use in trial. The judge was clearly (shockingly, some might say) biased in favor of the prosecution, repeatedly ruling against the defense in all matters great and small. Dan Stidham couldn't even get Jessie's error riddled confession thrown out.

To be clear, the prosecutors didn't fully expect to win a conviction for Jason and Damien. They knew the evidence was scarce and fallible.

But they needn't have worried. Even with all the facts on their side, the defense faced a community of angry citizens, ready to take a pitchfork to the accused. In hindsight, it was a losing battle. The verdict was decided long before the trial began, and the evidence was irrelevant.

Jason Baldwin

This poor guy. One month before the murders, Jason completed a writing assignment for school about whether he would choose to be someone else. He said no because his one special talent was art, and he was satisfied with that. He hoped to earn an art degree. He also wrote about finding his mother after a suicide attempt. "It was pretty devastating, since I was the one who found her and called 911 and kept her alive. But I am lucky. My mother is well and happy now, and so am I."

Break my heart, kid. This was a humble, mild-mannered guy with reasonable hopes for the future. His only crime was his friendship with …

Damien Echols!

The real star of the show and true target of the witch hunt. Damien had religious interests outside his community’s ability to comprehend or tolerate. He was the odd man out, strange and unsettling to the people of West Memphis. I hope the south is more enlightened now. Wiccans aren't Satanists, y’all.

There's no doubt Damien was struggling mentally. He grew up in poverty. He never fit in and didn't have many friends. The girl he loved broke up with him (Deanna). He impregnated another girl he really just considered a friend (Domini). His biological parents had an on again / off again relationship. Jerry Driver hated him and essentially stalked him even when he was living in Oregon. Then he was accused of murder. Yes, Damien was depressed.

The severity of Damien's mental difficulty is hard to pin down. According to local legend, he was a blood sucking, dog stomping, wannabe cannibal who liked to hide in the bushes and watch little boys.

Was any of it true? Leveritt attempted to trace the rumors.

Damien preferred to wear all black because Deanna told him he looked good that way. Then, being the goth outcast he was, he began putting white powder on his face. People started calling him a vampire which Damien found amusing. So when his peers asked if he drank blood like a vampire, he readily agreed.

That's one possible explanation. However, Damien's psychological records state that he felt drinking blood would make him powerful. It's important to note that Damien's medical records were heavily influenced by Jerry Driver, the "occult expert", I mean, juvenile delinquent officer who was a frequent source of unreliable information for Damien's counselors. Did this tidbit come from Damien himself or from Jerry Driver? I'll concede that it sounds like the type of thing Damien would dabble in.

The alleged animal abuse is easier to trace. A year prior to the murders, a dog was stomped to death in an unsolved burglary. Police considered the possibility this burglary was related to the murders, not because of any overt connection, but because stomping an animal to death seemed like something a satanist would do. And it was accepted the murders had been commited by satanists. This is how Damien came to be known as a dog stomper. It didn't help that he often carried around a dog skull (not of the same dog) in his trench coat pocket. He found bones interesting and discovered the skull alarmed people enough they “left him alone.”

After his arrrest, Damien seemed determined to sink his own ship. He told investigators he would tell them everything he knew about the murders if he could just see his mother. After seeing his mom, he smugly announced he knew nothing, and now he had indeed told them everything he knew. Which was nothing. Damien was many things, not least of all, a smart ass teenager. But reported out of context, the statement made him appear to be withholding information.

On one occasion, Damien actually blew a kiss at an angry mob. He also said, "fuck you" to the victims' families. He came across as heartless and callous. In reality, he was reacting to screams for his torture and death. If accused of killing children, I might very well tell my accusers to fuck right off too.

There's so much more to Damien's story, but I'll stop. The point is ... Damien probably wasn't a dog murdering, blood sucking psycopath. Even if he WAS, there was still no evidence linking him to the murders. Everyone who claimed Damien told them something incriminating ended up admitting they lied.

Misinformation

It was widely reported that urine was found in one or more of the boys stomachs. False. The autopsy report specified “no abnormal collections of fluid were found in the body cavities.”

It was considered common knowledge that at least one boy was castrated. Most experts now believe the genital mutilation of Chris Byars occurred postmortem by turtles.

Many people believed that Chris Byars' genitalia was found in a jar under Damien's bed. A witness actually claimed this under oath and argued with the court when contradicted. In fact, Chris Byars' genitals remained missing, no doubt consumed by (see above) wildlife.

Justice

There’s been none in this case. Of course these three took an Alford plea rather than die in prison. Who wouldn't? (Actually, Jason Baldwin came close to turning it down, but he's better than I.) Legal BS aside, the Alford plea is NOT a true admission of guilt. It’s a get out of jail card.

Who actually killed the children? As always, it was most likely a family member.

Sadly, these kids were being raised by unstable men such as John Mark Byars and Terry Hobbs. Leveritt does a thorough job exploring the suspicions around Byars. With all the information available now, my money is on Terry Hobbs.

These boys were growing up in difficult circumstances and sometimes acted out. Moore and Byars had been caught throwing feces at each other, apparently for fun. Their mental health was indicative of possible abuse or neglect. It's not a stretch to imagine a caretaker snapped, taking a punishment too far. John Mark Byars even volunteered the fact he had beaten Chris with a belt the very day of the murders for riding his skateboard in the street.

I could go on about this case all day, but you get the picture. This is a meticulously researched book packed with details about a true miscarriage of justice. If you’re interested in this case, you won’t be disappointed.

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not even sure how to start this review.

All I feel after finishing this audiobook is sadness and rage for the three young boys that were horrifically killed and thrown away like garbage.
I also feel the same for what transpired after they were found.

The West Memphis Police Department decides to focus all of their resources, attention and energy on three teenage boys living in West Memphis, Arkansas.

These teenagers were either outcasts, delinquent or not intelligent enough to understand their actions.
They stuck out like a sore thumb because West Memphis is a highly religious community and this town considered anyone wearing black, listening to metal music, or looking into alternative religions as a threat and also an abomination to God.

Without any DNA evidence, an emotional bias in the court and community, along with coerced and led confessions from one of the suspects and many witnesses, the teenagers didn’t have a chance for a fair trial.

Let’s look at this whole thing objectively and not with sadness or rage clouding my thinking.

Here goes…

Let's say the three teenagers did kill those young boys.
We’ll never know the truth since the whole criminal investigation was a f'ing joke that included dirty cops and the mockery of a court trial. There will always be a shadow of doubt for their guilt.

Let's say the three teenagers didn’t kill the young boys.
It’s a travesty to their lives until they die, their families, and our judicial system that they were found guilty along with never finding out who really killed the three young boys!

Either way, we need to be better as a society and not look at outsiders as a threat.

We need to quit jumping to conclusions without looking at all of the facts and trying to put a round circle in a square peg.
It’s not going to fit and the more you try to jam that circle in the square peg, it destroys the structural integrity and cannot be fixed again.

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 5 out of 5]

A word of warning before reading this book, it will make you ANGRY. Should you read it anyways? Absolutely, it is a MUST read for any true crime fan. I hadn’t heard much about this case before reading about it in the book and it has left me shook. I think it really resonated with me because I could so easily have been one of those boys considering the music I listen to, the books I read and the clothes I wear. It is such a terrifying thought that three innocent boys were put away for so many years simply because of those things. It is mind boggling and appalling that the justice system works in a way that people can be put away with little to zero evidence. I do realize that many years have passed since then and things have evolved but that doesn’t make what happened to these boys any less real or any less fucking terrifying. Levitt does such a phenomenal job with this book, not giving you an opinion to believe, just stating the facts and letting you come to your own conclusion. Although I don’t quite see how you could possibly believe these three boys were guilty after being presented with the facts. I don’t think I’ve ever been filled with such rage or disbelief when reading a book, I still can’t comprehend how such a thing could have happened.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

First I want to say that I am not a lawyer and nor am I connected to the case. Everything I have found is public knowledge via movies, books and the internet.

I knew very little about the brutal tragedy that struck West Memphis Arkansas. I had noticed this book listed under true crime and added it to my read list. I quickly forgot about it until last week when someone on a message board posted about unsolved crimes. This case was a huge debate on the thread. I quickly watched Devil's Knot and then the 3 Paradise Lost Documentaries before starting this book.


Mara Leveritt breaks down the time line of events regarding the torture and murder of Christopher Byers, Steve Branch and Michael Moore on May 5th 1993. Along with the interrogations, polygraphs and court preceding of the three teenagers charged with their murder. The book gives background on the victims and their families. Though I will say that it was limited on information about The Moore's and on the Stevie's mother Pam and stepfather Terry. She clearly focused on the Byers.

This book caused me to r examine my stance on the death penalty. I had nightmares and I found myself thinking of two people not related to the book- A woman I met while bartending. I've known her for 10 years now. I swear she owns nothing darker then the color light blue for clothing and is sweet as can be. She comes in to the place I work twice a week. Once by herself on Mondays for a couple of cocktails and then again on Saturdays for dinner with her family. Three sweet little girls and her husband. Shes head of the schools PTA, volunteers often. She also worships Satan. And I think about the biker I've known for years. He gets judged every day. His tattoos, clothing and vehicle of choice all lead people to believe hes some hardened criminal. Hes not.

You can't judge a book by its cover.

That is what happened to Damien, Jason and Jesse. They were different then the others in town. And they were railroaded for it.

I'm blown away that these three boys were actually found guilty. Its fairly clear that the confession was coerced, the physical evidence lacking and the accounts from "witnesses" were laughable. I believe that police and others on the case ignored crucial evidence that would have brought others in as more viable suspects or at the least changed the verdict had the jurors been able to hear all the evidence.

Some examples...

On the night of the murders a bloody, disoriented man appeared in the Bojangles restaurant. The man was gone almost as quickly as he arrived. Police lost the samples of blood taken from the Bojangles bathroom wall.

Page 15-- Gitchell announced that the case was labeled 666. Meaning it was the 666th case worked by police of that year. Except the actual case number were #93-05-0555.

Page 25-- A young man in the area stated to police that he might have committed the murders while high. Hardly any focus was placed on this man.

Page 176-- Jesse's polygraph results show that he was truthful in all questioning except when asked about the use of drugs.

Page 326- Fogleman immediately called after hearing of the boys murder and advised police to look into John mark Byers based on his violent history.

Page 334- After defense wanted a forensic dentist to testify to possible bite marks John Mark Byers had his teeth removed.

Those are just a few examples. There are more riddled through out the book and in testimony from various key players. And if I had to say I would say John Mark Byers or Terry Hobbs were responsible for murders. But honestly I don't think we will ever know who did it. The investigation was so tainted and it just trickles on down the line.

4.5 stars. While well written I wish a little more information had been given on the Moore Family and Branch/Hobb family.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true crime book to really raise your blood pressure, Devil's Knot traces the railroading of the West Memphis Three, ostensibly for the murder of three young boys but really for the crime of being starkly different to their rural peers. The book charts their arrests, coerced confessions, show trial and imprisonment for crimes linked to them by no compelling physical evidence and the testimonies of "witnesses" whose stories changed like the weather. Their trial was overseen by a judge who routinely sided with the prosecutors and is known for being scornful of expert witnesses. I can't remember what he looked like but I prefer to imagine him in full clown costume than judicial garb. Mara Leveritt's book hits on two big issues that have affected U.S. criminal justice since forever: 1) the influence of religious hysteria and social ignorance on criminal proceedings, and 2) the too-common impulse of police and prosecutors to put someone, anyone away for a crime, with actual guilt often being a secondary concern (if at all).

Reading the book, I was reminded of the Netflix series "The Confession Killer", in which Henry Lee Lucas gladly copped to countless murders at the behest of a team of Texas Rangers. The Rangers promoted themselves as advocates of Lucas's many victims, dedicated to getting them justice. That these false confessions also led to the closing of many murder cases that had stumped police departments across the United States was just a happy side effect. Later, when it became clear that Lucas couldn't have possibly committed most of the murders he confessed to -- that his testimony, in fact, didn't match the crime scenes or even murder methods used in many individual cases -- the Rangers' passion for justice simply evaporated. In a clip shown in the documentary, Captain Bob Price shrugs and says those inconsistencies are no concern of his. Arkansas authorities are similarly blithe about finding the real killers of Steve Edward Branch, Christopher Mark Byers and James Michael Moore. They got their convictions and got away with releasing the West Memphis Three on Alford pleas, and that's all they really care about. Recently they refused to perform new DNA testing in the case. Go figure.

Devil's Knot is a compelling book about a grave miscarriage of justice. Published in 2002, it doesn't tell the full story, which includes the semi-happy releases of Echols, Misskelley Jr. and Baldwin, but it's an essential contemporary account of a murder investigation that quickly descended into a witch hunt governed by emotional bias and fantasies of Satanism. A must-read for true crime aficionados.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished my first book in a MONTH. I thought that this would be such a quick read since I already knew the story of the West Memphis 3...but that was NOT the case. This book upset me so much. Just knowing someone can be sentenced to death with no evidence...it just turns my stomach. I was constantly stopping to creep the social media of every single person mentioned, and would frequently just have to put it away for the rest of the day after getting so angry reading. I’m so mad now just thinking about it. Read this if you like true crime, are interested in the WM3, want to raise your blood pressure, or live in a happy bubble in regards to our justice system and feel like wrecking that for yourself. 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend everyone read this book.

First of all, the travesty of justice it describes is outrageous. It will make you angry. It will leave you virtually convinced that three teenage boys have been in prison for almost 20 years, one on death row, for a crime they didn't commit, while a savage, brutal killer goes free. But even IF you read this book and believe they still might have done it, the investigation and trial that put them in prison was clearly, irrevocably flawed. If this can still happen in America, there IS NO SUCH THING AS JUSTICE. This book meticulously describes a broken, corrupt court system, one in which your taste in music and books can be used against you in a court of law, and that's just the beginning of what was wrong with the case.

Secondly, this book is an outstanding piece of journalism. It has the balls to come to a conclusion at the end based on the facts, which I have no problem with and in fact admire, but it is meticulous in its even-handedness and its documentation of the facts. It is extensively footnoted, carefully researched, and non-polemical.

Thirdly, this book just reads like fiction. It's fast-paced and hard to put down.

I plan to stay educated on the West Memphis Three case, and I hope these guys go free sometime soon.

Thanks Brad Moore for loaning me the book!

[Mindi]

DNFed on page 72. This case is just so infuriating, and I'm not in the right headspace for this right now. Perhaps I will return to it at another time, but for now I need something that's more entertaining and induces less rage.

[rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

On May 5th 1993, the bodies of three eight year old Arkansan boys -- Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch -- were found in a ditch in West Memphis. They were bound at the hands and feet, naked, scratched and mutilated. The justified sadness and outrage of their community followed, as did the pressure to find the person(s) who could have committed such a horrible crime against innocence.

Unfortunately, that pressure resulted in no justice done for the boys and three further young lives altered forever by tragedy. If you have seen Paradise Lost, and felt your ire burn from the movie alone, I strongly suggest you read this detailed account of the trials of Jessie Misskelly, Damien Echols, and Jason Baldwin and get a fuller sense of how infuriating this case is. Multiple levels of the criminal justice system, from investigating officers straight up to the Judge, made decisions based upon a presumption of guilt, dismissing any holes and inconsistencies in the scant "evidence" they had against the West Memphis Three, trying to obtain a conviction.

Police officers lost physical evidence that could have pointed to other suspects. Inconsistent testimonies from a child were regarded as gospel truth, any inconsistencies and flights of fancy dismissed. The first false confession in the case, made by a boy not involved with the West Memphis Three, was taken to be a false confession; the false confession badgered out of Jessie Misskelly was admitted and used as the only real evidence against him. The Judge did not feel it was relevant for the other false confessor to testify in court. (!) The Judge also discounted one of Jessie's defense team's expert witnesses to the jury by stating that expert opinions should not be taken at face value, while allowing a doctor with a mail order Ph.D to testify for the prosecution as an expert (with no added disclaimer).

Almost the entire case against Jessie, Damien, and Jason was based on circumstantial evidence that the boys were weird and liked weird things. Damien studied the occult and wore black, Jason owned heavy metal band t-shirts and had long hair. Jessie had an IQ of about 70, was borderline intellectually disabled, and though he was not a good friend of Damien and Jason's, was mostly found guilty by association from his own manipulated testimony.

It has always been emotionally difficult for me to read about this case. For one thing, it's simply infuriating that rather than perform a thorough unbiased investigation into this case, the police rushed to pin it on boys who sort of fit the profile of the type of person they were looking for (Damien was named to law enforcement as someone who might fit the profile by his probation officer, who was convinced he was involved due to his interest in "satanism"). This means that the real killer of Christopher, Stevie, and Michael was never actually brought to justice, which should have been the priority here.

Secondly, I cannot see Damien and Jason and not see the boys I was friends with in the late 90s and early 00s. The boys who wore Iron Maiden, Slayer, and Metallica shirts daily and wore their hair out long, the boys who came from rough households but enjoyed the simple pleasures of biking and skateboarding. The boys who sat in the back of the class and sometimes disrupted it. The boys who led me to the Misfits, to appreciation of a good metal wail, to one of my still favorite songs of all time, Black Sabbath's "Nativity in Black" (which is essentially five minutes of satanic reference; please don't arrest me, Arkansas), all of which I continue to love at 30 years old. I laughed with those boys, had heart to hearts with those boys, fully came to appreciate how clever and sensitive and intelligent and lacking in confidence they were. I broke some of their hearts, some of them broke mine. I still get nostalgic for them. They were something special.

It's not hard to imagine that if we lived in a different place and time, my own friends could also have been misunderstood as something weird and bad, knowing that while they might be the former, they definitely were not the latter. So I can't help but think of the immortal words of "The Times, They Are A Changin'": "Don't criticize what you can't understand." I mean...thank god that Damien's death sentence and Jason and Jessie's life sentences weren't carried out. But they should never have spent almost 18 years in jail on a witch hunt against alternative lifestyles, Jessie and Damien's disabling mental health fully taken advantage of by prosecution. An absolute disgrace.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I didn't think there was no possible way they could find us guilty when we didn't do it. Not in America. It's not what I was raised to believe would happen in America." - Jason Baldwin.

You might hold the same beliefs as Jason - I know I had always held to the notion that 'the truth will out' and believed that the justice system would ensure that people accused of crimes would be considered 'innocent until proven guilty', with evidence being a major consideration when investigating crimes. I couldn't have been more wrong.

In 1993, three eight-year old boys were brutally murdered. Lacking any evidence other than the boys' bodies, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the next step would be for the police to start looking for and documenting evidence, interviewing anyone with a possible connection, and using logic, reason and years of proven procedures to build their case. Bless you. Instead what would occur is a flagrant and appalling abuse of the justice system in which prejudice and hearsay, along with defendants' music tastes, style of dress and choice of reading material is 'evidence', and where actual, physical evidence that links other suspects to the crime will be discounted as it doesn't fit with the theory the detectives have chosen to work with.

The theory the detectives chose to work on would build a sprawling, chaotic and nearly completely incoherent case centred around the idea of satanic cults operating in the area - the obsession of one Jerry Driver. The Chief Juvenile Officer for the county (whose job title should have more accurately read Chief Fantasist), Driver had an unhealthy fixation with a teenager named Damien Echols and had already been harassing him for the best part of a year, based on his belief that Damien was a Satanist. His reason for these beliefs? Damien was weird, wore black, wrote poetry, had read some books on witchcraft as well as enjoying Stephen King, and identified himself as Wiccan. (Well shit, you'd better arrest 3/4 of the people on Goodreads too). As for Jason? Well, he was a friend of Damien's, wasn't he? So, obviously also a satanic killer. Instead of looking into Driver's 'theories' impartially and with an eye for evidence, the police would take Driver's accusations and run with them, choosing to ignore (and if necessary, 'lose') any evidence that didn't agree with them and taking things such as Jason's owning 15 black t-shirts as proof of them being child-murderers, backing up this 'proof' with extremely suspect 'confessions' and witness statements. Jessie Miskelly Jr, whose 'confession' would be the basis of the state's case against the boys, was a vulnerable and intellectually challenged boy and the 'confession' itself is astounding - riddled with contradictions and errors, with detectives clearly suggesting what he ought to be saying next, and with Jessie clearly eager to please. The next most important statements came from an 8 year old boy, whose 'eyewitness' accounts were wildly conflicting and became increasingly lurid as time went on. Surely not the basis for a solid conviction, right? Surely when the case gets to court it'll be thrown out? Surely the fact that real, physical evidence exists that points to other suspects will see the boys cleared? Sorry, wrong again.

Instead, the boys will go to trial under one Judge Burnett, who has clearly already decided the boys are guilty and will not only do whatever he can to help the prosecution but also actively hinder the defence and ultimately lead to life sentences being given to Jessie and Jason, with Damien due to receive the death penalty.

After 18 years in prison, last year Damien, Jason and Jessie were finally released after years of appeals and a huge campaign following the Paradise Lost documentaries, which I'd watched and which had piqued my interest in the case. However, the fact they're now free doesn't change the fact that not only were three little boys brutally murdered, but three other children had their lives stolen from them while a vicious child-killer has gotten away with murder.

It's my belief that the behaviour of the police, the prosecutors and the Judge in this case were nothing short of criminal - a malicious and wilful obstruction of justice. I spent most of my time reading about the case nearly howling with fury, and think that not only the people involved but the entire state of Arkansas should be ashamed of themselves for letting such a blatant miscarriage of justice occur.

As for me, I own a ton of black clothing (way more than Jason's 15 t-shirts), read lots of Stephen King and true crime, and prefer Guns N Roses to pop music. I'm never visiting Arkansas as I'll probably be the next person accused of the murders, regardless of the fact that I've never visited America. The cops would doubtless find an impressionable child to say otherwise and I'd be done for.

As for this book, it's compelling, well-researched and documented and was clearly based on more investigative work than the detectives involved ever put in, and is a must-read for anyone even remotely interested in the justice system. Just don't expect to have the same faith in that system by the time you've finished.

[Melania 🍒 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4|5 🔪 2021 TBR

[Ashley Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughout my time spent reading this book, I hardly knew what to think of the officers and authority figures in West Memphis, Arkansas. It puts a bit of a strain on my view of former President Clinton as well, since he was governor at the time of the incident. Leveritt appeared to stay true to her word in the beginning of the book, that she would remain as impartial as possible as she investigated the case, and would release her findings regardless of the outcome. The general public is lucky, anymore, if they get to hear both sides of an argument -- especially one so strongly courted by the media as this.

However, when you come to know that the only major evidence against the defendants were a shoddy, coerced confession and supposition on the part of anyone in a position of authority, it just becomes maddening beyond belief. There were numerous times I wanted to throw this book against the wall because of the sheer ridiculousness of the goings-on; not to mention the fact that a police department didn't have any written guidelines for their procedures. It brings up questions even just from a day-to-day standpoint. How did they go about training new officers? How did they keep anything in that office organized? And then to hear these prosecutors and detectives saying that someone like Damien just "seemed evil". Shit, if I had the authority to arrest people on the basis of my personal opinion that they "seemed evil", the local jail would account for probably half my apartment complex. It still boggles my mind that they didn't have a single piece of credible physical evidence to link any of these three boys to that scene, and yet they all spent nearly twenty years in jail.

And then there's the people who should, by rights, have been investigated right off the bat -- and yet it took how long before the victims' families were questioned? I remember reading about one of the prosecutors saying it was difficult to place blame for a child's murder on the parents or stepparents, and that made me beyond incredulous. We hear stories about parents/stepparents/baby mama's boyfriend killing children several times a week, and yet "it's difficult to blame them"?? This case needs to be reopened and investigated a hell of a lot more thoroughly than it was the first time around. And maybe Leveritt's writing does tend to lead the reader toward a different suspect than the three boys in prison, but you have to admit that some of the bits and pieces are just too damn convenient. And I wasn't biased one way or another going into this book -- I knew next to nothing about this case when I picked this book up. Leveritt's investigation and reporting is thorough and very convincing, and it scares the hell out of me because this could have happened anywhere in America.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

After eighteen years in prison, in 2011 one of the greatest miscarriages of justice was righted when Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley were released from prison. In 1993, three eight-year-old boys were found brutally murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. The case was sparse on clues as to who may have committed these crimes. After weeks of dead end investigative work, police suddenly charged three teenagers believed to be members of a satanic cult as the murderers. The trial can best be summed up as a witch-hunt filled with investigative errors, false confessions, and a lack of solid evidence. Despite these issues, the jurors were quick to sentence Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley with life in prison and Damien Echols to death. These guilty verdicts made the local Arkansas population happy and even upheld appeal until their eventual release in August 2011.

Mara Leveritt has put together one of the most well-researched and detail-filled true crime books I have read with DEVIL’S KNOT. Leveritt walks the reader through this entire case from the moment the murders are discovered until the release of the wrongly accused. I have never been so angry and confused reading a piece of true crime as I was with this story. I am completely infuriated at how things played out and frustrated as to how things were allowed to progress to the level that they did.

The case of the West Memphis Three wasn’t one I was particularly knowledgeable about before opening this book, which is a complete shame. I think this case deserves to be recognized, not just in the true crime community, but everywhere. It’s a case of injustice and downright terrifying that it could potentially happen to anyone. Thanks to a few other true crime lovers I will be checking out the Paradise Lost and West of Memphis documentaries.

For me as a reader, I know that I consume nonfiction books easier and more completely through the use of audiobooks, which is exactly what I did with DEVIL’S KNOT. I highly recommend going this route if this is something you also struggle with.

[Dustincecil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuck the police, and fuck creepy stepfathers who desperately cling to their pathetic religious beliefs to impede justice- and cover their own asses.

This account is completely infuriating and very troubling.

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truth really can be stranger and more twisted than fiction! Fascinating case, excellent book covering all aspects. Really enjoyed.

[Carrie Poppy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kinda book you can’t put down on your honeymoon, and then force your new spouse to read so you can talk about it.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great I couldn't put it down.

[Reb · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 Stars.

I don’t care what anyone says, John Mark Byers had something to do with those boys murders and I hope to live long enough to see the evidence convict the true killer.