Johnny Depp is the latest celebrity supporter of the ‘West Memphis Three”, which is three young men who were convicted of killing three young boys in 1993.
Depp, recently sat down for an interview with “48 Hours Mystery”, which will air this Saturday (February 27). Depp defends the three young men, he says, “Every single piece of evidence points to their innocence, not to their guilt.”
The ‘three’ men are Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, and they were convicted of murder after three eight-year-old boys. The children were found naked and drowned in a creek in West Memphis, Arkansas.
Then-17-year-old Misskelley, who was mentally handicapped, confessed to police that he had joined Echols and Baldwin in killing the three boys. But, apparently, officers had kept Misskelley in a room for many many hours drilling him for information. But, now new DNA evidence points away from the young men, according to “48 Hours.”
It is said that at the time of finding the young boys bodies, an officer stated then that it looked like Echols was responsible (Echols had longer hair and wore mostly black clothing at the time). “I think I was the closest thing he could come to conceiving of what he thought a Satanist would look like,” Damien told reporter Erin Moriarty, going on to explain of his mode of dress, “I didn’t help myself at all. I would dress in all black, was the only thing I ever wore. Ridiculous hairstyles — I was a stupid teenager. I really was a smartass.”
In the interview, Depp stated:
“I immediately related to Damien, what he went through growing up. I come from a relatively small town in Kentucky. I can remember kind of being looked upon as a freak, if you will, different, because I didn’t dress like everybody else. Also, I can empathize with being judged for how you look rather than being who you are.”
“There was a need for swift justice at the time to placate, understandably, an angry and frightened community,” but says that the time for action in defense of the three young men is now: “People need to stand up and say, ‘Yeah, it’s time to find the real killers. Let’s find justice.’”
Echols is currently on death row and faces execution. But when asked if he believes he will walk away from death row one day, Echols replies, “Yes, I do. I belive that with all my heart … I don’t believe that everyone is just gonna sit on their hands and allow them to execute an innocent person.”
Along with Depp, other celebrities that support these three men are Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder, Ozzy Osbourne and the Dixie Chicks. If you would like to check out WM3 website, click here.
“48 Hours Mystery” airs this Saturday (February 27) at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
FREE THE WEST MEMPHIS THREE!!!
The West Memphis 3 are GUILTY! There is no doubt about it they GUILTY of murder. Echols is not mentally handicapped he is just a cold blooded murder. I think too many rich people want to get their names in the news papers is only reason they do not think the 3 men are GUILTY!
I agree 100% the West Memphis 3 are GUILTY! I do not know why they did it but, they are GUILTY of murder of 3 little kids in Marion, Arkansas in 1993.