Are the guilty???

I don't know about you, but I am a rock and roll journalist with over 21 years in this business. I have been sitting by quietly watching as countless rock stars, including: Henry Rollins, Pearl Jam and Creed, proclaim the innocence of the West Memphis Three. The WM3 are three boys - Damien Echols, Jessie Miskelley and Jason Baldwin who are accused of killing three young boys in Arkansas. The were featured in a very popular HBO documentary called 'Paradise Lost.' When asked about about thier innocence in the crimes, the boys had 'nothing to say!' They weren't even remorseful! Now rock stars are lining up 10 deep to 'boo hoo' the guilty verdicts! Are you as confused as me? What are we gonna do?!

BRETT MEISNER - www.rockandrollbadboy.com - HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA

Here's a thought, you know it all blow-hard, why don't you take a look at the evidence? Why would they be remorseful if they didn't commit the crime? Anyone that reviews the evidence and trial information without any preconceived notions can plainly see that at the very least they should get a new trial. Or perhaps Mr. Rock and Roll bad boy (yeah, right) thinks that anyone that listens to heavy metal and wears black must be capable of raping, murering and mutilating little boys.

AG

Agreed. I'm actually convinced that the loser stepfather of one of the boys (the sicko in the HBO specials) actually killed the kids.

But what does Paul Williams think about it?

Isn't he just awful? He totally creeps me out too.

What about the guy that came into a local restaurant the morning of the murders, all muddy and covered in blood. He used the restroom to wash up...the management called the police who weren't all that interested. They claim that they took a sample from the restroom when they investigated it but conveniently enough the sample was 'lost'. Odd that.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that guy!!! The whole 'investigation' was one big

Because it's germane to the thread, and despite great risk of personal embarrassment, I confess that I went to a taping of the Maury Povich show in 1994. The topic turned out to be the West Memphis murders; I'd never heard anything about them before (and didn't learn much from being there, which should be no surprise to anyone).

Maury's m.o. was to incrementally add guests on the stage. It started with a couple of the parents, then other people got added at commercial breaks, and about halfway into the show they bring the next batch of new ones (also during a break), including a very tall man wearing sunglasses and what looked like a wig. Ooh, I thought, he's having to conceal his identity! An informer! A person with real knowledge about what happened!

Well, no. The stage worker made him take off his sunglasses (I assume he thought he was going to wear them on the show????), and the wig turned out to be very bad hair. And he turned out to be the stepfather that all guilt fingers point to, and 'creepy' only begins to scratch the surface. I had a visceral reaction to his mere presence, and it didn't help when he opened his mouth.

In addition to his general appearance and demeanor, one thing that always stuck with me was that he said that just before his son disappeared, he had beaten him (his word, not 'spank' for riding his bike in the street. In response to the audience gasp, he defended himself by invoking the need for discipline or some other common justification for beating children.

They were soliciting questions from the audience during the last break, and I just didn't have the nerve, but I so badly wanted to ask him, 'How does it feel to know that the last interaction you had with your dead son was beating him?'

No one outside of Shady Pines is as confused as you.

I think that's insulting to the residents of Shady Pines.

I don't know. As creepy as he is, I'm not sure that either he or those three guys could have pulled this off with absolutely no evidence pointed to them. Didn't one of the guys have an IQ in the 70's or 80's. All I know is that whoever did do it should rot in hell, those little boys last moments on earth were pure torture.