West Memphis Three Murders (New York Times)

In 1993, three boys, Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr. , and Jason Baldwin, were convicted for the brutal deaths of three 8-year-old boys, Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Steve Branch, in West Memphis, Arkansas. Jessie Misskelley Jr. and Jason Baldwin are now in prison serving life sentences and Damien Echols is on death row. Now, many are questioning if these three boys, who were 17-18 year-olds at the time, actually committed the crimes. Even the mother of one of the boys, Pam Hobbs, mother of Steve Branch, feels that the trials may have been unfair and that the boys deserve a new trial. There are questions about a forced confession, little physical evidence and motive, and other things that have brought this case back to life now 16 years later. Two years after the convictions, HBO made a documentary about the case called "Paradise Lost" which brought a lot of the questions about the boys guilt to the attention of the rest of the world.

I recently spent two days in West Memphis with writer Shaila Dewan talking with people involved in the case and getting a sense of how the town feels about the case now.

You can read Shaila Dewan's story HERE.