The West Memphis 3 Case

[Snoopy]

Terry Hobbs was not defending himself against an armed man, Pam called her brother to the house because Terry had been beating her and she needed help. When the brother showed up to the home, Terry and the brother got into a physical altercation- then Terry pulled a gun and shot him.
The brother did not have a weapon.

There was not a "second confession" the Bible confession as it is called, was just a couple of weeks before the trial of Baldwin and Echols. Jessie, originally said he never did, then after 12 hours of interrogation, exhausted and wanting to go home, he thought if he told them what they wanted to hear, he could leave. Keep in mind, his IQ is only 75, he was a minor, no parent was there, nor an attorney. He could not be expected to understand his rights or that "telling them what they wanted to hear" would have consequences. The original confession does not add up at all.

The "bible" confession, comes just around 2 weeks short of Damien and Jason's trial, by then much more information about the crime was public, very public. And in that confession, he still has many of the facts off.

Now even with a confession, there is still no evidence that these kids committed this crime. I do not consider Jessie a "confessing Sam" but they are plenty of them out there. Remember the strange guy that admitted killing Jon Benet Ramsey? Totally confessed to the whole thing, but the DNA did not match, so they marked him off as loon and sent him on his way. Why is that not the same for Jessie? And if we think its not possible for people to feel intimidated into confessing a crime they did not commit, then there are many cases that show that it can and does happen, like Michael Crowe, who confessed to killing his sister- Or Chris Ochoa, who implicated himself and his friend for killing a woman at a pizza hut. those cases and others can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_confession.
Both of them were sent to prison and sadly, his friend was severely beaten and has permanent brain damage.
The the true killer, confessed while in prison for another crime and DNA matched, so they were freed.

There is no way for any of us to know for a fact who did commit this crime, but there is some evidence. More may be found in time, since people plan to look for it. For years no one looked at any possibilities. Once these boys were arrested, the state looked no further. The DNA that is available is only there because the defense raised the money, and pursued it. Now that there is light shining on new possible suspects, perhaps more answers will come in time.

All the same, the confession Jessie gave, does not support any of the evidence. No one knew that back when the crime first happened, but we all know it now.