Todd, Dana Moore, West Memphis 3 Parents, Request That 'Paradise Lost 3' Be Excluded From Oscar Race

JONESBORO, Ark. — The parents of one of three West Memphis, Ark., boys found dead 18 years ago are asking that a documentary about the killings be excluded from Academy Award consideration.

Todd and Dana Moore made the request in a letter sent Nov. 22 to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' documentary division. In it, the Moores argue that "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" glorifies Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, who were released from prison in August after their sentences were set aside and they pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

"Because of public pressure that exploded due to gross misrepresentations of fact in the two previous documentaries, Michael's killers were unjustly able to enter into a plea agreement, were released from prison and now pose additional threats to society," the letter reads.

"We implore the Academy not to reward our child's killers and the directors who have profited from one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated under the guise of a documentary film."

The couple's 8-year-old son, Michael, along with Steve Branch and Christopher Byers were found naked and bludgeoned in a ditch on May 6, 1993.

Director Joe Berlinger defended the film but also acknowledged that he understood the parents' grief.

"We feel tremendous sorrow for them," Berlinger told the Jonesboro Sun () for a story in Wednesday's editions. "We understand why a film that comes to a different conclusion than they do would make them feel this way. We stand by our films. We fervently believe the West Memphis Three are innocent." http://bit.ly/sdbSAG

Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley, dubbed the West Memphis Three, entered their pleas under a legal provision that allowed them to maintain their innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them. Echols was sentenced to death for the killings.

An email sent to the academy after hours seeking comment wasn't immediately answered Wednesday. An attempt to leave an after-hours phone message was unsuccessful.

The Moores appeared briefly in the first documentary about the deaths, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills," which aired on HBO in 1996. But they claimed Berlinger and Sinofsky "misled" and "manipulated" them.

"We appeared solely in the first film because the directors lied and told us their purpose was to protect children," the letter says.

When Berlinger and fellow director Bruce Sinofsky began the first film, they thought the three men were guilty of committing the killings, Berlinger said. Every effort was made to show that Todd and Dana believed the men were guilty, he added.

___

Information from: The Jonesboro Sun, http://www.jonesborosun.com

Comments

[NickinCali]

04:08 AM on 01/12/2012

If I knew 100% a person killed my child I would take care of them myself not cry publicly about their new found celebrity. However its nearly impossible to be 100% sure unless I witnessed it or saw a clear video of it occurring.

Only thing I am sure of: I WOULD NEVER accept such a stupid theory from Arkansas Police and Prosecutors that these three kids killed my child during a Satanic Wican ritual party...... wow.

[Katarina Bowes]

11:17 PM on 12/05/2011

There was DNA evidence, a beard hair, belonging to one of the boy's stepfathers, found inside the foreskin of one of the boy's penises. A hair found on one of the boy's shoelaces, which were used to tie them up during their horrific ordeal - was matched via DNA testing to one of the stepfather's friends. Tell me that's not a big neon sign pointing in another possible direction. Yet, nothing further. The prosecution manipulated the situation so that, by some miscarriage of justice, the accused were having to prove their innocence - as opposed to the prosecutor having to prove their guilt. There is no way that those boys would have ended up in prison if a trial were held today. There was simply not enough evidence to arrest them in the first place!

I place no blame on the parents for wanting this covered up - I can't even begin to imagine the spectrum of emotions they have been through. I respect their right to request it, similarly the right to deny that request - which is held by the filmmakers. I've read a bit about the case (not an expert), my biggest question has been to how the American Justice system could fail those poor little boys so very badly?! The tragedy of their deaths is now overrun by politics and the sheer laziness and power play of the initial investigators.

[Mandar355]

11:08 AM on 12/09/2011

Your first sentence is not true. Where in the world did you hear that? And if that was the case, don't you think they would have gone ahead with the new trial to prove them selves innocent and put the guilty party behind bars? The hair found in the ligature was not a match for DNA to Terry Hobbs. It was not nuclear DNA, it was mitochondrial, which means it can't be matched conclusively to anyone.

[schnig]

05:27 PM on 01/25/2012

The hair could be matched to 1% of the population. Terry Hobbs was included in that 1%. None of the WM3 were included. Just for further clarification.

[DMSmith]

08:50 PM on 12/04/2011

I know nothing about this case, so I talk only in generalities, but...
I've often seen cases where seemingly innocent people were convicted and the family of the victims were convinced that those ultimately proven innocent should not be released. So intense is the need for retribution that it seems to become hard to see clearly and the need to find SOMEone guilty precludes the need to have that person actually BE guilty.
Those family members - regardless of their grief and loss - are the LAST people who should be trusted to judge.
I truly feel for these parents, but I doubt they can be clear arbiters of guilt or innocence.

[lateralus1983]

02:38 AM on 12/04/2011

I have not seen any of the documentaries and am not familiar with all the details of the case but has a polygraph test been administered to any of the defendants?

[Fred J Walsh]

04:07 PM on 12/04/2011

Yes. Echols and Misskelley failed their polygraphs. Baldwin did not take one.

(At trial a defense expert testified that his own interpretation of Misskelley's results were that he passed.)

SOURCES:
Misskelley Polygraph, 06-03-93 - http://callahan.8k.com/images2/jm_polygraph.jpg
Echols Polygraph, 05-10-93 - http://callahan.8k.com/images/damiene/echols_poly1.jpg

[Mandar355]

03:52 PM on 12/02/2011

Just to clarify for anyone still reading comments, the defense took this plea to the state. There are quite a few misinformed posters below eluding to the defense being forced to take these deals.

[Lady1genius]

05:28 PM on 12/02/2011

Yeah. After spending 18 years in prison for a crime I didn't commit, I would 1) agree to sign anything in order to get out of prison and 2) NOT trust the system that railroaded me to get it right this time. I see this as nothing more than a way to get three innocent people released from prison while still allowing corrupt prosecutors and hapless cops to save face.
In the meantime, the tragedy of the entire mess stays intact, The parents of the murdered kids, most of whom believe the wrong people were convicted, don't get closure. There is no justice for the three precious boys. Three young men have lost a lot of their lives rotting in jail for a crime they would never be convicted of today, due to advances in DNA science.
It certainly was easy for the prosecutors to play on the superstitions of the jury and blame "the devil" for this crime. Easy and WRONG. When young kids are murdered, chances are almost overwhelming that the crime was done by someone close to them. Not in every case, but since when do the parents not get looked at VERY closely before moving on to other leads.
Almost everything was done wrong in this case and it should be included in every criminal justice textbook as how NOT to conduct an investigation.

[Mandar355]

11:08 AM on 12/09/2011

That was not the point of my post at all. People down thread keep saying that the state offered the plea and they did not. The defense went to the state with this plea. They were mere months away from a new hearing where they more than likely would have been granted a new trial.

[RightorHappy]

04:49 PM on 01/11/2012

Damien Echols legal team devised this plea because Echols was on Death Row, the evidence, beyond the new DNA evidence, was 20 years old, and he was tired of being in solitary confinement (for his safety). While the others were willing to start another multi-year long fight to clear their name, Echols wanted to see sunlight again. So the fight continues on the outside.

[cdianek]

02:43 PM on 12/02/2011

Through the long, sad, terrifying, frustrating history of this case, I have gone from believing the WM3 were guilty to believing they were innocent and railroaded in this. Their release from prison, though not ideal, was to me, a monumental win for justice.

But other than it happening sort of in my backyard (if you expand a backyard to include half a state; I lived in Little Rock when this happened) and being a parent, I have lost absolutely nothing. I can not and would not ever condemn, fault or judge the principal players for their beliefs or actions. The Moores are rightly devastated and must do what their beliefs dictate when it comes to handling the particulars, and I would never hold them in judgement for their actions.

I hope that somehow and some way, they find some peace with their loss.

[Lisa LeShea SkeesAllen]

10:32 AM on 12/02/2011

I have read several posts where people tell the Moores how they should feel or what they should do, or even insulting them. The theme throughout them all is a total lack of empathy. Until you have lost a child in a horrible, gruesome murder, I suggest you not judge the people who have, as you would do the same in their position.

[Lady1genius]

05:33 PM on 12/02/2011

I'm not so sure in that position I would want the wrong people sitting in jail if there was any reasonable doubt. In this case there's plenty of doubt. Any reasonable person would want the people convicted to be the people who actually comitted the crime.
I sympathise with the grief of the parents, but I don't understand their stubborn refusal to admit the police just messed up.

[krallfan]

07:04 PM on 12/01/2011

So if there was enough evidence to convict, why was there a plea deal?

[hughkr2]

07:19 PM on 12/01/2011

If there was evidence to exonerate them why did the DEFENSE ASK for the Alford plea??

[alsm9]

07:38 PM on 12/01/2011

Because there wasn't enough evidence to convict the WM3 the first time, yet they were, so I'm thinking they don't trust the State of Arkansas. This December was only going to be the evidentiary hearing. It could have taken years for another trial to begin. Damien Echols had already spent over 18 years on death row and his health was an issue. Plus the state could have executed him before the trial started. Usually people on death row run out of appeals after two decades. Echols appeals were all gone and his time was up. They didn't want to run the risk of him being executed. So...now your turn...why would the State let them use the Alford Plea and release them if they could convict them again?

[Mandar355]

08:53 AM on 12/02/2011

You should ask the defense that question since they took the deal to the State.

[happyblackman]

04:26 PM on 12/01/2011

I think I remember this case. Is this where one of them said he was Wiccan and the Prosecutor basically tried to portray it as a Satanic ritual killing?

[JBS]

05:33 PM on 12/01/2011

A "witness" claimed he had confessed to the murders during a "Wiccan meeting", but was unable to recall the site of the "Wiccan meeting" or name anyone else present at the meeting.

The "witness" subsequently recanted, stating she was being pressured by the West Memphis PD at the time regarding an unrelated theft charge.

[happyblackman]

05:55 PM on 12/01/2011

Okay. I saw the first documentary. It made them out to be railroaded by an ovezealous, bible thumping prosecutor.

[Tierce]

03:55 PM on 12/01/2011

This case has been a gross miscarriage of justice, not only due to the incarceration on innocent men, but also due to the real murderer/s have never been identified.

[Lisa LeShea SkeesAllen]

11:00 AM on 12/02/2011

The real murderers have been found and identified. They are the WM3 released on August 19, 2011. They pled guilty to first degree murder, Alford Plea or not, they are still guilty in the eyes of the law. They could have exonerated themselves with a new trial based on all the supposed "new evidence", but yet they decided to plead guilty to first degree murder anyway. There was no new and compelling evidence that would have exonerated them and that's why the DEFENSE (THEIR OWN ATTORNEYS) ASKED THE STATE FOR THE DEAL, not the other way around. They should be thanking the state for accepting the deal. They got lucky because Ellington was a new prosecutor that didn't want to deal with the case. I wish the state would have declined the deal. If these men had such fancy new evidence, I would have made them show it in the new trial. Stop railing on the state of Arkansas and rejoice that they were accommodating enough to free your murdering heroes.

[keldog4511]

02:09 PM on 12/02/2011

I don't see how anyone, reading transcripts of the trial, can conclude these boys (now men) were guilty of this crime. I cannot understand how it even made it to trial. Satanism, as reported by the FBI, is virtually unknown in the U.S. Wicca is a peaceful religion. Crimes of this type, again as reported by the FBI, are rarely committed by first, a group, and secondly, by kids. And yes, it is the backwoods state of Arkansas that chose to prosecute. In the Northeast, these boys that listen to Metallica would be one of the millions.

[Tierce]

01:58 PM on 12/04/2011

You need to do more research.

[dspeleos]

03:49 PM on 12/01/2011

I do feel sorrow for the parents of those poor poor boys that they cannot even conceive of the fact that the WM3 "might" not be guilty, they are so desperate for someone to be held accountable. I feel anger that the powers that be do not look deeper into the forensic evidence. I am deeply saddened that the true killer (or killers) is walking free. The whole thing has been terrible since day one and even though the WM3 are free now, it's not over. It might never be over. I hope this film is included in the Oscar race and I hope it wins. If it does it might just force the hand of justice into finally acting appropriately.

[scriibe]

03:46 PM on 12/01/2011

Sadly we currently live in a Nancy Grace world where people, once charged with a crime, are presumed guilty. I can't blame the parents, grief is a powerful thing. But I can blame the prosecutor for assuring the parents he had the right people, possibly knowing he did not beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecutors who see a high conviction record as a stepping stone for political advancement are a major problem in the US justice system. But until the media stops with the fear mongering, such injustices as the West Memphis 3 will continue.

[LOBrien]

12:54 AM on 12/02/2011

Scribe, they were convicted of the murders in 1994 and have failed to prove that they were actually innocent during 18 years of post-conviction litigation. The presumption of innocence no longer applies.

[Lady1genius]

07:43 AM on 12/02/2011

Who told you someone has to prove themselves innocent? They don't have to prove anything.
In lieu of actual evidence at the trial (because there wasn't any) bogus information was presented about heavy metal music and Stephen King novels. The jury was even given incorrect information about a sexual assault that never happened. No evidence of THAT either. By these measures maybe I'M guilty of killing those boys, after all I like heavy metal music and Stephen King novels myself. I'd hate to think I could be put on death row on the basis of flimsy suppositions like this.

[keldog4511]

03:40 PM on 12/01/2011

I can understand a parent's grief. As a parent myself, however, I would not be satisfied until the real murderers were convicted; these three "boys" so obviously had nothing to do with this horrific crime.

[ladylove114]

03:45 PM on 12/01/2011

How is it obvious? Because some filmaker says so? I don't have access to all the evidence and neither do you.

[manicmarkus]

03:51 PM on 12/01/2011

you know there is actual documented evidence to support the guilt/innocence...you don't have to make up your mind about something by watching a movie/tv show.

[keldog4511]

03:51 PM on 12/01/2011

Actually I have been following this case for many years. A reporter, Mara Leveritt, wrote an excellent book about the case. Trial transcripts, etc., are available to the public. If you research the case (and disregard the documentaries and the hype), you are left to conclude that these three did not commit this crime. In fact, the nature of the crime really precludes them almost automatically (if you are familiar with the FBI literature).

[JBS]

05:36 PM on 12/01/2011

A problem is that these three were convicted of the crime. With no alternative suspect, that might make it a bit more difficult for the parents to see the obviousness of their innocence.

[jeffp26]

03:08 PM on 12/01/2011

These people would be better off going after Stevie Branch's stepdad, who is apparently the real killer of these three boys. That would be useful and cathartic for them.

[ladylove114]

03:46 PM on 12/01/2011

And you know he is the "real" killer, how?

[manicmarkus]

03:51 PM on 12/01/2011

read about the case. Its not 100% but neither was the case against the 3 "killers" they put in jail.

[keldog4511]

04:13 PM on 12/01/2011

I would not go so far as to say that Terry Hobbs is or was the real killer based on a single strand of hair. That is almost as tragic as saying the WM3 did it based on absolutely NO evidence. What was needed then was a real investigation. The evidence should lead the investigators. That is not what happened in this case.

[alsm9]

06:33 PM on 12/01/2011

I wouldn't either but, actually it's not just about one hair. He had motive, he was a violent stepfather who abused his family. His son was the worst to suffer, based on the forensic evidence. He was the last to be seem with the boys and his alibi is very flimsy at best. Also his friend's DNA was linked to the crime scene. He also worked in a slaughter house...the boys were hog tied. A lot points in his direction, but not enough for a conviction. They need to investigate more.

[Snake-Eyes]

02:56 PM on 12/01/2011

Please folks, No matter what you think of the outcome of the trial do not judge the victim's parents. I can not even begin to imagine the horror they have been through. Do not judge or even pretend to know how they should feel or think.

[alsm9]

03:21 PM on 12/01/2011

You don't think three innocent men wrongfully sent to prision for two decades have been through a terrible time? Seems they keep getting judged too. Sorry, the Moores put themselves in the public eye by writing that letter. Opinions on it are valid. It doesn't mean we don't feel terrible for what they have been going through.

[ladylove114]

03:49 PM on 12/01/2011

Are you kidding me?? You are actually feeling more sorrow for the 3 that are still alive and posing in front of cameras on the red carpet than the parents that lost their child? The Moores "put themselves in the public eye by writing that letter"???? WTF??? I imagine they were "in the public eye" at their childs funeral and at the courtroom everyday. You should be ashamed for condemning the parents for writing a letter.

[Lisa LeShea SkeesAllen]

11:24 AM on 12/02/2011

Thank you Snake-Eyes. My sentiments exactly, and I also posted the same thing earlier in the comment section as well.