Note: Before I begin writing I would like to make one thing clear. The cases I am mentioning I did not follow. One of them, I had heard about from a 3 part documentary and the other's were highly talked about in the media. This is just my opinion I am not trying to lay either guilt or innocence. Hopefully you will see the point of this blog after you read it.
Read On.
This past Monday evening I had watched the third part of a documentary series on television. It was entitled Paradise Lost. it was about three young men who in 1994 were convicted of murdering three young preteen boys in the state of Arkansas. Very brutal crime to say the least. I saw the first one and half of the second, but the third one was the one that made me think.
The three men, known as the 'West Memphis Three' were just teenager's when this happened, they were all found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Flash forward eighteen years later, the three men are being released from prison due to DNA testing which proved they didn't do the crime. There is alot more to the story, but I am on a schedule.
When I first saw this documentary, the first part was released in either 1995 or 1996, and saw the proceedings as these teens were being convicted, I thought to myself,"well, they deserved it. It was a brutal thing and they didn't seem to show any remorse for it, they got what they deserved." One of the teens when asked before the his verdict was read, if he was found not guilty what was he going to do. The young man said he was going to get drunk. Not the kind of thing you want to be thinking when you're being tried for murder. Not that I would know, but, it's a guess. I didn't know the whole story, nor at the time did I care to. Like I said, there was much more to come of this case.
But that's it, isn't it?. We as a nation when we hear about a crime that has made the national news we tend to think they're guilty right off the bat. Even when they for what ever the reason are found innocent of the crimes they are being tried for, we still think, well they may have gotten off, but, they're still guilty.
Micheal Jackson, O.J Simpson and Casey Anthony. All of them had national attention drawn to their trials and all of them were found not guilty buy their respective jury's.
Why? Good question.
I don't have the answer. I was not on either jury.
I don't really know if it is a good thing or a bad thing to feel that way about something like that. Like I wrote earlier, I didn't follow the west memphis three case and I didn't follow the other three cases I just mentioned
All though it was hard not to notice with three of them.
Should Anthony, Jackson and Simpson have been found guilty? Maybe. Or was it that they at least in the case of Anthony and Simpson were the first people noticed so all the clues point to them.
Who knows?
In the eyes of some, regardless of proof of innocence at their respective trials they are guilty.
I am not trying to argue with anyone over this. I some times feel the same way.
Jackson for instance, it doesn't matter what your name is or how much money you have one thing you simply do not do is take young children into your bed and think the public when they get wind of it is going to be ok with it, because they were not. A lot of people and for good reasons felt that what Jackson did was odd and they started to question why a man would do something like that.
Love Micheal Jackson or not, the situation with the sleepover with young boys was a no-no and Jackson only had himself to blame.
Yeah, I wrote it.
But, regardless, in his trial, he was found not guilty.
I'll write it again. It is easy to watch a court trial and not think that the person would be found guilty. Most often than not, they are and deserve what ever comes their way, other's like the Arkansas case where it seems they were innocent, it took years to prove it.
Not that it has been proven yet. If you decide you want to know more go to any search engine and type in 'west memphis three'
I think the point I am trying to make is this: Every one likes to point fingers and just say or even think, well they got the person, that's good enough for me. Even if they are not, we still point fingers.
Is it wrong or is it right? I would have to say it depends. Three out of the four cases I have have been writing about murder was involved. Two of them having to do with children. Murder of any kind is wrong, but it just seems that when its a child it becomes more personal. I can see why. Whether a jury of your peers finds them innocent or whether they have to prove it decades later, the fact remains they're are still going to be people that think and perhaps even say that in their eyes you're still guilty.
Good or bad, right or wrong with Memphis,Simpson and Anthony, people are dead. And if they didn't do it than who did and will they ever be caught and brought to justice?
