Peter Jackson Still Gunning for Justice for West Memphis Three

Filmmaker will continue to help fund a new investigation into the deaths of three 8-year-old boys in 1993; WM3 spent 17 years behind bars for the killings

By Natalie Finn Aug 24, 2011 12:22 AMTags
Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jason Baldwin, Peter JacksonAP Photo/Danny Johnston; Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Peter Jackson's latest projects? The Hobbit, the Tintin series and justice for not only three little boys, but for three grown men, as well.

The New Zealander's rep confirmed Tuesday to E! News that Jackson and wife Fran Walsh will continue to kick funds into an investigation to prove once and for all that the so-called West Memphis Three are innocent of murdering Christopher Byers, Stevie Branch and Michael Moore, all 8 at the time, in West Memphis, Ark., back in 1993.

Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. were released from prison (Echols from death row) last week after more than 18 years behind bars.

But the state still considers the men guilty and Jackson, one of many celebs who labeled the original convictions a miscarriage of justice, is by no means satisfied.

"Let's not think for a second that justice was served today. Far from it," the Lord of the Rings visionary wrote on Facebook Friday after the WM3's release.

"All three men had to accept the conditions of the plea—if one refused, they would all stay in prison, probably for another 2 to 3 years, until their inevitable retrial, which would have almost certainly found them innocent."

"Why would you take this 'Alford Plea' if you were innocent, if you had a strong possibility that the convictions would be overturned at a retrial?" Jackson continued. "I can answer that—because a retrial would take at least two years, and if the convictions were overturned, the State would likely appeal and the process would drag on for several more years...I know what I would do in their position."

"There's also a triple child killer who has walked free for the last 18 years...seemingly an unimportant detail in today's white-washing job," he added, going on to rip state prosecutor Scott Ellington, who presided over the WM3's plea deal.

"The ongoing work will focus on proving the convicted men's innocence, as it always has," and will ideally include "evidence testing and further investigation which will hopefully lead to the unmasking of the actual killer," Jackson's manager, Ken Kamins, first told EW.com.

Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley were all convicted of capital murder in 1994 after Misskelley confessed to the crimes (he later recanted) and implicated the two others, even though his statement didn't match up with certain details known to police.

The crime and the WM3 were the subject of the 1996 documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.

Echols' attorneys informed the court in 2007 that possibly exculpatory DNA evidence had turned up, and the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled last November that there was cause to call a hearing on whether the three should get a new trial.

That hearing was scheduled for this December, but over the last few weeks the defendants' attorneys hammered out a deal that vacated the capital murder convictions and allowed them to go free if they entered Alford guilty pleas, meaning they're not admitting guilt but are admitting that it's in their best interest to cut a deal.

They were each sentenced to 18 years and 78 days in jail, aka time served.

Alford or not, they still had to plead guilty to first- and second-degree murder, however, and Jackson, for one, just isn't having it.