Audio By Carbonatix
The case of the wrongly convicted Arkansas men known as the West Memphis Three may seem a little far afield of Phoenix, Arizona, but not really. Perihelion Arts Gallery, currently on Roosevelt Street, has done benefit art shows for the cause in the past, and the convicted murderers — including Damien Echols, who now sits on Arkansas’ death row — have many supporters in the Valley and in Arizona.Back in 2003, I traveled to Arkansas for the L.A. Weekly, now one of New Times‘ sister papers, to visit Echols for a story I did on the fight to free the WM3 titled “The Devil’s Advocates.” Needless to say, it was an unsettling experience.The story of how this trio of outsiders became the scapegoats for the brutal killings of three young boys in 1993 and how West Memphis, Arkansas and the region was gripped with the phenomenon known as “Satanic panic” is the subject of the documentaries Paradise Lost 1 & 2 and a brilliant book by Arkansas reporter Mara Leveritt Devil’s Knot.
