Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three
Mara Leveritt Ships in 7–13 business days
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Details
- ISBN 9780743417600 / 0743417607
- Title Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three
- Author Mara Leveritt
- Category Politics & Government
- Format Paperback
- Year 2003
- Pages 432
- Publisher Atria Books
- Imprint Simon & Schuster
- Language English
- Dimensions 141mm x 30mm x 214mm
From the prize-winning investigative reporter who has had the inside track on the story since it first broke in 1993 comes the definitive chronicle of the notorious child murders in West Memphis, Arkansas. of photos.
“Free the West Memphis Three.”
Maybe you've heard the phrase.
But do you know why their story is so alarming?
Do you know the facts?
The guilty verdicts handed out to three Arkansas teens in a horrific capital murder case were popular in their home state — even upheld on appeal. But after two HBO documentaries called attention to the witch-hunt atmosphere at the trials, artists and other supporters raised concerns about the accompanying lack of evidence. Now, award-winning journalist Mara Leveritt provides the most comprehensive look yet into this endlessly shocking case.
For weeks in 1993, after the murders of three eight-year-old boys, police in West Memphis, Arkansas, seemed stymied. Then suddenly, detectives charged three teenagers — alleged members of a satanic cult — with the killings. Despite stunning investigative blunders, a confession riddled with errors, and an absence of physical evidence linking any of the accused to the crime, the teenagers were tried and convicted. Jurors sentenced Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley to life in prison. They sentenced Damien Echols, the accused ringleader, to death. Ten years later, all three remain in prison. Here, Leveritt unravels this seemingly medieval case and offers close-up views of its key participants, including one with an uncanny knack for evading the law....
Maybe you've heard the phrase.
But do you know why their story is so alarming?
Do you know the facts?
The guilty verdicts handed out to three Arkansas teens in a horrific capital murder case were popular in their home state — even upheld on appeal. But after two HBO documentaries called attention to the witch-hunt atmosphere at the trials, artists and other supporters raised concerns about the accompanying lack of evidence. Now, award-winning journalist Mara Leveritt provides the most comprehensive look yet into this endlessly shocking case.
For weeks in 1993, after the murders of three eight-year-old boys, police in West Memphis, Arkansas, seemed stymied. Then suddenly, detectives charged three teenagers — alleged members of a satanic cult — with the killings. Despite stunning investigative blunders, a confession riddled with errors, and an absence of physical evidence linking any of the accused to the crime, the teenagers were tried and convicted. Jurors sentenced Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley to life in prison. They sentenced Damien Echols, the accused ringleader, to death. Ten years later, all three remain in prison. Here, Leveritt unravels this seemingly medieval case and offers close-up views of its key participants, including one with an uncanny knack for evading the law....
Review
"The abuses of the criminal justice system shown here are so blatant—and so profoundly tragic—that they would be hard to believe were it not for the depth and evenhandedness of Leveritt's reporting."—Sr. Helen Prejean “author of ”Dead Man Walking“ ”
Mara Leveritt won a White Award for investigative journalism in 1991, was named Arkansas Journalist of the Year in 1992, and was awarded Arkansas's Booker Worthen Prize in 2000 for her book “The Boys on the Tracks.” A contributing editor to the “Arkansas Times, ” she lives in Little Rock.
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