Paradise Lost (WM3)

The other night, I watched Paradise Lost Part 1, the first documentary about the West Memphis Three (Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin). I had heard about the case before, but didn't know much about it. The documentary really explored a lot of different aspects of the case, from both sides, the people for and against the three teens. I'm looking forward to watching the other documentaries, as this one was awesome and very well put together.

There are a lot of interesting perspectives in the documentary, but one guy, John Mark Byers, who is the stepfather of one of the victims, well, that guy is either just strange or hiding something. In the documentary, he is constantly cursing/blaming Echols, Misskelley, and Baldwin, and preaching fire and brimstone against them. At one point, he even pretends to be shooting them when he is shooting a pumpkin in a field. A lot of times he is theatrical and over-the-top, and it really makes you wonder. The crazy thing is, today, he is actually on the side of the West Memphis Three. He completely switched sides and now believes they're innocent, after verbally attacking them for years. Now he's damning Terry Hobbs, who was Stevie Branch's stepfather. He's verbally attacking him and making him look like the killer. Like I said, this guy is either nuts or he's hiding something by drawing attention to others.

All in all, a very interesting case and documentary, I look forward to watching the other documentaries!