comment #1

TL says ...

I thought that Byers comes off pretty well in PL3. He gets trashed in PL2, and that's a serious flaw of the film, but it Byers was at least complicit in it.

If he calls PL1 "staged" because of his own theatrical behavior in performing before the camera (e.g., the "burn in Hell!" mock funeral for Echols at the crime scene), well, sure. But then Byers was almost certainly the one who staged it, not the directors.

comment #2

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

I watched all 3 of the "Paradise Lost" docs last weekend, thanks to HBO VOD and I can't imagine what more this new one can add. Byers is quite a piece of work, that's for sure..

comment #3

dogcatcher says ...

I think the West Memphis 3 are probably guilty and all these documentaries are just a Hollywood liberal "whitewash."

You guys realize that the directors/producers of these documentaries are basically doing/have done to first Byers/now Hobbs the same thing they accuse the prosecutors of doing to the WM3: convicting them in the court of public opinion with innuendo and "facts" that have nothing to do with the case. They're using the creepy nature of Byers/Hobbs to convince people, who no nothing else of the case, that somehow they must be involved and, therefore, the WM3 must be innocent.

The fact that they began this strategy against Mark Byers is the reason i'm suspicious of their finger pointing at Terry Hobbs now. I think the reason Byers changed his tune against the WM3 and began believing that Hobbs was involved was because HE DIDN'T WANT TO BE BLAMED.

The only "evidence" tying either one of these guys to the case at all is that DNA evidence which only DOESN'T RULE OUT Terry Hobbs. In fact, as many as 3,000 people in West Memphis, Arkansas alone could have provided that sample and we don't even know that it had anything to do with the case at all.

This case has become nothing more than another liberal cause celebre, where celebrities pick and choose the evidence they want to believe to justify a position they already held before they heard any evidence at all. These celebrities are using their profiles and media contacts to draw attention to THEIR point-of-view and are funding it with all the money.

I smell a "whitewash" too, it's just not the one these celebs are presenting.

comment #4

Mr. Gittes says ...

Byers is straight out of an Errol Morris film.

comment #5

Zach says ...

Byers totally redeemed himself in PL3. He has no one to blame but himself for coming off as a raging psychopath in the other two.

comment #6

Anthony Thorne says ...

@dogcatcher

"I think the West Memphis 3 are probably guilty and all these documentaries are just a Hollywood liberal "whitewash.""

Let us know when your favourite Hollywood conservatives decide to research, fund and shoot a documentary that breaks the case wide open.

comment #7

lbeale says ...

Like the English language version of 'Dragon Tattoo,' I have to wonder: is this doc really necessary?

comment #8

VivianLin says ...

obviously because he resents the dredging up of circumstantial evidence in the mid '90s that indicated to police that he was a suspect in the deaths of the three boys. He said last night that the docs were compromised because several portions were "staged."For more details, all in golf clubs.

comment #9

Whitegoddess says ...

I remember that both Jo and Bruce thought the 3 guys were guilty when they began making PL1. In PL2 they jumped on the same information that Mara Leveret hung her hat on in her book, instead of actually doing some investiagtive journalism themselves. How embarrasing for them all to discover that Terry Hobbs was never interviewed by the Police back in 1993. The persuit of forensic and evidence testings, experts opinions and finally an interview, a 9 hour Dixie Chicks deposition, a transcribed interview with Dimension films, copies of his hand written journals and various new witness statements, all collide into Terry Hobbs, Step father of Stevie Branch. PL3 was a collection of what they already had and added a few new things available from the internet basicly. I thank them for initially bringing attention to this sad case and recording not only the trials but of catching certain important happenings and people, that really ought to have been given immediately to the defese IMO. Such as Gitchell's comment the Bojanlges blood evidence was sent to be tested when it was not; it was lost by the WMPD along with the sunglasses found. Promising Mark he would be totally vindicated and portrayed in a certain manner in PL3 if he would avail himself to them, one more time, seems like an empty promise made to him. There was no need in PL3 for them to insert what they already used of Mark in PL2. Mark has had to endure death threats and harassment over the years due to how he was portrayed because of this case. One would think they owed him more than what he was given in that flick...

comment #10

Expi says ...

What people need to know is that the WM3 were released due to the 'Alford' plea ...i.e. pleading guilty, not DNA. DNA was tested on items the defense chose not everything available. These DNA test results are not available to the public. If the DNA results do indeed exclude the 3 - so? No DNA present is not indicative of innocence (especially on defense chosen tests). If DNA of a parent is found this is not indicative of involvement. (Im sure I sent my daughter to school covered in my DNA this morning....and Im sure some of my DNA is in rooms in her school that Ive never been in).
I do agree with Mark that the PL series is and was compromised and he was treated unfairly as now is Terry Hobbs.
Wonder if PL4 will feature the fact that there is no 2 convicted and admitted child murderers now mingling with the rich and famous - and one in poverty with his rent paid by Peter Jackson???

comment #11

beeblebrox says ...

I'm not buying it, Expi. Convicted child murderers don't get to go free when they admit it. The Alford plea was just a way for the authorities to try to prevent themselves from getting sued, and the three took their chance to get out now.

I don't think you can compare Byers to Hobbs. Byers ended up looking bad and coming under suspicion due to his admittedly odd behavior during the filing of PL. I see him as a grieving parent dealing with massive problems who ended up looking bad onscreen. Big deal, lots of experienced public figures fall into that trap as well.

Now Hobbs, on the other hand, has one of his hairs caught in one of the victim's ligatures, NOT his stepson's. Casual transfer seems a bit of a stretch in that situation.