I was interviewed last week by the New York Times regarding the community feelings towards the West Memphis Three (WM3) trials.
The portion of my interview that made it to the press is as follows.
To Shaun Hair, 30, who left West Memphis for college after the killings, it was a jolt to hear friends and neighbors begin questioning the verdict. “I was like, ‘That’s stupid, quit buying the hype,’ ” he said.
But when Mr. Hair, who returned to the area in 1999 and now works as a criminal defense lawyer, re-examined the case, he found it troubling. “If I were the defense attorney,” he said, “I would want a retrial.”
The point of the interview was to gather information about the feelings of the community these many years later. Read the whole story here.
My point was basically that we in Crittenden County do not have any stronger feelings about the case than people in Nashville or Seattle. We see it on the news and that’s the end of it. Some people feel strongly. Some do not. Regardless of what we believe about the case, I do not believe we identify to the case because of our community roots.
