Newly freed from prison, once-convicted child murderer Damien Echols appeared on our program two years ago and shared the troubling story of the flimsy case that sent him to death row. Arrested as teen in 1993 and charged in the murders of three Arkansas 8-year-olds, Echols faced the death penalty after a trial marked by faulty testimony and hysteria.
The West Memphis Three became a cause celebre and were finally released from prison following nearly two decades of public outcry — led in large part by our other guest, Lorri Davis, who learned about the case the same way most of us did: the HBO Paradise Lost documentary series.
Davis and Echols were married in 1999 with Echols still on death row. They were reunited in freedom in 2011, when the West Memphis Three agreed to an Alford plea.
Their epistolary love story Yours For Eternity is out now.
