Returned From the Land of the Dead:
Apparently they’ll let any con man or bullshit artist write for the Huffington Post. For example take our favorite outcast messiah and thrice convicted child murderer Damien Echols. Apparently someone at the HuffPo gave him the assignment of reviewing a TV show about a man who was wrongly convicted and spent 19 years on death row. Starting to sound familiar? Let’s join the review already in progress…
First, I should probably say that I’m not a big fan of prison shows. Or cop shows. Or lawyer shows. Or courtroom drama shows of any sort. I guess that’s one of the side effects of being sentenced to death for a crime I didn’t commit.
Your multiple upheld convictions by the Arkansas Supreme Court and Alford plea say otherwise.
One thing I learned is that almost everything you see on television shows is complete and absolute fiction.
Yet we’re supposed to believe that all the movies about him are 100% accurate. Hey, isn’t 48 Hours a TV show? Hmmmm.
Rectify is the story of a man who was sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit, and spent 19 years on death row before getting out. Much like in my own real life case, the local politicians refuse to admit he’s innocent even after DNA testing points towards someone else.
According to Google Maps it’s 130 miles from West Memphis to Little Rock. I mention that since obviously Echols considers the State Supreme Court to be ‘local politicians’. Also I guess I have to point out once again that the supposed DNA evidence does not point to ‘someone else’. I guess his handlers told them to cool it on the Terry Hobbs accusations.
The writer of the show, Ray McKinnon, was somewhat familiar with my case. His late wife, Lisa Blount was a friend of mine. She and I exchanged letters while I was on death row in Arkansas, and she even sang at a concert in Arkansas, along with Eddie Vedder, Patti Smith, and Johnny Depp, to help raise awareness about my plight.
That speaks volumes. I’m surprised Mikey isn’t a creative consultant on the show. Of course Echols has to name drop all his celebrity friends again to give himself some kind of validation.
It was odd, thinking back on how I’d been beaten, starved, and treated as something sub-human by prison guards for years.
None of which has ever been proven.
Law enforcement and politicians in the show say that despite what DNA testing shows, the lead character would not have confessed if he weren’t guilty. That greatly mirrors the sentiments I’ve heard in the outside world. The reality is that anyone can be so worn down that they’ll eventually confess to anything, no matter how strong they believe themselves to be. And it happens all the time — from people who are killed after confessing to practicing witchcraft, to people sentenced to lethal injection even though the crime scene bears no resemblance to the confession tortured out of them.
Of course had to throw a reference to the Salem Witch Trials in there because he lives in Salem in case you didn’t know. Apparently Echols like to wield symbolism like a blunt object. I wonder if his statement about confessions was a jab at Jessie Misskelley for his multiple confessions that led to their convictions. Kind of like a “you better keep your mouth shut if you know what’s good for you” kind of jab.
I’ll give Echols credit for one thing. He seems to be a pretty decent cult leader. I think he’s brainwashed himself into believing his own lies.
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 
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