By: Mille Appleton
Metal band A Sound of Thunder has released a charity single titled “Justice At Last” for and about the West Memphis Three to raise money and awareness for the legal defense fund.
The West Memphis Three refers to three teenagers who were tried and convicted for murders of three children in West Memphis, Ark. in 1993. Police arrested 16-year-olds Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley who were eventually sentenced to death by lethal injection, life without parole and life plus 40 years, respectively.
The teenagers were convicted despite no physical evidence, no weapon, no motive and no connection to the victims. The only evidence was a statement from mentally disabled Misskelley who repeated back to the police what he was told to say after12 hours of questioning, without counsel or parental consent.
Since ’93 the case of the West Memphis Three has received considerable attention from the community and celebrities who continue to raise money for the defense.
A Sound of Thunder guitarist Josh Schwartz first learned about the West Memphis Three from the documentary Paradise Lost and was “very very angry” to learn about the situation.
“Anybody that learns about it would be angry about it, but it affected me because the three kids that were convicted were kind of metalheads,” Schwartz said. “Part of what happened happened because they had long hair and wore Metallica t-shirts. That was us at 16 and 17, we would have looked just like them.”
Schwartz informed his band members of what he had seen and they immediately wanted to help by writing the song for and about the WM3. The music and lyrics of the song cover the range of emotion evoked by the case itself, from sadness to anger, and even hope, Schwartz said.
The Washington D.C. band is donating 100 percent of the proceeds to the West Memphis Three Legal Defense Fund and asks that supporters band together with just a click of the mouse and $0.99. The song was released May 10 on iTunes and all major digital music outlets.
To learn more about the West Memphis Three, visit www.freewestmemphis3.org.