Drink about something

EPISODE 81: West Memphis Three PART 3 REVISIT

Jendsey Season 2 Episode 81

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 1:24:56

Three teenagers get branded as monsters, a community falls hard for a satanic panic storyline, and a case held together by a false confession becomes “truth” for nearly two decades. We wrap our West Memphis Three series by following Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley from conviction into the realities people don’t like to picture: prison violence, death row, and years of solitary confinement that change a person’s body and brain.

Then we track the counter-force that kept this from disappearing. Paradise Lost helps ignite public pressure, supporters build a real innocence movement, and Lori Davis turns a letter into a life’s mission. We talk about how documentaries, fundraising, and high-profile allies push the legal fight forward, why DNA evidence and alternate suspects matter even when the system resists, and how it feels to realize the “case closed” label can be more important than the actual truth.

The turning point is the Alford plea: pleading guilty while maintaining innocence because prosecutors insist they could still win at trial. It’s a legal escape hatch that brings freedom, but not exoneration, not accountability, and not a clean ending. We close with what comes after release, including PTSD and rebuilding, plus Jason Baldwin’s work with Proclaimed Justice to help others facing wrongful conviction.

If this series hits you, share it with a friend, follow the show, and leave a review so more people can find it. What do you think the justice system should do when new evidence collides with an old verdict?

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!!!

Ready to explore more shocking true crime cases with us? Subscribe to Drink About Something for new episodes every Friday, and visit drinkaboutsomething.site with links to see all our content, including visual evidence from the cases we cover. 

AS ALWAYS D-A-S

Rockville Check In And Quick Plugs

SPEAKER_00

We've made it to the third episode. We have the horrific saga of the thing. And just portrayed upon by other people like and just like my mom is just completely blown on this one.

SPEAKER_03

Well, while this is being re-released, we are at Rockville, and we are the kids that were or could have been targeted for the type of music that we listen to, just like these guys were. And uh a whole case has been solved because uh wear the metallic features.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, like devil's knob.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Oh. Um I've definitely plugged it in this episode that makes sure you guys watch the Devil's Knob, listen or read Damian Eckle's uh um life after death. It is one of the best things that I've ever listened to. And I actually listened to it twice. So maybe do it a third time. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

We're gonna do things though. Thank you guys for tuning into part three. We're still at Rockville, we're doing things. Yes, we're doing so much.

SPEAKER_03

And we'll be out next week, though. Oh no, we've got a recap on Wednesday.

SPEAKER_00

Oh yeah, we're gonna be talking about one of the performers that Rockville with us. So that's what is he doing? And I'm sure he would be like looking for justice just as well. Because a little activist and a lot of all his aesthetics and the things he stands for, you know, with the MMIW stuff or the pipeline stuff and talking the Native American stuff and the political stuff that he stands for, just uh a lot that he gets into that. So check out our new episode that was coming off with Randy Blood.

SPEAKER_03

I just have to say really quick that the tastiest that I've got in my drink is making me uh feel a little bit like Erica Kirk with heavy breathing. I'm like, oh, yeah. That's crunchy as fuck. But, anyways, we're gonna uh send you guys out on a good note and keep on listening, keep on trucking all of the bands that we plug at the end because they're important. They're just as important as everything else we talk about.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you so much for like, share, subscribe, and all the stuff that you do for us to help support our little hobby over here, too. We really love all the feedback and all the stuff, and we keep seeing us grow a little bit more, a little bit more.

SPEAKER_03

And hey, hit us up in our DMs on uh drink about something on Instagram if maybe next year you want to join us at Rockville. There we go. Grow our party. Yeah, yeah. Let's grow our campsite party.

Celebrating 100 Downloads And Reset

SPEAKER_00

That would be fun. Yeah, Orange Lot is worth it. Yeah, it's always fun there. So great times. Have an amazing weekend. Yes, and all the amazing stuff your way. And we're gonna let this thing fly. Well that you tell me. How you guys doing? How you guys uh doin'? Jesse here and Lindsay. And I just wanted to say that holy shit, we broke a hundred. Yes, a hundred downloads on our little project here, and we're loving every one of you guys. Thank you guys so much.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, keep it going, keep it going.

SPEAKER_00

You know, I I enjoy doing little projects, and like this is the most amazing as far as like putting something out and then seeing like a return so fast, everybody's on board, they're loving it. The feedback is amazing, and we don't even care if it's if it's not amazing, just let us know what you think and we can critique us, we can take it. Because we're noobs, we're still noobs, but we're getting in this, and I'm loving it. So uh it's drink about something.

SPEAKER_03

Hey, hey, hey, hey. And we're drinking about the West Memphis Three. This is part three.

SPEAKER_00

Part three.

SPEAKER_03

What a journey.

SPEAKER_00

This is not our final though. Like, I feel like we're gonna revisit this later on, but this is the wrap-up of a three-part thing that we've been doing, and it's just it's been an adventure.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely. Oh god, this is all I've been living and breathing for over a month.

SPEAKER_00

You have been. And last night you were like you were making some notes and stuff, and you broke down just in the middle of that. And I looked over, I'm like, she's a puddle again. I know.

SPEAKER_03

There's a lot of things to puddle about. I mean, it's just tragic.

SPEAKER_00

Hey. Your puffy hair and a purple, and it's just like flowing right now. Love it. I love it. So, you know, talk to them. I'll take a drink.

Convictions Built On A False Confession

SPEAKER_03

All right, let's get to it. So, on part two, we left off with Jesse Miss Kelly, Jason Baldwin, and Damian Eccles being convicted of the capital murder of Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore, all because of a false confession, lies, and circumstantial evidence. I forgot to mention in the first two parts that the narrative on the satanic devil shit was so thick that they assigned this case as 93-05-666.

SPEAKER_00

The mark of the beast.

SPEAKER_03

Right. But it actually should have been 93-05-555.

SPEAKER_00

So they edited that shit to make it like that? Are you fucking kidding me right now?

SPEAKER_03

Because if you're 555. If you're 555.

SPEAKER_00

I'm sex sex. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03

We had a we had a mishap there with my waterfalling.

SPEAKER_00

I really think that most of the metal music we listen to is just like a joke to come back. It is satanic. It is. It's just a so like slipknot doing that song is just like we're what's it like to be a heretic? You know? We're not. We're just trying to do our own thing because Right.

SPEAKER_03

And we just like things a little heavier in life. That's all right.

SPEAKER_00

The whole joke of fucking satanic panic has just been that. And they rolled it for 20 years at least, right? It's still going on in different in our experience. Yeah, of course, they did it back in the 1600s. They did it back.

SPEAKER_03

It's been all through time because people get bored and there has to be some kind of fucking panic.

SPEAKER_00

They would march on a field, you know, 20,000 people and kill another 20,000 in the name of Jesus because you know they were the devil, right?

SPEAKER_03

Every yeah, every religion, every every type of everything has been persecuted at one point or another. Nobody's been done more than the next. Right. And or more than the last.

SPEAKER_00

I'm sorry. I do. I believe in a creator, and you know, with that being the God that we've been taught of the last 2,000 years, I kind of believe that. I mean, I really do.

SPEAKER_03

And it's not kind of but everything else that goes along with it, we're just not about all that.

SPEAKER_00

It twists, it twists so much. And the reality of how twisted it can be over 2,000 years, and all these other authors and people that have just jumped into it and rewrote it and made it their own thing. I don't believe that, but I do have a connection. I do. I have a connection, I believe there's a higher being, and live right and uh do good, you know, walk that walk and you can uh love and have an after self and because there is something after be a good person, and that's really all that matters. This bloody Mary's good. I keep fucking hitting it. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03

So I also forgot to mention that Damien's girlfriend at the time, Domini Tear, was four months pregnant when he was arrested, and he became a father in jail and awaiting trial. Oh. Yeah, I completely forgot that whole part.

SPEAKER_00

Everything thickens.

Prison Violence And Solitary Confinement

SPEAKER_03

Yes. So what happened after the convictions? So all of them, of course, had a really rough time. They were convicted child murderers and supposed rapists, even though the medical examiner ruled out rape, it was still suggested in all the trials.

SPEAKER_00

So Jared was going full fucking ball at that time.

SPEAKER_03

So they were all brutally beaten and raped by prisoners and guards. Damien got the worst of this because he was on death row. They care a lot less about prisoners on death row than prisoners in for life or you know, for minor discrepancies. So Damien was also sent to solitary confinement confinement immediately. Immediately. Okay. Jesse actually would actually try to get into solitary confinement because the constant noise of prison really fucked with him. Just well, I mean, and he would go in there just to have quiet time. Right. Really.

SPEAKER_00

That's what I'm saying. Like in his middle state, he felt like a nine-year-old in prison, right?

SPEAKER_03

Oh my god. And yeah, and there is always constant noise there.

SPEAKER_00

I'll do it, Lindsay. I'll do it.

SPEAKER_03

So about a year after they had been in prison, Jason received a letter from the counselor that had spoken with Michael Carson about the case. And then Michael went on to testify that Jason had confessed to him. Remember that? In that letter, the counselor said that this was all from a conversation that he had had with him. He said, quote, we were discussing details of the case and what was being said in the media. And then he went to the police and said that you confessed to him this was counselor to Jason. The counselor apologized and said it was wrong of him, wrong of him and out of line to be discussing this with another inmate. He said he felt so guilty that he went to Jason's lawyer, Paul Ford. When Paul Ford asked if he would testify to this, the counselor said yes. Then they told him he was not allowed to testify, but he did not know why. Paul Ford tried to use this letter and tried to get Jason uh a new trial based on this and the fact that Judge Burnett had met with the met with the prosecution privately without the defense, and Judge Burnett did not deny this.

SPEAKER_00

So Ford was the only person that was like trying to step in a little bit for how shitty of a deal that this nine-year-old well in his mind.

SPEAKER_03

No, no, no. Jason, Jason was the um the one that was best friends with Damien. Jesse was the one that had led the confession.

SPEAKER_00

So he's trying to make a but better deal.

SPEAKER_03

He's trying to he's trying to get a new trial because they all know that these kids didn't do this.

SPEAKER_00

They know that it's there's nothing there, right?

SPEAKER_03

Even though Judge Burnett did not deny this, he was the judge that had to rule on his own behalf because he was the original trial judge. So he got all the say so. So, of course, a new trial was denied, as well as appeals and new evidence. Jason was able to find his place in prison and made the best of a horrible situation. So it's like you find the less um hot place in hell and hang out there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_03

And so did Jesse eventually, both being able to get jobs and do schooling, but they never stopped fighting for their innocence. So Damien's situation was a whole lot different. He was in solitary confinement for a total of a decade of his sentence, which made his eyesight terrible. And in his book, he would talk about the blankets of mosquitoes that would come out when it was hot. What? And the constant chirping of crickets. Like he said it would like make you almost go mad.

SPEAKER_00

How would you not? Right.

SPEAKER_03

And he also did say, I didn't put this in my notes, but he also said that like 95% of inmates on death row are mentally unstable or mentally handicapped. There's all so the other 5% that is not are usually the not guilty ones.

SPEAKER_00

So he's in this for years. Oh my god, yeah. Already at this point. Years.

SPEAKER_03

So the brutality of the guards, threats from the warden. He was immediately taken off his uh antidepressants because they they don't care about all that on death row. So he went into horrible withdrawal. And of course, that was a complete nightmare. I mean, just it's it's things you never want to imagine. Never want to imagine. He said he would agree to do more and more interviews, and it would stop some of the abuse because he would openly talk about it, and then uh it was reported. Like, you know, outside sources would report the abuse that he was going through.

SPEAKER_00

Right. So this guy that knows that he's innocent has been locked up in solitary confinement for years and gets no help. Nobody gives a shit.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, I'm getting there. He does get some help, but it still takes a very long time to make moves happen. Right. So he would also find solace in Buddhism, and that he would just meditate for hours on end. He didn't want anything to do with Christianity because Christians had been the one to put him away for a crime he didn't commit.

SPEAKER_00

They let him down 100%. So what he believed honestly, because he wanted to be Catholic, right? Right. So what he believed.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, he was very, I mean, he was different, he was interested in a lot of different religions, but he was he went to Catholic Mass. Like he had to say that schedulely.

SPEAKER_00

That was his calling, right? Just to be able to go. But obviously, it really was. So in a form that was just his.

SPEAKER_03

He chose his name after a father who later became a saint. Right.

SPEAKER_00

So toward toward finding that connection that you that ever it's instilled upon us, you know, before everybody else fucks it up, right? Right. So it's instilled upon us because you you have a connection with something that that ties everything together, you know, and you you want to have something afterwards. You want to, you wanna you want to have an understanding, you know? Yes. And so there's a there's that obviously.

SPEAKER_03

You want to believe there's something higher out there that you can that you can talk to and and rest your confidence in to help a horrible situation get better. And the twisted of everything else. And like I said, Damien already had these like shitty, I mean, all these boys had shitty childhoods. Like there was not, I haven't heard of one single wholesome fucking family in this entire case. That's some poor house decisions in West Memphis that they went through.

SPEAKER_00

But I mean, hey, I was raised in some poor decisions too, and so were you, you know? And you know, people just need to be people and you know, they need to they need to try to teach everybody in the right way, you know. Just let everything just be honest. And I'm I I'm sorry that kind of gets me, and I'm sure it's getting you right now because you'd look back and the the way that people portray something that they're grabbing a hold to because it's trendy, it's fucking trendy. It's it's what everybody else is doing. So we're gonna do that too. If you don't do that, you're not a good Christian, you're not going to heaven if you don't look down upon somebody that's a little bit different.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_00

But we're supposed to accept everybody that don't fit the mold.

Appeals Blocked Despite Clear Problems

SPEAKER_03

Which what is the mold? In 1996, Jesse's attorneys filed an appeal for seven court justices to look at his confession and to acknowledge that the confession was the only evidence against him, and that it was confusing as far as the time of events went, and tons of inconsistencies, and they agreed to that. But it was just fine for the verdict to remain.

SPEAKER_00

And that's why we were getting heated right there. Like I'm starting to see all this wrapped together, and there's nothing to fucking wrap together.

SPEAKER_03

And Dan Stidham never gave up. Like I said, Dan Stidham was Jesse's attorney, and he he was one of his attorneys, and he stood by his side all the way.

SPEAKER_00

So he's he's the angel that we're looking for.

SPEAKER_03

That's that's there's many angels in this story, but he, like I said, he was the OG. He's stuck by Jesse Fucking.

SPEAKER_00

He knew, and he was like, I'm gonna put my career on the line for this bullshit.

SPEAKER_03

And he was a public defender, he didn't have to put all that effort into it.

SPEAKER_00

You know, so he stuck with him and he was just like, I'm gonna put my whole career on this. I watched that by the way, the other night. Oh, check out that one, guys. McMartin.

SPEAKER_03

And we're gonna watch, uh, we're gonna watch West after this part. We can actually watch West of Memphis because I need you to watch it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I thought I seen parts and pieces or something, but that way we can sob together and release. Yeah. Oh so old Vicky Hutchison, remember her? Yeah, she ended up recanting her story and was mad she never received reward money because remember, they used her testimony and of course interviewed her son without her being present, and that was all used against all three of them. And she even tried to sue. At first, she said that what really happened was she had broken up with a boyfriend, and on the day she attended this supposed spot, she had actually gotten blackout drunk on some wild turkey and went somewhere.

SPEAKER_00

Kicking chicken? Kicking chicken?

SPEAKER_03

And she went somewhere with someone and then seen some weird shit. I'm sorry, you see, but then she just ended up saying that she lied about it all, and she was just sorry.

SPEAKER_00

Back down to a woman saying some bullshit, right?

SPEAKER_03

Hey, don't down all of us. We're not all pieces of shit like that, okay?

SPEAKER_00

Love you guys.

Paradise Lost Sparks A Support Movement

SPEAKER_03

But at the same time, women be out there doing the work. The ones that are not pieces of shit were they're out there doing the work. Yeah. All right, because I'm gonna get to a badass woman here in a minute. Here we go. So in 1996, the first part of the Paradise Lost documentaries were shown at the Sundance Film Festival and selects small theaters, and that store started a whole movement. So remember Joe Berling and Bruce Sinowski had gone down to Arkansas to make a documentary about three teenage murderers, but then they were like, wait, they didn't do this. And they vowed to keep making these until they were free. It's common ass sense. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02

Like common ass sense.

SPEAKER_03

And the outpouring of support for the three started. Writer Burke Sauls, graphic artist Kathy Backen, and photographer Grove Pashley from LA started WM3.org, and the free, the West Memphis Three movement was born.

SPEAKER_00

Were they from LA or are they from LA? That's where they were from, right?

SPEAKER_03

LA LA and the tacos are so much better. Okay, that's from Letterkenny. You gotta watch Letterkenny. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

We talked about that once or twice before. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03

So they would do interviews and constantly update the website about things that were going on in the case and pictures of the three and so forth. So after the release of the first part of Paradise Lost, there were three total. One came out in '96, the second in 2005, and the third in 2010. So after the first was an absolute angel of a woman named Lori Davis, who was an architect in New York. She reached out to Damien and they started a regular correspondence.

SPEAKER_00

You know what? The last one took place kind of close to LA, didn't it? Or it was near San Francisco. What do you mean? Like McMartin, we were talking about.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yeah, that was in um, oh my god, what was it called? Manhattan Beach, California.

SPEAKER_00

So that's okay. So back to Californians, back to credit to Californians, because it's full circle, right? There is great people everywhere, but there's a lot of non-common sense people to actually push this whole narrative into putting people in prison for years, right? But God, I couldn't believe it. I mean, what what if we're just sitting here right now and then uh they just bust in and create that kind of havoc life, you know? I mean, the last one we're talking about.

SPEAKER_03

The music that we like and the clothes that we wear in our house that is fully decorated and Halloween decorated, even though Halloween has become an absolute trending holiday, and I am so happy about it.

SPEAKER_00

Halloween is and and you know what, you don't have to embrace anything other than what it is.

SPEAKER_03

We're just a vibe, just like the we like to play dress up, we like to have spooky vibes, the the ambiance, everything is just it's it's it's a whole it's a feeling, it's a whole vibe.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's the uh part of the uh what you like to call sweat of weather.

SPEAKER_03

Sweat of weather. Even though it's warmed up a little bit, but in the morning it's nice.

SPEAKER_00

I'm giddy right now. Like I'm wanting to see this whole conclusion of everything that you've wrapped up, even though this could go on for like another five more episodes, I'm sure. And you're just like something.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, you can go into the misconduct of the the jury, the misconduct of the prosecution, the miscon I mean, just misconduct of what's here, what's there, what's fake, what's real.

SPEAKER_00

All of it, all of it seems like it's just a farce. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So Lori Davis reached out to Damien, and they uh she was an architect in New York. She reached out to Damien and they started a regular correspondence. They ended up falling in love. Oh love, love and were married in prison using a Buddha ceremony in 1999.

SPEAKER_00

I love you, Billy. She would put her boob up on the window. Quit. I'm sorry. This was sweet. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Don't take away from the sweetness of this. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, Billy. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03

So Lori ended up quitting her job and moved to Arkansas to work on Damien's case. Well, actually, I mean, pretty much all three of them, because I mean it was all tied together. Right.

SPEAKER_00

One big old hootamaroo, two-do-loo.

SPEAKER_03

And she did that full time, just constant work. They married to 99. And I'll really I'll re I'll reveal later how long it took. But just remember that 99.

SPEAKER_00

What kind of income do you have? How do you do this? So I'm getting there. Okay. How do you do this?

SPEAKER_03

So now this can happen without support. So luckily, Henry Rollins, Rollins from Black Flag. From Henley Rollins? Henry Rollins. Hold on. Let me let me get through this. Come on, girl. I'm excited. Chug D from Public Enemy. What? Johnny Depp.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, hello.

SPEAKER_03

Queen Natalie Maines from the Dixie Chicks. God, I love her. Listen, she may be a country singer, but she is metal as so like this is the biggest fucking bomb show right now to me, right?

SPEAKER_00

Hold on. I even got to the No, do not. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

And Eddie Vedder. Oh. The love of my grunge heart.

SPEAKER_00

Oh.

SPEAKER_03

Eddie Vedder.

SPEAKER_00

Hang on a minute. Hang on a minute, Lindsay. Lindsay. Eddie. Let me let me let me creep up next to the mic because y'all can barely fucking hear me anyhow, because I'm nothing. So we went to a Pearl Jam show one time and it sold the fuck out, of course.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, hold on one second.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, tell me.

SPEAKER_03

Pause that. Let me keep going before we share that story because it's important. I already had that story. Okay. I'm not going to pause it once. I'll pause it, but like y'all put a pen in that. We went and seen Pearl Jam. We're coming back. And we're coming back.

SPEAKER_00

Keep on going, girl. Oh my God.

SPEAKER_03

So all of them would visit uh visit in prison, and Eddie Vetter was especially close to Damien and Lori. There were benefit concerts, donations to legal funds, compilation albums. So much love and support was given to the three, and Lori was at the forefront of it all.

SPEAKER_00

This is the realm that I'm loving right now.

SPEAKER_03

I know. I've been dying to get this.

SPEAKER_00

This is what you've been geeking?

SPEAKER_03

Like, hold on.

SPEAKER_00

Go, Lindsay. Go, Lindsay. Go, Lindsay.

Lori Davis And Celebrity Legal Backing

SPEAKER_03

So after the second part of Paradise Lost came out in 2005, Sir Peter Jackson and his wife Fran Walsh from Lord of the Rings got involved. They were the writers, directors, producers of the whole trilogy, trilogy plus the Hobbit movies, and would later on to go on and make West of Memphis.

SPEAKER_02

What?

SPEAKER_03

Yes. They donated millions to the legal fees and fight for appeals and new evidence to be presented. During the filming of the first Paradise Lost, uh cameraman Doug Cooper was given a knife from John Mark Byers. Remember John Mark Byers? I'm sure you watched the first part of Paradise Lost with me, a little bit of it. He was the loudest one. He was the loudest motherfucker in the room. Yeah, hold on a second. Okay. Um, we're getting there. Uh-huh. So John Mark Byers was the loudest one. So it obviously in the first one. So, I mean, honestly, because of how loud and theatrical he is, charismatic. You you want to you start suspecting him. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Charismatic. Trying to prove his point. Like, I'm gonna talk over you, even though I'm wrong, to make you believe that I'm right. Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

So John Mark Byers was the adoptive father of one of the victims, Christopher Byers. So this knife was a Kershaw hunting knife. When the crew returned home to New York, they discovered the knife appeared to have blood on it. And the HBO execs ordered them to return it to the WMP, uh, the WMPD. Oh, so this is a new knife, not the one that was in the this is a different knife that they found that they said belonged to Jason, which was basically not the murder. I don't, it was, it's confusing. You have watch the documentaries, you guys. Okay. I will say that more than once. Okay. So John Mark, um, so this got John Mark looked at for a while, for quite a while. And it surely did help that, like I said, he was the loudest, most theatrical person on the documentaries. And part two really focuses on him and his past and present discretions. See, John Mark had had several run-ins with the law: abuse, harassment of exes, drug dealing, Rolex scams, stealing of antiques, abuse of Christopher Byers before his death, like the day of his death.

SPEAKER_00

One time I was given a fake Rolex. Sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03

And even whooped another person's child. What? Yeah. And Melissa Byers, mother of Christopher Byers. She died of suspicious suspicious causes not too long after the murders. So okay, so Paradise Lost first, they start filming in '93 when all these trials are going on. The first one comes out in '96. By the 2005, when the second one comes out, she's already dead. She's gone.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

Byers And Hobbs Enter The Spotlight

SPEAKER_03

Yes, that's that's Christopher Beyer's mother, one of the victims. A forensic scientist noticed possible bite marks on one of the victims, Stevie Branch. The bite marks were tested, and they were not a match to Jesse, Jason, or Damien. Any of the dental records, it just does not hook up. And of course, this goes on later on because you know, DNA evidence got better as we progressed through the years. And unfortunately, there are millions of people that sit in prison waiting on this type of technology to advance or this type of science to advance just to help clear their name. Right. You know? So they couldn't test John Mark because he had all his teeth removed. Now, remember, I told you to remember Terry Hobbs. Yes, Hobbs. All right. So let's revisit Terry Hobbs. Shortly after the trials, Pam Hobbs began to think that Terry Hobbs was the killer. Terry Hobbs or um Pam Hobbs was Stevie Branch's uh mother, and Terry Hobbs was his adoptive father. Right. So Terry Hobbs was a horribly abusive man. He had actually beaten Pam on the day of the murders. On the day. So November 6, 1994, he beat her again, and she called some relatives and told them about it. And police got involved as well. Her relatives showed up ready to confront Terry, and he refused to talk about it and went to his truck and got a gun. Pam's brother Jackie Hicks tackled Terry to the ground, and Terry shot him in the abdomen and pointed the gun at the rest of the family, threatening them as well. He was arrested. But John Mark Byers or Terry Hobbs did very little time for the shit that they did. But we've got three innocent guys on death on in life sentences and death row. So you think you think they were like focusing away from their I don't know if you remember from part one where I said that the the Arkansas, the the West Memphis PD was actually under investigation for drug shit. And I I honestly believe, and there's no I don't know, I haven't dove deep enough because like I said, this shit on all the people involved in this could go on forever and ever. But I mean, I honestly believe that they were in cahoots with a lot of the people. Because John Mark and Terry Hobbs were both drug dealers.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, some dirt dirt. Oh God, it happens in every fucking small town. You know, and West Memphis is actually a small town, it's not much bigger than our town. Right. If you look at it, I I Google, I Googled it.

SPEAKER_03

It's about the size of McCliny. I would I would compare it to McCliny. So McCliny now compared to West Memphis then, I think is comparable.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure.

SPEAKER_03

And uh by the way, we are from Lake City, population of 12,000.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, Lake City, Florida.

SPEAKER_03

In between, in between Gainesville and Jacksonville, Florida. You know, it's a perfect little spot.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. We're we're not far enough away from Jack. We can go to Jacksonville, we can do our stuff. We can go to Gainesville, Florida.

SPEAKER_03

It's a good home base if you like to get out of the city a lot. And we love to get out of the city.

SPEAKER_00

And that's what we do. We all do. I mean, I love Lake City. I love it, but we're not we're not fucking with y'all as far as entertainment, fun. There's nothing to do here. So I come here for the river and floating down like the springs and the all the we got springs for days. Hit us up.

SPEAKER_03

We'll take you.

SPEAKER_00

We'll take you on a spring hop. We need to have a tubing, like if we get a bunch of people together one of these days, we'll have like a uh a drink about drink about something tubing.

SPEAKER_03

Tubing events. Yes.

SPEAKER_00

And we'll we'll bring all the good drinks. All the good drinks. It's coming. It's coming. Go ahead, girl.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, so later on when he decides to sue Queen Natalie Maines from the Dixie Chicks for defamation, because she, along with many others, believe that he was the killer. This opened up all his bad history, depositions and shit have to get involved. You sue a multi, you know, award-winning record, you know, making. Yes.

SPEAKER_00

So I want to just say up Terry Hobbs. Well, I just want to I want to say, shh, don't you talk about Terry.

SPEAKER_03

Don't you talk about Natalie. Everyone's talking about Terry. So when asked about this instance where, you know, he beat his wife and shot his brother-in-law, he chuckles. What? Like absolutely laughs. It's on the documentaries. So he's he's he's that is for real.

SPEAKER_00

You can't touch him.

DNA Leads And Alibi Contradictions

SPEAKER_03

So DNA was eventually found in the shoelaces of the boys. Thank you, Peter Jackson. He made all that happen.

SPEAKER_00

It wasn't none of their team.

SPEAKER_03

Peter Jackson from Lord of the Rings. Yeah. Yeah. So this DNA was hair. That was a match to one Terry Hobbs, but not a match to Jesse, Damien, or Jason. It was also a match to 1.5% of the population. Circumstantial, yes, but still. Another hair on the scene was matched to his good friend David Jacoby. Ooh. Terry had hung out with David on the day of the murders, and David actually contradicts his alibi. Terry said that he was searching with the other parents of the boys along with the little Amanda, his daughter, who was four at the time. Remember, I told you to also remember Amanda.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, you did.

SPEAKER_03

So he was saying he was doing this at uh 6 p.m. But John Mark Byers didn't report them missing until 8 30. And Byers said that he hadn't seen Terry during this time and signed an affidavit on that.

SPEAKER_00

They were looking for them before they were looking for them. Right. Yes.

SPEAKER_03

So um uh then he said he was with David Jacoby in the Robin Hood Hills area around 6:30, which is a contradiction. He also said that there was a ton of people searching around that time, but that was just a lie. It was uh much later in the evening when they were searching. Much later.

SPEAKER_00

Guys, you gotta have your times right.

SPEAKER_03

David Jacoby said that he was not searching with Terry in the woods around this time. He had just driven around with him briefly, but never went into the woods.

SPEAKER_00

I wonder if they were listening to Pearl Jam while they were doing it. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03

We'll get thorough. So now Terry had beat his wife, assaulted neighbors in the past. He had also abused Stevie and Amanda. He would even get pissed at Pam for laying with Stevie until he would fall asleep if he would have trouble falling asleep tonight at night. Probably because he was being fucking abused by his fucking stepdad. Yeah, trying to get away, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Amanda has a whole breakdown on camera about the abuse, and she believes that she has a ton of repressed memories and cannot figure out what was real or what was not. She was an absolute mess. And you'll see that because we're gonna watch West of Memphis later. You know what? After this is done. Lindsay.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. Lindsay.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

We're the most fired up we've ever been doing this right now.

SPEAKER_03

I don't know if it's because of Bloody Marys or whatever, but Well, I told you I've been this has been in my this has been all I've been doing other than working and teaching our kids school. I am fired up.

SPEAKER_00

Like I know you are ready to keep going, but I just wanted to say this is fucking amazing. If you guys like this, share it to some folks. You know, like we really are loving all the support and uh so much. We love you guys.

SPEAKER_03

Please keep listening.

SPEAKER_00

Bear with us in our growth. My my post boomer ass. I mean, I'm not a boomer. Yeah, we're millennials.

SPEAKER_03

We're millennials, we're elder millennials.

SPEAKER_00

But I found out on Spotify, like if you click on the little gear, you can download all of our stuff automatically. Yeah. I was like, help us out with them downloads. I was like, hey, Lindsay, we're almost at 100. Watch this. Boom. And we got like 103.

SPEAKER_03

That's the app that we're using. That's how we get like our little achievements from the downloads. We know that we've got more listeners than that, but the downloads.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, Buzz Sprout is amazing. Like just sharing, sharing, and and and helping build all this. We want to see movement. We're seeing amazing movement. And I've been completely surprised at so much love. And thank you guys so much. And um, but the website, right? Drinkaboutsomething. Yeah, it's easy. And all of the links are there and all the stuff's there. Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to plug that real quick. Yes. And I'm just we'll probably plug it one more time before we're done completely. Fucking ready to unleash this shit. I feel I feel like the guy, the little juggalo guy that says, fuck this shit, and then he jumps onto something. You ever see him on stuff? I think TikTok or something, but I'm like, fuck this shit right now. But um I'm I'm I'm a little drunk because of this bloody Mary, by the way. Oh, this is a great day. Go ahead. I'm not interrupting anymore. I'm gonna let you fucking roll. I just wanted to say my peace and I'm done. I promise you, I won't even talk anymore. I'm just gonna let you go. I promise I'm not gonna say anything else, even though I'm fired up. I'm gonna let you go. And I'm just okay. I'm sorry. Go, go.

SPEAKER_03

So family members had come forward and said that her and Stevie both had told them of sexual abuse. The neighbor who had saw Terry with the boys at 6 p.m. on the day of the murders was interviewed on the documentaries, but was never asked by police or investigators. When she saw them, she didn't think anything of it because that was one of their dads. But later on, uh she learned that he had said he didn't see them at all that day. And she knew that that was a fucking lie. Like she spoke with them and she was on her way to church church and left at the same time every week. I wonder if she was scared to say anything because he was you can look at him and tell that he was a person that people would be like, and not, hey, how you doing, Terry? What's up, good bro?

SPEAKER_00

You know, it was a different cool ass vibe. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So remember how there was bite marks that didn't match the three?

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_03

Our three that are, you know, serving prison time. Right. Well, Terry had also had his teeth removed. Later on, Pam Hobbs found a lockbox belonging to Terry that contained Stevie's favorite knife and some partial dentures that he had had the time of the murders. Oh. In West Memphis 3, three friends of Hobbes' family members came forward and said these murders were spoken about and referred to as the Hobbs Family Secret. Michael Hobbs, Terry's nephew, said this under oath.

New Affidavits And A Darker Theory

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So they're finding more stuff that they can consider.

SPEAKER_03

So in 2013, two separate affidavits were signed by Billy Wayne Stewart and Benny Guy saying that trigger warning. On May 5th, 1993, Terry Hobbs, David Jacoby, and two teenagers showed up to his house to buy some drugs. The affidavits say that they saw Terry Hobbs and David Jacoby kissing in a truck and that Terry Hobbs was a closeted bisexual. The drugs transaction was made, and Terry and David and the teenagers were riding around and drove into the Blue Beacon Wood right by Robin Hood Hills. Terry then asked the teenagers to get out and wrestle. Sexual things started happening, and the three victims appeared on their bikes and saw them. Stuart says that one of the teenagers told him that Terry said to get them little fuckers, and Jacoby grabbed them and started beating them. Then ordered the two teenagers to pull down the victim's pants. One of the victim's pants, whom had to have been Christopher Byers, because he was yeah. And then Terry repeatedly bit his penis and screwed him and cut the boys' genitals, and he killed the other two because they saw it.

SPEAKER_00

Now I'm sober.

SPEAKER_03

Benny Guy's story was very similar in his affidavit. Now, even if this is circumstantial, isn't that all that they had on Damien, Jason, and Jesse? That's all that they had.

SPEAKER_00

Just talk.

SPEAKER_03

All this was completely ignored, by the way. All of this. All these confessions, all of these affidavits.

SPEAKER_00

It's all tied into the PD. Yes. And there's some drug shit going on there, some under fucking.

SPEAKER_03

And like I said, John Mark Byers and Terry Hobbs both have huge records of shit that neither one of them did much time for. But Jesse, Jason, and Damien are in for life and on death row. So backstreet, underhouse, discarded drawer wearing bullshit. I mean, hair and teeth marks completely take them out of the scene. But oh well, I guess. Right. We're gonna ride this wave. Yeah. And John Mark Byers actually completely changes his mind and definitely is sure that Terry Hobb did this and even wrote Damien and apologized and asked him for forgiveness, and Damien forgave him.

SPEAKER_00

But how the fuck do you forgive those many years? Damien did it. How do you fucking forgive that?

SPEAKER_03

Damien has a forgiveness level that I will never I don't think I could ever.

SPEAKER_00

But he's a devil worshiper, right? He's selfish. But he has the heart of a saint. And and they corresponded for years. Named after a saint.

SPEAKER_03

You completely see the change in John Mark Byers from and he even says in one point, uh, because one of the cameramen were like, Well, you know, you you were on the bandwagon of this, and he was like, Yeah, I land, I led the bandwagon.

SPEAKER_00

Right. And everything that he wanted to say, he was told to shut the fuck up. You know? Like there was no the wheels were off the bandwagon.

SPEAKER_03

Now, I mean, John Mark Byers is loud as fuck on camera. But what he could say and do in the court of law is a completely different story. Right. All right. So, John Burnett had denied all the appeals because he was the original trial judge. After new evidence was presented, the statements against Terry Hobbs and DNA, Damien's attorney filed a motion for a new trial, but it was not granted. Of course. Terry Hobbs did not win the case against Natalie Maines and was ordered to pay her legal fees of$1,700. Yes. There's some justice right there. But Terry Hobbs said he ain't paying the Dixie chips a damn thing. I just think it's funny that he lost.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Good. Good.

SPEAKER_03

So evidence eventually came out that the lacerations on the boys were not from a knife. They were in fact post-mortem. And they think it was turtles. The area that they were found was actually called Turtle City, and they are most aggressive in the month of May. And we know that. Reptiles living in Florida, we know that reptile are the most aggressive in the month of May. And we live, we live, there's like Jesse and I were walking around the lake in the month of May.

SPEAKER_00

That's breeding.

SPEAKER_03

And we saw a gator on the bank, and you bet your asses we turned around and walked in a different route.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I was gonna walk by it, but it was too close to like the path. So close. And I was like, I was like, nah, that would be within five feet of the different route. I can't outrun a gator. I'm too fat.

The Alford Plea Explained Plainly

SPEAKER_03

So Lori Davis, Damien's wife, actually became an expert on this subject because she studied a lot of this, trying to clear his name and and the other two's name. So in November of 2010, the Arkansas State Supreme Court did order a new trial due to new evidence. Steve Braga, one of Damien's legal team, suggested that they try a rare legal move. The Alfred plea.

SPEAKER_00

So I heard about this. I heard about it. So is that like they're saying, okay. Okay, I'm gonna explain it all. Well, I'm just uh so what I what I wanted to say before you explain it, is that like saying you don't have enough evidence to actually convict me and hold me in prison, but I'm gonna say that I'm guilty. Is that how that works?

SPEAKER_03

So tell me this is where the convicted plea guilty but maintain their innocence. This plea began in 1970 when Henry Alfred was indicted for first degree murder. He claimed he was innocent, but he knew that there was enough evidence damning him, and they could convict him on that evidence. So he played guilty on second-degree murder to save himself from the gas chamber, and it just it became a thing. It became the Alfred Pre.

SPEAKER_00

Right plea. So you're just like, I'm guilty, but there's nothing to hold me.

SPEAKER_03

There is. Well, there's evidence. Well, that's that's what where you're wrong. There's evidence to convict them, but they didn't do it. You know what I'm saying? They can use the circumstantial evidence against them to convict that person, but they maintain their innocence. So, prosecution who wanted to say face in new trials because this could have been blown up and went on for actually a lot longer than it had to.

SPEAKER_00

Um, they weren't looking at the beginning with.

SPEAKER_03

Right. Prosecution wanted to say face. So they agreed. They didn't want to have three more trials. But all three had to agree with it, and they would able be able to go free. All three of them. They would not be able to sue for wrongful imprisonment, and this case would be marked as solved. Damien, of course, was on board. He was gonna die. Right. Like they had the only thing that had saved him, like he got a new death date every year, sometimes twice a year.

SPEAKER_00

So what this is is they're gonna say they did it, but you don't have anything enough to do that.

SPEAKER_03

No, what they're saying, and and you'll see in the documentary, they are saying that they plead guilty because they know that there is evidence to convict them, but they maintain innocence. That is exactly what has to be said to enter an Alfred plea.

SPEAKER_00

So, Lindsay, that gives everybody an out where they can't find the actual fucking killers. Right. Oh, god damn. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03

Jesse was also on board, but Jason was not at first. He did not want to plead guilty to a crime he didn't commit, and still had hopes that his name would be completely cleared. Like he was in prison, yes, and that sucked, yes, but he had found his place. He had a job, he was uh going to school, and was actually looking forward to his upcoming school because he was studying law to deal with shit. Jesse Miss Kelly. Uh Jason. Jason. Jason. Okay Jesse Miss Kelly was he wasn't doing that. He was Jesse was just working and and and coping with prison where Jason was trying to make shit happen. Yeah, okay. Damien couldn't do shit because he was on death row.

SPEAKER_00

Those two for some reason I've got to do that. Oh, I know. It's the J and J.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_00

But I think it's because I haven't ate the bacon that's in my bloody matter yet.

SPEAKER_03

So, like I said, Jason would have still had hopes that his name would be completely cleared, and he was willing to do whatever it took to get there. He was ready to die in prison to get his name cleared. But Lori and Eddie Vetter reached out to Jason's partner and begged her to convince him otherwise. And he finally agreed for Damien's sake. Jason Baldwin is one of the that's the friend that you want. He refused to testify against Damien because it was wrong, and that was his best friend. And he agreed to do something that he actually didn't want to do to save Damien's life.

SPEAKER_00

This bacon is so good. Sorry.

Walking Free After Nineteen Years

SPEAKER_03

And on August 19th, 2011, after almost 19 years of imprisonment, where Damien had spent 10 of that in solitary confinement. They entered the Alpha Pre and walked out of free men.

SPEAKER_00

Right then. They were just like, we're just gonna I'm gonna cry. Oh fuck the bacon. Like the Alpha Plea. Like that is just a bunch of shit to eat. Just and it frees everybody, right?

SPEAKER_03

It's like they walked out that day.

SPEAKER_00

We're not gonna, we're not gonna even continue finding anybody.

SPEAKER_03

No, they were done. Lori Davis had been the I mean, one of them even said, Will this get rid of Lori Davis? That's how much of a badass bitch she was. She stayed on that shit. They married in 2000, or sorry, 1999. He didn't get out till 2011. That is what 12 years of marriage. That's how long you and I have been together that they were not able to be in solent together.

SPEAKER_00

And you know, that is some real love. So there's two angels in the outfield, right?

SPEAKER_03

The law there's many angels, but that Dan Stidham and Lori Davis, and of course, I Peter Jackson, Natalie Maines, and Eddie Vetter, I mean Henry Rollins, they are all just these people did the work.

SPEAKER_00

So that's that's across because of shit they believed in three different gen four, four different genres of different kind of music that just tied in and and movies.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, you got your punk, you got your grunge, you got your country, and what else is there? And uh, even even Marilyn Manson got involved, but I mean in Damien's book, he said, well, they well, Damien in Damien's book he said that Marilyn actually said, You might not want to put me on a pedestal because it might hurt you just as much. Yeah. And it would have to still to this day. So this was Lori and Damien's first time together, like really together after 12 years of marriage.

SPEAKER_00

I want a cheers to love.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, cheers to love. That is that is a love like I ain't never even heard of, you know.

SPEAKER_00

I couldn't, uh I mean, I love you, but I I wouldn't expect you to do that.

SPEAKER_03

But if that's a lot, but if you know what? If I knew for a fucking without a shadow of a doubt that you didn't commit something, I would work as hard. I don't know if I could get them connections.

SPEAKER_00

But you better get Eddie Veteran here.

SPEAKER_03

Call an Eddie. I'm calling, I'm gonna contact Damien first, be like, hey, can you hook me up with Damien or with Eddie?

SPEAKER_00

The stab on it, but still that's that's love. Like, cheers to love.

SPEAKER_03

So that day that very same evening, there was a whole concert for them with Pearl Jan and the Dixie Chick at their hotel, and it was attended by tons of supporters. And the next day, this is where we can go back to our experience with Eddie Vedder. The next day, Eddie Vedder takes Lori and Damien to his place in Seattle. So that was like their little honeymoon, and Eddie made that happen. Here, I'm gonna I'm gonna start with what I heard first, and then you can continue with our experience. So Jesse and I had planned to go see Pearl Jam for the first time since we fell in love with them in the 90s. Uh, I think it was 2015. Is that right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, they were coming to Jacksonville.

SPEAKER_03

Jacksonville. And before I went, I had a manager at my job tell me, oh, well, let me tell you about my experience with Eddie Vedder. You know, he's a dick. And I didn't want to hear that because I love Eddie Vedder, and I'm sorry, but the circumstances that we're gonna talk about leads me to believe otherwise. Not only did he do this for Damian Eccles, a prisoner on death row, and his wife Lori Davis, but what else did he do, Jesse?

SPEAKER_00

With a music career, like you're gonna go through phases, right? Uh everybody, everybody that's young, they they're like the rock star. That we're we're a rock star, so we're gonna party, we're gonna do our things, just like corn, just like Metallica. Everybody's been through some shit, and they've all got stories to tell. They're they're they're gonna go through their drugs, they're gonna go through their alcoholism and abusive uh behavior and relationships, cheating on spouses, relationships, all that. Um there it's a persona, especially at the beginning, and that's why I wish especially back in the day.

SPEAKER_03

Nowadays, it's not looked at to be that way as much.

SPEAKER_00

But to be successful, you gotta retract all that.

SPEAKER_03

Some of the rock stars that we like now, they just drink hot tea to protect their vocals.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, a system of a down. He's like, I don't even want to record anymore, I just want to make coffee. Yeah. So they go through these phases, they're they're gonna try to live the persona, you know, party like a rock star, exactly. Right. I think maybe what you're talking about, your co-worker was like talking shit. Maybe you've seen him with some of the alcoholism days of Eddie Vetter.

SPEAKER_03

Maybe but didn't Eddie used to play small time shows in local little videos.

SPEAKER_00

Five against one after he was beyond famous. Like uh venues that only held maybe a hundred people. Like you could actually look that up. You'd see a show like uh hey, at your local bar or whatever ours is called Hangar Seven, and it would be like, All right, everybody, let's go to the Hangar Seven, you know, which is out by the airport. So and five against one is playing, you know, they're from Seattle or whatever, and then boom, it's actually Pearl. Pearl Jam. Yeah, that was amazing. And I I knew that I knew that years ago when I was in high school. I knew that they were doing that. So no, fuck that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, because we were in late elementary middle school when Pearl Jam blew up.

SPEAKER_00

They were giving back then, even though he was doing his running into the wall phase and beating a hole in the stage and crawling underneath of it phase. Watched some of that on YouTube. Holy shit. But yeah, they're rock stars. They're gonna they're gonna wild out, they're gonna show off, they're gonna make you you blow your fucking mind. And so we went and seen them in Jacksonville, and the place was sold out, of course, but they could have sold another, I think it was 1,500 tickets.

SPEAKER_03

If but there was tickets sold for the back stage. Yeah, like these people had to look at the back of Eddie Vetter's head the whole night.

SPEAKER_00

So the way that they they did that, they set up a whole nother stage behind their stage. They turned it around. Yeah. So they all got it.

SPEAKER_03

In the middle of the concert, it was amazing.

SPEAKER_00

Like six songs to the curtain. To the back of the stage. Another 1,500 behind them. They were like, let's open this up. This could be a curtain. This could be when we see TSO, they don't do that. It's all one big wall, big stage.

SPEAKER_03

We've been to many concerts at this same or the same venue.

SPEAKER_00

You're not doing anything with those seats, anyhow. Turn around.

SPEAKER_03

They might have to, though, for their cast because they got a huge.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, in the pyro and all this stuff.

SPEAKER_03

Pyro, they might have to. That might not be a possibility for them.

SPEAKER_00

There's probably 50 people sitting back there waiting to get on stage just to do one thing.

SPEAKER_03

We've seen Stevie Mix there. We've seen Def Leopard, Night Ranger, Journey, uh not Journey, Foreigner.

SPEAKER_00

It's just the same as any other local city, like your Veterans Memorial Arena is what it's called over there. But whatever town, whatever city you're at. So it holds around 5,000, 5500, something like that. You know, it's no Madison Square Garden, but it's for them to just be like, hey, we're gonna open up this back this back section. Turn their whole stage around. And set up a whole nother a whole other stage.

SPEAKER_03

I witnessed this firsthand. We did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And he turned around and he's like, you know what? This is for you guys. You know, I'm gonna play. They played six songs just for them. So kudos to Eddie Vetter, kudos to Pearl Jam. The whole the whole show was amazing. You know, was it Def Leopard too? Right? No, it was all Pearl Jam. It was all just Pearl Jam. That was the that was another one, the 80s one.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, we saw Night Ranger, uh Foreigner, and Def Leopard together.

SPEAKER_00

Love Foreigner, love. I'm a Foreigner band. Better than Journey. I don't care.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, shut up. That's been an ongoing argument with us. Who's better in your opinion? Send us the email at drinkaboutsomething at gmail.com. Foreigner or journey? What's your preference?

SPEAKER_00

Foreigner. I'm sorry. But uh okay. So just an amazing night, amazing experience. And we just was enveloped in Pearl Jam.

SPEAKER_03

He put on we listened, we hung on to every word silent the whole time.

SPEAKER_00

So silent and teary-eyed. There is times we've been to thousands of different shows, seen seen it thousands of different bands. But when you walk in it holds 15,000 people, by the way. Oh, it does? Yeah. Oh, well, wow. I just googled. Oh, you googled it. Yeah. So pretty big of pretty big venue, pretty big event. And it was just like when you walk into that stardom. My first, honestly, Lindsay, we were at uh I think it was Rockville when I seen Slash my first time. I was just like, I've just both of ours walked into the epitome of a rock god, right?

SPEAKER_03

It's a whole it's a whole different vibe.

SPEAKER_00

The whole band when it's a legend was I think that was my first real experience with seeing a whole rock god band. Like, of course, Foo Fighters, right? Green Day, Weezer. When you Metallico chorus, when when you walk into that ambience, is it ambience?

SPEAKER_03

Ambiance, ambience, whatever.

SPEAKER_00

That when you walk into that whole vibe and you see these people that sell out stadiums, and they're the hugest influence that's changed shit.

SPEAKER_03

Def Leopard's uh been on the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we still performed it twice. Yeah, we've seen them twice. But you and they're still killing it. Holy shit, they're like 997 years old.

SPEAKER_03

Like that was one of killing it. That was that was one of the many natural highs I've ever experienced in my life. Like, we hadn't had a drop to drink, nothing in our system, and it was hoo-ra.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. To loo. Yeah, that's that's our theme for everything, all right. To loo off a corpsewood manor, check that one out. The whole the whole ambience, just everything was just a breathing circumference of just coming togetherness as one big huge family. And yeah, he had a big message, you know. Honestly, Lindsay, whenever he was like, whenever you're typing a text message to someone you love, and instead of love, it autocorrects to live.

SPEAKER_03

He said, send it anyway because you live live.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. I live you. Yeah, I live you, I live you so much, but uh that just that that that reverberates to me. It talked to our soul. Hell, when we see Chad Gray from Mud Vane, bro, break down on stage, yeah. And he he he goes into a tangent that touched me so much, you know, talking about creating and just talking about everything that is just putting your heart and soul out to something, and especially this episode. We have put our heart, and I'm so charismatic about like everything you've built up on this, and it's just been so amazing. And you you've created an amazing.

Life After Release And PTSD Reality

SPEAKER_03

And I want you to get to know these characters as much as I have. That's why I really want you to watch, yeah, yeah, the documentary with me following this episode. So much. So Damien is Thriving with Lori, and they were both producers on West of Memphis, and they have written books. Damien has made a career teaching magic with a K and those retreats on the practices that he used to survive death row. He does suffer from poor eyesight and cannot go anywhere without sunglasses and cannot see because of so much time spent in solitary confinement, and of course, suffers from PTSD. He also suffered from a traumatic brain injury from beatings, and that he got so bad from guards that he would piss blood.

SPEAKER_00

Really? Yes, fucking up his kidneys, beating him up.

unknown

God.

SPEAKER_03

And he he and Lori actually went and lived in Salem for a while because he felt that in his soul.

SPEAKER_00

Well, he stepped away from what he believed in. Like, of course, he he didn't he didn't want to.

SPEAKER_03

He felt a connection with these people that went on trial for shit that they didn't do. Right. You know, and I understand that.

SPEAKER_00

All the things that he was supposed to follow has led him down.

SPEAKER_03

And Jason studied law in prison and became and completed that journey and is the co-founder of Proclaimed Justice, which you can find at proc proclaimedjustice.org. It's a nonprofit that aids and those wrongfully convicted of a crime. He married Holly, that was the partner that I talked about that ended up convincing him to please take this out for plea. And they are doing amazing. Now, Jesse had a little more trouble, like little things like driving without a license charge, but there's not much more on his post-release life. So that concludes our three-part on the West Memphis three. But I want to take a few minutes to talk about everything that I used for this journey.

SPEAKER_00

I just want to take one second just to have a big sigh. Ready? Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Now, first, I want to tell you about two songs. Um, and if you listen to them, you will cry. And if you read the lyrics, you will absolutely sob. So Pearl Jam wrote a song um uh paired up with Damian Eccles called The Army Reserve, and it's on their self-titled album, Pearl Jam. Oh it's beautiful, and then Eddie Venner wrote a song for Lori Davis um called Satellite on his ukulele songs album.

SPEAKER_01

Wow.

SPEAKER_03

And it's absolutely beautiful. And read the lyrics because it will just when you think about everything that these two went through to get to being married while he's on death row and the fight that she I mean just fought hard to get her man out of prison because she knew without a shadow of a doubt, she was an architect from New York, very songworthy. And he's an Arkansas country boy, you know?

SPEAKER_00

Very songworthy. So is uh are those the only two references that you have found as far as songs go and movie actors and people that's you know so of course I mean there is a collaboration uh album.

SPEAKER_03

Um, oh God, I don't I didn't write the name of it, but if you look up uh West Memphis 3 collab, it will pull you right to that playlist on Spotify.

SPEAKER_00

So here's here's what I'm gonna say to all the listeners and everything. Like, if you find some more stuff like that, the collaboration stuff we want to see or hear.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, send us send us an email, drinkabout something at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_00

Uh yeah, DM us, find us, yes, or go on the website. Website, drinkabout something.site. We we love all that feedback and everything. If you find something like that, we want to see it as well. Yeah, because I want to know everything. What you you you found the other day was the Jerry driver with uh the promise.

SPEAKER_03

Jerry was a waste car. Jerry was a race car driver, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Riding that wave the whole time, and you didn't bring it back, and you're done, and I'm like, I wanted more of that.

SPEAKER_03

Like, but we don't like Jerry Driver.

SPEAKER_00

We don't, but I love Primus.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, so much. We got to finally experience Primus at Rockville this year, and it was magical. You know what? Love you, Love Claypool.

SPEAKER_00

That was our unicorn.

SPEAKER_03

It was one of our we have tried to see that fucker like four times and we finally got him.

SPEAKER_00

Let's let's talk about this. Hang on. Let's drink about it. Hang on. Yeah, um, so we got a swig left. I just I already ate my bacon. That was it. They were supposed to come to Live Oak, which is Live Oak, Florida. They have a lot of big at the spirit of the Swanney. Spirit of Swanie. Hula Ween. Yeah. So big festival, Primus. We couldn't make it, right? And or I think it was just one day that they were the cool band.

SPEAKER_03

They were the only band that we were interested in the whole lineup. And we couldn't just get a day 450 for the yeah, we couldn't just get a day pass. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And then what we went to uh Louisville.

SPEAKER_03

Then we paid for them to see them at Louisville, and that one got rained out.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, or Louisville.

SPEAKER_03

Louisville.

SPEAKER_00

Louisville. It's Louville. Louville. Lowell. Because I'm from that state-ish. But uh in Kentucky. Loudder in life, DWP. Love you guys. Oh god.

SPEAKER_03

We finally got to make one successfully in 23, and that was perfect. But Les Claypool went there. But he was at Rockville 2024.

SPEAKER_00

Another DWP. We love Rockville. We go every year.

SPEAKER_03

Oh yeah. We don't even care who's on the lineup. Our tickets are out. We don't even know who is playing in 25, but we have the tickets bought.

SPEAKER_00

If this keeps building, we're gonna we're gonna record at Rockville. But maybe not in Rockville. They won't let you know. We camp there. We love it. While we're camping, we're gonna record some stuff and be like, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, in the venue, there's no signal nowhere because everybody's trying to be on that network.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, some of the some of the things.

SPEAKER_03

And they have uh what is it? Network blockers.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, we'll pre-record there, and yeah, you know, I can do the production and you know, all the the editing and everything. But Jose Megan, hit us up.

SPEAKER_03

Come to our campsite, yeah, come on our podcast. We love you.

SPEAKER_00

XM radio, love octane, we'll love liquid metal, everything like that is just that's our wheelhouse. But I mean, we love all genres and music, but this band that I want to talk about.

SPEAKER_03

I hold on. I gotta say all my sources.

Recommended Books Documentaries And Podcasts

SPEAKER_00

Uh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, so the sources that I use, uh The Paradise Lost documentaries, which I've mentioned several times, West of Memphis, mentioned several times, Damien's book, Life After Death. Listen, y'all. If you don't want to listen, read it. If you want to listen, it's 10 hours. It comes with Spotify Premium. It's included. It is a 10-hour book, and you're only supposed to be allowed like eight hours, but it let me listen to the whole book. So download it, listen to it. Damien's book, Life After Death. It will, it tells you everything he went through on Death Row, and that is in itself a whole experience because when you're having a bad day, think about what Damian Eccles went through on Death Row.

SPEAKER_00

And survive. And well, to be like, you know what? I'm just gonna go ahead and plead guilty to this, even though he didn't do it.

SPEAKER_03

And he even he says several times, there is still a killer in my hometown that will never pay for these crimes.

SPEAKER_00

I feel like that's in every town.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yeah. So I also listened to last podcast on the left, they have a three-parter, and I love those guys. They're one of the original podcasts that I ever listened to. Um, thanks to my good friend Aaron Russell. She got me onto them, and I have been riding their wave through almost 600 episodes. We love you, Aaron Russell Fucker. I love you so much, Aaron Russell Fucker. But um, and then Morbid Podcast has a four-parter because Elena and Ash, uh, they're the hosts. Elena, she is a she is something else for detail. She has got it, she puts in the work and she's got like twin twin kids and a baby. Yeah. I'm like, good for you because I could.

SPEAKER_00

And that's your whole persona on everything. Like you're gathering stuff that you've already heard from other podcasters and things.

SPEAKER_03

And then also looking up the actual and then stuff. Then you do your own research and they're they're they're on point, they're accurate as fuck. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Like my little thing is just to not know anything and just be like, laugh, laugh, chuckle, chuckle, and then Like you're putting together this amazing ass fucking narrative and story. Like everything is is amazing. And I I just, you know, hey.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, thank you. I still got a couple more references. Okay, we got more of that. So Redhanded Podcast, I think they have a two or a three-parter. I'm not 100% sure. And then True Crime Obsessed, who discusses uh the West of Memphis documentary, and they have an interview with Damian Eccles because Gillian Penzavalli from that show is actually very good friends with him. Oh and it's a it's an excellent interview. If you don't listen to their coverage, listen to the interview. It's it's amazing. And then Devil's Knot is also highly recommended. The book, not the movie. I could not get through it because I have to listen to audiobooks because I have to be productive while I'm doing shit. And the narrator was just not compatible with with my listening abilities. I it it bored me. But I have heard from every single person that I've heard cover this case, Devil's Not is where it's at. They had they go into more detail of the transcript, court transcripts and things like that.

SPEAKER_00

So much. There's so much to this, really.

SPEAKER_03

It is highly recommended, like I said, by all true crime aficionados.

SPEAKER_00

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03

And then, of course, you know, uh the Paradise Lost is a three-parter. And they they did. They did, they made those move, those movies, those documentaries until they were free.

unknown

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03

And that is it. That's all I've got for today. And that wraps up our three-parter that I have been so passionate about. And please listen, don't make all of my hard work for nothing. I'm just kidding. It'll never be for nothing. Because even if I just tell it, told it to Jesse, that's that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00

Honestly, I would have got this anyhow, so we might as well record it and share it with you guys. Yes.

SPEAKER_03

I know I've been holding back. It's been killing me to hold it back from him.

SPEAKER_00

She doesn't, she doesn't like that. She wants to get it all out right then. But this is this is good. This is the most charismatic. I've just been on edge for the last three weeks, just going over all this, just waiting for all these parts to come out. And this is her version of it. And I I gotta do this too. I gotta do this. I got a different one. You ready? I just want to say thank you, Lindsay, for putting all this together and you're fucking amazing.

SPEAKER_03

Virtual bow taken.

SPEAKER_00

What was I fixing to go off into?

Rockville Bands Listener Links And Community

SPEAKER_03

I was the band. What band are you plugging today?

SPEAKER_00

This band. This band. So we talked about playing with a group down at a New Year's show. And they uh they kicked ass. Level the planet really kicked ass. They're just really cool guys, Adam and and all the the crew was just so amazing. It's heavy, it's heavy rock. You know, we we're playing a lot of heavy rock, but like I said, always been saying so far, you know, send us some stuff. We'll we'll we we actually uh just recently hooked up with a punk rock band. We're gonna be playing them pretty soon. I'll tell a story about that. Um but I like to have stories, I like to have a little something, even if it comes from you guys, a little story. I can plug you, I can plug them. We'll talk about it. If it's good stuff, good quality stuff, we'll we'll put it out there. We love different bands. We just got some stuff in Wisconsin. That band was amazing too. Squid Hammer. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03

Squid Hammer, that's what Hammer.

SPEAKER_00

That was really cool.

SPEAKER_03

Squid Hammer!

SPEAKER_00

Alright, I couldn't get it out. All right, and um Bloody Mary is kicking my ass. But anyhow, the singer from The Dude came up and was talking to the show. Oh the dude. Yeah, and really cool band. It's an acronym. But I connected with these guys, and I actually they weren't playing that night, but he was just like, Your fucking band was amazing. I want I want to do everything with you guys. You guys are awesome. And we didn't see them until later on. Just amazing to ass people, you know, and we had seen we had seen them with uh at a show that we were at, just kicked to ass. They have a female bass player, her name is Jonesy. There is six-piece? Yeah, six-piece band. Uh, spent a little time with them. I was at Throw Down at the Campground, and and I brought my guitar, uh, acoustic guitar, and we hung out at the campsite, and the whole band was just hanging out with us. We played for hours, just so many different songs, cover songs just by anybody. It was just such such an amazing evening, and they were so receptive, you know. They were just like, you know, I I've played with you guys, we've we've we've hung out, we've we've done all this stuff, and we're one of the bands that are playing at this festival.

SPEAKER_03

Distinguished Order of Disobedience.

The Dude Plug And The Pants Story

SPEAKER_00

Distinguished Order of Disobedience. Yeah, the dude. And they're near they're down in Sarasota. Yeah. Amazing, amazing, cool band. They work their ass off. Like I see them, they do something once a week live with the band, I guess while they're practicing or whatever. They spend all that extra time just being amazing. And we seen them recently in Lake City. They came, they came to Lake City. Well, I say recently, it was a it was a couple months ago. They came to Lake City, and I was like, I'm not missing the dude, I'm gonna go hang out. And walked in there, and there's Jonesy, the bass player. And she's like, Oh god, hey, what's up? You know, we're we're hanging out. We're all just having a few drinks, checking out some of the bands before they played. Of course, they were the headliner. And it just spent such an amazing evening hanging out with those guys. So yeah, Andy was was there. Jonesy was there, the rest of the band was hanging out. I went and bought some merch. And we're just kind of waiting for them to go on. But Lindsay, I was wearing these ripped up pants.

SPEAKER_03

Oh god.

SPEAKER_00

I want to talk about these ripped up pants. So I was wearing these ripped up ass pants, and like really comfortable, did not decide to wear anything underneath of them, and I'm walking around this venue and I noticed I was commando, yes.

SPEAKER_03

And I know we had decided to go to the show at last minute, by the way, after we had already had some some we were like, it was almost bedtime. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

For us, it was nine. But let's go to the hangar, Lindsay, and I'm gonna slap on these.

SPEAKER_03

We didn't show there till like 10. Yeah, 10 30.

SPEAKER_00

Well, it took us that long just to get our shit together.

SPEAKER_03

I know.

SPEAKER_00

I somehow put together a phenomenon.

SPEAKER_03

An outfit, man. It was bad.

SPEAKER_00

We showed the fuck up. That was probably, you know, maybe 50 people at hangar seven. Smaller venue, just a good little dive bar, juke joint, whatever you want to call it down here in the south. But uh, the dude's playing, so we're gonna check out the dude, right? Uh oh, and Prophets of Demise, which is a good friend of mine. Yeah. Chris Rourke's amazing drummer, amazing dude. But um, but the dudes were there. So went wanna check out the dude. Walked in, noticed my pants were all ripped up, and we were hanging out at the bar, we got uh Long Island. I'm sure you got a white claw. You got a white claw. I was like, I want one Long Island and we're gonna check out the band, and I'm gonna leave. My pants had ripped right in the crotch area all the way over, dude. Like full on my Pinocchio nose is like halfway hanging out. But so I'm over there hanging out with some of the some of the the band and just talking bullshit. And holy shit, like I noticed that my thing's hanging out. And I was like, uh, let me let me move this over to the side. It's Lindsay's like, we don't have those pants anymore. Well, I mean, they're in the closet, but I'm not wearing them. He's gotta wear them with short. I gotta wear something underneath them. And I was I was just like, hey Andy, wanna see my Packer?

SPEAKER_01

There it is.

SPEAKER_00

And I actually didn't show it, but like it could have. It could, it's so. Yeah, she was tripping. I was like, I was like, I can't believe this is happening, but I don't care. I'm going with it. I'm still gonna check out the band because they hadn't went on yet. And he's out back, we're bullshitting, and we're cutting up about that stupid little meme that we had seen about the little bird or whatever the pecker thing.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's it's a whole thing. You gotta look it up.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so the whole night was that vibe. Dude got on stage though. You know, long story short, after that, the dude got on stage, you know, fucking kicked our ass, and we went back home, and I was just like, that memory, you know, which you know, I I did not plan by the way. No, I did not plan, by the way.

SPEAKER_03

We were getting ready to go at bedtime.

SPEAKER_00

By the way, there was a buddy getting ready to go out at bedtime. There was a buddy of mine, James Holland, went up and and poked his finger in the hole. That wasn't that wasn't nice because I think it touched something. I'm sure it did. And that wasn't cool. That wasn't cool with me. But I mean, okay, but it wasn't cool.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it was straight to you from your pants.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, he poked. We're gonna throw those pants away. No, you can wear them with shorts. Okay, you like those pants. You can wear them with fish nets underneath. You always want to wear my fish nets, Queen. It'll be like a peep show view of I want to go to jail for wearing those again, probably. Oh I don't know, but do you not wear around children? Do not wear around anybody. Wear them at home.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but wear them at home when you're grilling. Like in a few minutes, we're about to throw this brisket on the grill.

SPEAKER_00

So ready for that.

unknown

God.

SPEAKER_00

But uh anyhow, dude kicked ass. Love the band. They are just killing it in Florida. What song are we gonna play of theirs? They they were just amazing. And I was just so excited just to hang out with the crew. They just they love us. They're they're just like, hey, bro, what's what's going on? Like, I'm gonna hang out with you, like, spend so much time together, and you gotta hurry up. My back hurts. Your back, your bike.

SPEAKER_03

I heard a back injury from working out this week. That welcome to the 40s.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So I'm so sorry of y'all. That um The Pentecostal!

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, by the dude.

SPEAKER_03

That is perfect.

SPEAKER_00

Pentecostal by the dude.

SPEAKER_03

We got a we got a New Orleans or a Louisiana listener last night, and I know that Damian Eccles' last location was Louisiana, and I was like, Damian Eccles, is that you? Are you listening to my podcast?

SPEAKER_00

Right. So share this and tag Damian Eccles once you get into this.

SPEAKER_03

If you know him, tell him I just want to hang out with him for like one day. I said, I won't talk about nothing about this shit. I know he's probably over it. I just want to hang out with him. He's very interesting.

SPEAKER_00

You're gonna share music that he likes with him.

SPEAKER_03

Like the he actually he mentions in his book that the best Halloween uh music is Midnight Syndicate, and we looked it up, and it is. That's what we're gonna play while we're handing out candy on Thursday. We do a whole little thing at our house. We got a nice little cul-de-sac neighborhood. We're gonna be handing out the candy and playing Midnight Syndicate and having some tacos in the background. Definitely gotta do that. The kids don't get those.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, they don't get the brisket tacos, they don't get the brisket tacos for Halloween brisket tacos. It was so good. So, yeah, the Pentecostal by the Dude. I really dug this song. I was That is perfect. I got in the shower the other night, and I was just like it was last night.

SPEAKER_03

You're like, I'm gonna play the dude because I'm gonna talk about them tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00

I can't wait. And I'm gonna share it with all the band. They're gonna love it. We're gonna love it. Everybody's gonna allow that. But always supporting Florida bands, but we're gonna reach out. We want to support everybody worldwide. I I know.

SPEAKER_03

Well, we got some listeners in Canada and where else? Ireland. Ireland. Send us your stuff, man. Anyone that's local to you guys and that you love, send us some of your local favorites. Yo, check out so we can plug it.

SPEAKER_00

I don't care what we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_03

Send us a song or two or five, an album.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. Let's check it out. Yeah, we'll we'll get into it. We gotta have stuff to do, and this project is being amazing to me.

SPEAKER_03

And follow us on uh Drink About Something on Instagram. Yeah, drinkabout something. Um, me and Jesse's personals. Um Lindsay Stanball, Jesse Stanbaugh on Facebook. Um, I think I'm Lindsay Markham4 on my personal Instagram. What are you on Instagram? Your personal.

SPEAKER_00

Is it Jesse is a dork? I don't remember what it is. No, maybe that's my Snapchat. I don't know. Jesse Stanball on Instagram. Whatever. I don't I don't know. I don't keep up. I'm not good with some of that stuff. Sorry.

Next Topic Salem Witch Trials Closing

SPEAKER_03

I'm gonna create a Twitter account soon, too. Oh, we're gonna keep me. Yeah, so uh we'll we'll uh update on that on the next episode, which we'll be talking about. The Salem Witch Trials.

SPEAKER_00

Oh yeah, we gotta we gotta dive into that. That's perfect for no that might be a two-parter. So is that next? Mm-hmm. Salem witch trials is next. That's a good two-parter for sure. And we're gonna go there. That's like gonna be more than two parters because going way back to the past.

SPEAKER_03

Now that we're just gonna do the Salem witch trials, but remember, there are, and we might do some of the other witch trials that were worldwide in um in in the future. And uh, yeah, but we're gonna cover Salem because that's you know, in our uh in our wonderful United States of America. Yes. Bloodbath and tears.

SPEAKER_00

You know what? I uh am so excited about sharing this song. I'm just gonna go ahead and go into it. I'm just gonna go ahead and do it, Lindsay. I'm I'm just gonna go ahead and play the Pentecostal by the Dude.

SPEAKER_03

All right, you guys, we will see y'all next week for something different.

SPEAKER_01

Sayland would try to do it.

SPEAKER_00

That's the dude with Pentecostal. Thank you, guys. Awesome. So awesome. We'll see you guys next Friday. And uh I'm excited about the Blair. The Sailor Witch.

SPEAKER_03

The Blair, the Blair, not the Blair Witch, the Sailor Witch.

SPEAKER_00

I'm so excited. We'll see you guys then. Peace.

SPEAKER_03

Bye.

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.

Last Podcast On The Left Artwork

Last Podcast On The Left

The Last Podcast Network
Morbid Artwork

Morbid

Ash Kelley & Alaina Urquhart
True Crime Obsessed Artwork

True Crime Obsessed

True Crime Obsessed