The Refugees Unleashed

by **Obscuregawdess** » Fri May 23, 2008 11:27 pm

Marcia Ian, Ph.D.

http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=SGS.002.0083A

Taking as a horrifying example a 1993 triple child homicide in West Memphis, Arkansas, in which bitemark evidence figures prominently, this article explores some ramifications of “the Oral Father”—a figure of paternity associated with the most primitive appetite and aggressivity. The Oral Father is the preoedipal, anti(or ante-) genital paternal analog of that familiar image of polymorphous maternity known as the “Phallic Mother.” Although the image of the Phallic Mother has, almost from the inception of psychoanalysis, embodied the tropology and aetiology of perversion, she cannot and should not represent alone the dark side of the parental unconscious. Furthermore, psychoanalysis has always used the Phallic Mother to represent the eros of the (usually male) child (of whatever age), not that of the parent. The Oral Father does not work alone; the term refers not only to an actual father or custodial male who breaches what should be the

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Marcia Ian, Ph.D. is currently Associate Professor in the English department at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is the author of Remembering the Phallic Mother: Psychoanalysis, Modernism, and the Fetish (1993), as well as of numerous articles on such topics as psychoanalysis, secularity, Henry James, heavy metal music, and female bodybuilding.

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the APCS (Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society) Conference at Columbia Teachers College, New York City, October 29, 1999.

By far the most complete and accessible source for information on this case is the website www.3.org, set up and maintained by the West Memphis Three Support Fund, namely, Kathy Bakken, Grove Pashley, and Burk Sauls.
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boundaries between himself and his children in particular ways, but to the entire network of paternalist, patriarchal, oedipal practices, discourses, and institutions that support and cover for him. In too many cases, however, physical evidence testifies to the fact that little boys have reason to fear being eaten up, and even emasculated, by their father—his appetite is not a figment of their imagination.

[This is a summary or excerpt from the full text of the book or article. The full text of the document is available to subscribers.]

by **Obscuregawdess** » Fri May 23, 2008 11:28 pm

Mark Byers, victim Christopher Byers's adoptive father, gave a knife to a cameraman working with documentary makers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky while they were filming the first Paradise Lost feature. The knife was a small utility-type knife, manufactured by Kershaw. According to the statements given by Berlinger and Sinofsky, Cooper informed them of his receipt of the knife on December 19, 1993. It was not until the crew had returned to New York that Berlinger and Sinofsky reported their alleged concerns about blood seen in the knife to their superiors at HBO, who ordered them to return the knife to the West Memphis Police Department. The knife was not received at the West Memphis Police Department until January 8, 1994.

Mark Byers had initially claimed the knife had never been used, and then after blood was found on it, he claimed he had used it only once, to cut deer meat into jerky. When told the blood matched Chris' blood type, Mark Byers said he had no idea how that blood might have gotten on the knife. During interrogation, West Memphis police suggested to Mark Byers that he might have left the knife out accidentally, and Byers agreed with this. He later stated that he might have cut his thumb. Further testing on the knife produced inconclusive results, due to the fact that both Mark Byers and Chris Byers had the same HLA-DQ Alpha genotype.

Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin submitted imprints of their teeth (after their imprisonment) and compared to the marks on Steve Branch's forehead, though most experts did not believe the marks were bite marks; no matches were found. Mark Byers had his teeth removed after the first trial. He has never offered a consistent reason for their removal; in one instance claiming they were knocked out in a fight, in another saying the medication he was taking made them fall out, and in yet another claiming that he had long planned to have them removed so as to obtain dentures. Mark Byers had revealed to the police that he had spanked his stepson shortly before the boy disappeared. He also had a 1988 conviction for terroristic threatening that arose from an incident involving his ex-wife, Sandra Byers. Melissa Byers had contacted Christopher's school a few weeks before the murders, expressing concerns that her son was being sexually abused.

A violent nature was deemed a major factor in the hypothetical culprits' personality by an expert criminal profiler that examined the case. The profiler also noted that the culprit was likely to have been close to the child that was assaulted with the most violence, i.e. Christopher Byers.

A fact not revealed until after the trial was that Mark Byers had acted as a police informant. His prior conviction for the 1988 incident had been expunged in May 1992, upon completion of his probation.

Christopher Byers was the only victim that had been drugged with Carbamazepine. The drug had been prescribed to Christopher in January 1993, as part of an ADD treatment. The fact that the dosage was found to be at sub-therapeutic level is consistent with Mark Byers's statement that Chris may not have taken his prescription on May 5, 1993. Additionally, since the drug had been prescribed to Chris, but was not present at a level consistent with providing therapeutic benefits is inconsistent with claim that Chris was the main target of the attacks and that the drug had been used to control him. Additionally, the same drug should have been found in Steve and Michael's system, since the assailant would have needed to control both of them.

In October 2003, Vicki Hutcheson, who played a part in the arrests of Misskelley, Echols and Baldwin, gave an interview to the Arkansas Times in which she stated that every word she had given to the police was a fabrication. She further asserted that the police had insinuated if she did not cooperate with them they would take away her child. She noted that when she visited the police station they had photographs of the suspects on the wall and were using them as dart targets. She also claims that an audiotape the police claimed was "unintelligible" (and eventually lost) was perfectly clear and contained no incriminating statements. Ms. Hutcheson did not testify at the Echols/Baldwin trial and, therefore, her statements played no part in their convictions.

Today, although many of the people directly involved with the case believe the West Memphis Three to be guilty of the crimes they were convicted of, some call for further investigation into the verdict. The biological father of Christopher Byers, Rick Murray, described his doubts in 2000 on the West Memphis Three website.The convictions were upheld on direct appeal.

http://westmemphisthree.net/19962/19998.html

by **Obscuregawdess** » Fri May 23, 2008 11:29 pm

There really is just so much info... so much to it. I'll post what I have posted on my Myspace for those not closely familiar with it all.

On May 5, 1993, three boys were murdered, three eight year olds... I have an eight year old son. I can only imagine the devastation. I would want answers. These boys were found naked and hog-tied with their own shoelaces, beat up, laying on a ditch bank... The West Memphis Police Department in Arkansas were under intense pressure to find who did this. Eventually, they came up with: Satanism. It was Driver, a juvenile probation officer, who suggested Damien was capable, a man who had tried to blame Damien for burglaries and vandalism to no avail after the real people were caught for those local crimes. They arrested and charged three young men: Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley. They were all later convincted. Damien was sent to death row. Well, to be convicted, there must have been some hard evidence, right? Wrong. They were convicted based on a coerced confession from Jessie Misskelley, with an I.Q. of 72 and being told he failed a lie detector test when he had passed it. He was given the choice to go with the good guys or the bad guys, and look what happened from there. They said these were ritualistic killings and noted that Damien dabbled in Wicca and Satanism by simply reading about it and saying outlandish things like I did when I was depressed and put in hospitals and wanting people to leave me alone, but this made him a "devil worshipper". There was absolutely no physical evidence pointing to the three convicted, no eyewitnesses, no valid confessions, and nothing logical to link them, but they were convicted. All had alibis. However, they have been locked up now for 14 years.

Thanks to a large group of supporters and countless celebrites for the cause, awareness has been raised to this injustice. In a few months, hearings are approaching to see justice done.
Go to wm3. org for more info or message me for a long list of things you can do and sites and videos and articles to check out and become more knowledgeable. Not only were these three men falsely accused and imprisoned, three little boys were senselessly killed with families left behind who deserve to see the true criminals locked up. This has been one of the biggest miscarriages of justice I have ever heard of.

Here are some things to ponder:

1. Fiber evidence found at the scene do not match to the WM3 (Damien, Jessie, and Jason). They simply could be from items of clothing found in their homes, just as easily as they could match a shirt sitting in your local mall unsold on a shelf. It is not by any means even close to an exact science. However, none of the WM3's fingerprints, hair, or DNA were found at the site where the boys were found or on the boys. However, two hairs were recovered and match Terry Hobbs, one of the boys' stepfather, and his friend whom he was accompanied by before and after the recovery of the boys' bodies. A fingerprint was found in the mud and could not be matched to any of the three little boys or the three in prison.

2. The alleged confession was inconsistent with facts and a classic case of a coerced confession with leading and suggestive questions and only the favorable parts for prosecution on tape, while the police were obviously fishing for the "right" answer. Jessie, who confessed, mentioned a knife being used. He mentioned castration. Now that this hasbeen investigated by professionals, including specialists who worked in the Phil Spector case, O.J. case, Ted Bundy case, Scott Peterson case, and a 25 year veteran of the FBI, we now know the penis was not cut off of young Byers. Most of the "slashes" that were described as made by a knife by Jessie and prosecutors were animal predation AFTER death. None of the details the police led Jessie to admitting to turned out to be accurate with the actual events. It was impossible.

3. Missing evidence? Detective Bryn Ridge admitted on the stand that he lost "a" piece of evidence. A Bojangles manager calls police shortly before 9pm on May 5th when he learns by a customer there is a thin, bleeding black man in the women's bathroom. He uses a whole roll of toilet paper to try and soak up the blood, and he left blood on the walls, the toilet, the floor... He also left his sunglasses. He was muddy, incoherent, apparently disturbed, and bleeding profusely. This Bojangles could have been reached by going through the dump site of the three murdered boys in minutes. We have a bleeding man near the alleged crime scene but when police were called, only a drive thru visit seemed appropriate, even though these boys were reported missing within a couple hours ago from that area. The next day, Detective Bryn Ridge and another officer (I believe Mike Allen?) came to collect blood scrapings. Conveniently, those blood scrapings were lost, as well as this man's sunglasses. They were never logged in as any kind of evidence for anything, deemed insignificant by corrupt cops.

Kind of odd that a negro hair was found on a sheet wrapping up one of the victms, eh?

4. More missing evidence? In photographs of the boys at the location they were found, one can easily be seen with a death grip holding onto some kind of cloth. Where did that cloth go? Well, no one knows. It was never logged into evidence, never seen again. It could have been one of the most valuable pieces of evidence. Yet again, it was not important enough to keep. Also it seems Gary Gitchell, who was in charge of the investigation, ignored the 7 to 8 page criminal profile of the suspect he requested and received from the FBI. It was never brought to trial and nowhere to be found. I guess that wasn't important, especially after actual experts say nothing about this crime could be labeled ritualistic or a Satanic cult killing. Hmmmmm...?!

5. We also have a woman claiming she was bribed and pressured by the police to come up with a story to help them. She voluntarily played detective and produced no results, but she said she did. She even testified. Now, she denies anything she said was true. Her son even says they messed with his words. Damien claims they screwed with his words. Coincidence? I think not. They did not let evidence lead them. How could they when there was none pointing to their perps? They came up with a story and found evidence to cooberate it and, in most cases, created their own evidence.

6. We have jurors in Damien and Jason's trial admitting they knew of the Misskelley confession when it was not allowed in their trial, but they lied about it and were accepted onto the panel... We have a biased jury and perjurers and prosecutors making a big case about knives and Satanism when we now know there was no knife wounds, no rape, no castration, and no cult killing. If there was a trial today, no reasonable jury would convict any of these three.

Watch, listen, learn, and then educate yourself even more... Justice for Stevie, Chris, Michael, Jason, Jessie, and Damien! Join the majority of the victims' parents in finding the real killers and setting these innocent men, also victims, free.

Thanks!

Alecia ♥

To learn more, contact me.

There's a lot we can do to stop this from happening again anywhere!