http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=4459&IssueNum=175Justice In, Justice Out
I am writing in regards to your August 31 cover story regarding the 1993 triple homicide case in West Memphis, Arkansas [“Life After Death,” by Annette Stark].
As one of the filmmakers (along with Joe Berlinger) of Paradise Lost and Revelations: Paradise Lost 2, the HBO documentaries about the case, I am quoted in the article as saying, “We said we were kind of thinking the stepfather [John Mark Byers] did it. He was a fighting kind of guy and one time he even said to us, ‘Just remember boys, it all started here.’”
This quote was taken entirely out of context, from an interview I gave with Ms. Stark over two years ago for another publication, in which I was discussing the wide range of possibilities that have been discussed in a case that remains troubling. While I, along with many people around the world who have followed this story closely over the years, continue to have questions about the convictions of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr., neither Joe Berlinger nor myself have ever stated that we believe that John Mark Byers is a killer.
Although Byers has displayed behavior in the past which some may characterize as strange, accusing him of murder based on this behavior is no different from the reasons given by supporters of the “West Memphis Three” for why Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley were arrested for the crime.
While I appreciate CityBeat bringing attention to this important case, hurling unfounded accusations does nothing to advance the cause of justice.
BRUCE SINOFSKY
CO-FILMMAKER, PARADISE LOST, REVELATIONS: PARADISE LOST 2
Annette Stark responds: During our one-hour interview in April 2005, Bruce Sinofsky explained that Byers had given him and Berlinger a knife that turned out to have traces of Christopher Byers’s blood on it. The knife was turned over to HBO’s legal department and subsequently admitted as defense evidence during the trial. The producers went back to HBO, also according to Sinofsky, and said their focus had changed. They stated they were “thinking” it could have been “the stepfather.” The reader can easily ascertain from that quote that he was merely speaking to their state of mind, expressing an opinion, rather than making an outright accusation. I regret that Sinofsky is unhappy about being quoted for this piece, which took more than a year to complete, but his statement in this letter about how they were considering “other possibilities” while making Paradise Lost, further supports that he was quoted accurately and in context.
Author