- Brian Chilson
- PRODUCERS: Lorris Davis and Damien Echols are producers of new documentary said to show evidence of potential 1993 murder suspects that police didn’t pursue.
A public relations firm last night began distribution of a news release about a new documentary film, “West of Memphis,” on the West Memphis Three case, this one a combined effort of the formerly condemned Damien Echols, his wife Lorri Davis and filmmakers Peter Jackson and his wife Fran Walsh.
It promises new video and information on evidence in the case, said to include information pointing to other suspects in the 1993 slayings of three West Memphis children. The three men convicted in the case were released from prison earlier this year in a plea bargain struck after the state Supreme Court ordered a wide-ranging evidentiary hearing on new information in the case.
UPDATE: The NY Times reports that this film has had some clashing interests with the “Paradise Lost” filmmakers, including over access to key figures in the case. One dispute was over Pam Hobbs, mother of Stevie Branch, one of the slain children.
PS — Nothing posted on Mara Leveritt’s blog just yet, but there is a takedown of Arkansas medical examiner Frank Peretti over remarks he made in a recent newspaper interview. Peretti’s remarks are not trivial. They provide context for his credibility in every future utterance he makes in any other case.