On January 12, HBO cable TV will air a new documentary, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, the final installment of a trilogy that recounts the story of three wrongfully convicted teenagers in Arkansas—Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley—known as the “West Memphis Three.” The young men were convicted of the 1993 rape and murder of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Baldwin and Misskelley received life sentences, and Echols was sentenced to death. Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory shows the conclusion of their case in 2011, when Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley entered special guilty pleas in which they continued to assert their innocence but admitted the state could likely convict them again in a new trial. The pleas allowed Baldwin and Misskelley to be released from prison and Echols to be spared the death penalty, and also freed. The first two films, released in 1996 and 2000 respectively, raised awareness of the case and helped spur an international movement to free the men. Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory will debut on Thursday, January 12, at 9:00 p.m. ET on HBO. See below for a trailer to the film.

(HBO press materials, DPIC posted, January 11, 2012.) View the film’s trailer. For more information about the documentary, visit the movie’s website. See also Innocence and Multimedia.

Citation Guide