Free the West Memphis 3 is a compilation album released in October 2000 by Koch Records as a benefit for the legal defense of the West Memphis Three, three men who, while teenagers in 1994, were tried and falsely convicted of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. The album was organized by guitarist Danny Bland (of the bands Cat Butt, Best Kissers in the World, and the Dwarves), Eddie Spaghetti of the Supersuckers, and Scott Parker, who served as executive producers of the project.
The liner notes, written by Burk Sauls, assert that the conviction of Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr., and Jason Baldwin was a miscarriage of justice: "There is no physical evidence against them. No witnesses. Nothing aside from coerced statements and the vague, incomplete testimony of children", he wrote, stating that the three were limited by poverty to inexperienced public defenders and that "everything about the trials was biased against them, but it didn't matter to the jury because Damien, Jason, and Jessie looked 'evil' to the locals. They were teenagers who liked the kind of music that's on this [album]. They wrote poetry and read Stephen King and Shakespeare and wore black concert T-shirts. That was enough for the judge and jury."
Reception
Jeremy Salmon of Allmusic rated Free the West Memphis 3 three stars out of five, calling it "a fine collection of mainly punk rock covers, with some extra variety sprinkled in" and noting Tom Waits' track as a highlight while stating that "most of the tracks are on the subject of capital punishment, but some of the cover choices (see Zeke's version of 'Wrathchild' by Iron Maiden) seem to be positive support for the prisoners coming in a singular form."