Devil's Knot

Archival Summary & Scope

Mara Leveritt’s award-winning *The Devil’s Knot* provides the definitive, comprehensive account of the West Memphis Three, one of America’s most shocking miscarriages of justice and the true crime story behind a major motion picture. In 1993, three Arkansas teenagers—Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley—were convicted of the brutal satanic ritual murders of three eight-year-old boys. Despite stunning investigative blunders, a flawed confession, and an absence of physical evidence, they were sentenced to life or death. Leveritt’s insightful reporting reveals how a witch-hunt atmosphere led to their wrongful convictions and their unprecedented release in 2011 after eighteen years in prison, forever reshaping the American legal landscape.