From the wires:

Three men convicted of killing three 8-year-old Cub Scouts and dumping their bodies in an Arkansas ditch changed their pleas Friday, resolving a yearslong effort to win their freedom.

Under a plea bargain, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were being freed immediately. The boys’ families were notified about the pact ahead of time but were not asked to approve it.

The defendants, known by their supporters as the West Memphis 3, agreed to a legal maneuver that lets them maintain their innocence while acknowledging prosecutors have enough evidence against them.

{…}

They were placed on 10 years’ probation and if they re-offend they could be sent back to prison for 21 years, Prosecutor Scott Ellington said.

{…}

In upholding Echols’ conviction in 1996, the state Supreme Court noted that two people testified Echols bragged about the killings, an eyewitness put Echols at the scene, fibers similar to the boys’ clothing were found in Echols’ home, a knife was found in a pond behind Baldwin’s home, Echols’ interest in the occult and his telling police that he understood the boys had been mutilated before officers had released such details. – USAToday

The lesson from this case: authorities listen to parents more than don’t-have-their-shit-together teenagers.

The evidence is of course highly circumstantial, but there being a lot of it suggests either a deliberate frame-up or some unanswered questions, which explains why the Arkansas Supreme Court wasn’t impressed back in 1996.

A possible scenario is that one of the three is involved, possibly with outside parties.

Another possible scenario is a frame-up.

It will be interesting to see what evidence emerges now that the case is under scrutiny by the neurotic classes.