Fantastic series, I've followed this thing since way back. Gotta be honest, I've seen them all several times, and I'm STILL unsure what happened that day.
I know we're supposed to believe the kids were railroaded - and they do raise HUGE doubts - but some of the edited stuff, and testimony/evidence not addressed in the doc, are all pretty incriminating. Regarding Damien, anyway. (I don't think Baldwin had ANYTHING to do with it; not sure about the retard.)
Then again, no DNA connecting the kids, but they DID find a hair from Hobbs in the leg binds. I get more confused each time I watch. Easily one of America's most fascinating crime stories.
What did you think, E?
Not having any DNA at the crime scene from any of the 3 accused boys was the nail in the coffin for me personally that they were innocent. On top of that there was no other physical evidence linking them to the crime and there were a plethora of witnesses who stated they were in contact with Echols, Baldwin the Misskelly over the phone from 5pm - 9pm the day of the murder which seemingly went ignored.
The hair DNA from Terry Hobbs found INSIDE the knot of the shoelace that was tied around the boy Hobbs body was pretty damning. The big serrated knife that was found behind Baldwins trailer in the pond was also a huge red flag because Baldwins mother was the one who threw it in the lake 1 year prior to the murders taking place and she told the prosecution it was there. That's how the divers found it within an hour of going in. The whole Jacoby relationship Terry Hobbs had and the hearsay of the of the "Hobbs Family Secret" was also interesting, as well as witnesses putting Terry Hobbs as the last known contact of the 3 murdered boys at 6:30pm outside the house on the day of the murder, but none of that came to light due to the Alford plea they took to get out of prison.
What outraged me the most was the continued denial of the Arkansas state prosecution and the sitting judge to hear any new evidence. I lived in Arkansas for 4 years (unfortunately) and the police there are incredibly incompetent and the vast majority of people living there are backwards idiots who are still holding onto civil war era type thinking.
Indeed though, it was one of the most fascinating cases I've encountered. You should definitely watch "The Jinx" and read up on Robert Durst, that shit will blow your mind as well. The guy goes on the run from the NY state police on suspicion of his wife's murder and ends up in Texas cross dressing as a woman, makes friends with the neighbor across the hall way who finds out his real identity and who his family is, tries to get money out of him and Durst ends up shooting him, chopping up his body and tosses in the ocean, and somehow convinces a jury that what he did was totally acceptable and gets off scott free. He was also suspected in the murder of a good friend of his out in LA, but I'm not sure if he was ever completely connected to it as the woman also had family ties with the mob. There was a movie with Ryan Gossling that wasn't any good called "All Good Things" that was inspired by the story of the murder of Durst's wife. Not really worth checking out, but worth a mention I guess.
