In 1993, Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were arrested and convicted for the murder of three eight-year-old boys. Echols was sentenced to death by lethal injection, while the other two received life sentences. A group of sympathizers emerged after a 1996 documentary entitled Paradise Lost claimed that mistakes had been made in the investigation and prosecution of the trial.

On May 6, 1993, the mutilated bodies of Steve Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers were found at a drainage ditch in the woods of Robin Hood Hills, Arkansas. The brutal nature of the crime led some to believe that the boys had been subjected to a ritualistic killing.http://freepress.org/journal.php?strFunc=display&strID=105&strJournal=15 Some supporters of the Free the West Memphis Three movement believe that Damian Nichols unjustly labeled a suspect because he practiced Wicca.http://freepress.org/journal.php?strFunc=display&strID=105&strJournal=15