Life After Death

Damien Echols

Sept 2012 · Sold by Penguin

About this eBook

The New York Times bestselling memoir by Damien Echols of the West Memphis Three, who was falsely convicted of three murders and spent nearly eighteen years on Death Row.

In 1993, teenagers Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr.—who have come to be known as the West Memphis Three—were arrested for the murders of three eight-year-old boys in Arkansas. The ensuing trial was marked by tampered evidence, false testimony, and public hysteria. Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life in prison; while eighteen-year-old Echols, deemed the “ringleader,” was sentenced to death. Over the next two decades, the WM3 became known worldwide as a symbol of wrongful conviction and imprisonment, with thousands of supporters and many notable celebrities who called for a new trial. In a shocking turn of events, all three men were released in August 2011.

Now Echols shares his story in full—from abuse by prison guards and wardens, to portraits of fellow inmates and deplorable living conditions, to the incredible reserves of patience, spirituality, and perseverance that kept him alive and sane while incarcerated for nearly two decades. In these pages, Echols reveals himself a brilliant writer, infusing his narrative with tragedy and irony in equal measure: he describes the terrors he experienced every day and his outrage toward the American justice system, and offers a firsthand account of living on Death Row in heartbreaking, agonizing detail. Life After Death is destined to be a riveting, explosive classic of prison literature.

Ratings and reviews

I followed the West Memphis Three since about a year after it first started in the mid-90s. I went to Little Rock and stood on the courthouse steps holding on to this what seemed like an endless stream of lamination and postcards, playing my part in a peaceful protest to free The West Memphis Three. I, like most others, watch The Paradise Lost trilogy I watched west of Memphis I read devil's knot and watched the movie of the same title. I've read yours till eternity the book by Damien and his wife Lori, and with the completion of this book, I feel the sense of content in almost closure that I hadn't had before. Damien in this book is as always articulate with a wide-ranging and beautiful vocabulary. Damian is an amazing storyteller and this book is no disappointment. It captivates, you don't want to put it down. It's not that you don't want it to ever end but you long for it to elaborate. If you're like me you could listen to Damien and read his writings daily 4 hours upon end. Get ready to come closer to full circle, a place that I know a lot of people never thought the West Memphis Three would see, much less us, the reader, get to experience with Damien.

I remember hearing about this when I was younger, I was only in 3rd grade when this happened, and grew up in Arkansas and honestly I'm not too shocked they were convicted even though they obviously shouldn't have been. Those places breed religious, fearful but jobs (but not everyone is like that of course). But thank you Damien for sharing your story. You'll probably never see this, but I'm so glad that you were let out :). Excellent book! /\___/\

This book is indeed haunting and beautiful. It is also one of, if not the most corrupt cases of injustice I have ever seen; it is unconscionable. May all three men be exonerated and may the murderer of those three children finally be held accountable.

About the author

Damien Echols was born in 1974 and grew up in Mississippi, Tennessee, Maryland, Oregon, Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. At age eighteen he was wrongfully convicted of murder, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Miskelley, Jr. Echols received a death sentence and spent almost eighteen years on Death Row, until he, Baldwin, and Misskelley were released in 2011. The West Memphis Three have been the subject of Paradise Lost, a three-part documentary series produced by HBO, and West of Memphis, a documentary produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh. Echols is also the author of High Magic: A Guide to the Spiritual Practices That Saved My Life on Death Row and Yours For Eternity (with his wife Lorri Davis).
 
While in prison, Damien was ordained into the Rinzai Zen Buddhist tradition. Today he teaches classes on magick around the country and works as a visual artist. He and Lorri live in New York City with their three cats.