3 Men are going to plea no contest to Murders of 3 young boys, and immediatly be set free?

Years ago, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were convicted for the horrific 1993 murders of 3 Cub Scouts in Arkansas. Two were sentenced to life, and one to death.

Prosecutors argued that the boys were killed as part of a satanic ritual.

Years of litigation ensued, and thanks to DNA evidence, it now appears the men were factually innocent.

Rather than just admit the defendants' innocence, the prosecutors appear to have struck a deal with them - in exchange for no contest (Alford) pleas, the men will be released.

Those of us who practice in State court routinely enter no contest pleas for our clients - in Federal Court, at least in the Southern District of Florida, such a plea is almost unheard of.

Is it the right call?  It seems to me that for the defendants it is.  How could they be counseled not to accept a withhold of adjudication, or even a conviction for the crime, if it means going free - immediately? 

To me, that is the joke of the Federal plea colloquy - you have a guy who is 851 mandatory life eligible, who is told that if he pleas, he will receive 10 years, but if he looses at trial he will receive mandatory life.  The cases usually involve snitches and some evidence of involvement, but also a viable defense.  So, the client who tells you he is innocent is given a choice.  What does he do usually?  Take the plea.  Then, in front of the judge, he is required to acknowledge that he was NOT coerced, forced or threatened to enter a plea of guilty.  Right.

The problem with the case is that if you presume these men are innocent, there is a real killer(s) at large.  What happens now?  Does the search for the murderer of these three innocent young children end?   What happens if the killer is caught - doesn't he have a great chance of prevailing because there are three men who were convicted of the crime?

One of the parents of the children took exception to it:

"He said Thursday that prosecutors told him that they planned to reach a no-contest plea.

"There's certainly no justice for the three men that's been in prison or my son and his two friends," Byers said. "To me, this is just a cop-out from the state for not wanting to admit that they made a mistake.""

I believe that Federal Court should take more no contest pleas - if for no other reason than to avoid the hypocrisy of guilty pleas that are coerced out of clients by a system that virtually guarantees a much higher sentence post-trial.

I think this is one case where the State should not be offering such a deal and the defendants should be seeking it. Is justice being served?

Interesting issues - I am curious about your thoughts.