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the god who wasn't there
My most recent film, The God Who Wasn't There, is available on DVD at the official site and elsewhere.

the god who wasn't there
Bat Boy: The Musical is currently being staged in productions of various sizes around the world. A movie adaptation directed by John Landis is in development, with no casting announced or shooting date set.

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My next feature film, Danielle, remains in development.

nothing so strange
Bill Gates is still dead.




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THIS ENTRY:
Damien Echols' final appeal is coming up. If he loses, he could be put to death, which will be a victory for Christianity run amok. Damien will essentially be dying for wearing black, listening to heavy metal and growing up in Arkansas.


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May 26, 2004

Renovated WM3 website

Free the West Memphis Three has a newly revised website.

Also some news I didn't know about a third Paradise Lost film and a possible Off-Broadway play about the case.

Damien Echols' final appeal is coming up. If he loses, he will likely be put to death, which will be a victory for Christianity run amok. Damien will essentially be killed by the state for wearing black, listening to heavy metal and growing up in Arkansas.

Two moments from the trial (as represented in Paradise Lost and in the excellent book The Devil's Knot) have stuck in my head for years.

One is the prosecution's presentation of a key witness, described by the prosecutors as an expert in the occult. This expert testified that the killings occurred close to some key dates on the occult/Satanic/Pagan/blah-blah calendar, testimony that likely helped persuade the Bible-Belt jury that the murders were committed in the name of the devil. But this "expert" had a mail-order degree from a diploma mill. He was no more qualified than anyone who has read ten books from Barnes & Noble on the subject. (And it would be almost impossible to find a date on the calendar that isn't close to a key date for one scary non-Christian religion or another.)

The second is the moment in the prosecutor's closing argument when he stated that listening to Ozzy Osbourne, reading Aleister Crowley and making pentagram doodles were not individually notable, but these sorts of acts "taken together" indicated guilt. The logic of a witch trial. In 1994. And it worked.

There are ways to help.



COMMENTS

This is probably old info by now, but just in case:

The school that the prosecution's "expert" occult witness, Dr. Dale W. Griffis, obtained his master's degree and Ph.D. from Columbia Pacific University. This mail order college was ordered to cease operations and refund money to its students by the Marin County Supreme Court in California.

The official news release can be found on the California state website.
http://www.dca.ca.gov/press_releases/2000113.htm
That statement includes this quote:
"When an institution issues a degree to a student who has not received adequate training, knowledge, and skill, the student, employers, and the general public are harmed," said bureau Chief Michael Abbott. "Private postsecondary institutions are regulated by the state in order to help assure students, employers, and the public that the institutions meet the standards established by law. Before a student enrolls in an institution, and before an employer relies on a degree listed in a resume, he or she should check to assure that the institution subject to the bureau's jurisdiction holds an approval from the bureau."
-------
Yes...I agree. The prosecutors SHOULD HAVE "checked to assure that the institution subject to the bureau's jurisdiction holds approval from the bureau.". You'd have thought that performing at least a preliminary check into your "expert witness" in a death penalty case would be a fundamental lesson in law school. I guess the prosecutors also received their law degrees from Columbia Pacific University.

bec  |  July 4, 2004 04:08 PM

I dont know why you keep saying things about christians. I saw both movies and there wasn't anything in them that suggest that christians believe that these 3 killed those kids. first of all i am a christian and second if you are thinking the crap mark byers was saying better yet pretending to be a christian then you are so wrong! I cannot stand the thought of those 3 are in jail and I cannot stop thinking how is this possable? with all the forensic science there is more evidence to support that these 3 did not do this crime. That a--hole judge wont let them do dna testing and why hasnt anyone compared the bite marks to an x-ray of m. byers teeth you know before he had them removed! this just frustrats me to no end!!!!!

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diet pills  |  September 5, 2004 03:15 PM

> Damien will essentially be killed by the state for wearing black, listening to heavy metal and growing up in Arkansas.

No. He will be killed by the state for strangling three young boys.

Sadly, his death will be more merciful than theirs was.


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