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The Case of Joe Berlinger on the West Memphis 3
📻 Episode #540
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Aug 28, 2025
About This Episode
In the late 80’s and early 90’s, the US found itself wrapped up in the “Satanic Panic” - a general state of fear revolving around Satanism and satanic ritual, real or imagined. On May 5th, 1993, in West Memphis, AR, three 8-year-old boys—Steven Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers—were reported missing. Their lifeless bodies were…
The Case
In the late 80’s and early 90’s, the US found itself wrapped up in the “Satanic Panic” - a general state of fear revolving around Satanism and satanic ritual, real or imagined. On May 5th, 1993, in West Memphis, AR, three 8-year-old boys—Steven Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers—were reported missing. Their lifeless bodies were found the following day in a Robin Hood Hills creek, naked and hogtied. Christopher Byers had suffered lacerations, and his genitals had been mutilated. Details of the bizarre and brutal scene in Robin Hood Hills brought Satanic Panic to a fever pitch in the largely conservative Christian city of West Memphis. Coming off their first film success with Brother’s Keeper, documentarians Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky were tapped by HBO documentaries to head down to get the story. Joe Berlinger sits with Jason Flom and recalls his experience of the case, the moments that inspired his fight for criminal justice reform, and the films and events that have helped shape public opinion of wrongful convictions.
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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:09:58“Speaker 7: in June of ninety three, thinking we were making a Speaker 7: film about kids killing kids. All the press was saying Speaker 7: they were guilty Jesse miss Kelly's confession without any context. Speaker 7: The multiple statements over time were reduced to a digestible Speaker 7: paragraph without context, published in the local paper. So we”
00:36:07“Speaker 7: Ye, Damien was truly unhealthy and being abused by guards. Speaker 7: And that's ultimately why I think they're all heroes to me. Speaker 7: But Jason Baldwin acted very heroically because he was ready Speaker 7: to stay and fight and clear his name. But everyone Speaker 7: felt that Damien's health was in such a state that”
01:01:33“Speaker 7: call us names, and that's painful because you don't want Speaker 7: to as makers of these things. You want to shine Speaker 7: a light on the truth, but you don't want to Speaker 7: cause the famili's pain. And that's the disservice that these Speaker 7: police officials and prosecutors who maintain this facade of righteousness,”
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← #539 Cal Harris #541 Quincy Cross →
Also on the podcast: #69 Kim Kardashian West · #95 Joe Berlinger · #445 Donte West