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Arkansas Supreme Court Decision Allows New DNA Testing in Case of the ​“West Memphis Three,” Convicted of Killing Three Children in 1993

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On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court decided 4-3 to reverse a 2022 lower court decision and allow genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the 1993 killing of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. The three men convicted in 1994 for the killings were released in 2011 after taking an Alford plea, in which they maintained their innocence but plead guilty to the crime, in exchange for 18 years’ time served and 10 years of a suspended sentence. 

Robert Badinter revient sur son combat contre la peine de mort

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Robert Badinter

Du 2 au 5 mars, Europe 1 propose de revivre un moment d'histoire : le combat de Robert Badinter contre la peine de mort. 

Dans l'émission "Hondelatte raconte", l'ancien ministre de la Justice revient notamment sur son échec lors du procès de Roger Bontems en 1972, presque dix ans avant l'abolition de la peine capitale. 

Robert Badinter s'est longuement confié à Christophe Hondelatte et lui a raconté la croisade qu'il a menée contre la peine de mort. 

Dans le premier épisode, disponible en podcast (et ci-dessous), l'ancien ministre de la Justice raconte son échec durant le procès de Roger Bontems. 

Cet ancien militaire, condamné après une prise d'otage meurtrière dans la centrale de Clairvaux en 1972, avait été exécuté. 

"J'ai le sentiment que c'était joué d'avance", se souvient-il. "J’admire cette espèce d’aveuglement de confiance que j’avais dans une issue qui, je le pensais, pouvait être favorable, c’est-à-dire écarter la peine de mort", déclare Robert Badinter. 

L'avocat reconnait une forme de naïveté : "J'étais jeune et je n'avais rien compris."

Une "histoire exceptionnelle"


Ne s’épanchant pas beaucoup aujourd'hui sur les affaires judiciaires, Robert Badinter a néanmoins accepté de revenir sur les deux grands procès qui ont forgé son combat contre la peine de mort : ceux de Roger Bontems et de Patrick Henry. Une "histoire exceptionnelle", selon Christophe Hondelatte.

Robert Badinter échoue à sauver Roger Bontems, exécuté à la prison de la Santé. 

"Le hasard veut que quelques années plus tard, dans la même cour d’assises où il a vu Bontems condamné à mort, il va obtenir de sauver la tête de Patrick Henry, face au même avocat général", rappelle Christophe Hondelatte.

L'animateur d'Europe 1 ajoute : "J’ai bâti mon récit à partir de deux de ses livres, avec ses mots, en tentant de ne jamais les trahir."

Source: europe1.fr, Staff, 2 mars 2020


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Location: France
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