- Damien Wayne Echols: The thing I like most about time is that it's not real. It's all in the head. Sure, it's a useful trick if you wanna meet someone at a specific place in the universe to have tea or coffee. But that's all it is, a trick. There's no such thing as the past, it exists only in the memory. There's no such thing as the future, it exists only in our imagination. If our watches were truly accurate the only thing they would ever say is now.
- Damien Wayne Echols: I don't normally read a lot of fiction anymore. I haven't for several years, but a couple of days ago, someone sent me the new Stephen King book. You know, I started reading his books when I was probably 10 or 11 years old. People have always undervalued him. You know, they look at him as this, um, hack. This hack writer who churns out horror novels. In all of his books at the end, he always addresses the reader. You know, he thanks you for going on this voyage with him, and so I wanted to read it to you. "All right I think we've been down here in the dark long enough. There's a whole other world upstairs. Take my hand, Constant Reader, and I'll be happy to lead you back into the sunshine. I'm happy to go there because I believe most people are essentially good. I know that I am. It's you I'm not entirely sure of."
- Henry Rollins: [when asked why he was drawn to the West Memphis 3 case] Damien liked to hang out alone and wrote in his journals that he was depressed. Hello! He liked to listen to weird music. Check. He was a wise-ass in the face of law enforcement. I mean, are you kidding? It could have been me. Could have been me.
- Lorri Davis: This is the first e-mail that I received from Fran and Peter, and it's 7-25-05. "What a horror story, unbelievable. Something positive has to come from this. What can we do down here in New Zealand? Our names are Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh. We would like to offer financial assistance to help facilitate, hopefully, a positive outcome in Damien's appeal to the federal court."
- Peter Jackson: When Fran and I first got involved, it felt like the case was in a holding pattern. But it wasn't a holding pattern for Damien's chances of staying alive. That doesn't go into a holding pattern.
- Lorri Davis: "Dear Fran and Peter, your email was a welcome sight on a very hot Monday morning here in Arkansas. My name is Lorri Davis and I have been involved in working on the case for nine years. There are many twists and turns to the story. It's still incredibly frustrating. Appeal's taking forever and funds always needed."
- Peter Jackson: I have a pathological hatred of bullying and people in power crapping on people who have no ability to defend themselves. I believe in justice. I think there are good people and bad people. People do horrible things and should be punished. Justice should be fair, it should be honorable, it should be decent, it should speak to our values as human beings that right must prevail. And all that I could see in the case of the West Memphis Three is wrong was prevailing and that wrong was being perpetrated by people who, I believe, knew they were doing wrong.
- Damien Wayne Echols: I've jokingly said to Lorri before that I think that, in a lot of ways, I may have brought this on myself, this entire situation. Because when I was a child I knew what my passion was, I knew what my drive was, I knew what my desire was. I loved magic. I would say to myself, you know, these names that people think of. I would say, "One day my name is gonna eclipse all of them." I'm gonna be the greatest magician there's ever been." And I had no idea that that meant I would have 20 years to sit alone in a prison cell and practice and study. But that's a word that you don't even use here, because when people hear the word "magic," anything even remotely connected to magic has to be evil in some kind of way.
- Damien Wayne Echols: Most people think that this case is something extraordinary. It's spectacular in some sort of way, and it's not. Burnett and Fogleman thought they could make a name for themselves off of this case. Because, really, you're dealing with three kids who were bottom of the barrel, poor white trash that nobody's ever gonna ask another question about. He thought they would say, "Guilty." This whole thing would be swept under the rug. The state would kill me. Jason and Jessie would spend their lives in prison. He'd move up the political ladder. That's all he cared about. This case is nothing out of the ordinary. This happens all the time.
- News Reporter: Tell us why you're here today.
- John Mark Byers: I'm here for justice and the real killer to be found out. If I've had to be the spotlight of people thinking I was involved, if that kept the case alive to get where we are today, I'd turn around and do it all over again.
- News Reporter: Talk about what has been so impactful in this case that has changed your mind. Because that day, you believed he was the killer.
- John Mark Byers: That day I believed what the state told me. And it took quite a while of being blinded, and when I finally got my answers, none of the roads led to the three in prison. All the roads and all the evidence lead to Terry Wayne Hobbs.
- [at a West Memphis 3 support rally, reading from a letter by Damien]
- Johnny Depp: I would like to read something to you guys. "I can't remember what it's like to walk as a human being anymore. It's been well over 16 years since I've actually walked anywhere. There are times when I've thought, surely, someone is gonna put a stop to this. Oh, well, it does no good to dwell on it. Either I waste my energy by focusing on things I cannot change, or I conserve my energy, and apply it to small things I can change."
- Damien Wayne Echols: I think this case was never about justice because they knew we didn't do this. Fogleman knew we did not do this.
- Lorri Davis: [reading an email sent by Fran Walsh] "We know that all of this could have happened in the space of just 20 minutes. It almost certainly happened before dark, which means the crime in all likelihood occurred between the hours of 6:30 and 7:45 p.m. Who knew these boys well enough to kill them? Who was out looking for them? From where I stand we are pretty much left with a list of three people: Mark Byers, Terry Hobbs, and Todd Moore. Mark Byers began looking for Chris from 6 p.m. Terry Hobbs was looking for Stevie Branch from 5 p.m. Todd Moore was out of town. We're left with two stepfathers. But only one of them has ever been scrutinized as a suspect. Byers once referred to himself as the giant red herring of this case, and I think he was speaking the truth. That is why I am interested in Terry Hobbs. Hope this helps to explain where I'm coming from. Sending much love to you, Fran."
- [last lines]
- Lorri Davis: [reading a letter Damien wrote] "My dearest Lorri, I love the letter I got from you today. The one about us changing. You were right, we should be looking forward, not back. You give me the strength to face anything, but I also know that not everyone is like you. If they were, then everyone would be in love. I love the way Master and Margarita ends. The way they get to spend eternity together, alone. That they are granted peace."
- Damien Wayne Echols: "And you are left to wonder what adventures they'll have next."