Eddie Vedder - Johnny Depp "Society"

Many celebrities will lend their support when they see an injustice,and Johnny Depp  is among the most loyal. This weekend, he and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, plus Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines held a fund raiser for the West Memphis Three.

Almost 2,500 people squeezed into the Robinson Center Music Hall in Little Rock, Arkansas to attend ‘Voices for Justice,’ a music and poetry rally held on Saturday to raise money for the legal fees of the three men whom Johnny believes were wrongfully imprisoned, and he’s vowed to assist their defense.

Some back-story, in case you forgot; On May 6 1993 the bodies of three 8-year-old boys, Steven Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore were found bound and naked in a remote creek in West Memphis, Arkansas. All three had been severely beaten and Byers’ skull had been fractured.

The investigation of the crime scene by local police was a feast of incompetence and the three accused; Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. were tried and imprisoned on evidence so badly tainted, even the victims own parents now want them released.

Echols has been sentenced to death, Misskelley Jr. was sentenced to life plus 40 years, and Baldwin received a life sentence.

“It makes me feel good,” Jessie Misskelley, Sr. told reporters at the show. “Johnny doesn’t know him from Adam, and they’re all getting up there saying he’s not guilty. Makes me feel really good.”

DNA tests conducted in 2007 prove that none of the three now in prison could have been at the crime scene. They did, however, prove that one of the victims own family was.

The Arkansas Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments for a new trial of the three men on September 30th. We’ll update you if Johnny’s involved…

Vía HMG