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Murder Most Foul by Larner	91 Review(s)
Agape4Gondor	Reviewed Chapter: 26 on 9/17/2011
Bravo! I say it quietly at first. Humbled at the beauty and scope of your story. Though somewhat based on fact, you brought the quality of Middle-earth to it. Your characters were astounding. Especially the members of the deputation. I read this in about three days, on my droid, until the wee hours of the morning. One morning I could hardly see with the fatigue closing my eyes. A truly compelling mystery and a glorious affirmation of truth and justice. My BRAVO is louder now. Your skill at writing has always awed me, Larner. Congratulations on completing such a journey and then sharing it with us. PS - my heart goes out to the 'real' story and those involved in it. I pray for peace for them all. And justice as Aragorn doled it out. Author Reply: And I thank you so, Agape! It has been a story that has meant a good deal to me, and I rejoice that at least the three wrongly accused and convicted have been released. And may the full justice be known to all involved. There's been a place on my barn door awaiting the hides of at least two of the players in this travesty of justice for the past nine years!

Tari	Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 9/16/2011
I am so glad you are posting your chapters close togther. The unraveling of the convictions is fascinating to read. It's amazing how gullible people can be. Author Reply: Well, the last chapters are posted now, so that's an end to that, at least. Yes, people can be mightily gullible indeed. Hope you enly reading this through to the end, Tari!

6336	Reviewed Chapter: 27 on 9/15/2011
That this story is based on actual facts just boggles the mind, that in this, supposedly, enlightend day and age, people can be targeted for the way they dress and act is unbelieveable. That prosecuters can be so biased and unprofessonal is a scandal. I can understand wanting to bring closure to the case for the perants sake but at the expense of sending innocent men to prison it is not worth it. The fact that the state is willing to reopen the case is very telling, a kind of underhanded, well, maybe, we got it wrong.That they have been relesed, with no restrictions on their movements is also very telling. I did read the whole thing, I snuck over to M.P.T.T. to read it. This one might end up on the e-reader, it is very thought provoking and something to mull over. Huggs, Lynda Author Reply: I am honored. Yes, even today people can be considered guilty of a crime merely because of what they wear, where they live, the color of their skin, their preferred forms of entertainment! And people have been even convicted of crimes that never happened, as evidenced by the Swanns, Paul Ingram, the McMartin Daycare scandal, the Wenatchee Sex Ring scandal, countless cases of "recovered" memories of abuse, and so on. The state of Texas has the record of individuals executed, more than all other states combined, since the death penalty was reinstated; and both George W. Bush and current Governor Perry have each signed more death warrants than in all other states combined during their tenures as governor of that state. In the cases of both men, there have been questions as to the true guilt of at least a few who were executed, although both have denied that anyone for whom they signed death warrants could possibly have been innocent of the charges for which they were convicted and sent to the death chamber. There is a great need in our country to remove some of the impediments that have been set into place that keep higher courts from examining cases for indications of true innocence. In most appeals higher courts can only examine the cases to see if there were irregularities in the manner in which the cases were tried; had the West Memphis Three case gone to federal appeals, the focus would have been placed not on the bias of the judge on what he did and did not allow to be presented by prosecutors and defense lawyers, but on his statement to Jessie Miskelley's jury that they'd probably best give thought to what lunch they'd like ordered for them as they'd need sustenance if they were to continue to be in the courtroom for sentencing, indicating that in his eyes Jessie was indeed guilty; and in the Baldwin/Echols trial the evidence that the jury foreman lied to make certain he would be placed on the jury, and that he consulted with a lawyer indicating he intended to focus the other jury members on the Miskelley confession in spite of the fact they'd been instructed they were not to consider it. It has been learned that his brother was facing trial, and it appears he might have steered the jury to a guilty verdict in order to buy his brother out of a guilty verdict in his own case. When I first became aware of this case, one of those who'd been involved since the beginning in the efforts to get the verdicts overturned noted that there was little chance that this goal would be met until those who were on the Arkansas State Supreme Court had mostly retired and been replaced by younger, more liberal judges. He was predicting fifteen years; it actually took eighteen. But until the majority of the judges on the ASSC had been replaced, they just rubberstamped what Burnett's court had done--again and again and again, even ruling that the police did not violate Jessie's rights by not even suggesting he should consult with a lawyer before signing the "confession" and denying Mr. Miskelley's requests to be allowed to speak with his son, and refusing to consider the fact that both Damien and Jason's mothers had tried to speak to their sons once they'd been brought to the station, and Damien's mother had even hired a lawyer, who was denied the right to speak with Damien before he was processed into the jail. This is now complete, although I might eventually return to correct some mispellings and typos caught after the fact. Thanks so very much, Lynda!

Jay of Lasgalen	Reviewed Chapter: 27 on 9/15/2011
This has been a really interesting story. I've enjoyed folowing the details of the investigation by the team sent by Aragorn, and the gradual realisation by those involved of the corruption of some local officials. The real life case is shocking. That three teenagers have been imprisoned for a crime they didn't commit, that they were framed by the 'justice' system itself, and that as a result the real killer is still free. And the three children who were murdered have never received justice. Author Reply: I've been following this case for twelve or thirteen years, and each time we thought we knew everything there was to know about the case, some new detail would be released. And what happened on August nineteenth NONE of us anticipated--even the victims' families weren't told until the eighteenth. What happened on that day has been posted before, although I will repost it on Friday in the postscript, which I'd thought not to add until December at the earliest. Those who have helped fund the defense teams and almost all of the DNA testing are insistent that we continue to follow the case, and that includes such notables as Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Henry Rollins of Metallica, Natalie Maines from the Dixie Chicks, Johnny Depp, Larry King, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, and countless others literally from all over the world, some of whom have sent thousands of dollars, some of whom may have sent five dollars here or there, and some of whom have tithed a few dollars a week for years. We've read the "confessions" and the case files, forensic reports, investigative reports, court transcripts, and so on; and we do hope that the information reportedly held by the defense teams will be released as soon as they believe that they have enough to nail down just who killed Michael, Steve, and Christopher. At least Prosecutor Ken Ellington and Governor Beebe have agreed to reopen the case should enough evidence be produced to definitely tie someone else to the crime, which is more than the state Attorney General has indicated in the past he would do. But this is just one case among many. There are people such as the Swanns and Paul Ingram of Washington State who were convicted of crimes that never really happened; others such as those arrested in the McMartin Daycare scandal or the alleged Wenatchee Sexual Abuse Ring have been released once the charges against them were exposed as the frauds they were. One man in Florida is scheduled to die on Friday--Troy Davis's supporters include leading federal and state judges from all over the country, and we are praying that the governor of Florida and the parole board will cooperate and stop the scheduled execution. Governor Perry of Texas has managed to outdo even his predecessor George W. Bush in signing death warrants and seeing them executed, and like Mr. Bush he has denied that any of those executed in Texas could possibly have been actually innocent, even though Dallas alone has had the highest number of death sentences in the country that have been overturned so far due to DNA testing--what about those killed before many of the newer forms of DNA testing were available, or where the physical evidence hasn't included DNA? I'm so glad this has intrigued so many, and all of us are so glad that August nineteenth happened, even if it wasn't precisely how we thought it would happen, much less being the way it ought to have happened. And if the story constitutes a form of wishful thinking--well, it's the sum total of over a decade of wishful thinking, after all! Anyway thanks so very much for letting me know that you found it interesting, and I hope at least somewhat realistic. Legal corruption happens, and is pretty distressing when it's found; I just rejoice when it is exposed, and that it's not a common phenomenon.

Szepilona10	Reviewed Chapter: 27 on 9/14/2011
Interesting. I hadn't really known anything about this case until I started reading the story but it is really quite an unusual one. God Bless! ~Szepilona10~ Author Reply: Yes, unusual in so many ways, particularly considering the actions of the state of Arkansas in insisting that the three youths should be still considered guilty, but they still allowed them to go free with no travel restrictions. And those of us who have followed the case for years now still hope to see them fully vindicated.

Szepilona10	Reviewed Chapter: 26 on 9/12/2011
Well there goes all of those lose ends! I'm glad that they found the uruk. That last paragraph is very touching and I think it shows what could be the underlying theme of the story: to be thankful for our fathers (or whoever we have who cares for us). (I guess...I'm not very good at identifying themes) I really enjoyed reading this story! God Bless! ~Szepilona10~ Author Reply: I'm not certain this has a particular theme beyond making certain that in a rush for judgment we don't place ourselves in danger of sending the wrong people to prison, but, yes, we certainly wish to be proud of those who served as parents to us. And although I don't think I got quite all the loose ends, I certainly got enough to be going on with. Thanks so for following along with this so faithfully!

Elena Tiriel	Reviewed Chapter: 26 on 9/12/2011
A good story, Larner! One that I enjoyed reading, and trying to figure out all the twists.... - Barbara Author Reply: Thanks so, Elena. As with the real-life case that inspired it, we have found that every time we thought we had it all figured out something new would hit us over the head and we'd find we had to start all over again! It's wonderful to have it posted at last, and I'll have the revised postscript up on Friday, I hope.

Teresa	Reviewed Chapter: 26 on 9/12/2011
I thought that the war might have prevented Denethor from looking into that case! It's too bad that he didn't mention his suspicions about Saruman to Gandalf though ....... that information would have helped immensely! I'm glad that Danarion, his friends, and their families are rebuilding their lives. Hopefully Galmar's family can find closure with the knowledge that the true muderer was found. Of course, they still might chose to believe that Danarion and the others were involved. Sigh. As always, your stories are extremely enjoyable! Many thanks! :) Author Reply: I hope that Gilmar's parents come around once they know the real killer has been identified and killed. I hope one day Michael Moore's parents and Steve Branch's birth father will realize that the police and prosecutors mislead them from the start, too. But they have displayed serious reluctance to accept this. Denethor was, I think, an excellent ruler and I hope mostly a just man; I do not think he would willingly allow such blatant injustice to stand. But as we aren't certain just when his own suspicions about Saruman began to grow, that he would treat Gandalf with some suspicion himself on his arrival in Minas Tirith with Pippin in tow, particularly knowing the two of them had been accompanying Isildur's Heir, is perhaps to be expected; but speaking of his concerns regarding Saruman when Gandalf arrived with word of the sack of Isengard would very probably appear superfluous at that point. Had he been aware of this probalem during Gandalf's previous visit when he was seeking out that document in which Isildur described the Ring and Its inscription it definitely would have been helpful to share his concerns, however! And I thank you so! Author's Notes are now up, and I hope to repost the edited Postscript on Friday.

Szepilona10	Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 9/11/2011
Well that was a good chapter! It's so good to finally see them free! I wonder what will happen to them now? God Bless! ~Szepilona10~ Author Reply: Oh, yes, finally free! And you shall have your questions answered!

Angwen	Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 9/11/2011
I just can't help myself... fiction is so much better than reality. These guys get Aragorn on their team. The real guys got... Henry Rollins? Ah well. ^_^ (Just picking on Henry, but don't tell him, he might holler at me... seriously - love the guy! And not a perfect anaolgy, I know, but the mental image of 'Aragorn VS Henry' is awesome!) Author Reply: The real guys got Henry Rollins, Eddie Vedder, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, Johnny Depp, Larry King, John Mark Byers, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh (and Damien and Lorri, I understand, will be flying to New Zealand in a month or two as Peter and Fran's guests and may even find themselves in bit parts in The Hobbit if PJ stays true to form!), yours truly, and countless others, great and small, who have been working for years to see them freed. But I would certainly love finding Aragorn, Faramir, Prince Imrahil, and various of their relatives and supporters working to see my name cleared in such a case! Certainly would be much quicker, I think, in Middle Earth than it's proved here in the good ol' US of A! Yes, fiction worked much faster and more cleanly than reality this time. Thanks so, Angwen!

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