The lead singer for the Dixie Chicks, Natalie Maines, is being sued by Terry Hobbs. Now, the name Terry Hobbs might not be familiar to you, but if I were to say the stepfather of Steven Branch, one of the victims of the West Memphis Three murders, you might remember his name.
The West Memphis Three was a horrific murder case that happened just across the Mississippi River in 1993 when I lived in Memphis, Tennessee. Three eight year old boys (Steven Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore) were found dead in a Robin Hood Hills drainage canal. I won’t go into the exact details because it is rather gruesome, but the whole case was just odd, including tales of a devil worshipping cult, a disoriented, bleeding black male appearing at the local Bojangles restaurant on the day of the murders, and much criticism of how the local police handled the investigation.
In the end, three teenagers – Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin – were convicted of the murders in 1994, with Echols being sentenced to death and Misskelley and Baldwin being sentenced to life in prison. Because of lack of evidence and botching of the investigation, many have come to the defense of the three, with some calling the whole thing a witch hunt. The three were primarily convicted on the confession of Misskelley, who was said to have scored close to the mentally retarded level. If you are interested in the case, and believe me, although horribly ghastly, it is a very interesting and mind-blowing story, I suggest that you rent the documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at the Robin Hood Hills.
So by now, you are probably wondering how Natalie Maines figures into all of this. Well, Hobbs, whose DNA was found on the rope used to bind the victims, is suing Maines for defamation because of a comment she made at a rally on the steps of the Arkansas State Capital building last December as well as comments on the Dixie Chicks’ web page.
During her speech at a rally for the West Memphis Three, Maines said that new DNA evidence as well as suspect behavior after the murders implicated Hobbs. The lawsuit also accuses Maines of publishing “malicious, libelous, slanderous, and false statements” on the group’s web page. Right now, there is just a “Free the West Memphis Three” link on their official web page. Other celebs that have taken up the cause for The Three are Johnny Depp, Eddie Vedder, Winona Ryder, Margaret Cho, Will Farrell, and Jack Black.
In case you were wondering, the DNA evidence was cited as inconclusive and a retrial was denied by Circuit Court Judge David Burnett on September 10, 2008.