Dixie Chick Natalie Maines Sued For Defamation Over Comments About The Memphis Three

[JamesG]

Natalie Maines Sued for Defamation

Posted Dec 4th 2008 12:00PM by Stephen L. Betts
Filed under: Country News


Dixie Chicks' lead singer Natalie Maines is being sued for defamation over statements she allegedly made about Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of three eight-year-old boys murdered in West Memphis, Ark., in 1993 -- an incident made famous by the 1996 acclaimed documentary 'Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.'

Hobbs filed the complaint on November 25 in Pulaski County Circuit Court alleging that Maines made a "false and reckless claim that [Hobbs] committed the murders of the three boys ..."

Steve Branch (Hobbs' stepson), Christopher Byers and Michael Moore were found dead May 5, 1993 in West Memphis, Ark. Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, all of West Memphis, were convicted of the murders in 1994.



Maines -- identified by her married name, Pasdar, in the lawsuit -- made the comments at issue during a rally last December on the steps of the Arkansas State Capitol in Little Rock.

The lawsuit also claims that Pasdar "recklessly published or caused to be published malicious, libelous, slanderous, and false statements" on the band's website in November 2007 and that those statements were republished by several media outlets, including FOX News, The Memphis Commercial Appeal, and PEOPLE magazine.

The lawsuit seeks undisclosed punitive damages and "all other just and proper relief to which he may be entitled."

The case has attracted national attention, with many claiming insufficient evidence was presented to convict Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin, known as the "West Memphis Three."


http://www.theboot.com/2008/12/04/na...or-defamation/

Video of comments made - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBICUgMjBZk

[robyrob]

that guy should just shut up - he's been way too lucky so far, and his actions have been unreasonably suspicious; how many people would "coincidentally" have all of their teeth removed when it comes to light that they were able to get bite marks off of the bodies?

[JamesG]

Originally Posted by robyrob

that guy should just shut up - he's been way too lucky so far, and his actions have been unreasonably suspicious; how many people would "coincidentally" have all of their teeth removed when it comes to light that they were able to get bite marks off of the bodies?

So with that, do you say that the "West Memphis Three" are innocent? What's your opinion?

[robyrob]

Originally Posted by JamesG

So with that, do you say that the "West Memphis Three" are innocent? What's your opinion?

there was absolutely zero physical evidence linking any of the west Memphis three to the murders, they were totally railroaded into a "confession" by a desperate police force that had badly botched the investigation, and there was far more evidence linking Terry Hobbs to the murders than anyone else, but he somehow has evaded any scrutiny by the local police.

i think a grave injustice was done and the local police don't want to admit that they made a mistake.

I don't really care what happens to Natalie Mains, but that Terry Hobbs really should have been their number one suspect from the beginning.