Dixie Chicks Defamation Case Moved to Federal Courts

Posted by Nick Zeitz on 01/16/2009
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natalie-mainesLast year, Natalie Maines, lead vocalist for the Dixie Chicks, and the rest of the Country/pop group was brought to court in a defamation case regarding statements made about potentially new suspects in a case involving three 8-year-old boys who were brutally murdered in West Memphis on May 5, 1993. Now, that case has been moved to the federal courts.Maines posted a letter on the Dixie Chicks' Web site citing Terry Hobbs, step-father of one of the three young victims, as a suspect in the murders. After watching two documentaries, Paradise Lost and Paradise Lost 2, Maines’ research linked Hobbs to the murder scene in more ways than one.Attorneys for the Dixie Chicks proved that the mass media attention that the case received elevated Hobbs from a private figure to a public figure, making the defamation suite a federal matter. Hobbs must now prove intended malice, meaning Natalie Maines and the Dixie Chicks meant to harm his reputation.The evidence brought about by Maines’ research suggests two separate DNA samples at the scene of the crime, left not by the West Memphis Three, the group of three teenagers charged with the murders, but by Hobbs and his friend  A sworn claim from the mother of one of the victims and ex-wife of Hobbs stated that after the murder, she found her son's knife, something her son never left home without, in Hobbs’ drawer. Also, evidence suggests that the wounds on the victims bodies were not inflicted by a knife, as presented in the first trial, but by animals at the scene of the crime.Maines hopes that her work and the support from her fans will help bring closure to all parties involved with the case. In her letter, Maines wrote, “Their killer(s) is still out there and justice has yet to be served.”To read Maines' statement, go to http://www.dixiechicks.com/06_pressDetail.asp?newsID=669.