Natalie Defends Convicted Teens on Website

12/4/2007 Stephen L. Betts   The Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines has penned a letter posted on the Chicks' website encouraging donations for legal fees to free the West Memphis Three, whom she believes were wrongly accused of murdering three children in 1993. Damien Echols, Jesse Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin were teenagers when convicted in 1994 for the deaths of three 8-year-olds in West Memphis, Ark. “I encourage everyone to see the documentaries Paradise Lost and Paradise Lost 2 for the whole history of the case,” writes Natalie on the group’s site. "I only discovered the films about six months ago, and when I finished Paradise Lost 2 I immediately got online to make sure that these three wrongly convicted boys had been set free since the films were released. My heart sank when I learned that the boys were now men and were still in prison. I couldn't believe it. “The evidence is so strong that at the very least the judge will grant a new trial, but hopefully he will overturn the verdict and these guys will finally be sent home to their lives and families. I know that this is a hard thing to just take my word on, so please look at the case and the evidence for yourself. I am confident that you will see the DNA evidence is irrefutable and that these three men did not get the kind of trial that is promised to us -- as Americans.”