Another year, yet another scandal for the Dixie Chicks. This time, the country trio is getting attention for their support of three teens convicted of killing three eight year old boys in West Memphis in 1993. The rally, which occurred last year, had front woman Natalie Maines speaking for the men buried behind cages in an Arkansas prison and instead connected the young children's death to one of the boys' stepfathers. Now, that stepfather, Terry Hobbs, is reacting to the highly publicized allegations the Dixie females made with a publicity stunt of his own – a defamation lawsuit.



Hobbs was the stepfather of Steve Branch, one of three eight year olds who were murdered in West Memphis Tennessee in 1993, along with Christopher Byers and Michael Moore. In his lawsuit Hobbs cites loss of income and injury to reputation, along with emotional, physical and mental injuries as a result of the accusations that were announced by Maines and the rest of the Dixie Chicks. “While all Americans have the right of free speech, that right does not extend to falsely accusing someone of a triple homicide,” Hobbs' attorney said in a December 4th statement. “Terry Hobbs had nothing to do with these murders. His one and only association with this tragedy was that of a devastated father.” Just a day after the three boys disappeared in May 1993 their bodies were found – and soon thereafter police arrested Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley, those known as the “West Memphis Three,” when Misskelley confessed that Echols and Baldwin had sexually assaulted two of the boys while he went after the third. Though the boys, all under age except for Echols, then 19, were convicted, recent evidence proved that documents were withheld from the proceedings.

And Maines stepped in from there. The singer published a letter in November 2007 that claimed DNA testing proved Hobbs was linked to the young boy's murders. The Dixie chick continued to explore areas of interest that would lead to speculation about whether Hobbs was actually involved in the crime, and led a rally in Little Rock supporting a retrial for the three teenagers convicted of the brutal crimes.

This isn't the first time, or doubtfully the last, that the women of Dixie Chicks have made national news due to their outlandish ideals. After their liberal singles began to rule the crossover charts, Maines began commenting about President George W. Bush that left the group in the midst of their own controversial atmosphere. The girls remained confident and released the single “Not Ready to Make Nice,” a self explanatory single that sings “forgive, sounds good/forget, I'm not sure I could/they say time heals everything/but I'm still waiting/I'm through with doubt/there's nothing left for me to figure out/I've paid a price/and I'll keep paying/I'm not ready to make nice/I'm not ready to back down/I'm still mad as Hell and/I don't have time to go round and round and round/it's too late to make it right/I probably wouldn't if I could/'cause I'm mad as hell/can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should.” Sounds like the Dixie girls might be making a “I'm Not Ready to Make Nice 2” single soon, even so Dixie Chicks tickets have remained in high demand no matter the media speculations of otherwise nationally betrayal, and http://www.stubhub.com/dixie-chicks-tickets is always there to keep them in business!