Natalie Maines, a Dixie Chick singer, faces a defamation lawsuit by the stepfather of one of three 8-year-old boys slain in 1993.Maines spoke in behalf of three people convicted of the killings and reportedly claimed the stepfather was, instead, involved in the murders.

Terry Hobbs, stepfather of Steve Branch, who was killed in 1993 along with Christopher Byers and Michael Moore, filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court on Nov. 25. The suit names all three members of the Dixie Chicks, but basically concentrates on Maines.

The suit is said to seek compensatory and punitive damages. Hobbs claimed suffering from loss of income, injury to his reputation, as well as emotional distress.

Maines attended a Dec. 19 rally in Little Rock, where she claimed Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley, who are ? known as the “West Memphis Three”, ? were innocent and that alleged new evidence pointed to Hobbs. Her speech included a Nov. 26, 2007, letter that was still on the Dixie Chicks’ Website on Thursday, wherein Maines claimed that new DNA testing of hair from the crime scene linked Hobbs to the killings and that his behavior after the killings were indication of his guilt.

The lawsuit, however, says the claim is false.

Hobbs told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in an interview on Feb. 1  that his reputation was “in tatters and he wanted to clear his name.”

“I want people to know I haven’t done nothing wrong,” Hobbs said. “I want them to hear it from me.”

The lawsuit claims that  Maines’ statements were “so extreme in degree as to be beyond the pale of decency and to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in civilized society.”

Attorneys seeking new trials for the three convicts made similar assertions to those made by Maines.

The boys’ bodies were reportedly found by police a day after they disappeared from their neighborhood on May 5, 1993. Police arrested the three after a confession by Misskelley wherein he described how he watched Baldwin and Echols sexually assault and beat two of the boys while he ran after another trying to escape. A jury gave Misskelley a life-plus-40-year sentence for the murders. Another jury later gave Baldwin life sentence without parole. Echols, who was then already 19 years old, and being the the eldest of the three, received the death penalty charge.

The Arkansas Supreme Court later upheld the convictions, but a documentary that emerged later sparked interest across the Internet, as well as among celebrities, including Maines, who strongly felt the teens were discriminated by police for their interest in heavy metal music and the occult. Supporters claim they raised more than $1 million for a legal defense fund for the three, enough to pay for legal fees, new DNA testing, and a second federal appeal on behalf of Echols.

A judge, however, has since denied defense motions for a new trial.

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