Article: Dixie Chicks Address West Memphis-3 Case, Eddie Mentioned.
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'Chick': Let imprisoned 3 be freed -- Country singer voices support in West Memphis Three case
Marc Perrusquia
5 December 2007
The Commercial Appeal
Final
A1
Still smarting from the public beating she took for criticizing President Bush, country star Natalie Maines is sounding off again, this time on the West Memphis Three.
The lead singer of the Dixie Chicks is the latest in a growing list of celebrities calling for the release of three men imprisoned for the gruesome 1993 West Memphis child murders.
"I'm writing this letter today because three men have spent the past 13 years in prison for crimes they didn't commit,'' Maines wrote recently on the Dixie Chicks' MySpace page.
Citing new DNA evidence, Maines is asking fans to donate to a defense fund set up for Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, known by an international community of Internet supporters as the West Memphis Three.
"The evidence is so strong,'' Maines writes, "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.''
The evidence she refers to is contained in a wide-ranging defense appeal filed this fall. Defense lawyers note that new DNA testing - unavailable in 1993 - found no evidence connecting Echols, Baldwin or Misskelley to the murders of three 8-year-old boys whose bodies were found nude and hog-tied with shoelaces in a drainage ditch.
The testing found two hairs that defense lawyers say links the stepfather of one of the victims to the crime scene.
In voicing support for the West Memphis Three, Maines joins other big-name celebrities, including movie stars Johnny Depp and Jack Black and rock musician Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.
Maines and her publicist couldn't be reached Tuesday, yet it remains to be seen if her support may help or hurt. The singer and her band lost credibility with their conservative country fan base after she said in 2003 she was ashamed of President Bush for launching the war in Iraq.
"If I had to have a supporter it wouldn't be the Dixie Chicks,'' quipped West Memphis assistant Police Chief Mike Allen, who as a young detective investigated the West Memphis child murders. "I quit listening to them a long time ago. She's known to put her foot in her mouth and not know what she's talking about.''
Such sentiment was so strong in Greater Memphis that the group canceled a show last year at FedExForum because of lagging ticket sales.
Nonetheless, celebrity endorsements of causes and issues can be very effective, said professor T.V. Reed, director of American studies at Washington State University, where he teaches a course on pop culture.
"Celebrities can have a real impact,'' said Reed, who noted the effectiveness of rock singer Bono in drawing attention to the AIDS pandemic in Africa. Celebrities are most effective when they speak with knowledge on a focused topic, he said.
"What they say is more widely circulated. Like the rest of us, some are smart citizens and some are not so smart.''
'Chick': Let imprisoned 3 be freed -- Country singer voices support in West Memphis Three case
Marc Perrusquia
5 December 2007
The Commercial Appeal
Final
A1
Still smarting from the public beating she took for criticizing President Bush, country star Natalie Maines is sounding off again, this time on the West Memphis Three.
The lead singer of the Dixie Chicks is the latest in a growing list of celebrities calling for the release of three men imprisoned for the gruesome 1993 West Memphis child murders.
"I'm writing this letter today because three men have spent the past 13 years in prison for crimes they didn't commit,'' Maines wrote recently on the Dixie Chicks' MySpace page.
Citing new DNA evidence, Maines is asking fans to donate to a defense fund set up for Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, known by an international community of Internet supporters as the West Memphis Three.
"The evidence is so strong,'' Maines writes, "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.''
The evidence she refers to is contained in a wide-ranging defense appeal filed this fall. Defense lawyers note that new DNA testing - unavailable in 1993 - found no evidence connecting Echols, Baldwin or Misskelley to the murders of three 8-year-old boys whose bodies were found nude and hog-tied with shoelaces in a drainage ditch.
The testing found two hairs that defense lawyers say links the stepfather of one of the victims to the crime scene.
In voicing support for the West Memphis Three, Maines joins other big-name celebrities, including movie stars Johnny Depp and Jack Black and rock musician Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.
Maines and her publicist couldn't be reached Tuesday, yet it remains to be seen if her support may help or hurt. The singer and her band lost credibility with their conservative country fan base after she said in 2003 she was ashamed of President Bush for launching the war in Iraq.
"If I had to have a supporter it wouldn't be the Dixie Chicks,'' quipped West Memphis assistant Police Chief Mike Allen, who as a young detective investigated the West Memphis child murders. "I quit listening to them a long time ago. She's known to put her foot in her mouth and not know what she's talking about.''
Such sentiment was so strong in Greater Memphis that the group canceled a show last year at FedExForum because of lagging ticket sales.
Nonetheless, celebrity endorsements of causes and issues can be very effective, said professor T.V. Reed, director of American studies at Washington State University, where he teaches a course on pop culture.
"Celebrities can have a real impact,'' said Reed, who noted the effectiveness of rock singer Bono in drawing attention to the AIDS pandemic in Africa. Celebrities are most effective when they speak with knowledge on a focused topic, he said.
"What they say is more widely circulated. Like the rest of us, some are smart citizens and some are not so smart.''
Up here so high I start to shake, Up here so high the sky I scrape, I've no fear but for falling down, So look out below I am falling now, Falling down,...not staying down, Could’ve held me up, rather tear me down, Drown in the river
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