About a year ago, singer Natalie Maines was sued by Terry Hobbs, who was the stepfather of murder victim Stevie Branch. In December 2007, Maines joined the list of celebrities who publicly supported the West Memphis Three. Hobbs' suit claimed that statements Maines made about Hobbs on her blog led to "loss of income, injury to his reputation and emotional distress."
Now, however, a judge has thrown out Hobbs' claims, saying that the suit could not proceed because Hobbs was unable to prove that Maines knew her statements were false. U.S. District Judge Brian Miller used what's called the "actual malice standard" as the basis of his ruling, and said that to proceed, Hobbs would have to show that prove Maines and other members of the Dixie Chicks "made the statements with actual malice, that is, with knowledge the statements were false or with reckless disregard for the statements' truth."
It's also important to note that Maines' statements were based upon one side of the arguement against Hobbs. However, Miller said that just because Maines didn't "verify the truth of the allegations... did not establish that she knew they were false or that she was reckless concerning their truth."
In early 2007, new DNA evidence indicated that a hair found in the shoelaces used to tie the three murdered boys belonged to Hobbs. At that time, his ex-wife Pam Hobbs, said she thought it was "possible" that Terry Hobbs could have committed the crimes, but also admitted it was hard for to be objective because she was going on her "thoughts and feelings." Pam Hobbs did say that she no longer believes Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelly killed her son.
For more information, you can read about the case at the Citizen's Media Law Project: Hobbs v. Pasdar.
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Now, however, a judge has thrown out Hobbs' claims, saying that the suit could not proceed because Hobbs was unable to prove that Maines knew her statements were false. U.S. District Judge Brian Miller used what's called the "actual malice standard" as the basis of his ruling, and said that to proceed, Hobbs would have to show that prove Maines and other members of the Dixie Chicks "made the statements with actual malice, that is, with knowledge the statements were false or with reckless disregard for the statements' truth."
It's also important to note that Maines' statements were based upon one side of the arguement against Hobbs. However, Miller said that just because Maines didn't "verify the truth of the allegations... did not establish that she knew they were false or that she was reckless concerning their truth."
In early 2007, new DNA evidence indicated that a hair found in the shoelaces used to tie the three murdered boys belonged to Hobbs. At that time, his ex-wife Pam Hobbs, said she thought it was "possible" that Terry Hobbs could have committed the crimes, but also admitted it was hard for to be objective because she was going on her "thoughts and feelings." Pam Hobbs did say that she no longer believes Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelly killed her son.
For more information, you can read about the case at the Citizen's Media Law Project: Hobbs v. Pasdar.
Follow Pagan/Wiccan on Twitter or Join Me On Facebook!
I still think celebrities need to be careful about what they say in the media because of things like this. It makes a lot of people look bad in the process. Can’t blame her for having an opinion but sometimes, you just need to keep them to yourself.
While it is true that we ALL need to watch what we say, we also have to understand that celebrities are real people, with real opinions, just like us. It is also true that more people “hear” their opinions because they are seen on t.v.,etc.,yet they should be allowed their priveledge of “freedom of speech” just the same.