Judge orders West Memphis slaying victim’s stepdad to pay Dixie Chicks singer’s legal costs

Victim’s stepdad told to pay singer’s legal costs

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal judge says the stepfather of one of three Arkansas boys slain in 1993 must pay Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines’ legal costs stemming from a defamation lawsuit he filed against the band.

District Judge Brian S. Miller ordered Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of victim Stevie Branch, to pay $17,590 to Natalie Pasdar, Maines’ married name. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported the ruling Saturday.

In December, Miller dismissed a suit Hobbs filed over Maines’ remarks at a 2007 Little Rock rally implying he was involved in killing his stepson. The judge said Hobbs had voluntarily injected himself into a public controversy over whether three teenagers convicted of killing the three 8-year-old boys had been wrongfully condemned.