Dallas, Texas, trio the Dixie Chicks have seen a defamation suit against their frontwoman, 35-year-old Natalie Maines, dismissed. U.S. District Judge Brian Miller has quashed a lawsuit by Terry Hobbs against the “Not Ready To Make Nice” lead singer, after Hobbs – a stepfather of one of three 8-year-old boys killed in Arkansas 15 years ago – claimed that Maines had accused him of being involved in his stepson’s murder.

Three teenagers, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. – now known as ‘the West Memphis Three’ – were convicted of the famous killings in 1993. Since then there’s been plenty of public support over the doubt of their verdicts, with serious questioning of police tactics and forensics. The Dixie Chicks are just one of many celebrities endorsing the West Memphis Three’s innocence, with everyone from actress Winona Ryder to Henry Rollins enlisting their support.

Hobbs was attempting to prove in court that Maines defamed him, referring to a letter the singer posted on the Chicks’ website back in 2007, alongside remarks made at a public rally in support of the trio.

However, Judge Miller dismissed his claims yesterday, finding that Hobbs couldn’t establish “actual malice” – that is, that he couldn’t prove Maines knew her statements weren’t true or that she made them with “reckless disregard” for the truth.