Little Rock, Ark. ? An effort to free three young men convicted in the lurid 1993 slayings of three 8-year-old boys is gathering speed, with rock stars and other celebrities taking up their cause and about 150 supporters rallying Wednesday on the steps of the Arkansas Capitol.

Supporters of the “West Memphis Three” say prosecutors and a small-town police force railroaded the young men because of their fascination with heavy metal music and the occult. And they say new DNA tests and other forensic evidence call their guilt into question.

At the Capitol, sympathizers including Natalie Maines, lead singer for the Dixie Chicks, unfurled a long banner of postcards asking for the men to be released.

“You want to do anything you can to right this wrong,” said Maines, whose earlier criticisms of President Bush outraged many country music listeners. “I’m just amazed that these guys are still in prison and have turned into men in prison.”

For years, prosecutors have steadfastly maintained the defendants committed the crime. And the convictions have withstood numerous appeals, with the Arkansas Supreme Court saying in 1996 that there was “substantial evidence” of guilt.

Shocking deaths

The grisly killings of Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore shocked West Memphis, a blue-collar town of about 28,000 across the Mississippi River from bustling Memphis, Tenn.

Police found the battered bodies of the three Cub Scouts in a drainage ditch a day after they disappeared from their neighborhood. Their hands were bound to their legs with shoelaces, and one boy was sexually mutilated, prosecutors say.

Three teenagers – Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley – were arrested a month later, largely on Misskelley’s confession. Misskelley told investigators how he watched Baldwin and Echols sexually assault and beat two of the boys as he chased down another who was trying to escape.

The case – two trials, held in 1994 – included testimony and prosecutors’ allegations that the defendants acted as part of a satanic cult, and that they used to eat the hind legs of dogs and participate in orgies.

A jury gave Misskelley life in prison plus 40 years. Baldwin got life without parole. Echols, then 19, the oldest of the three, was sentenced to die. No execution date has been set.

A 1996 HBO documentary, “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills,” galvanized many supporters, who say that it reinforced their belief that the defendants were falsely convicted because they listened to heavy metal music and dressed in black in a small Southern town with a strong Christian faith.

Since the film’s release, Echols’ art made from old magazines and prison-issued razors has sold at auction, the proceeds going toward a defense fund. Echols contributed lyrics to rock band Pearl Jam’s 2006 album. Henry Rollins, frontman for punk rock band Black Flag, issued a tribute album in 2002 to raise money for their defense. Comedian Margaret Cho highlighted the case several times on her blog, posting a picture of herself across from a bespectacled Echols, sitting behind prison glass.

Tests and appeals

In all, the defense fund has received more than $1 million over the past decade from celebrities and Internet donors, money that has gone toward new DNA testing and a second federal appeal on Echols’ behalf, said supporter Capi Peck.

The new appeal, filed in October, includes the results of DNA tests conducted by a private laboratory in Virginia. The lab said much of the evidence failed to yield reportable results, but on the material that could be tested, no traces of the three defendants were found.

The filing also included claims by forensic experts that the bodies were not mutilated by the killers, but mauled by animals.

A federal judge ordered the state courts to examine the new claims first. The Arkansas attorney general has asked for more time to look over the material. However, a spokesman said the state stands behind the convictions.

Asked Tuesday whether he would consider commuting or pardoning the three, Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe said: “No, absolutely not.”