An Alabama jury just slapped the New York Times with a $9.25 million judgment for defamation.
The bombshell verdict dropped Thursday after a nine-day federal trial, marking the first time in over half a century that the Gray Lady lost a defamation case on American soil over one of its own articles. As reported, the eight-member jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama sided with former University of Alabama basketball player Kai Spears, who was just 18 years old when the paper dragged his name into a homicide investigation he had absolutely nothing to do with.
Here is how this whole mess unfolded. Sports reporter Billy Witz published a piece on March 15, 2023, covering a fatal January 2023 shooting that took the life of 23-year-old Jamea Harris. The article wrongly identified Spears, a freshman walk-on for the Crimson Tide, as a passenger in a vehicle with Alabama basketball star Brandon Miller at the location where the shooting occurred. One massive problem with that claim. Spears was never there.
Both his father and UA athletic director Greg Byrne publicly disputed the identification. The Times acknowledged those denials in its reporting but initially concluded no correction was necessary. Let that sink in. Two credible sources pushed back and the paper essentially shrugged.
Trial testimony revealed that Witz built this accusation on a single anonymous source he characterized as a "high-level" professional with access to case materials. A second unnamed source offered something far less convincing, telling the reporter words to the effect of knowing the person was a white guy on the basketball team but not remembering his name. That is what passed for verification on a story tying a teenager to a killing.
Spears filed suit alleging libel and false light. Only then did the Times bother digging deeper. Their follow-up reporting determined the actual passenger was Cooper Lee, a student manager for the squad. The paper issued an editor's note in June 2023 acknowledging the screw-up and expressing regret.
Witz himself admitted the blunder from the witness stand. He conceded the story contained a mistake, calling it beyond question.
Now here comes the part that makes this even juicier. The Times acknowledged in its own coverage that it had gone more than five decades without catching an L in a domestic defamation suit. That pristine streak is officially toast.
The paper is not going quietly, though. A spokesperson called the error an "honest mistake" and expressed disappointment with the jury's conclusion. The Times disputed both the liability finding and the size of the damages, strongly hinting that post-trial motions or a full appeal could be on the horizon.
So to recap the absurdity here. A major national newspaper identified a college freshman as present at a fatal shooting based on one anonymous tip and a vague second source. They ignored pushback from the kid's own father and the university's athletic director. They only corrected the record after getting sued. And now they owe $9.25 million for what they are calling an honest oopsie. Fifty-plus years of dodging defamation losses, and this is how the streak ends.
Read more American news stories at: The American Tribune
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