New York Times Loses $9.25 Million Defamation Case Over 2023 Kai Spears Shooting Report
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 21
New York Times Loses $9.25 Million Defamation Case Over 2023 Kai Spears Shooting Report
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 21
Summary
$9.25 million in damages were awarded by an Alabama jury after a nine-day trial that found The New York Times defamed former Alabama walk-on Kai Spears.
The 2023 article wrongly identified Spears, then 18, as a passenger in a car at the scene of the January 2023 shooting that killed Jamea Harris.
Billy Witz testified he relied on one anonymous source he viewed as highly placed, while another source only said the person was a white male on the basketball team.
The Times added a June 2023 editor's note after Spears sued, saying further reporting showed the person at the scene was student manager Cooper Lee, not Spears.
The newspaper said it was disappointed by the verdict, called the error an honest mistake, and is reviewing legal options after what it said was its first U.S. defamation loss over an article in more than 50 years.