A jury ruled that New York Times and one of its top editors were not liable for defaming Sarah Palin.
The jury’s verdict was unanimous.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff told attorneys on Monday that he would toss out the case yet still allow the jury to deliberate and reach a verdict because of the likelihood of an appeal.
The case centered on a June 14, 2017 Times editorial, written hours after a shooter opened fire on a congressional softball game, that delved into harsh political rhetoric and its links to violence. James Bennet, then the Times Opinion Editor and a defendant in the case, said he was responsible for inserting an edit into the story that linked Palin’s political action committee to a 2011 mass shooting, in which six people were killed and Rep. Gabby Giffords was severely wounded.
The original Times editorial, headlined “America’s Lethal Politics,” read, “Was this attack evidence of how vicious American politics has become? Probably. In 2011, when Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a supermarket parking lot, grievously wounding Representative Gabby Giffords and killing six people, including a 9-year-old girl, the link to political incitement was clear. Before the shooting, Sarah Palin’s political action committee circulated a map of targeted electoral districts that put Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized crosshairs.”
In fact, no link was ever established, and the Times issued corrections. But Palin still sued.
More to come.
