The judge overseeing former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times has dismissed the suit.
U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff said Palin's legal team didn't prove โactual maliceโ by The Times, which is the standard they had to meet in her case.
Palin sued The New York Times and its former editorial page editorย James Bennet over an article published in 2017 that falsely linked her to a 2011 mass shooting that killed six people and injured a sitting congresswoman.
Rakoff's ruling came as a Manhattan jury of five women and four men deliberates over the verdict.
He will allow the jury to continue deliberating until they reach a verdict and dismiss the case once they've done so.
The Hill adds:
The Times later corrected the article, noting that a previous version hadย โincorrectly stated that a link existed between political rhetoric and the 2011 shooting.โ
In a dramatic moment last week, Palin took the witness stand and described a feeling of beingย โpowerlessโ after the editorial's publication.
โIt was devastating to read, again, an accusation, a false accusation that I had anything to do with murder, murdering innocent people,โ Palin said.
When pressed by Palin's lawyers about why the paper never publicly apologized, Bennet objected, โThe feeling of the standards editors, I think, was that of course The Times regrets its errors.โ He added, โThey're correcting them. That's an extremely painful thing for the journalists and is an expression of regret.โ
Many consider an appeal following today's ruling inevitable.
2 Comments
NY, the bluest state, lead by a smurf! NY times, the arm of the Democratic party… I didn’t expect them to find any favor with Palin….
Quite right. A Conservative finding justice in New York? Yeah right! Where did Rakoff get his law degree New York Times Middle School. OVERTLY CORRUPT. MAKE A NOTE OF THIS CROOKED LEGAL HACK!