The New York Times Ordered to Pay $9.25 Million in Defamation Verdict to Former Alabama Athlete

A jury has found The New York Times liable in a defamation lawsuit, ordering the publication to pay $9.25 million in damages to a former University of Alabama basketball player. The verdict, delivered on Thursday, concludes a case brought by Kai Spears, who was erroneously linked to a fatal shooting incident in a 2023 news report.

The eight-person Alabama jury, after a nine-day trial, determined that the prominent newspaper had defamed Spears, who was an 18-year-old freshman walk-on for the Crimson Tide at the time the article was published.

Details of the Misidentification

Spears was incorrectly identified in a March 2023 article, penned by New York Times sportswriter Billy Witz, as being a passenger in a vehicle present at the scene of a January 2023 shooting. That incident tragically resulted in the death of 23-year-old Jamea Harris.

Publication's Response and Editor's Note

The New York Times later appended a comprehensive editor's note to the article in June 2023, but this action occurred only after Spears had initiated his defamation proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

The original version of this article, published March 15, misidentified the person who was in the car with [Crimson Tide star player] Brandon Miller when the shooting occurred. Based on information from a person familiar with the case, the article erroneously identified that person as Kai Spears, a freshman basketball player. After the article was initially published, Alabama’s athletic director and Spears’s father denied that Spears was present. The Times included those responses and reviewed its reporting, but did not conclude that any other change to the article was warranted at that time.

On Wednesday, Spears filed a defamation suit against The Times that included new details about the incident. Based on that information, editors assigned further reporting, which determined that the other person at the scene was not Spears but Cooper Lee, a student manager for the team. The Times regrets the error in the initial report.

Reporter's Testimony and Source Reliance

During the trial, Billy Witz, who joined The New York Times' reporting staff in 2008, testified about his reliance on a single anonymous source for the initial claim regarding Spears's presence. Witz characterized this source as a "high-level person, professional."

Witz further elaborated on his assessment of the source, stating, "I think the way I was looking at it, Source A, by their job title and by virtue of their access to the transcript, videos and impound photos, was somebody who knew a lot about this case." He added, "In my mind, the story had a focus and this tragedy, as bad as it was, could have been much worse."

Additionally, Witz recounted that another anonymous source had provided a vague description, telling him, "I can tell you it's a white guy on the basketball team, I just don't remember his name."

From the witness stand, Witz ultimately acknowledged the inaccuracy in his reporting, conceding, "Yes, [the story] had a mistake, no question."

Historical Context of the Verdict

In its own coverage of the jury's decision, The New York Times acknowledged that this verdict marks the first time in over 50 years that the publication has lost a defamation lawsuit brought against it in the United States concerning one of its articles.