The New York Times\u00a0was defeated in a defamation lawsuit Thursday brought by a former college basketball player and ordered to pay millions in damages.<\/p>\n
An Alabama jury ruled the Times defamed Kai Spears,<\/a> then an 18-year-old freshman walk-on basketball player for the University of Alabama\u2019s\u00a0Crimson Tide,\u00a0who was swept up in a 2023 report linking him to a fatal shooting.<\/a><\/p>\n After a nine-day trial, the eight-person jury determined that Spears was owed $9.25 million in damages.<\/p>\n Spears was mentioned in the March 2023 report authored by New York Times sportswriter Billy Witz.<\/p>\n Spears was falsely identified as being a passenger in the car<\/a> at the site of a\u00a0January 2023 shooting\u00a0that resulted in the death of 23-year-old Jamea Harris.<\/a><\/p>\n The Times issued a lengthy editor\u2019s note to the report in June 2023, but only after Spears filed the defamation lawsuit at the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d the note began<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alabama\u2019s Kai Spears dribbles during practice at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on April 5, 2024. Getty Images<\/p>\n The New York Times was ordered to pay Spears $9.25 million in damages. blvdone \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n \u201cBased 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\u2019s athletic director and Spears\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cOn 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Witz, who began reporting for The Times in 2008, relied on one anonymous source who claimed Spears was at the site of the shooting.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Witz testified the source was a \u201chigh-level person, professional.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d Witz said, according to a report<\/a>\u00a0from The Tuscaloosa Patch.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn my mind, the story had a focus, and this tragedy, as bad as it was, could have been much worse.\u201d<\/p>\n Kai Spears (center) protests a foul call with teammates during an Alabama game against Tennessee. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n Spears\u2019 statement against the newspaper after the false report. @kjspears0\/Instagram<\/p>\n A separate anonymous source had told Witz, \u201cI can tell you it\u2019s a White guy on the basketball team, I just don\u2019t remember his name,\u201d according to Witz\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n According to The Patch, Witz ultimately conceded from the witness stand, \u201cYes, [the story] had a mistake, no question.\u201d<\/p>\n