The New York Times suffered a major courtroom defeat Thursday when an Alabama jury found that the newspaper defamed former University of Alabama basketball player Kai Spears. Following a nine-day federal trial, the eight-person jury awarded Spears $9.25 million in damages. The case arose from a 2023 Times article that falsely placed the then-18-year-old freshman at the scene of a fatal shooting. Spears was not there.
The dispute was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Spears was a freshman walk-on for the Crimson Tide when Times sports reporter Billy Witz published the article on March 15th, 2023. The report covered the circumstances surrounding a January 2023 shooting that killed 23-year-old Jamea Harris. It incorrectly identified Spears as a passenger in a car with Alabama basketball star Brandon Miller at the scene.
That identification connected the young college athlete to a homicide investigation despite denials from both Spears’ father and University of Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne. The Times added those denials to its reporting and reviewed the article, but initially decided that no further correction was warranted. Spears subsequently filed suit, accusing the newspaper of libel and false light. The Times later determined that the passenger was Cooper Lee, a student manager for the team.
As Trending Politics reported, the newspaper acknowledged its mistake in a June 2023 editor’s note. “The original version of this article, published March 15, misidentified the person who was in the car with Brandon Miller when the shooting occurred,” the note said. It added that the article had “erroneously identified that person as Kai Spears, a freshman basketball player.”
The note also described what prompted the Times to reopen its reporting. “On Wednesday, Spears filed a defamation suit against The Times that included new details about the incident,” the newspaper wrote. “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 concluded the note by saying it regretted the error.
Testimony during the trial revealed that Witz had relied on a single anonymous source to identify Spears. Witz described that source as a “high-level person, professional” with access to case materials, including a preliminary-hearing transcript, videos, and impound photographs. A second unidentified source provided much less precise information, telling the reporter, “I can tell you it’s a white guy on the basketball team, I just don’t remember his name.” The Times nevertheless allowed Spears’ name to remain in the article after his father and the university’s athletic director challenged the claim.
Witz acknowledged the central error while testifying before the jury. “Yes, [the story] had a mistake, no question,” he said from the witness stand. The verdict was particularly significant for the Times, which acknowledged in its own coverage that it had gone more than 50 years without losing a defamation lawsuit brought in the United States over one of its articles. Thursday’s decision left the newspaper facing a multimillion-dollar judgment more than three years after the false report was published.
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The Times disputed both the finding of liability and the size of the award, indicating that the case may continue through post-trial motions or an appeal. “We’re disappointed the jury found The Times liable for an honest mistake,” a newspaper spokesperson said. “We thank the jury for its service, but believe the verdict and award of damages are contrary to law and not supported by the evidence. We are reviewing our legal options.”