Sarah Palin , was granted a fresh defamation trial against the New York Times , on Wednesday after a federal appeals court found” some big problems” tainted the first one in , February 2022 , – including judges learning the prosecutor had dismissed the situation from breaking news alerts during their proceedings.
In a 56-page choice, the , 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals , found , Manhattan , federal prosecutor Judge , Jed Rakoff , “improperly intruded on the state of the jury” when he determined , the former , Alaska , governor , and Republican vice presidential candidate failed to give clear and convincing evidence that The , Times , maliciously , slandered her , in an editor that suggested her political ads influenced a mass shooting.
Rakoff’s decision to let the jury reach their own conclusion days later, which was ultimately the same as Rakoff’s, was not made public until the jury had been informed of it through push notifications on their cell phones.
Because of the push alerts, the appeals court determined that the jury’s verdict was unable to be deemed reliable. Additionally, they found that Rakoff incorrectly instructed jurors about what Palin was required to prove and incorrectly rejected evidence that Palin claimed was proof that James Bennett, the article’s editor, and The , Times , had a personal dislike for her.
In Tuesday’s decision, 2nd Circuit Judge , John Walker, writing for a three-judge panel, vacated the judge and the jury’s verdicts and remanded the case back to Rakoff for another trial. The court declined Palin’s request to disqualify the judge.
Walker noted that the court had no trouble concluding that an average jury’s verdict would be affected if several jurors knew that the judge had already rendered a decision for one of the parties on the very allegations that the jurors were charged with ruling.
” Given a judge’s special position of influence with a jury, we think a jury’s verdict reached with the knowledge of the judge’s already-announced disposition of the case will rarely be untainted, no matter what the jurors say upon subsequent inquiry”, the court wrote.
The case, watched closely by press freedom groups, centered on a , June 14, 2017 , editorial titled” America ‘s , Lethal Politics“, which examined the impact political rhetoric has on gun violence after a gunman opened fire at a congressional baseball game, wounding Rep.  , Steve Scalise, R-La.  , It drew a line between Palin’s campaign literature and the 2011 shooting of Rep.  , Gabrielle Giffords, in which the former , Arizona , Democrat was partially paralyzed and six people were killed.
Bennett, The Times ‘ former editorial board editor, added details to the writer’s piece, noting that an old graphic put out by Palin’s political action committee had depicted” Giffords and 19 other , Democrats , under stylized crosshairs”, when the digital graphic in question actually showed Giffords ‘ electoral district in crosshairs. The , piece was corrected , after 14 hours. The shooter,  , Jared Loughner, was ultimately deemed to be severely mentally ill.
Rakoff determined that the error amounted to “very unfortunate editorializing on the part of The Times,” but not defamation.
At trial, the newspaper’s lawyer,  , David Axelrod, argued the First Amendment protected journalists” who make an honest mistake” when they write about public figures like Palin and that Bennett, who took the stand, had quickly owned up to the blunder. Legal spectators , viewed the case as a potential vehicle , for the , U. S. Supreme Court , to revisit the landmark 1964 ruling in New York Times vs. Sullivan that restricts public officials ‘ ability to sue journalists.
A spokesman for The , Times,  , Charlie Stadtlander, said,” This decision is disappointing. We’re confident we will prevail in a retrial”.
Palin’s attorney,  , Kenneth Turkel, said his client was “very happy” with the ruling, describing it as” a significant step forward in the process of holding publishers accountable for content that misleads readers and the public in general”.
” The truth deserves a level playing field, and , Governor Palin , looks forward to presenting her case to a jury that is’ provided with relevant proffered evidence and properly instructed on the law ‘ as set forth in the , Second Circuit Court , of Appeals ‘ opinion”, Turkel said.
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