Alabama Jury Awards Kai Spears $9.25 Million in New York Times Defamation Case

An Alabama jury has awarded former University of Alabama basketball player Kai Spears $9.25 million in damages after finding that The New York Times defamed him in its reporting about a fatal shooting near the university in January 2023. According to agency reporting published by The Guardian, the eight-person jury returned the verdict after a nine-day trial.

Spears sued the newspaper in 2023 after an article incorrectly identified him as a passenger in a vehicle connected to the shooting. The report relied on an unnamed person described as familiar with the investigation. The person in the vehicle was later established to be a team manager, not Spears.

The Times acknowledged the mistake in an editor’s note and corrected its article days after publication. Spears maintained in his lawsuit that the inaccurate identification caused emotional distress and permanently associated his name with a murder. The shooting killed Jamea Harris, a 23-year-old mother. The case centered on the consequences of that incorrect identification and the newspaper’s handling of its error.

Matt Glover, an attorney for Spears, welcomed the jury’s decision and said he believed the verdict would improve journalism across the country, The Guardian reported. Spears’ father, Christian, also expressed gratitude for the outcome and said the family initially sought a straightforward retraction from the newspaper.

The New York Times said it was disappointed by the verdict and described the original report as an honest mistake. In a statement issued Thursday, the newspaper said it believed both the finding of liability and the damages award were contrary to law and unsupported by the evidence. It said it was reviewing its legal options, leaving open the possibility of further court proceedings.

Spears played for Alabama before transferring following the 2023-24 season. He subsequently played for Marshall and West Liberty during his college career. The Times reported in its own coverage of the verdict that it had not lost a defamation lawsuit in the United States over one of its articles in more than 50 years.