The New York Times will have to pay out a massive settlement after an Alabama jury found the newspaper liable for defamation as the result of a lawsuit brought by a former University of Alabama basketball player.
The lawsuit was filed after the New York Times published a piece falsely claiming Kai Spears was present at the scene of a deadly shooting.
A jury in Alabama found the New York Times liable for defamation in a lawsuit brought by Kai Spears, a former University of Alabama men’s basketball player who the newspaper erroneously reported was present at the scene of a deadly shooting.
Spears sued the Times in 2023, alleging libel and false light, an invasion of privacy that his lawyers said caused him “severe emotional distress, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life.”
After a nine-day federal trial in Tuscaloosa, a jury sided with Spears and ordered the Times to pay $9.25 million in damages.
Kai Spears told me he hopes the verdict will help protect people like him in the future.
— Ryan Phillips (@JournoRyan) August 20, 2026
Here’s my coverage following almost two weeks of haunting the federal courthouse in downtown Tuscaloosa.
I’ll never forget today as long as I live.
Story 🔗 https://t.co/ileYDNIx5R pic.twitter.com/wyFwkypBRA
Billy Witz, the reporter who wrote the initial report, cited anonymous sources claiming Spears was in a vehicle with one of the other players present at the time of the shooting. Spears quickly sought to set the record straight.
Billy Witz, a college sports reporter for the Times, published a March 15, 2023, article about a shooting involving members of the University of Alabama men’s basketball team, including Brandon Miller, a star player at the time.
Citing anonymous sources, Witz incorrectly reported that Spears was in a car with Miller at the time of the incident. Spears, who denied he was present, sued the Times on May 30, 2023. Days later, on June 2, the Times published an editor’s note atop its original article and noted that further reporting indicated that a student manager for the team, not Spears, was the person there.
In legal circles, the New York Times is synonymous with the standard for proving defamation. In the landmark Supreme Court case New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, a libel suit also brought in Alabama, the justices established that public-figure plaintiffs must prove “actual malice” — that false information was published knowingly or with reckless disregard for the truth.
Private figures, however, only have to prove that the information was false and published with negligence. The court deemed Spears, despite his stature as a college basketball player, a private figure.
The newspaper had not lost a defamation lawsuit in the United States about one of its articles in more than 50 years, according to its own report.
Spears celebrated the ruling in an exclusive interview with Tuscaloosa Patch. “It’s been a long journey to get to this point and I’m grateful to the jury for awarding this case in my favor. My hope is that we all lead with love and always seek the one constant truth in this life.”
Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.
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