A Manhattan judge has said he’ll toss any verdict against the New York Times by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin today. The Palin case was brought after the Times editorial department tied mass shootings in Virginia and Arizona to a Sarah PAC ad that showed targets on certain congressional districts, and indicated that she was responsible for mass shootings.
Manhattan Federal Judge Jed Rakoff, who had already smeared Palin by announcing before the trial that Alaska’s former governor was “of course, unvaccinated,” said the newspaper’s 2017 editorial, “America’s Lethal Politics,” was a case of “unfortunate editorializing,” but that Palin’s lawyers did not prove that the editorial page editor acted with malice.
The jury, however is still deliberating the case, even while the judge has made a decision to toss it.
“I’m not altogether happy to have to make this decision on behalf of the defendant. I’m troubled by the fact that the erroneous edits made by Mr. Bennet reasonably could be read by many readers as an accusation that Ms. Palin’s PAC’s distribution of the cross hairs map was clearly and directly linked to the Loughner shooting … ” Rakeoff said, according to the Times.
If the jury decides to award Palin a win, the judge says he will simply set aside the verdict, but he expects the case to be appealed. The jury is due back in the courtroom on Tuesday.
