Posted on 03/27/2012 12:23:20 PM PDT by GOPRaleigh
Newton drops defamation lawsuit
By Janet Conner-Knox | The Wilson Times
Republican State Sen. Buck Newton dropped his defamation and libel lawsuit today at noon.
The lawsuit was against former Sen. A.B. Swindell and the North Carolina Democratic Party. Swindell and the N.C. Democratic Party have issued an apology to Newton in exchange for dropping the suit.
Newton, who is vacationing at the moment, issued a statement: “I appreciate my name being cleared and finally getting an apology. It is past time to close the book on this kind of politics and put all of this behind us.”
During the 2010 campaign, Swindell and the N.C. Democratic Party sent out mailers that stated Newton has been charged with selling drugs while he was in college 20 years earlier. Newton said the ads were not true and filed a lawsuit.
Newton contended the Democratic Party and Swindell defamed his character in their campaign ads when they falsely accused him of selling drugs to an undercover police officer in the 1990s.
The ads became a big campaign issue and Newton took to the courthouse steps to defend himself. He won the election. The Democratic Party has fought the lawsuit.
At one point, the North Carolina Democratic Party and Swindell filed a motion to compel Newton to give details about his life when he was in college 20 years ago. They said there was no way to properly try a “defamation of character” case in court without looking at the character of the person.
The case had been scheduled to be tried later this spring.
More details of this story will be in Wednesday’s Wilson Times.
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