Today’s Heartwarming Story

Powerline ^ | August 21, 2026 | John Hinderaker

[T Ruth]

An Alabama jury has returned a $9.25 million verdict against the New York Times. The plaintiff is Kai Spears, formerly a member of the Alabama basketball team:

An Alabama jury has awarded former Alabama basketball player Kai Spears $9.25 million after finding The New York Times defamed him by incorrectly linking him to the 2023 killing of Jamea Harris in Tuscaloosa.

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The Times reported that Spears had been in the passenger seat of a vehicle connected to the shooting, citing an anonymous source familiar with the investigation.

This is the story, in brief:

Harris, a 23-year-old mother from Birmingham, was riding in a Jeep on Tuscaloosa’s Strip when her group encountered Michael Lynn Davis, Darius Miles and other former Alabama basketball players.

Prosecutors said Davis opened fire on the vehicle after an earlier confrontation. ...

Harris was struck by a single bullet in the chin and died.

Davis and Miles were charged with capital murder. Davis was convicted in 2025 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Miles is still awaiting trial.

The case received a tremendous amount of notoriety. The weapon used in the shooting was transported to the scene in a vehicle driven by Brandon Miller, who was the #2 overall pick in the NBA draft. The Times reported, falsely, that Spears was a passenger in Miller’s car. This was based on an account by an anonymous source whom Times reporter Billy Witz refused to identify at trial. In fact, Spears, a walk-on member of the Alabama basketball team, had nothing to do with the incident.

Spears sued the Times for defamation and invasion of privacy, and the jury found in his favor on both counts. The Times called its smear of Spears an “honest mistake.” It will appeal the verdict.

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TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Alabama; US: New York
KEYWORDS:

[T Ruth]

Believe Nothing You Read In the New York Times

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

"Believe Nothing You Read in the New York Times" has been true since the 1930s.

Probably before but certainly since that time.

People are slow learners.

[frank ballenger]

Mark Levin detailed some NY Times 1930s and 1940s anti-semitism and shaping opinions against helping the victims of the ongoing Holocaust by lying stories. Kept the stories out until too late to save lives.

Back then it meant a lot to be in the NYT and it was the newspaper of record.

In Unfreedom of the Press book.

He said on his show he would hold out a last breath to use to denounce the New York Times people if he was dying.

[Libloather]

Let’s go Brandon.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I was thinking about the "everything is wonderful in the USSR" when they were actually eating each other but your example also works.

I just am bemused at how many times it happens and people still don't learn.

[Captain Jack Aubrey]

Maybe the Supreme Court will conger up a way to protect the NY Times from its lies they way they did in NYT v. Sullivan. That was the 1964 illegal and unconstitutional decision that rewrote the first amendment to protect democrat media from defamed southerners seeking justice and we have been saddled with it ever since. It had no basis in common law or the constitution. It was made up out of thin air.