Deputy awarded $225,000 in libel suit
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Posted 5:49AM on Saturday 22nd June 2002 ( 22 years ago )
VALDOSTA - A jury awarded $225,000 Friday to a sheriff's deputy who claimed he was libeled by articles in a weekly newspaper following the death of a man who died in the Lowndes County Jail. <br>
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Kevin Farmer sued the Lake Park Post, its publisher and the writer of the stories involving the September 1998 death of Willie James Williams. <br>
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Former state Attorney General Mike Bowers said he hoped the verdict would restore Farmer's good name and standing in the community, which he argued during the four-day trial had been severely harmed by the Post's reporting. <br>
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Bowers told the jury the stories contended that the deputy beat Williams, even after several investigations had cleared him. <br>
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The jury deliberated less than three hours before finding for Farmer and holding the Post, publisher Charles Moore and reporter Al Parsons responsible for $65,000 each in compensatory damages and another $10,000 each in punitive damages for the malicious content of the accounts. <br>
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Post attorney Converse Bright said the decision likely would be appealed.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/6/193261
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