New York Times corrects Alabama basketball story after Kai Spears sues

The New York Times has corrected its story that originally stated Alabama basketball walk-on Kai Spears was in Brandon Miller's car during the fatal shooting on the Strip on Jan. 15.

The Times made the correction Friday after Spears sued the Times on Wednesday.

“We have a longstanding policy of correcting errors,” a spokesperson for the Times wrote in a statement on the website. “Based on information in the affidavit and new reporting by our newsroom, we believe our original story was not accurate and plan to append an editor’s note to the story.”

The original story, published on March 15, now has an editor's note attached to it.

"The original version of this article, published March 15, misidentified the person who was in the car with Brandon Miller when the shooting occurred." the editor's note from June 2 reads. "Based on information from a person familiar with the case, the article erroneously identified that person as Kai Spears, a freshman basketball player. After the article was initially published, Alabama’s athletic director and Spears’ father denied that Spears was present. The Times included those responses and reviewed its reporting, but did not conclude that any other change to the article was warranted at that time. On Wednesday, Spears filed a defamation suit against The Times that included new details about the incident. Based on that information, editors assigned further reporting, which determined that the other person at the scene was not Spears but Cooper Lee, a student manager for the team. The Times regrets the error in the initial report. This article has been revised to remove the erroneous information; the latest updates can be seen here."

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In the lawsuit, Spears is seeking $75,000, not counting interest and court costs.

Spears’ attorneys, Matt Glover and Stephen P. New, are making the argument on the basis of defamation/libel and false light invasion of privacy. The lawsuit was filed in district court in the northern district of Alabama on Wednesday.

The Times told the Tuscaloosa News in a statement Wednesday it planned to defend against the suit vigorously.

A police investigator testified during a preliminary bond hearing in February for former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles and Michael Davis that Miller had been at the scene of a fatal shooting on the Tuscaloosa Strip on Jan. 15 and the gun was brought to the scene in his car.

Miller has not been charged with a crime. Miles, 21, and Davis, now 21, who is not affiliated with the basketball program or university, are facing capital murder charges in the shooting death of 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris.

Investigators believe the gun that killed Harris belonged to Miles but believe Davis pulled the trigger, per court documents. A grand jury indicted Miles and Davis on capital murder charges in March.

The original story from Billy Witz wrote that Spears was in the car with Miller. The updated story no longer includes any mention of Spears, other than the editor's note.

UA issued a statement to the New York Times that its story was inaccurate on March 15. Spears also released a public statement saying the same the next day. So, too, did his father, Christian Spears, the athletic director at Marshall. Christian Spears called it “demonstrably false reporting by the NY Times” in his statement on March 16.

The lawsuit states it made a written demand to the New York Times through counsel for a retraction. It hadn't made a correction until Friday.

The lawsuit argues defamation/libel on the basis that the New York Times “failed to use reasonable care in publishing and disseminating the untrue statements regarding Plaintiff Spears’ presence at a crime scene," among other reasons.

The lawsuit states in addition to compensatory damages, Spears is seeking punitive damages and attorney’s fees and costs incurred during the course of the litigation.

Spears’ attorneys argue he suffered severe emotional distress, mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life as a result of the article.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: New York Times correcting Alabama basketball story about Kai Spears