The New York Times called the Hunter Biden laptop story Russian disinformation – and 51 intelligence officials backed them up.
Now a jury of eight Alabamians just handed the paper of record something it hasn't seen in half a century.
And what it took to get a correction out of them is a story the Times will never put on the front page.
New York Times Defamation Verdict Ends a 50-Year Winning Streak
In January 2023, a fatal shooting near the Tuscaloosa Strip killed 23-year-old Jamea Harris.
Brandon Miller – then Alabama's star freshman forward, future No. 2 NBA draft pick, now a Charlotte Hornets starter – was present that night.
His car was there.
Times sportswriter Billy Witz was chasing the story and got a tip from a single anonymous source claiming a fourth Alabama player had also been in Miller's Dodge Charger that night.
That player, the source said, was walk-on guard Kai Spears.
Spears was 18 years old, a freshman who had not played a single game for the Crimson Tide.
He was back in the dorm when the shooting happened.
Witz ran the story anyway – attributing the identification to one anonymous source he described as a "high-level person, professional."
Spears' father called the Times immediately and told them they had the wrong kid.
Alabama's athletic director backed him up.
The Times updated the article to include those denials – and left Spears' name in the story.
Two months went by.
The correction only came after Spears filed a federal lawsuit, forcing the paper to investigate what it should have verified before publication.
The actual passenger in Miller's car that night was Cooper Lee – a team student manager who was never named in Witz's original report.
At trial, Witz took the stand and apologized to Spears.
He said he followed the paper's standards for anonymous sources.
The jury decided those standards weren't good enough.
The $9.25 Million Verdict the New York Times Cannot Appeal Away
The landmark 1964 Supreme Court case establishing modern defamation law is called New York Times Co. v. Sullivan – named for that newspaper, born in an Alabama courtroom.
That ruling created the "actual malice" standard, protecting journalists from defamation liability unless they knowingly published false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
Public figures must clear that high bar.
Kai Spears – walk-on guard, one anonymous source, zero games played – was not a public figure.
U.S. District Judge Annemarie Carney Axon classified Spears as a private individual in May 2026, lowering the burden of proof to simple negligence, and sent the case to trial.
The eight-person jury deliberated just over five hours before returning its verdict.
The damage breakdown: $7.5 million in punitive damages – the kind designed to punish and deter – and $1.75 million in compensatory damages, for a total of $9.25 million.
Alabama law will reduce that number by more than $2 million, but the punitive figure signals what eight Alabama jurors thought of the Times' conduct.
Spears said it plainly after the verdict: "The report in the New York Times was 100% inaccurate and the writer had complete disregard for the truth."
Anonymous Sources and Fake News Cost the New York Times $9 Million
That verdict ended a streak of more than 50 years without a domestic defamation loss – snapped not by a powerful political figure with an army of lawyers, but by a college walk-on the paper couldn't be bothered to verify before ruining his name.
The Times called the award "contrary to law and not supported by the evidence" and announced it is reviewing its legal options.
The same institution that positioned itself as America's arbiter of truth ran one anonymous tip, skipped verification, stonewalled a teenager's father for two months, and only issued a correction after a federal lawsuit forced their hand.
Eight Alabama jurors heard all of that and came back with $9.25 million in just over five hours.
Now the Times can spend the next several years appealing a verdict that already said everything.
Sources:
- Joseph A. Wulfsohn, "New York Times loses defamation lawsuit, must pay Kai Spears $9.25M," Fox News, August 21, 2026.
- "New York Times Ordered to Pay Alabama Basketball Player $9.25M in Defamation Suit," Breitbart, August 21, 2026.
- Ryan Phillips, "Jury Sides With Kai Spears In NYT Defamation Trial, Awards $9.25M In Damages," Tuscaloosa Patch, August 21, 2026.
- Staff, "For the First Time in 50 Years, The New York Times Lost a Defamation Suit. Here's Why," Townhall, August 21, 2026.
- Staff, "NY Times Loses Defamation Suit to Ex-Alabama Player Kai Spears," Hoodline, August 21, 2026.