Jury finds New York Times not liable in Sarah Palin libel claim in unanimous verdict

A jury on Tuesday unanimously found that the New York Times is not liable for a libel claim made by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, reports NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik.

The verdict comes one day after U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff tossed out the lawsuit on the grounds that Palin and her attorneys had failed to show malicious intent on the part of the New York Times.

But even though Rakoff dismissed the case, he nonetheless encouraged the jury to try to reach a verdict on the grounds that an appeal in the case appears likely.

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After the jury revealed their verdict, Rakoff informed them that he had decided to throw out the lawsuit regardless of what they found, though he said that he believed they nonetheless reached the right decision regardless.

"You decided the facts, I decided the law; it turns out they were both in agreement, in this case," he said, according to Folkenflik.

The libel suit against the Times stemmed from a 2017 editorial that accused Palin of inciting violence against Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ), who years earlier was shot in the head by assailant Jared Loughner.

The Times issued a correction about the editorial the day after it ran, and it acknowledged it was wrong to link rhetoric used by Palin's super PAC to Giffords's shooting.