Drew Walton v. Blitz News Network

Synopsis
On September 24, 2006, Midlands gubernatorial candidate Drew Walton participated in a gun control debate against Professor Lane Hamilton at the Midlands Civic Center. After the debate, the two became embroiled in an argument in the Civic Center parking lot. Shots were fired and Lane Hamilton was found dead in the parking lot, the victim of an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Within an hour, Blitz News Network (“BNN”) reporter Reagan Thomas— present to cover the debate—gave a live broadcast that implicated Walton in Hamilton’s death. Walton maintains that Hamilton committed suicide.

Walton has now brought a claim for defamation, arguing that BNN’s statements during the September 24, 2006 broadcast falsely accused Walton of shooting Hamilton. BNN denies the allegations, asserting that its statements were truthful and its broadcast was proper.

Details
Drew Walton v. Blitz News Network is described as being a civil case of defamation. It mainly centers around events taking place at the Midlands Civic Center on September 24, 2006.

Drew Walton was the grandchild of former Midlands Governor David Walton. The Walton family was famous for public service, and in 2005, Drew Walton announced a candidacy for the Governor of Midlands under the conservative party. Before announcing the candidacy, Drew had always been a paparazzi and media favorite, as Drew would receive large amounts of press coverage. Drew despised the press coverage, leading to three separate assault charges against members of the media. Drew admits that Drew had a temper and anger problem, leading Drew to seek the help of a psychiatrist, Dr. Leslie Richards.

The defendant, Blitz News Network was formed from the former company Blitz TV, which was transformed after Kit Berkshire became president of the company. Kit turned BNN from a primarily entertainment focused channel to a news channel that focused on professionalism, as Kit would put it. Kit describes BNN as having strict journalistic guidelines to keep its standards up with that of the most respected news sources, however other witnesses disagree. Some witnesses criticize BNN as being almost tabloid esque, focusing on low-effort content such as celebrity gossip without always backing its claims up with reliable sources. BNN is seen by some as being more focused on entertainment than reliable news.

By September 2006, Walton had been winning in the polls by over double digits over Walton's opponent in the Gubernatorial race, incumbent Governor Neal McGivern. With the election itself only weeks away, Drew Walton wanted to do a debate, but rather than give Governor McGivern free airtime to potentially catch up with Walton, Walton decided to instead debate noted gun control advocate and professor at Midlands State University, Lane Hamilton. Walton was a strong supporter of guns and decided that a debate on gun control would be a great way to further enhance Walton's profile to a National audience. The debate was scheduled for September 2006 and all of the media sources in town decided to cover it, including BNN.

Reagan Thomas was a reporter for BNN who always had aspirations to make it big as a reporter. Thomas was surprised to see BNN cover the debate, as a serious political event like that was not consistent with the type of news BNN usually reported. Several witnesses note that BNN's president Kit Berkshire has a strong dislike of Drew Walton. Berkshire had run an abnormally large number of anti-Walton stories throughout the election and had even donated money to Walton's opponent Neal McGivern. When asked why BNN were reporting on the debate, Berkshire responded "I want to get some dirt no matter what it takes." Reagan Thomas would be reporting and asking questions during the press conference along with photojournalist Harley Kim, who would be running the camera, and producer Fran Martin, who would run the broadcast from afar.

The debate began and Drew Walton immediately began to destroy Lane Hamilton. Every witness agreed that Hamilton was out of his league and that Walton crushed the debate. After the debate, Walton was leaving the parking lot in Walton's car when Lane Hamilton rushed over shouting at Walton. Some witnesses note that Hamilton said something about Walton's father, Gerald Walton, whom Drew had always had a sore spot about. Walton states that Walton decided to talk with Hamilton, but Walton made sure to grab the Beretta 92 handgun Walton had in the car in case protection was needed. The two conversed, but then Walton claims that Hamilton grabbed the gun from Walton and shot the ground on accident, Hamilton then placed the barrel to his temple and committed suicide.

After hearing two gunshots, Reagan Thomas ran outside to the parking lot and saw Drew Walton leaning over Lane Hamilton's dead body. Reagan saw Walton's hands covered with blood and the gun that killed Hamilton only a couple feet away. Reagan then turned to BNN's photojournalist Harley Kim, who claimed to have seen what happened. Although Harley had apparently been drinking at a nearby bar before the shooting took place, Reagan chose to listen to what Harley saw. Harley said that Hamilton and Walton had gotten into an argument, then after Hamilton had insulted Walton's father, Walton pulled a gun out. Harley then heard two gunshots and Hamilton was dead, Harley did not actually see Walton shoot Hamilton, but Harley's account made it sound like Walton had murdered Hamilton, according to Reagan.

Reagan then began to investigate and interview various witnesses at the scene. Death investigator Micky McQuiggan soon arrived at the scene and told Reagan that it didn't look good for Walton. But later backtracked the statement, saying that no conclusion was made at the time to determine who caused Lane Hamilton's death. Reagan was then tracked down by a janitor named Jan Patel, who claimed to have seen what happened. Patel said "I saw everything, Lane Hamilton committed suicide, Drew Walton is totally innocent." However Reagan chose to ignore and not interview Patel, because Reagan thought Patel looked "untrustworthy." Reagan then interviewed Walton's driver, Casey French, who said that they also didn't think Walton did it. However Reagan again discounted this info, claiming that French didn't have a good angle to see the shooting from. At the same time, Drew Walton was having a press conference explaining what happened and telling Walton's side of the story. Every other media company there went to cover Walton, but Reagan decided to ignore Walton's explanation before making BNN's report.

At this point, Reagan decided to run a story claiming that Drew Walton had shot Lane Hamilton. Reagan claimed Reagan came to the conclusion Walton shot Hamilton based on what Harley Kim saw, what the death investigator had said, and the fact that the gun was Walton's and there were two gunshots. Reagan called BNN's producer Fran Martin, and asked if BNN could run the story. Fran denied it, saying that there were conflicting accounts and that there wasn't enough evidence to run the story. Reagan hung up and then called BNN's president Kit Berkshire. Kit said that the story was excellent, and overrode Fran's decision, telling Reagan to air the story. BNN then aired the story, and Reagan said on air during the broadcast that "all evidence points to Drew Walton as the person who shot Lane Hamilton." And that "all signs indicate homicide charges are forthcoming."

BNN was the only news network that night that accused Drew Walton of murdering Lane Hamilton. The next day, the police officially ruled Lane Hamilton's death as a suicide. BNN released a retraction of the statement they made the night before, but the damage had been already done. Walton's lead in the polls collapsed as a result of the negative publicity, and Walton ultimately lost the election.

After losing the election, Drew Walton initiated a lawsuit against Blitz News Network for defamation. Walton claims that BNN published a false statement of fact about Walton that caused Walton's reputation to suffer, and that BNN had acted with either malice or reckless disregard when they made those statements.

Blitz News Network argues that the elements of defamation were not met. The defense can argue that the statement published by BNN was not a statement of fact, but rather an opinion by Reagan Thomas. They can argue that BNN had simply reported what they had observed without malice or reckless disregard. Or the defense can argue that what BNN reported was actually true, and that Walton had actually murdered Lane Hamilton, making their statements not false, and therefore not defamation.

Plaintiff

 * Drew Walton

Defense

 * Kit Berkshire
 * Leslie Richards
 * Reagan Thomas
 * Chris Caironi* (see Trivia)

Swing

 * Riley Faith
 * Harley Kim
 * Gorgie Larson
 * Fran Martin
 * Mickey McQuiggan
 * Jan Patel

Other Persons of Interest

 * Lane Hamilton
 * Casey French
 * Neal McGivern
 * Gerald Walton

Other Case References

 * On the night of the debate, Harley Kim drank three drinks from the bar Chuggy's. Although spelled differently, this is clearly a reference to the bar Chuggie's from Daniel v. Chuggie's Sports Bar.
 * Witness Gorgie Larson's blog was sponsored by several companies that appear in other cases, including Tucker, Roberts, and Payne from State v. Thornhill, Chuggy's Bar from Daniel v. Chuggie's Sports Bar, the Midlands Marauders Hockey team from State v. Harmon, and Kissner Golf Instruction, a reference to Tony Kissner from Kissner v. Polk Hospital.
 * Gorgie Larson also mentions covering movie premiers from Trifecta Studios, the movie company that later appears in State v. Owens, and Taylor v. Trifecta Entertainment.
 * On Riley Faith's CV, all three of the publications listed are references to other cases. They are titled, “Thorny Issues: How the Media Mishandled the Ashley Thornhill Trial,” “No Harmony: An Examination of the Journalism Surrounding the Vicki and Michael Harmon Divorce,” and “Without Merritt: How a University Professor Wrongly Used Her Position to Vilify a Company That May Have Killed Her Husband.” These publications are references to State v. Thornhill, State v. Harmon, and Gilbertson v. The Everest Experience respectively.
 * Also on Riley Faith's CV is the "Francis Leo Award for Excellence in Journalism." This is a reference to the witness Francis Leo from Kissner v. Polk Hospital.
 * State v. Perry is also referenced in this case, as witness Fran Martin recalls the Bailey Reynolds kidnapping and how Fran wanted BNN to run a story on it.
 * Tristan Frost from Davis v. Happyland was an undercover reporter who works for Blitz News Network.
 * In State v. Bowman, witness Tyler Hartman claims to have attended the gun control debate between Walton and Hamilton.
 * Also in State v. Bowman, witness J.C. Longstreet states that one of the two biggest mistakes Longstreet ever made was voting for Drew Walton.
 * In State v. Bowman, Stipulation 4 states that the defendant underwent a psychological evaluation by Chris Caironi, a witness from earlier version of this case. (See Trivia*)
 * In Ginger v. Heisman, BNN was one of three companies who ran polls on the Truman mayoral race.
 * Park v. Duran features a piece of case law named Estate of Hamilton v. Walton, which was a wrongful death suit claiming that Walton killed Hamilton.
 * In State v. Sinclair, Blitz News Network outed the victim's undercover identity, leading to Officer Jamie Robinson's death. Reagan Thomas was the one who published the article exposing Robinson.
 * BNN and Reagan Thomas are mentioned several times in State v. Bancroft and Covington. First Reagan Thomas reportedly wanted to interview Avery Bancroft. Secondly, security guard Danny Hoy specifically mentions that no one from BNN is allowed inside Bancroft's casino. And finally Expert Witness J.D. Lorean performed an audit on Undercover Police Guidelines that was ultimately leaked by BNN and Reagan Thomas.
 * State v. Bancroft and Covington also references Drew Walton, who is now the Governor of Midlands. One of the three members of the Midlands Gambling Commission is Drew Walton's son, Harper Walton, who ultimately votes in favor of Bancroft's casino proposal. This is most likely because Bancroft had donated money to Drew Walton's reelection campaigns in the past. Danny Hoy even mentions seeing Drew Walton in Bancroft's casino on several occasions.
 * In Taylor v. Trifecta Entertainment, the main inspiration behind the play "The Debate" is the 2015 Governors Race between incumbent Drew Walton and challenger Emily Richards. The play even features Drew Walton as a character and a scene where Walton is staring at a photograph of Lane Hamilton, haunted by his suicide.
 * Empowermilk v. Anderson features a reference to Governor Walton, when witness Imari Okafor recalls a time Imari tried to buy land for the Midlands Unified School District that was owned by a relative of Drew Walton.
 * Also in Empowermilk v. Anderson, witness Kahali Patel used to work an externship at BNN. On Jerri Anderson's post about lead in almond powder, Reagan Thomas responds to Kahali's comment, asking if Kahali is hiring anyone.
 * In State v. Ryder, Blitz News Network is one of the media sources contacted by Detective Chesney to put out a watch list for Parker Paige. Reagan Thomas also interviews Remy Mouchard, a witness in that case.

Trivia

 * Earlier versions of this case featured an additional defense witness named Chris Caironi, who was Lane Hamilton's personal psychologist. However for ORCS case changes, AMTA had the witness removed and replaced with Leslie Richards and Gorgie Larson after most people found the witness to be ineffective. This marks one of the few times AMTA has ever removed a witness from a case.
 * A piece of case law in this case, Liesunderoath.com v. Cucumber, describes a libel suit based on statements made on an online forum. This may be a reference to Perjuries.com, an online Mock Trial related forum, as its name is remarkably similar to Liesunderoath.com.
 * It's not clear exactly when, but canonically Drew Walton does eventually get elected Governor of Midlands after the events of this case, as several future cases reference Governor Walton's office and future reelection campaigns.
 * Although Drew Walton is gender neutral in this case, future cases that reference Walton state that he is canonically Male.
 * Since this case is a defamation suit taken by a public figure, the burden of proof for the Plaintiff rises to a "clear and convincing evidence" standard for this case. This is higher than the typical "preponderance of the evidence" standard for civil cases, but lower than a "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard for Criminal Cases.
 * AMTA used reports from BNN and Reagan Thomas as teasers in 2019 for State v. Ryder.