Judge Hears Defamation Cases Against 2 Georgia Reporters

By: Lesley Messer In the coming weeks, an Augusta (Ga.) Superior Court judge will decide whether there is enough evidence to hear the defamation claims a local official has filed against two Savannah Morning News reporters for a story they wrote chronicling his alleged drug use and involvement in a mysterious death eight years ago.

On Monday, Judge Neal Dickert heard arguments in a summary judgment hearing from the lawyer for Tuck Thompson and Bret Bell, who authored a four-part series entitled ?Justice Betrayed? in 2003, and the attorney for Bill Torrance, the city manager of Vidalia who was the subject of the report.

Brent Savage, Torrance's attorney, argued in court that the newspaper's reporters purposefully insinuated that Torrance could be responsible for the mysterious death of Vidalia resident Henry Dickerson, who was found dead on April 28, 1997. Savage also said that the reporters wrote that Torrance was being investigated for cocaine use while in office.

The newspaper is asking that the civil lawsuit be dismissed.

David Hudson, the lawyer for Thompson and Bell, argued that because Torrance is a public official, he must prove actual malice, or show that the reporters knew what they were writing was wrong at the time.

A second related defamation case considered Monday was filed by Torrance's daughter Sarah. She maintained that she was victimized after her photo was included in the series and after the stories questioned her relationship with Dickerson.

Nevertheless, Hudson said to E&P, "Everything that was written was true. And the plaintiff has no evidence that the reporters either knew or suspected that there was anything false in the articles."

Savage countered that while the reporters claimed there were two probes filed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) -- one regarding potential cocaine use and one about potential involvement with the death of Dickerson -- the director of the GBI, Milton Nix, wrote in a 1998 letter that there had never been criminal investigation on Torrance.

However, Savage said that GBI agent Vickie Tapley maintains that she did launch an investigation.

When asked how he predicts the judge will rule, Hudson said, "My optimistic view is that the case will be dismissed on trial judgment. It'd be my guess that whichever way the trial judge rules, there will be an appeal. So, that will probably extend it out another year."