Jury finds against Arizona paper p.27

By: Editorial Staff

A FEDERAL JURY has awarded $500,000 each to two former heads of a federal anti-crime unit after finding that the Arizona Republic in Phoenix libeled them in a 1984 article.
Richard Crane and James Henderson alleged that their reputations were damaged after they were quoted in an August 1984 story on corruption.
The jury found in April that reporter Jerry Seper juxtaposed their comments to make the two seem to contradict each other when they were asked if there had been a congressional investigation into their affairs.
Daniel Barr, who represented the paper and Seper, said he would consider a motion for a new trial. Seper now reports for the Washington Times.
The article wrongly gave the impression "that these men are liars when confronted with the allegations, [and that] there is likely something to the allegations," said their attorney, Brian O'Neill.
The reporter actually spoke to Henderson several weeks before he talked with Crane, O'Neill said.
The Justice Department Organized Crime and Racketeering Section in Los Angeles coordinates federal, state and local efforts against organized crime. Crane headed the strike force from 1973 to 1975. Henderson was chief from 1975 to 1985.
Both were officially cleared in 1985 of any wrongdoing..