Human Events Daily host Jack Posobiec spoke with Liz Collin about the dismissal of a defamation lawsuit filed by Minneapolis Assistant Police Chief Katie Blackwell against Alpha News and Collin herself. The lawsuit was based on statements made in Collin’s book “They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and the Death of George Floyd,” and the documentary “The Fall of Minneapolis.”
The lawsuit focused on Blackwell’s testimony during the trial of Derek Chauvin, where she testified that the technique used by Chauvin and other officers during the arrest of George Floyd was not part of the official training provided by the Minneapolis Police Department. In the documentary and the book, Collin and her team criticized Blackwell’s testimony, questioning its truthfulness and exposing the lies within it.
Collin celebrated the ruling, saying, “We are relieved to put this behind us. Earlier this week, we got the judgment, and Judge Wahl ruled in our favor, dismissed what our attorney has referred to as a ‘garbage lawsuit.'” She went on to explain that the lawsuit stemmed from Blackwell’s testimony during Chauvin’s trial, where she claimed that the knee restraint used on Floyd wasn’t part of the training. The judge, however, concluded that there was a valid argument that Blackwell’s testimony could be seen as misleading or incomplete.
Judge Edward Wahl’s 58-page ruling not only dismissed the lawsuit but also noted that Collin’s questioning of Blackwell met the legal standard of “substantial truth.” The judge said that, while the speech involved could be considered defamation, the protections of the First Amendment allowed for Collin’s claims to stand.
Posobiec raised the point of whether the ruling could be useful to Derek Chauvin in his ongoing legal battles, especially regarding the use of the knee restraint technique. Collin confirmed, “Absolutely. We’ve already been in touch with Derek Chauvin’s attorney… He plans to use these declarations. We have 34 police officers as part of our case that have said this is exactly how we trained.”
She also mentioned that this ruling would be used in Chauvin’s state appeal, which was set to proceed in November, saying that It’s already being used as part of his state appeal. She further emphasized the continued struggle Chauvin faces, citing the numerous delays in his trial and the fact that the individual responsible for attempting to murder him in prison had yet to stand trial: “Just to remind your viewers who I know have followed this very closely, Derek Chauvin was stabbed 22 times in prison and its been 6 different times at this point that that trial has been delayed. The person responsible for attempted murder has yet to face trial for that incident in prison.”
In the context of the broader implications of the ruling, Collin reflected on the legal climate in Minnesota, where she feels journalists have been stifled out of fear of lawsuits. “You can’t just sue journalists because you don’t like what they report. I think we have, especially in Minnesota, lived in almost a state of fear of that, of speaking up.”
The case marks the first defamation case considered int he wake of the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act (UPEPA) going into effect, accoridng to the Star Tribune, a law signed into effect by Governor and failed vice presidential candidate Tim Walz in 2024 designed to protect public discourse and allow journalists more freedom to report without the threat of meritless lawsuits.
While Blackwell has said she has the intention to appeal the decision, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara clarified that the ruling did not question Blackwell’s testimony’s truthfulness but instead focused purely on the First Amendment protections for speech.
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This Story originally came from humanevents.com