JURY BEGGED NOT TO LET BUCKLEY 'PUNISH AND DESTROY' SPOTLIGHT

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Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00845R000201140006-4
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
June 11, 2010
Sequence Number: 
6
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
October 25, 1985
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00845R000201140006-4.pdf73.39 KB
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/11: CIA-RDP90-00845R000201140006-4 ARTICLE APPEARED ON PAGE B George Archibald ww,wu TUNES Liberty Lobby attorney Mark Lune ended his defense against a $16 million libel action yesterday with a plea to the all-black jury to protect continued publication of the organi- zation's weekly, Spotlight. Mr. Lane accused National Review magazine and its conserva- tive editor; William F Buckley Jr., plaintiffs in the lawsuit, of pursuing Spotlight mission mebeca and destroy" the publication disagreed with Me Buckley's con- servatism. "This is an effort to close down one view that is different from Mr. Buck- ley's view" - particularly Liberty Lobby's opposition to Israel and sup- port for controversial Black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan, Mr. Lane said in his closing arguments. "Do not allow an independent voice that is a little different to be stilled," he urged the jury, which today begins its deliberations in the 6-year-old case. Spotlight had engaged in -,mall-. eious and outrageous" journalism by knowingly printing "vicious lies" about Mr. Buckley and his magazine, said National Review attorney J. Daniel Mahoney. U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green has already ruled in a pre- trial order that Spotlight libeled National Review in two of four counts in the defamation case. The falsehoods included Liberty Lobby's charge that National Review had promoted the right of "militant sex deviates to molest small children" by publishing both sides of the homosexual rights debate, according to the judge's order. Also ruled as defamatory was Spotlight's repeated claim that National Review had surrendered its editorial independence to "Zion- ist financial power" through a deal with the Anti-Defamation League in order to bolster the magazine's cir- culation. Also before the jury is Spotlight's accusation that Mr. Buckley had "a close working relationship" with George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party. WASHINGTON TIMES 25 October 1985 Jury ed not to let Buckley STAT ? ` unish nd a destroy' p SWtlit A fourth count is Spotlight's claim that Mr. Buckley collaborated with Rabbi Moir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League and, accord- ing to Spotlight, a man "who often posed as a 'Nazi' and 'KKK' sympa- thizer" to publish "a muddled smear" of Liberty Lobby founder Willis A. Carlo in National Review "If there was ever a case to deter this campaign of lying and vilifier. tion, this is that case," Mr Mahoney said. The attacks "cut to the heart of the reputation of any journal of opin- ion," he told the jury. The magazine would be "in deep trouble" if Spot- light's estimated 135,000 to 300,000 readers believed the statements, he said. Mr. Mahoney asked the jury for an appropriate and substantial sum in punitive damages and nominal compensatory damages for all these vicious lies they have been spreading about National Review throughout this country." He sug- gested that the magazine's attorneys fees to date, amounting to $261,892, would be "an appropriate benchmark" for deciding the amount of the award. In his summation yesterday, Mr. Lane said National Review had pro- voked Spotlight's attacks with "a amp'" against Mr. Carlo in 1971, following Liberty Lobby's vigorous opposition to U.S. action in Vietnam. accused Mr. Buckley of work- ing with E. Howard Hunt, convicted Vft ergate conRpirator "to pu i t- liaht out o usiness " Hunt was r Buckley's supervisor when he worked briefl for the CIA in Mexico City unng t e ear 1950s, acco - ing to es mony in the present tr Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/11: CIA-RDP90-00845R000201140006-4