JURY SAYS HUNT NOT LIBELED IN ARTICLE ABOUT JFK PLOT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100610011-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 23, 2011
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: February 7, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00587ROO0100610011-4
P.fTII'1E APPEARED
r DUTT ADEL
PHI
A INQUIRER
7 February 1985
Jury says Hunt not libeled
in article about JFK plot
AssocilUed press
MIAMI - A federal jury concluded
yesterday that Watergate burglar E.
Howard Hunt had not been libeled in
an article by a former CIA agent
suggesting that he was part of a con-
spiracy to assassinate President John
F. Kennedy.
In a trial four years ago. Hunt was
awarded $650,000 in damages. That
verdict was overturned on appeal in
1983 because of a flawed instruction
to the jury.
This time a six-member jury found
in favor of Liberty Lobby, an ultra-
conservative Washington group that
publishes the Spotlight tabloid,
where the article appeared in 1978.
Hunt had sought $1 million in dam-
ages.
One juror, who spoke on the condi-
tion of anonymity, said the panel
believed that no evidence was pre-
sented showing malice by the publi-
cation toward Hunt. The judge had
instructed the jury that evidence of
malice - that the article was pub-
lished with the knowledge that it
was false or with reckless disregard
as to whether it was true - was
necessary to find in Hunt's favor.?A
public figure such as Hunt must
prove malice to win a libel suit.
Hunt, 66, displayed little emotion
as the verdict was read, and 'he de-
clined to comment afterward. His
attorney, William Snyder, said the
two would confer about a possible
appeal.
Attorney Mark Lane, long a critic
of the Warren Commission findings
and other investigations of the assas-
sination, defended Liberty Lobby. In
his closing argument Tuesday, he
repeated accusations that he present.
ed during seven days of testimony,
E. Howard Hunt
Had sued ultra-conservative group
including assertions of cover-ups
and flawed investigation. He also
told the jury that Hunt, also an ex-
CIA agent, and the agency both dis-
liked Kennedy.
"The government of the United
States has never conducted a serious
investigation to tell us the truth,"
said Lane, author of the 1966 best
seller Rush to Judgment.
The focus of the suit was an article
written by former CIA agent Victor
Marchetti contending that a 1966 CIA
memo purportedly said that Hunt
was in Dallas the day Kennedy was
slain and suggested that he had a
role in the murder. The Warren Com-
mission concluded that Lee Harvey
Oswald acted alone in the assassina.
lion.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00587ROO0100610011-4