Sarah Palin Case Goes to Jury in Dueling Tales of N.Y. Times Hit Job, Honest Mistake

  • New York Times maliciously attacked Palin, lawyer tells jurors
  • No evidence of intent to malign ex-governor, Times counters
Sarah Palin leaves federal court in New York on Feb. 3.Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg
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Lawyers for Sarah Palin and The New York Times, in closing arguments Friday, offered jurors dueling versions of a homespun public servant maligned by a powerful media outlet or a series of mistakes that unintentionally linked her political action committee to a mass shooting.

“What this dispute is about in its simplest form is power and lack of power,” Kenneth Turkel, a lawyer for Palin, told the jury in her defamation trial against the newspaper, shortly before the panel retired to deliberate on the case.