CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - The Latest on the defamation trial against Rolling Stone magazine over its since-retracted story about a woman’s gang rape at the University of Virginia (all times local):
6:30 p.m.
Jurors in a defamation trial against Rolling Stone magazine over its discredited story about a rape at a fraternity will return to court Saturday to hear more testimony from the reporter of the article.
Reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely sought to show jurors Friday why she found the woman identified in the story only as “Jackie” to be so credible. Jurors listed to audio of her interviews with “Jackie” and poured over hundreds of pages of Erdely’s reporting notes.
A University of Virginia administrator, Nicole Eramo, is seeking $7.8 million from the magazine over how she was portrayed in the 2014 story.
Erdely first took the stand on Wednesday and her testimony is expected to continue into Saturday. Libby Locke, an attorney for Eramo, says that Erdely’s testimony is taking so long because she “has a lot of explaining to do.”
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12:30 p.m.
The author of a discredited Rolling Stone magazine story about a woman’s rape at a fraternity house says the level of detail and emotion with which the woman spoke with made her so believable.
Sabrina Rubin Erdely was cross examined Friday in the $7.8 million defamation trial against the magazine over its 2014 story “A Rape on Campus.”
Jurors listened to more than two hours of an audio recording of one of Erdely’s interviews with the woman identified in the article only as “Jackie.” Erdely noted that Jackie recounted with great emotion a nightmare she kept having in which she is walking to the room where the alleged rape occurred.
Erdely says she could “feel the horror of that nightmare” and felt scared for Jackie.
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10:45 a.m.
An attorney for Rolling Stone magazine is asking the author of a discredited story about a woman’s claim of being gang raped at a fraternity house about the trust she put in her source.
A University of Virginia administrator, Nicole Eramo, is suing the magazine and reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely for $7.8 million over how she was portrayed in the 2014 story.
In federal court Friday in Charlottesville, attorney Scott Sexton played portions of Erdely’s interview with the woman, identified only as “Jackie.” She described getting a tattoo with the word, “Unbreakable,” to demonstrate resolve in dealing with what she said had happened.
Sexton asked Erdely, of Philadelphia, if it ever occurred to her someone would get a tattoo to commemorate something that didn’t happen.
Erdely responded, “Never.”
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