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):
2:45 p.m.
A fact-checker for Rolling Stone magazine has testified that the woman who was the subject of a since-retracted story about a gang rape didn’t seem to have a hidden agenda.
Elisabeth Garber-Paul testified Tuesday in the defamation trial brought by a former associate dean at the University of Virginia. The former dean, Nicole Eramo, is seeking $7.5 million from the magazine because she says the article portrayed her as the “chief villain.”
WVIR-TV reports (https://bit.ly/2ekHfF2) that Garber-Paul testified that she trusted the woman identified only as “Jackie,” who said she was gang raped at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house in September of 2012.
Garber-Paul said that she, story author Sabrina Rubin Erdely and editor Sean Woods all decided to not confirm Jackie’s story with her friends. She also testified that the magazine did not have any written policies for fact-checking when “A Rape on Campus” was published.
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4:15 a.m.
The woman who claimed she was brutally gang raped in a story by Rolling Stone magazine that was later retracted said in a video played in court that she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The woman identified only as “Jackie” in the 2014 story “A Rape on Campus” says her PTSD makes it difficult to recall the details of her assault and the years that followed.
She repeatedly answered “I don’t know” or “I can’t remember” when pressed by attorneys to discuss what she told Rolling Stone about her alleged sexual assault two years prior.
The video deposition was shown only to jurors Monday. The news media and the public were able to listen, but could not see the video.
Jackie’s deposition came as jurors returned to court for the second week of the defamation trial against the magazine over its article written by Sabrina Rubin Erdely. University of Virginia administrator Nicole Eramo is seeking $7.5 million from the magazine, saying she was cast as the story’s “chief villain.” A police investigation later found no evidence to back up Jackie’s claims.
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