Update On Megan Rondini Rape Case
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on November 16, 2017
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on November 16, 2017
Court Hearing on Motions to Dismiss the Rondini Lawsuit
Federal judge David Proctor will hold a hearing today at 10 a.m. CST at the U.S. Courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama, on defense motions to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Estate of Megan Rondini. Megan was the University of Alabama honors student who accused Terry Jackson "Sweet T" Bunn, Jr., of raping her during the early morning hours of July 2, 2015.
Megan Rondini committed suicide in 2016 after Sweet T escaped criminal justice with the help of crooked Tuscaloosa area law enforcement officials. Her rape case exploded unto the national scene when BuzzFeed News published a feature article about Megan's highly questionable sexual encounter with Sweet T.
Matrix Files Its Lawsuit
The Tuscaloosa News reported last night that Montgomery, an Alabama-based PR firm Matrix, LLC, has filed a lawsuit alleging that I defamed Matrix and its principal, Joe Perkins, with my reporting in Megan Rondini's rape case. "Truth" is an absolute defense to a defamation case.
The lawsuit has been assigned to Judge John England, a Tuscaloosa state court judge and University of Alabama trustee. The University and two of its employees are defendants in the Rondini wrongful death lawsuit.
Matrix, which has been a longtime "dirty tricks" operative for the Alabama Education Association and Alabama Power Company, filed the lawsuit in an effort to chill my First Amendment right as an online journalist to report on matters of significant public interest in the Megan Rondini rape case. Matrix, which qualifies as a "public figure" in the defamation case, prides itself on the company's ability to influence public opinion and control public officials in Alabama.
Matrix is also one of the architects behind a recent billboard and Internet smear campaign called "Deadbeat Donald". This political-style attack campaign cherrypicks bits and pieces of public records in order to portray me in a negative light. This amateurish attempt at character assassination was fully answered in a November 5, 2017, article on my Facebook page.
As a named defendant in the Matrix lawsuit, I will have subpoena power available to me to answer the defamation charges. This subpoena power will enable me to dig deeper into Matrix, its clients, its PR operations, and its clandestine role in the Megan Rondini rape case.
It is noteworthy that the Tuscaloosa News was the first media organization to report the Matrix lawsuit. The News' role in the Rondini case has subjected the struggling media organization to considerable public criticism, especially after it published a July 27, 2017, Bunn Family attack ad against Megan Rondini and her family.
Using Defamation Cases to Threaten "Free Speech"
Matrix has joined a growing trend in Alabama where public figures who are under fire in highly controversial situations use defamation lawsuits in an effort to silence journalists who are critical of their misconduct. Following Matrix's lead, controversial Republican U.S. Senate nominee Roy Moore has threatened AL.com with litigation because of its reporting in Moore's escalating child molestation case.
The seminal case on defamation cases involving public figures like Matrix and Joe Perkins is New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. This 1964 landmark U. S. Supreme Court case established an "actual malice" standard that has to be met before press reports about public figures can be considered defamatory and libelous.
Ironically, the Sullivan case grew out of the New York Times' coverage of the civil rights movement in Alabama. Before this Supreme Court decision was rendered, there were nearly $300 million in libel actions against news organizations in Southern states. Segregationists often used defamation lawsuits as a means of preventing critical coverage of civil rights issues by out-of-state news organizations.
Matrix's lawsuit is a modern-day attempt to resurrect this segregation-era media intimidation technique.
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