D.A.'s Libel Suit DOA

Image via WikipediaErie County (Ohio) Common Pleas Court Judge William Coyne last week tossed a defamation suit brought by Erie County Prosecutor Kevin Baxter against the Sandusky Register, according to the Associated Press.

Baxter alleged in his complaint that the Register invented false testimony, distorted facts and relied on discredited defamatory statements in publishing a story alleging that a narcotics agent testified about Baxter's purported cocaine use.

Judge Coyne found no evidence of actual malice by the daily to suggest that it sought to harm Baxter's reputation by its reporting.  For its part, the Register said it stood by its reporting.