| Richard A. Jewell | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 17, 1962 |
| Died | August 29, 2007 (aged 44) Woodbury, Georgia |
| Known for | Discovered planted pipe bomb at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States and helped evacuate people from the area before the bomb exploded. He was later falsely accused of actually planting the bomb himself, but was fully exonerated following an investigation conducted the by FBI. |
Richard A. Jewell (December 17, 1962 – August 29, 2007) was an American security guard who became known in connection with the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Jewell, working as a private security guard for Piedmont College,[1] discovered a pipe bomb, alerted police, and helped to evacuate the area before it exploded, saving many people from injury or potential death. Initially hailed by the media as a hero, Jewell later was considered a suspect.
Despite having never been charged, he underwent what was considered by many to be a "trial by media" with great toll on his personal and professional life. Eventually he was exonerated completely: Eric Robert Rudolph was later found to have been the bomber.[2][3] In 2006, Governor Sonny Perdue publicly thanked Jewell on behalf of the state of Georgia for saving the lives of those at the Olympics.[4]
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Centennial Olympic Park was designed as the "town square" of the Olympics, and thousands of spectators had gathered for a late concert and merrymaking. Sometime after midnight, July 27, 1996, Eric Robert Rudolph, a terrorist who would later bomb a gay nightclub and two abortion clinics, planted a green backpack containing a shrapnel-laden pipe bomb underneath a bench. Jewell, in his capacity as a security guard, discovered the bag and alerted Georgia Bureau of Investigation officers; this discovery was nine minutes before Rudolph called 9-1-1 to deliver a warning. Jewell and other security guards began clearing the immediate area so that a bomb squad could investigate the suspicious package. The bomb exploded 13 minutes later, killing Alice Hawthorne and injuring over one hundred others. A cameraman also died of a heart attack while running to cover the incident.
Early news reports lauded Jewell as a hero for helping to evacuate the area after he spotted the suspicious package. Three days later, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed that the FBI was treating him as a possible suspect, based largely on a "lone bomber" criminal profile. For the next several weeks, the news media focused aggressively on him as the presumed culprit, labeling him with the ambiguous term "person of interest", sifting through his life to match a leaked "lone bomber" profile that the FBI had used. The media, to varying degrees, portrayed Jewell as a failed law enforcement officer who may have planted the bomb so he could find it and be a hero.[5]
Two of the bombing victims filed lawsuits against Jewell on the basis of this reporting. In a reference to the Unabomber, Jay Leno called him the "Una-doofus".[6] Other references include "Una-Bubba," [7] and (of his mother) "Una-Mama." Jewell was never officially charged, but the FBI searched his home, questioned his associates, investigated his background, and maintained twenty-four hour surveillance of him. The pressure only began to ease after Jewell's attorneys hired an ex-FBI agent to administer a polygraph which Jewell reportedly passed.[5]
In October 1996, the investigating US Attorney, Kent Alexander, in an extremely unusual act, sent Jewell a letter formally clearing him, stating "based on the evidence developed to date ... Richard Jewell is not considered a target of the federal criminal investigation into the bombing on July 27, 1996, at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta".[8]
After his exoneration, Jewell filed a series of lawsuits against the media outlets which he claimed had libeled him, primarily NBC News and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and insisted on a formal apology from them. L. Lin Wood was the lead attorney in all of Jewell's Libel cases.[1][5][9][10]
In 2006, Jewell said the lawsuits were not about money, and that the vast majority of the settlements went to lawyers or taxes. He said the lawsuits were about clearing his name.[5]
"Also named in the suit is Piedmont College, Jewell's former employer, located in Demorest, Georgia, Piedmont College President Raymond Cleere, and college spokesman Scott Rawles.[9]
Jewell's attorneys contend Cleere called the FBI and spoke to the Atlanta newspapers, providing them with false information on Jewell and his employment there as a security guard."
Jewell's lawsuit accused Cleere of describing Jewell as a "badge-wearing zealot" who "would write epic police reports for minor infractions."[1]
Piedmont College settled for an undisclosed amount.[11]
Jewell sued NBC News for this statement, made by Tom Brokaw, "The speculation is that the FBI is close to making the case. They probably have enough to arrest him right now, probably enough to prosecute him, but you always want to have enough to convict him as well. There are still some holes in this case". Even though NBC stood by its story, the network agreed to pay Jewell $500,000.[9]
Although Jewell was considered a hero at first, four days later The Atlanta Journal published stories stating that the FBI was considering Jewell as a lead suspect who fits the profile of a “lone bomber”. Articles then appeared in numerous media outlets, including The New York Post. One New York Post article read, “He was a fat, failed former sheriff's deputy who spent most of his working days as a school crossing guard, and yearned to go further”.
Another article stated, “That the main suspect in a major act of terrorism is a home-grown failure is both a relief -- and a major embarrassment -- to this city's real law-enforcement people." Further legitimizing The New York Post’s intent to harm Jewell’s career and reputation, aggressive statements were used, “Everybody here should be glad they finally got this guy. It's good they made progress like this while the Games are still going on. I think it makes people feel safer and better”. Photographs and cartoons also followed up the articles with captions portraying Jewell as the bomber. The published accusations ridiculed Jewell and deprived him of his dignity and his job as a security guard.
However, once Eric Rudolph was convicted of the crime and Jewell was no longer a suspect, he proceeded to sue The New York Post and other media sources on the grounds of libel. The United States Court for the southern district of New York states, “The complainant pleads libel concerning two different aspects of The New York Post’s reporting. First, libel in connection with Jewell's alleged responsibility for the bombing of Centennial Olympic Park. Second, libel with respect to Jewell's prior work history and job performance. Jewell claims that the New York Post libeled him in one column, three articles, two photographs and one cartoon.
In contrast to Jewell’s accusations, the defendants argued that the comments made about Jewell were non-actionable expressions of opinion and were based on police statements and reports made by The Atlanta Journal. The defendant states, “After watching CNN, reading The Atlanta Journal articles and reviewing the AP wire service reports, I spoke to other sources. Then, I wrote the July 31 column."
After evaluating both sides of the case, The New York Post was only charged with a few of the plaintiff’s complaints. The court stated on behalf of The New York Post, “They utilize hyperbolic language, lack a precise meaning and are incapable of being proven true or false. Words such as "Rambo," "failure," "home-grown failure," "disgraced," or "disaster" are indicative of terms which the average reader would understand to be statements of opinion.” In addition, the court concluded the photographs and cartoon were non-actionable because a sensible reader would understand the pictures were not based on fact.
Despite the selective dismissals, the court was able to side with Jewell as well. The court found that, under New York law, a statement is libelous per se, “if it tends to expose the plaintiff to public contempt, ridicule, aversion, or disgrace, or induce an evil opinion of him in the minds of right-thinking persons, and to deprive him of their friendly intercourse in society”. Furthermore, the court agreed that, even if the statements made were opinion, they led readers to believe they were true because they were published in the news section rather than the editorial page.
Charges were also issued based on the libelous comments made toward Jewell’s work performance. The court agreed that the comments made about his career were harmful and not true. After both sides were evaluated, the court concluded that the newspaper’s motion to dismiss was granted in part and denied in part. Jewell was able to collect undisclosed monetary settlements from the New York Post and was able to pay his legal fees and buy a new house for his mother.
Jewell sued the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, which stated Jewell was "an individual with a bizarre employment history and aberrant personality". It also said Jewell "fit the profile of a lone bomber." According to Jewell, the paper's headline, which read FBI suspects 'hero' guard may have planted bomb, "pretty much started the whirlwind".[10]
The Atlanta Journal went as far as to compare Richard Jewell's case to that of serial killer Wayne Williams.[12]
The newspaper was the only defendant that did not settle with Jewell. The lawsuit remained pending for several years, after having been considered at one time by the Supreme Court of Georgia, and had become an important part of case law regarding whether journalists could be forced to reveal their sources. The case was dismissed by Judge John R. Mather in December 2007, four months after Jewell's death.[13]
Although CNN settled with Jewell for an undisclosed monetary amount, CNN maintained its coverage was fair and accurate.[14]
In July 1997, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, prompted by a reporter's question at her regular weekly news conference, expressed regret over the FBI's leak to the news media that led to the widespread presumption of his guilt, and apologized outright, saying, "I'm very sorry it happened. I think we owe him an apology. I regret the leak."[15]
Also in 1997, Jewell made public appearances in film and television. He appeared in Michael Moore's 1997 film, The Big One. He had a cameo in the September 27, 1997 episode of Saturday Night Live, in which he punched Will Ferrell (who was in character as Janet Reno), and jokingly fended off suggestions that he was responsible for the deaths of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana.
On July 4, 2001, Jewell was honored as the Grand Marshal of the Carmel, Indiana's Independence Day Parade. Jewell was chosen in keeping with the parade's theme of "Unsung Heroes."[16]
On April 13, 2005, Jewell was exonerated completely when Eric Rudolph pled guilty to carrying out the bombing attack at the Centennial Olympic Park, as well as three other attacks across the South. On August 1, 2006, Georgia's Governor, Sonny Perdue, honored Jewell for his rescue efforts during the attack.[17][18]
Jewell had worked various law enforcement jobs, including as a police officer in Pendergrass, Georgia. He worked as a sheriff's deputy in Meriwether County, Georgia until his death. He also gave speeches at colleges.[5]
Jewell died August 29, 2007, from natural causes at the age of 44. He was suffering from severe heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, and obesity.[4]
Jewell's case became an example of the damage that can be done by reporting based on unreliable or incomplete information, and "led to soul-searching among news organizations about the use of unattributed or anonymously sourced information."[5]