Falsely Accused Suspect Pursues Libel Case

ATLANTA, May 26 — It has been 10 years since Richard Jewell was identified as a suspect in the Olympic Park bombing here and then quickly cleared. On Friday, his lawyer argued that he should be allowed to proceed with his libel case against The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the first news organization to have described him as the focus of the investigation.

At a hearing on the newspaper's motion to dismiss the case, its lawyer, Peter C. Canfield, said Mr. Jewell's legal team had never been able to demonstrate that the paper's coverage had risen to the level of actual malice — that is, with knowledge that it was false or in reckless disregard of whether it was false. It is this higher standard that Mr. Jewell's legal team must meet, given a 1999 court ruling that he met the definition of a public figure.

But the hearing featured videotaped depositions given to Mr. Jewell's lawyers by several of the paper's editors who said they had gone to their superiors with concerns that some of its coverage might libel him.

Mr. Jewell, who has previously reached settlements in libel cases against several other news outlets, including NBC and CNN, became the subject of a public maelstrom shortly after a pipe bomb packed with nails exploded during the 1996 Olympics here. The bomb killed one person and injured 111.

At first Mr. Jewell, who had been working in the park as a security guard, was hailed as a hero for having spotted the knapsack that held the bomb and helping law enforcement officers clear the area before it exploded.

But his life changed after The Journal-Constitution, citing law enforcement sources not otherwise identified, published a front-page article three days later identifying him as the focus of the federal inquiry. Among other things, the article said that he "fits the profile of a lone bomber."

Within 90 days, however, the authorities had exonerated him, and last year Eric R. Rudolph, who had bombed abortion clinics and a gay bar in Georgia and Alabama, admitted the Olympic bombing as well.

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On Friday, L. Lin Wood, Mr. Jewell's lawyer, passionately urged Judge John R. Mather of the State Court of Fulton County to let a jury hear the evidence and decide whether the newspaper was at fault.

Part of the evidence is the taped testimony of Anita Harkins, a copy editor who said she had alerted higher editors to potential problems with a column that compared Mr. Jewell to Wayne Williams, the convicted killer linked to more than a score of Atlanta child murders.

As Ms. Harkins wrings her hands in her lap, sighs loudly and shifts her eyes, Mr. Wood repeatedly asks her to say what worried her about the column.

"Is it the truth, Ms. Harkins, that you also had questions or concerns with respect to this article about libel?"

"I thought that might be an issue," she says.

"That being the issue of libel?" Mr. Wood asks.

"Correct."

Three other copy editors also said on tape that they had had concerns about the column and that they too had gone to their superiors about it.

This was the first time the videotapes had been played in open court. But transcripts of the testimony have long been available, and Mr. Canfield, the paper's lawyer, said after the hearing that for this reason, he was unconcerned about the tapes' effect.

As Mr. Wood argued before Judge Mather on Friday, calling Mr. Jewell "a hero," the plaintiff's mother, Barbara Jewell, wiped tears from her cheeks. Mr. Wood said Mr. Jewell had chosen not to attend the hearing because he was receiving law enforcement training for his job as an assistant sheriff in rural Meriwether County, Ga.