Court dismisses former FBI official’s libel suit
| NMU | OKLAHOMA | Libel | May 9, 2001 |
Court dismisses former FBI official’s libel suit
- A former FBI official lacked evidence that an author knew statements he made were untrue or that he recklessly disregarded the truth, a federal district judge in Oklahoma City ruled in a libel case against the author of a book on the Oklahoma City bombing and terrorism.
A federal district court judge in Oklahoma City on May 3 dismissed a former FBI employee’s libel lawsuit against the author of a book on the Oklahoma City bombing on May 3, ruling that there was not enough evidence that the author “knew of the falsity of the statements made,” or “recklessly disregarded the truth.”
David Hoffman wrote in his book “The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror” that retired FBI associate deputy director Oliver “Buck” Revell had pulled his son and daughter-in-law off Pan Am Flight 103 in London prior to take-off because he knew the bombing would take place.
The Oklahoman reported that Revell’s son had left London a week prior to the bombing, although he was briefly booked on Flight 103 and his daughter-in-law was in the United States when the plane departed. Hoffman admitted that he had mistaken “details” of Revell’s story, but claimed that the essential facts of the story were true.
All copies of the book were destroyed by the publisher in 1999 because it contained inaccuracies, according The Oklahoman.
(Revell v. Hoffman) — CC
© 2001 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Return to: RCFP Home; News Page