Appeals court upholds Murder in Alliance podcast decision
The 5th District Court of Appeals has upheld a Stark County judge's dismissal of a former Alliance Police chief's lawsuit relating to a podcast about the 1999 murder of a city resident.
Stark County Common Pleas Judge Natalie R. Haupt last fall dismissed Larry Dordea's lawsuit accusing Maggie Freleng, host of the Murder in Alliance podcast; the Obsessed Network; Sue Gless Thorne; and John Hardin and Jason Baldwin of Proclaim Justice of defamation per se, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In the lawsuit, Dordea alleged that several involved with Murder in Alliance made defamatory statements about him on the podcast by claiming that he brought a date to the crime scene, compromising the investigation. Murder in Alliance is a podcast that centered around the killing of Alliance resident Yvonne Layne.
Layne was found with her throat slashed on April 1, 1999. David Thorne, the father of one of Layne's children, was accused of hiring someone to kill her and convicted of complicity to aggravated murder in 2000. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Dordea, who was the city's police chief at the time, was one of the first to respond to the scene when Layne's body was discovered. He said he brought with him a civilian who was participating in a ride-along program and observing him conduct police work, according to court documents.
While Freleng was doing research for the podcast, she came across a report by private practice criminal profiler Brent Turvey that claimed Dordea brought a date to the scene, court documents say. Police reports from the time refer to the woman as a civilian observer.
The court ruled that while it believed the claim about the civilian being Dordea's date was false, it was not enough to prove that those involved with the podcast acted with actual malice. To prove actual malice, one must show the defendant knew a statement was false or demonstrated reckless disregard to its falsity.
Court documents say Dordea had the burden of establishing that Freleng published claims about the civilian being Dordea's date while having serious doubts about the truth. The appeals court ruled April 27 that it found no evidence to show that a reasonable jury could find actual malice with convincing clarity.
Dordea's attorney, Julie Jakmides, said they were very disappointed by the results and that the standard for proving defamation against a public official is incredibly high.
"The court determined our burden could not be met by the false statements made on the Murder in Alliance podcast," she said. "We are confident though that Chief Dordea's reputation will speak for itself, and this will not be how his legacy is remembered by our community."
Obsessed Network, which produced the Murder in Alliance podcast, did not respond to a request for comment.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Larry Dordea loses appeal in Murder in Alliance podcast lawsuit
