The eight-person Alabama jury awarded former University of Alabama basketball player Kai Spears $9.25 million in damages on Thursday after finding that The New York Times defamed him in a 2023 article linking him to the killing of Jamea Harris.

Spears, a walk-on guard, sued the newspaper for libel and false light invasion of privacy. The verdict came after a nine-day trial in U.S. District Court in Tuscaloosa.

The case stemmed from a March 15, 2023, New York Times article about a January shooting in Tuscaloosa that killed 23-year-old Jamea Harris.

According to local reporting, the young mother from Birmingham was riding in a Jeep on Tuscaloosa’s Strip when her group encountered Michael Lynn Davis, Darius Miles, and other former Alabama basketball players.

Prosecutors in the case say Davis opened fire on the vehicle after an earlier confrontation, striking Harris with a single bullet to the chin, killing her.

Davis was convicted in 2025 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The article, citing an anonymous source, wrongly identified Spears as the passenger in a car with another player, Brandon Miller, who was also present.

Miller was not charged.

The New York Times corrected the story days after Spears filed suit in May 2023, stating that a team student manager, not Spears, had been in the vehicle. However, the damage to Spears’ name was already done.

Spears was not involved in the shooting and was never charged with a crime.

The Times’ incorrect reporting caused the college athlete to experience emotional distress and permanently associated his name with a murder investigation, Spears’ lawsuit claimed.

A Times article reporting on the verdict Thursday said the newspaper “had not lost a defamation lawsuit brought in the United States over one of its articles in more than 50 years.”

Charlie Stadtlander, spokesperson with The New York Times, released a brief statement following the verdict, saying, “We’re disappointed the jury found The Times liable for an honest mistake.”

This marks the first time in more than 50 years that the newspaper lost a defamation lawsuit in the United States over one of its articles.

The Times described the error as an honest mistake and said it is reviewing legal options. Alabama law may cap or reduce the damages award by more than $2 million.

Spears, now in his mid-20s, is a senior student at West Liberty University in West Virginia, continuing his college basketball career.