Senator Elizabeth Warren, actors Alyssa Milano and Jim Carrey, media organizations CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post and the Diocese of Covington received preservation letters, the text of which advised the parties not to destroy any documents in connection with the case, Fox News reported.
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Attorney Todd McMurtry confirmed to Fox News on Monday that more organizations or individuals could also receive letters, noting that “it’s an enormous pool of possible defendants.”
McMurtry, of the Hemmer DeFrank Wessels law firm in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky, is part of the legal team representing Nick Sandmann, the Kentucky teenager who was featured on video standing in front of Native American man during a pro-life demonstration on January 18 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. The video appeared to be misinterpreted after an additional video provided context and showed that the students – some, including Sandmann, wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats – were actually accosted and yelled at before Phillips and other Native American activists approached them.
McMurtry earlier told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the incident “permanently stained [Nick’s reputation]” and that the organizations and individuals who received the letters may have defamed or libelled Nick with false reporting.
“For the mob to just go tear apart a 16-year-old boy is inexcusable,” McMurtry added. “He'll never be able to get away from this.”
According to the attorney, any of the recipients of the letters could be called to defend themselves in court. He added that they have a basis to sue the recipients and that the documents that they are requesting to be preserved for any future litigation include any drafts of stories, emails between colleagues discussing the incident, and any tweets or statements sent to the public by celebrities and other individuals.
The legal team also released a video entitled “The Truth in 15 Minutes”, depicting what happened at the event, saying that celebrities and media organisations “rushed to judgment to wrongfully condemn, threaten, disparage & vilify Nick Sandmann based solely on a few seconds of an out-of-context video clip.”
L. Lin Wood, a nationally-recognized attorney in the fields of libel, defamation and the First Amendment, and a member of Sandmann’s legal team wrote on Twitter: “Will we allow incomplete 30-second video clips to be the basis for agenda-driven false accusations & threats against a 16-year old student?”