Judge tosses defamation case brought by Ohio doctor who was acquitted of killing patients
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A former Ohio doctor who was fired before being found not guilty on murder charges in the deaths of 14 patients lost a defamation lawsuit against his former employers on Monday, after a judge stepped in for a jury on grounds the evidence presented by the defendants was incontrovertible.
Franklin County Judge Stephen McIntosh issued his directed verdict against former doctor William Husel, whose attorneys accused Michigan-based Trinity Health and Mount Carmel Health System in Columbus of orchestrating a campaign to destroy his reputation.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
32 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
At least 20 wounded in Russian combined drone and missile attack on Kyiv
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A combined Russian and missile attack in Kyiv overnight Tuesday left at least 20 people wounded, according to Ukrainian officials. The attack, the latest in a spate of mass drone and missile attacks on Kyiv, occurred as world leaders convened at the Group of Seven meeting in Canada, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to attend. The summit runs through Tuesday.
Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Toronto Sun
Jury finds MyPillow founder defamed former voting equipment company employee
Jury finds MyPillow founder defamed former voting equipment company employee Photo by Jack Dempsey / AP Article content DENVER — A federal jury in Colorado on Monday found that one of the nation's most prominent election conspiracy theorists, MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, defamed a former employee for a leading voting equipment company after the 2020 presidential election. Advertisement 2 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account or Sign in without password View more offers Article content The employee, Eric Coomer, was awarded $2.3 million in damages. He had sued after Lindell called him a traitor and accusations about him stealing the election were streamed on Lindell's online media platform. Article content tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Jury finds MyPillow founder defamed former voting equipment company employee Back to video tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Play Video Article content Coomer was the security and product strategy director at Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, whose voting machines became the target of elaborate conspiracy theories among allies of President Donald Trump, who continues to falsely claim that his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 was due to widespread fraud. Dominion won a $787-million settlement in a defamation lawsuit it filed against Fox News over its airing of false claims against the company and has another lawsuit against the conservative network Newsmax. Your Midday Sun Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. There was an error, please provide a valid email address. Sign Up By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Your Midday Sun will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Article content Advertisement 3 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Newsmax apologized to Coomer in 2021 for airing false allegations against him. Coomer said during the two-week Lindell trial that his career and life were destroyed by the statements. His lawyers said Lindell either knew the statements were lies, or conveyed them recklessly without knowing if they were true. Read More Election denier and 'MyPillow Guy' Mike Lindell confirms he's out of money, can't pay legal bills MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell banned from Twitter once again Lindell's lawyers denied the claims and said his online platform, formerly known as Frankspeech, is not liable for statements made by others. Lindell said he went to trial to draw attention to the need to get rid of electronic voting machines that have been targeted in a web of conspiracy theories. He said he used to be worth about $60 million before he started speaking out about the 2020 election and is now $10 million in debt. Advertisement 4 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Reviews, recounts and audits in the battleground states where Trump contested his loss in 2020 all affirmed Democrat Joe Biden's victory. Trump's attorney general at the time said there was no evidence of widespread fraud, and Trump and his allies lost dozens of court cases seeking to overturn the result. Lindell stuck by his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen during the trial, but did not call any experts to present evidence of his claims. Lindell said his beliefs that the 2020 election was tainted by fraud were influenced by watching the 2020 HBO documentary Kill Chain and by the views of Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. In an interview for a documentary Lindell made in 2021, Flynn said foreign interference was going to happen in U.S. elections, and Lindell said he had no reason to doubt the claim since Flynn had worked for both political parties in intelligence. Advertisement 5 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Lindell distanced himself from an account by a Colorado podcaster who claimed to have heard a conference call from the anti-fascist group Antifa before the 2020 election. The podcast claimed that on the call someone named Eric from Dominion said he would make sure that Trump would not win, a story that was recounted on Frankspeech during a 2021 event. Lindell said he only learned about that during the trial. RECOMMENDED VIDEO tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Play Video Lindell said he never accused Coomer of rigging the election, but he did say he was upset because he said Newsmax blocked him from being able to go on air to talk about voting machines after it apologized to Coomer. Coomer denied there was any such deal to block Lindell under his agreement with the network. Advertisement 6 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Coomer's lawyers tried to show how their client's life was devastated by the conspiracy theories spreading about him. Lindell was comparatively late to seize on Coomer, not mentioning him until February 2021, well after his name had been circulated by other Trump partisans. Coomer said the conspiracy theories cost him his job, his mental health and the life he'd built and said Lindell's statements were the most distressing of all. He specifically pointed to a statement on May 9, 2021, when Lindell described what he believed Coomer had done as 'treason.' Lindell's attorneys argued that Coomer's reputation was already in tatters by the time Lindell mentioned him. They said that was partly because of Coomer's Facebook posts disparaging Trump, which the former Dominion employee acknowledged were 'hyperbolic' and had been a mistake. Lindell denied making any statements he knew to be false about Coomer and testified that he has called many people traitors. His lawyers argued the statements were about a matter of public concern — elections — and therefore protected by the First Amendment. But Coomer's lawyers said the statements crossed the line into defamation because Lindell accused Coomer of treason, a crime. Article content Share this article in your social network Read Next
Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Toronto Sun
Doctor who supplied ketamine to Perry, called him ‘moron' will plead guilty
Published Jun 16, 2025 • 2 minute read Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. Photo by Willy Sanjuan / Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. LOS ANGELES — A doctor charged with giving Matthew Perry ketamine in the month leading up to the Friends star's overdose death has agreed to plead guilty, authorities said Monday. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Dr. Salvador Plasencia has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, federal prosecutors said in a statement. They said the plea carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. Plasencia is expected to enter the plea in the coming weeks. According to a co-defendant, Plasencia called the actor a 'moron' who could be exploited in a text message. The physician had been one of the primary targets of the prosecution, along with a woman accused of being a ketamine dealer. Three other defendants, including another doctor, agreed to plead guilty last year in exchange for their co-operation. Plasencia and the woman, Jasveen Sangha, had been scheduled to start trial in August. An email to his attorney seeking a comment was not immediately answered. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Perry was found dead by his assistant on Oct. 28, 2023. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine was the primary cause of death. The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal but off-label treatment for depression that has become increasingly common. Read More Perry, 54, began seeking more ketamine than his doctor would give him. About a month before the actor's death, he found Plasencia, a doctor who in turn allegedly asked the other doctor, Mark Chavez, to obtain the drug for him, according to Chavez's plea agreement. 'I wonder how much this moron will pay,' Plasencia texted Chavez, according to court filings. The two met up the same day in Costa Mesa, halfway between Santa Monica, Calif., where Plasencia practised, and San Diego, where Chavez practised, and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine, the filings said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500, Plasencia allegedly asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry's 'go-to,' prosecutors said. Plasencia initially visited Perry's house and injected him with ketamine himself. He showed Perry's personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, how to inject it and subsequently dealt with him, according to Iwamasa's plea agreement. RECOMMENDED VIDEO Perry was also getting ketamine from another source, Sangha, who prosecutors allege was a major dealer and supplied the dose that killed the actor. Sangha has pleaded not guilty — making her the only one of the five people charged in Perry's death who has not entered a plea agreement. She remains jailed as she awaits trial. Plasencia was freed on bond after his initial court appearances. Erik Fleming, a friend of Perry who said he acted as a middleman and drug messenger, has also pleaded guilty and has been co-operating with prosecutors. None of the defendants have yet been sentenced. Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on Friends , when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC's megahit.
