The Arizona Court of Appeals has rejected an appeal by Bobby Wilson, a former candidate for Arizona State Senate, of a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the publisher of The Arizona Republic, its corresponding website azcentral.com, and its parent company, Gannett Co.
Wilson argued that the trial court erred in denying his motion to strike exhibits and granting summary judgment in favor of the newspaper on his claims of defamation, false light, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Wilson sued The Arizona Republic for its report that neighbors said Wilson broke down a door and threatened the president of his homeowners association in 2016. Wilson admitted to breaking the door but denied threatening anyone, according to The Arizona Republic.
Wilson emerged back onto the pages of newspapers when he ran for the Arizona State Senate in Legislative District 2, in 2018. His run made national news after The Arizona Republic revealed the his history and the bizarre details surrounding the deaths of his mother and sister in Oklahoma. Wilson, then age 18, was charged with killing the two family members and setting the family home on fire.
Wilson was tried twice for the deaths, but was not convicted after he claimed he suffered from amnesia. Eventually the case against Wilson was dismissed.
The Appeals Court found: [VIEW RULING HERE]
Factual and Procedural Background
The following facts are undisputed. In 2018, Bobby Wilson was campaigning for a seat in the Arizona State Senate. In July, at a candidate’s forum on gun-control legislation, he revealed he once shot and killed someone in self-defense. A reporter employed by PNI, Alison Steinbach, contacted Wilson and interviewed him to follow up on the statements he had made at the debate. This action was brought after The Arizona Republic published three articles after Steinbach’s interview.
Article One: References to 1963 Murder Confession
On July 17, 2018, The Arizona Republic published an article written by Steinbach titled, “Senate hopeful shot mom in 1963.” The article reported that Wilson had admitted shooting someone in self-defense at a candidate’s forum to illustrate that having “a good guy there with a gun” was more effective than gun-control legislation.
The article noted that court records and contemporaneous newspaper articles “suggest[ed] there may be more to the story than Wilson’s account.” It mentioned that “[t]hose records show he was charged with the murder of his mother and sister, and soon after his arrest he confessed to those charges,” and “later recanted his confession and claimed he had amnesia about the events of the night in question.”
The article then described Wilson’s version of the events as described by him in the interview with Steinbach and mentioned that he wrote a memoir in 2010 that “[told] his version of the story.” It reported Wilson had claimed that his mother had repeatedly shot at him, that his mother hit his sister in the head with a rifle butt, that bullets from his mother’s shooting ricocheted off containers of gasoline in his room, that he shot his mother in self-defense, and that the house exploded when he turned a light switch on. He further claimed that all charges against him had been dismissed after he faced two “inconclusive” trials and that the prosecutor “announced that the state never had a solid case against him and was wrong all along.”
The article then reported that contemporaneous court records and a local newspaper “differ[ed] significantly” from Wilson’s version of events. It referenced 1963 articles in the Choctaw County Weekly—an Oklahoma publication that had compiled articles from multiple area newspapers—and revealed that one of those articles “reported that Wilson had confessed [to] murdering his mother and sister.”
The article reported the 1963 article said that Wilson had led officers to where he buried the rifle and that after “prompting by his [former] boss,” he had confessed to shooting his mother, crushing his sister’s skull with his rifle butt, placing the bodies on the bed, pouring gas around the house, and lighting a match.
The article stated that court records showed Wilson filed a motion arguing he did not have the “mental []capacity to make a rational defense” and the court had “suspended” Wilson’s trial after a jury found he suffered from amnesia. It reported that the murder charges were dismissed after Wilson moved to dismiss the charges on speedy trial grounds.
Article Two: Threatening to Kill HOA President
On August 15, 2018, The Arizona Republic published another article about Wilson, written by reporter Dustin Gardiner, and titled, “HOA leader: Candidate said he’d kill me.”
This article referenced Steinbach’s July 2018 article and recounted the 1963 newspaper article that had indicated Wilson confessed to killing his mother and sister. It then reported that Wilson’s neighbors at a gated beach community in Mexico said he had broken down a door and threatened to harm Dan Dimovski, the president of the homeowner’s association (HOA). The article indicated that Wilson had acknowledged damaging a door but denied threatening anyone that day.
The article reported that Dimovski had contacted The Arizona Republic after reading its previous article describing Wilson’s gun comments and the death of his mother. It reported that Dimovski had said that “Wilson [had] threatened to kill him,” two years prior, at a HOA meeting where Wilson’s wife was in attendance. According to the article, Dimovski said “he [could not] recount Wilson’s exact words, given the incident came as a complete shock.” But, Dimovski indicated that Wilson made statements similar to “I know who you are,” “You know what I could do to you?” and “I’ll take care of you.” Dimovski also said, “Knowing what I know now, I think it was a threat to kill me, especially the fact that he has exposed his position on what he thinks of weapons. . . .”
The article also reported that the vice president of the HOA, Bruce Turner, was there and had confirmed Wilson “made threatening statements about harming Dimovski.” It reported that Dimovski and Turner had called the Mexican police after seeing that a HOA office door had been kicked in but that the HOA later agreed to not press charges after Wilson and his wife paid to fix the door.
The article noted Wilson had acknowledged being upset and confronting Dimovski over an “illegal meeting” but he had claimed “that he never made any physical threats” and only acted in that manner because he was concerned for his wife’s well-being. The article reported that Wilson and his wife had claimed that Dimovski was lying and that there was conflict between the HOA board and some of its residents regarding the HOA’s alleged mismanagement of the property.
Wilson’s Retraction Demand
After both articles were published, Wilson sent a retraction demand to the editor of The Arizona Republic, claiming that the two articles falsely reported that Wilson had confessed to murdering his mother and sister “by re-publishing old articles” that were “untrue and libelous.” In the demand, Wilson claimed he had given a reporter a copy of his book which “was the only true account of what caused the deaths of [his] mother and sister.” Wilson stated that the 1963 newspaper editor who had published accounts of Wilson’s confession and the local sheriff had “admitted under oath at trial that there had never been any written or oral confession of any murders or arson by [him].”
The Arizona Republic responded to Wilson and informed him that it would not retract the articles, in part, because he had not provided any evidence to support his assertion that these two witnesses had admitted under oath that Wilson had never confessed. It encouraged him to provide any evidence to support his position. Wilson did not respond or provide further evidence.
Article Three: References to Material in First Two Articles
On February 15, 2019, The Arizona Republic published a third article about Wilson written by Dustin Gardiner. This article was posted on azcentral.com and, among other things, recalled and discussed the contents of the two previous articles.
Wilson’s Lawsuit
In April 2019, Wilson filed this lawsuit alleging defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and false light invasion of privacy against seven defendants: PNI, which distributes The Arizona Republic and operates azcentral.com; Gannett Co., Inc., the parent company of PNI; Alison Steinbach and Dustin Gardiner, reporters employed by PNI; Greg Burton, executive editor of The Arizona Republic; Hugo Publishing Co., Inc., which publishes The Hugo News (formerly The Hugo Daily News) and formerly published the Choctaw County Weekly; and Stan Stamper, the president of Hugo Publishing Co., Inc.
Wilson alleged that the articles published by The Arizona Republic falsely reported that he had confessed to murdering his mother and sister and that he had threatened to kill Dimovski. Defendants moved for summary judgment, arguing that Wilson could not prove actual malice by clear and convincing evidence nor falsity. Wilson cross-moved for partial summary judgment. In that same filing, he also moved to strike some of Defendants’ exhibits. The trial court denied Wilson’s motions and granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants because Wilson had not produced sufficient evidence for a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence that Defendants acted with actual malice nor was there sufficient evidence of outrageous conduct to warrant an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim.
After the court denied Wilson’s motion for a new trial, Wilson timely filed this appeal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-2101(A)(5)(a).