Sharpton says he won’t be silenced in Nolan Wells’ death | Gulf Coast

The Rev. Al Sharpton on Tuesday issued an announcement describing the calls for in an intent to sue letter in reference to the death of Nolan Xavier Wells as “meritless” and stated that he will “neither be silenced nor retract statements he did not make.”

Sharpton was addressing the menace to sue him for defamation by attorneys representing three of the younger males with Nolan Xavier Wells earlier than he went missing on the Fourth of July. Wells’ physique was discovered two days later.

Mississippi lawyer Tyler Cox represents the​ three mates — Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour — together with high-profile defamation and media legislation lawyer Edward Andrew Paltzik.

In the intent-to-sue letter despatched to Sharpton, the younger males’s attorneys allege that Sharpton defamed the trio throughout a July 14 interview with TMZ and in different remarks he made at different venues in the aftermath of the 18-year-old student-athlete’s death.

The claims included alleged defamatory remarks made in the course of the conference for the National Association of Black Journalists and different remarks throughout a digital prayer vigil on the National Action Network on Aug. 19, the day of Wells’ nineteenth birthday.

Sharpton’s attorneys despatched the letter in response to an Aug. 21 demand letter on behalf of three younger males — Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour — who threatened to sue the Rev. Al Sharpton for defamation over feedback he made concerning the investigation into the death of Nolan Xavier Wells.

In the 15-page response, Sharpton’s attorneys, led by Daniel P. Watkins of the Washington, D.C.-based legislation agency of Meier Watkins Phillips Pusch LLP, and Wylie Stecklow, a longtime counsel for the National Action Network, stated Sharpton by no means accused the three males of homicide or different crimes and has not made defamatory statements about them.

“Reverend Sharpton did not insert himself into this family’s grief. He was asked,” the attorneys wrote. “He is an ordained Baptist minister, and he stands with (Wells’ parents) Christine Wells-Wonsley and Elmore Wonsley in that capacity, as he has stood with families in that capacity for nearly fifty years.”

Sharpton was with the Wonsley household July 10 after they spoke publicly for the primary time and later attended their son’s memorial service. He additionally appeared with them in Atlanta, Georgia, on Aug. 19, what would have been Nolan Wells’ nineteenth birthday.

Since then, the attorneys stated, Sharpton has remained in steady contact with the household and deferred to their judgment.

Sharpton addresses the requires him to retract statements he had made that the younger males’s attorneys known as defamatory statements.

“It is worth stating plainly what the letter asks,” the attorneys stated in the letter.

“It asks Reverend Sharpton to apologize to three young men for having asked why an eighteen-year-old died,” the response stated. “It asks him to retract questions that Nolan’s own mother raised on national television four days before he repeated them. It asks him to delete a prayer vigil.”

The response additionally famous that the three younger males launched a public fundraising marketing campaign, gave recorded interviews, publicly criticized Nolan’s mom and launched non-public communications to the media.

The letter additionally warns that if the younger males’s attorneys had been concerned in creating, approving, publishing or selling the accusations in opposition to Sharpton, he is ready to sue Taylor and Cox Law Firm.

Meanwhile, the letter stated, Nolan’s household has not requested Sharpton to cease talking out.

“This is not going to distract us from the question that brought us here: What happened to Nolan Wells?” Rev. Sharpton stated. “His parents buried their 18-year-old son without knowing how or why he died. They asked me to stand with them, and I will continue to stand with them until they get the answers they deserve.”

Sharpton’s attorneys argued that “there is no legal remedy for the fact that Rev. Sharpton’s questions are uncomfortable.”

There is a authorized treatment for defamation, they stated, however “it requires a defamatory statement,” and the Aug. 21 demand letter doesn’t establish one.

“The threatened claims suffer from several basic defects,” the response stated, arguing that they depend on statements Sharpton didn’t make and interpretations equipped by the attorneys for the three younger males.

Sharpton’s legal professionals stated the demand letter as an alternative argues that his phrases “create an effect on the listener” from which accusations of prison conduct can be inferred.

“That formulation is revealing,” the response stated. “The accusation on which the threatened claims depend is not contained in Reverend Sharpton’s words. It is supplied by counsel through inference.”

The attorneys stated Mississippi legislation doesn’t enable a defamation declare to be based mostly on such an inference.

“The defamatory meaning must arise clearly and unmistakably from the publication itself; it cannot be manufactured through innuendo, speculation, or conjecture,” the response stated.

Sharpton’s legal professionals additionally accused the attorneys of taking his feedback out of context.

The Aug. 21 demand letter quoted Sharpton asking whether or not “these three young men” had been introduced in for questioning below oath. The three have been interviewed by investigators.

Sharpton’s attorneys stated, nevertheless, that the demand letter omitted questions he instantly requested about whether or not legislation enforcement had performed fingerprint and forensic evaluation of Nolan’s cellphone and his criticism of the police investigation.

Sharpton’s remarks, the letter stated, had been a part of a broader collection of questions concerning the investigation into Wells’ death, together with why authorities had not instantly retrieved Nolan’s cellphone and keys and whether or not witnesses had been completely questioned.

“Read in context, these were criticisms of the investigation,” the response stated. “They do not become accusations of murder merely because the Letter removes that context.”

In addition, the letter factors out that if the younger males proceed with submitting the lawsuit, Sharpton will pursue his personal monetary and authorized cures, which may embrace in search of damages and attorneys’ charges.

The attorneys additionally level out that Sharpton’s statements had been made in New York, together with these in the course of the July 14 interview and at a prayer service he held on Wells’ nineteenth birthday.

If the younger males proceed with the lawsuit, Sharpton’s attorneys warned that he will search its dismissal “at the earliest available stage” and invoke New York’s authorized protections for speech involving what they described as “matters of public concern.”

In the letter, Sharpton’s attorneys added, “He will seek every dollar of recoverable fees and costs,” in addition to any potential compensatory and punitive damages.

The attorneys additionally referenced the Mississippi Litigation Accountability Act and Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 11, which permit courts to award cheap attorneys’ charges and prices when litigation is introduced or maintained with out substantial justification.

Sharpton additionally made statements relating to Wells’ death throughout one other look in August, this time in Georgia. His attorneys stated he would invoke Georgia’s authorized protections and search any obtainable monetary and authorized cures associated to these claims as properly.