A Cornell University professor who has a similar name to the man accused of shooting a Wesleyan University student to death last spring has sued the Connecticut institution, asserting that it briefly distributed his photo while a manhunt for the gunman was on, according to the Associated Press. The professor, Stephen L. Morgan, also says Wesleyan took its time correcting the mistake and then issued an apology that sounded “like something written by a lawyer.” The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. A Wesleyan spokesman declined to comment to the AP. The accused gunman, Stephen P. Morgan, is in jail awaiting trial on charges that he shot dead Johanna Justin-Jinich on May 6.
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3 Responses to Case of Mistaken Identity Is Now a Case of Litigation
svoorhies - December 8, 2009 at 4:31 pm
So let me get this straight: while the university was coping with the grief, shock and horror of a student being executed by a gunman, who was still at large, possibly on campus; while trying to calm its community and offer some kind of solace; while at the same time putting out information to help apprehend the suspect; during all this,at some point the university made a mistake? Then “took its time” to correct the mistake? Then was not abject enough in its apology to a colleague in Cornell? Dear me. Poor baby.
mbelvadi - December 9, 2009 at 6:52 am
Svoorhies, in their grief etc. someone maybe negligently defamed an innocent man in a context of high emotion for everyone seeing the act of defamation, creating a strongly negative association that no stiff formal apology later can easily break. Reputation is very fragile – how many people in that area still subconsciously carry that prof’s image in their head now associated with something Very Bad? I don’t know the details of the handling of the apology, but if the prof has reason to believe that it was insufficient to undo the harm done to his image in the community, maybe he has a reasonable case.
rsmulcahy - December 9, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Svoohies, I completey agree with mbelvadi, having “to cope with grief, shock and horror” does not excuse sloppy investigative work and defamation of character. I suppose you are also then a major apologist for the internment of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor beacause the grief and shock of the attack clearly excuses canceling civil rights for an entire people and stripping them of their homes and possessions. This guy wasn’t even at Wesleyan and what tied the two together:”The professor has no connection with Wesleyan, but both he and the suspect had lived in Massachusetts, likely prompting the confusion, officials said at the time.” Are you kidding me? That was the evidence they used to proceed with defaming him. Christ, they should have checked the phone book more closely, they probably could have come up with other “viable suspects.” Plus, in this day and age, nothing leaves the internet…ever, this guy’s name and face were out there a week after the event and I bet you could still find it now in some old news sources. So, yeah, he is a poor baby and Wesleyan needs to cough up some milk money.