Day 12: Judge tosses part of Eramo’s suit against Rolling Stone

The third week of former UVA dean Nicole Eramo’s $7.5 million defamation trial against Rolling Stone began October 31, and in a nod to Halloween, Eramo chose black and orange attire for her court appearance. Her attorney, Libby Locke, came in sporting crutches, but those were not a costume and came from a sprained ankle […]

Day 11: Wenner defiant, Eramo rests in Rolling Stone trial

After 11 days of evidence, plaintiff Nicole Eramo rested her case against Rolling Stone October 28– but not before testimony from magazine founder Jann Wenner raised stakes and eyebrows in this $7.5 million libel case. “We have never retracted the whole article– and don’t intend to,” declared the magazine owner in a videotaped deposition played for the […]

Day 10: Rolling Stone’s remorse in defamation trial

The final Thursday witness for the plaintiff in the $7.5 million libel trial against Rolling Stone was Sara Surface. A friend to Jackie, Surface seemed to have a purpose in alleging that reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely had prejudged plaintiff Nicole Eramo. “She disregarded me because I didn’t fit the narrative,” said Surface. An email released […]

Day 9: UVA believed Jackie, too, say witnesses

Attorneys for plaintiff Nicole Eramo called her former boss, Dean of Students Allen Groves, to the stand October 26 to bolster her claims that she was unfairly portrayed as a callous administrator to victims of sexual assault in Rolling Stone’s article, “A Rape on Campus.” “My first impression, and it remains my impression, it painted […]

Fired up: The training days and nights of CFD’s newest recruits

When several vacancies in the Charlottesville Fire Department opened at the same time, Fire Chief Andrew Baxter (who’s been chief for a little more than a year) decided to institute a new hiring process. The in-depth application, which included a personal history questionnaire, was meant to find candidates who were not only qualified to be […]

In brief: White deer mourned, Draego dropped and more

Deerly beloved One of two cherished white deer often spotted in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood was struck and killed by a car on Jefferson Park Avenue Extended around 3pm October 23. Deer-lovers, who have christened the creature names such as “Enchanted” and “Half & Half” on Facebook, created a sidewalk memorial to their friend in […]

Safe and sound: New locks, ID scanners at county schools

Walking into an Albemarle County school, a parent may notice new security measures. Although some are subtle, others, like a new identification scanning system, are hard to miss. In an era in which deranged gunmen have been known to target school children, local administrators say they are working to make sure students and teachers are […]

Day 8: Rolling Stone fact checker, Jackie’s friends testify

For a second day, former Rolling Stone fact-checker Elisabeth Garber-Paul took the stand to explain why she believed Jackie, the student whose fake gang rape story sent the University of Virginia campus into uproar two years ago. “She seemed to really care about getting this story right,”  testified Garber-Paul. “She was totally comfortable with having […]

Bad memory: Jackie testifies on Day 7 of Rolling Stone trial

If “yes, to my great regret” has become the stock answer for remorseful Rolling Stone reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely, then her protagonist in the now-discredited gang rape tale—the one who sent a college into chaos two years ago—has found a mantra of her own: “I don’t remember.” Before a hushed courtroom in downtown Charlottesville, a […]

Day 5: A recording of ‘Jackie’ makes waves

Former Rolling Stone reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely put in a third day on the stand Friday, a day spent answering friendly questions from the defense in an effort to show how a veteran journalist could be duped by a college girl named Jackie– the centerpiece of a story that became a libel trial. For over […]