Prof Sues Wesleyan Over Photo Flap
A photo released in connection with a student's slaying was of the wrong man
By LEANNE GENDREAU
Updated 3:30 PM EDT, Wed, Dec 2, 2009
On May 6, as police were searching frantically for the man who killed a Wesleyan University student in cold blood, the university issued a photo. But it was the wrong man and now he is suing the school he says put his picture out, calling him a homicidal racist.
The man in the photo is named Stephen Morgan. He shares the same name as the Wesleyan slaying suspect but that is where the similarity ends.
The incident that put Stephen Morgan, both the suspect -- Stephen P. Morgan -- and the unsuspecting Cornell sociology professor -- Stephen L. Morgan -- in the public spotlight happened on May 6 when Johanna Justin-Jinich was slain inside a Wesleyan bookstore and café in Middletown.
The wrong photo went out after Wesleyan received the photo from Middletown police or the state police, the suit claims. They sent it to determine if this Stephen Morgan had any connection with the school, but the police never released the photo to the public or told Wesleyan to do so. Nor, the suit says, was Dr. Morgan a suspect.
But immediately after the shooting, the Wesleyan community was put on alert. They considered the shooter a threat to the school community and beyond because he’d left behind a journal and it made threats against Jews, authorities said.
Wesleyan issued a photo of Stephen Morgan, the professor, next to a surveillance photo from the crime scene and told students to avoid large gatherings because he was on the loose, according to the suit.
On Wednesday, Morgan filed a suit against Wesleyan University, claiming defamation and accusing Wesleyan of knowing falsehood, recklessness and negligence.
“Dr. Morgan’s reputation as a peaceful, law abiding and caring individual is essential to his occupation as a professor and as a participant in community activities,” the lawsuit states. “Through the use of his photograph and his name, the defendant (Wesleyan) … told the world, expressly or impliedly, that Dr. Morgan was the alleged murderer.”
By 6 a.m. on May 7, Wesleyan staff decided this could not be the right man because the age did not match the suspect and e-mails were sent out saying that he could not be the suspect, the suit states.
However, that photo was broadcast all over, with warnings that the man depicted was armed and dangerous and that a manhunt was underway, the suit says.
“As a result of the defendant’s actions, Dr. Morgan has been forced to expend significant amounts of time and effort explaining that he is not a murderer to his family, friends, colleagues, students, professional associates and others,” the suit says.
Dr. Morgan is looking for compensatory and punitive damages, attorney’s fees and expenses and anything else the court sees fit.
Wesleyan University does not comment on pending litigation.
The actual suspect has been charged with murder, is being held on bond and is due back in court on Dec. 15.
First Published: Dec 2, 2009 3:02 PM EDT
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