Joan Conrow, Garden Island, et al, prevail in defamation appeal

The case arose, in the words of the decision (PDF), out of the investigation by the Kauai Police Department of two murders and an attempted murder, each involving sexual assault and stabbing of women, that were committed in separate incidents in 2000 on Kauai. In 2000 the Plaintiff-Appellant sued the Kauai police chief, a number of officers, and the county, claiming they had engaged in misconduct while investigating him for these crimes. He also sued the authors (including Joan Conrow) and publishers of articles appearing in the Honolulu Magazine and The Garden Island claiming, among other things, that the articles had defamed him.

The trial court had granted the journalists/publishers motions for summary judgment and dismissed the complaint against the county defendants for failure to prosecute. In upholding the lower court's judgment, the Intermediate Court of Appeals provides an interesting and in depth analysis of defamation law that I won't expand on here. But it's worth a read if you're interested.