ST. PAUL -- The state Supreme Court declined to review a $110,000 award to a police officer who said he was defamed in a television news report.
St. Cloud police Officer Tom Schlieman had sued KARE-TV of Minneapolis in 1999 over a report on a fatal shooting he was involved in. Schlieman said the story was false, defamatory and published with actual malice.
A Hennepin County jury sided with Schlieman in 2003. A Hennepin County judge later overturned the verdict, saying Schlieman had failed to prove actual malice in statements in the TV report, and that the jury wasn't properly instructed on the term.
The state Court of Appeals reinstated the award in August.
The case stems from the 1999 death of Kevin Hartwig, whom Schlieman shot in a scuffle outside Hartwig's home.
