5-8-2012
According to Courthouse News, WHAM-AM Rochester host Bob Lonsberry (pictured), is not liable for defamation in a lawsuit filed by John Gisel. Lonsberry called Gisel a "cold-blooded murderer" on the air after a hunting accident that killed Brandon Haugh in a 2007 hunting accident. Gisel was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide. On the air, Lonsberry asked Gisel's sister, Jacqueline Inzinga, "how it felt to have a brother who was a cold-blooded murderer." He also said the shooting "could not have been an accident."
Clear Channel was successful in its trial court argument that Lonsberry's comments were part of the debate with his listeners over the trial, which had received extensive media coverage in Western New York. The case was dismissed by the Fourth Department New York Appellate Division in Rochester.
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