Jewell Sues Papers, College Over Olympic Blast Stories

ATLANTA — Richard Jewell sued the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the college where he once worked as a security guard on Tuesday, accusing them of libeling him in stories linking him to the Olympic park bombing.

Jewell’s lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, accuses the newspapers of portraying him as a man with “a bizarre employment history and an aberrant personality” who likely was guilty of placing the bomb.

Those stories quoted Piedmont College President Ray Cleere as describing Jewell as a “badge-wearing zealot” who “would write epic police reports for minor infractions,” the lawsuit said.

Lin Wood, a lawyer for Jewell, called the lawsuit “the first step in what will be a long and hard-fought battle against a billion-dollar corporation that tried and convicted Richard Jewell for a crime he did not commit.”

Journal-Constitution Publisher Roger Kintzel on Tuesday defended his newspapers’ coverage of the bombing as “fair, accurate and responsible.”

Meanwhile, Jewell and his mother settled a complaint against CNN for an undisclosed amount, according to a joint statement issued by CNN and Jewell’s lawyers.

Last month, Jewell reached a settlement with NBC over comments anchorman Tom Brokaw made on the air about Jewell shortly after the bombing. The Wall Street Journal reported the settlement was worth $500,000.

Jewell, 34, was working as a private security guard in Centennial Olympic Park when a pipe bomb exploded before daybreak on July 27, killing one person and injuring more than 100.

Three days after the bombing, the Atlanta Journal identified Jewell as a suspect. Jewell came under intense media scrutiny for three months, until federal prosecutors cleared him in October.

Wray Eckl, a lawyer for the college, had no comment.

The FBI said Tuesday it was investigating a possible link between the Atlanta bombing and crimes in Washington state.

Three men from the Sandpoint, Idaho, area were arrested on Oct. 8 and charged with a pair of pipe-bomb attacks and bank robberies last year outside Spokane. They are to stand trial next month in federal court on charges of bank robbery, weapons possession and conspiracy.

The Spokane Spokesman-Review said Tuesday an Atlanta architect called the newspaper after a report that the men had emerged as possible suspects in the Olympic bombing.

The architect, who asked to remain anonymous, said he had provided the FBI earlier with a sketch of a backpack-wearing man he and his daughter saw in the park about an hour before the blast. After seeing television reports about the Spokane suspects, the architect said he was convinced one of the men was the one he saw in Atlanta.