Ava DuVernay & Netflix Win ‘When They See Us’ Defamation Suit

Last week, Linda Fairstein, the woman who helped prosecute the Central Park 5, sued Netflix and director Ava DuVernay over her portrayal in “When They See Us.” Today, Fairstein lost her defamation case lawsuit.

According to Deadline, A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit over the Emmy-nominated miniseries.

“Because the First Amendment protects non-factual assertions (and because neither defendants Ava DuVernay nor Array Alliance Inc. has sufficient minimum contacts with the State of Illinois to justify haling them into court here), Reid’s complaint is dismissed,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge Manish Shah on Monday.

The four-part Netflix series covered the conviction and ultimate exoneration of the Central Park Five, teenagers who were accused of assaulting and raping a woman in Central Park in 1989. In the series, a fictionalized prosecutor confronts an NYPD detective with the allegation that he had coerced a confession.

“You squeezed statements out of them after 42 hours of questioning and coercing, without food, bathroom breaks, withholding parental supervision,” the character says. “The Reid Technique has been universally rejected.”

Linda Fairstein’s lawsuit against Ava and Netflix can only serve to remind us all that she has no remorse for the five young black men lives she interrupted and wrecked.