ASHEVILLE - Framing the decision as crucial to free speech, a federal judge ruled in favor of conservative self-described guerrilla journalists sued for libel after a 2016 Trump rally here.

In a May 22 directed verdict, Judge Martin Reidinger said the First Amendment protected a video Project Veritas and founder James O'Keefe made about the alleged assault of a disabled woman after the Asheville rally. That was despite criticism of the group's journalism, Reidinger said in the in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina Asheville Division.

"The court is being asked to walk a very fine line," between imposing some degree of "media responsibility and the free exchange of ideas," he said. But in this case, he said the plaintiff Shirley Teeter, 71, who claimed she was slandered in the video, failed to show evidence of actual malice.

First Amendment latitude for media

The Constitution gives broad latitude for media and critics to express views "particularly on issues of great public importance," Reidinger said, noting this case dealt with a presidential election.

Reidinger took the unusual step of giving the verdict before the jury heard the defendants' evidence. That came despite what he said was his strong bias toward juries.

O'Keefe, known for deceptive techniques, such as disguises and hidden cameras used to uncover what he says is liberal bias and corruption, was emotional after the decision, wiping back tears and hugging Veritas Executive Director Russell Verney.

"For a decade I've been accused of lying about what people say," O'Keefe said. "This feels like justice."

Teter left the courtroom with an oxygen system she said she uses for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She turned after she was asked a question but was advised by her attorney not to comment.

O'Keefe said the First Amendment itself had been on trial and criticized the lack of coverage from many media outlets.

More:Asheville woman in Trump rally incident suing conservative activist O'Keefe, Project Veritas

He said seven recent lawsuits brought against him and Veritas were a coordinated political effort to stifle the group, known for targeting liberal organizations and officials such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — which folded after the airing of a Veritas video — and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, leading to O'Keefe's arrest after dressing as a telephone repairman and pleading guilty to entering a federal building under false pretenses.

Alleged assault and video

Teter gained national attention in the chaotic aftermath of the Sept. 12, 2016, Trump rally at the U.S. Cellular Center.

According to Teter, she walked with her oxygen tank from her nearby senior housing complex to join protesters outside. As rallygoers exited, she was knocked to the ground, witnesses and police said. A South Carolina man was arrested days afterward but charges were later dropped.

A month later Veritas released an online video purporting to show Democratic operatives describing a plan to incite violence at Trump rallies. The heavily edited video led to Wisconsin-based Democratic activist Scott Foval cutting ties with the Democratic National Committee.

The video, which featured Foval, described plans to position supporters in event locations so they could ask Trump questions while reporters were nearby, Teter's attorneys said in court filings.

At one point in the video a narrator says Foval identified Teter as a "bird dog," a type of plant used at rallies. Foval can be heard in the heavily edited video saying "she was one of our activists," though he doesn't say "she" is Teter.

Teter files lawsuit

In her lawsuit filed Sept. 14, 2017, Teter said Veritas made deceptive claims she was acting as a Democratic operative at the rally.

Her attorney said the video, and a later one focused on Teter, omitted Foval telling interviewers pretending to work for a wealthy donor that Teter's assault "was not preplanned" and "we haven't paid a single person to get beat up at a rally."

Teter said she came to fear for her and her family's safety after threatening messages left online with the video, including one saying her oxygen should be cut.

In the May 22 verdict Reidinger said viewing the raw video did in fact show Foval was talking about Teter.

"We keep the original video," O'Keefe said after the verdict. He and Verney, the Veritas executive director said they could not vouch for the truth of Foval's statements. Asked why they didn't reach out to Teter, Verney said, "she wasn't the focus."

In a motion before the verdict, Teter's attorneys said that type of journalism showed "a preconceived storyline, a failure to investigate Ms. Teter" and "reliance on an unreliable source" — all reasons for Veritas to have awareness the statements were probably false.

But Reidinger said the order in which the videos were taken of Foval over several months showed there wasn't a preconceived storyline. Statements Foval made were against his own interest, meaning they had a better chance of being true, the judge said.

There's also no legal requirement for journalists to interview in certain ways, he said.

"It is setting a standard of interview for a journalist. Even attorneys are not held to that standard."

Those claims by the plaintiff's, he said, were "the thinnest of thin reads."