From McGillvary v. Hartley, decided Tuesday by Judge Ashley Royal (M.D. Ga.):
Pro se Plaintiff Caleb McGillvary is currently serving a 57-year sentence for first-degree murder. In February, 2013, McGillvary rose to internet fame as the "hatchet wielding hitchhiker" after he gave interviews to a local Fresno, California KMPH Fox News TV reporter in which McGillvary described "smash, smash, suh-mash[ing]" Jett Simmons McBride three times over the head with a hatchet after McBride crashed his car into a group of pedestrians and attacked bystanders at the scene ("KMPH Clip"). Fresno authorities concluded that Plaintiff used justifiable force in protection of the bystanders and cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Three months later, after gaining media notoriety for viral news interviews and media appearances, including an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Plaintiff was arrested for and ultimately convicted of murdering Joseph Galfy, Jr., a New Jersey attorney. Plaintiff's arrest was unrelated to the hatchet incident.
On January 10, 2023, Netflix released a documentary about McGillvary entitled The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker that described his background; interviewed those around him during his rise to fame; and detailed his subsequent murder conviction (the "Documentary"). Five days before the Documentary was released, on January 5, 2023, Defendants created and published an episode on their YouTube channel, "The Behavior Panel," wherein they analyzed the KMPH Clip and made statements about Plaintiff based on their assessment of his body language and behavior (the "YouTube Video"). This suit arises out of the comments made in the YouTube Video….
There's a lot more in the opinion, but here's a short excerpt of the legal analysis:
