‘A multitude of civil lawsuits.’ Covington Catholic student’s family lawyers up.

The family of Nick Sandmann, the Covington Catholic High School student who became the center of a national controversy over his interaction with a Native American man in Washington, D.C., last weekend, has hired a prominent lawyer to represent him.

Atlanta-based attorney Lin Wood and Kentucky attorney Todd McMurtry said in a news release Friday afternoon that they expect to file “a multitude of civil lawsuits” on Sandmann’s behalf.

Videos that went viral over the weekend showed Sandmann, wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap, and the Native American man, Nathan Phillips, standing face to face in close proximity to one another as Phillips beat a drum and sang a traditional song while Sandmann smiled. A group of young men around them laughed and danced.

Sandmann was part of a group of Covington Catholic students who attended the March for Life Friday. Phillips had attended the Indigenous Peoples March.

Social media users, representatives of the Indigenous Peoples March and the Catholic Diocese of Covington quickly condemned the behavior of the students, which appeared to be disrespectful toward the Native American.

Longer videos later emerged that showed more of the encounter, including a group of African American men called the Black Hebrew Israelites who hurled insults at both the high school students and Native Americans.

As more information emerged, many people came to the defense of the Kentucky students, saying they did nothing wrong.

On Friday, the bishop of the Covington diocese apologized to Sandmann and other Covington Catholic students for how the diocese responded to the incident, saying “we allowed ourselves to be bullied and pressured into making a statement prematurely.”

“Nicholas unfortunately has become the face of these allegations based on video clips. This is not fair. It is not just,” The Most Rev. Roger Foys said in a letter to Covington Catholic parents that was published by the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The diocese has promised a third-party investigation into what happened at the Lincoln Memorial.

“It is my hope and expectation that the results will exonerate our students so that they can move forward with their lives,” Foys wrote.

The story has highlighted the deep divisions fracturing the country.

And both Sandmann and Phillips have said they have received death threats as a result of the incident.

Sandmann’s attorneys said in the statement that they “will be carefully reviewing all of the false accusations and threats made against Nick.”

“A mob comprised of activists, church and school officials, members of the mainstream print and broadcast media, and individuals on social media, including elected public officials and celebrities, rushed to condemn and vilify this young man by burying him in an avalanche of false accusations, false portrayals, and cyberbullying that have threatened his reputation and his physical safety,” the statement said. “Nick Sandmann is 16 years old. He is an eleventh-grade high school student. He is not the face of evil and he did absolutely nothing wrong or inappropriate in connection with the incident to deserve the heinous accusations made against him by uninformed or agenda-driven individuals and media entities.”

The statement said Nick and his family will not be doing interviews with the media, but the law firm published an email where members of the public can send information “they believe is helpful to Nick.”

Wood has represented a number of people whose names rose to prominence when they were accused of wrongdoing. Many of the cases he has taken on have involved the media.

He represented the family of Richard Jewell, a suspect in the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. Jewell’s name was later cleared.

He represented former Rep. Gary Condit, (D-Calif.) who was a suspect in Chandra Levy’s 2001 murder in Washington, D.C.

And Wood represented the parents and brother of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey in defamation lawsuits filed after they were accused of involvement in the girl’s 1996 killing, which remains unsolved.

Earlier this month, Burke Ramsey, JonBenet’s brother, settled a lawsuit against CBS. Wood told NPR that he had represented John, Patsy and Burke Ramsey over a period of nearly 20 years.

“It is now my professional and personal wish for this family that they no longer suffer the pain of false accusations in the future. I sincerely hope the CBS case is my last lawsuit for these fine clients and friends,” he said at the time.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that McMurtry lives in Covington and represents Sandmann’s family.

According to a news release provided to the Enquirer by the law firm Hemmer DeFrank Wessels, Wood was chosen after McMurtry conducted a search for “a nationally-recognized attorney skilled in the fields of libel, defamation, and the First Amendment.”

This story was originally published January 25, 2019 at 6:36 PM.