Two Sarah Palins depicted at trial

“It kicked the oomph right outta ya.”

That’s what Sarah Palin said on the stand Monday—deploying the folksiness that’s propelled her—about reading a New York Times article she says amounted to libel.

Jurors heard competing versions of who she is ahead of summations Tuesday.

She painted herself as a civic-minded public servant and devoted mom who still lives in the small town where she grew up (Wasilla, Alaska, for those who don’t remember her 2008 vice presidential run). In Palin’s telling, her public image—and sense of self—was tarnished by the 2017 article linking her to the shooting of then-Rep. Gabby ...