Don Cram

Lead, Lay, and Lie

Frankly, one must memorize these or avoid their use. Here are the present, past, and perfect (do, did, have done):

Lead, led, led
Lay, laid, laid
Lie, lay, lain

You cannot lead others while you lie on a bed unless you lay down your responsibilities like dropping a piece of lead.

Either is fine, the former being more common.

A defamatory voiced statement is slander. Libel must be published in writing, picture, or some other form. To be libelous, it must be intentionally inaccurate. It is the wrongness that makes something libelous, not the intentions of the perpetrator.