Jury begins deliberations in Roy Moore defamation case
Jurors began deliberating Tuesday on dueling defamation claims filed by former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore and a woman who accused him of sexually molesting her decades ago when she was 14. An attorney for Leigh Corfman, whose account was first published by The Washington Post in 2017, told jurors in closing arguments that the case is ultimately about who they believe is telling the truth. “Who do you believe? Do you believe Leigh Corfman or do you believe Roy Moore?” attorney Jeff Doss asked. Corfman maintains that Moore sexually touched her in 1979 when she was a teen and he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney. Corfman filed suit alleging Moore defamed her by branding her a liar when he denied the accusations. Moore countersued, claiming Corfman injured his reputation with false allegations meant to hurt him politically. Jurors will decide both claims at the trial. After meeting for about an hour, the jury asked to break for the day and view videos in evidence when they return Wednesday. The judge said they could. The panel did not indicate what videos they wanted to see. Moore attorney Julian McPhillips told jurors that the accusations, raised during the 2017 Senate race in Alabama, “put Mr. Moore and his family through holy hell.” “She couldn’t have hurt Roy Moore more if she had shot him with a gun, shot him through the heart,” McPhillips said of Corfman. Corfman said she met Moore at the Gadsden courthouse when he offered to sit with her while her parents were in a custody hearing. She said he asked for her telephone number and twice brought her to his home. On one occasion, she said, he took off her clothes and touched her over her bra and panties. Moore testified that the accusation was false and denied that he knew Corfman. Attorneys in closing arguments gave diverging views about the truth and who was damaged in the wake of the accusation that rocked the Senate race. “Your verdict will send a powerful message to Roy Moore that the truth still matters,” Doss said. Melody Eagan, another of Corfman’s attorneys, said Moore victimized Corfman twice: once in 1979 and again in 2017 when he “drug her good name through the mud.” Moore’s attorneys asked jurors to find that Corfman defamed the former Alabama judge with the accusation that seemingly brought an end to his political career and led to national scorn. McPhillips suggested the accusation was the product of either teenage imagination or politics. Moore is asking the jury to award him monetary damages. “If there was any truth to this or any motive that was good or decent, it would have come out long before — long before 32 days before an election,” McPhillips said. Corfman’s attorneys told jurors her account is corroborated by other testimony. Two childhood friends testified during the trial that Corfman as a young teen told them she was seeing an older, adult man, and one said she named Moore. Corfman’s mother and an attorney testified that Moore sat with Corfman outside a 1979 custody hearing, although attorney Charles Boyd conceded on cross-examination that he might be wrong about the year. Corfman’s attorneys presented the testimony of two women who said they dated Moore as teens and three others who said Moore asked them out when they were teens. Wendy Miller testified that Moore asked her out when she was 15 or 16, although she wasn’t sure if Moore knew her age. Another testified that Moore called her high school when she was in trigonometry class after meeting her at the mall. Moore’s attorneys noted in closing arguments that none of the women alleged wrongdoing by Moore. “I don’t know when it became a crime to date people,” McPhillips said during closing arguments. McPhillips appeared to downplay the accusation at one point, saying the alleged touching was “child’s play” to what two former presidents have been accused of doing. He did not elaborate. Eagan responded in her closing argument that she was horrified McPhillips used that phrase when discussing the touching of a 14-year-old girl “over her bra and over her panties.” Corfman’s allegations roiled Moore’s campaign and he ended up losing to Doug Jones, who became the first Alabama Democrat elected to the Senate in 25 years. Jones lost the next election to Republican Tommy Tuberville, who now holds the Senate seat. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Dueling defamation suits: Woman testifies against Roy Moore
A woman who accused failed U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of molesting her decades ago when she was 14 testified Tuesday that Moore “knows that it happened” despite his public denials. Leigh Corfman took the witness stand in a trial dealing with dueling defamation lawsuits that she and Moore filed against each other in the wake of a sexual misconduct allegation that rocked the 2017 U.S. Senate race in Alabama. Corfman testified about meeting Moore in 1979 when she was 14 and how he touched her after bringing her to his home. At one point, Corfman stared from the witness stand at Moore, who stared back at her. “It did happen, and he knows that it happened,” Corfman said. She said his denials damaged her reputation. “He has done everything possible to damage my veracity, the truth of my words, the statements I have made about his sexual molestation of me at 14. He knows just as well as I do that he was there,” Corfman testified. The allegations overshadowed the conservative Republican during the 2017 campaign as Moore ultimately fell in a stunning red state defeat to Doug Jones, the first Alabama Democrat elected to the Senate in 25 years. Republican Tommy Tuberville defeated Jones in the next election. Corfman testified that she decided to tell her story in 2017 when approached by a reporter from The Washington Post. Attempting to link the accusation to political motivations, Moore’s attorney Melissa Isaak, questioned Corfman during cross-examination on whether she hoped Moore would lose the 2017 election. Isaak also asked Corfman if she objected to her photo being used on anti-Moore campaign materials. “Well, I didn’t want to see my predator sitting in the Senate,” Corfman responded. Corfman conceded that Moore didn’t use the word liar to describe her but said he used words to the same effect. During opening statements, lawyers gave divergent views of Corfman and Moore and what happened in 1979. Lawyers for Moore told jurors that he doesn’t know Corfman, whom they described as being motivated by politics and a desire to be in the limelight. Julian McPhillips, an attorney representing Moore, told jurors that Moore had never even seen Corfman until they were in the same room for jury selection. “Judge Moore dared to prove his innocence. He dared to deny he even knew her,” McPhillips said. He suggested Corfman’s accusations were brought to keep Moore from winning the 2017 Senate race. “The political motivation should be clear; why else would she do it?” McPhillips said. Melody Eagan, an attorney representing Corfman, told jurors earlier that you have to decide who you believe.” She said Moore victimized Corfman twice: once in 1979 when he sexually touched her in his home when she was 14 and decades later in 2017 when he “defamed her by dragging her name through the mud.” Eagan said Corfman met Moore in 1979 when she was 14 and sitting with her mother outside an Etowah County courtroom for a custody hearing, and Moore, an assistant district attorney at the time, offered to sit with her. After getting her telephone number, Moore brought her to his home on two occasions, kissing her and taking off her clothes, Eagan said. “He touched Leigh over her bra. And he touched Leigh over her panties …. She was terrified,” Eagan said. Moore’s attorneys tried to put Corfman’s character on trial, calling her vindictive, attempting to question her about drug and alcohol use as a teen and adult, and questioning a decision by her mother, Nancy Wells, to let her daughter read Harlequin romance novels as a young teen. Wells, the first witness, said she had no doubt that it was Moore who approached her and her daughter at the courthouse in 1979. She said it was years later, when Corfman was an adult, that Corfman told her about what Moore had done. One of Corfman’s attorneys asked Wells if she had any personal knowledge of misconduct by Moore, who rose to prominence in state politics after hanging a Ten Commandments plaque on a courtroom wall. Moore was twice elected and removed as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. “I just have what my daughter told me,” Wells replied. It’s unclear how long the trial might last. While Corfman is seeking only a ruling that Moore defamed her, McPhillips said Moore is seeking monetary compensation. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Trial begins in accuser’s defamation case against Roy Moore
A jury was selected Monday in the defamation lawsuit filed by a woman who had accused failed U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of molesting her when she was 14. Leigh Corfman said Moore defamed her and made false statements as he denied her accusations during the 2017 U.S. Senate race in Alabama. The sexual misconduct allegations helped derail Moore’s hopes of winning the election. Moore, a Republican, lost the 2017 race to Doug Jones, the first Alabama Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in 25 years. Jones was defeated in the next election by Republican Tommy Tuberville. A jury of seven men and five women — plus four alternates -— was seated Monday. Opening arguments are expected Tuesday. Corfman said she was a teen when Moore, then a 32-year-old assistant district attorney, touched her sexually during a 1979 encounter. Corfman was one of several women who said Moore pursued them when they were teens, and he was an adult. Moore has denied the accusations and countersued Corfman and other accusers for defamation. Her attorney, Neil Roman, said Monday that Corfman “is excited that after four years of waiting, she finally gets to make her case to a jury of her peers.” “By this lawsuit, I seek to do what I could not do as a 14-year-old — hold Mr. Moore and those who enable him accountable,” Corfman said in a 2018 statement when the lawsuit was filed. Moore has denied Corfman’s accusations. His lawyers maintain that he only defended himself against the accusations. “We just want the truth to prevail,” Moore told reporters as he left the courtroom. His attorney, Julian McPhillips, called the case an extension of Corfman “hungering for the limelight.” Corfman and Moore sat with their attorneys as their respective lawyers questioned potential jurors about the case, including their views on Moore. Corfman’s attorney asked if any had donated to the legal group that Moore founded. Moore’s attorneys asked potential jurors about their views on gay marriage, the public display of the Ten Commandments. Moore was twice removed as Alabama’s chief justice for defying, or urging defiance, of court orders regarding same-sex marriage and the public display of the Ten Commandments in a state court building. Both lawyers for Corfman and Moore said they were pleased with the selected jury. McPhillips said Corfman’s attorneys used their strikes to remove white panelists, leaving an almost entirely Black jury to hear the case against Moore, who is white. Lawyers said Circuit Judge John E. Rochester on Monday denied Moore’s request to dismiss the lawsuit before it went to trial. Corfman had also sued Moore’s campaign, but a judge dismissed that defamation claim. Corfman and her mother have said that Moore first approached her as she waited outside a custody hearing at the Etowah County courthouse. Corfman said she later arranged to meet Moore, and he took her to his home, where he initiated the encounter. Corfman said he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes except for his underwear before touching her over her bra and underpants. Corfman’s accusation was first reported by The Washington Post. Moore’s campaign was roiled by the accusations as he sought the U.S. Senate seat previously held by former President Donald Trump’s one-time attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
