Jury: Democratic PAC defamed Roy Moore, awards him $8.2M
A federal jury awarded Republican Roy Moore $8.2 million in damages Friday after finding a Democratic-aligned super PAC defamed him in a TV ad recounting sexual misconduct accusations during his failed 2017 U.S. Senate bid in Alabama. Jurors found the Senate Majority PAC made false and defamatory statements against Moore in one ad that attempted to highlight the accusations against Moore. The verdict, returned by a jury after a brief trial in Anniston, Alabama, was a victory for Moore, who has lost other defamation lawsuits, including one against comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. “We’re very thankful to God for an opportunity to help restore my reputation, which was severely damaged by the 2017 election,” Moore said in a telephone interview. Ben Stafford, an attorney representing Senate Majority PAC, said in an emailed statement that they believe the ruling would be overturned on appeal. Moore, a former Republican judge known for his hardline stances opposing same-sex marriage and supporting the public display of Ten Commandments, lost the 2017 Senate race after his campaign was rocked by misconduct allegations against him. Leigh Corfman told The Washington Post and said Moore sexually touched her in 1979 when she was 14 and he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney. Moore denied the accusation. Other women said Moore dated them or asked them out on dates when they were older teens. The accusations against Moore contributed to his loss to Democrat Doug Jones, the first Democrat to represent Alabama in the Senate in a quarter-century. The seat returned to Republican control with the 2020 election of Tommy Tuberville, a former college football coach. Senate Majority PAC funded a group called Highway 31 that ran a $4 million advertising blitz against Moore. The lawsuit centered on one TV commercial that recounted accusations against Moore. Moore’s attorneys argued the ad, through the juxtaposition of statements, falsely claimed he solicited sex from young girls at a shopping mall, including another 14-year-old who was working as a Santa’s helper, and that resulted in him being banned from the mall. The advertisement began with: “What do people who know Roy Moore say?” It followed with the statements “Moore was actually banned from the Gadsden mall … for soliciting sex from young girls” and “One he approached was 14 and working as Santa’s helper.” Wendy Miller had previously testified that she met Moore when she was 14 and working as a Santa’s helper at the local mall. She testified Moore told her she was pretty, asked her where she went to high school, and offered to buy her a soda. He asked her out two years later, but her mother told her she could not go. Moore’s attorneys argued the juxtaposition of statements in the ad painted Moore in a false light and falsely made it look like he was soliciting sex from girls at the mall. “In their ad, they strung quotes together to make a single statement. That’s what the jury found offensive. They got up and lied and said they didn’t intend that,” Jeffrey Scott Wittenbrink, an attorney for Moore, said. The Senate Majority PAC had argued the ad was substantially true and that there were widespread reports about Moore’s inappropriate behavior at the mall. An attorney said they planned to appeal. According to a Thursday court filing from Senate Majority, a Gadsden police officer who worked as security at the Gadsden Mall in the late 1970s — J.D. Thomas — testified that he told Moore not to return to the mall after receiving complaints from store managers that Moore was asking out teen employees or making them uncomfortable. Moore maintained he was never banned from the mall. “No amount of deflection or distraction from Roy Moore will change the fact that multiple individuals testified under oath to corroborate credible accusations against him. Many others have come forward to make their allegations public, at serious personal cost. We do not think this verdict is the right decision, but we believe the facts are clear, and this ruling will be overturned on appeal,” Stafford, an attorney representing Senate Majority PAC, said in an emailed statement. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
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.
