By Canadian Press

Jury: No defamation from Roy Moore or woman who accused him

Feb 2, 2022 | 10:48 AM

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A jury on Wednesday found that no defamation occurred between former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore and the woman who accused him of molesting her when she was 14.

The former Alabama judge and Leigh Corfman had filed dueling defamation lawsuits over the allegations that rocked his 2017 U.S. Senate race.

Corfman maintains 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.

After meeting for about an hour Tuesday on the claims by Moore and Leigh Corfman, the jury asked to go home and view videos that were introduced as evidence when they returned. The videos show statements Moore made at campaign events and in media interviews denying the accusations.

Jurors Wednesday asked for a definition of defamation under state law. Circuit Judge John Rochester repeated instructions on the law, including that to find defamation, jurors must determine that Moore or Corfman made false public statements — either knowingly or with reckless disregard for the truth — that damaged the reputation of the other.

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Although Corfman was seeking only a declaration that she was defamed, Moore was asking for money.

Corfman’s allegations, first reported by The Washington Post, upended Moore’s Republican campaign in 2017 and he lost to Doug Jones, a former federal prosecutor 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.

Moore, a conservative Christian known as the “Ten Commandment judge” for displaying the Old Testament laws in courthouses, was twice removed as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for violating judicial ethics rules.

The Associated Press

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