Singer voices support for victims
DENVER, Colorado — Immediately after a jury determined that Taylor Swift had been groped by a radio station host before a concert, the singer-songwriter turned to one of her closest allies — her mother — and said she hoped the verdict would inspire other victims of sexual assault.
Swift hugged her crying mother after the six-woman, two-man jury said in US District Court on Monday that former Denver DJ David Mueller had groped the pop star during a photo op four years ago. Per Swift’s request, jurors awarded her $1 in damages — a sum her attorney, Douglas Baldridge, called “a single symbolic dollar, the value of which is immeasurable to all women in this situation”.
In a statement, Swift thanked her attorneys “for fighting for me and anyone who feels silenced by a sexual assault”.
“I acknowledge the privilege that I benefit from in life, in society and in my ability to shoulder the enormous cost of defending myself in a trial like this.
“My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard.”
She added that she would make donations to organizations that help sexual assault victims defend themselves.
Nancy Leong, a law professor at the University of Denver, said the verdict is important because “we are getting to the point in society that women are believed in court. For many decades and centuries, that was not the case”.
“The fact that she was believed will allow women to understand that they will not automatically be disbelieved, and I think that’s a good thing.”
Swift and her mother, Andrea, initially tried to keep the accusation quiet by reporting the incident to Mueller’s bosses and not the police.
I acknowledge the privilege that I benefit from in life ... My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard.” Taylor Swift, singer
But it inevitably became public when Mueller sued Swift for up to $3 million, claiming the allegation cost him his $150,000-a-year job at country station KYGO-FM, where he was a morning host.
“I’ve been trying to clear my name for four years,” he said after the verdict in explaining why he took Swift to court. “Civil court is the only option I had. This is the only way that I could be heard.”
Swift countersued for assault and battery, claiming she was groped by Mueller, an allegation he emphatically denied.
He insisted that he touched only her ribs and may have brushed the outside of her skirt as they awkwardly posed for the picture.
Jurors rejected Mueller’s claims that Andrea Swift and radio liaison Frank Bell cost him his job.
On Friday, US District Judge William Martinez dismissed similar claims against Taylor Swift, ruling Mueller’s team failed to offer evidence that the then-23-year-old superstar did anything more than report the incident to her team, including her mother.