Swift vindicated; jury decides she was groped
Taylor Swift has won. After just a few hours of deliberation, the jury in Swift’s groping trial reached a unanimous verdict Monday: They believe Swift was groped — assaulted and battered, in the legal terminology — by ex Denver radio DJ David Mueller in 2013.
Also, the jury decided that Swift’s mother, Andrea Swift, and a manager, Frank Bell, were not responsible for Mueller’s firing after the encounter, that they were within their rights to contact Mueller’s bosses about what Swift said happened to her during a photo op at a preconcert meet-and-greet.
The verdict by the six women and two men on the jury is a total vindication for Swift and her team, and a total loss for Mueller. The two have spent the last two years in a legal battle over their dueling lawsuits. The verdict comes at the end of a six-day trial in federal court in Denver.
After the verdict was read, Swift hugged her crying mother. Later, she issued a statement.
“I want to thank Judge William J. Martinez and the jury for their careful consideration, my attorneys Doug Baldridge, Danielle Foley, Jay Schaudies and Katie Wright for fighting for me and anyone who feels silenced by a sexual assault, and especially anyone who offered their support throughout this fouryear ordeal and two-year long trial process,” Swift said in a statement issued by her publicist, Tree Paine.
“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. Therefore, I will be making donations in the near future to multiple organizations that help sexual assault victims defend themselves.”
After the verdict, Mueller said suing Swift was his only option, according to The Associated Press.
“I’ve been trying to clear my name for four years,” he said in explaining why he took the singersongwriter to court. “Civil court is the only option I had. This is the only way that I could be heard.”
Swift was already a winner in the case: On Friday she was dropped as a defendant in Mueller’s 2015 lawsuit charging her with pressuring his Denver radio station KYGO to fire him for allegedly touching her inappropriately during the preconcert event.
Now she’s the winner in her countersuit against Mueller, in which she charged him with assault and battery in connection with the groping.
Swift will get the symbolic $1 she sought, and the chance to demonstrate that women can fight back against sexual assault, even if it’s belated and even if it’s not in criminal court.
Mueller, who sought compensation for loss of wages, will get nothing.
The verdict came after lawyers for Swift and Mueller continued the legal dueling in their closing arguments, which at one point brought Swift to tears.
“I don’t know what kind of man grabs or gropes a music superstar . ... But it’s not that guy,” Mueller’s lawyer, Gabriel McFarland said. He said the witnesses who testified they saw the groping, including Swift, were either lying or inconsistent in their stories.
“Nobody saw what Ms. Swift said happened ... because it didn’t happen,” McFarland said. Mueller’s story has never changed, he said, in that he has always claimed he was falsely accused.
He said a photo of the encounter — which Swift said proved her story — showed that Swift’s facial expression was proof she wasn’t upset at the time. Both Swift and Mueller were shown smiling in the photo.
At that point, Swift began crying.
Swift’s attorney, Douglas Baldridge, reminded the jury that no one presented any evidence that Swift made up her story.
“Ms. Swift’s story never changed. Ever. For four years,” he told the jury. He called Mueller’s lawsuit against Swift “audacious and ridiculous.”