USA TODAY US Edition

Taylor Swift wins groping trial

Unanimous verdict against ex-radio DJ David Mueller

- Maria Puente

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 legal terms — by ex-Denver radio DJ David Mueller in 2013.

Also, the jury decided that Swift’s mother, Andrea, and a manager, Frank Bell, were not responsibl­e for Mueller’s firing, 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 is a total vindica- tion for Swift and her team, and a total loss for Mueller. The two have spent the last two years in dueling civil lawsuits. The decision comes at the end of a six-day trial in federal court in Denver.

“I want to thank Judge William J. Martinez and the jury for their careful considerat­ion, my attorneys ... for fighting for me and anyone who feels silenced by a sexual assault, and especially any- one who offered their support throughout this four-year ordeal and two-year long trial process,” Swift said in a statement.

Swift already was a winner in the case: On Friday she was dropped as a defendant in Mueller’s 2015 lawsuit charging her with pressuring Denver radio station KYGO to fire him for alleged-

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AP
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LARRY BUSACCA, GETTY IMAGES

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