ANNISTON, Ala. (Legal Newsline) – A jury must decide whether former U.S. Senate hopeful Roy Moore was defamed when a political action committee aired advertisements in Alabama that said he was banned from his local mall for soliciting sex from young girls.
Alabama federal judge Corey Maze, of the Northern District of Alabama, on May 31 rejected the motion for summary judgment by Senate Majority PAC and Waterfront Strategies, finding questions remain on Moore’s two remaining claims: defamation and invasion of privacy-false light.
At issue is an ad that ran during the final weeks of the 2017 election to fill the vacated seat of Jeff Sessions, who had resigned to become U.S. attorney general.
Quoting from news reports, the ad read:
“Moore was actually banned from the Gadsden Mall . . . for soliciting sex from young girls.”
–New American Journal, 11/12/2017
“One he approached ‘was 14 and working as Santa’s helper.’”
–AL.com, 11/13/2017
Senate Majority PAC and Waterfront Strategies countered the ad was true when the statements were read separately (Moore said they had to be taken as one because they were displayed together and that he’d never solicited sex from the girl working as Santa’s helper).
“(V)iewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Moore, the court finds that telling viewers that Moore was banned from the mall for soliciting sex from a 14-year—old Santa’s Helper is more stinging than telling viewers that Moore complimented a 14-year-old girl on her appearance or telling them more generally that Moore was banned from the mall for soliciting young girls,” Maze wrote.
“The jury must decide whether the substance or sting of the juxtaposed ad was justified.”
The defendants also argued they reasonably believed Moore, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, had solicited sex from the girl, Wendy Miller. They claimed given the news coverage of his behavior at the Gadsden Mall, Moore must have been in the process of soliciting a physical relationship when he told her she was pretty.
“But just like the defendants’ intent is a question of fact for the jury, the defendants’ belief about Moore’s intent when he approached Miller is a question of fact for the jury decide,” Maze wrote.
Miller told the Washington Post that Moore asked her out on dates in the presence of her mother when she was 16 years old.