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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
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Judge Sanctions Attorney for Seattle Mayor’s Sex-Abuse Accuser

A state judge in Seattle has fined an attorney representing Mayor Ed Murray’s accuser in a sexual abuse lawsuit $5,000 for filing frivolous court documents.

SEATTLE (CN) — A state judge in Seattle has fined an attorney representing Mayor Ed Murray’s accuser in a sexual abuse lawsuit $5,000 for filing frivolous court documents.

Murray’s attorney Malaika Eaton filed a motion for sanctions against Lincoln Beauregard, who represents Murray’s accuser Delvonn Heckard, on April 25, saying Beauregard is filing court documents improperly “to generate publicity.”

In an oral ruling Thursday, King County Superior Court Judge Veronica Alicea-Galvan said Beauregard’s filing of sensitive court documents was “troubling” and violated rules of professional conduct.

Beauregard has 10 days to pay the $5,000.

He said he will pay the fine but appeal the ruling.

“The wonderful thing about the situation is that we can now focus on the merits of this case,” Beauregard said in a news conference Thursday.

Jeff Reading, Murray’s personal spokesman, said in a statement that the judge was clearly so “disturbed by opposing counsel’s antics” as to approve sanctions.

“Mayor Murray deserves a right to due process, and it is our hope that the court’s actions today will prevent opposing counsel from further undermining this basic right,” Reading said.

Beauregard filed a declaration this week from another man who says the mayor paid him for sex when the informant was a teenager.

The latest court filing is a handwritten declaration by Maurice Jones, who is in jail, claiming Murray “was known for patronizing child prostitutes” and paid him for sex when he was underage.

“I am not part of any right-wing conspiracy. I am also gay,” Jones, who is in jail on drug charges, wrote in the declaration.

Murray wrote in an opinion column in a weekly newspaper that right-wing organizations have played a part in the lawsuit against him. He cited contributions to an initiative limiting transgender bathroom access by the head of the law firm representing Murray’s accuser.

Beauregard said in a brief filed with the court that any attempt to curtail his filings would violate the First Amendment.

“In your correspondence, you took issue with my filing letters with the Court. To be clear, you have a reputation of spitting vitriol in your correspondence against your opponents. We believe it is appropriate to keep a public record in that regard. The world will be reading your letters, and see that you cannot be civil. In relation to grandstanding, filing a letter with the Court file is inferior to hosting a press conference and baselessly accusing your opposing counsel of being part of a vast right-wing conspiracy. I realize that you are likely embarrassed at how that went, and how you looked so silly on television asserting such foolishness. Let’s please keep things on the merits, and about our clients. Have a great weekend!” Beauregard wrote in a filed response.

Beauregard also has filed a subpoena to depose Murray’s staff member Maggie Thompson, alleging she was involved in “cover up efforts” with Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole involving a police call to the mayor’s home.

According to the subpoena, an unnamed source said police responded to a suspicious-person call at the mayor’s residence and found a shirtless man in the front yard of the mayor’s house demanding his wallet and other belongings that were inside.

A spokesman for Murray called the subpoena “outlandish.”

Heckard claims Murray abused him when he was a homeless teenager in the 1980s. He filed a civil suit on April 6 in King County Court.

The salacious complaint graphically describes Murray’s sexual encounters with Heckard and refers to a distinctive mole on the mayor’s genitals.

Murray, who adamantly denies the allegations, had a medical exam after the complaint was filed and doctors can confirm there is no growth, mole or “evidence of prior surgery or dermatologic procedures” that would have removed the growth, according to a medical report released by Murray’s attorneys.

In an amended request for a deposition, Beauregard says Murray can expect questions about the medical exam and that “medical causes could include multiple medical complications stemming from having promiscuous sex with multiple child prostitutes. Bumps, warts, and/or moles do not always remain 30-years, depending upon the root cause.”

Murray is to be deposed on July 14.

Categories / Government, Law, Regional

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