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Judge Seals Shocking New Filing in Jerry Jones Case

DALLAS (CN) - The woman accusing Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones of sexual assault amended her petition to now say that Jones had paid her for four years to keep her quiet, but a judge quickly sealed the new filing.

Jana Weckerly, of Ardmore, Okla., sued Jones and the Cowboys on Sept. 8. She claims to have taken the racy photos of Jones with two other women at a Dallas hotel that made headlines when leaked in August. One of the photographs shows Jones grabbing the chest of an unidentified blond woman from behind. Another image shows Jones holding an unidentified dark-haired woman's face against his crotch.

Weckerly accuses Jones of touching her buttocks and breasts several times that night in May or June 2009. She says he also "forcibly kissed" her without consent and forced her to watch him receive oral sex, among other things. Jones and the team threatened, bullied and intimidated her into keeping quiet "or else," the complaint alleges.

Weckerly filed an amended complaint Monday, but Dallas County District Judge Dale Tillery sealed it hours later. The filing alleges Jones and the Cowboys sent payments to her bank accounts from 2009 through July 2013.

"Proof of the payments are supported by plaintiff's bank records," the heavily-redacted, 15-page amended petition states. "Defendants demanded and plaintiff gave them the cell phone memory card which contained the photographs she took the night of the sexual assault. It is plaintiff's contention that all photographs taken by her the night of the sexual assault were evidence and would surely be considered evidence by the appropriate law enforcement authorities."

Jones' attorney, Levi McCathern in Dallas, and his law practice have since been added as defendants in the lawsuit.

McCathern has denounced the allegations as "completely false" and a "money grab." Jones will "vigorously contest" the lawsuit, he said on Sept. 9.

"The legal complaint is unsupported by facts or evidence of any kind," McCathern said at the time. "This is nothing more than an attempt to embarrass and extort Jerry Jones. This is a shakedown by a lawyer who is a solo practitioner just trying to make a name for himself. The alleged incidents would have been more than five years old."

The serious nature of the "baseless" allegations also prompted Jones to contact law enforcement, McCathern added.

In asking for the amended petition to be sealed, Jones' attorneys at Shamoun and Norman said the "accusations shock the conscience and are extremely inflammatory."

"The sealing of these records does not have an adverse effect on general public health or safety, as the accusations made are being used solely for scandalous and libelous purposes," the motion signed by attorney C. Gregory Shamoun states. "In addition, no less restrictive means than sealing records will adequately and effectively protect the specific interest asserted because any public access to the accusations and information contained in the pleadings, with no evidence of their merit, would cause and has caused immediate and irreparable harm to defendants, to defendant's family, to defendants' reputation in the community, and would result in incalculable damage to defendants' business interests."

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