Former DJ David Mueller denies touching Swift's buttocks and claims he may have touched the pop singer's 'rib cage or a rib, ribs.'
- Aug 9, 2017
AceShowbiz - The Taylor Swift groping trial continued on Tuesday, August 8 with opening statements from both parties. On day 2 of the trial against former DJ David Mueller, the country-turned-pop superstar remained calm as her mom Andrea got emotional.
Andrea, who sat next to Swift in the courtroom, is also a co-defendant in the case. She was crying and dabbed at her cheeks during the opening statements. Swift, meanwhile, occasionally glanced over to fans who came to support her in the courtroom gallery.
Mueller's attorney Gabriel McFarland said that his client "unequivocally denies he inappropriately touched Taylor Swift." He added that "inappropriate touching is wrong and offensive," but "falsely accusing someone ... is equally wrong."
When McFarland asked his client where and how exactly the contact between Mueller and Swift occurred, Mueller said, "My hand came into contact with part of her body. I felt what appeared to be or seemed to be a rib cage or a rib, ribs." He also said that his hand and Swift's hand touched when they posed together.
When asked if he had filed a claim against Swift for financial gain, Mueller said it's a "humiliating thing to be accused of something that despicable."
Swift's lawyer Douglas Baldridge, meanwhile, insisted that "Mr. Mueller grabbed her rear end." He added, "A woman is assaulted. She reports it and she gets sued ... it doesn’t make sense." He showed a photo of the incident, in which Mueller's hand is positioned out of sight but behind Swift.
Swift's lawyer also told the jury panel, which is made up of two men and six women, that the singer told someone on her team, "Dude, that guy just grabbed my ass," right after the incident in 2013. Baldridge additionally pointed out that Mueller destroyed taped conversations about it with his bosses who fired him.
Mueller's lawyer insisted, "If you look at that photograph, his hand is not underneath Miss Swift's skirt, and her skirt is not rumpled in any fashion." Mueller additionally accused Swift of acting "cold and standoffish" toward him even before the alleged incident.
"When she didn't invite me over to pose with the photograph, I considered that cold and standoffish toward me," Mueller recounted during Tuesday's testimony. "She wasn't that way toward Shannon. I think everyone deserves professional respect. She didn't welcome me to the photograph."
Mueller was fired by his radio station after being accused of touching Swift's "bare bottom" during a photo session at a meet-and-greet in Denver in 2013. Mueller sued Swift, her mother Andrea and her management team in 2015, accusing them of slander and getting him fired.
Swift then countersued him, seeking $1 "to let people know you can say no and that grabbing a woman's rear is an assault." Swift stated that any money she wins will be donated to "charitable organizations dedicated to protecting women from similar acts of sexual assault and personal disregard."
