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Post by Webster on Dec 14, 2023 19:54:43 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Rudy Giuliani will not testifyIn a surprise development, Rudy Giuliani will not testify, according to his lawyers. The court is set to go straight into closing statements, the Guardian’s Sam Levine reports from the courthouse in Washington DC. Court to begin closing argumentsThe court will begin closing arguments, the Guardian’s Sam Levine reports from the courthouse in Washington DC. Rudy Giuliani will no longer testify. Plaintiffs' lawyer: 'After everything they went through, they stood up and said no more'Michael Gottlieb, a lawyer for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, is beginning his closing arguments in the case. “You now know how important names are to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, but you now know each of them amount to much more than their names,” he told the jury. He added: “Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, it turns out are miles and miles away from ordinary. They are heroes. After everything they went through, they stood up and they said no more. They opened themselves up to you and the public, and unlike some other people, they testified here under oath.”Giuliani had been expected to testify in the case, but his lawyer reversed and said he would not on Friday.
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Post by Webster on Dec 14, 2023 19:55:35 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Dec 14, 2023 19:56:14 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Dec 14, 2023 19:58:50 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Michael Gottlieb, one of the lawyers representing Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, has just completed his closing argument. In his final remarks, he asked the jury to send a message to other powerful people with whatever punitive damages it chose to levy against Rudy Giuliani. “The message is, ‘Don’t do it,’” he said. “He has no right to offer defenseless civil servants up to a virtual mob in order to overturn an election.” Gottlieb asked the jury to award Freeman and Moss $24m each in damages to repair the damage to their reputation from 16 defamatory statements Giuliani made about them. He asked the jury to use their discretion to determine punitive damages as well as much how much to award for intentional infliction of emotional distress. “Ruby Giuliani used his power to scapegoat Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss,” he said. “He didn’t see them as human beings.” Joe Sibley, Giuliani’s lawyer, is about to begin his closing statement.
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Post by Webster on Dec 14, 2023 19:59:36 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Dec 14, 2023 20:00:10 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Dec 14, 2023 20:02:16 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Closing arguments completedClosing arguments have now been completed in Rudy Giuliani’s defamation trial and US district judge Beryl Howell is reading instructions to the jury. Overall, the plaintiffs are asking for at least $24m in damages for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. They asked the jury to use their discretion to decide how much in additional damages to wayward. Michael Gottlieb, a lawyer for the pair, asked the jury to award an amount that would “send a message” to powerful figures who are seeking to spread lies about ordinary people like Moss and Freeman. In his own closing, Joeseph Sibley asked the jury to give a lesser award that was directly related to the documented amount of money the two women had lost. He also sought to distance Giuliani from the violent threats the women faced, placing the responsibility instead on the Gateway Pundit. “More likely than not, this is the party that sort of doxed these women,” he said. And he also asked the jury to judge Giuliani based not just on his conduct towards Moss and Freeman, but based on the totality of his career. He said: “Rudy Giuliani is a good man. I know that some of you may not think that. He hasn’t exactly helped himself with some of the things that have happened in the last few days,” he said. “The idea of him being a racist, or him encouraging racist activity, that’s really a low blow. That’s not who he is. He overcame negative stereotypes.”
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Post by Webster on Dec 14, 2023 20:03:02 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Dec 14, 2023 20:04:26 GMT -5
(The Guardian) With the jury in deliberations, here is the Guardian’s Sam Levine’s report on the plaintiffs’ plea to award them each with $24m in damages to repair their reputations: A Washington DC jury should “send a message” to other powerful people by granting substantial damages award against Rudy Giuliani for spreading lies about two Georgia election workers, a lawyer for the pair said.
“The message is don’t do it,” Michael Gottlieb, a lawyer representing Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, said in his closing statement to eight jurors on the fourth day of the defamation case. “They say when someone shows you who they are, believe them. Mr Giuliani has shown us over and over and over again that he will not take our clients names out of his mouth. Facts do not and will not stop him.
“He’s telegraphing that he will do this again. Believe him,” he said.
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Post by Webster on Dec 16, 2023 17:29:16 GMT -5
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