Taylor Swift’s Mom Testifies On Day Three Of Assault Trial

Jeff Kandyba via AP

Taylor Swift’s Mom Testifies On Day Three Of Assault Trial

Jeff Kandyba via AP

Taylor Swift’s mother said she and her daughter’s managers decided to tell the bosses of a radio DJ that he had assaulted the singer, hoping he would be fired but not asking them to do so.

Andrea Swift testified Wednesday in the civil trial in federal court in Denver that Swift told her that country music station KYGO DJ David Mueller had groped her during a meet-and-greet before a 2013 Denver concert. She said she didn’t contact police in order to protect her daughter, saying she didn’t want the incident to “define her life.”

Mueller denies groping Swift and sued her and her team for $3 million in damages for causing him to be fired for his job. Andrea Swift is a co-defendant in his lawsuit. Swift counter-sued for symbolic $1, alleging sexual assault and saying saying she wants to serve as an example to other assault victims.

In court proceedings that were delayed by nearly two hours for a closed evidentiary hearing, Swift’s attorney David Baldridge noted that Mueller said he lost an audio recording of a meeting he had with his bosses before they fired him. Baldridge also said several people noticed the pop star was upset after meeting with the former disc jockey, saying that Swift’s bodyguard Greg Dent had testified in a deposition that he had seen Mueller lift Swift’s skirt. Baldridge also quoted a deposition by Swift’s photographer Stephanie Simbeck, who said Swift uttered “that guy” had grabbed her behind. Both Dent and Simbeck are listed as possible witnesses in the Denver trial.

Baldridge repeatedly asked Mueller why his right hand is behind Swift in the pre-concert photo op, and showed the jury several photographs of fans meeting with Swift before the 2013 concert in Denver, pointing out another man who had his arm around Swift’s shoulder. Mueller acknowledged that the photo of him with his hand behind Swift is “weird and awkward,” but he insisted he was touching Swift in her ribs, not her rear, as she alleges. He said his hand was touching Swift’s skirt after he put his arm around her and their arms got crossed, and his hand was at rib-cage level and “apparently it went down.”

Baldridge had previously attacked the credibility of Mueller on Tuesday, asking why a woman who reports an assault would then get sued. Swift’s attorneys also say they aren’t trying to bankrupt the former Colorado DJ, but they do want others to know “that you can always say no.”

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