Testimony drew to a close Tuesday in the dueling defamation lawsuits brought by former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore and the woman who accused him of sexual misconduct when she was a teen.
Circuit Judge John Rochester told jurors that they will hear closing arguments after lunch.
Leigh Corfman maintains that Moore sexually touched her in 1979 when she was 14 and he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney. Corfman filed suit alleging Moore defamed her by branding her a liar when he denied the accusations during the 2017 U.S. Senate race. Moore countersued, claiming Corfman injured his reputation with false allegations meant to hurt him politically. Jurors will decide both claims at the trial.
Final testimony in the case centered on whether a retired lawyer’s memory could corroborate testimony from Corfman's mother that Moore met the teen outside a courtroom while her mother attended a 1979 custody hearing. Moore testified that he never met Corfman or her mother.
Retired attorney Charles Boyd of Gadsden testified that he remembered Moore sitting with a teenage Corfman outside a courtroom while he represented her mother at a custody hearing. However, on cross-examination Boyd conceded that he might be mistaken about the year.
“Mrs. Corfman’s daughter was sitting out there, and Roy was with her,” Boyd testified.
He said Moore said something about how the girl, “didn't need to be in there” while her parents discussed custody. Boyd said, “it struck me as odd” that the assistant district attorney would offer to sit with the girl.
However, Moore’s attorneys on cross-examination tried to cast doubt on the recollection of the 79-year-old lawyer. They noted available court records show he represented Corfman’s mother in 1980 and another attorney’s name was on the petition that led to the 1979 hearing.
Boyd conceded he might be mistaken about the year. "It was a long time ago," Boyd said during cross-examination.
Nancy Wells, Corfman’s mother, testified Tuesday that she was certain Moore offered to sit with her daughter and that Boyd represented her in 1979 and 1980.
The allegations roiled Moore’s campaign and he ended up losing to Doug Jones who became the first Alabama Democrat elected to the Senate in 25 years. Jones lost the next election to Republican Tommy Tuberville who now holds the Senate seat.
