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Freeman testified Wednesday that she was terrorized by Trump supporters and compelled to maneuver from her dwelling due to Giuliani’s smears. “I used to be scared to come back dwelling at darkish, you realize,” a visibly emotional Freeman mentioned on the witness stand. “I used to be simply scared, I knew I needed to transfer.”
Their legal professional, Michael Gottlieb, mentioned in his closing argument that Giuliani had “no proper to supply up defenseless civil servants as much as a digital mob in an effort to overturn an election.” He urged the jurors to “ship a message” with their verdict.
He mentioned the mom and daughter ought to every get at the least $24 million in damages for Giuliani’s defamatory statements, in addition to extra cash for intentional infliction of emotional misery and punitive damages claims.
Giuliani, who led Trump’s authorized crew after his 2020 election loss, initially mentioned he would testify within the case, however in the end determined towards it.
In his opening assertion, Giuliani legal professional Joseph Sibley mentioned a big verdict could be the “civil equal of the dying penalty” for his shopper. “It could be the tip of Mr. Giuliani,” Sibley mentioned.
He acknowledged in his closing argument that “my shopper has dedicated wrongful conduct towards” the pair and had “harmed” them, however requested the jury to remember the nice Giuliani had performed in his lifetime.
He instructed them the message he believed they need to ship is, “It’s best to have been higher, however you’re not as unhealthy because the plaintiffs are making you out to be.”
The one difficulty the jury needed to decide was cash damages.
U.S. District Decide Beryl Howell in August discovered Giuliani liable for defaming the pair after the defendant repeatedly snubbed courtroom orders to show over required proof to Freeman and Moss.
“Simply as taking shortcuts to win an election carries dangers — even potential felony legal responsibility — bypassing the invention course of carries critical sanctions,” she added.
Giuliani had repeatedly accused the pair of election fraud within the wake of Trump’s loss in Georgia, and circulated a quick, closely edited clip of safety footage that he instructed a legislative committee in Georgia confirmed them passing USB drives “like vials of heroin or cocaine” throughout ballot-counting operations. Moss mentioned the “USB drive” was really a ginger mint.
Regardless of findings from the pair’s former bosses and a yearslong investigation that they did nothing flawed, Giuliani has continued to accuse them of being fraudsters. In remarks to reporters after the primary day of trial on Monday, Giuliani mentioned, “Once I testify, you’ll get the entire story, and it is going to be definitively clear what I mentioned was true.”
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