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Mayor Murray sexual abuse lawsuit dropped

One month after Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced he would not seek reelection, the sexual abuse lawsuit at the center of his decision has been dropped.

In a court decision filed Tuesday, a King County Superior Court judge granted the motion from Lincoln C. Beauregard, the lawyer for accuser Delvonn Heckard, to drop the suit.

Murray’s June announcement that he would end his reelection bid effectively began the final chapter of his more than 20-year his political career with an abrupt last few months in office and helped spur a host of filings for candidates to take over at City Hall.

The Murray office says the mayor will make a statement Wednesday afternoon. Murray has denied the allegations and accused the victim and lawyer of being part of a political conspiracy attacking the city’s first openly gay mayor.

In April, the civil lawsuit targeted the 61-year-old Murray over allegations he sexually abused a drug-addicted teen he met on Capitol Hill in the 1980s before Murray launched his political career.

UPDATE: In a media conference Wednesday afternoon, Murray did not rule out restarting his reelection campaign. The rules for an official King County write-in campaign are here. Below is a statement issued by Murray attacking his accuser’s lawyer for the “shameful episode” —

Frankly, the disgraceful and destructive actions of opposing counsel are the real story here.

He’s been dead wrong on the facts he’s asserted about the mayor. His disregard for legal norms has gotten him sanctioned twice by the judge. And the day before his client is scheduled to answer written questions under oath, he withdraws the case.

It is extremely disappointing that a publicity-seeking attorney put the city through this shameful episode in the first place. More than that, it is shocking to our democracy for Lincoln Beauregard to declare, as he did on Twitter today, that, in denying Seattle voters the choice to re-elect a popular and successful mayor, justice has been served.

Seattle residents and the legal system ought to be extremely concerned about the sequence of events that led to the filing of lawsuit and its ultimate dismissal today.

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Bob Knudson
Bob Knudson
6 years ago

Murray may very well have a valid beef with opposing counsel, but to call himself a “popular and successful mayor” is quite a stretch.

Sean
Sean
6 years ago

Agreed. He’s the poster child of low voter turn out where a hard core progressive 15% of city voters tip an election. He brought us anything goes development and rising unaffordability, but hey, his base got more bike lanes and painted crosswalks.

Intersectional Ape
Intersectional Ape
6 years ago

And Murray’s flawless scrotum is vindicated!