Giuliani defamation trial: Jury awards election workers nearly $150 million
The amount is three times as much as plaintiffs were seeking.
Following a week-long trial, a federal jury has ordered former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to pay nearly $150 million to former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss for defaming them with false accusations that the mother and daughter committed election fraud while the two were counting ballots in Georgia's Fulton County on Election Day in 2020.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in August awarded a default judgment to the two women, leaving the trial to determine the full scope of the damages and penalties. Freeman and Moss were seeking between $15.5 million and an amount in the $40 million range.
Top headlines:
- Jury awards Freeman, Moss $75 million apiece
- Freeman, Moss entitled to $24M each, attorney argues
- Giuliani won't testify, attorney says
- Freeman tearfully testifies she left her home due to threats
- Fixing plaintiffs' reputations will cost up to $47M, says expert
- Moss, through tears, describes life after Giuliani's accusations
- Georgia investigators dispel election fraud claims
- Judge blasts Giuliani for 'additional defamatory' remarks
- Expert describes racist content 'on a level we don't see'
Jury begins 2nd day of deliberations
Jurors have returned for a second day of deliberations to determine what damages Rudy Giuliani will have to pay Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss for targeting them with defamatory comments.
In closing arguments yesterday, an attorney for the mother and daughter asked the jury to award each woman $24 million.
"Send a message" that powerful figures can't "assassinate the character of ordinary people," plaintiffs' attorney Michael Gottlieb told jurors.
Giuliani attorney Joseph Sibley conceded that his client had wronged Freeman and Moss, but implored jurors to levy a more measured penalty than the "catastrophic" sum requested by the plaintiffs.
"Send a message to America that we can come together with compassion and sympathy," Sibley said. "And I think we need that."
Jury will continue deliberations on Friday
Jurors deliberated for more than three hours this afternoon without reaching a verdict on the amount of damages Rudy Giuliani will have to pay Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.
"The jury's ready to go home," Judge Howell told attorneys for both parties at 5 p.m. ET.
The jury will return Friday morning to continue their deliberations.
Jury asks for expert witness report, but judge declines
After more than two hours of deliberation, jurors submitted a question to the judge seeking access to a report prepared by communications expert Dr. Ashlee Humphrey, who testified for the plaintiffs.
Judge Beryl Howell reported that the jury submitted a note requesting to see Dr. Humphreys' complete report on the online reach of Rudy Giuliani's defamatory claims, as well as a PowerPoint presentation that was used by attorneys for plaintiffs Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss during arguments.
Because attorneys for Freeman and Moss did not enter the report or the slides into evidence, the judge denied the jury's request.
Jury members returned to their deliberations after the judge informed them of her response.
Keeping Giuliani off the stand was 'smart move,' says ex-prosecutor
As the jury deliberates how much Rudy Giuliani will have to pay for defaming former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, a former Georgia prosecutor says that Giuliani and his attorney may be trying to play the long game.
"Any time you concede liability in a trial to focus on damages, it's a difficult situation," said former Georgia prosecutor Chris Timmons, an ABC News contributor. "What they appear to be doing is suggesting the damages aren't that serious -- or at least aren't seven figures."
But Timmons suggested that a broader strategy might be at play -- one that protects Giuliani from legal exposure in other criminal matters and leaves open the door for appealing the result of this trial.
"Strategically, keeping Mr. Giuliani off the stand was a smart move when you look at this case in the context of his overall legal exposure," Timmons said. "If Mr. Giuliani had testified, his testimony would be admissible in all of his other cases," including his criminal racketeering case in Fulton County, Georgia.
In his defamation case, Timmons said, "what they're really counting on is a reversal by the court of appeals holding that Mr. Giuliani's statements are 'opinions,' which aren't actionable under defamation law."
Jury shown lynching threats that 'terrorized' Freeman
Jurors were shown a smattering of the racially charged threats Ruby Freeman received after video of her and her daughter counting ballots at State Farm Arena on election night circulated online.
The emails flooded her inbox on the night of Dec. 3, 2020, with several invoking lynching and references to the Ku Klux Klan.
One email, from an account called Grand Wizard with the email name "kkk" said, "Safest place for you right now is in prison. Or you will swing from the trees."
Another suggested the government hang her and her daughter from the "Capitol dome," saying, "I pray that I will be sitting close enough to hear your necks snap!"
Several of the messages accused her of being a traitor or "SCUM."
"I received so many on my phone that at one point my phone crashed," Freeman testified. "I felt horrible. I felt terrorized. I was scared … people are coming to kill me. They have my address, they have my phone number, they know my name."
Freeman testified that two days later, on Dec. 5, 2020, people began to show up at her house and she was forced to call the authorities.
While on the phone with police, Freeman said people were "banging" on her door.
"Not only am I getting phone calls and emails and stuff, now you're actually coming to the house," Freeman testified. "I was scared."