Murray says his 'material evidence' refuted sex abuse accusation, but lawyer wants to depose mayor on May 2

SEATTLE -- Mayor Ed Murray said Wednesday he provided "material evidence refuting" allegations that he had sex with a minor in the 1980s and that "the accusation should be laid to rest."

Murray was referring to a lawsuit filed last week by a 46-year-old Kent man, identified only as "D.H.", who alleges Murray paid him for sex starting when he was only 15 years old in 1986 and Murray was in his 30s. Murray has denied the allegations.

In a statement Wednesday, Murray said, “Without offering any evidence, the accuser has described me in very specific and intimate detail, and his accusation depends on these descriptions being accurate. If this description is inaccurate, the accusation cannot be credible. Yesterday, I provided material evidence refuting the accusation. The accusation should be laid to rest."

Murray's lawyer, Bob Sulkin, told reporters Tuesday that Murray had been examined by his personal doctor and the doctor stated that there was "no mole, no bump" on Murray's scrotum, as the accuser stated in his lawsuit.

“I will continue to lead this city as mayor," Murray said in Wednesday's written statement. "I will continue to run for re-election ... I am proud to be your mayor and ask for your continued support.”

Meanwhile, the lawyer for D.H. has filed a court notice to have him deposed next month.

The Seattle Times reports (https://goo.gl/nuf3Tq ) Lincoln Beauregard, who represents the man identified by the initials D.H., wants to have Murray deposed on May 2.

The notice says Murray can expect to be questioned about the facts of the case including the "various potential causes of the medical matters referenced publicly by his attorneys" during a Tuesday news conference.

Robert Sulkin, the mayor's attorney, said Wednesday that efforts to quickly depose the mayor smack of politics.



Lawyers for the accuser late Tuesday released the following statement:

D.H. has found peace in knowing that two other of the Mayor’s victims were given a voice as a result of D.H.’s having stepped forward.  In relation to the prior victims, the Mayor’s political hit team used thousands of dollars of publicly collected campaign funds to extinguish their voices.  The latest strategy is victim blaming.

Immediately after this lawsuit was filed, on Friday morning, we sent the Mayor’s attorney a letter inviting his legal team to depose D.H. as quickly as this week, or even this afternoon.  We received no response whatsoever.  Instead, the Mayor’s team hired their own medical witness to look at the Mayor’s private parts and declared that which nobody in the public can verify — until long after the election filing deadline of May 19.  We look forward to fighting the merits of this lawsuit in the appropriate venue and exploring the need for an independent medical exam as ordered by the court.  But if the Mayor’s mole doesn’t fit the description as observed by D.H. and another victim who tried to come forward in 2008, why didn’t the Mayor just say so at his first press conference on Friday?

Our invitation to the Mayor and his clever lawyers to immediately confront our client under oath remains open, and unanswered.  The fact that the Mayor has already spent his working days trying to disprove the details of his private parts (which shouldn’t require a medical evaluation) emphasizes the need to consider the calls for him to step aside and not utilize public resources and campaign funds to fight this lawsuit.  A petition is circulating and can be found in the comment section of the stories published online in the Seattle Times.  The public should please understand that D.H. is not running for office, he is planning to win this lawsuit on the merits in due time.   After the trial, in April of 2018, a jury is likely to confirm that this City’s Mayor is a serial child molester.