Rudy Giuliani bumbles through hearing with sex assault accuser that ends with personal attacks and a mute button

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

3 hours ago


Rudy Giuliani’s sexual assault case hearing spiraled into chaos for two hours that ended with the former New York City mayor being muted by the judge.

The first oral arguments in the civil suit, brought by accuser Noelle Dunphy, unfolded on Wednesday after a series of delays in the case that was first filed in early 2023. Dunphy, who claims to be his former employee, is accusing Giuliani of wide-ranging misconduct, including sexual harassment, assault, battery and a hostile work environment. The hearing was streamed online and journalists were allowed to watch.

The remote hearing was plagued by technical difficulties, high-pitched acoustic feedback and confusion. At one point, Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian businessman and former Giuliani associate-turned-critic, tried to be admitted to the virtual meeting — a move that the ex-mayor vocally objected to. The judge didn’t let Parnas in. Justin Kelton, Dunphy’s lawyer, said he was a potential witness in the case.

Adam Katz, the lawyer representing Giuliani’s businesses in this matter, struggled to be heard during the Microsoft Teams call as his connection kept dropping while the former mayor spoke when the judge expressed wanting him to be muted. Almost immediately, confusion ensued.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/rudy-giuliani-sexual-assault-hearing-b2638518.html

[Clouds Passing]

1. That would be a fun Court Cam episode

[Evolve Dammit]

2. Poor legal execution, minimally technically.

[moniss]

3. This is flat out bizarre to me how the judge handled this

issue of representation. So you're holding a hearing and the defendant is unsure if he is pro se or not. But you allow an attorney who may or may not be legally representing the defendant to make arguments to the court to strike items from the complaint? While at the same time allowing the defendant to make arguments? Also you allow argument about evidence and dismissal of items in the complaint without the defendant ever having filed a response to the complaint? Hey judge how about telling them "File your response first and then I will entertain a period for the counter-response from the plaintiff. Then we will have a hearing and arguments and I will then rule on any requests to strike items from the complaint. At that point I will schedule discovery and we will proceed." This idea of months and months go by and people come to court willy-nilly with no firm declaration of representation and then we're going to proceed to evidentiary claims and argument is preposterous. For heaven's sake are we now having cases run like we're all in the middle of the tavern shaking our fists at each other? Maybe we should just go down to the pier and have it all go down in a warehouse.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

4. Bind and gag that motherfucker!