Pastor Spell’s Attorney Wins $8.2 Million Judgment in Separate Case

EDITOR’S NOTE – Rev. Tony Spell was exonerated from the criminal charges against him May 13 when the Louisiana Supreme Court found that Gov. John Bel Edwards’ efforts to close churches and limit church attendance were “illegal” and “unconstitutional.”  All criminal charges against the pastor of Life Tabernacle in Central for holding church were dismissed.  

Now the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has set Monday, Oct. 3 as the date to hear Pastor Spell’s civil suit for deprivation of his civil rights under the First Amendment.  The suit is against Gov. John Bel Edwards, Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, and Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran. The hearing will be held at the federal courthouse in New Orleans. Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is lead counsel in Pastor Spell’s case, and Baton Rouge attorney Jeff Wittenbrink is local counsel.  

Meanwhile, Jeff Wittenbrink has also been busy as lead counsel representing Judge Roy Moore in a defamation case against Senate Majority PAC, one of the largest Democratic Party SuperPAC’s.  That case was heard in the U.S. District Court in the northern district of Alabama.  

Last week, Judge Moore won that case and an $8.2 million judgment.  The case involves television ads run by the PAC during Judge Moore’s 2017 run for the U.S. Senate. The spot said Judge Moore was banned from an Alabama shopping mall for supposedly soliciting young girls for sex.  The jury found that the Democratic PAC’s accusations against Judge Moore were false, the PAC knew they were false, and that those allegations greatly damaged Judge Moore.  

In this exclusive op-ed piece for the Central City News, attorney Jeff Wittenbrink tells his view of the Alabama case.  The cases of Rev. Spell and Judge Moore demonstrate that the wheels of justice grind painstakingly slow but that there is still hope from the judicial system.

The Redemption of Judge Roy Moore By Jeff Wittenbrink, Attorney at Law     

BATON ROUGE — Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and the Foundation for Moral Law represent Pastor Tony Spell of Life Tabernacle in his suits against Gov. John Bel Edwards.   On August 12, 2022, Judge Moore had his own personal victory when a jury in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Alabama rendered a verdict in his favor against the Senate Majority PAC for $8.2 million as damages for defamation, invasion of privacy and false light.  I was honored to be lead trial counsel for Judge Roy Moore against the defendants — one of the major Super PACs identified with the Democrat party.  

  In 2017, Judge Roy Moore won the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate from Alabama in a special election against the Democrat, Doug Jones.   Judge Moore was 11 points ahead in the race until 32 days before the election, when allegations of sexual misconduct by Judge Moore came out on Nov. 9, 2017.  The coup de grace in the campaign against Moore was a TV spot known as the “shopping mall ad.” The ad was filmed in black-and-white with a voiceover that quoted different media reports for the entirety of the ad. The tone was dark and  contained a startling message. “What do people who know Roy Moore say?”  “Roy Moore was actually banned from the Gadsden mall for soliciting sex from young girls.” One he approached “was 14 and working as a Santa‘s helper.” 

The ad was a lie from the beginning line to the end credit, naming “Highway 31” as the ostensible publisher. The allegation of a “actual mall ban” was from an Alabama blogger who used anonymous “sources tell me” lead and who largely retracted his story prior to the publication of the ad.

  The defense team, which included the Hillary Clinton’s lawyer Marc Elias, formerly of the famous (or infamous) Perkins Coie law firm, insisted that the two sentences were meant to be heard as distinct, separate quotes, not to be read together.  That defense insulted the intelligence of the jury.  The jury did not believe them, and a normal viewing of the ad makes that conclusion impossible.  The defense also brought an “expert” to attempt to redefine the words “solicitation for sex,” another mistake, since words must be given their ordinary and customary meaning in a defamation case.

Many witnesses came to testify as to Judge Moore’s good character, and the fact if he had been “actually banned from the Gadsden Mall” they would have known, including the wife of the now-disabled mall manager, security officers who worked at the mall, and others.   

The woman who was formerly the “14 year old Santa’s helper” testified for the defense, but admitted that Judge Moore had only called her “pretty,” never offended her, never made her uncomfortable, never touched her in any way inappropriately, and importantly, never solicited sex from her. She admitted to being angry about Judge Moore’s public stance for the Ten Commandments and against same-sex marriage, and admitted coming forward partially as a means of preventing Judge Moore from becoming Senator.  

The other female alleged “victim” who testified said she was 22 and Moore was 30 when he asked her for a date, and admitted on cross examination that it “was not a big deal.”   But the damage done to Moore and his family was a very big deal!

I asked the jury to award Judge Moore “an amount that would make the media pay attention,” as a way to begin to repair his reputation, and that is what they did. The judgment was for $8.2 million. 

The story was initially published by AP reporter Kim Chandler in the Washington Post, ironically one of the papers that broke the scandalous allegations.  The Washington Post article was published on Friday, August 12, but began to be buried nearly immediately, and could not be found in a Google search as of Monday afternoon, August 15.  

Today a search of the Washington Post app and the paper’s website fails to  bring up the new article, but only the old news stories with the original allegations, and the story of his loss in the defamation case against Sacha Baron Cohen.   The newer story of his recent victory has been edited and republished on FoxNews.com, NPR.com, Al.com (an Alabama news outlet), The Epoch Times and many other outlets.  Many of the newer stories have added more “spin” from defense counsel, and insist that Senate Majority PAC will appeal. It is clear that editors of the newer stories have spoken with defense counsel or their representatives for information from the trial, some of which is inaccurate.

  Judge Roy Moore has been a hero of mine since his stand for the acknowledgment of God in the Ten Commandments case in 2003.   As the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, he erected a monument of the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the Supreme Court building.   He was sued by the ACLU and refused to remove the monument, properly challenging the jurisdiction of the Federal Court to make such an order directed to

a State Supreme Court justice.   His principled refusal cost him dearly-he was removed as Chief Justice by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary.  That removal did not hurt his career or reputation—he was reelected again as Chief Justice.  He took a similar stand against same-sex marriage.

  Judge Moore has noted that the acknowledgment of God is part of the oath each Federal Judge takes, as in, “so help me God,” and is an important underpinning of our legal system, from the organic laws of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution to the oaths sworn by witnesses and jurors.  Judge Roy Moore,  a West Point graduate, Vietnam veteran and Godly man, besides being a principled public figure in the State of Alabama for years is a man who built his valuable reputation over a lifetime, only to have it ruined for political reasons by scurrilous and false allegations.   It was truly an honor for me to represent him in this important case, which will hopefully serve as a shot across the bow to notify Super PACS and others that their vast sums of money will not buy the last word when they defame even a public figure in order to secure a political office. The jury may have been affected by the thought of a Washington, D.C. Super PAC interfering in the Senate race in Alabama, effectively keeping the people from electing their chosen Senator by using professionally crafted lies and misrepresentations.

  The justice system of our country still rests importantly on the participation of ordinary people serving on juries in the courts of our country, state and federal.   The men and women of the jury in this case made a monumental decision, which will at least give the corrupt political machines some pause in their pursuit of power by any means.   The President of Senate Majority PAC previously made a public statement on CSPAN, “we do what it takes to win.” Maybe “doing what it takes” will include a little less defamation in the future.