SEATTLE _ Attorneys for Seattle Mayor Ed Murray have formally denied allegations of sexual abuse against him and asked that a lawsuit making the claims be dismissed.
In court papers filed Wednesday, attorneys Malaika Eaton and Robert Sulkin wrote that Murray "denies any inappropriate contact with the Plaintiff or any minor."
That was a response to the lawsuit filed in April by Delvonn Heckard, a 46-year-old Kent man who sued Murray claiming he was raped and molested by Murray in the 1980s as a minor.
In news conferences and statements, Murray has previously rejected Heckard's allegations _ as well as those by three other men. Still, he recently abandoned his re-election campaign, acknowledging the damage done by the accusations.
In a seven-page formal answer to the Heckard lawsuit, Murray's attorneys denied he ever had a mole on his genitals as described by Heckard, noting a medical examination by a doctor that the mayor previously cited to refute the claim.
Murray's attorneys also wrote that while Murray knew two other accusers, Jeff Simpson and Lloyd Anderson, who allege he molested them as teenagers in Portland, he "denies he engaged in any inappropriate conduct or inappropriate relationship" with them. Simpson and Anderson have not filed lawsuits.
Murray's attorneys concluded by arguing that Heckard had failed to state a legitimate claim in the lawsuit and that any claims are barred by Washington's statute of limitations. They asked for the suit to be dismissed with prejudice _ meaning it could not be refiled _ and the mayor be reimbursed for legal costs.
