Former judge Roy Moore speaks at Oak Hollow Farm in Fairhope with one week to go in U.S Senate race, Dec. 5, 2017: Photo by Glynn Wilson

By Glynn Wilson –

So there’s not one single judge in Etowah County, Alabama, who wants to have anything to do with former judge Roy Moore and his doomed defamation case in Gadsden against women who accused him of sexual impropriety last year.

According to a document filed in court this week signed by all six state judges in Etowah County, they all formally recused themselves official from hearing the case and asked the state Supreme Court to appoint an out of town judge to oversee it.

The recusal was signed by Circuit Judge David Kimberley, who claims a conflict of interest since he was a member of the state Judicial Inquiry Commission responsible for suspending Moore as chief justice in 2016, removing him from the high court after he refused to abide by a federal court order permitting same-sex marriages in the state.

It was also signed by circuit judges George Day, William Ogletree and William Rhea along with district judges Will Clay and Joe Nabors, all saying they have a conflict of interest since they serve in the same circuit and district where Moore served before being elected to the high court.

The case is clearly considered to be a political hot potato no judge wants to touch, since judges have to face the voters in elections in Alabama.

Moore has a cadre of dedicated religious followers who would verbally go after any judge who did not rule in Moore’s favor, and any judge who ruled in his favor would face the wrath of voters who are determined to run him out of politics in the state for good.

A similar case filed in Montgomery is set for trial in Montgomery in December, filed against Moore by Leigh Corfman of Gadsden. She filed a defamation case against Moore in January for denying ever knowing her or taking her to his home and exposing himself to her, undressing her and attempting to have sexual relations when she was only 14 and he was 32. Moore has filed a counter suit in that case.

Trial Date Set for Judge Roy Moore Defamation Case

In the Gadsden case, Moore claims that all five women worked together to make the accusations against him to sabotage his attempt to win election to the U.S. Senate, a race he lost by a slim margin to Birmingham attorney and Democrat Doug Jones.

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But to prevail in a defamation case, Moore would have to overcome a very high legal bar, since public figures and public officials are considered fair game under the First Amendment in political campaigns. People can pretty much say what they want, free speech and press and all that.

Private citizens, however, who have not purposely thrust themselves into the vortex of public controversy, sometimes may prevail if they are libeled or slandered with a reckless disregard for the truth by news outlets and they can prove they were materially damaged by negative public explosure.

According to legal experts it would be nearly impossible for Moore to win a libel case against anyone for defamation of character since he is no doubt a public figure who has been thrusting himself into the vortex of public controversy for decades. Moore’s attorneys are trying to claim that Ms Corman in this case is a “limited public figure” for injecting herself into the public controversy of the election.

Her attorneys will argue, however, that she never sought publicity and only came forward when her identity was found out and she was approached by reporters for the Washington Post back in November. This all came out during the height of the #MeToo movement, when women were speaking out all over the country against men who had sexually molested or harassed them in the past.

Moore has raised at least $32,000 ostensibly for his legal fees in one online fund raising campaign, while one of Moore’s accusers, Tina Johnson, has raised more than $190,000 in a GoFundMe campaign to rebuild her house that was burned in a suspicious fire in January.

A supporter of Leigh Corfman has raised $50,000 for her legal fees in another GoFundMe.

Stay tuned for the outcomes in these cases. We will report the facts when they become available.