Lincoln Beauregard, the lawyer representing a man who says Mayor Ed Murray sexually abused him as a teenager, wants a new judge in the civil trial against the mayor.
Why, exactly? That’s not clear.
In a motion, Beauregard writes that the judge currently assigned to the case, Timothy Bradshaw, “is prejudiced against Plaintiff and his attorneys such that Plaintiff and his attorneys believe they cannot have a fair and impartial trial before said Judge.”
When I asked Beauregard what makes him think the judge is prejudiced against his client, known only by his initials D.H., Beauregard dodged.
“The formerly assigned Judge is great and I hope to have other cases in front of him,” Beauregard wrote in an email. “The language used in the court papers are legal buzz words. For legal reasons, I cannot elaborate other than to say this is common practice and not personal.”
A former prosecutor, Bradshaw has been a judge in King County Superior Court since 2008. In 2012, he was one of seven King County Superior Court judges who volunteered to help marry gay couples on the first day same-sex marriage was allowed in Washington state.
The civil case involving D.H. alleges that Murray paid the man $10 to $20 for sex when the man was a teenager and Murray was in his 30s. Two other men are not involved in the case but have made similar allegations to the Seattle Times. Murray has denied the allegations.
Murray’s lawyer, Bob Sulkin, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. UPDATE: In an email, Sulkin says of the accuser’s legal team, “First they question the integrity of a highly respected doctor whose conclusions undermine their claim and now they question the integrity of a highly regarded judge. I think your questions perhaps should be addressed to them.”
