<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/12/rudy-giuliani-election-workers-trial>
"Shaye Moss thought she was getting promoted when her boss stopped by her
cubicle on 4 December 2020. But when she stepped into his office, something was
amiss – she realized she was the only one smiling.
It would wind up being the day everything in her life turned “upside down”.
For more than two hours on Tuesday, Moss – a former Atlanta election worker –
gave haunting testimony explaining how her world was upended after the fateful
day when she became aware Rudy Giuliani was falsely accusing her of
fraudulently counting mail-in ballots.
“Most days I pray that God does not wake me up and I just disappear,” she said.
Dressed in a black blazer with sparkling, long acrylic nails, Moss’s hand shook
as she was sworn in as a witness. She described how she fears her son will come
home from school and find her and her grandmother hanging from a tree in their
yard. How she pushed everyone close to her away because she didn’t want them to
suffer any reputational harm. How she gets anxiety attacks. How she sometimes
will have to pull over because she thinks someone is following her.
She also recounted how she became a “pariah” in the elections office and left
the job she loved, having worked her way out of the mailroom. How she felt like
“the worst mom in the world” when her son failed all of his classes in ninth
grade after he started getting harassing messages. How she never goes out alone
and has become a “hermit crab”. How she has to be the last customer at the nail
salon or hairdresser because she wants to be alone and doesn’t want anyone else
to be there.
A therapist diagnosed her last year with major depressive disorder with acute
distress.
“That’s my sad life,” Moss told a jury in emotional testimony on Tuesday. “I
feel like I’m in a dark place and the only thing that surrounds me are the
conspiracies and the lies.”
Giuliani sat silently across the small Washington courtroom from Moss as she
recounted all of this. It’s the first time the two have come face to face.
Moss’s testimony is at the heart of a week-long trial in which she and her
mother, Ruby Freeman, are asking for up to $43m in damages from Giuliani. US
district judge Beryl Howell has already found Giuliani liable for defamation,
so the only remaining question for the jury is how much the financial penalty
should be. The trial entered its second day on Tuesday."
Lies by the powerful have real consequences.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
