Alan M. Dershowitz. Photo courtesy of The Crimson.
Summary: Lawyers withdrew court documents accusing renowned legal scholar Alan Dershowitz of attempting to have sex with an underage girl.
Court papers accusing famed Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz of sexual misconduct have been withdrawn. Politico reports that on Friday the legal team who filed the allegation have called it a “tactical mistake” but they say that the woman involved stands by her claim.
“It really tells you something about the status of some prominent members of the legal profession. Lawyers should all ask themselves what they need to know before they make an accusation like this against someone with an unblemished record,” Dershowitz told Politico.
The former member of O.J. Simpson’s Dream Team continued by saying that the whole ordeal felt like “waterboarding” and took a toll on him and his loved ones.
“I’m glad this chapter is over and I can go on and try to do other good things in my life,” Dershowitz said.
As part of the settlement, Dershowitz is withdrawing his own claims against plaintiffs attorneys Brad Edwards and Paul Cassell which stated they acted unethically when they filed the accusation in December 2014.
In 2014, a woman claimed that when she was underage Dershowitz’s client, Jeffrey Epstein, arranged for her to have sex with the Harvard professor on an island that Epstein owned. Dershowitz denied the allegation, but the sordid story was published after a reporter discovered the allegation in a public court filing.
On Friday, Edwards and Cassell said they now had access to evidence that the woman suffered from mistaken identity. They added however that they performed due diligence before they filed the papers in court.
The resolution came about because of mediation along with a private investigation conducted by former FBI Director Louis Freeh on behalf of Dershowitz.
“In my opinion, the totality of the evidence found during the investigation refutes the allegations made against Professor Dershowitz,” Freeh said in a statement last week.
Source: Politico