Lawyer for Seattle Mayor’s Accuser Seeking Change of Venue

SEATTLE (AP) — Lawyers for the man suing Seattle Mayor Ed Murray for alleged sexual abuse are requesting to have the case moved outside Seattle and want sanctions imposed on Murray's lawyer for "concocting and spreading a false narrative" that their law firm is anti-gay.

The Seattle Times reports Lincoln Beauregard, the Seattle attorney who represents Murray's accuser, Delvonn Heckard, filed the motion Thursday.

Beauregard contends that the mayor and his legal team, headed by Robert Sulkin, "have tainted the possibility of hosting a fair trial in King County."

The motion also requests that the court sanction Sulkin's legal team at least $5,000 for ethics violations.

Sulkin didn't immediately respond to messages left for him.

Beauregard filed a lawsuit in April claiming Murray paid Heckard for sex when he was a teenage dropout in the 1980s. Murray has denied the allegations, saying they are politically motivated.