Cowboys GM Jerry Jones' attorneys request sexual assault trial be delayed, call accusations 'groundless'
Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones' lawyers have asked for the trial against him for alleged sexual assault to be delayed. Originally scheduled to be held on March 18 of this year, the attorneys have petitioned for it to be pushed back to no sooner than March 3, 2025 "to conduct formal discovery."
They have previously asked the lawsuit to be dismissed, claiming it to be a
"... pursuit of groundless accusations brought in bad faith for the purpose of harassment and to extort”
They further say,
“The allegations on their face are impossible without dozens of uninterested persons having witnessed the alleged assault.”
Thomas Bowers, one of the attorneys representing the purported victim said,
“Nobody in their right mind is going to go through all of this and make this up. The bottom line is that’s what the jury’s for. If you’re so concerned about us making this up, why are you asking for a continuance? Let’s just go to a jury and see what the jury has to say about it.”
The Dallas Morning News reported him further saying,
“They (Jerry Jones and his attorneys) should be ashamed of themselves, because we’re going to be able to prove it’s fabricated. That’s a big mistake on their part.”
The timeline of the sexual assault case against Cowboys owner Jerry Jones
The alleged incident is said to have occured on September 16, 2018 in the Tom Landry room of the Cowboys' stadium. The lawsuit claims that Jerry Jones
“... kissed her on the mouth and forcibly grabbed her without her consent.”
The personal injury lawsuit was filed in September 2020 but was dismissed by a Dallas County court in February 2022. A year later, in February 2023, the a state appellate court reversed that decision allowing the trial to proceed. The Texas Supreme Court upheld that judgment in September 2023.
Jerry Jones has denied the accusation and his lawyers have noted that there were no witnesses who saw the interaction take place in a public venue and no security report was filed on that date either. The alleged victim's lawyer has counter-claimed, saying,
“I’m very confident, very, that the jury will see through all these games that they’re playing and recognize my client has been injured. She is a victim and she has been victimized over and over again.”
The legal process is set to continue and if the Cowboys owner's request is granted it will be another year before it comes up.