#TOMMYNOW Women's Runway Show Fall 2016 - Front Row (Photo : Getty Images)
The Denver U.S. District Court granted singer Taylor Swift’s request to seal the photo that allegedly showed former Colorado DJ David Mueller groping her butt. Lawyers of Swift claim making the images available to the public would infringe on her privacy.
However, the seal is only until the case goes on trial, TMZ reported. Her lawyers filed on Friday the request for sealing the picture because it is not appropriate for public consumption since it would only encourage scandalous and prurient behavior and make it hard to find an impartial jury.
In granting Swift’s request, the judge said the photo’s widespread dissemination could significantly complicate jury selection. The judge, however, rejected the singer’s other request to restrict access to other evidence which the judge found to be “entirely ordinary and mundane.”
The lawyers pointed out that searching for the image on Google would show that substantial media attention has been given to the incident. The attention and the content would undoubtedly result in lengthy coverage and expose the potential jurors to media’s version of the issues in the case “running the very real risk of tainting or limiting the jury pool,” The Denver Post reported.
Mueller was fired from his job as DJ at 98.5 KYGO’s “Ryno and Jackson” show because of Swift’s accusation that he groped her butt during a 2013 concert. The DJ denied the charge and pointed to a colleague as the one who touched the singer. He filed a lawsuit against Swift in 2015, but she also filed a counter lawsuit against Mueller.
