Ex-Bengals Cheerleader Suing Website for Defamation, Claims Cyberbullying
An NFL cheerleader-cum-high school teacher who pled guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges related to having sex with a seventeen year old student has taken an online gossip site to court over comments it made about her.
Ex-high school teacher and one-time Cincinnati Ben-Gals cheerleader Sarah Jones took the stand Monday in the retrial of her potentially groundbreaking defamation lawsuit against online gossip website TheDirty.com.
The 28-year-old shed a few tears as she talked about being humiliated after the website published comments in 2009 alleging she was promiscuous and had sexually transmitted diseases.
"It is cyberbullying," the 28-year-old Jones said of the website's posts about her. "I don't believe what the website does is fair. I don't believe it is right."
Jones last October avoided jail time when she pleaded guilty to felony custodial interference and misdemeanor sexual conduct for having sex with a student. Cody York was 17 and a Dixie Heights High School senior at the time the sexual relationship happened.
David Gingras, attorney for the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based website, fired back that Jones has no reputation to defame after she admitted to a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student she taught.
"You must judge Sarah's reputation based on her actions," Gingras said. "Felony convictions are relevant to a person's credibility."
He acknowledged that his client "can be mean, but mean is not a crime."
Don't agree with what you say but defend to the death the right to say it, and all that.
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