Charles Pugh
One thing for sure: The trial involving a former-student who is suing Charles Pugh is going to get ugly.
The student claims the former Detroit City Council president came on to him while he was mentoring him as a Detroit Public Schools student and offered cash and gifts for sex. Trial is scheduled for Nov. 3 in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
Tresa Baldas of the Detroit Free Press reports:
If ex-Detroit City Councilman Charles Pugh gets his way, the jury in his upcoming sexual grooming trial is going to hear a controversial yet often-used argument in harassment cases: His accuser wanted and "welcomed" the sexual conduct he is suing over — and was old enough to know what he was doing, new court documents show.
Pugh also wants to show jurors potentially embarrassing text messages that his accuser once sent to another person, including texts that begin with "I want to" — followed by a description of an intimate act, court documents show.
"The text messages are offered to show that Mr. Pugh's conduct was not extreme and outrageous," Pugh's lawyer, Marc Deldin, argued in documents filed Friday in U.S. District Court, according to the Free Press.
Pugh has been never criminally charged. His lawyer wants to show that jury that the student was 18 at the time and sexual intercourse or other acts of sex were not involved, the Freep reports. Pugh did ask the student to send him a video of himself masturbating.
But the lawsuit claims Pugh took improper advantage of his position as a mentor.
