@hightor,
Didn't Allred trot out a
half-truth?
This is what lawyers are paid to do. The ones who defend the innocent and the guilty. The accused and the accusers. The pigs and the women who decades latter try to cash in on a trauma that never existed.
I believe Moore is likely guilty of being a man in his 30's who lusted after and pursued nubile High School age girls. Personally, I find such behavior inappropriate, disturbing and probably indicative of some psychological knot. Is it illegal? Depending upon the age of the nubile teen and the laws of the given state. I don't have a problem with these laws and the arbitrary selection of the age of consent unless they are used in full force against teenaged boys. I don't know the Alabama statue at the time and I don't care to learn about it. If Moore in his 30's violated the statute of the time, he was guilty. That he was an ADA makes it worse.
It's important to point out though that nubile teens, by definition, are sexually mature. I agree with the concept that they may not be intellectually or mature enough to form a truly rationally based consent, and that society, therefore, should make some effort to protect them from the exploitation of adult males, but, again, the ages selected are arbitrary and there is nothing magic about them. A nubile 15 year old isn't suddenly transformed into a young woman who is not only sexually mature,but emotionally and intellectually as well. For most of human history nubile teens have been getting married and mating. Juliette was what? 14 or 15 years old? Today in many places around the world this continues to occur and in some places, sexually immature girls are married off to lecherous old men (But not to worry, the old goats always wait until after the young bride has her first menstruation). I don't know if this is true, but I recently heard someone contend that when these incidents took place, that in one or more states, the legal age for a woman to marry was 15. Unless one of those states was Alabama, it's immaterial in terms of whether or not Moore violated any laws, but it does provide context and underscores the arbitrary aspect of the age limits.
I don't know enough about the Nelson case to judge her veracity, but I doubt very much she did not welcome the attention of a 30 something man with power and money that far exceeded anything possessed by the acne afflicted teenage boys in her high school. This is not a criticism of her morality at the time. This sort of thing happens all of the time. When I was in HS, one of the hottest girls in my class had an affair with an English teacher. He was a nasty, piggish brute., and I could never understand why she had been seduced (especially since she had no shortage of admirers)
The guy was a good teacher in some ways but could be mean as a snake. For example: After telling us all year that no one ever scored a 100% on the year-end NY State English Regents exam, I took it as a challenge and vowed to achieve it even though the grading Essay section is subjective and open to mischief. I happened to get along with the guy so I thought it was a friendly thing. I took the test and came out of the auditorium feeling great. He told me that mine would be one of the first he graded and to come back in the afternoon for my score.
When I did come back I found him in his office with what I can only describe as an evil grin on his face. He advised me that I had scored a 99% and I assumed I missed one of the short answer questions and asked him which one (not thinking that all of them were worth two points each). He smiled again and said that no, I had aced that section. It was in the Essay section that I tripped up. At the time I was thinking what excuse could he have for taking only one point off? If he thought one of my essays was garbage it should have resulted in a larger penalty. I didn't even have to ask as he volunteered:
"Essay #4 called for a comparison between a novel and a film. You chose to compare "Easy Rider" and "Metamorphosis." I really enjoyed your essay and would have given you full points except for your one big mistake. "Metamorphosis" is a novella!"
I wanted to punch in the face, but, of course, couldn't. For the umpteenth time, I wondered what the hell
Hot Cathy found attractive about him.