Does This Photo From 2013 Show Taylor Swift Being Sexually Assaulted? Her Lawsuit Says YES

On June 2, 2013, a typically innocent encounter happened between pop singer superstar Taylor Swift and well-known Denver radio host David Mueller. 

Before T-Swift went on stage for a concert, she met Mueller and his girlfriend, and they posed for a photograph. It was during that photograph that Taylor said something much more sinister took place.

According to her, Mueller, who is known on air as Jackson, put his hand up her dress and grabbed her butt cheek. She said in her deposition suing Mueller for assault and battery, that "no matter how much I scooted over, it was still there."  

"It was not an accident, it was completely intentional, and I have never been so sure of anything in my life.”

Mueller has denied the allegation since it was originally made four years ago, and his lawyers described the accusation as "nonsense." 

But Taylor says as soon as Mueller and his girlfriend left, she told her tour manager and security staff that she had been groped. They tracked them down, escorted them out of the facility and called Mueller's station. He was fired two days later. 

Mueller's girlfriend, Shannon Melcher, said in her deposition that she noticed nothing, and Mueller said that if he touched Taylor in any way that she thought was inappropriate, that is was purely by accident. 

Here's the alleged photo in question — that Taylor's lawyers had hoped to keep sealed — that will be a key piece of evidence during the trial.

TMZ 

While Taylor's lawyers see the photo as "damning" evidence that he groped her, Mueller says it just shows he was trying to jump into the picture. 

Two years after the incident, he sued Taylor, her mom and her management team of slander and getting him fired. Taylor then counter sued him for groping her and denied that she did anything to get him fired. 

For two years, there were hearings and depositions, and neither side agreed to resolve the fight out of court. The case is finally going to trial, which is expected to last nine days. 

While Mueller is seeking $3 million in damages, Taylor is just seeing $1, in an effort to prove she isn't trying to bankrupt him and to show other women that they're allowed to say "no." 

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Swift’s attorney, Douglas Baldridge, said in his opening statement that Mueller gave multiple stories about what happened and destroyed taped conversations he had with his boss. 

In July, the court sanctioned Mueller for destroying important evidence. He claimed he spilled coffee on his laptop, and also lost or destroyed his cell phone, iPad, and computer. 

“What’s wrong with this picture?" Baldridge asked the jurors. "A woman gets assaulted, a woman reports it, and she gets sued.”

When Mueller first sued Taylor, — which, mind you, was two years after he was fired — he said that he believed she mistook him for a co-worker of his, who he said described putting his hands on Taylor's bottom while they were taking their photo. We don't know who that alleged co-worker is. 

If Taylor does win any money from the trial, she will donate it all to charity. 

“Resolution of this Counterclaim will demonstrate that Mueller alone was the perpetrator of the humiliating and wrongful conduct targeted against Ms. Swift, and will serve as an example to other women who may resist publicly reliving similar outrageous and humiliating acts,” her countersuit reads. “For this reason, any recovery obtained by Ms. Swift will be donated to charitable organizations dedicated to protecting women from similar acts of sexual assault and personal disregard.”