"Psychic" Accuses University of Idaho History Professor of Masterminding Murders of Four Students Based on Tarot Card Readings; The Professor Sues for Defamation

Via Hot Air, there's no free speech right to just defame someone based on "psychic" twitches.

A University of Idaho professor sued a TikTok poster for defamation after she published videos accusing the professor of killing four students in an off-campus home last month.

Ashley Guillard, a self-styled internet sleuth with roughly 108,000 TikTok followers, has posted dozens of videos in which she accuses Rebecca Scofield, the chair of the school's history department, of orchestrating the four students' killings. She says she based the accusation on tarot card readings.

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In a complaint filed in Idaho's federal district court on Wednesday, Scofield said Guillard's TikTok videos were false and that she did not comply with two cease-and-desist letters demanding Guillard take down the videos and issue an apology.

Scofield is seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages and has requested a jury trial.

"Guillard's false TikToks have damaged Professor Scofield's reputation," the complaint reads. "They have caused her significant emotional distress. She fears for her life and for the lives of her family members. She has incurred costs, including costs to install a security system and security cameras at her residence. She fears that Guillard's false statements may motivate someone to cause harm to her or her family members."

Not that she should need it, but she does have an alibi:

Scofield in the suit also said she was in Portland, Ore., with her husband during the time of the killings and checked out of a hotel in the city hours after the killings occurred.

Unfortunately, the "psychic" is, get this, a lunatic and attention-seeker. Regarding the lawsuit, she dismissed any chance she'd stop making defamatory videos about Scofield.

"I'm not stopping, so let's just start there," Guillard said in one of the videos.

In a later post, Guillard said she was "gleaming with excitement" that she would have to opportunity to "present my ideas in court" about the killings.

The police had been searching for a 2011-2013 white Hyundai Elantra that might be connected with the murder. On December 17, they found a abandoned Hyundai Elantra 450 miles away in Eugene, Oregon, but they're not sure if it's the one they've been looking for. I doubt it. It's all banged up.

Recently, Ben Mogen, father of slain student Madison Mogen, stated his belief that the killer will be caught, because this people just can't get away with crimes like this any longer.

"From the very beginning, I've known that people don't get away with these things these days," Mogen told the outlet. "There's too many things that you can get caught up on, like DNA and videos everywhere. This isn't something that people get away with, that goes unsolved."

But that is obviously not true. And now that it's six weeks after the slaughter, it's looking more and more like this killer may escape justice, at least until he kills again.

posted by Ace at 02:00 PM

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