In slander trial, Joe Morrissey questions man he’s suing

The first day of a civil trial for an Arlington County man being sued for slander by former state Sen. Joe Morrissey featured something not often seen in a legal proceeding – the plaintiff questioning the defendant on the witness stand.

Morrissey, who is representing himself in the $1.35 million lawsuit against former Democratic legislative aide Kevin Saucedo-Broach, called Saucedo-Broach to the stand just after lunch July 28 in Petersburg Circuit Court.

What followed was an hour-long testimony featuring tense exchanges and numerous objections from the defense counsel on everything from the tone of the questions to allegations that Morrissey himself was testifying during the session.

Morrissey and defense counsel Tom Wolf were at odds almost from the get-go, raising questions and objections beginning with the opening statements. At one point, Circuit Court Judge Mary Jane Hall – a retired Norfolk jurist brought in to preside – repeatedly told Morrissey to stop interrupting Wolf while he addressed the jury of six women and two men, one of which is an alternate.

Morrissey filed the suit in October 2024 in Petersburg Circuit Court days after Saucedo-Broach responded to a post on X, formerly Twitter. The response, which was deleted, identifies one of four people in a photo from a northern Virginia legislative meeting as “the guy” who “helped a fellow State Senator get a pardon for raping his 17-year-old employee.”

Morrissey said he was never arrested or convicted of rape or sexual assault of the woman, who later became his wife and raised four children with him. Instead, he told the jury at the trial onset that he entered an Alford plea to a 2014 charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, for which he served jail time. In an Alford plea, a defendant maintains their innocence but admits that the prosecution has enough evidence that a jury would likely convict them.

Morrissey said the delinguency contribution charge he pleaded to does not contain any reference to sexual assault or misconduct. In none of the legal documents he presented as evidence is there any reference to rape or sexual assault, he noted.

Former Gov. Ralph Northam issued a simple pardon of Morrissey on the charge. That pardon was brokered by Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax County, and done while Morrissey served in the state Senate representing a district that stretched from Petersburg to south Richmond.

He is asking for $1 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages for “slander per se,” a subcategory of defamation. It is a type of spoken defamation that automatically presumes harm, making it easier to prove damages.

Defendant stands by his claim in post

On the stand, Morrissey and Saucedo-Broach verbally jousted for about an hour or so.

Saucedo-Broach – who served as a legislative aide to Arlington Del. Alfonso Lopez before resigning to run an unsuccessful Democratic primary against another county delegate – stood by his claim that Morrissey raped the employee. He repeatedly said he called it rape because that was how he understood the Virginia statue for statutory rape as sexual contact between an adult and a minor under the age of 18.

He made the statement in response to a September 2024 post by Del. Adele McClure – who defeated him in that earlier primary – of a photo with her, Surovell and two other legislators. But he claimed that he did it as a criticism of Surovell, who had endorsed McClure over him in the primary, and never mentioned Morrissey’s name.

Under questioning from Morrissey, Saucedo-Broach said he had researched Morrissey’s career ever since the Alford plea. He claimed he was doing so as an advocate for Democratic politics.

Fear factors into the timeline

Later in the testimony, Saucedo-Broach was asked about the extent of his research on Morrissey, which he said he began in 2015. He said he based it mostly on news articles about Morrissey’s issues but also did his own digging. Asked if he ever spoke to anyone at the General Assembly about Morrissey’s character – which he classified as “disgraceful” –  the defendant admitted he had not. His defense counsel stipulated for the court that none of the documents he cited mentioned the word “rape.”

Morrissey then asked why Saucedo-Brown, who had sat on the research for almost a decade, did not bring it up earlier, such as the year after the Alford plea when Morrissey won re-election to the Richmond House of Delegates seat, or in 2019 when Morrissey won the Senate seat. At that point, Saucedo-Broach admitted he felt “intimidated” by Morrissey, who had been enjoying broad support from his constituents, fellow delegates and even judges appointed by the House Courts of Justice Committee on which he sat.

“You were a powerful politician,” Saucedo-Broach replied. “It really was not the time to do it. It was actually quite intimidating.”

Former colleague explains pardon

Earlier in the day, the court heard from Surovell, who testified via video from his vacation in the New York Adirondacks. He testified that he was hired by Morrissey to petition the governor’s office for the pardon and that he did so as a favor to Morrissey.

“So, this was a political action, a Democratic senator asking for a pardon from a Democratic governor for a fellow Democrat?” Wolf, the defense counsel, asked Surovell. The senator responded that he knows it might be seen as that, “but I was acting in my role as an attorney hired” to do the job.

Surovell claimed he knew very little about Saucedo-Broach as a legislative aide, political candidate or frequent critic.

It was Surovell who alerted Morrissey to the post, something the former senator repeated hammered on during his examination of Saucedo-Broach. He asked the defendant why he would care so much about someone “two hours away from where you live.” To which Saucedo-Broach replied that the research uncovered “very repugnant details that were not hard to remember.”

Colonial Heights prosecutor testifies to ‘honesty’

Also called to the stand was Colonial Heights Commonwealth’s Attorney Gray Collins, who was asked by the Virginia State Bar to do a background study of Morrissey after one of Morrissey’s disbarments. The disbarments were yet another contentious point because Wolf claimed Morrissey had been disbarred three times while Morrissey said it was only twice.

Collins said his report to the bar said that Morrissey was well regarded for his honesty and his willingness to fight for causes.

“Do you know any other attorney who has been disbarred three times for being dishonest?” Wolf asked Colling, who said he hadn’t but stood by his report about Morrissey’s honesty.

“Is it still your opinion that you think he has a good reputation?” Wolf asked again.

“You ask a loaded question, but I would say ‘yes,'” Collins responded.

On tap for Day 2

The second day of the trial convened at 9 a.m. July 29 with Saucedo-Brown still on the stand and facing questions from Morrissey. After that, Morrissey is expected to take the stand himself and testify, which Wolf was not too keen about because he claimed he could only object to the answers, not the questions

“I’m not going to be an idiot and ask myself questions, then answer them,” Morrissey exasperatedly retorted.

The defense plans to call one witness in their case – Morrissey’s former employee and former wife. The couple divorced around the time Morrissey lost his Senate re-election bid, and while their post-marriage squabbles have been gossip fodder, Morrissey maintains they do very well at co-parenting.

Morrissey claimed during the trial’s first day that the employee misrepresented herself as being 22 instead of 17 when he hired her. He also said once their relationship became sexual, she was over the age of 18.

He also points to affidavits from the employee and her family members that there was no sexual conduct while she was underage. The defense alleges Morrisset coached the employee and her family into concocting false testimony.

The trial is only scheduled for two days, so some expediency is expected to get the case to the jury. Hall reminded the courtroom that she would not be back in Petersburg until Friday, “so we may have to work through lunch on the jury instructions.”

Morrissey is a candidate for the Ward 5 Petersburg City Council seat this November.

Reporting by Bill Atkinson, Petersburg Progress-Index