Missouri state Sen. Angela Walton Mosley has filed a defamation lawsuit against Shonte Harmon-Young, alleging Harmon-Young made false statements on Facebook accusing her of accepting money to interfere in the Aug. 4 St. Louis County executive primary.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday, Sept. 23, in St. Louis County Circuit Court. Walton Mosley is seeking $1 million in punitive damages as well as compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
Walton Mosley, who represents Missouri’s 13th Senate District, alleges Harmon-Young, a former aide to St. Louis County Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, made the statements with “actual malice,” meaning the lawsuit claims she knew they were false or acted with reckless disregard for whether they were true.
Walton Mosley entered the Democratic primary on the final day of candidate filing, joining state Sen. Brian Williams and County Assessor Jake Zimmerman. County election records show Williams and Zimmerman filed Feb. 24, while Walton Mosley filed March 31. Zimmerman ultimately won the Aug. 4 primary with 46.47% of the vote, followed by Williams with 33.61% and Walton Mosley with 19.93%.
According to the lawsuit, Harmon-Young wrote in a public Facebook thread that Walton Mosley wanted to “destroy Brian’s chances of winning” and alleged that St. Louis County Executive Sam Page “stepped in and paid for her to do it.”
Walton Mosley denies accepting money from Page or anyone else to enter a political race and denies attempting to sabotage another candidate. The lawsuit alleges Harmon-Young’s statements falsely accused the senator of bribery, corruption and election interference.
Harmon-Young told the American she had not yet seen the lawsuit and therefore could not comment on its specific allegations, but defended her Facebook comments as protected speech.
“From what I’ve read in the paper, it sounds like I exercised my First Amendment right,” Harmon-Young said. “As a former elected official, I’ve had far worse said about me and I’ve never sued anyone about it because it’s par for the course.”
Harmon-Young said she has contacted an attorney and expects the case “to be over before it really even begins.”
Walton Mosley alleges the posts caused emotional distress and public humiliation and damaged her reputation and relationships with constituents and colleagues.
People can disagree about politics all day, but knowingly spreading false claims about criminal conduct crosses a line. Calling it “just First Amendment” doesn’t change that. Free speech protects opinions — not fabricated allegations that can damage someone’s reputation and career. Social media isn’t a place to invent motives or crimes. Words have consequences, especially when they accuse someone of corruption without facts. Sam Page wasn’t running for County Executive; Jake Zimmerman was. Zimmerman had run against Page for County Executive in 2020. Why then would Sam Page pay anyone to split the vote to help Jake Zimmerman? Clearly Harmon-Young just made that up with no concern for the truth. A million-dollar judgment will teach her the difference between free speech and defamation with malice aforethought.
She should’ve sued some other people, as well. Freedom of speech does not allow you to make false statements and to rant on and on about a public person, without any basis for doing so.
Ms. Young stop talking! You’re not clear on what protective speech is. Accusing someone of a felony and not being able to prove it is not protected speech. It’s defamation. And the other people involved can sue you as well.