Taylor Swift shown in court in this courtroom sketch. Photo/AP
Taylor Swift cried in court as David Mueller's lawyer claimed in his closing argument that a photo proves the former Denver DJ would not have been able to put his hand under her skirt, reports The Daily Mail.
The photo, which Swift's legal team has used as evidence for much of the trial, shows Mueller, 55, with his arm behind the 27-year-old singer who is leaning away.
Swift countersued Mueller for assault and battery after he sued her for falsely accusing him of groping her, costing him his job.
The judge threw out his lawsuit against Swift on Friday, saying he can't prove that her claims got him fired from the radio station KYGO.
The jury is currently deliberating.
Swift's attorney Douglas Baldridge pointed out how Swift had no reason to make the story up and was not seeking a payout, but a $1 token award.
"Taylor Swift has no desire to bankrupt this man. A single dollar on the counter claim is of immeasurable value. It says no means no ..."
He questioned Mueller's credibility in his closing argument: "The other side of the credibility coin, Mr Mueller had every incentive to lie, he changed his story, destroyed evidence. Are you going to believe him?"
In his closing argument, Mueller's attorney Gabriel McFarland said Swift's skirt was stiff like a lampshade, meaning: "He would have had to bend down to put his hand under her skirt."
He also said she was positioned in the center of the frame, implying she wasn't actually leaning away.
"Taylor Swift is still in the middle of the picture frame. If she tried to get away she would be off to left side of the picture, off centre."
McFarland also questioned Swift's demeanor in the photo. Though she is smiling in the picture, several of her witnesses said she acted strange after the photo was taken.
The attorney asked: "Look at her face, is that the face of someone who just had her butt grabbed? Is that the face of someone who is upset?"
He also questioned why her bodyguard Greg Dent didn't react when he testified he saw Mueller lift her skirt.
McFarland said: "The reason why he didn't react to it, because he didn't see anything that would cause such a reaction."
Plus, he said Stephanie Simbeck incorrectly identified his client at first and said because she still works for Swift she is not reliable.
Finally, McFarland said his client had no motive to grope the pop star and risk his dream job. He claimed Swift's mother Andrea and her liaison Frank Bell used their position of power to get Mueller fired.
After Baldridge's argument, McFarland reiterated his point about Taylor smiling in the photo and said: "I don't disagree there should truthful reporting of sexual assault, but the law should protect the false reporting of sexual assault."
He said there wasn't a proper investigation into the incident and there were 60 to 80 people meaning Swift could have misidentified his client.
In Baldridge's rebuttal, he said: "Mr Mueller lost his job, because he grabbed her butt and got caught. He wants to victimize her again, it's time to stop the victimization of victims in the country and in this court room."
On Friday afternoon, Swift's attorney made the motion for a summary judgement and the lawyers argued their case to judge without jurors present before breaking for a 10 minute recess.
Her lawyer asked for former Denver KYGO DJ Mueller's case to be dismissed. A few hours later the judge granted the request.
After US District Judge William Martinez's ruling, Swift and her team shared a celebratory hug. The team of former DJ David Mueller did not talk to one another or anybody else.
US District Judge William Martinez determined Friday that the pop star could not be held liable because David Mueller hadn't shown that she personally set out to have him fired after the backstage meet-and-greet in 2013.
Mueller's identical allegations against Swift's mother and her radio liaison will go to the jury.
After Swift's former bodyguard Greg Dent testified that he saw Mueller's hand go under her skirt during a June 2013 meet and greet, two other witnesses were called before the plaintiff rested their case.
Mueller's former on-air cohost DJ at KYGO Ryan 'Ryno' Kliesch took the stand and told jurors that when he first heard about the accusations against his good pal that he thought it was a prank. He joked that he expected Ashton Kutcher to jump up and tell him he was being 'punked'.
Kliesch told jurors that he has never known David to act inappropriately toward women as long as he had known him. He also said that David from day one has maintained his innocence and has never admitted to inappropriately touching Taylor.
Kliesch also said that former KYGO program manager Hershel Coiner, on-air name 'Eddie Haskell' thought Taylor was wearing biker shorts when he hugged her at the meet and greet he attended earlier in the night. Kliesch was not present at the meet and greet when Mueller allegedly groped Taylor.
Mueller's ex-girlfriend Shannon Melcher took the stand next. At the time of the alleged incident, Shannon worked at KYGO as an account executive.
She testified that she started dating Mueller around February 2013 and the relationship ended slowly towards the end of 2013.
She testified that she never saw Mueller act disrespectful to any other woman.
Shannon said that she never saw Mueller reach his hand under Taylor's skirt, "I was talking to Taylor, and I don't have eyes in the back of my head."
But said she never noticed any unusual movement by Taylor, a jump or a sudden movement toward her. "I don't recall Taylor jumping into me or making any sudden movements toward me."
But she said Mueller later told her that it was a strange event. Mueller said he felt odd that he had to 'dive into the photo quickly,' and that they were in a meet and greet for the public, not one designated for the radio industry.
She also told jurors she didn't have anything alcohol to drink until after the Taylor meet and greet and never saw David Mueller consume alcohol that day until after the event.
Taylor Swift's former bodyguard, Greg Dent, said earlier on Friday he saw the moment Mueller lifted her skirt.
Dent, a former cop who currently works for the NSA, testified he saw David Mueller put his hand under Taylor's skirt right before the picture was taken with Swift, Mueller and his then girlfriend Shannon Melcher.
"His hand went under her skirt, she jumped, moved her skirt down and moved closer to the girl and proceeded to have the picture taken," Dent told jurors in Denver federal court Friday.
Mueller's attorney pressed Dent on why he didn't take any actions against Mueller after witnessing inappropriate behavior. Dent said that he took a cue from Taylor that she was fine and didn't want him to do anything about it at that time as she continued on with her meet and greet.
"My focus was on her, I looked at her to see if she wanted me to move in. She proceeded with the picture."
On Thursday, Swift told how a "drunk" Mueller groped her bare backside after lifting her skirt and leaving his hand 'latched' on.
"He lifted my skirt and grabbed my bare ass cheek," Swift told the jury in her civil trial.
"It was a definite grab, not jostling."
In day four of her federal trial the 27-year old singer repeatedly told jurors from the stand over and over again how former KYGO radio DJ, David Mueller, 55, intentionally grabbed her at a meet and greet in Denver, CO in June 2013.
Upon further grilling by Mueller's attorney, Taylor told jurors that Mueller and his then girlfriend appeared to be intoxicated at their meet and greet.
Taylor said that she doesn't blame her former bodyguard Greg Dent who witnessed the assault for not stopping Mueller, telling jurors, "I'm not critical of my bodyguard for not doing anything, I'm critical of your client (Mueller) for sticking his hand under my skirt and grabbing my ass."
When grilled about how she felt about Mueller losing his job because of the allegations, Taylor countered by saying, "I am not going to allow your client make me feel like it anyway it's my fault because it isn't."
She said that she doesn't have any feelings on Mueller as a person. "I don't know him, but what he did was despicable."
"I know it was him. I didn't need a photograph. I could have picked him out of a line of a thousand people. I know exactly who did this, this what happened. It happened to me. I know it was him."
After a little under an hour on the stand, Mueller's attorney had no further questions and Swift's attorney Douglas Baldridge and no question.
Swift's tour photographer at the time testified for about 10 minutes after her, while the judge in the case announced that Taylor's mother, Andrea was not feeling well and was excused from testifying Thursday.
Swift's former personal assistant Gabby Liddicoat and KYGO Vice President Robert Call also testified.
The court also heard from former KYGO employee Hershel Coiner, on-air name 'Eddie Haskell', who Mueller had claimed had really been the man who groped Swift.
Coiner denied touching her - and vehemently denied on the stand that he told Mueller that he grabbed Swift's butt after the concert, as alleged by Mueller in his civil complaint.
He was also questioned on whether Mueller, who he saw at another meet and greet that same night, had been intoxicated but said he had not seen a drink in his hand or think he was drunk.
Both men's former boss, Robert Call, the vice-president of KYGO told jurors that after he completed an internal investigation he fired Mueller based on three reasons.
The photograph showing Mueller with his hands near Swift's behind, statements by Swift liaison Frank Bell as relayed to him by Taylor Swift and her mother, Andrea Swift, and Mueller's changing story.
"In my mind, without question, his (Mueller's) hand was behind Ms Swift's rear end," he said.
And Swift's road manager, Erica Warden told jurors that "after the meet and greet, Taylor told several people, that guy [Mueller] grabbed my ass".
Warden said that she had not seen it herself, but Stephanie Simbeck, who runs Taylor Swift's Club Red, the name for her meet and greet club, and who took the photograph of Meuller and Swift that she had seen the grope.
When asked by Mueller's attorney about the alleged incident of Mueller grabbing Taylor's butt, she replied that she saw Mueller grab her 'ass.'
Pressed by Mueller's attorney on whether or not Mueller grabbed Taylor's on the outside of her skirt or the inside of her skirt, she said she didn't know.
'He was touching her,' she said.
On Wednesday Andrea had sobbed on the stand as she spoke about the moment she was informed her daughter had been groped, telling court that she knew something was 'horribly wrong' the moment she walked into her dressing room.
Andrea, 59, said: 'I went into the dressing room and I saw her face. I could see that there was something horribly wrong. She [Swift] said, 'Mom, a guy just grabbed my ass.'
The mother-of-two broke down as she told the jury about how Swift was left feeling 'destroyed' in the aftermath of the groping incident.
She said: 'One of the things I think that stuck with me [about that night] was that [Taylor] couldn't believe that after the incident, after he grabbed her, that she thanked him for being there.
'She said thank you. It was destroying her that she said that after someone did that to her. It made me question why I taught her to be so polite in that moment.'
She smiled as she talked about Swift's 'sweet' upbringing on a farm in Reading, Pennsylvania, but became visibly angry when Mueller's lawyer asked her if her son Austin had ever been accused of sexual assault.
The line of questioning was disallowed by Judge Martinez.
Andrea was also asked about the photograph of Swift with the DJ taken on the night and told court that it left her feeling 'sickened'.
Concluding the cross-examination, Swift's attorney asked if she had heard any facts that had convinced her Swift had not been sexually assaulted.
Watched by her daughter and her husband Scott, Andrea turned towards Mueller and said: "Absolutely not.'"
Her first appearance on the witness stand came shortly after former radio host David Mueller completed his testimony Wednesday with a plea to restore his 'good reputation'.
In closing remarks, he said: "I'm here to prove that I'm innocent. I had a good reputation in radio and I would like to get it back."
Under questioning from Swift's lawyer Douglas Baldridge, he said he was no longer looking for a $3 million award but instead wanted to restore his name and resume his career in radio.
He acknowledged that a photo of him with his hand behind the singer is 'weird and awkward' in court Wednesday.
Her lawyer also claimed several people noticed Swift was upset after the incident when David Mueller allegedly grabbed her.
Mueller claims the episode cost him his career and relationship with girlfriend Shannon Melcher.
The trial was the final act in a long-running legal saga that began in September 2015 when Mueller filed suit claiming Swift had lied about being groped and had got him fired.
Swift countersued the following month, writing in her complaint that she had "never been so certain of anything in my life".
The singer is seeking a token $1 award and a verdict that holds Mueller responsible and serves "as an example to other women who may resist publicly reliving similar outrageous and humiliating acts".
The Kiwi actor has been part of the Star Wars universe for more than 20 years.