A University of Minnesota Law School professor has won almost $1.2 million in his defamation case against a woman who falsely accused him of rape.
The $1.2M defamation of Francesco Parisi. https://t.co/j3mBseqqSg
— Tom Lyden (@LydenFOX9) May 21, 2020
The false rape allegation put Francesco Parisi in jail for three weeks, causing him to miss the death of his mother, and gave him a felony charge. According to Star Tribune, Judge Daniel Moreno ruled that $800,000 will go to Parisi for economic losses while $325,000 be awarded for emotional, punitive and reputational damages. The County Attorney’s Office dropped the original charges against Parisi in 2017 after there was no evidence to support he raped a woman in 2015. (RELATED: REPORT: Louisville Police To Change Policy After Woman Was Shot By Police In Her Home, FBI Will Investigate)
Judge Moreno wrote in his ruling that Morgan Wright, the woman who accused Parisi of rape, made false accusations “made with malice. She injured Parisi as a direct result of her untruthful narrative crusade.”
John Braun, Parisi’s attorney, told the Star Tribune that his client “is pleased that court system has finally unmasked Morgan Wright and recognized her for the liar that she is.” Braun added that an internet search of Parisi still returns mugshots and headlines of his falsely accused rape.
Court documents, according to the Star Tribune, show that Parisi and Wright were in a relationship in 2014 and bought a condo together. When the relationship went south shortly after, Parisi sued to cancel the purchase agreement. Wright filed an order of protection the same day, accusing Parisi of preventing her from leaving his apartment and yelling at her.
The next month Wright countersued Parisi over the cancellation attempt. In April 2015, the restraining order was dismissed after a settlement was made. Wright filed two more complaints about the property and accused Parisi of beating her in a filing in 2016. She also reported to police that Parisi had sexually assaulted her in January 2015.
Wright said that Parisi raped her so viciously that it broke three of her teeth and required her to have colon surgery. Doctors records during this time shown that she had only received treatment for a migraine headache. The colon surgery she was referring two happened two years after the alleged rape.