Ex-NBA star Dwight Howard asked a judge to seal certain evidence in the lawsuit that accused him of sexually assaulting a man he met on Instagram.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, Howard asked the court to seal certain text messages that he exchanged with his accuser, Stephen Harper.
Howard recently filed a motion asking for the entire lawsuit to be dismissed. In his new motion, he asked that the court block the public from viewing the texts.
In his new motion, Howard said he needed to include the texts to establish certain “key facts that are fundamental” to his defense. However, he argued the evidence should be sealed because the texts contain “sexually explicit content.”
Howard claimed the lawsuit and the texts were being used to “gratify private spite and promote public scandal.”
“As Defendant is a public figure, the filing of Exhibit 3 would cause a different type of privacy invasion than that suffered by a private figure in a civil suit,” his lawyer wrote. “Failing to seal Exhibit 3 would allow for the dissemination of scandalous conversations from the public courts that only satisfy the prurient interests of a few and are contrary to the interests of the public at large seeing and reading.”
A judge has yet to rule.
As we first reported, earlier this year, Harper sued Howard for assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment.
Harper claimed he met Howard on Instagram and the two quickly started exchanging sexually explicit texts.
Eventually, Harper said Howard invited him over to his home. Harper claimed the two started kissing in the ex-NBA star’s bedroom. However, he claimed things took a turn when Howard brought out a man dressed as a woman named Kitty.
“[Howard] stood up (towering over Mr. Harper), grabbed Mr. Harper by the thighs, forcibly removed Mr. Harper’s underwear, held Mr. Harper down, and performed nonconsensual oral sex on Mr. Harper,” the suit read. “Mr. Harper was in fear of imminent bodily harm when he was pinned down and forced to remain in place while [Howard] continued to sexually assault him.”
He claimed texts submitted by Harper in court were doctored.
In his motion for summary judgment, Howard claimed the case was “nothing more than a classic case of unrequited love.”
