SEATTLE — The man who sued Seattle Mayor Ed Murray accusing him of paying him for sex when he was a teenager has dropped the lawsuit, his attorney said on Wednesday, and Murray said he felt vindicated and would consider options for getting back into the race for reelection.
In Twitter messages, Lincoln Beauregard, a lawyer for accuser Delvonn Heckard, wrote that his client was "delaying" his lawsuit until the mayor was out of power. Beauregard did not reply to a request for comment beyond the tweets, but emailed a copy of the motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
A copy of a court order by a Superior Court judge in King County granting the dismissal was posted online by the Seattle Times newspaper.
In April, Heckard, 46, accused Murray in the lawsuit of paying him for sex when Heckard was a homeless, drug-addicted teenager.
The allegations caused Murray, whose mayoral term will expire at the end of 2017, to abandon his campaign for re-election.
"I believe the withdrawal of this lawsuit vindicates me," Murray told a press conference.
"This lawsuit was filed just as people were just getting ready to run, and it's withdrawn about 30 days after I move out of the race," he said.
Murray, 62, said he was considering his options regarding launching re-entry into the crowded mayoral race.
Murray is Seattle's first openly gay mayor. As a senator in the Washington state legislature, he was an advocate for gay rights and legalizing same-sex marriage.