By David Sharp, The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Maine - The lawyer for a Maine activist accused of defaming an orphanage founder in Haiti says jurors would have to discount the testimony of seven sexual abuse accusers to award damages.
But the lawyer for Michael Geilenfeld, founder of St. Joseph's Home for Boys in Port au Prince, says Paul Kendrick is a cyberbully and vigilante who made reckless accusations that he likened to a "Scud missile'' attack.
Geilenfeld contends the accusations caused him to be falsely imprisoned for 237 days and cost a North Carolina-based charity, Hearts with Haiti, more than $2 million in donations.
Kendrick, for his part, stands behind his accusation that Geilenfeld is a serial pedophile.
Jurors in the defamation lawsuit began deliberations Thursday after lawyers finished closing arguments in federal court in Portland, Maine.