Share and Follow
In a striking legal decision, a federal jury has ruled that a Texas TikTok influencer must pay $10 million in damages after she was found liable for spreading false accusations about a University of Idaho professor. The influencer, Ashley Guillard, faced the jury’s verdict last week for posting videos that alleged the professor’s involvement in the tragic 2022 murders of four university students.
The jury determined that Guillard, 41, disseminated “false statements” through her widely viewed videos. She accused Rebecca Scofield, the chair of the university’s history department and an associate professor, of orchestrating the student murders and of having an improper romantic relationship with a student. According to KIVI, these claims were entirely unfounded.
Scofield, who is 40, took legal action against Guillard in December 2022. This lawsuit came just before Bryan Kohberger was apprehended at his family’s home in Pennsylvania. Kohberger was later charged with the murder of the four students: Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves, as detailed by CrimeOnline. Kohberger ultimately pleaded guilty last year, thus avoiding a potential death penalty sentence.
Despite Scofield’s legal actions, including a cease and desist letter, Guillard continued her online posts. She claimed to use tarot cards and other psychic readings as a method to solve crimes, maintaining her allegations against Scofield even after the lawsuit was filed.
Guillard began making claims on November 24 and continued to post videos after Scofield sent a cease and desist letter and filed her lawsuit. She claimed she used tarot cards and other readings to solve crimes online.
In the lawsuit, Scofield says she was in Portland, Oregon, with her husband visiting friends at the time of the murders and that none of the four slain students have ever taken a class with her. She also said she doesn’t recall ever meeting any of them.
The day after she filed the lawsuit, the Moscow Police Department posted on Facebook that it did “not believe the female associate professor and chair of the history department at the University of Idaho suing a TikTok user for defamation is involved in this crime.”
In a statement after the jury’s verdict, Scofield thanked the jurors and noted that the judge had already “ruled as a matter of law that the statements were false.”
“The $10 million verdict reinforces the judge’s decision and sends the clear message that false statements online have consequences in the real world for real people and are unacceptable in our community,” she said. “The murders of the four students on November 13, 2022, was the darkest chapter in our university’s history. Today’s decision shows that respect and care should always be granted to victims during these tragedies. I am hopeful that this difficult chapter in my life is over and I can return to a more normal life with my family and the wonderful Moscow community.”
Guillard, who represented herself during the four-day proceedings, continued releasing videos accusing Scofield of involvement in the case up until Kohberger’s was sentenced to four life terms last August, East Idaho News said.
The jurors deliberated for just two hours before awarding Scofield $10 million — ten times more than the $1 million her lawyer asked for.
The bulk of the award — $7.5 million — is for punitive damages and rest is compensatory.