Tik Tok Personality Sued After She Claims Professor is Involved in Idaho College Students Murders
Professor Rebecca Scofield has filed a lawsuit against Ashley Guillard after Guillard made claims that Scofield asserts are defamatory
The murder of four University of Idaho college students has become been a national story. As is common, the public likes to engage in communicating about and participating in a in a who-done-it exercise. One internet sleuth however jumped head first into the murky waters of allegations, opining on specifically who was involved in the crimes.
Professor and plaintiff Rebecca Scofield is understandably upset after Ashley Guillard claimed in videos on TikTok that Scofield “participated in the murders because she was romantically involved with one of the victims.”
The legal complaint reads, “Guillard's statements are false. Professor Scofield did not participate in the murders, and she had never met any of the victims, let alone entered a romantic relationship with them. Guillard's videos have been viewed millions of times, amplifying Guillard's online persona at the expense of Professor Scofield's reputation. Professor Scofield now sues Guillard for defamation….”
“Guillard promotes herself on Amazon and TikTok as an Internet sleuth that solves high-profile unsolved murders by consulting Tarot cards, and performing other readings, to obtain information about the murders,” reports Eugene Volokh at Reason magazine. “She has purported to solve the murders of musician Kirshnik Khari Ball (a.k.a. Takeoff), Shanquella Robinson, Tiffany Valiante, Kevin Samuels, and the November murders at the University of Idaho.”
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20 were the students who were victimized in their sleep. An arrest has now been made in the case, with Bryan Kohberger being named as the alleged murderer.
“After a lawyer for Scofield sent a cease and desist letter to Guillard on Nov. 29, she kept posting what the suit calls defamatory videos. After sending a second cease and desist letter on Dec. 8, Guillard showed the document in a TikTok video and said Scofield would need to ‘file actual legal documents in a federal court’ asking her to remove them, the suit says, according to Tim Stelloh at NBC News.
“A week and a half later, Guillard posted more than 20 videos claiming falsely that Scofield had been involved with one of the students and ordered the killings to conceal the relationship,” Stelloh reports the suit communicating.
“Professor Scofield has never met Guillard,” the suit says. “She does not know her. She does not know why Guillard picked her to repeatedly falsely accuse of ordering the tragic murders and being involved with one of the victims. Professor Scofield does know that she has been harmed by the false TikToks and false statements.”
The suit, to no surprise, says the behavior has brought significant emotional distress and damage to Scofield's reputation.
“She fears that Guillard’s false statements may motivate someone to cause harm to her or her family members,” Stelloh reports.
Reputation and Defamation Analysis
Let’s say for a moment that what Guillard has relentlessly communicated is factual and therefore true. While she had a legal right to express it, was it helpful considering she was not law enforcement, witness or an investigative reporter?
Now, let’s say what Guillard has communicated is her strong opinion, which I forecast could be part of her legal defense. In that case, she knows that her opinion, while possibly legally protected, has and is causing tremendous stress, anxiety and reputation harm because the communication has been widley propagated on the internet.
This makes the behavior a moral assault on Scofield’s reputation.
I’m not an attorney so I can only speculate how this lawsuit will play out in the legal system.
What I do know as a reputation consultant and advisor is that Scofield’s reputation as absolutely been assaulted, battered and damaged and if what Guillard has confidently, overconfidently communicated is inaccurate, a falsehood or a blatant lie, then court victory or not, wrongdoing has been committed.
Unless Guillard can prove her claims are factual, she should be held legally and financially accountable. And if Guillard and Scofield’s conflict ends up in court and the courts decide Scofield was not defamed, Guillard should set aside ego and morally “make right.”
In the event that Scofield was somehow, someway, significantly involved in the heinous crimes committed against four students that resulted in their death, no matter how ludicrous this assumption sounds now, she should be held accountable for harassing Guillard.
Michael Toebe is the founder and specialist at Reputation Quality, serving and helping successful individuals and organizations with further building reputation as an “asset” and ethically and responsibly protecting, restoring and reconstructing its health and strength.
