Peyton Manning: Malcolm Saxon's Affidavit Directly Contradicted Manning's Story

ESPN’s T.J. Quinn has posted additional court documents that include Peyton Manning’s deposition testimony. In that testimony, an affidavit submitted by Malcolm Saxon was referenced repeatedly. Saxon was the track athlete at the University of Tennessee who was in the training room at the time of the incident between Manning and trainer Jamie (Whited) Naughright. He is the person who sent a letter to Manning in 2002 asking him to “do the right thing” but that letter was more vague.

The affidavit laid out specific statements about what he witnessed in 1996. Saxon placed Manning on his belly, with Whited behind him, and Saxon in the other direction. According to Saxon, Manning placed his pants at his knees and was over Whited for a period of 5 to 10 seconds, before she “pushed him up and out of the way.” Saxon also said that he thought it was not directed at him, since he was in the other direction and made no off-color remark to prompt a Manning response.

Manning denied all of these details laid forth by Saxon.

Yesterday, we had Clay Travis on for a conversation about how he thinks that Whited is lying and that Manning is 100% innocent.

While it is true that Whited did not explicitly speak in terms of physical contact in an initial statement from 1996 (she did allege having to push him away and calling him an ass, which Saxon also states), that’s not a clear contradiction with later testimony (it’s an omission that some might find persuasive).

But here we have an independent witness who also says that the incident didn’t go down the way Manning and the initial media references portrayed, and that he immediately told Tennessee personnel that he disagreed with the classification as a “mooning.” Your view of the actions thereafter probably depends on your worldview. The Mannings immediately sending a certified letter of apology a day after the incident after either falls under “what more can you do to apologize?” or “only people lawyering up and setting up stories send certified letters of apology.”

If you question the plaintiff’s veracity because she accepted money in settlement (after alleging she lost income and a job due to Manning’s defamation), then you might need to work on a reason why Saxon would say that as well.