Sharpton
Maddox
Mason
Brawley in 1987
Pagones

POUGHKEEPSIE, New York (CNN) -- The Rev. Al Sharpton and two other men who were advisers to Tawana Brawley were described as evil men who destroyed lives with their false and reckless accusations, during closing arguments Tuesday in the racially charged defamation trial.

"These men are dangerous. They're bad. They're evil. Don't let them get away with it," plaintiffs' attorney William Stanton told the jury.

Stanton represents Steven Pagones, the former Dutchess County, New York, prosecutor who is suing Sharpton, Alton Maddox and C. Vernon Mason for $395 million for claiming that he took part in an assault on the then-15-year-old Brawley in November 1987.

Brawley claimed she was raped by six white men. A year later, a state grand jury found the case was a hoax, and all six men, including Pagones, were exonerated.

The six-member jury of four whites and two blacks was to begin deliberations Wednesday, after hearing seven months of often contentious testimony.

The panel will determine if 22 separate statements made by Brawley's advisers -- mostly on television and radio -- were defamatory to Pagones.

Stanton argued that Sharpton, Maddox and Mason ignored the facts as they repeatedly implicated Pagones in the case, beginning in March 1988. The three men said Brawley was kidnapped and raped, and that racial epithets were smeared in feces on her body.

Compared to Nazi propagandists

Stanton compared the men to Nazi propagandists who constantly repeated lies, hoping that they would be believed.

"They don't care who they stepped on and who they stepped over. They destroyed lives for their own self-advancement. That's the reason they started this case," Stanton said.

Although the grand jury in 1988 found evidence that Brawley made up her story of rape, to win the lawsuit Pagones must prove that her advisers recklessly disregarded the truth, because he was a public official when the allegations were first made.

Stanton said recklessness was proved by the way the advisers ignored evidence of a hoax at the time they made their accusations.

He said the three defendants distorted facts to fit their preconceived theory. That was how Pagones -- who was a potential alibi witness for a friend implicated by Brawley -- became an attacker in the advisers' version of events, Stanton said.

The defendants argue that they should not be held liable, because they were acting as representatives of the Brawley family and were only repeating what they were told.

Lawyer accused of 'spewing racism'

Although Sharpton was not in court on Tuesday, Mason and Maddox watched as they were denounced. Outside the courthouse, Mason accused Stanton of "spewing racism" in his closing arguments.

During the arguments, Stanton told jurors that Mason, Brawley's former lawyer, was disbarred for stealing from clients.

Mason was disbarred in 1995 for price gouging, theft and abandoning clients. He has claimed his disbarment was an act of revenge by state officials angry over his role in the Brawley case.

Maddox, who is defending himself, accused Pagones of murder in his closing arguments Monday.

He told jurors he believes Pagones murdered Harry Crist Jr., a police officer originally accused of raping Brawley along with Pagones and others. Crist committed suicide days after the original accusation.

Maddox also accused Pagones of seeking "a judicial lynching of three black men."

Mason's attorney, Stephen Jackson, used his closing arguments last week to accuse Pagones again of the attack on Brawley, saying Pagones was part of an "officially sanctioned cover-up filled with contaminated medical evidence, racism and corrupt officials."

Sharpton was accused of being evasive on the stand and distancing himself from his co-defendants.

In his closing arguments last week, Sharpton's lawyer told the jury that a verdict against Sharpton would chill the civil rights movement.

Brawley, who lives out of state under another name, was named as a defendant but never appeared at the trial.

Correspondent Aram Roston, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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