KEY POINT
- Petty has relied on an alleged 1994 letter that reportedly asked prosecutors to drop the charges against him.
- The document describes Hough’s account at the time as “half true and half false.”
- Hough’s attorney, Marjorie Mesidor, says Hough did not write or sign the letter and disputes its validity.
Petty, the husband of Nicki Minaj, has submitted the purported letter as part of his response to Hough’s civil lawsuit. The document was allegedly addressed to the district attorney while Petty’s original criminal case was still pending.
According to the letter described in the court filing, Hough said she wanted to drop the charges and portrayed her relationship with Petty as one that existed before the incident. She also described going with him to his home after he approached her while she was on her way to school.
The document gives a different account of what happened inside the home. It reportedly describes an argument and says Hough wanted to leave because she was already late for school. It further recounts an encounter outside the home in which she allegedly threw a water bottle before falling down a staircase.
The dispute is connected to an incident from 1994. Petty was convicted in New York in April 1995 of attempted first degree rape.
Hough later filed a civil lawsuit in 2021. She alleged that Petty, Minaj and people associated with them harassed and intimidated her and attempted to persuade her to retract her earlier allegations. She also alleged that the pressure intensified after Petty faced a California case involving his failure to register as a sex offender.
The central issue surrounding the newly highlighted document is whether it was actually written and signed by Hough.
Her attorney, Marjorie Mesidor, rejected that claim. Speaking to The Daily Mail, Mesidor argued that the circumstances surrounding a typewritten statement from a 16 year old without parental consent were suspicious and said the signature was not Hough’s.
The letter has become a significant part of Petty’s legal response because his side is presenting it as evidence that Hough’s earlier account differed from allegations made in her later civil case. Hough’s legal team disputes that interpretation and the authenticity of the document itself.
The immediate legal dispute centers on how the court treats the contested 1994 document and the competing positions presented by Petty and Hough’s attorneys. The supplied material does not establish a final ruling on the document’s authenticity.
