Judge rules woman should keep crown

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The fight over who should be Miss North Carolina grew more complicated Wednesday when a judge said the woman who stepped down because of topless photos should keep her crown and the runner-up filed suit to be declared the winner.

Rebekah Revels, 24, smiled slightly as Superior Court Judge Narley Cashwell announced his ruling in her favor. Seated directly behind her, first runner-up Misty Clymer sat silently, her mouth open.

Clymer assumed the title in July when Revels stepped down after Miss America officials received an e-mail about the photos from her former boyfriend, Tosh Welch. Clymer held the title until last week, when a judge returned it to Revels pending this week's hearing.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Revels would be allowed to compete in the Miss America pageant Sept. 21. Cashwell ruled in a suit she filed against the Miss North Carolina organization.

She has a separate suit pending against the Miss America pageant.

Immediately after Cashwell ruled, Clymer filed a motion to intervene in Revels' claim and a lawsuit of her own against the state pageant organization, seeking to keep the title.

Cashwell said the state Supreme Court has assigned him all the cases and that he would hear them Thursday in Raleigh.

"I feel like justice has been served," said Revels said outside the courtroom, wearing her crown. "Tomorrow is the determining factor of whether I will compete in Miss America. I'm Miss North Carolina."

George Bauer, acting chief executive officer of the Miss America Organization, issued a prepared statement late Wednesday, saying pageant officials hadn't received a written copy of Cashwell's order and would comment further only after reviewing the decision.

Officials from both the Miss North Carolina pageant declined comment after the ruling.

Revels testified Wednesday that her boyfriend surprised her when he snapped two photographs when she was changing clothes. She has since broken up with Welch and recently sued him.

Her testimony disputed that of a pageant official, who said Revels told him that the shots were taken during "an intimate situation" with no mention that she was an unwilling participant.

Cashwell said the snapshots didn't prove Revels had violated the pageant's requirement that winners exhibit good moral character.

"I am satisfied that a finder of fact could conclude that she did not engage in an act or an activity that could be characterized as dishonest, immodest, indecent or in bad taste," he said.

He noted that the photographs were taken in an impromptu situation, but said even posing for nude pictures does not necessarily constitute immoral behavior. "That may depend upon the art critic," he said.

Revels testified that at one point, she had the photos but Welch took them back. Jim Pendergrass, an attorney with the North Carolina pageant, asked Revels why she didn't ask for the photos back.

"Well, we were dating," Revels testified.

He then asked why she didn't destroy the photos while she had them.

"I don't know," Revels said. "He took them."

Earlier, pageant director Alan Clouse testified that Revels told him the shots were taken during "an intimate situation" with her boyfriend.

"When we asked her, she didn't indicate it was against her will at all," Clouse said.

He also said the photos showed Revels had lived with Welch in a one-bedroom apartment. The pictures and the cohabitation violated the pageant's morals clause, Clouse said.

Revels' attorney, Barry Nakell, argued that the morals clause doesn't specifically refer to nude photos and doesn't apply to events that occurred before someone is crowned. The judged seemed to agree.

"Nude photos do not constitute a violation of a contract," Cashwell said.

In her suit against the national organization, Revels claims she would suffer irreparable harm if she were not allowed to compete. Contestants are scheduled to be introduced to the public Sunday in Atlantic City, N.J.