Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey is in a U.Okay. courtroom going through allegations of sexual assault. Will the case land him behind bars practically six years after he was first hit with misconduct allegations? Or may a vindication in court docket result in a profession comeback, as he claims?
What has Spacey been charged with?
Spacey faces 12 prices and is alleged to have sexually assaulted 4 males between 2001 and 2013. The U.Okay.’s Crown Prosecution Service introduced prices in opposition to Spacey, together with 4 counts of sexual assault in opposition to three males and a cost of inflicting an individual to have interaction in penetrative sexual exercise with out consent, in Could 2022. In November, seven extra prices had been approved. The alleged assaults largely passed off whereas the actor served as inventive director at London’s Previous Vic theater from 2003 to 2015.
Within the first incident, Spacey is accused of groping a person Spacey employed as a driver in London, in accordance with Deadline. In a second, Spacey allegedly grabbed a person’s penis “with such power it was painful.” Spacey can also be accused of performing oral intercourse on a person who fell asleep in his condo. Lastly, he is accused of grabbing a person’s crotch after they met in a pub, per Deadline.
Might he go to jail?
Sure, Spacey may obtain jail time if he is convicted. He is going through legal prices, whereas a earlier sexual assault case that he received in New York final yr was a civil trial. The cost of inflicting an individual to have interaction in penetrative sexual exercise with out consent carries a most sentence of life in jail, in accordance with Reuters.
What have prosecutors stated?
Because the trial started, prosecutor Christine Agnew instructed jurors that Spacey “delights in making others really feel powerless and uncomfortable” and is a “sexual bully,” including, “not one of the males needed to be touched by Kevin Spacey Fowler in a sexual manner, however he would not appear to have cared very a lot for his or her emotions,” per The Washington Put up. “He did what he needed to do for his personal private sexual gratification.”
What else have jurors heard through the trial?
The person whom Spacey employed as a driver instructed jurors that the actor is a “slippery, snaky, troublesome particular person” who groped him, and he additionally accused the actor of grooming, in accordance with CBS Information. “He grabbed me so exhausting I virtually got here off the street,” the person stated, per Deadline. “He grabbed me actually exhausting, and it actually damage. I pushed him in opposition to the door and stated, ‘Do not do this once more, or I’ll knock you out.'” The accuser additionally in contrast Spacey, who allegedly groped him a “good dozen instances,” to Spacey’s serial killer character from the film “Se7en.”
Jurors noticed further interviews between accusers and police, with one alleging Spacey grabbed his genitals and saying it was “not like a seduction” however “was indignant,” including that he needed to push the actor away twice, per The Related Press. The accuser who met Spacey in a pub stated he pushed him away after the actor grabbed his crotch and stated, “Be cool, be cool.” The fourth accuser alleged that after he woke as much as discover Spacey had simply carried out a intercourse act on him, the actor “stated I should not speak to anybody about what had occurred.”
What has Spacey stated?
Spacey has pleaded not responsible to the entire prices and has denied any nonconsensual sexual conduct. In keeping with Selection, the actor stated he did not recall assembly two of the accusers, stated he was “baffled” that the primary accuser has “reimagined” their time collectively and acknowledged he could have made a “clumsy move” within the third accuser’s case however denied assaulting him. Spacey’s lawyer instructed jurors that they might hear “deliberate exaggerations” and “damned lies” through the trial.
Spacey additionally claimed in an interview with ZEITmagazin that “there are folks proper now who’re prepared to rent me the second I’m cleared of those prices in London,” and “the second that occurs, they’re prepared to maneuver ahead.” In October 2022, a jury discovered Spacey not liable in a sexual assault lawsuit introduced by Anthony Rapp, who was one of many first folks to stage sexual misconduct allegations in opposition to him in 2017.
Spacey’s trial is predicted to final 4 weeks.