Kevin Spacey Cleared of Sexual Assault Charges in U.K. Trial

K.J. Yossman and Ellise Shafer
·4 min read
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Kevin Spacey broke down in tears on Wednesday as a U.K. jury found him not guilty of nine charges of sexual assault, indecent assault and – the most serious charge – causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity.

This means that Spacey, on his 64th birthday, has been cleared of all charges against him in the U.K. It took the jury 12 hours over two and a half days to come to their decision.

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As the final verdict was read out Spacey dissolved into tears. A court usher approached the glass dock at Southwark Crown Court in which the “House of Cards” actor has spent the last four and a half weeks at Southwark Crown Court in London fighting his case, and offered him a tissue, which he accepted. After the dock was unlocked and he walked into the courtroom a free man, Spacey made a beeline for his manager, Evan Lowenstein, who has supported him throughout the trial. He also hugged his legal team, comprised of barrister Patrick Gibbs QC and solicitor Oliver Schneider Sikorsky.

In a statement to the press after the trial wrapped, Spacey said: “I imagine that many of you can understand that there’s a lot for me to process after what has just happened today. But I would like to say that I am enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts carefully before they reached the decision. And I am humbled by the outcome today. I also want to thank the staff inside this courthouse, the security and all those who took care of us every single day, my legal team … for being here every day and that’s all I have to say for the moment. Thank you very much.”

In an unusual move, after the trial’s conclusion five of the jurors waited outside the courthouse to see if they could meet the actor in person. After some discussions with his manager, the group – comprised of four men and one woman – walked back with him into the courthouse where Variety understands Spacey thanked them and, at one point, made a brief bow towards them with his arms crossed across his chest.

During the course of the trial, the jury heard from the four men who had made the complaints against the actor (none of the men can be named for legal reasons).

One of the men, who had come into contact with Spacey frequently in the early 2000s during the actor’s stint as creative director of the Old Vic theater, said Spacey had repeatedly grabbed him by the crotch including one time when they were on a motorway. On that occasion, the man, who said he was driving at the time, claimed Spacey had grabbed him so hard on the genitals he had almost driven the car off the road. Spacey said the men had had a “consensual” relationship that involved some touching but he had otherwise respected the alleged victim’s boundaries. The actor denied the near-crash incident entirely and provided evidence that it could not have taken place in the time period the man complained.

The second complaint related to a charity event in 2005 in which a man accused Spacey of making numerous sexually aggressive comments before pinning him against a wall and grabbing his crotch. Spacey denied ever meeting the man at the event.

The third complaint – the most serious – involved a potential life sentence. The complainant had alleged that in 2008 he had ended up at Spacey’s London apartment where he fell asleep or was somehow rendered unconscious and woke up to find Spacey performing oral sex on him. Spacey said the encounter had been consensual and, in what may have been a crucial piece of evidence, provided telephone records that contradicted the man’s account.

The fourth complaint related to a party at Spacey’s rented house in Gloucestershire. After meeting the alleged victim at a pub, a group ended up at the actor’s residence where, the alleged victim said, Spacey kissed his neck, grabbed his penis and said “be cool, be cool.” Spacey denied sexual assault but described the encounter as a drunken “clumsy pass” for which he later tried to apologize.

A jury dismissed each of the counts relating to the men’s accounts.

Originally, Spacey was charged with 12 counts, plus an addendum to one of the counts, but these were reduced to nine last week due to a “legal technicality.”

The acquittals are yet another victory for Spacey, who won a $40 million civil lawsuit brought by actor Anthony Rapp last October. Rapp had accused Spacey of sexual battery, which took place in 1986 but a New York jury dismissed the claim.

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