Kevin Spacey Found Not Guilty of Sexual Assault Charges in UK Trial

Matt Webb Mitovich
·2 min read
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A UK jury has cleared Kevin Spacey of all of the sexual assault charges against him.

The actor stood accused of sexually assaulting a total of four men in London and Gloucestershire between 2001 and 2013; for most of that time, Spacey served as the artistic director of London’s Old Vic theater. Breaking down those charges, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service back in June 2022 charged Spacey with four counts of sexual assault against three men, plus a charge of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without their consent.

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Five months later, another seven charges — included three counts of sexual assault, three of indecent assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent — were levied against Spacey via a separate complainant.

“I imagine that many of you can understand that there’s a lot for me to process after what has just happened today,” said Spacey in a statement to press following the trial. “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.”

The trial held at Southwark Crown Court in London began on June 28, with prosecutors and the defense laying our their cases before a jury of 12. It took the jury two days to come to its decision.

One of the offenses carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, the New York Times reported, while others also come with potential jail terms.

Spacey had pleaded not guilty to all of the above charges.

The House of Cards alum previously faced charges made by Star Trek: Discovery‘s Anthony Rapp, who in October 2016 alleged that Spacey had made an unwanted sexual advance toward him in 1986, when Rapp was only 14 and Spacey was 26. More men came forward with allegations against Spacey in the days after Rapp spoke out, while several House of Cards crew members told CNN that Spacey created a “toxic” work environment on the set of the Netflix political drama through alleged acts of sexual harassment and assault.

Rapp in September 2020 filed a lawsuit against Spacey for sexual assault, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The first and third charges wound up tossed out, and in October 2022, Spacey was found not liable for sexual battery against Rapp.

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