Kevin Spacey found not guilty in U.K. sexual assault trial
Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey has been found not guilty on all nine charges against him in his U.K. sexual assault trial, reports The New York Times. The verdict from a London jury comes less than five weeks after the embattled Hollywood actor went on trial for multiple charges of sexual assault.
Speaking on the court steps following the announcement, 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'm 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."
He added, "I am humbled by the outcome today," and went on to thank the courtroom staff and his legal team for their work.
Spacey was accused of assaulting four men between 2001 and 2013 while living in London. There were originally 12 charges, including seven counts of sexual assault, three counts of indecent assault, one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. The latter carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Due to a legal technicality, the indecent assault charges were later dropped.
Spacey maintained his innocence from the outset, denying all of the charges. He described two of the sexual encounters as consensual and a third as a "clumsy pass," for which he claims he later apologized. The fourth encounter he denied entirely. During the trial, he labeled the allegations as "madness" and, per The Guardian, told jurors he "did not have a power wand that I waved in front of people's faces whenever I wanted someone to go to bed with me."
The trial, which began on June 28, included testimony from the four men who accused Spacey of sexual or indecent assault, as well as from their friends and family. Witnesses for the defense included Spacey himself, as well as Elton John and husband David Furnish, who corroborated Spacey's testimony regarding their annual White Tie and Tiara Ball, as one accuser alleged the assault occurred on the way to the event in either 2004 or 2005. John and Furnish testified that Spacey only attended the event in 2001.
A New York jury previously determined that Spacey was not liable in a separate 2022 sexual abuse lawsuit involving actor Anthony Rapp, who accused Spacey of assault and battery when he was 14 and the actor was 26. The case was formally dismissed. Rapp, who came forward with his allegations in 2017 and prompted an apology from Spacey on social media, is one of over a dozen men who have accused Spacey of sexual misconduct.
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