Kevin Spacey wept in court as he was cleared of all charges at the conclusion of his sex assault trial in London.
Kevin Spacey cried in court as he was cleared of sex assault charges
A jury at Southwark Crown Court found the Hollywood actor not guilty on all nine counts of sexual offences and the 'House Of Cards' star was seen crying as he stood in the dock listening to the jury forewoman read out the verdicts.
Spacey was seen hugging his manager and members of his legal team and thanking court staff as the trial reached its end on Wednesday (26.07.23).
He was cleared of seven charges of sexual assault, one charge of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and one charge of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity.
Spacey had initially been facing 12 charges - which he denied - but the others were struck out.
He previously told the court he had "lost everything" due to the allegations against him.
During his testimony last week, he told the court: "There was a rush to judgment and before the first question was asked or answered I lost my job, I lost my reputation, I lost everything in a matter of days." The actor went on to claim that he had been left mostly without work as a result of the legal battle and still "owes money" in legal fees.
He also seemed to apologise to gay men for coming out at the time the allegations emerged but hadn't understood the controversy of announcing his sexuality amid a scandal. He said: "With a few exceptions over the last five, six years, I have not been able to work. I’ve had no money coming in and I’ve had a lot of legal bills and things to fight against, and I haven’t paid it all off so I still owe money. Members of the LGTBQ+ community were upset because I came out while I was responding to an accusation … now I understand why it was read that way, but I hadn’t put those two things together."
During the trial, Spacey was accused of performing a sex act on an alleged victim while he slept but claimed in court that the complaints made "no logical sense" and instead claimed that they had a "consensual" evening together. He told the court: "I remember the end of the evening and that was what struck me in my mind because we had a consensual and, I believe, a very nice and lovely evening If he regretted it immediately I don’t know, I can’t speak for him, but something was weird – it was strange. "I don’t remember [if we had any physical contact] but I know the way I am with someone and I would never be behaving in the way he claimed – it makes no logical sense. I think we were very comfortable with each other." Another alleged victim had told the court about an incident in the late 2000s, claiming that Spacey had taken "things further" and drugged him but the 'American Beauty' star claimed that while they had had a sexual encounter, things went "weird" shortly afterward and the man "hurriedly left" the scene.
He said: "We had had a sexual encounter after which I had gone to the bathroom and I came back from the bathroom and it was like… something had changed. The person that I had this intimate moment with was suddenly awkward and fumbling… and I don’t want to say ran out… but hurriedly left. And it felt very odd. "I felt like maybe he was making an excuse and it concerned me and my memory is… that I called this person to make sure they were OK… and they were OK." Kevin was also accused of grabbing a man's crotch like a cobra” after a “barrage of vile comments” when the pair worked at a West End theatre in the mid-2000s, but dismissed the accusations as "madness" and claimed to not even recognise a photograph of the alleged victim. He said: "It’s madness! It never happened. I never said any of the things that he claims I said to him and wouldn’t and never have to anyone in my life." Earlier in his testimony, Spacey alleged that he had a "very fun time" with them but had "respected" that they did not want to go any further and admitted that he had touched them, insisting that it was not in a "violent" manner. He said: "I’m a big flirt. He made it clear that he did not want to go any further and that happens at times, and you just respect how far someone wants to go. I can’t remember specific conversations we had but I remember the tone, I remember the atmosphere, I remember the laughter. We had a very fun time together. [I touched him] but it did not happen in a violent aggressive way."
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