Kevin Spacey was acquitted of sexual assault on Wednesday after the Oscar winner’s testimony as a witness in his personal defence spared him a potential jail time period and gave him a shot at a profession comeback.
Tears rolled down Spacey’s cheeks as the ultimate not responsible verdict was learn in a London courtroom on his sixty fourth birthday, following two-and-a-half days of jury deliberations.
Spacey spoke briefly outdoors Southwark Crown Court, thanking the jury, his authorized staff and the court employees.
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“I imagine that many of you can understand that there’s a lot for me to process after what has just happened today,” he mentioned, visibly emotional.
“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 their decision.
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“And I am humbled by the outcome today.”
The American actor’s wide-ranging testimony climaxed as he choked up talking of the six years he’d gone with out work after intercourse abuse allegations surfaced towards him in the course of the #MeToo motion in the US in 2017.
”My world exploded,” Spacey testified. “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.”
Three males accused the Oscar winner of aggressively grabbing their crotches. A fourth, an aspiring actor looking for mentorship, mentioned he awoke to the actor performing oral intercourse on him after going to Spacey’s London house for a beer and both falling asleep or passing out.
Spacey mentioned he was a “big flirt” who had consensual flings with males and whose solely misstep was touching a person’s groin whereas making a “clumsy pass”.
Defence lawyer Patrick Gibbs mentioned three of the lads have been liars and incidents had been “reimagined with a sinister spin”.
He accused most of them of hopping on a “bandwagon” of complaints in the hope of putting it wealthy.
Prosecutor Christine Agnew informed jurors that Spacey was a “sexual bully” who took what he wished when he wished.
She mentioned he was shielded by a “trinity of protection”: he knew males have been unlikely to complain; they would not be believed in the event that they did complain; and in the event that they did complain, no motion can be taken as a result of he was highly effective.
Spacey had confronted nine charges, together with a number of counts of sexual assault and one depend of inflicting an individual to have interaction in penetrative sexual exercise with out consent.
The accusations date from 2001 to 2013 and embrace a interval when Spacey — after successful Academy Awards for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty — had returned to the theatre, his past love. During most of that interval he was creative director of the Old Vic Theatre in London.
The males got here ahead after an American actor accused Spacey of an incident of sexual misconduct as the #MeToo motion heated up in 2017.
Several of the lads mentioned that they had been haunted by the abuse and could not bear to look at Spacey’s movies.
One of the lads broke down when talking with police as he supplied particulars in a videotaped interview in regards to the oral intercourse incident that he mentioned he’d by no means informed anybody earlier than.
Another man mentioned he was indignant in regards to the abuse that occurred sporadically over a number of years and commenced to drink and work out extra to deal with it.
Spacey choked up and have become teary eyed in the witness field as he described the emotional and monetary turmoil that the U.S. accusations introduced and the barrage of criticism that adopted on social media.
“My world exploded,” Spacey testified. “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.”
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Gibbs mentioned Spacey was being “monstered” on the web each evening and have become poisonous in the business.
Spacey was booted from House of Cards and his scenes in All the Money in the World, have been scrubbed and he was changed by Christopher Plummer. Aside from some small initiatives, he has barely labored as an actor in six years.
A New York jury final 12 months swiftly cleared Spacey in a $US40 million ($59 million) lawsuit by Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp on allegations relationship again three a long time.
Spacey had considered the London case as an opportunity for redemption, telling German journal Zeit final month that there have been “people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London.”
If you or somebody is impacted by sexual assault, name 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or go to their web site. In an emergency, name 000.
Hollywood’s lengthy ugly historical past with sexual harassment
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