Advertisement
Advertisement
United States
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
US actor Kevin Spacey in June 2016. Photo: AFP

US actor Kevin Spacey plans not-guilty plea in sexual assault case

  • Celebrity is expected to be arraigned in Massachusetts on Monday, his first court appearance after several accusations of sexual harassment

Kevin Spacey is due in a Massachusetts courtroom Monday to answer accusations that he groped a young man in a bar on the resort island of Nantucket in 2016.

The Oscar-winning actor has said he will plead not guilty to a charge of felony indecent assault and battery.

Kevin Spacey in May 2017. Photo: Invision/AP

The court appearance by Spacey comes more than a year after former Boston television anchor Heather Unruh accused the former House of Cards star of sexually assaulting her son, who was 18 at the time, in the crowded bar of Club Car, where the teen worked.

Spacey’s lawyer, Alan Jackson, has tried to poke holes in the case, noting the teenager did not immediately report the allegations.

If convicted, Spacey faces up to five years in prison.

Spacey (far right) in the 1995 film ‘The Usual Suspects’. Photo: Corbis Sygma

It is the first criminal case brought against the 59-year-old actor since other allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced against him in 2017.

A judge has denied Spacey’s bid to avoid appearing in person at Nantucket District Court. Spacey had argued his presence would “amplify the negative publicity already generated” by the case.

Unruh told reporters in November 2017 that Spacey got her son drunk then grabbed his genitals. She said her son left the restaurant when Spacey went to the bathroom.

After the charge was announced last month, Spacey released a video in the voice of Frank Underwood, his character on House of Cards, in which he said: “I’m certainly not going to pay the price for the thing I didn’t do.”

It was unclear whether he was referring to the charge.

Spacey has also faced other allegations.

His first accuser, actor Anthony Rapp, said Spacey climbed on top of him on a bed when Rapp was 14 and Spacey 26. Spacey said he did not remember the encounter but apologised if the allegations were true.

Post