Kevin Spacey cleared in sex abuse case
- The jury found that accuser Anthony Rapp did not prove his claim that the Oscar winner climbed on top of him in bed when he was 14
- Spacey still faces criminal trial in London next year over alleged sexual assaults between 2005 and 2013
Kevin Spacey on Thursday defeated a sexual abuse case against him after jurors in Manhattan civil trial found his accuser did not prove his claim that the Oscar winner made an unwanted sexual advance on him when he was 14.
The verdict followed a three-week trial in Manhattan federal court and came roughly two hours after jurors began deliberating.
Anthony Rapp, now 50, testified that Spacey climbed on top of him on a bed and pressed his groin into Rapp’s hip until he was able to wriggle free. Spacey denied the allegation on the stand and said he had never been alone with Rapp.
A tearful Spacey, the former star of the Netflix US political drama House of Cards, emerged in the hall outside the courtroom briefly but went back inside. He declined to answer reporters’ questions upon leaving.
Spacey’s lawyer, Jennifer Keller, told reporters her client was grateful jurors “saw through these false allegations”.