Kevin Spacey was found not liable Thursday in the sexual abuse trial brought against him by Anthony Rapp.
Rapp, 50, and Spacey, 63, each testified over several days during the three-week trial in which Spacey was accused of sexually assaulting Rapp when he was just 14 years old. The two had been actors on Broadway at the time of the allegations.
“We’re very grateful to the jury for seeing through these false allegations,” Jennifer Keller, Spacey’s attorney said after the verdict.
“What’s next is Mr. Spacey is going to be proven that he’s innocent of anything he’s been accused of. That there was no truth to any of the allegations,” she added, a reference to other sexual misconduct claims against the actor, including criminal charges in England.
Anthony Rapp became emotional when he took the stand against Kevin Spacey on Wednesday.
(Getty Images)
KEVIN SPACEY DECLARES ‘JUSTICE WAS DONE’ AFTER BEING FOUND NOT LIABLE IN ANTHONY RAPP SEX ABUSE CASE
Legal expert Neama Rahmani told Fox News Digital that the verdict in the Rapp case shouldn’t affect the other sexual assault claims against Spacey “in theory.”
“Spacey could be not liable of sexually abusing one accuser, but be guilty on molesting others,” Rahmani explained. “But the practical reality is that the win will embolden Spacey and his defense team, and the alleged victims now know that Spacey is willing to take the cases all the way to trial if necessary, and even take the witness stand in his own defense.”
Rahmani noted that this isn’t Spacey’s first win. In 2019, Massachusetts prosecutors dropped criminal charges against the actor. He had been accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old at a Nantucket bar in 2016, but the accuser refused to testify in the trial.
However, the former U.S. attorney told Fox News Digital that with the case in England, the fact that there are multiple victims involved gives prosecutors a “stronger” case.
“Sexual assault cases involving multiple victims are stronger for the prosecution, because it’s more difficult for jurors to disbelieve the testimony of more than one witness,” Rahmani said. “So the U.K. case against Spacey with three alleged victims is the strongest case of all, and the one most likely to result in a conviction.”
Kevin Spacey still faces sex abuse charges in the United Kingdom.
(Ed Jones/AFP)
KEVIN SPACEY PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO SEXUAL ASSAULT CHARGES IN LONDON COURT
Here’s a look at what Spacey has been accused of:
Kevin Spacey was charged with sexual assault in the United Kingdom
Spacey was charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of “causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent” in May by the Crown Prosecution Service in the United Kingdom.
He pleaded not guilty to charges that he sexually assaulted three men while he was the artistic director at the Old Vic theater in London from 2004 until 2015.
The incidents allegedly took place in London between March 2005 and August 2008, and one in western England in April 2013.
In 2017, the Old Vic claimed that 20 individual allegations of inappropriate behavior had been made against Spacey – 16 had been from former staffers, and all had been made by males, according to the BBC.
The trial is set to begin on June 6, 2023, and is expected to last three to four weeks.
Kevin Spacey was found not liable on Thursday in the trial brought against him by Anthony Rapp, who had accused the actor of sexually assaulting him when he was 14 years old.
(Photo by YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images)
Kevin Spacey was ordered to pay ‘House of Cards’ makers millions
In early August, Spacey and his production companies were ordered to pay “House of Cards” creators nearly $31 million due to losses that occurred after he was fired from the show in 2017.
An arbitrator found that Spacey had engaged in “certain conduct in connection with several crew members in each of the five seasons that he starred in and executive produced House of Cards,” according to a filing.
Spacey has denied the allegations.
MRC claimed the company lost out on millions of dollars in revenue after it had to pause filming, re-write season six and include fewer episodes after firing Spacey.
Kevin Spacey was fired from “House of Cards” after multiple sex abuse allegations were made against him in 2017.
(The Associated Press)
Kevin Spacey was accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old boy
Spacey was accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old boy back in 2016 at a Nantucket bar. The accuser had claimed Spacey bought him multiple rounds of beer at the Club Car Restaurant before the actor groped him.
The Oscar-winner was charged with felony indecent assault and battery in connection with the alleged incident. He pleaded not guilty.
However, prosecutors dropped the criminal charges after the accuser refused to testify during the trial. The accuser invoked his fifth amendment right during a hearing after being ordered to turn over his cell phone – which was reported missing to the court by his lawyer.
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Kevin Spacey was sued by a massage therapist for battery and assault among other claims
Spacey was sued by a massage therapist who claimed the actor had forced him to touch the actor’s genitals two separate times during a home session in 2016. The lawsuit included battery, assault, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The lawsuit moved on to trial, but the accuser died in September 2019.
Following the massage therapist’s death, the lawsuit was dismissed by his estate.
After the suit was dismissed, Spacey’s lawyer issued a statement: “Contrary to some news reports, Mr. Spacey paid no money to ‘settle’ the lawsuit,” Keller told the Los Angeles Times. “The plaintiff’s estate simply decided to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning it cannot be [refiled] and we agreed to the dismissal.”
Kevin Spacey has been accused of inappropriate sexual behavior by more than a dozen others, some anonymously
Kevin Spacey has been accused of inappropriate sexual behavior by more than a dozen people.
(Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)
After Rapp came forward with his claim that Spacey had sexually assaulted him, more than a dozen others also came forward with similar claims, according to The Cut.
Harry Dreyfuss accused Spacey of groping him while in the same room as his father Richard Dreyfuss in 2008.
“What disgusts me about Kevin was how safe he did feel,” Harry claimed in an article for Buzzfeed before further alleging: “He knew he could fondle me in a room with my father and that I wouldn’t say a word. He knew I wouldn’t have had the guts. And I didn’t.”
Spacey’s attorney denied the allegations to the outlet, stating: “Let me be clear, Mr. Spacey absolutely denies the allegations.”
Others have anonymously accused Spacey of flat out asking them to engage in sexual activity, and some have come forward with more claims of groping.
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Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
