Spacey in court on sex assault charges
Kevin Spacey has appeared before a judge for the first time to face charges of sexual assault over allegations that he groped an 18-year-old bar employee.
Spacey, 59, is accused of groping William Little when the younger man was working at the Club Car, a restaurant and bar on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, on the evening of July 7
2016.
Little told investigators last year that he approached Spacey in the piano bar that summer night, wanting a photo, and proceeded to drink heavily with the actor after finishing his shift before the alleged assault took place some time after midnight.
Spacey’s lawyers on December 20 argued that there were ‘‘inconsistencies’’ in the accuser’s story, and claimed that he didn’t pull away from the actor for three minutes. Little has admitted telling Spacey he was 23; the legal age for drinking in the state is
21.
In court documents submitted before trial, he entered a plea of not guilty. But in the courtroom itself yesterday he did not speak. Much of the hearing was concerned with a potential video recording of the incident.
Initial reports had suggested that Little recorded the alleged assault and sent the tape to his girlfriend.
It later emerged that the clip only showed Spacey’s hand, which was not on the accuser’s genitals.
Alan Jackson, Spacey’s lawyer, asked the judge to request that any material – video or text – not be deleted, as they believed it could prove Spacey’s innocence.
The prosecution appeared to dismiss the importance of the messages between the accuser and his girlfriend, describing the defence’s request as ‘‘a fishing expedition’’.
The total hearing lasted less than 10 minutes, and a pretrial hearing was set for March 4.
‘‘It’s very hard to tell whether this will proceed to full trial,’’ said Adam Citron, senior legal counsel at New York law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, and a former assistant district attorney. ‘‘A lot may lie with the defendant’s wishes. Kevin Spacey may feel he has done nothing wrong and so not admit to any charges. From what I’ve seen so far he seems quite defiant, and so may take it all the way and seek a jury trial.’’
Little is being represented by Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston-based lawyer famed for leading the prosecution of predatory priests. In the film Spotlight, telling the story of the Catholic priests scandal, he was played by Stanley Tucci. Garabedian said before the hearing that the young man was coming forward to encourage other victims to speak out.
‘‘My client is a determined and encouraging voice for those victims not yet ready to report being sexually assaulted,’’ he said in an email sent -yesterday morning. ‘‘My client is leading by example.’’
Spacey, a two-time Oscar winner, had tried to avoid appearing in court personally, with his lawyers arguing that his presence would turn the arraignment into a circus.
In court documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph, Spacey himself also asked the judge that he be exempt from the court session, arguing that his presence would ‘‘amplify the negative publicity already generated in connection with the case’’.