U.K. JURY ACQUITS SPACEY OF SEX ASSAULT CHARGES

Kevin Spacey, the twotime Oscar-winning actor, was found not guilty by a jury in Britain of nine counts of sexual assault on Wednesday.

Almost six years after allegations of inappropriate behavior began to emerge against Spacey on both sides of the Atlantic, a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London took just over 12 hours to reach its decision.

As the verdicts were announced, Spacey, 64, stood in a transparent box in the middle of the courtroom, wearing a dark blue suit and looking unemotional as he faced the jury.

But when the final “not guilty” was read out, the actor, whose birthday also fell on Wednesday, began to cry and sighed heavily with relief.

Shortly after the verdict, Spacey walked out of the courthouse — shaking the hands of several jurors on the way and kissing two security guards on the cheek — and gave a brief statement to a throng of waiting reporters.

“I imagine that many of you can understand that there’s a lot for me to process,” he said. “I’m enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence.”

“I am humbled by the outcome,” he added, before getting into a taxi.

During the almost monthlong trial in London, the court heard from four men who said that Spacey assaulted them between 2001 and 2013.

The trial in London was the latest that Spacey has successfully defended. In 2022, a federal jury in Manhattan found Spacey not liable for battery after actor Anthony Rapp filed a lawsuit accusing Spacey of climbing on top of him and making a sexual advance in 1986, when Rapp was 14.