Kevin Spacey arrives at court as jury prepares to retire in Hollywood star’s sexual assault trial
Kevin Spacey was photographed today arriving at a court in London for the final day of his sexual assault trial.
The 63-year-old double Oscar winner is accused of assaulting four men between 2001 and 2013 “for his own sexual gratification.”
Jurors have heard claims that the House of Cards star is a “sexual bully” who loved making his victims of violence feel “powerless and uncomfortable.”
But Spacey has denied all charges, while his lawyer told jurors that three of the accusers lied and that they should not convict him of making a “clumsy pass” on a fourth man.
The jury is expected to retire today to consider their verdicts after Mr Justice Wall has completed his summary.
Kevin Spacey, 63, seen today, is accused of assaulting four men ‘for his own sexual gratification’ between 2001 and 2013. He denies the allegations
In his closing speech last week, Barrister Patrick Gibbs, KC, told Southwark Crown Court: ‘There are three liars in this case. We can’t look into their brains with electrodes and know what they’re thinking.
“The reason they lie may only be known to them. The problem with [the fourth complainant’s] the evidence is not that he’s a liar, but that he wasn’t exactly sober as he describes – but nobody was.’
He went on to question the evidence provided by the complainants’ family and friends, adding: ‘They have alerted the police to the people they believe will faithfully and honestly repeat the stories they have been told.
“Be careful to remember when considering this piece of evidence. It is not independent but comes from the mouth of the complainant himself and thus is not an independent confirmation that these things happened.
“I’m not suggesting they’re liars, I’m suggesting they’re a sounding board for what they’ve been told.”
A man claims he was attacked repeatedly by Spacey, including when he drove the star to one of Elton John’s White Tie and Tiara Ball AIDS fundraisers at his Windsor home in the early 2000s.
With regard to this allegation, Mr Gibbs said: ‘Twenty years had passed by the time he turned himself in to the police. A late accusation. We did our best to answer all these years later, whether we were successful or not is up to you.
‘Most of what [the man] claims to date are so vague and all done privately that it is impossible to contradict. And what you’re left with is the word of one against the other.
It turned out to be a complete fabrication. It’s that dramatic centerpiece, it’s the crotch handle. Gripped so hard it hurt so much he almost crashed the car.”
Jurors have heard claims that the House of Cards star is a ‘sexual bully’ who loved making his victims of violence feel ‘powerless and uncomfortable’
The attorney told the court that it “proved from evidence to be fiction” that was “intended to dramatize and dignify a new imagination long after the events of all that really happened between those two men.”
“It is a fiction that emphasizes that he had never consented to the contact that had taken place between them, he had never consented to any kind of sexual touch.
‘It would show, if it were true, wouldn’t it? And that’s what I’m suggesting it’s designed to show.
“That it was an abusive relationship that involved varying degrees of and ultimately resulted in violence and aggression. But the Crown now says of that claim: ‘Well, dates don’t matter’.
‘My answer is that they would say so now, wouldn’t they? Since none of the dates they relied on work, every single date has been disproved.
Is that why the Crown claims dates don’t matter? Because there’s no date that works.’
Mr. Gibbs said, ‘I’m not suggesting that [the man] is gay, but I’m suggesting he wouldn’t be the first person to meet a charismatic, persuasive admirer.
While he may have been embarrassed and confused about it, in a way that concerned his girlfriend, my suggestion is that he didn’t refuse it privately.
Spacey has denied all charges, with his lawyer telling jurors that three of the complainants lied and that they should not convict him of making a “clumsy pass” on a fourth man
“Maybe, I don’t know, I’m not a psychiatrist, he later had to re-describe what happened not only to his brother, but to himself, because that explained a confusing episode in an otherwise conventional life.
“Maybe it even helped him get mad about it. Now that Kevin Spacey has been canceled and people have been asking him about it, he has the perfect opportunity.
“He had the perfect opportunity to rewrite history in those simple terms: ‘I was abused by Kevin Spacey, as were the other three people I see that the detectives have identified.’ That was the moment with the greatest chance to do that.’
Spacey pleaded not guilty in January to three charges of indecent assault, three charges of sexual assault and one charge of causing sexual activity without a person’s consent.
He also previously denied four other charges of sexual assault and one of inciting penetrative sexual activity without consent.
A new indecent assault charge, an alternate count, was added midway through the trial, bringing the total number of alleged offenses to 13.
On Wednesday, the four indecent assault charges were dropped by the judge due to a “legal technicality” and not because the prosecutor waived any allegation.
The charges relate to alleged crimes committed between January 1, 2001 and June 24, 2005.
The two-time Oscar winner starred in Glengarry Glen Ross, Seven, LA Confidential and Baby Driver. He also had the leading role in the Netflix series House of Cards.