Kevin Spacey has been found not guilty of all sexual assault charges he faced in a U.K. trial. Spacey, 64, was acquitted in London’s Southwark Crown Court of charges including sexual assault, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity. It took the jury 12 hours over two and a half days to come to their decision.
The Academy Award-winning actor had faced nine sexual offense charges related to incidents reported by four men that allegedly took place between 2001 and 2013. Spacey pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. In a statement to the press after the verdict was reached, Spacey said: “I imagine that many of you can understand that there’s a lot for me to process after what has just happened today. But I would like to say that I am enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts carefully before they reached the decision. And I am humbled by the outcome today. I also want to thank the staff inside this courthouse, the security and all those who took care of us every single day, my legal team … for being here every day and that’s all I have to say for the moment. Thank you very much.”
Spacey starred in the Netflix series “House of Cards” until he was fired in 2017 when actor Anthony Rapp accused him of prior sexual misconduct which took place in 1986. Last October, Spacey won the $40 million civil lawsuit brought by Rapp, but a New York jury dismissed the claim.
Editorial credit: Zeynep Demir Aslim / Shutterstock.com