LONDON, United Kingdom – In a stunning victory, Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey was acquitted by a London jury on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 of sexually assaulting four men.
The actor, who turned 64 on the day of his acquittal, narrowly escaped a potential life sentence.
After the jury cleared Spacey of seven counts of sexual assault, one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent, the actor was visibly emotional.
According to the Press Association, he wept, placed his hand on his chest, and mouthed “thank you” to the jury.
In a brief statement after leaving the courthouse, Spacey said, “I imagine that many of you can understand that there’s a lot for me to process after what just happened today.”
He thanked the jury for their careful examination of the evidence and said the outcome humbled him.
Spacey’s career has been in shambles following a series of sexual misconduct accusations that predate the London trial.
In 2017, actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of sexual misconduct, seeking $40 million in damages in a civil lawsuit. However, a New York jury found Spacey not liable in October 2022.
In 2018, charges were brought against Spacey in Massachusetts for indecent assault and battery, alleging he had groped an 18-year-old in a Nantucket bar.
Spacey pleaded not guilty and the case was dropped after witnesses failed to testify. Another case in California was dismissed after the death of the alleged victim.
The accusations led to Spacey’s dismissal from Netflix’s hit series “House of Cards,” for which he was later ordered to pay over $30 million to the producers for losses incurred over his firing.
The London trial brought forth the most serious legal threat for Spacey. The actor was initially facing 12 charges, with five authorized in May 2022 and seven added in November by British prosecutors.
The charges were related to incidents allegedly committed between 2001 and 2013 in Gloucestershire and London, where Spacey once served as the artistic director for the Old Vic Theatre. Four charges were later dropped due to a “legal technicality.”
Spacey voluntarily travelled from the United States to Britain to avoid potential extradition, and the trial began on June 28.
The prosecution portrayed Spacey as a “sexual bully” who abused his power, while Spacey dismissed the accusations as “madness” and a “stab in the back.”
He described two of the sexual encounters as consensual, denied that another took place, and referred to one case as a “clumsy pass” for which he later tried to apologize.
Notable witnesses for the defense included Elton John, David Furnish, and Spacey’s niece, among others.
