Kevin Spacey case takes new twist

Prosecutors say Kevin Spacey groped an 18-year-old man in a restaurant in 2016. Photo / Getty

Kevin Spacey's sexual assault case has taken a new turn a day after part of his legal team's strategy to defend him was revealed.

Spacey's lawyers are asking a judge to allow the actor to skip his arraignment on sexual assault charges in a Massachusetts courthouse next month.

The Boston Globe reports that Spacey's lawyers have filed a motion asking to excuse his presence at a January 7 hearing in Nantucket District Court.
The reason wasn't disclosed.

Two-time Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey. Photo / Getty

Prosecutors asked the judge to deny the motion.

The judge did not immediately rule.

Cape and Islands Assistant District Attorney Michael Giardino wrote that Spacey's appearance is required under state rules for criminal case procedure.
The 59-year-old Oscar winner is charged with felony indecent assault and battery.

Prosecutors say he groped an 18-year-old man in a Nantucket restaurant in 2016.

Spacey's lawyers have not spoken publicly about the case but in a court hearing questioned the evidence.

The House of Cards star's legal team has claimed the teenage boy who accused him of sexual assault allowed the actor to grope him during a boozy lunch.

Spacey's legal team went to court last week to fight for an order blocking prosecutors from filing charges — on grounds of insufficient evidence.

Kevin Spacey. Photo / Getty

The young man, identified as William Little and aged 18 at the time of the alleged assault in July 2016, told police he had sent messages, including a Snapchat video, to his girlfriend via the Snapchat app from the Club Car restaurant in Nantucket, where he was working as a bus boy for the summer, according to the court filing.

He had remained in the bar after his shift had finished to see Spacey, of whom he was a fan.

After meeting the actor and telling him he was 23 years old — the legal drinking age is 21 in Massachusetts — he started drinking first beer and then whiskey with Spacey.

Spacey then allegedly invited him back to his place, along with some other friends.

The young man declined, suspecting the actor was trying to seduce him. But he stayed in the bar in the hopes of getting a picture with Spacey.

"Will only lingered around because he wanted a picture with Spacey, something for Instagram," the filing said. "Spacey had told him, if you come back with me, I will take a picture with you." That was when Spacey began sexually molesting the young man, the filed charges said.

"Will tried to shift away with his body and move Spacey's hands away with his hands but Spacey kept reaching down his pants," it said.

"Will said his girlfriend did not believe him so that's when he Snapchatted the video," it said.

He then left the bar on the advice of a woman who reportedly saw "he was in distress." He returned to work the next day and informed the owner of the bar of the incident, the court documents said.

The filing said that police had retrieved the footage and shown it to the young man, who confirmed it showed him and Spacey.

But according to a transcript obtained by The Boston Globe, Spacey's lawyers argued the boy did not report the incident to authorities the night it happened or even the next day.

The lawyers said he wasn't interviewed in person until more than a year later.
His mother, former Boston news anchor Heather Unruh, has previously said he did not file a complaint earlier out of fear and embarrassment.
The Boston Globe reports that Los Angeles-based criminal defence lawyer Alan Jackson stated in a show-cause hearing: "That's an incredibly long time to have a strange man's hands in your pants, correct?"

Mr Jackson put the question to State Police Trooper Gerald F. Donovan, a member of the detective unit at the Cape and Islands District Attorney Office, who investigated the case.

"I would agree with that. Yes," Donovan replied.

Jackson also said Unruh's son made no effort to move away from Spacey and that he was the first one to approach Spacey. He also lied about his age, saying he was 23, not 18.

If found guilty, Spacey could face up to five years in jail.

Spacey, who was forced out of public life by accusations of sexual misconduct in 2017, has not yet commented on the latest charges.

But this week he posted a video online of himself speaking about allegations of sexual abuse in the character of Frank Underwood, the scheming politician he played in House of Cards before the show dropped him.

Spacey was considered one of the finest actors of his generation but his career nosedived following allegations of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen men in the United States and Britain.

The first public report of alleged abuse by him came from actor Anthony Rapp, who claimed that Spacey sexually abused him when Rapp was 14, in 1986.