NEW YORK — Kevin Spacey was cleared of sexual misconduct allegations in New York City this week in the first legal battle he’s faced since his acting career derailed in late 2017.
The lawyer who convinced a Manhattan jury not to find the 63-year-old liable for a battery claim brought by “Rent” actor Anthony Rapp predicted the verdict marked the beginning of Spacey’s road to vindication.
“What’s next is Mr. Spacey is going to be proven that he’s innocent of anything he’s been accused of,” the Oscar winner’s lawyer Jennifer Keller said after her victory.
Rapp accused Spacey of making a sexual pass at him and manhandling him when he was 14 years old in 1986.
But Spacey’s journey is just beginning. The “American Beauty” actor has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in England, where he is set to go on trial next summer.
He faces much higher stakes in his British case than in the stateside civil litigation, despite losing one $30.9 million lawsuit to “House of Cards” producers this summer. He could go to prison if convicted of the four counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sex without consent brought by the Crown Prosecution Service.
The U.K. charges relate to five incidents involving three men, now in their 30s and 40s, who said Spacey sexually assaulted them between 2004 and 2015 while he was artistic director of the Old Vic in London.
The results of an internal investigation into Spacey at the famed theater surfaced 20 complaints against the actor. The review found “his stardom and status at the Old Vic may have prevented people, and in particular junior staff or young actors, from feeling that they could speak up or raise a hand for help.”
Among the complaints was one from the teen son of “Jaws” actor Richard Dreyfuss, who accused Spacey of once groping him while they were rehearsing lines.
In 2019, prosecutors in Nantucket, Massachusetts, dropped a case against Spacey for allegedly molesting an 18-year-old bus boy, after the accuser stopped cooperating.
Spacey has denied all allegations. When he took the stand at his Manhattan Federal Court trial, he said he wracked his brain when first accused by Rapp but never doubted his innocence.
“I knew I wouldn’t have any sexual interest in Anthony Rapp or any child,” Spacey testified. “That I knew.”
While he will continue to fight charges against him, Spacey, who won Oscars for his performances in “Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty” is expected to reappear on the big screen next year.
He’s starring in “Peter Five Eight,” a thriller directed by Michael Zaiko Hall.
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