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LONDON — American actor Kevin Spacey is a “sexual bully” who “delights in making others really feel powerless and uncomfortable,” a London courtroom heard Friday as prosecutors started setting out their case towards the Hollywood star.
Spacey, 63, is dealing with a string of sex-offense expenses involving 4 males who variously accuse the Oscar-winning actor of forcible crotch grabbing and undesirable intercourse acts — in a single case whereas the alleged sufferer was unconscious. If convicted, he may face a jail sentence.
“Every of those allegations of non-consensual sexual conduct is totally denied,” Spacey’s lawyer, Patrick Gibbs, instructed the jury on the primary full day of trial. “Mr. Spacey has come again to the U.Ok., as he mentioned he would, to reply them and … put all of the rumors and conjecture to mattress.”
Prosecutor Christine Agnew instructed the jury at London’s Southwark Crown Courtroom that Spacey could have gotten a “sexual thrill” from preying on different males.
Kevin Spacey trial opens in London courtroom. Right here’s what to know.
Spacey “doesn’t respect private boundaries or house” and “delights in making others really feel powerless and uncomfortable, a sexual bully,” Agnew mentioned, in response to the Press Affiliation, a British information company, and different wire companies who reported from the courtroom.
Spacey denies the 12 expenses towards him and has beforehand mentioned he hopes to make a profession comeback as soon as he has established his innocence and the London trial is completed.
The trial formally bought underway earlier this week with jury choice. The jury will hear from the 4 males through the trial, which is anticipated to final three to 4 weeks.
“Not one of the males wished to be touched by Kevin Spacey Fowler in a sexual means, however he doesn’t appear to have cared very a lot for his or her emotions,” Agnew mentioned, utilizing the actor’s full title. “He did what he wished to do for his personal private sexual gratification.”
The prosecutor warned the jury that they could really feel “star struck or overwhelmed that you’re a part of the jury to strive such a well-known particular person however … it’s essential to preserve your self grounded and true to the oath that you’ve taken.”
Spacey arrived on the Southwark Crown Courtroom greater than two hours earlier than his case began. He traveled to the courtroom in a London black cab and wore a grey go well with and gold tie.
The fees towards him embrace sexual assault, indecent assault and inflicting an individual to interact in penetrative sexual exercise with out consent.
The alleged incidents are mentioned to have taken place in London and Gloucestershire between 2001 and 2013. Throughout a lot of that point, Spacey was the inventive director of London’s Outdated Vic theater, a prestigious playhouse. All 4 complainants are unnamed on this case, as is their proper below British legislation.
One in all them mentioned that Spacey laughed at him after he rebuffed the actor’s advances, which included placing his hand on his leg and “grabbing him with such drive it was painful” — as Agnew retold the allegation in courtroom. Spacey “commented that his getting indignant merely turned him on,” the prosecutor mentioned.
Agnew mentioned one other man — an aspiring actor who hoped Spacey would mentor him — fell asleep in Spacey’s house after the 2 went to a pub, and allegedly woke as much as Spacey performing a sexual act on him.
Spacey was considered one of America’s most celebrated actors earlier than allegations of sexual assault emerged on the top of the #MeToo motion. He received Oscars for the movies “The Regular Suspects” and “American Magnificence.” His flip as Frank Underwood within the Netflix political drama “Home of Playing cards” made him a family title. Shortly after he was first accused of sexual misconduct in 2017, he was dropped by that present and lower from Ridley Scott’s “All of the Cash within the World,” a movie that was accomplished on the time however then reshot with actor Christopher Plummer.
In police interviews, in response to Agnew, Spacey mentioned it was “solely attainable and certainly doubtless” that he had made a “clumsy go” at a few of his accusers. However in a uncommon interview this month, Spacey instructed Germany’s Zeit journal that the media had turned him right into a “monster” and that “lots of people are very afraid that in the event that they assist me, they are going to be canceled.”
There are “individuals proper now who’re prepared to rent me the second I’m cleared of those expenses in London,” he added. “The second that occurs, they’re prepared to maneuver ahead.”
On Friday, Spacey’s lawyer requested jurors to think about any ulterior motives the complainants could have, saying that there could also be a “sinister spin” on the knowledge the prosecution presents and that a few of it could be “made up or twisted” and “intentionally exaggerated.”
“You’ll hear some truths, you’ll hear some half-truths, additionally, you will hear … some deliberate exaggerations and a few many damned lies,” Gibbs mentioned.
The trial will proceed for roughly three to 4 weeks.
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