Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines of Oct. 13
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Actor Cuba Gooding Jr.'s criminal record has been wiped clean. After completing the terms of his no-jail plea deal in his Manhattan sex abuse case, the "Jerry Maguire" star had his charge downgraded Thursday to second-degree harassment for kissing a woman against her will at a nightclub in 2018.
Prosecutor Coleen Balbert said Thursday Gooding had completed six months of alcohol and behavior modification counseling, allowing him to withdraw his misdemeanor plea and plead guilty to a harassment violation.
Balbert said she has received "positive reports for the last six months" from Gooding’s therapist.
CUBA GOODING JR. ACCUSED OF 2013 RAPE IN CIVIL LAWSUIT
Cuba Gooding Jr. will avoid jail time in his 2018 sexual abuse case. (AP Images)
The Oscar-winning actor successfully completed six months of alcohol treatment, a condition of his plea agreement reached in April with the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
Previously, the actor had faced six counts of sexual abuse and forcible touching for allegedly groping three women on separate occasions in New York City.
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. initially faced up to a year in jail. (2016 Getty Images)
Gooding faces no additional penalties and, by replacing his misdemeanor plea with a plea to a noncriminal violation, he will not have a criminal record. If Gooding had failed to comply with the terms of the deal, he would have faced up to one year in jail.
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In April, he solidified a no-jail plea deal with Manhattan prosecutors nearly three years after he was arrested on sex abuse charges.
Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Getty)
The "Men of Honor" actor originally pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor forcible touching in Manhattan Supreme Court for kissing a woman without her consent at LAVO Nightclub on the Upper East Side in September 2018.
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He also apologized for subjecting two other women to non-consensual physical contact. Prosecutors alleged he squeezed a 30-year-old woman’s breast at the Moxy Hotel in Times Square in June 2019 and pinched the behind of a TAO Downtown server in October 2018.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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