Kevin Spacey accuser drops lawsuit against actor
The accuser’s attorney who submitted a court filing on behalf of the young man who accused Spacey of groping and assaulting him in 2016 says the suit is being dismissed "with prejudice." This means it cannot be refiled.
The man who accused Kevin Spacey of sexual assault has invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify about his allegedly missing cellphone, prompting the actor's lawyer to call for the case to be dismissed.
The man was questioned Monday by Spacey's lawyer about a cellphone he used that night but that he now says is missing before asserting his right against self-incrimination.
The judge said the man's previous testimony would be stricken from the record, while Spacey's lawyer said the case is "compromised" and needs to be dismissed.
The judge said that the case would be difficult for prosecutors if the accuser refuses to testify at trial and said the case "may well be dismissed for the reasons indicated" but said he wouldn't dismiss the case now.
The erstwhile "House of Cards" star's defense attorneys said they require the phone in order to recover text messages they allege the accuser deleted that would bolster Spacey's case.
In June, the accuser's lawyer claimed that the phone was missing and that the team was actively trying to recover backup copies of the device's contents.
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A Massachusetts judge ordered the accuser, as well as the accuser's parents and legal team, to appear in court Monday if the phone wasn't able to be recovered by then.
Spacey is accused of groping the then-18-year-old man at the Club Car Restaurant in July 2016. The man also accused Spacey of trying to ply him into sexual acts with alcohol.
In recovered text messages obtained by the prosecution, the accuser told his girlfriend, "[Spacey] grabbed my d—k like 8 times."
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Spacey pleaded not guilty to a charge of indecent assault and battery.
The accuser dropped a civil lawsuit against Spacey last week. The suit was reportedly dropped "with prejudice," meaning it cannot be re-filed later.
The accuser voluntarily dropped the suit, leading legal experts to speculate that a monetary settlement may have been reached.
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“Money is a great motivator for an individual not to follow through,” William Korman, defense lawyer and former Suffolk County DA’s Office prosecutor in Massachusetts, told the Associated Press.
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“Maybe the prosecution said, ‘It’s either about money or it’s about a crime, but it can’t be about both, and you have to make a decision on where you want to go with this,’ ” defense attorney and former prosecutor David Yanetti noted. “It’s clear something unusual is going on here.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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