July 26 (UPI) — Actor Kevin Spacey was found not guilty Wednesday of nine alleged sex crimes in Britain.
The jury in London deliberated for 12 hours and 26 minutes before returning the not guilty verdicts on the charges including seven counts of sexual assault one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and another of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity.
The Crown Prosecution Service, which brought the charges against Spacey, said its prosecutors “respect” the court’s decision.
“The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offense, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges,” a spokesman said. “it is the role of the jury to consider the charges and we respect the decision of the court.”
Four men, all of whom testified in the trial, accused Spacey of between 2001 and 2013 while the Oscar-winning American actor was serving as artistic director of London’s Old Vic Theater.
The accusers, who remained anonymous under British law, testified that in the various incidents, Spacey aggressively grabbed and groped them.
Spacey had denied ever touching the men in an aggressive or violent way and said he was stunned by the allegations and testified in his defense during the trial that he is a “big flirt” while admitting touching one of his accusers but said it was in a “romantic way.”
Spacey cried as he heard the verdict and said he was “humbled” by the court’s ruling.
Spacey’s defense argued that three of four accusers had lied and indicated the fourth had been intoxicated at the time.
Attorney Patrick Gibbs said in his argument that it’s not a crime to have sex with someone of the same sex “because it’s 2023 not 1823.”
Spacey was fired from his role in the Netflix series “House of Cards” in 2017 following accusations by another actor that accused Spacey of sexual misconduct. A Massachusetts jury ultimately found Spacey was not liable for that.
During his London trial Spacey said he was stunned by the allegations.
“I was crushed,” Spacey said about the allegations.” I never thought the [complainant] I knew over 20 years later would stab me in the back.”
