Kevin Spacey made a surprise appearance at a Nantucket courthouse on Monday for the pre-trial hearing in his sexual assault case — “surprise” being that the disgraced former House of Cards actor was not required to attend the hearing. The 59-year-old is accused of groping a then-18-year-old working as a busboy at the popular Club Car bar and restaurant on the Massachusetts island in 2016.
The accusation came in the wake of the sexual misconduct claims against the actor in 2017 that effectively derailed his career. Former Boston TV anchor Heather Unruh claims that Spacey took advantage of her son when he approached him for a photo while patronizing the restaurant. She says that Spacey then got her son drunk and proceeded to undo her son’s zipper and grope him for approximately three minutes.
Attorneys for Spacey argue that the two engaged in nothing more than “consensual flirtation,” and that the allegations are “patently false.” Spacey’s defense attorney Alan Jackson also stated that newly produced evidence confirms that the alleged victim and his mother provided falsified screenshots and deleted text messages before handing his phone over to law enforcement. On Friday, Jackson filed a motion for prosecutors to hand over a “complete and unaltered” forensic copy of the accuser’s cellphone.
Spacey was arraigned on January 7, and at that time, a judge refused to let him skip the public hearing. He faces up to two-and-a-half years in prison if convicted.
(Via CBS Boston)