After the jury deliberated for over an hour, disgraced actor Kevin Spacey received a verdict of not guilty in the battery trial resulting from the allegations that Spacey had picked up and laid upon Rent actor Anthony Rapp after a 1986 party when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26.
The jurors determined that no evidence was offered to prove that Spacey “touched a sexual or intimate part” of Rapp after which the case was formally dismissed by Judge Lewis Kaplan.
Rapp’s claim of assault was dismissed prior to trial and the judge further dismissed his claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress following his attorney’s closing statement. The jury therefore was left only to consider the claim of battery.
In 2017 Rapp made his allegations about Spacey, saying that the actor had made unwanted sexual advances to the then-underaged Rapp following a Party at Spacey’s home. In an interview with Buzzfeed News Rapp stated that Spacey had “picked [him] up like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold” and placed him on a bed. “He was trying to seduce me,” Rapp stated. “I don’t know if I would have used that language. But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.” Rapp stated that Spacey had grabbed his buttocks and pressed his groin into him.
According to CNN, Rapp’s attorney Richard Steigman suggested that Spacey had backed away from his earlier public apology to Rapp. “Don’t listen to what I said in real time. I’m defending a lawsuit now. Listen to me now. I’ve got it straightened out,” Steigman said, mocking Spacey’s attempt to convince the jury he was coerced by publicists to give the statement he testified he now regrets.
Steigman also addressed Spacey’s having come out following the original allegations saying, “The point of the story is not that Kevin Spacey is gay. It’s that he sexually abused him when he was 14. That’s what he’s sharing with people, he’s sharing his experience – nothing more, nothing less. Where’s the proof that he said to any media outlet, you know, Kevin Spacey is gay, you really should run with this?”
Spacey’s defense attorney Jennifer Keller on the other hand addressed the influence of the MeToo movement, in full sway at the time of Rapp’s initial allegations. “This isn’t a team sport where you’re either on the Me Too side, or you’re on the other side,” Keller told the jury. “This is a very different place. Our system requires evidence, proof, objective support for accusations provided to an impartial jury. However polarized as society may be today, it really should not have a place here.”
