Actor Kevin Spacey cleared in 1986 sexual assault case

A New York court dismissed a $40 million sexual misconduct claim against Kevin Spacey on Thursday. The actor who made the claim claimed the Hollywood star targeted him when he was 14 years old.

A jury determined that Anthony Rapp had not proven that the two-time Oscar winner had "touched a sexual or intimate body part," which prompted Judge Lewis Kaplan to dismiss the civil case. Rapp was suing for compensation for"emotional anguish."

According to the US district court for the Southern District of New York, after roughly an hour of deliberation, "the jury held the defendant not responsible."

After the verdict was announced, the 63-year-old "Usual Suspects" and "House of Cards" star was seen leaving court without speaking to media.

His lawyer said in a statement that "Mr. Spacey is grateful to live in a country where the citizens have a right to trial by impartial jurors who make their decision based on evidence and not rumor or social media."

"Their verdict was swift and decisive."

Spacey, one of the first celebrities to be implicated in the global #MeToo movement, has separately entered a not guilty plea to allegations of sexually assaulting three men in Britain between March 2005 and April 2013.

Charges of indecent assault and sexual assault against the actor were dismissed in Massachusetts in 2019.

Rapp, a "Star Trek: Discovery" actor, said that Spacey raped him in 1986 at a party in Manhattan when he was 14 and Spacey was 26.

The 50-year-old actor claimed in his lawsuit that Spacey entered his bedroom as he was watching television, picked him up, lifted him into a bed, and momentarily lay down next to him.

A court document states that Rapp asserted Spacey's hand "grazed" his buttocks while doing this.

Rapp said how he "felt frozen" during the two-week trial before he was able to "wiggle his way" out.

Rapp concurred, but insisted that throughout the encounter, which lasted no longer than two minutes, "no kissing, no undressing, no reaching under clothes, and no sexualized statements or innuendo" had taken place.

(With inputs from agencies)

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