The criminal sexual assault case against actor Kevin Spacey has been dropped. The case was filed by a Massachusetts district attorney, and involved an a young man who alleged Spacey groped him in a bar in Nantucket when he was 18.
“During a July 8 court hearing, the accuser decided to invoke the Fifth Amendment after being pressed by Spacey’s attorney about a missing cellphone containing messages that may be relevant to the case,” ABC affiliate WCVB reports.
The New York Daily News adds District Attorney Michael O’Keefe says charges were dropped “due to the unavailability of the complaining witness.”
The New York Times reports details of the case:
After he and Mr. Spacey had several drinks, the young man said, they began to sing together at the piano. The accuser said that Mr. Spacey had been trying to get him to come home with him, and that while they were standing by the piano, Mr. Spacey unzipped his pants and rubbed his penis for about three minutes, according to a police report.
During the criminal court proceedings, the defense focused its efforts on obtaining the smartphone that the young man used the night of the alleged assault. Throughout the night, he had been texting his girlfriend updates on what he said was happening. At one point, according to court documents, he texted her that Mr. Spacey had grabbed his penis “like eight times.”
Mr. Jackson said that records of the text conversation between the accuser and his girlfriend appeared to be incomplete, suggesting that the accuser had deleted messages that could prove Mr. Spacey’s innocence. A group chat between the accuser and several friends also appeared to be incomplete and edited, Mr. Jackson wrote in court filings.
The accuser is the son of former WCVB anchor Heather Unruh, who appeared in a November 2017 press conference to accuse Spacey.
Image by Alexander Kluge via Flickr and a CC license