A Massachusetts judge had no choice but to dismiss a sexual assault case against actor Kevin Spacey on Wednesday after the key witness invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid testimony.
The teenage boy, who accused Spacey of assault, claimed that the actor bought him drinks and groped him in a Nantucket bar in 2016. The courts charged Spacey with indecent assault and battery, and Spacey pleaded not guilty in January. But, with the plaintiff pleading the Fifth, Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said in a filing they had to drop charges “due to the unavailability of the complaining witness.”
In addition, the prosecution was also missing a key piece of evidence - the cell phone messages the young man sent and received the night of the alleged incident. His mom, former Boston TV news anchor Heather Unruh, admitted that she had deleted text messages from the device before handing it over to police. With that, Judge Thomas Barnett had no choice but to dismiss the case. No key witness, no key evidence, no case.
There are, however, several other sexual assault allegations against Spacey that may eventually be more formally addressed. The first individual to accuse Spacey of sexual assault was Rent actor Anthony Rapp. He claims Spacey took advantage of him in a private room when he was just 14 and Spacey was 26.
Since the surfaced allegations, Spacey has been written out of Netflix's "House of Cards," as well as blockbuster films. The films he has appeared in have been bombs.
Spacey's response to all of this has been bizarre. In December he released a YouTube video called, "Let Me Be Frank," in which he resumed his "House of Cards" character and proclaimed his innocence.