Kevin Spacey’s UK criminal trial is now in the hands of his jury.
Nearly five weeks after the two-time Oscar winner’s trial on multiple charges of sexual assault began at London’s Southwark Crown Court, Judge Mark Wall on Monday summed up the evidence that had been presented before asking the 12-member jury to retire for deliberation.
Spacey is accused of assaulting four men between 2001 and 2013, all of which occurred while he was living in London and many of them related to his period as artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre, a role he held from 2004 to 2015.
There were originally 12 counts, including seven counts of sexual assault, three counts of indecent assault, one count of causing a person to engage in nonconsensual sexual activity, and one count of causing a person to engage in nonconsensual penetrative sexual activity. An additional indecent assault charge was added mid-trial, but all four indecent assault charges were later dropped due to a “legal technicality”. However, the most serious, involving penetrative sexual activity without consent, remains and carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Spacey has denied all the charges, describing two of the sexual encounters as consensual and a third as a “foolish move”, for which he said he later tried to apologize. The fourth meeting he completely denied it.
Over the course of the past month, the jury has heard how Spacey was a “sex bully” who took pleasure in making his victims of violence feel “powerless and uncomfortable.”
Spacey’s defense, led by his attorney Patrick Gibbs KC, has focused on challenging the accusers’ veracity. In his closing remarks last week, he said there were “three liars in this case,” adding that the “problem” with the fourth plaintiff’s evidence is that “he wasn’t exactly sober as he describes, but no one was.”
