By BRIAN MELLEY
Published [hour]: [minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year]
LONDON (AP) — Jurors in the sexual assault trial of Kevin Spacey adjourned Monday after deliberating for 2.5 hours without reaching a verdict on allegations by four men that date back two decades.
Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to nine charges, including multiple counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
The jury of nine men and three women heard testimony over three weeks in Southwark Crown Court before starting their deliberations, which were scheduled to resume Tuesday morning.
Kevin Spacey’s defense lawyer says three of the actor’s four accusers are liars. Attorney Patrick Gibbs told jurors Thursday in a London courtroom that the testimony against Spacey relied on fictions and fantasies.
A prosecutor says it’s more than a coincidence that three of Kevin Spacey’s four accusers described similar crotch-grabbing incidents.
Elton John has testified for the defense at Kevin Spacey’s sexual assault trial as the actor’s lawyer attempted to discredit a man who claimed Spacey aggressively grabbed his crotch in a car on the way to the singer’s house.
Kevin Spacey has denied that grabbing men by the crotch was his “trademark” pickup move. The Hollywood star got increasingly testy under questioning on Friday in court in London by the prosecutor who accused him of sexually assaulting four men.
Spacey’s defense lawyer said during closing arguments last week that three of the men are liars and he suggested jurors should not convict the Oscar winner for making a “clumsy pass” at a fourth man.
The prosecutor called Spacey a “sexual bully” who took advantage of his power as a major celebrity and took what he wanted when he wanted it.
The acts alleged between 2001 and 2013 range from unwanted touching to aggressive crotch-grabbing and, in one instance, performing oral sex on an unconscious man.