Kevin Spacey was found not guilty of the nine sexual assault charges filed against him in the United Kingdom.
The House of Cards actor was previously found not liable for sexual misconduct allegations brought against him in the United States.
After deliberating for 12 hours and 26 minutes, the jury in the Southwark Crown Court of London acquitted Spacey of all charges that stemmed from complaints filed by four men. The men accused Spacey of assaulting them between 2001 and 2013.
The men have not been identified in compliance with UK law, which automatically grants lifelong anonymity to anyone who says they are the victim of a sexual crime. They each testified during the trial, describing Spacey as a “sexual bully” and a predator, per CBS News.
“I imagine that many of you can understand that there's a lot for me to process after what has just happened today,” Spacey told reporters after the verdict was announced on July 26. “But I would like to say that I'm enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts, carefully, before they reached their decision.”
“I also want to thank the staff inside this courthouse, the security, and all those who took care of us every single day, my legal team ... for being here every day,” said the 64-year-old.
The Crown Prosecution Service said it respects the jury’s decision.
"The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges," a spokesman for the agency told the BBC. "It is the role of the jury to consider the charges and we respect the decision of the court."
Spacey is a two-time Oscar winner who has appeared in Seven, American Beauty, LA Confidential, 21, Horrible Bosses, and Baby Driver. He was fired from Netflix’s House of Cards in 2017 after being accused of sexual misconduct by Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp in October 2017. An additional 30 more people came forward to accuse Spacey of a range of sexual crimes.
“On November 16, 2017, London’s Old Vic Theatre, where Spacey served as artistic director from 2004 to 2015, announced that a hotline it set up to facilitate its investigation into Spacey had received 20 allegations of ‘a range of inappropriate behavior,’ all concerning young men over the age of 18,” per Vox.
Spacey repeatedly denied Rapp’s claims, stating he did not remember the encounter.
“If I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior,” Spacey wrote in a message on Twitter.
Spacey said Rapp’s allegations, which were published on BuzzFeed, “encouraged” him to “address other things” about his life.
“As those closest to me know, in my life I have had relationships with both men and women,” wrote Spacey. “I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man.”
Spacey was accused of sexual assault by an 18-year-old in Nantucket, Massachusetts but the criminal case was dropped by the Cape and Islands District Attorney in July 2019. District Attorney Michael O'Keefe cited "the unavailability of the complaining witness" in court documents, per NPR.
A federal jury in Manhattan found Spacey not liable for battery in connection to Rapp’s allegations after 90 minutes of deliberation in October 2022.
