First day of the trial that sits Kevin Spacey in the dock, accused of 12 charges for alleged sexual crimes. The 63-year-old actor appeared before a London court yesterday for a brief hearing in which only procedural matters were addressed.
During the hearing, held in Room 1 of Southwark Crown Court in the center of the capital, Judge Mark Wall ruled that arguments in the media case, which is expected to last around four weeks, will not begin until tomorrow , which implies that there will be no hearing today.
The Oscar-winning actor, domiciled both in the London neighborhood of Waterloo, in the south of the city, and in Los Angeles (United States), where his family lives, traveled to his court date by taxi in the morning, two hours before from the scheduled start of the hearing, looking relaxed and smiling, dressed in a pink tie and a blue suit. During the session, he confirmed his full name to the court: Kevin Spacey Fowler, and the various members of the jury also took their oaths. Spacey faces a total of 12 charges of sexual assault, indecent assault and causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent between 2001 and 2013. The actor has categorically denied the facts.
As revealed for the first time in May 2022 by the British Prosecutor's Office, the Hollywood star is accused of five assaults allegedly committed between 2005 and 2013, four in London and one in Gloucestershire (west of England), in which he a man who is now about 40 years old and two other men who are in their thirties were affected. In November, the Prosecutor's Office added seven additional charges against the performer, which included sexual assaults against a fourth man between 2001 and 2004.
At the hearing, the magistrate yesterday warned the 14 members of the jury that they must not allow the extensive media coverage or the defendant's fame to "influence" their assessments. “Many of you know his name or have seen his films. This does not disqualify them from sitting as part of this jury," said Wall.
