Los Angeels: Veteran actor Kevin Spacey will not face criminal charges in a sexual assault case involving a massage therapist who died unexpectedly last month, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has said.
According to LA Times, the country DA’s office said it would be declining the case filed against the “House of Cards” actor.
Allegations of sexual harassment, assault and rape were levelled against Spacey, who was among many high-profile names called out in Hollywood’s #MeToo movement.
Prosecutors cited the death of the accuser during the course of their investigation as the reason of dropping the charges.
The man was an anonymous masseur who claimed the actor forced him to touch his genitals during a treatment at Spacey’s house in Malibu in October 2016.
“The sexual assault allegations cannot be proved without participation of the victim. Thus, the case was declined,” said charging documents provided to The Times.
Spacey’s criminal attorney was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
However, the actor could still be held liable in a civil case initially brought by the John Doe last year.
It is currently uncertain how and if that case will proceed in the wake of the accuser’s death. If it does, any damages that might have been awarded in the case would go to heirs of the deceased.
Early this year, Massachusetts prosecutors dropped a separate groping case more than a week after the accuser refused to testify in the case.
In 2018, Los Angeles prosecutors also declined to file charges against Spacey following a 1992 allegation because the alleged incident was beyond the statute of limitations.
PTI
