Kevin Spacey's legal woes persist even with groping case out

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Kevin Spacey's legal woes persist even with groping case out

2019-07-19 02:11 Last Updated At：02:20

Kevin Spacey's legal woes are not over, despite the collapse of the only criminal case brought against the two-time Oscar winner since he became mired in sexual misconduct allegations.

The former "House of Cards" star is still being investigated in London and Los Angeles over several allegations and faces a federal lawsuit alleging he assaulted a massage therapist.

"Just because this case may have fallen apart, that does not necessarily hamper another investigation or another prosecution," said Adam Citron, a former prosecutor who now works as a criminal defense attorney in New York.

Prosecutors in Massachusetts announced Wednesday that they were dropping the indecent assault and battery charge brought last year against Spacey, who was accused of groping an 18-year-old man at a bar on the resort island of Nantucket in 2016.

The case unraveled after the accuser invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify about text messages from the night of the alleged groping that the defense claimed were deleted.

In Britain, the Metropolitan Police are investigating six claims of sexual assault and assault against Spacey, who ran London's Old Vic Theatre between 2004 and 2015. British police traveled to the U.S. in May to interview Spacey about sexual assault allegations, Variety reported.

Without naming Spacey, the London force told The Associated Press this month that "a man was voluntarily interviewed under caution in America by officers from the Met's Complex Case Team. He was not arrested. Inquiries are ongoing." ''Under caution" means the interview was recorded and can be used in future prosecutions. British police don't identify suspects until they have been charged.

Los Angeles County prosecutors said last year that they were investigating allegations of a 2016 sexual assault by Spacey for possible criminal charges. A Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman confirmed Thursday that it "has a case under review," but would not say whether it involves the same 2016 incident.

Prosecutors there declined last year to file charges over a 1992 allegation because the statute of limitations had run out.

Spacey is also fighting a federal lawsuit in California filed by a massage therapist, who says Spacey groped him, tried to kiss him and forced him to grab Spacey's genitals.

In the Nantucket case, Spacey's lawyers had argued that the two engaged in nothing more than "consensual flirtation" and that the texts would support Spacey's claims of innocence. An attorney for the actor didn't return messages Wednesday and Thursday.

The charge was dropped less than two weeks after the man voluntarily dismissed a lawsuit against Spacey because, the accuser's lawyer said, he was emotionally overwhelmed and wanted to focus on the criminal case.

The groping allegation was first brought in 2017, days after Spacey's first accuser, actor Anthony Rapp, said Spacey climbed on top of him on a bed when Rapp was 14 and Spacey 26. Spacey said he did not remember such an encounter with Rapp but apologized if the allegations were true. Spacey also used the statement to disclose he is gay.

A slew of other accusations followed, leading to Spacey's firing from "House of Cards" and his removal from the completed movie "All the Money in the World," which was reshot with actor Christopher Plummer.

Follow Alanna Durkin Richer at http://www.twitter.com/aedurkinricher

Storm-battered South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life

2024-05-10 02:46 Last Updated At：02:51

COLUMBIA, Tenn. (AP) — Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.

A heavy line of storms swept into Atlanta near the end of the morning rush hour. Busy hub airports in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, reported delays. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center cited an “enhanced risk” for severe weather from Texas to South Carolina.

The storms continue a streak of torrential rains and tornadoes this week from the Plains to the Midwest and, now, the Southeast. Since Monday, 39 states have been under threat of severe weather and at least four people have died. On Wednesday, 98 million people were under some sort of severe weather risk, said Evan Bentley, a Storm Prediction Center forecaster.

The weather comes on the heels of a stormy April in which the U.S. had 300 confirmed tornadoes, the second-most on record for the month and the most since 2011.

More than 170,000 homes and businesses still lacked power Thursday afternoon in several Southern states after storms the night before, according to PowerOutage.us.

One in Tennessee damaged homes, injured people, toppled power lines and trees, and killed a 22-year-old man in a car in Claiborne County, north of Knoxville, officials said. A second person was killed south of Nashville in Columbia, the seat of Maury County, where officials said a tornado damaged or destroyed more than 140 homes.

Bob Booth had just gotten home to Columbia from Georgia and was sitting down to watch television when he heard a “crazy racket.”

“I get up and look out, and it was all hell breaking loose outside,” Booth said. “Then the top half of one of my trees goes down across the road.”

Retired pastor Walter Shell said he and his wife grabbed their two dogs and headed for the basement when his phone alerted him to a tornado.

“It missed where me and my wife were standing by about 4 inches. It went around,” he said. “It pays to pray, I can tell you.”

Torrential rains led to a flash flood emergency and water rescues northeast of Nashville, and the weather service issued a tornado emergency, its highest alert level, for nearby areas.

A 10-year-old boy was seriously injured in Christiana, southeast of Nashville, when he got caught in a storm drain and swept under streets while playing with other children as adults cleared debris, his father, Rutherford County Schools Superintendent Jimmy Sullivan, posted on social media.

The boy, Asher, emerged in a drainage ditch and survived after being given CPR, “but the damage is substantial,” Sullivan posted on Facebook, asking for prayers. A vigil was planned for Thursday afternoon at the school district office.

“Asher needs a miracle,” Sullivan wrote.

Schools were closed Thursday in Rutherford and several other Tennessee counties. In Georgia, some districts north of Atlanta canceled in-person classes or delayed start times because of storm damage overnight that included fallen trees on houses and vehicles around Clarkesville. No injuries were reported there.

“We’re just trying to clean up right now and wait for the next round,” said Lynn Smith, director of the Habersham County Emergency Management Agency.

A strong tornado damaged at least 20 homes in northern Alabama’s DeKalb County and caused injuries but no deaths, officials said.

In North Carolina, a state of emergency was declared Wednesday night for Gaston County, west of Charlotte, after a storm that toppled power lines and trees, including one that landed on a car. One person in the car was killed, and another was taken to a hospital, officials said.

The storms followed heavy rain, strong winds, hail and tornadoes in parts of the central U.S. on Monday, including a twister that ripped through an Oklahoma town and killed one person. On Tuesday, the Midwest took the brunt of the bad weather. Tornadoes touched down in parts of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, according to the weather service.

Michigan's Kalamazoo area was hard hit as a FedEx facility was ripped apart, with downed power lines trapping about 50 people.

Tornadoes were also confirmed near Pittsburgh, in central Arkansas and in northern West Virginia. The West Virginia twister was at least the 11th tornado this year in the state, which sees two tornadoes in an average year.

Both the Plains and Midwest have been hammered by tornadoes this spring.

Associated Press journalists around the country contributed to this report, including Travis Loller, Jeff Amy, Joey Cappelletti, Ed White, Sarah Brumfield, Adrian Sainz and John Raby.

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