Kevin Spacey arrived in Nantucket on Monday morning just after 8am to attend his arraignment at the island’s courthouse.
The actor is expected to enter a not guilty plea around 11am when he is arraigned on a single count of of Indecent Assault and Battery, which carries a sentence of up to five years in jail.
At the same time, the Boston Globe is reporting that after the officer investigating the case turned in his report to the court, the clerk asked for a private hearing to be held because he felt that the alleged victim, then 18, may have consented to the 2016 incident.
In a bizarre twist, the clerk then falsely stated that it was the investigating trooper who called for the secret hearing, which could not be held until last month because the victim was studying abroad and was not available to speak with the clerk.
That secret hearing resulted in the case being sent to trial, but Spacey and his team could have potentially been given the chance to have a private trial in which the victim would not have been present.
‘After reviewing the materials for a time, magistrate Hart indicated he had questions concerning the issue of consent and wanted to hear from the complaining witness and would require a show-cause hearing,’ said assistant district attorney Tara Miltmore.
It will be a quick trip for Spacey, who has scheduled his flight off the island for noon, an hour after the proceedings are set to begin.
It’s not delivery: Kevin Spacey (above outside his home last month) arrived in Nantucket on Monday morning shortly after 8am to enter a plea of not guilty to a charge of Indecent Assault and Battery
Scene of the (alleged) crime: He is set to be arraigned at 11am and scheduled his flight off the island for noon, assuming he will be released on bail (the Club Car bar where the alleged incident occurred)
It was during the secret hearing that the trooper was questioned about the lack of eyewitnesses and evidence in the case.
And despite claims to the contrary, the young man who alleges he was sexually assaulted by Spacey at a Nantucket bar did not film evidence of the actor groping him or touching him in an inappropriate manner according to court testimony.
In the court hearing on December 20, the actor’s lawyer tore apart one of the claims made in the police report filed by State Trooper Gerald Donovan.
The claims in that report were all based on interviews with the alleged victim and potential eyewitnesses at the bar that night.
In that report, Donovan writes: ‘[Redacted] said his girlfriend did not believe him so that’s when he snapchatted the video.’
That claim, which was submitted with the criminal complaint and filed in Nantucket District Court, led to multiple outlets reporting that there was evidence of the alleged assault, but as Donovan himself testified last week that is not the case.
‘What the video shows is a person’s hand make contact with the shirt, correct?’ Spacey’s lawyer Alan Jackson is heard asking in audio obtained by the Boston Globe.
‘Yes,’ responded Donovan.
‘Okay. Not the — any body part,’ asked Jackson.
‘Correct, you don’t see any body parts,’ confirmed Donovan.
The case stems from an incident that allegedly occurred in the early morning hours of July 8, 2016 at The Club Car in Nantucket.
The then-18-year-old-man accused Spacey of trying to ‘jack him off’ after the Oscar winner allegedly unzipped this fly, stuck his hand in his pants and began to rub his penis.
Jackson questioned why the victim allowed himself to be assaulted by the actor for three minutes, stating: ‘That’s an incredibly long time to have a strange man’s hands in your pants.’
He also used the hearing to address the fact that the alleged victim lied about his age, claiming he was 23, and was drinking heavily when the alleged assault took place.
‘He may have been so drunk that he was black out drunk, but he didn’t black out at the Club Car, he may have blacked out once he got home,’ said Jackson while Donovan was on the stand.
‘That’s correct,’ replied the trooper.
Jackson may soon have a second case on his hands with Spacey as well, which would put him back on his home turf.
Behind the scenes: On Monday, the Boston Globe revealed that a secret hearing had been called in the case after the court clerk questioned if the victim gave consent (Nantucket courthouse above)
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office revealed that a probe into Spacey’s alleged criminal behavior that was launched back in August is still ongoing at this time.
A previous investigation was ultimately dismissed by the DA.
Jackson is familiar with the workings of that office, having spent close to two decades as a Deputy Assistant for the same office before going into private practice.
A spokesperson for the organization spoke with DailyMail.com and said: ‘A sex assault case was presented yesterday to our office by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department involving Kevin Spacey. It remains under review.’
This news comes a year after the two-time Oscar winner was accused of sexually assaulting a then-underage Anthony Rapp at his Manhattan apartment.
Spacey responded by coming out as gay and entering a rehab facility in Arizona, where he remained for weeks.
The incident that spurred Spacey’s downfall allegedly took place at Spacey’s apartment in 1986 when the actor invited Rapp to a party while they were both appearing on Broadway.
In an interview with Buzzfeed, Rapp said that he found himself alone in the apartment at the end of the night and that Spacey then began to make his move.
‘He picked me up like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold. But I don’t, like, squirm away initially, because I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then he lays down on top of me,’ said Rapp, who detailed being pressed up against the bed before being able to squirm away and ultimately leave the house without being assaulted by Spacey.
Spacey made the decision to come out of the closet in a statement apologizing to actor Anthony Rapp, who said in an interview that the actor attempted to sexually assault him in 1986, an incident Spacey says he does not remember.
Rapp was 14 at the time while Spacey was 26.