Prosecutors in Massachusetts on
Wednesday dropped a criminal case against actor Kevin Spacey.
The 59-year-old Spacey faced a criminal
charge of indecent assault and battery over allegations he groped a
young man at a bar in Nantucket, Massachusetts in 2016. Spacey pled
not guilty.
Cape and Island District Attorney
Michael O'Keefe said in court documents that the charge was dropped
“due to an unavailability of the complaining witness.”
The charges involve the son of former
television anchor Heather Unruh, who during a press conference in
2017 accused Spacey of sexually assaulting her son.
Unruh said that Spacey got her son
drunk then “stuck his hand inside [his] pants and grabbed his
genitals.”
During a July 8 pre-trial hearing, the
alleged victim refused to testify about his missing cell phone, a key
piece of evidence because it contained text messages the victim
claims he sent to his girlfriend while Spacey was groping him. When
asked about the text messages, the victim pled the Fifth Amendment.
Earlier this month, a civil lawsuit
stemming from the same allegations was withdrawn without comment.
A string of accusations against Spacey
were unleashed after Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp
accused Spacey of sexual misconduct when the two actors were working
on Broadway and Rapp was 14. In response, Spacey, for the first time
publicly, announced that he is gay.
The claims resulted in Spacey's firing
from the Netflix drama House of Cards.
Similar accusations in Los Angeles and
London are still under investigation.