Actor Kevin Spacey will not be charged with sex crimes, the Los Angeles County District Attorney announced Tuesday, citing the expiration of the case’s statute of limitations.
Spacey, who was fired from the popular Netflix program House of Cards following allegations of sexual assault, was the subject of a Special Victims Bureau investigation stemming from a 1992 incident involving an unidentified adult male in West Hollywood. The Attorney’s office had been reviewing the matter after Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department handed over evidence regarding the incident to prosecutors on April 5.
In addition, the Attorney’s office declined to file charges against actors Anthony Anderson and Steven Seagal, whose 1993 case also passed the statute of limitations. Anderson avoided charges after the “reporting party,” is said to have declined an interview with investigators.
While Spacey appears to have dodged a bullet in the states, the actor’s legal woes are far from over.
London’s Metropolitan Police are probing six sexual harassment allegations against the actor. “According to the Metropolitan Police … a man came to them in April claiming he was sexually assaulted in Westminster in 1996. And we’re told 2 other men came forward in February with allegations of sexual assault — one claiming an incident occurred in Gloucester in 2013 and the other in Lambeth in 2008,” TMZ reported in July. “Spacey became the subject of a Scotland Yard investigation in January when an alleged victim went to police claiming he was sexually assaulted in Westminster in 2005. Cops in London were already investigating 2 similar complaints before that.”
Actor Anthony Rapp last October accused the two-time Oscar winner of sexual misconduct towards him as a 14-year-old teenager. In a statement posted to Twitter, Spacey apologized for his conduct, yet denied any recollection of the events described by Rapp. In his apology, Spacey revealed he would live openly as a gay man, an announcement perceived to be a cynical attempt to distract from the damning allegations.
“I have a lot of respect and admiration for Anthony Rapp as an actor. I’m beyond horrified to hear his story,” Spacey’s statement read. “I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years.”
“As those closest to me know, in my life I have had relationships with both men and women. I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man,” he added. “I want to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts with examining my own behavior.”