Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. will face no jail time after submitting a guilty plea in a forcible touching case in New York City and complying with the terms of a conditional plea agreement.
The “Jerry Maguire” star had stayed out of trouble and completed six months of alcohol and behavior modification counseling, the case’s prosecutor Colleen Balbert said (via the Associated Press). The actor is continuing with therapy as per the terms of his agreement.
Gooding in April pleaded guilty to one count of forcible touching, the top count in a criminal case stemming from accusations made from three women about his behavior at a Manhattan nightclub. He had admitted to forcibly kissing a woman at the nightclub in September 2018 and admitted to subjecting two other women to non-consensual physical contact in October 2018 and June 2019.
Gooding now faces no additional penalties and will not have a criminal record after replacing his misdemeanor plea with a noncriminal violation. Had he violated the terms of his agreement, he could have faced up to one year in jail.
The Oscar winner was arrested and released in June 2019 after a woman told police Gooding squeezed her breast without her consent. Two more women then came forward with multiple accusations of inappropriate touching, and he was one of many Hollywood figures accused of misconduct in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
Gooding’s trial concludes as high profile sexual misconduct cases for Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Danny Masterson are all also taking place.
