Kevin Spacey has pleaded not guilty on five counts of sexual assault. He appeared Thursday morning to his hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court, also known as the Old Bailey, wearing a light blue suit and tie, flanked by his legal team and additional security.
The charges in question involve three separate men between the years 2005 and 2013. Spacey – here going by his full legal name, Kevin Spacey Fowler – was told to expect trial on June 6, 2023. Anticipated to be held again at the Old Bailey due to the trial’s high-profile nature, Judge Mark Wall said it should run three to four weeks.
In total, Spacey is facing four counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. The alleged assaults are presumed to have occurred while Spacey was running London’s Old Vic Theatre as artistic director from 2004–2015. One of the incidents allegedly happened in western England in 2013, while the others were in London.
After a preliminary hearing in London last month, Spacey was granted bail and allowed to return to his second address in the U.S., which Judge Wall continued to grant in Thursday’s hearing. A follow-up pretrial hearing is expected for early 2023 before the June start date.
Apart from Spacey’s ongoing legal troubles in the U.K., he faces a separate civil sex-assault lawsuit from “Rent” actor Anthony Rapp – who first accused Spacey of assaulting him as a teen in the 1980s, opening the floodgates of various other accusations five years ago – in U.S. federal court in New York.
The news was first confirmed by The AP.
