RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Actor Kevin Spacey appeared in court yesterday in Massachusetts. The court issued a plea of not guilty on his behalf. Spacey is charged with indecent assault and battery of an 18-year-old man. From member station WBUR, Fred Thys reports.
FRED THYS, BYLINE: Waiting for Spacey in court were about 40 people, most of them members of the press, but also some curious Nantucket residents and even some from Cape Cod, who'd taken the ferry over. When the judge mentioned the press, Spacey turned around and took a good look. He gave a faint smile. Spacey was in court for something that allegedly happened in the summer of 2016. That's when an off-duty busboy at a local restaurant says Spacey groped him without his consent.
This is the only criminal charge against the two-time Oscar winner, but he faced several accusations of sexual assault two years ago, when the #MeToo movement swept Hollywood and the country. Netflix eliminated his character on "House Of Cards," a series he'd starred in. A plea of not guilty was entered on Spacey's behalf. He was not asked to make a verbal plea. The Cape and Island's district attorney's office asked for only one condition for Spacey's release on his own personal recognizance, relayed by Judge Thomas Barrett.
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THOMAS BARRETT: You'll be required to stay away and have no contact, direct or indirect, with the alleged victim. All right?
THYS: Spacey nodded. The judge granted a request from Spacey's attorney, Alan Jackson, to require the prosecution to preserve texts between the alleged victim and his girlfriend starting on the night of the alleged assault. The attorney said these texts would likely help Spacey's case.
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ALAN JACKSON: This is data that we believe is not only potentially exculpatory but likely exculpatory for Mr. Spacey. I simply don't want to see any of that data deleted, destroyed - even inadvertently. Or in other words, in any other way manipulated.
THYS: Spacey does not have to be present in March for the next pretrial hearing, but the judge asked that he be available on the phone. For NPR News, I'm Fred Thys in Nantucket.