Kevin Spacey, during his second U.K. court appearance in less than a month over sexual assault charges, pleaded not guilty to all five charges ahead of a full trial that won’t take place until 2023.
The two-time Oscar winner, 62, appeared at London’s Central Criminal Court — better known as the Old Bailey — on Thursday morning to attend a 9:45 a.m. hearing overseen by judge Justice Mark Wall.
The date for the trial was the topic of much debate in court on Thursday, with the start date finally set for June 6, 2023. The trial is expected to last three to four weeks.
Just like at Spacey’s first U.K. hearing at Westminster Magistrate’s Court on June 16, the actor, dressed in a blue suit, was greeted with a media circus outside the courthouse, where journalists had arrived hours in advance to claim one of the seats inside. At the first hearing, due to the seriousness of the charges, deputy chief magistrate Tan Ikram sent the case to the crown court and also granted the actor unconditional bail, a decision Wall could have overturned.
The charges against Spacey involve three counts of sexual assault against three men, two in March 2005, one in August 2008, plus another in April 2013. In late May, the Crown Prosecution Service also detailed that there was one charge for “causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent” in 2008.
At the June hearing, although Spacey wasn’t invited to give a formal plea, his lawyer Patrick Gibbs QC said the actor “strenuously denies any and all criminality in this case.” Gibbs also successfully fought for his client to be allowed to leave the U.K. before the trial, a move that prosecutor Natalie Dawson warned that, given the severity of the sentence were he to be found guilty, could see him not return.
Gibbs argued that Spacey had so far cooperated with all legal requirements, spending several hours being interviewed by the police in the U.S. and turning up voluntarily for the hearing. He also claimed that his work depended on him being able to travel.
“What is he going to do if he doesn’t answer charges, where is he going to hide?” he said. “Is he to be incarcerated in his flat in London, unable to work, unable to audition to work?”
