CNN —
Closing arguments are underway in the civil sexual misconduct trial against Kevin Spacey stemming from allegations made by actor Anthony Rapp.
Best known for his role on Star Trek: Discovery, Rapp claims that in 1986, Spacey, then 26, invited Rapp, then 14, to his Manhattan home, where he picked Rapp up, put him on his bed and grabbed his buttocks and pressed his groin against Rapp’s body without his consent.
He sued Spacey for battery.
Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed Rapp’s assault claim before trial and dismissed his claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress after Rapp’s lawyers rested his case, leaving the jury to decide only the injury claim. Under New York law, battery is touching another person, without their consent, in a way that a reasonable person would find offensive.
In his closing arguments, Rapp’s attorney, Richard Steigman, suggested that Spacey twisted his trial testimony to suit his defense, pointing to Spacey’s apology to Rapp in 2017 when he first came forward.
“Don’t listen to what I said in real time. I am now defending a case. listen to me now I made it clear,” Steigman said, mocking Spacey’s attempt to convince the jury that he was coerced by publicists into making the statement he testified about, which he now regrets.
Steigman called Spacey’s testimony rehearsed compared to the raw testimony his client gave.
“When you’re rehearsed and you’re a world-class actor and you’re following someone else’s script and testimony, you can take that position and be perfectly polished,” Steigman said. “When you’re just coming to court, you’re coming forward and telling the truth about your experience, especially one that’s a little complicated.”
Steigman also rejected the defense’s argument that Rapp wanted to portray Spacey as gay.
“The point of the story is not that Kevin Spacey is gay. It’s that he sexually abused him when he was 14. This is what he shares with people, he shares his experience – nothing more, nothing less. Where is the proof that he told any media that Kevin Spacey is gay, you really have to run with that?’
Spacey’s attorney, Jennifer Keller, began her closing arguments by addressing the shadow of the Me Too movement in the case, saying that Rapp had “hitched his wagon” to the movement when he came forward.
“This is not a team sport where you’re either on the Me Too side or you’re on the other side,” Keller told the jury. “It’s a very different place. Our system requires proof, evidence, objective support for charges presented to an impartial jury. As polarized as society is today, it really should have no place here.”
Keller suggested that Rapp drew his accusations against Spacey from an almost identical scene from the Broadway show “Precious Sons,” which Rapp starred in with Ed Harris in 1986 at the time of the alleged incident.
“We are here because Mr. Rapp wrongly claimed that abuse did not occur at a party that was never held in a room that did not exist,” she said.
Spacey’s attorney concluded his remarks by asking the jury not to compromise its verdict by finding Spacey liable for damages, but only awarding Rapp one dollar in damages.
“You are here to be the judges of the facts. did it happen It didn’t happen A penny is a lot for something that didn’t happen. And for Mr. Spacey, it’s not about the money. For Mr. Spacey, that is the truth that day and he was falsely accused,” Keller said.
Jurors in the case began deliberating Thursday afternoon.
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