Kevin Spacey’s lawyer gave his closing address to the jury at the two-time Oscar winner’s criminal trial in London, saying that of the four plaintiffs to have brought charges against the actor, three were lying and the fourth was drunk.
Patrick Gibbs made his final comments at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, ending the four-week trial before the jury deliberates the verdict.
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In a speech that covered “fame, shame, money and memory”, Gibbs told jurors that it’s “not a crime to enjoy sex, even if you’re famous, and it’s not a crime to have sex, even if you’re famous, and it’s not a crime to have casual sex”, according to Ireland Live. He added: “And it’s not a crime to have sex with someone of the same sex because it’s 2023 and not 1823.”
Gibbs claimed it was easy to lie about Spacey, who he said was “a man who’s promiscuous, not publicly, although everyone in business knows he’s gay”, adding that he just wanted to be a “normal guy, or at least some of the time he is – drinking beer and laughing and smoking weed and sitting out front and hanging out with young people who appeal to him”.
Gibbs said: “It’s not my life, it’s not your life, it might be a bit of a weird life, but it’s a life that makes you an easy target when the internet turns against you and you’re judged by social media.”
In a name of sorts, Gibbs praised Elton John and David Furnish, who testified earlier this week via video link from Monaco, saying that by doing so they had risked the “wrath of the internet” and had “stood up and stood in defense of a man who has been universally quashed”.
In her closing remarks, Chief Prosecutor Christine Agnew told jurors the case was about “power and the exploitation of that power”.
She questioned defense claims that Spacey’s accusers were motivated by money and said the trial was the result of his “aggressive, oppressive and intimidating behavior”. As a “very famous and praised actor”, she said he was “used to going his own way”, adding that his behavior made his accusers “feel small; it made them feel diminished; it made them feel worthless.
Spacey, 63, faces nine counts from four different men, all dating from 2001 to 2013, a time when he lived and worked in London.
When the trial began, he faced 12 charges, but another charge of indecent assault was added. However, on Wednesday four counts were dropped due to a “legal technicality”. But the most serious charge, forcing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent, remains and carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
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