Actor Kevin Spacey Enters Nantucket District Court January 7
NANTUCKET – A judge has extended an original order for the preservation of potential evidence from the cellphone of an accuser who claims he was sexually assaulted by actor Kevin Spacey at a Nantucket bar in 2016.
A pretrial hearing was held Monday in Nantucket District Court. Spacey was not in attendance.
Spacey’s attorney’s asked the judge in court documents filed last week to order the accuser to turn over his cellphone so they can retrieve messages, photos and other data needed to defend their client.
They also want documents from the accuser’s civil attorney, including fee agreements with the accuser’s family.
The lawyers say they believe the accuser intends to file a civil lawsuit against Spacey, which they say would bolster the defense’s argument that the accuser has a “substantial financial motivation to falsify his claims.”
Judge Thomas Barrett extended an original order for the preservation of evidence from January 7, 2017 through December 31, 2017.
Barrett also took under advisement a request by Spacey to add a Los Angeles-based attorney as a co-counsel.
According to court filings, that attorney specializes in similar cases.
The next hearing is scheduled for April 4.
The allegations were first brought in November 2017, when former Boston TV anchor Heather Unruh told reporters that Spacey groped her teenage son during a chance encounter in the crowded bar of a Nantucket restaurant.
The former “House of Cards” star and Oscar winner had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf in January.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this article.
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