ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Actor Kevin Spacey appeared in court today on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket. Spacey faces a charge of indecent assault and battery on an 18-year-old man. A plea of not guilty was entered on Spacey's behalf. WBUR's Fred Thys was in the courtroom.
FRED THYS, BYLINE: Dressed in a gray suit, print shirt and polka-dot tie, Spacey walked calmly. He smiled wanly as he looked around the courtroom packed with about 40 people - mostly press but also some Nantucket residents and even some tourists from Cape Cod, curious about the proceedings. It was in the summer of 2016 that Spacey allegedly groped an 18-year-old man at a party at a local restaurant. This is the only criminal charge against Spacey, but he faced several accusations of sexual assault two years ago when the #MeToo movement swept Hollywood and the country. The clerk addressed Spacey by his legal name.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: OK, Mr. Fowler, this complaint charges that, in the town of Nantucket on July 8, 2016, you did commit indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over.
THYS: A plea of not guilty was entered on Spacey's behalf. He was not asked to make a verbal plea. The Cape & Islands District Attorney's Office made only one request for Spacey's probation, 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 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. Spacey made no remarks in court other than to say thank you to a court officer who showed him to a seat.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Everyone's staying back.
THYS: He said nothing to reporters outside either as he walked from the courthouse to an SUV, waiting to take him to the private jet that had brought him to the island. For NPR News, I'm Fred Thys in Nantucket.
(SOUNDBITE OF QUEEN SONG "IN THE SPACE CAPSULE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
