Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. settled his New York City molestation case Thursday with no jail time after pleading to a reduced felony charge and complying with the terms of a conditional plea agreement reached in April.
Prosecutor Colin Balbert said Gooding has stayed out of trouble and completed six months of alcohol and behavior modification counseling, allowing him to withdraw his misdemeanor plea and plead guilty to the harassment violation. can do.
Bilbert said he had received “positive reports over the past six months” from Gooding’s physician. Balbert said the actor is continuing treatment beyond the time required by his plea agreement.
Gooding, 54, faces no additional penalties and, by changing his misdemeanor plea to a noncriminal trespass plea, will have no criminal record. If Gooding failed to comply with the terms of the agreement, he would have faced up to a year in prison.
Gooding pleaded guilty in April to forcibly kissing a worker at a New York nightclub in 2018. It was just one of dozens of allegations of inappropriate behavior by the Oscar winner that have surfaced in recent years.
Some of Gooding’s accusers criticized what they consider a light sentence for the “Jerry Maguire” star and some are moving forward with civil lawsuits against him.
Gooding “seen minimal repercussions” while his victims dealt with the consequences of his actions, the nightclub worker said in a victim impact statement that Balbert read into court records.
Arrested in 2019, Gooding was among Hollywood heavyweights accused of wrongdoing in the #MeToo movement.
As Gooding was in court Thursday to wrap up his case, another Oscar-winning actor, Kevin Spacey, was on the block in a civil suit alleging he had sex with actor Anthony Rapp. Abused.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, former studio boss Harvey Weinstein and “That 70’s Show” star Danny Masterson are facing separate rape charges. Weinstein was convicted of similar charges in New York in 2020 and is serving a 23-year prison sentence.
Gooding’s case has taken more than three years to conclude due to court delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gooding was arrested in June 2019 after a 29-year-old woman told police he fondled her without her consent at the Magic Hour rooftop bar and lounge near Times Square. That incident was not in his guilty plea.
A few months later, prosecutors charged Gooding with pinching a server’s buttocks after he made a sexually suggestive comment to her at TAO downtown and in a charge he pleaded guilty to – LAVO in midtown Manhattan. Forced to kiss a waitress in New York.
Both incidents reportedly took place in 2018.
Gooding admitted at a plea hearing in April that he “kissed the waitress on her lips” without consent and explained his actions during a plea to harassment Thursday, telling Judge Curtis Farber: “I kissed a waitress, your honor.”
The waitress, in her victim impact statement, said Gooding unexpectedly stuck his tongue in her mouth while she was serving drinks. She said she was aware of incidents involving Gooding and three other women at the club.
Gooding had previously pleaded not guilty to six counts of corruption and denied all allegations of wrongdoing. Their lawyers argued that overzealous prosecutors caught up in the #MeToo fervor were trying to turn “common gestures” or misunderstandings into crimes.
Judge Curtis Farber previously ruled that if the Gooding case went to trial, prosecutors could call two additional women to testify about their allegations that Gooding also violated them. Prosecutors say the judge later reversed that decision – leading them to seek a plea deal.
Along with the criminal case, Gooding is also accused in a 2013 rape case in New York City. After a judge issued a default judgment in July because Gooding did not respond to the lawsuit, the actor retained an attorney and is fighting. Allegations