Actor Cuba Gooding Jr.’s sex abuse trial has been delayed
Cuba Gooding Jr.’s sex abuse trial, expected to start on Tuesday in New York City, has been pushed back to October 10.
Gooding’s defense team had been ready for trial, but prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Officeargued for a later start, Gooding’s lawyer, Mark Heller, said. The parties had failed to come to an agreement before Tuesday’s hearing on the trial date.
Gooding is charged with forcible touching and sex abuse in the third degree related to an alleged groping incident in June. Both charges are misdemeanors. A 29-year-old woman filed a police report claiming Gooding grabbed her breast at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge in Manhattan. Gooding has denied the claim and pleaded not guilty.
The actor voluntarily surrendered to New York police for questioning in June and was released on his own recognizance. The woman told police she was with friends when she was confronted by a male patron whom she described as Gooding, a law enforcement source told CNN.
“The male allegedly groped her breasts,” the source said. “The victim later told cops she protested at the unwanted touching and they argued about the encounter.” The woman left the bar and called 911 to report the alleged incident, the law enforcement source said, and NYPD Manhattan Special Victims Squad investigated.
Gooding’s attorney has said video footage taken at the bar that night will clear his client. “There is not a scintilla of criminal culpability that can be attributed to Mr. Cuba Gooding Jr. after I have extensively, with my staff, reviewed the video of almost two hours which reflects the entire event,” Heller told reporters in June. “I am totally confident that when a jury of Cuba Gooding Jr.’s peers assess all of the exculpatory evidence in this case, that he will be totally exonerated,” Heller added last month.
Article via CNN