Tag: cuba goodling jr
Cuba Gooding Jr.’s lawyer claims surveillance video shows ‘no criminality’
Article via PageSix
A lawyer for Cuba Gooding Jr. says surveillance video shows the “Jerry Maguire” star is innocent of groping allegations at a Manhattan rooftop bar — and now he’s reconsidering turning himself in to authorities in New York, according to reports.
After saying Gooding plans to surrender to sex-crimes detectives on Thursday, attorney Mark Heller told TMZ that video from Magic Hour Rooftop Bar and Lounge shows “absolutely no criminality taking place on the part of my client.”
Heller said that whether or not his client will turn himself in Thursday — as they previously planned — is now up in the air.
Heller did not return calls for comment early Thursday and the video in question has not been released publicly.
The hard-partying actor and his attorneys planned to meet with cops at Manhattan’s Special Victims Division in Harlem around noon on Thursday, Heller said earlier on Wednesday.
The Oscar winner planned to be formally arrested, fingerprinted and have his mugshot taken, sources said.
“He will be arrested for forcible touching, but the charges will be determined by the ADA,” added one law-enforcement source.
Gooding was accused of groping the 30-year-old woman around 9 p.m. Sunday while drunk at the lounge on Seventh Avenue, the woman claimed. She called 911 around 1 a.m. Monday.