Kevin Spacey Acquitted of All Sexual Abuse Charges

This is a good point, @CountScrofula. It also shows that our system - as flawed as it is - is built well. Our criminal system was created to intentionally minimize the likelihood an innocent person is falsely punished - knowing full well that the price of such a system is the acquittal of some guilty individuals.

Not all criminal cases can also be tried in civil court, but as you note, many can with great effectiveness.

@ChampagneOnIce These can be difficult situations to assess, although it didn't seem to take the jury that long. Could be a situation where "not guilty" isn't quite synonymous with "innocent".

@Harmonium1923 Fair point

@Harmonium1923 Didn't take the jury that long????

Speaking outside the south London court, Spacey thanked the jury, who reached a verdict following 12 hours and 26 minutes of deliberating and after being given a majority direction by the judge.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/jul/26/kevin-spacey-cleared-of-sexually-assaulting-four-men

Almost twelve and a half hours sounds pretty long to me.

@MayorOfCrushtown I feel the same. This struck me as a convergence of faux-morality, celebrity, homosexuality and money. And with the timing it had all the ingredients to take off.
There's countless situations, that we never hear about, of people making false accusations of celebrities or the rich that are settled out of court because it's easier, less expensive and doesn't damage reputations. Happens all the time. You can tell an accuser making false claims that you'll take them to court but if they proceed then the accusations become true in the minds of the public. It's a no-win situation. And it's not right.

@Justice4All A judge and jury disagree.

@Lilymoon I'm thinking what happened was he made a pass at someone who got creeped out, or maybe passes at multiple people, but because he's a big important actor, they were afraid to say no. That happens a lot.

@LordShadowfire Yeah I dunno... he has that "creepo" look to him. But who knows I can't say. 🤷‍♀️

@Lilymoon Or is it that he has played a series of "creepy" roles?

@JaggedLittlePill And to really hammer this home ..convictions for sexual crimes are difficult. Mostly because of "lack of evidence".

We should talk about Brock Turner who was convicted ...for only 6 months... after being caught in the act of raping a woman. He only served 3 months.

@11knaves11 Uh...his net worth has been reported to be $30 million. And I don't what you're talking about as far as 'lessons.' That's morality stuff. Subjective.

@LordShadowfire That was a separate. It wasn't a legal case. Went through an arbitrator who said Spacey violated his terms of the contract for "professional behavior." What I don't get about that one is the the producers fired him from the show. AND they got money based on the future earnings. That has nothing to do with the law. That's a money grab.

@Ynotisay your post, we'll agree to disagree 👌🏽

@LordShadowfire It's an excellent point. I think a lot of people marry the character to the actor.