Kevin Spacey evidence missing? Accuser can't find phone he needs to hand over to defense, lawyer says
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A cellphone central to the sexual misconduct case against actor Kevin Spacey -- in which he is accused of groping a man at a popular bar in 2016 -- is missing, the accuser's attorney said Wednesday.
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents the unidentified man, told a judge in court documents that his cellphone at the time of the alleged incident at the Club Car bar and restaurant in Nantucket, Mass., could not be found. The judge initially said the phone needed to be turned over to the defense by Friday but has since extended the deadline to July 8.
Garabedian said the man and his parents "have searched all the places where such a phone may have been stored. They have not found the phone."
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JUDGE ALLOWS PRESERVATION OF MORE PHONE RECORDS IN KEVIN SPACEY SEXUAL ASSAULT CASE
Lawyers for Spacey have demanded the device so they could try to recover text messages they said proved his innocence. The judge said if the accuser does not produce the phone by July 8, he'll have to appear in court with his mother to explain why they don't know where it is.
Spacey's lawyers have accused the man of deleting certain messages between him and his then-girlfriend from his phone before sending screenshots of conversations to an officer investigating the case back in November 2017.
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The criminal case is the only one brought against Spacey, who has been accused of several instances of sexual misconduct since 2017. Former Boston TV anchor Heather Unruh accused the actor of getting her then-18-year-old son drunk at the island bar where he worked as a busboy and sexually assaulting him.
Kevin Spacey attending a pretrial hearing at district court in Nantucket, Mass., earlier this month. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
Spacey has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to indecent assault and battery charges.
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His attorney, Alan Jackson, said at a hearing this month that Unruh told investigators she removed anything concerning her son's "frat boy activities" from his phone before handing it over to investigators in 2017.
Garabedian said Spacey's accuser and his parents had no memory of seeing the phone since giving it to investigators in 2017. Officials said the device was returned.
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Garabedian said the family was using an expert to search for backup copies of the phone but "it will take a few weeks to identify that information."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.