New York: Actor Cuba Gooding jnr, who had been accused by more than 20 women of groping or forcibly kissing them in encounters that date back more than two decades, has pleaded guilty in Manhattan to one count of forcible touching.
The count, a misdemeanour, charged that he had forcibly kissed a woman at a nightclub in Manhattan in 2018.
Cuba Gooding Jnr leaves court after a hearing in his sexual misconduct case in New York in 2020.Credit:AP
Under terms of the plea, Gooding must continue for six more months in alcohol and behaviour modification treatment he has undertaken since 2019, and he must have no new arrests, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said.
If he fulfils the terms, he can then withdraw the plea and plead to a lesser charge of harassment, a violation, with a sentence of time served, the office said. Also, the record of the plea will not be sealed, the office said on Thursday (AEST).
If Gooding does not comply with the terms of his deal, the misdemeanour guilty plea will stand, and he could face up to one year in jail.
The actor had faced a criminal trial on charges of unwanted sexual touching of three women in Manhattan restaurants and nightclubs in 2018 and 2019.
Cuba Gooding jnr, front left, sits at the defence table with his lawyer Marc Heller, during a hearing in New York.Credit:AP
He was originally charged in connection with an encounter on the night of June 9, 2019, during a party at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar, an expensive lounge at the Moxy NYC Times Square hotel in Manhattan. The accuser said Gooding placed his hand on her breast without her consent and squeezed, according to a criminal complaint.
He was later charged with pinching a woman’s bottom at a nightclub in October 2018 and with an additional incident at Lavo, an Italian restaurant on East 58th Street, in September 2018 — the episode to which he pleaded guilty.
One of his accusers — the woman in the incident at the hotel in 2019 — addressed the court on Wednesday, US time.
“I’m very disappointed that we are here today discussing a plea deal,” Kelsey Harbert said.
She said it was “very devastating” to her that Gooding would have the chance to “move on” after six months, while she has experienced continuing feelings of trauma and violation.
Gooding, a Bronx native, had his first major success playing the lead role in the 1991 film Boyz n the Hood, and he won an Academy Award in 1997 for his supporting role in Jerry Maguire.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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