Washington DC: A lawyer for Kevin Spacey is accusing prosecutors of withholding information that could help the actor's case.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson blasted prosecutors Monday during a hearing at the Nantucket District Court, where Spacey made a surprise appearance.
Spacey didn't speak during the hearing or speak to reporters as he arrived and left the courthouse.
Jackson accused prosecutors of falsely denying they had access to information about the accuser's cellphone.
The case first came to light that year when former Boston TV anchor Heather Unruh said Spacey got her son drunk and then sexually assaulted him at the Club Car, a popular restaurant and bar on the resort island off Cape Cod.
READ | Kevin Spacey to face lawsuit from anonymous massage therapist
Unruh's son told police he wanted to get a picture with Spacey and went over to talk to him after his shift ended at the Club Car, where he worked as a busboy.
The man said Spacey bought him several drinks and tried to persuade him to come home with him before unzipping the man's pants and groping him for about three minutes.
Spacey's attorneys have stepped up their attacks on the credibility of the man who brought the allegations. In court documents filed Friday, Jackson accused the man of deleting text messages that support Spacey's claims of innocence.
At court today, Jackson told the judge that Heather Unruh, the accuser's mother, had "informed investigators she had gone through the phone to remove anything related to what she described as Will's 'frat boy activities."
Jackson said Monday that Unruh told authorities she removed anything concerning her son's "frat boy activities" from his phone before handing it over in 2017. Jackson says it appears the accuser deleted certain messages between him and his then-girlfriend from his phone before sending screenshots of conversations to an officer investigating the case.
"They've got the screenshots, they've got the report. Here's the problem: Those two items don't match up," said Jackson.
First Assistant District Attorney Brian Glenny denied that his office lied about having access the accuser's cellphone.
Jackson urged the judge to set a trial for this summer. The judge said the earliest the trial will happen is sometime this fall.
The 59-year-old actor, who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of indecent assault and battery, faces up to 2 ½ years in jail if convicted.
It's the only criminal case that has been brought against the two-time Oscar winner since his career fell apart amid a flurry of sexual misconduct allegations in 2017.
With inputs from APTN
