Cuba Gooding Jr. will not spend time behind bars on his Manhattan sex abuse case, and will even have his criminal record wiped off after completing a plea agreement not to jail for his lover.
The New York Post reported that on Thursday, the 54-year-old Oscar-winning actor’s six groping allegations were downgraded to second-degree harassment, which will be removed from his record thanks to a plea agreement.
Gooding Jr is accused of kissing a woman against her will at a nightclub in 2018 and groping two other women at NYC hotspots in 2019. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of raping a woman. women at a nightclub in New York that same year.
Cuba Gooding Jr The sexual abuse case stemmed from kissing a woman against her will at a nightclub in 2018.
His file was cleared after completing six months of alcohol abuse treatment as well as behavior modification therapy, both of which were conditions of his April plea agreement with the District Attorney’s Office. Manhattan District.
In court on Thursday, prosecutor Coleen Balbert said she had received a “positive report” from the actor’s therapist, noting that he plans to continue treatment beyond the deadline. six months required by the court.
The victims, who have not been named publicly, issued statements in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday and described the trauma the incidents had caused them.
Cuba’s victims issued statements in court on Thursday, with one calling for the deal by calling it “Wrong.”
One of the unnamed women, who is believed to be Gooding Jr groped her breasts at a rooftop bar, said: “This plea agreement looks like a step in the wrong direction. “It’s hard to describe the weight that comes from a situation like this. Your brain wants to understand what happens to you. What do bad people look like? Why am I being targeted? “
Another victim told the court that being groped by the actor destroyed her sense of joy.
“Before this whole ordeal, I was different, I was happier and more outgoing and when I laughed it was from the bottom of my soul. My laughter is like my true happiness,” she said in a statement read by the prosecutor. “That part of me is gone now.”
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr appears in New York Criminal Court for a hearing after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of raping a woman at a New York nightclub in 2018. Photo by Mike Segar pic.twitter.com/M4suZYlBeF
– corinne_perkins (@corinne_perkins) October 13, 2022
A “terrified” victim encounters the actor, who initially faces a year in prison
A third woman said she was “appalled” by her alleged encounter with the actor.
“Gooding Jr put his hand on my butt. I was very appalled. I turned to him and said ‘don’t pinch my ass.’ He responded and said “Aww, that’s no fun,” she said in a video statement played in court.
Gooding Jr remained stern throughout the proceedings, even as victims read their impact statements, only saying “no, sir” when Justice Curtis Farber asked if he wanted to speak. or not, the Post reported.
Initially, he faced a year in prison for sexual abuse allegations.
