Cuba Gooding Jr. smirks in court as he avoids jail after pleading guilty to forcible touching: Victim says celebrity was given the star treatment and should be behind bars
- Gooding Jr. pleaded guilty to misdemeanor forcible touching in April
- He touched Kelsey Harbert’s breast at the Magic Hour Rooftop in 2019
- She called police, claiming it was assault; he denied her allegations
- His deal means that if he complies with good behavior, the conviction will be reduced to a violation and his criminal record will be scrubbed
- Harbert returned to court on Thursday to read her victim impact statement
- She and her attorney Gloria Allred say Gooding Jr.’s deal was too lenient
Cuba Gooding Jr. returned to court in Manhattan on Thursday to face the woman he groped in a nightclub in 2019 as she read a victim impact statement to the court.
Gooding Jr. previously pleaded guilty to one-count of forcible touching. The charge was in relation to a 2018 incident with a waitress at TAO in New York City.
That woman was not in court on Thursday but another victim, Kelsey Harbert, was.
Kelsey was the woman whose breast he fondled at the Magic Hour Rooftop in New York City in 2019.
Cuba Gooding Jr. returned to court in Manhattan on Thursday to face the woman he groped in a nightclub in 2019 as she read a victim impact statement to the court
Kelsey Harbert with her attorney Gloria Allred on Thursday. She said that he escaped justice
In 2019, Gooding Jr. groped Kelsey Harbert’s breast at the Magic Hour Rooftop in Manhattan
The case is all but closed but the parties returned to court on Thursday to allow Harbert to read her victim impact statement.
She is due to give a press conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred, later.
After she reported the incident to police, Gooding Jr. was accused of a string of other offenses in both L.A. and New York that included forcible kissing and touching on waitresses.
He has always denied wrongdoing, insisting that any acts were consensual, but apologized for making women feel ‘uncomfortable’.
The plea deal was reached in April this year.
If he complies with its terms, the charge will be reduced to a violation and his criminal record will be wiped clean.
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. appears in New York Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of forcibly touching a woman at a New York nightclub in 2019
Gooding Jr. pleaded guilty to one count of forcible touching for the 2018 incident. The other charges were dropped
Gooding Jr., 54, will now have his criminal record scrubbed
Harbert says it is too soft an agreement for Gooding Jr.
Gooding Jr had been facing six groping charges over three alleged incidents which occurred in 2018 and 2019.
One of the women alleged Gooding pinched her buttocks.
Another said he squeezed her breast at the Magic Hour rooftop in New York City in June last year.
One woman alleged that he raped her in 2013 in a hotel room. He has not been charged over that claim.
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