Cuba Gooding Jr may serve NO jail time after pleading GUILTY to forcible touching
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr pleaded guilty on Wednesday, July 13, to touching a woman forcibly at a New York nightclub in 2018. The 'Jerry Maguire' star was arrested in the case nearly three years ago, following which his lawyers constantly sought to get the charges dismissed or reduced. He was arrested in June 2019 after a woman, 29, accused him of squeezing her breast without her consent at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge near Times Square.
The 54-year-old was accsued of violating three different women at various Manhattan night spots in 2018 and 2019. However, he pleaded guilty to only one of the allegations, telling the judge that he “kissed the waitress on her lips” without consent at the LAVO New York nightclub. Gooding's plea deal does not call for any jail time, and he can in fact withdraw the misdemeanor plea and plead guilty to a lesser violation of harassment if he continues counseling for six months.
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An attorney for Gooding, Frank Rothman, said he is "relieved that the DA’s office has finally seen what this case is really about and its true value." "He’s in therapy," Rothman was quoted as saying of Gooding. "He’s done everything right. And it’s the appropriate resolution to not give somebody a criminal record that’s stayed out of trouble for years, done everything correctly and had very questionable allegations levied against him. This was the appropriate resolution. This was the right compromise."
A few months after the 2019 arrest, Gooding was charged in two additional cases as more women accused him of sexual abuse. He was accused of making a sexually suggestive remark to a server and then pinching her buttocks. He also allegedly forcibly touched a woman at the LAVO nightclub. Both the incidents took place in 2018.
Previously, Gooding had pleaded not guilty to six misdemeanor counts. He had denied all allegations of wrongdoing, with his lawyers arguing that the prosecutors were swayed by the #MeToo movement and were trying to turn “commonplace gestures” or misunderstandings into criminal offenses.
The judge had ruled that two additional women could have been called to testify about the abuse they faced, if Gooding's case went to trial. These women's claims, however, did not result in criminal charges. These two women were among 19 others who were being sought by prosecutors as witnesses.
Gooding is also accused in a lawsuit of raping a woman in New York City in 2013. Since Gooding failed to respond to the lawsuit, a judge went on to issue a default judgement. The actor retained a lawyer and is fighting the allegations now.