Furnish testified that Spacey did not attend an annual gala ball at their Windsor home at the time the accuser said he was attacked in a car.
Elton John and David Furnish attend the The CAA Pre-Oscar Party at Sunset Tower Hotel on March 10, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Natasha Campos/Getty Images
LONDON (AP) — Kevin Spacey’s lawyers enlisted the help of an A-list star Monday in his sexual assault trial, calling on Elton John and his husband David Furnish to cast doubt on one of the Oscar winner’s accusers at the end of the defense case.
John appeared briefly in the London court by video link from Monaco after Furnish testified that Spacey did not attend an annual gala ball at their Windsor home at the time that the accuser said he was attacked in a car.
John was the final witness for the defense and was followed by character testimonials from colleagues, friends and family that had Spacey in tears in the dock when they were read aloud by his lawyer in Southwark Crown Court.
Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges that include sexual and indecent assault counts and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
One of the alleged victims said he was driving Spacey to the White Tie & Tiara Ball in 2004 or 2005 when the actor grabbed his crotch so forcefully that he almost ran off the road.
Furnish supported Spacey’s own testimony that the only year the actor had attended the event was 2001. Furnish said he had reviewed photographs taken at the party from 2001 to 2005, and Spacey only appeared in images that one year. He said all guests were photographed each year.
John, who was wearing yellow-tinted glasses, a dark jacket and light blue open-collar shirt, said the actor attended the party once in the early 2000s and arrived after flying to England on a private jet.
