News

Hearing in Kevin Spacey criminal case set for Monday

NANTUCKET, Mass. — Actor Kevin Spacey will be back on Nantucket Monday morning for a hearing on the criminal charges against him. He's accused of groping a teenager at a bar in Nantucket about three years ago.

The alleged victim recently dropped the civil lawsuit against Spacey, however, the criminal case continues Monday.

Attorney and Boston 25 News Legal Analyst Peter Elikann says Monday's hearing will be about whether there's enough evidence to move forward with a trial for the criminal charges against Spacey.

Related: Accuser drops civil suit against Kevin Spacey over alleged groping at bar

The defense attorney representing Kevin Spacey will likely push for the case to be dismissed. That's because the defense says they haven't had access to the accuser’s cell phone for valuable evidence that could possibly help Spacey's case.

The prosecution has said they can’t find the text messages surrounding this event on the victim’s cell phone. So now it’ll be up to a judge whether this case moves forward to trial.

"The defense will likely ask to dismiss the whole case because the evidence that was helpful to them has either been lost or destroyed by the other side and chances are the judge isn't going to grant that, but it would be [a] serious issue at trial," Elikann said.

>>>MORE: Here are the texts that make Spacey accuser's phone so important

Elikann says it's unclear how text messages about the incident vanished on the alleged victim's cell phone – and whether that'll get the case thrown out. He added that it's bizarre for a victim to even file a civil suit while the criminal case continues, let alone drop it altogether.

But that move could affect the criminal case against Spacey as well.

"When you have a very reluctant victim, all of a sudden if that were to ever happen that really does affect the prosecution," Elikann said. "The prosecution has to think twice about it, although technically the victim, any victim, has no power to drop a criminal case."

This criminal case is in the hands of the state, not the victim, at this point.