14 November 2019
Newsdesk
Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s attorney is fighting to have the actor's sexual abuse indictment dismissed because prosecutors failed to submit video evidence of the alleged crimes to the grand jury.
The Oscar winner is facing misdemeanour charges of forcible touching and sexual abuse relating to reported encounters with three women in New York City.
Gooding, Jr. has pleaded not guilty to the counts, but his legal eagle Mark Heller is demanding the case be tossed, claiming authorities are trying to "trick the system" by omitting surveillance footage from each alleged incident from their presentation to the grand jury members, who voted to indict the Jerry Maguire star.
Heller is adamant the films will prove his client is innocent, and has appealed to the judge overseeing the case to reconsider allowing the proceedings to move forward.
"It is shocking and grossly inappropriate and unjust that, upon information and belief, the District Attorney failed to provide and present the Grand Jury with the videos," Heller declared in his motion to dismiss, which was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday (13Nov19).
"It is sad and unfortunate that the District Attorney who is supposed to represent and protect the interests of all of the People of the State of New York, including the interest of a Defendant, chose here to trick the system."
Heller goes on to allege the grand jurors were "unfairly manipulated by being placed in a position to vote on an Indictment without ALL the available facts", and questions why Gooding, Jr.'s girlfriend Claudine De Niro, and his promoter pal Matthew Assante, who were both present during two of the reported incidents, were not called to testify as eyewitnesses.
He further blasts prosecutors for not allowing the actor to testify and share his side of the story with the grand jury before the indictment was handed down.
Prosecutors have yet to respond to the missive.
Gooding, Jr. is set to return to court on 22 January (20).
