Though Cuba Gooding Jr. had continually denied the six misdemeanor charges, Gooding changed his tune in April 2022, per AP. He took a deal in which he pleaded guilty to only one of the charges, and publicly apologized to the two other women “for making anybody ever feel inappropriately touched.”
In the deal, Gooding exchanged jail time for six months of alcohol and behavior modification counseling, after which he could downgrade his plea to a lesser violation of harassment. On October 13, he did just that, as the Manhattan District Attorney’s office told CNN that Gooding had upheld his part of the deal, and thus was charged with time served, but will not face any jail time. As a result, the harassment violation will go on his record, but the criminal charges won’t. DA Coleen Balbert said that Gooding had been undergoing counseling since September 2019, and was going to continue his treatment, per The Daily Beast.
Gooding’s first accuser, later identified as Kelsey Harbert, wasn’t happy with the outcome. “At what point are we going to take this seriously? When will we decide that this is dangerous behavior? And when is it the court’s responsibility to protect the public from someone like him?,” she said in a statement with her attorney, Gloria Allred, at her side. “The system is supposed to be about what he did, not who he is.” Perhaps a different outcome will come from the remaining civil lawsuit against Gooding, which Allred is also prosecuting.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
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