Jan. 1 (UPI) — A Massachusetts judge has ordered actor Kevin Spacey to appear at his arraignment next week on a sexual assault charge.
The decision on Monday was in response to a motion Spacey filed asking permission to miss the proceeding.
Spacey said in his court papers that he intends to plead not guilty at Monday’s arraignment.
Prosecutors announced last month that they were charging the Oscar-winning actor with felony indecent assault and battery stemming from an alleged encounter with a then-18-year-old at a Nantucket bar in July 2016.
The same day the charge was made public, the fired House of Cards star posted a video on YouTube appearing to defend himself.
Spacey seems to adopt his character from the show to criticize the series’ final season while at the same time defend his real-life persona from the allegations against him.
Spacey was fired from the Netflix drama amid sexual assault accusations from several men, starting with an allegation by actor Anthony Rapp who said Spacey drunkenly tried to seduce him decades ago when Spacey was 26 and Rapp was 14.
