CNN
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Cuba Gooding Jr. will not face any prison sentence after complying with the terms of the plea agreement in the forced touch case, according to Emily Tuttle, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Previous Gooding pleaded guilty in April A misdemeanor charge of forcibly touching a woman at a New York City nightclub in 2018. Gooding admitted to kissing her on the lips, a nightclub waitress, without her consent. He also acknowledged two other incidents of non-harmonic communication in October 2018 and June 2019.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Gooding was required to continue treatment with alcohol and behavior modification for six months and had no new arrests. On Thursday, Gooding pleaded guilty to a lesser inconvenience violation that will always be on his record, but no criminal charges will remain. Tuttle confirmed that he was sentenced to the time he served and will not serve any prison sentence.
CNN has reached out to Gooding’s attorney, Peter Toumbekis, for comment.
When the plea agreement was announced in April, Manhattan assistant attorney general Colin Balbert said their office believed the agreement was “fair and equitable.”
“I would just like to say that we fully believe and believe in all survivors in this case and thank all of the women and other witnesses who cooperated with our office while our investigation was suspended,” Balbert said at the time. She also noted that Gooding has been in the consulting business since September 2019, and said the plea agreement would spare defendants from having to testify in public and allow them to make victim impact statements if they so chose.
Kelsey Harbert, one of Gooding’s accusers, spoke out of court after Thursday’s hearing, telling reporters that the actor’s actions [her] Feeling at peace every day.”
“At what point are we going to take this seriously? When will we decide that this is dangerous behavior? And when will the court have a responsibility to protect the public from someone like him?” asked Harbert. The system is supposed to be about what he did. Not who he is.”
Gloria Allred, Harbert’s attorney, said she would discuss with Harbert whether to file a civil case against Gooding, but said no decision would be made on Thursday.
CNN’s Tanika Gray contributed to this report.
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