An additional "incident" has been added to the charges in Cuba Gooding Jr.'s groping case
Earlier this year, Cuba Gooding Jr. surrendered himself to the police after being accused of groping a woman while they were at a bar together, and though his trial was supposed to start in September, it was delayed as prosecutors said they were waiting for some additional evidence. Then, the trial was supposed to start today, but it has been delayed until next week and a “previously uncharged incident” has been added to his existing charge of misdemeanor groping. This comes from USA Today, which says Gooding was indicted today and will be arraigned on October 15, but any specific details about this new charge will be sealed until then.
Gooding has maintained that nothing happened, with USA Today noting that his defense intends to question his accusers “mental stability” by calling attention to certain things she’s written about online. As for the secrecy, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything in particular, it’s most likely just that Gooding is a famous person with good lawyers who don’t want their client to get bad press before the trial has started. One of the many benefits of being a famous person.
Also, speaking of, USA Today has a quote from “local defense attorney” Stuart Slotnick that reads like it came from an alternate universe: “This is a well-known celebrity, instantly recognizable, and to suggest that he would, in public in a bar, commit a sexual crime is somewhat outrageous.” We’ll let you unpack that one for yourselves.