Cuba Gooding Jr. lawyer has called for a judge to dismiss the forced to touch case that landed to the actor in handcuffs two weeks ago, arguing that witnesses and security video contradict a woman’s allegations that he was looking for her in New York, on the night of the spot.
Lawyer Mark Heller, is also shooting at the 29-year-old accuser of credibility, filling out court documents filed in front of a hearing Wednesday with quotes from what he said are blog posts that the portrait of a woman with a “troubled mentality,” the lawyer said.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
Gooding, 51, is accused of placing his hand on the woman’s breasts and pressing him without her consent, June 9 at Magic Time on the Roof, Bar & Lounge near Times Square. She tells the police that she thought Gooding, the Oscar winner of “Jerry Maguire,” was drunk at the time.
Gooding was arrested four days later after filming himself to the police. He pleaded not guilty to kidnapping of sexual touching and abuse, charges on a night of court indictment and was released on his own pledge after about six hours in police custody.
A conviction in the New York case could put Gooding behind bars for up to a year.
Heller supports the woman, who was not identified by police or prosecutors, wanted revenge against Gooding after feeling rejected and rebuffed by him and his girlfriend, who asked him to leave him alone after spotting his follow them through.
the TMZ video that the site says is from inside the bar on the night in question seems to show Gooding putting his hand on or near a woman on the leg and chest as they sit on a couch with his girlfriend between them. Gooding is then seen pulling the woman’s hand to her lips, as if to kiss him, and leaning towards her, before another man steps up and speaks with them.
Gooding his girlfriend Claudine De Niro, and a man seen approaching Gooding after the alleged incident, said in an affidavit filed with mr. Heller, dismissing the motion they do not see Gooding touching the woman’s breasts.
Jean Baeza, a New York police detective on sex crimes detective hired by Heller to analyze the video’s safety of the alleged incident, said in an affidavit accompanying the court documents that he has studied the frame-by-frame footage and concluded that she does not show Gooding putting her hand on the breast accuser.
Heller told the accuser first told police she was “partying with Cuba Gooding Jr” and affirmed that Gooding groped while she was handing him a glass of water, leading to a verbal argument.
none of this was true, Heller said, and the woman finished reviewing her story. He says the witnesses who challenged her tampering with the allegations were not questioned by the police before Gooding the arrest.
To summarize his remarks, Heller wrote: “The interests of justice are to CRIER” for Gooding’s exemption.