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Cuba Gooding Jr. faces February trial in NYC groping case

APTOPIX Sexual Misconduct Cuba Gooding Jr
Posted at 2:30 PM, Oct 18, 2021
and last updated 2021-10-18 14:30:43-04

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge says Cuba Gooding Jr. will go on trial in February in his New York City groping case.

Prosecutors are expected to portray the actor as a serial offender, and the defense to contend the case is an example of Me Too run amok.

A judge on Monday set a Feb. 1 trial date in the case.

It involves allegations the Oscar-winning "Jerry Maguire" star violated three different women at three various Manhattan nightspots in 2018 and 2019.

According to the Associated Press, Gooding Jr. is accused of pinching a server at TAO Downton's buttocks in 2018.

The judge had expressed a desire to start the trial sooner, possibly in December.

But a lawyer for Gooding says he'll be tied up with other trials.

The trial was supposed to begin last April but was pushed back due to surging COVID-19 cases in the state, which led to courthouses being shut down, the news outlet reported.

The AP reported that in 2019, Gooding was arrested for allegedly assaulting squeezing a woman's breast without her consent at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge.

A third woman accused the actor of forcibly touching her inappropriately at the LAVO New York nightclub in 2018, the AP reported.