The mother of the man who accused actor Kevin Spacey of assault said on the stand that she deleted data from his phone before giving it to law enforcement, but denied that it had anything to do with the case. Former TV anchor Heather Unruh testified that she had been looking through the device to find footage purportedly showing the defendant sexually abusing her son.
“I was looking for the video,” she said.
Spacey’s defense suggested in questioning that she deleted data showing her son making racist and homophobic remarks, and having a “drinking issue,” so that he would seem believable to law enforcement investigating the case.
“You’re mistaken,” she said. “That was not my motivation.”
She insisted she saw things that “concerned” her, but that she didn’t delete anything to do with the case.
“You don’t get to pick what’s deleted and what’s not deleted,” said Spacey’s defense.
Under direct examination, she said she only got rid of data of some of her son’s activities in college: Video of himself apparently using a bong in college.
Unruh denied during cross-examination that her son would make homophobic statements, said he had gay men as mentors, and insisted he wouldn’t use the homophobic F-word.
“My son is not known for using that word,” she said.
Unruh said she had “no idea” about the whereabouts of her son’s phone.
Her son’s lawsuit against Spacey was dropped last week, but it was unclear why. She said on the stand there was no settlement. The prosecution objected to the line of questioning, and the judge stopped her from answering why it happened.
