Cuba Gooding Jr. is set to stand trial on February 1st for allegedly groping three women in separate incidents, Justice Curtis Farber ruled Monday. Gooding appeared at Manhattan Supreme Court wearing sunglasses, a dark grey suit and black mask.
“This case has been on my calendar for two years, going on three years. This is a firm trial date and it has to go,” Justice Farber ordered.
His lawyer Peter Toumbekis pushed to delay the trial until 2022. “I’ll make it work,” Toumbekis said in response to the judge’s ruling.
The Jerry Maguire star did not speak during the hearing. He is charged with six misdemeanor counts of sexual abuse and forcible touching. He was first arrested in June of 2019 after allegedly squeezing a woman’s breast at the Moxy Hotel in New York City. He was also charged with pinching TAO Downtown server Natasha Ashworth’s butt in 2018, and subjecting a woman to “sexual contact without consent” at LAVO on the Upper East Side.
He pleaded not guilty to the three separate incidents. If convicted, he faes up to one year behind bars.