Rapp: aspects of narcissistic personality disorder (Day 7)

KEVIN SPACEY-ANTHONY RAPP TRIAL UPDATE: DAY 7—SPACEY 5; RAPP 2

Dr. Bardey: Rapp has aspects of narcissistic personality disorder

Kevin Spacey returned to the witness stand this morning for Day 7 of the civil trial brought by Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp. Rapp is seeking $40 million in damages.

After the prosecution rested yesterday, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan threw out Rapp’s claim for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress. Rapp’s sole charge of Assault and Battery remains.

Rapp attorney Richard Steigman was unsuccessful in his attempt to introduce a deposition from a Spacey accuser previously barred by Kaplan. Steigman’s antics would earn a caution from the judge later in the day.

Spacey spent the remainder of his morning and most of the early afternoon in a cross-examination that was frequently interrupted by defense objections. Nevertheless, Spacey appeared composed on the stand, addressing his “peripheral and limited” history with Rent alum Rapp.

Steigman questioned Spacey about accompanying Rapp (14) and John Barrowman (19) into the Limelight in 1986, reminding the court they were underage— yet failing to note the presence of other underage attendees in the club.

Steigman questioned whether Spacey bought Barrowman a drink, and Spacey replied he didn’t recall. Spacey testified—as he did on Monday—that all three returned to his apartment, where he and Barrowman playfully flirted with each other, ending up on the bed of his studio apartment while Rapp was in the bathroom.

“You were trying to seduce him,” Steigman alleged.

“Not in that moment,” Spacey answered.

Both Spacey and Barrowman have testified under oath that in their continued awareness of Rapp’s presence, their flirtation remained limited. When Rapp exited the bathroom, all three left the apartment.

This contradicts Rapp’s earlier claim that Spacey gave him his address and phone number on a slip of paper after the matinee of Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

Rapp claims he returned to the apartment for an alleged party at which he asserts Spacey made a sexual advance.

Rapp attorney Steigman cautioned about inappropriate courtroom behavior

Steigman brought up Spacey’s older brother, Randall Fowler, who has made very public claims about childhood abuse he experienced in the family home.

Judge Kaplan was quick to cut Steigman’s line of inquiry off, as defense attorney Chase Scolnick pointed out it was “extremely prejudicial” to expose this to jurors.

Judge Kaplan issued a warning to Stiegman for his courtroom antics.

I would hate to get the idea you’re asking questions you know there are good objections to … for the purpose of getting material in front of the jury

Judge Lewis Kaplan

Peter Saghir, an attorney for the plaintiff, pulled the same antics earlier in this trial, getting Anthony Rapp to introduce speculation to the jury—which was subsequently stricken from the record.

RAPP: narcissistic personality disorder

Spacey attorney Jennifer Keller was back following a positive Covid test. Covid protocols remain in effect, which saw lawyers and clients wearing masks except when they were testifying.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Alexander Bardey took the stand. A graduate of SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine, then NYU, on staff at Bellevue, Dr. Bardey is head’s forensic psychiatry for Nassau County.

Spacey attorney Scolnick asked Dr. Bardey if he agreed with Mr. Rapp’s expert diagnosis of PTSD.

Dr. Bardey replied, “I do not,” adding a little later that his “takeaway from Rocchio’s testing was that it was inconsistent.”

When asked about any other “sexually traumatic incidents” Mr. Rapp experienced, Dr. Bardey noted that Rapp was “seduced by a 40-year-old actress when he was 16 or 17.”

Scolnick asked if “that could be traumatic?” an assertion Rapp’s attorney was quick to object to, but which Kaplan overruled.

Mr. Scolnick next raised the issue that “Mr. Rapp engaged in sex with boys while 11 and 12,” which Dr. Bardey confirmed, noting he “found no change in behavior after the alleged incident in 1986.”

But Dr. Bardey did note that Rapp “has aspects of narcissistic personality disorder.”

In a lighter moment, Scolnick asked if a “person like that…lost a beauty contest or an election, [would then] claim they hadn’t lost?” Laughter could be heard in the courtroom as Rapp’s lawyer raised an objection that at Kaplan sustained.

The defense is expected to rest tomorrow, followed by closing arguments. J; jury deliberations are expected to begin Thursday

KEVIN SPACEY-ANTHONY RAPP TRIAL UPDATE: DAY 7—SPACEY 5; RAPP 2

Spacey’s endurance on the stand for cross, and Bardey’s open court assessment of plaintiff Rapp having “aspects of narcissistic personality disorder” are definite plusses in the defense column.