The Los Angeles District Attorney has dismissed the sexual assault claim against American Horror Story star Dylan McDermott.
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According to Deadline, the claim was rejected last week on Friday due to too much time having passed from the date of the alleged incident.
“The reporting party alleged that she was the victim of sexual assault by the suspect in 1991,” the District Attorney’s office said. “The allegation is outside the statute of limitations; therefore, an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence is not warranted and prosecution is declined.”
The alleged sexual assault was investigated by the Santa Monica Police Department before being handed over to the D.A. on May 9. McDermott’s rep issued a statement after the dismissal on Friday.
“Mr. McDermott learned about these allegations last year and trusted that the process would end exactly as it has,” the statement read.
The dismissal of the case against McDermott comes close on the heels of the revelation that the D.A.’s office was also declining to file charges against a few other actors accused of sexual misconduct, including Kevin Spacey. Last year, Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of making sexual advances towards him when Rapp was 14-years-old. Following those accusations, others came forward with their own accusations against Spacey. The case dismissed in Los Angeles was alleged to have occurred in 1992.
The timing on the dismissal of McDermott’s case also comes just ahead of the premiere of American Horror Story: Apocalypse, the eight season of the series which will see McDermott reprise his character Ben Harmon from the first season of the anthology series, “Murder House”. Apocalypse will see the series’ first major official crossover, mixing elements of “Murder House” with season three (“Coven”) in a story that mixes the plot threads into a story that teasers have hinted could be about the anti-Christ and Armageddon.
American Horror Story: Apocalypse premieres on September 12 on FX.
