Gooding Jr. avoids jail in touching case, irking accusers

As Cuba Gooding Jr.’s forcible touching case faded to black Thursday with no jail time for the movie star, some of the dozens of women who have accused him of groping, unwanted kissing and other inappropriate behavior criticized the outcome as a slap on the wrist — and a slap in the face.

The Oscar-winning actor turned #MeToo defendant avoided prison time by complying with the terms of a conditional plea agreement that saw him plead guilty to charges involving just one of what prosecutors have said were allegations from at least 30 women, many at New York City nightspots.

Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Coleen Balbert told a judge Thursday that since the deal was reached in April, Gooding has stayed out of trouble and completed six months of alcohol and behavioral counseling. That enabled him to withdraw his misdemeanor guilty plea — for forcibly kissing a waitress at a Manhattan nightclub