Jury selection begins again in Danny Masterson’s retrial on rape charges

Jury selection begins Monday in Los Angeles for the retrial of TV star Danny Masterson, accused of raping three women at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003.

The Scientologist actor’s first trial ended in a mistrial last November after jurors failed to reach a verdict on one of three rape charges to which he pleaded not guilty.

So prosecutors decided to retrial Masterson, 47 — best known for playing the smart-ass Steven Hyde on That 70s Show — who has remained free on $3.3 million bail since his arrest in 2020.

He faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted.

After his earlier trial ended with a hung jury, Masterson’s attorney Philip Cohen asked Judge Charlaine Olmedo to dismiss the charges, arguing that “no reasonable jury” in a second trial could convict his client on the basis of the same evidence presented in the original case. .

Masterson left court with his legal team during a lunch break on Day 1 of jury selection for the retrial

The That 70s Show star (pictured in a court sketch from last year) who failed to testify in his own defense at the month-long trial last year pleaded not guilty to raping three women, all Scientologists, at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003

It was “no fluke,” Cohen said, that the six male and six female jurors in the first trial acquitted Masterson 10 to two on the first charge, eight to four on the second charge, and seven to five on the third.

“The jury focused on the most relevant evidence – the testimony and previous statements of the Jane Does (the three alleged victims) – and a large majority reasonably concluded that this critical evidence raised reasonable doubt,” he added. please.

Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller hit back, saying he “intends to provide additional evidence at the retrial” and that several new witnesses — who were not called to the stand in the first trial — would be called to testify at the second.

“Not giving the victims another chance with a jury would be unfair,” he told Judge Olmedo.

The judge agreed and denied Cohen’s request to dismiss the charges, paving the way for jury selection in the second trial starting Monday, followed by the full trial expected to last four weeks.

Masterson’s accusers — identified by DailyMail.com only as Jane Does 1 through 3 — are all ex-Scientologists and also sued him and the Church of Scientology in a civil court, claiming they have been harassed and intimidated since they reported him to the police. .

Scientology took center stage during the highly publicized, five-week first trial. Masterson’s attorney, Cohen, said the church was mentioned more than 700 times.

Masterson’s wife supported the actor during the month-long trial last year. Prosecutors had tried to portray the Scientologist actor as a man who wouldn’t take no for an answer

Masterson played the wisecracking Steven Hyde on That ’70s Show from 1998 to 2006

Cohen even tried — unsuccessfully — to delay the trial until after last year’s LA Mayoral election because anti-Scientology TV ads from rival candidates Karen Bass and Rick Caruso could bias the jury against his client, who is a prominent is a member of the church.

All three women who accused Masterson of rape testified that the reason it took them so long to report him to the police was their fear of retaliation from the Church of Scientology.

They said church officials warned them not to use the word rape, that turning a fellow Scientologist in to law enforcement was considered a “high crime,” and that if they disobeyed that doctrine, they could become an “oppressive person.” declared, cast out of the church and left alone, cut off from family and friends.

Judge Charlaine Olmedo declared a mistrial in November after jurors failed to reach a decision

Jane Doe 1 had told the court she was at Masterson’s house in April 2003 where he gave her a fruity red drink with vodka that made her dizzy, then threw her into his Jacuzzi, carried her upstairs where she passed out and woke up was found to have raped her

She fought back, shoved a pillow in his face, she told the jury. But he shoved it back in her face, smothered her, and she passed out again.

When she awoke, Masterson opened a drawer next to the bed and pulled out a gun he brandished and told her, “Don’t move.”

Jane Doe 3 — who lived with Masterson for six years — was only 17 when she met him and he persuaded her to become a Scientologist, the court heard.

About a year into their relationship, he became very controlling… and very aggressive sexually — she often woke up at night and he would sit on top of her and have sex with her, she told the court.

In one such incident in November 2001, when she woke up to find him having sex with her, she said no to him and tried to push him off, the court heard.

When that didn’t work, she pulled his hair. But he retaliated by punching her in the face and calling her “white trash,” prosecutors said.

The Church of Scientology, of which Masterson is a member, has been accused of advising victims against going public. It is being sued in a separate case in civil court

All three rapes allegedly took place at Masterson’s Hollywood Hills home

Jane Doe 2 met Masterson in 2003 at a bar and gave him her phone number. He called her and invited her to his home.

She went, and, the court heard, after a soak in his Jacuzzi she found herself with him in the shower of his bathroom, where he “suddenly shoved his penis into her vagina… She said no, I told you no sex.’

They ended up in Masterson’s bed where, despite her protests, he turned her over and started pounding her from behind “like a jackhammer,” she testified, adding that she felt “like a limp rag doll.”

Lawyer Cohen disputed “inconsistencies” in the women’s testimonies and statements to police, accusing them of “blatant fabrications.”

And he claimed the three had “conspired” by choreographing their rape stories to help convict Masterson — which in turn could help them win a large monetary payout in a civil lawsuit they filed against the actor and the Church of Scientology , claiming they have been harassed and intimidated since they reported him to the police.