Danny Masterson has been found guilty of rape.
The jury found the Scientologist actor guilty of two of the three rapes on Wednesday. The jurors were deadlocked on the third count.
Masterson – who played the wisecracking Steven Hyde on That ’70s Show – was accused of raping three women at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges and was facing a prison sentence of 45 years to life if convicted on all three, plus being forced to register as a sex offender. He had been free on $3.3 million bail throughout both trials.
Danny Masterson, 47, was on trial for rape for a second time after his first ended in a mistrial in December, with a jury deadlocked on all counts. Pictured with wife Bijou Phillips
Inconsistencies in the women’s stories are critical and should make it easy for jurors to have reasonable doubt about Masterson’s guilt, his attorney Philip Cohen told jurors.
His accusers — whom DailyMail.com only identifies as Jane Does 1 through 3 — are all former Scientologists and also sued the actor and the Church of Scientology in a civil court, claiming they have been harassed and intimidated since joining the police force. have indicated. . A status hearing on that civil case is scheduled for June 28.
Scientology was central to both criminal trials. All three women 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.
In the second trial, prosecutors put much more emphasis than in the first trial on their claims that Masterson drugged his alleged victims by supplementing drinks he gave them before raping them.
Deputy District Attorney Ariel Anson called Masterson a “predator” and said in her closing argument Tuesday, “It all starts with a drink…..This is his playbook….
“The defendant drugged his victims to gain control. When he stuns them, he’s totally capable of controlling them…and he does it over and over again.”
Her prosecuting partner, DDA Reinhold Mueller, added Wednesday — pointing to Masterson — “After they were drugged, they were raped by this man here.
“There is no doubt that this man drugged and raped these women. It’s time to hold Mr. Masterson to account for what he’s done.”
Masterson’s attorney Philip Cohen on Wednesday objected to the prosecutor’s frequent references to his client to drug his alleged victims before raping them, calling for a mistrial. He said “drugging is not forced rape”.
Leah Remini and Danny Masterson pictured at a benefit dinner and concert for Project Restart and the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, November 3, 2007 in Las Vegas
Actress Leah Remini is pictured in court during Danny Masterson’s rape trial April 24, 2023
But Judge Olmedo denied his mistrial request, telling him that when considering drugging and the use of force in a rape case, “one doesn’t necessarily rule out the other.”
Cohen, pointed out that there are no toxicology reports substantiating the 20-year-old drugging allegations against his client – who has always maintained that the sex with the three Jane Does was “consensual.”
Another difference between the two trials was the addition in the second of testimony from another “victim” — a woman who claimed Masterson raped her in Toronto in 2000, though he was never charged with the alleged assault.
Prosecutors added her to the witness list to establish a pattern of Masterson’s “previous evil deeds.” But Cohen rejected the move, saying the new accuser was brought in for the retrial to “save the case” for the district attorney.
Of the three women Masterson was accused of raping, Jane Doe 1 had told the court in the first trial that she was at the actor’s home in April 2003 where he gave her a fruity red vodka drink that made her dizzy. then threw her in his jacuzzi, carried her upstairs where she passed out and woke up to find him raping 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, she said, Masterson opened a bedside chest of drawers and took 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.
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 drink and a stint in his Jacuzzi tub, found herself in his shower bathroom where he “suddenly shoved his penis into her vagina…. She said no, I told you no sex .’
Danny Masterson drugged women’s potions so he could rape them, then relied on his notoriety in the Church of Scientology to avoid consequences for years to come, a prosecutor told jurors (file image from the Church of Scientology in Los Angeles)
Masterson played the wisecracking Steven Hyde on That ’70s Show from 1998 to 2006
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.”
Masterson’s attorney, Cohen, disputed “inconsistencies” in the women’s testimonies and statements to police, accusing them of “blatant fabrications.”
And he claimed the three had “conspired,” choreographed and “modified” their rape stories to help convict Masterson — which in turn could help them win a large monetary payout in the civil lawsuit they brought against him and Scientology. Church filed. .
Before the judge turned the case over to the jury just before 10 a.m. Wednesday, Mueller countered Cohen’s “inconsistencies” argument by telling jurors, “Don’t be fooled — he (Cohen) is trying to make you think there’s a grand conspiracy is.
“Each of these victims spoke individually about what happened to them before speaking to each other. So how is that a conspiracy?
“There is no conspiracy. There was no tweaking. He’s guilty… It’s not reasonable to assume that any of these victims lied.’