Danny Masterson is sentenced to 30 years in prison for raping two women
Danny Masterson has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for raping two women.
The 47-year-old Scientologist actor – best known for playing the clever Steven Hyde on That ’70s Show – was found guilty by a jury last May of two counts of forced rape. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on a third rape charge against him. He risked a prison sentence of up to 30 years to life.
That trial was Masterson’s second. His first, six months earlier, resulted in a mistrial after another jury was hopelessly deadlocked on all three rape charges.
Masterson was free on $3.3 million bail at both trials. But that freedom ended with his double conviction on May 31, and he’s been incarcerated ever since in the infamous Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.
Danny Masterson has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for raping two women
The Scientologist, 47, was on trial for rape for a second time after his first trial in November ended in a mistrial, with the jury deadlocked on all counts.
On Thursday, he made the short journey handcuffed from the prison to Courtroom 105 on the ninth floor of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, where he will once again meet with the victims that Judge Olmedo will allow the court to address before issuing a verdict. .
Masterson played the wise-cracking Steven Hyde on That ’70s Show from 1998 to 2006
Masterson had a contingent of Scientologist supporters and family in court, including his wife, actress Bijou Phillips, 43, who stood by his side during both his criminal trials.
A close friend revealed to DailyMail.com that Bijou “feels like she’s grieving a death” as she awaited her husband’s sentencing.
“Currently, Bijou is circling the drain and is filled with all emotion and no emotion at all,” they said.
“She’s a shell of who she used to be. She’s really trying to be strong for her daughter as she tries to figure out what life will be like for her.
“It can only be compared to a divorce or a death, because she can’t be with Danny like she is.”
Actor Billy Baldwin, 60 – who is married to Bijou’s half-sister Chynna Phillips, 55 – was also in court frequently during the trials.
Masterson was accused of three rapes, all at his home in Hollywood Hills, between 2001 and 2003. He denied all three, claiming the sex was consensual.
His accusers — whom DailyMail.com identifies only as Jane Does 1 through 3 — are all former Scientologists and have also sued the actor and the Church of Scientology in civil court, claiming they have been harassed and intimidated since bringing him to reported to the police. . A status hearing on that civil case is scheduled for Sept. 26.
Scientology was the elephant in the room during both trials. All three women testified that the reason it took him 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 “serious crime,” and that if they disobeyed that doctrine, they would become a “suppressive person.” could be explained and cast out. by 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 victims by spiked potions he gave them before raping them.
Another difference between the two trials was the addition in the second trial 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.
Bijou accepts the prospect of raising her child alone after her husband, 47, was convicted in an LA court in May on two counts of rape
A judge ordered that he be taken into custody and scheduled a hearing for August 4. Bijou wore a dark blue dress with white polka dots when she arrived at court with her husband.
Actor Billy Baldwin, 60 – who is married to Bijou’s half-sister Chynna Phillips, 55, also regularly sat in court during the trials
Of the two women whose rape Masterson was convicted of, Jane Doe 1 testified that she was at the actor’s house in April 2003 where he gave her a fruity red drink infused with vodka that made her feel dizzy, then threw her into his Jacuzzi and carried her. upstairs where she passed out and woke up to find him raping her
She fought back and shoved a pillow into his face, she told the jury. But he shoved it back in her face, smothering her and she blacked out again.
When she awoke, she said, Masterson opened a drawer beside the bed and took out a gun he brandished, telling her, “Don’t move.”
Jane Doe 2 – whose actor was also convicted of rape – met Masterson in a bar in 2003 and gave him her phone number. He called her and invited her to his home.
She went, and after having a drink and soaking in his jacuzzi, she found herself in the shower with him in the bathroom where, she told the jurors, he “suddenly shoved his penis into her vagina… She said no, i said no. sex.’
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
Scientology was at the center of both criminal cases. All three women testified that the reason it took him so long to report him to the police was their fear of retaliation from the Church of Scientology.
Jane Doe #1 burst into tears as she hesitantly recounted the night in September 2002 when she awoke to find Masterson allegedly anally penetrating her
Jane Doe #2, testified that Masterson invited her to his home sometime in late 2003. She said he gave her a glass of wine to drink and then, “like a drill sergeant,” ordered her to take off her clothes and get into his house. jacuzzi
They ended up in Masterson’s bed where, despite her protests, he turned her over and started hitting her from behind “like a jackhammer,” she testified, adding that she felt “like a limp rag doll.”
Jane Doe 3 – whom Masterson was accused of but not convicted of rape – lived with Masterson for six years. She was only 17 when she met him and he convinced her to become a Scientologist, she told the court.
About a year into their relationship, he became very “controlling… and very sexually aggressive” — she would often wake up at night and he would sit on top of her and have sex with her, she said.
In one such incident in November 2001, when she woke up to see 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,” she told the jury.
Masterson’s attorney, Philip Cohen, disputed “inconsistencies” in the women’s testimonies and statements to police, accusing them of “blatant fabrications.”
And he claimed the three “conspired,” choreographed and “modified” their rape stories to get Masterson convicted — which in turn could help them win a large cash payout in the civil lawsuit they have against him and the Church of Scientology. tightened. .