Danny Masterson rape trial begins in Los Angeles

The trial of That ’70s Show star Danny Masterson heard how he threatened one of his rape accusers with a gun if she told fellow Scientologist Lisa Marie Presley about the alleged abuse. 

Deputy District attorney Reinhold Mueller told the jury of nine men and nine women (12 plus six alternates) that Masterson’s alleged victim Jane Doe 1 grew up as a Scientologist and had an ‘almost brother-sister relationship with him.

So when – after she drank one or two vodka grapefruits – she laughed it off when Masterson started pulling her up the stairs at his home one night in September 2002, the court heard on the first day of testimony. 

She felt ‘very fuzzy’ from the drink and the two went to bed where they had sex,’ said Mueller. ‘But then he flipped her over and penetrated her anally with his penis. She was very upset…she tried to fight him off.

‘She considered the (vaginal) sex to be consensual but she did not consent to being penetrated anally.’

Mueller – who told the court there was ‘possibly a pregnancy and miscarriage’ following the sex encounter – said Jane Doe 1 told some of her Scientologist friends, including women named Marie and Paige, plus Elvis Presley’s daughter Lisa Marie Presley, about the incident. But she did not report it to the police.

Masterson – who has been free on $3.3 million bail since his arrest in June 2020 – has pleaded not guilty to raping three women at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003.

He’s facing a sentence of 45 years to life in prison if he’s convicted at the end of his trial, which is expected to last a month in Los Angeles. 

The court heard how Masterson threatened one of his rape accusers with a gun if she told fellow Scientologist Lisa Marie Presley about the alleged abuse

Masterson  played wise-cracking Steven Hyde on That ’70s Show from 1998 to 2006

The 46-year-old Scientologist actor – wearing a light blue jacket, gray pants and a cream shirt with dark tie – was hand and in hand with his wife, actress Bijou Phillips, also 46, as they walked to the criminal courtroom in downtown Los Angeles for the first day of testimony Tuesday. 

And joining them in court were Masterson’s brothers Christopher and Jordan, his sister Alanna and Bijou’s half sister, actress Mackenzie Phillips, 62, star of the hit 70s and 80s TV show One Day at a Time.

About nine months later, Jane Doe 1 ended up back at Masterson’s house where he gave her a ‘fruity red drink with vodka,’ then grabbed her by the wrists and told her , ‘You are going into the Jacuzzi,’ the court heard.

‘She tried to pull back saying no, no, that she didn’t want to go into the Jacuzzi,’ said Mueller. ‘All the time she’s feeling impaired – she doesn’t have the strength she normally would.’

That ’70s Show star Danny Masterson showed up to court arm in arm with wife Bijou Phillips on Tuesday for the first day of his rape trial  

Masterson got her to the Jacuzzi where he threw her in and when she started feeling nauseous he carried her upstairs to the bathroom where she vomited and blacked out, the jury heard.

After a shower and passing out again, Masterson picked her up, carried her to the bed and, ‘with all his body weight on her, penetrated her vagina with his penis, said Mueller.

‘She fought back, pushed a pillow into his face. But he pushed it back into her face, smothering her and she passed out.’

The court heard that Masterson then opened a bedside drawer and pulled out a gun which he brandished, telling Jane Doe 1, ‘Don’t f***ing move. Don’t f***ing move. You’re not going to f***ing tell Marie. Your re not going to f***ing tell Paige. You’re not going to f***ing tell Lisa.’

When she went to her ‘ethics officer’ to report the alleged rape, he told her, ‘If you’re going to tell me this was rape, it was not rape,’ said Mueller.

And he warned her that reporting a fellow Scientologist to the police would be considered as a ‘High Crime’ by the Church of Scientology and she could be branded a ‘suppressive person’, meaning all her Scientology friends and even family would shun her.

‘So she complied. She did not report it to the police.’

Alleged victim Jane Doe 3 was only 17 when she met Masterson who persuaded her to become a Scientologist, said Mueller.

‘About a year into their relationship he became very controlling…and very aggressive sexually – she would often wake up at tonight and he would be on top of her, having sex with her.

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

When that didn’t work, she pulled his hair. But he retaliated by hitting hers across the face and calling her ‘white trash.’

Shortly before they broke up in 2002, Jane Doe 3 had a couple of glasses of wine at a restaurant with Masterson and later woke up to find she was bleeding in the anal area which was also very painful, Mueller told the court.

‘When she asked him ‘what happened last night’, he laughed and said he had anal sex with her while she was unconscious.’

Jane Doe 3 reported the incident to her ‘ethics officer’ at the Church of Scientology and she tool was told that ,there was no rape and the word rape should never be used,’ said Mueller.

She was also told that Masterson is an ‘Upstat’ – a highly respected and influential member of the church – and that since ‘he provides for you and gives you a roof over your head you should give him sex whenever he wants,’ the court heard.

After being told that she would be declared a ‘suppressive person’ if she went to the police, Jane Doe 3 didn’t tell anyone about the incident till 23011 when she told her husband, said Mueller.

Alleged victim Jane Doe 2 met Masterson at a bar in 2003 and gave him her phone number. When he called her and he told her to come over to his house and bring a bathing suit, the court heard.

‘She told him she would come over, they would talk and maybe have a glass of wine. But she would not bring a bathing suit and there would absolutely be no sex.’

She went to Masterson’s house, drank some wine and became ‘very blurry.’ After a stint in the Jacuzzi, she ended up in his bathroom shower with him where he ‘suddenly shoved his penis into her vagina….She said no, I told you no sex.’

Later, she admitted going to be with him, ‘just to try to de-escalate’ a scary situation, said Mueller.

‘But then he flipped her over – he started pounding her from behind like a jackhammer……she said she felt like a limp rag doll.’

Masterson’s accusers are former Scientologists and are also suing him and the Church of Scientology in civil court

In his opening statement to the jury, Masterson’s lead defense attorney, Philip Cohen, said that when the three women did finally decide to go to the police, they were told by the lead detective assigned to the case not to speak to each other.

‘They were told, ”Do not talk to each other and do not talk to any other witnesses,”’ he said.

‘The police told them that if you speak to each other, you will contaminate this case….you will destroy credibility.

‘But they did speak to each other and they did speak to other witnesses.’

Cohen tried to discredit Jane Doe 1’s claim that Masterson pulled a gun on her.

‘She is apparently going to testify that Mr. Masterson pulled out a gun, put it to her head and threatened her,’ he said.

Presiding Judge Charlaine Olmedo has declared that ‘this is not going to be a trial on Scientology’ 

But when she eventually reported the alleged rape to the police, ‘There was no mention of any gun…..She didn’t mention it for about 14 years.’

Presiding Judge Charlaine Olmedo has declared that ‘this is not going to be a trial on Scientology.’

But earlier this month she torpedoed Masterson’s legal team’s effort to distance him from the notorieties of the Church of Scientology when she denied their motion to ban any mention of the controversial church at trial.

Which means Scientology will be front and center criminal during the trial – which is expected to last at least a month.

His accusers – whom DailyMail.com is identifying only as Jane Does 1 through 3 – are all former Scientologists and are also suing him and the Church of Scientology in civil court, claiming they’ve been harassed and intimidated since reporting him to police.

In the criminal rape case, at a three-day pre-trial hearing in May last year, all three broke down in tears as they took the witness stand to give harrowing and wrenching accounts of being raped by Masterson.

Jane Doe 1 told how Masterson threw her in his jacuzzi, raped her and then pulled a gun on her, telling her, ‘Don’t say a f***king word. You’re not going to tell anybody.’

Jane Doe 2 described how he ‘ravaged her like a rag doll and pounded her from behind like a jackhammer.’

Jane Doe 3 recounted how she woke up naked to find Masterson raping her and when she tried to fight him off, he hit her and spit on her, calling her ‘white trash’.

The three said before each alleged rape, Masterson gave them a drink after which they felt ‘blurry’ and disoriented.

Both the prosecutor, LA Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller and Philip Cohen, lead attorney in Masterson’s defense team, said at a hearing last week that ‘Scientology is not on trial here.’

But the controversial Church of Scientology will be front and center at LA’s downtown criminal court during the trial that’s expected to last around four weeks.

At last week’s hearing Cohen tried to distance his celebrity client from the notoriety of Scientology by filing a motion calling on Judge Olmedo to delay the trial till after the November 8 Los Angeles Mayoral election because of the anti-Scientology TV campaign ads candidates Rep. Karen Bass and billionaire developer Rick Caruso have been using to attack each other.

He argued that ‘inflammatory’ and ‘negative’ remarks about Scientology both candidates have made could prejudice a jury against Masterson because of his membership in the Church.

Both candidates for Los Angeles mayor  – Rick Caruso and Karen Bass – have bashed the Church of Scientology in television ads

In one ad, Caruso used footage of Bass at a Scientology event, splicing in clips that seem to show she supports the controversial church. Bass

responded in her own ad, saying she does not support the church and insisting, ‘Everybody knows Karen Bass condemns Scientology.’

‘One thing both candidates do agree on is that they don’t like Scientology,’ said Cohen in his bid to get the trial postponed.

But Judge Olmedo denied his motion to continue the trial till after the election, telling the court that she believed the ‘sheer size’ of the jury catchment area – LA county and its 88 independent cities – is ‘sufficient to ensure a fair and impartial jury’.

She added, ‘There is no evidence to suggest that everyone holds a negative view of Scientology.’

Cohen also filed a motion asking the judge to exclude all references to the Church of Scientology – even mentions of the name Scientology – during the duration of the trial.

He maintained that references to Scientology would be ‘irrelevant, inflammatory, confusing to the jury’ and would violate his Masterson’s First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights’.

‘There is a really negative view of Scientology and every time Scientology is mentioned, it becomes harder and harder for Mr. Masterson to have a fair trial,’ he added.

Masterson’s lawyer Philip Cohen asked the judge to delay the trial until after the Los Angeles mayoral race on November 8. In one campaign TV ad, candidate Rick Caruso used footage of his opponent Karen Bass at a Scientology event and splices in clips that seem to indicate that she supports the controversial church. Bass responded in her own ad, saying she does not support the church and insisted, ‘Everybody knows Karen Bass condemns Scientology’

Bass has come under criticism in the past for attending a Scientology event and put out a statement in 2020, saying, ‘Everyone is now aware of the allegations against Scientology’ 

Judge Olmedo disagreed, denying the motion to exclude Scientology evidence and telling the court, ‘Even evidence that is prejudiced is still admissible if it is relevant….. And Scientology evidence is relevant’

The judge said that Scientology evidence was relevant because it was important to the credibility of the three accusers and explained that the reason they waited almost two decades to report Masterson to the police was that they were afraid of retribution from the Church.

As for Cohen’s claim that bringing the name Scientology into the trial would ‘infringe’ upon Masterson’s First Amendment rights to practice a religion of his own choosing, the judge said, ‘Nothing I rule upon would interfere with his right to believe in Scientology……Scientology evidence will be admitted.

Last year at Masterson’s pre-trial hearing, Judge Olmedo criticized the Church of Scientology for its ‘written doctrine that not only discourages but prohibits’ a Scientologist from reporting another church member to the police.

And she said that the church’s ‘expressly written doctrine sufficiently explains the hesitancy and lateness’ in reporting the alleged rapes.’