Its a new era. The brief says that sometime between October and December of 2003, Masterson raped a third woman, identified only as N. Trout, who occasionally saw him at parties and gatherings and, like him, was in the Celebrity Centre branch of Scientology. Jane Doe No. Matthew Ormseth is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. 5 min read. write-ups. A prosecutor repeatedly evoked books and letters written by Hubbard. Mastersons former girlfriend said she did so after telling her story to her husband, who helped her understand that she had been raped. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 45 years to life in prison. All three Jane Does in the case are former members of Scientology. Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced the news after arresting the Yes Man actor in June 2020. 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In ruling that there was sufficient evidence against Masterson to allow the case to proceed toward trial, Olmedo concluded that Scientology has an expressly written doctrine that not only discourages, but prohibits its members from reporting one another to law enforcement. The defense denies such evidence exists. Mastersons lawyer, Philip Cohen, told jurors in his opening statement this week that there is no drugging charge, The A.P. James Queally writes about crime and policing in Southern California, where he currently covers Los Angeles Countys criminal courts and the district attorneys office for the Los Angeles Times. Mr Masterson, 46, was charged in 2020 with raping three women, who were all in their 20s, between 2001 and 2003. Scroll down for more details on Mastersons sexual assault case, trial and his ongoing civil lawsuit: Sign up for Us Weekly's free, daily newsletter and never miss breaking news or exclusive stories about your favorite celebrities, TV shows and more! I met with Detective Reyes [of the robbery-homicide division, who was assigned the case], and I told her these victims deserve to be heard, Remini told Ortega at the time. His attorneys recently filed court papers asking Judge Charlaine Olmedo to dismiss the charges. As a result, Mr Masterson was written out of the Netflix show The Ranch. The case against Masterson, Rinder added, is also unusual for the outsize role the inner workings and rules of Scientology played at the preliminary hearing a likely preview of what is to come if the case goes to trial. She reached for his hair to try to pull him off and attempted to push a pillow into his face, it states. After less than three days of deliberations by the jury, Masterson was charged with three counts of rape by force or fear, LA DA Jackie Lacey announced in June 2020, three years after he was first accused of sexual assault. Danny will not be accepting a plea deal, despite pressure he will get to take it. A judge rejected Mastersons request for a variety of subpoenas in August 2021 after his legal team asked for information related to Reminis anti-Scientologist TV show, in addition to anything about church leader David Miscavige and his wife, Shelly. An appeals court ruled in January 2022 that Mastersons accusers do not have to take their case to a religious arbitration panel run by the Church of Scientology after claiming in a civil suit that Masterson and Miscavige stalked and harassed them. He wasnt charged with five counts because two of the womens cases had insufficient evidence and statutes of limitations. A source at the Los Angeles District Attorneys office exclusively told Us in February 2018 that despite the heinous sexual misconduct claims against Masterson, the DAs office was not ready to press charges. Todays proceedings followed a week of jury selection, motions and other housekeeping. Jane Doe No. Danny Masterson reported. who are also engaged in a civil suit against him. It becomes part of Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein, he said, referring to the #MeToo movement, which has identified several celebrities as sexual predators. Danny Masterson That case is expected to restart again later this summer. Discovery.). Most populous nation: Should India rejoice or panic? Masterson is innocent, and were confident that he will be exonerated when all the evidence finally comes to light and witnesses have the opportunity to testify, his criminal defense attorney said in a statement to Us after he was charged. Actor Danny Masterson is arraigned on three rape charges in separate incidents in 2001 and 2003, at Los Angeles Superior Court, Los Angeles, California, Masterson is a prominent member of the church. A retrial is underway on charges that the actor from That 70s Show raped three women in the early 2000s. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge declared a mistrial in the rape trial of actor Danny Masterson on Wednesday after jurors remained deadlocked, the Los Angeles County District Attorneys office said. Masterson was charged in 2020 with forcibly raping three women in separate incidents occurring between 2001 and 2003, CNN previously reported. Attorneys for both sides acknowledged that there is no forensic evidence of any substances Masterson may have given the women because the police investigation that led to the two trials did not begin until about 15 years after the events. He argued the restrictions were needed because of religious bias that investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department and Mastersons accusers harbored against Scientology. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. "Not giving these victims another chance with a jury who can sit there and consider all of the evidence win, lose or draw that would be an injustice.". Expected to be in court every day, as he was in the five-week first trial, Masterson has been free on $3.3 million bail the past three years. The jury began deliberations anew on Nov. 28 after two alternates replaced jurors who had COVID-19. Interpretation of Church doctrine by the courts is prohibited and the ruling is evidence of why.. He and the woman read aloud passages that she said she understood were official church doctrine that discourages Scientologists from reporting fellow parishioners to law enforcement. Danny Masterson will be retried for three counts of rape after his case ended in a mistrial on Nov. 30. Danny Masterson trial for rape case ends: What was he accused of? According to multiple news outlets, Olmedo denied the request Tuesday, allowing prosecutors to move forward. The church, which counts a number of high-profile actors among its parishioners and operates a Celebrity Centre in the heart of Hollywood, has long been accused of going to extraordinary lengths to keep criminal allegations and other claims of wrongdoing in-house, experts said. The other two accusers, Chrissie Carnell Bixler and Bobette Riales, previously dated the star. If true and Masterson is convicted, society would not only be protected from a violent felon, and should be protected from a violent felon," Olmedo said. The third woman went to police in 2017. Law enforcement investigated these claims more than 15 years ago and determined them to be without merit., Masterson continued: I have never been charged with a crime, let alone convicted of one. Danny Masterson His exes, Bixler and Riales, were reportedly identified in the lawsuit. The fact that its Danny Masterson from That 70s Show its not just local media reporting on a local case, it blows it up way bigger. I will beat her in court and look forward to it because the public will finally be able to learn the truth and see how Ive been railroaded by this woman., A litigation attorney for the Church of Scientology also reacted to the lawsuit, telling Us in a statement, From everything we have read in the press, this baseless lawsuit will go nowhere because the claims are ludicrous and a sham. If youre a member of the church and you have an issue (like a rape) with another member you are not permitted to go to law enforcement, Mueller said of the churchs internal justice system. The prosecutor explained that if Christina B, or any church member for that matter, went to the police to report such an alleged crime, she would be declared a suppressed person and promptly excommunicated from Scientology. "The contradictory nature of their trial testimony is not going to credibly change. The retrial is expected to last more than a month. The court is not going to allow the parties to go into the weeds, the judge said sternly to both the defense and the prosecution Monday as the same problems that slowed down the previous five-week trial began to emerge. In a statement provided to BuzzFeed News on behalf of the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, two of the women and one of their husbands said they were "completely committed" to participating and testifying in the next trial against Masterson. The judge, however, called the request an overt attempt to obtain privileged information in LAPD files and denied access to the files. Judge Charlaine Olmedo expressed a desire to pursue justice in a statement during the hearing, according to The Wrap. 1, aka Jen B, and the other women including Jane Doe No. Cosby's conviction after two trials of his own was permanently thrown out by Pennsylvania's highest court. We want to hear from you! The lawyer, according to the woman, warned that she would be expelled from the church if she went to authorities. Masterson, a prominent Scientologist who is best known for playing Steven Hyde on That '70s Show, attempted to keep the church out of the trial. Discovery Company. Masterson has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The LAPDs investigation was prompted by multiple police reports and journalist Tony Ortegas report of three womens alleged accounts of rape, sodomy or sexual assault, which he posted on his blog, The Underground Bunker. Danny Masterson In order to view the video, please allow Manage Cookies, Make no mistake, the Church of Scientology is under attack, a source exclusively told Us at the time. The case will be retried in April 2023. Rinder said that in recent years, the churchs responses to media inquiries had become hermit-like. The fact that the church issued a detailed defense of its practices to The Times is a sign the Masterson case has become a significant problem for the church, he said. One of three women to accuse actor Danny Masterson of rape testified about the alleged assault and said the Church of Scientology tried to discourage her from reporting the incident to police. Actor Danny Masterson drugged, raped women, prosecutor says Actor Danny Masterson, left, stands with his attorney, Thomas Mesereau, as he is arraigned on rape charges in Los Angeles in September 2020. In a 2019 trial, lawyers for Scientology failed to shield the church from court scrutiny when defense attorneys for a man accused of beating his sister-in-law and her husband to death in Prescott, Ariz., argued that his belief in the religion drove him to commit the crime, according to a report in the Arizona Republic. However, Judge Charlaine Olmedo said that the jurors have The mansion sold four months later for $6.2 million, according to Dirt. While cross-examining one woman, he read from an O.W. Did you encounter any technical issues? Mastersons friend, unhappy with the way the Scientology ethics board handled her complaint about him, filed a police report in 2004 that didnt result in charges. On Wednesday, Deputy District Four women claimed in March 2017 that the That 70s Show alum sexually assaulted them in the early 2000s. Like the last trial, Cohen used a large slab of his opening statement to undercut the credibility of the Jane Does and who said what when and to whom. Although Judge Olmedo repeatedly said in the first trial that Scientology was not a defendant in the criminal case, the church, its policies and an alleged cover-up of the alleged rapes were brought up frequently by the D.A.s office today. Opening arguments began on Monday in a retrial of the rape case against Danny Masterson, the actor known for his role in the sitcom That 70s Show, nearly five months after the first trial ended in a deadlocked jury. Sticking to a more traditional playbook in such criminal cases, he did not testify in the first trial. Part of the a360media Entertainment Group. This case is being taken very seriously and does have top priority within the sex crimes division of the office. Firstarrested in 2020over incidents that occurred between 2001 and 2003 in his Hollywood Hills house, Masterson faces up to 45 years in state prison if found guilty on all three rape counts, as he did in the first trial. This was normal, the Assistant D.A. Noting the lack of human emotion in the reports prepared by Scientology over Jen B going to the church after the alleged rape by fellow Scientologist Masterson, Mueller again returned to the shadow of the church and its committee of evidence. Covering ground travelled heavily in the first trial, the prosecutor also detailed the civil action put in motion by Jen Bs father and the NDA she was told to sign by Scientology officials to receive $400,000 or risk being kicked out of the church. LOS ANGELES (AP) A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday at the rape trial of That 70s Show actor Danny Masterson after jurors, who were leaning strongly toward acquitting him, deadlocked following the monthlong trial in which the Church of Scientology played a supporting role. No charges had been filed at the time. One woman testified that she wrote a letter to an International Justice Chief, whom she described as the churchs ultimate authority on disputes between Scientologists, seeking permission to sue Masterson and report him to police. Last time Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina called a rape accuser greedy and crazy he won. However, in the current climate, it seems as if you are presumed guilty the moment you are accused.. By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms and Conditions and that you have read our Privacy Policy. Scientology secrets spill out in Danny Masterson rape case - Los Cohen was not allowed to refer to testimony from the first trial something Olmedo admonished him several times for doing but he said he expected testimony this time would show that one of the women Masterson is charged with raping watched him make the allegedly drugged drink her gave her. Direct discussion of drugging was missing from the first trial which ended in a mistrial when a jury deadlocked on all three counts with Mueller instead having to imply it through the testimony of the women, who said they were woozy, disoriented and at times unconscious on the nights they described the actor raping them. Karin Pouw, the churchs top spokeswoman, said Olmedos comments were flat-out wrong and dismissed the allegations against Masterson as nothing more than a money shakedown by women who are also engaged in a civil suit against him. The trial brief says that Masterson raped a second woman, identified only as Christina B., who had been in a relationship with him and had lived with him for six years. At last years preliminary hearing, she testified that they were five years into a relationship when she woke to Masterson raping her one night in 2001. Former girlfriend of Danny Masterson shares disturbing testimony in retrial. A veteran of O.J. In February 2022, the actor sought to have the criminal rape charges dismissed. Danny Masterson verdict: Judge declares mistrial after jury LOS ANGELES (AP) Actor Danny Masterson drugged then raped three women at his Hollywood-area home between 2001 and 2003, a prosecutor told jurors Monday in his opening statement in the retrial of the star of That 70s Show.. Before joining The Times in 2018, he covered city news and state politics at the Hartford Courant. 3 was drugged and sodomized while unconscious by a man she loved, Mueller said today, laying newly explicit emphasis on the theory that the defendant used date-rape drugs to incapacitate his victims. Danny Masterson The district attorneys office said we will now consider our next steps on prosecuting the case and did not indicate if they plan to refile. Updated Period.. PREVIOUSLY, 10:32 AM: This case is about the forcible rape of three women, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller said in his opening statement Monday in Danny Mastersons retrial on multiple rape charges. Prosecutors said they plan to retry Masterson on the same counts. References were made in court to knowledge reports, Things That Shouldnt Be reports, and O.W. I find the jurors hopelessly deadlocked, Olmedo declaredafter inquiring whether there was anything the court could do to move them closer to reaching a unanimous decision. Danny Masterson will be retried on three counts of rape after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the That 70s Show actor's first trial last year. Danny Masterson repeatedly raped me, Riales claimed via Twitter at the time. The Times generally does not name victims of alleged sexual assault unless they choose to fully identify themselves.