- Danny Masterson faces retrial for charges of rape.
- Jury failed to reach a verdict in first trial.
- Danny is accused of raping three women between 2001-2003.
Actor Danny Masterson, best known for his role in the Fox sitcom “That ’70s Show,” will face a retrial on three charges of rape. In November 2021, a jury was unable to reach a verdict, leading Prosecutors to announce that they will pursue a second trial.
Masterson is accused of forcibly raping three women at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003. The defense attorney argued that it was unlikely that any jury would vote unanimously to convict, with the first jury leaning towards acquittal by margins of 10-2, 8-4, and 7-5 on the three counts. The next trial date has been set for March 29th, 2022 for jury selection.
The previous trial brought attention to the Church of Scientology, which was alleged to have tried to cover up the allegations against a high-profile member. Prosecutors argued that Masterson’s success as an actor gave him a high status within the church, and that he felt “entitled” to have sex with the women regardless of their wishes.
The three women who accused Masterson, who have since left Scientology, testified that they feared being excommunicated from the church if they reported the alleged assaults to the police.
Despite the defense’s attempts to minimize the role of the Church of Scientology in the case, the judge held that it was relevant to the case and its teachings made it hard for the women to conceptualize the assaults as “rape”. The District Attorney’s office initially declined to file a case against the actor in 2004, after the first accuser reported the incident to the Los Angeles Police Department. However, in late 2016, the three accusers found each other and collectively reported the incidents.
They initially expressed frustration with what they saw as the slow pace of the LAPD investigation. Prosecutors eventually filed the charges three years later under California’s “one strike” sex crime law, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years to life for each charge.
The defense attorney argued that the inconsistencies in the testimony of the victims as well as the long passage of time, that would make it difficult to find evidence. He also stated that the prosecution had not brought new evidence to light. The defense counsel also focused on discrediting the victims’ testimony.
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