LOS ANGELES — A jury discovered “That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson responsible of two counts of rape Wednesday in a Los Angeles retrial through which the Church of Scientology performed a central position.
The jury of seven ladies and 5 males reached the decision after deliberating for seven days unfold over two weeks. They couldn’t attain a verdict on the third depend, that alleged Masterson raped a longtime girlfriend. They had voted 8-4 in favor of conviction.
Masterson was led from the courtroom in handcuffs. The 47-year-old actor faces as much as 30 years in jail.
His spouse, actor and mannequin Bijou Phillips, wept as he was led away. Other household and pals sat stone-faced.
Prosecutors, retrying Masterson after a deadlocked jury led to a mistrial in December, mentioned he forcibly raped three ladies, together with a longtime girlfriend, in his Hollywood Hills dwelling between 2001 and 2003. They informed jurors he drugged the ladies’s drinks so he may rape them. They mentioned he used his prominence within the church — the place all three ladies have been additionally members on the time — to keep away from penalties for many years.
Masterson didn’t testify, and his legal professionals known as no witnesses. The protection argued that the acts have been consensual, and tried to discredit the ladies’s tales by highlighting modifications and inconsistencies over time, which they mentioned confirmed indicators of coordination between them.
“If you decide that a witness deliberately lied about something in this case,” protection legal professional Philip Cohen informed jurors, going by way of their directions in his closing argument, “You should consider not believing anything that witness says.”
The Church of Scientology performed a major position within the first trial however arguably an excellent bigger one within the second. Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo allowed skilled testimony on church coverage from a former official in Scientology management who has develop into a outstanding opponent.
Tensions ran excessive within the courtroom between present and former Scientologists, and even leaked into testimony, with the accusers saying on the stand that they felt intimidated by some members within the room.
Actor Leah Remini, a former member who has develop into the church’s highest-profile critic, sat in on the trial at occasions, placing her arm round one of many accusers to consolation her throughout closing arguments.
Founded in 1953 by L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology has many members who work in Hollywood. The choose saved limits on how a lot prosecutors may speak in regards to the church, and primarily allowed it to clarify why the ladies took so lengthy to go to authorities.
The ladies testified that after they reported Masterson to church officers, they have been informed they weren’t raped, have been put by way of ethics applications themselves, and have been warned in opposition to going to regulation enforcement to report a member of such excessive standing.
“They were raped, they were punished for it, and they were retaliated against,” Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller informed jurors in his closing argument. “Scientology told them there’s no justice for them. You have the opportunity to show them there is justice.”
The church vehemently denied having any coverage that forbids members from going to secular authorities.
The Associated Press doesn’t sometimes title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused.
Testimony on this case was graphic and emotional.
Two ladies, who knew Masterson from social circles within the church, mentioned he gave them drinks and that they then grew to become woozy or handed out earlier than he violently raped them in 2003.
The third, Masterson’s then-girlfriend of 5 years, mentioned she awoke to search out him raping her, and needed to pull his hair to cease him.
The difficulty of drugging additionally performed a serious position within the retrial. At the primary, Olmedo solely allowed prosecutors and accusers to explain their disorientation, and to suggest that they have been drugged. The second time, they have been allowed to argue it immediately, and the prosecution tried to make it a significant factor, to no avail.
“The defendant drugs his victims to gain control,” Deputy District Attorney Ariel Anson mentioned in her closing argument. “He does this to take away his victims’ ability to consent.”
Masterson was not charged with any counts of drugging, and there’s no toxicology proof to again up the assertion. His legal professional requested for a mistrial over the difficulty’s inclusion. The movement was denied, however the difficulty is more likely to be a significant factor in any potential attraction.
These costs date to a interval when Masterson was on the peak of his fame, starring from 1998 till 2006 as Steven Hyde on Fox’s “That ’70s Show” — the present that made stars of Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace.
Masterson had reunited with Kutcher on the 2016 Netflix comedy “The Ranch,” however was written off the present when an LAPD investigation was revealed in December 2017.
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