By ANDREW DALTON (AP Leisure Author)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “That ’70s Present” star Danny Masterson was led out in handcuffs from a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday and will get 30 years to life in jail after a jury discovered him responsible on two of three counts of rape at his second trial, during which the Church of Scientology performed a central function.
Masterson’s spouse, actor and mannequin Bijou Phillips, gasped when the decision was learn and wept as he was taken into custody, whereas a gaggle of household and pals who sat stone-faced behind him all through each trials.
The jury of seven ladies and 5 males reached the decision after deliberating for seven days unfold over two weeks. They may not attain a verdict on the third depend, that alleged Masterson raped a longtime girlfriend. They’d voted 8-4 in favor of conviction.
Masterson, 47, shall be held with out bail till he’s sentenced. No sentencing date was set.
“I’m experiencing a fancy array of feelings — aid, exhaustion, power, disappointment — understanding that my abuser, Danny Masterson, will face accountability for his legal habits,” one of many ladies, whom Masterson knew as a fellow member of the church and was convicted of raping at his dwelling in 2003, mentioned in a press release.
A second lady, a former girlfriend, whose depend left the jury deadlocked, mentioned within the assertion: “Whereas I’m inspired that Danny Masterson will face some legal punishment, I’m devastated that he has dodged legal accountability for his heinous conduct towards me.”
A spokesperson for Masterson declined to remark, however his attorneys will virtually actually enchantment.
After a deadlocked jury led to a mistrial in December, prosecutors retried Masterson, saying he drugged and forcibly raped three ladies in his Hollywood Hills dwelling between 2001 and 2003. 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.
“We need to specific our gratitude to the three ladies who got here ahead and bravely shared their experiences,” Los Angeles County District Lawyer George Gascón mentioned in a press release after the decision Wednesday.
Masterson didn’t testify, and his attorneys known as no witnesses. The protection argued that the acts have been consensual, and tried to discredit the ladies’s tales by highlighting adjustments and inconsistencies over time, which they mentioned confirmed indicators of coordination between them.
“In case you resolve {that a} witness intentionally lied about one thing on this case,” protection legal professional Philip Cohen advised jurors, going by means of their directions in his closing argument, “It is best to take into account not believing something that witness says.”
The Church of Scientology performed a major function within the first trial however arguably a fair bigger one within the second. Choose Charlaine F. Olmedo allowed skilled testimony on church coverage from a former official in Scientology management who has turn out to be a outstanding opponent.
The church mentioned in a press release after the decision that the “introduction of faith into this trial was an unprecedented violation of the First Modification and impacts the due course of rights of each American. The Church was not a celebration to this case and faith didn’t belong on this continuing as Supreme Courtroom precedent has maintained for hundreds of years.”
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 turn out to be 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.
Remini mentioned on Twitter that the 2 responsible verdicts within the retrial are “a aid. The ladies who survived Danny Masterson’s predation are heroes. For years, they and their households have confronted vicious assaults and harassment from Scientology and Danny’s well-funded authorized workforce,” she posted. “However, they soldiered on, decided to hunt justice.”
The alleged harassment is the topic of a civil lawsuit filed by two of the accusers.
The Scientology assertion mentioned “there may be not a scintilla of proof supporting the scandalous allegations that the Church harassed the accusers.”
Based in 1953 by L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology has many members who work in Hollywood. The decide saved limits on how a lot prosecutors might speak in regards to the church, and primarily allowed it to elucidate why the ladies took so lengthy to go to authorities.
The ladies testified that after they reported Masterson to church officers, they have been advised they weren’t raped, have been put by means of ethics packages themselves, and have been warned towards going to legislation enforcement to report a member of such excessive standing.
“They have been raped, they have been punished for it, they usually have been retaliated towards,” Deputy District Lawyer Reinhold Mueller advised jurors in his closing argument. “Scientology advised them there’s no justice for them.”
The church known as the “testimony and descriptions of Scientology beliefs” throughout the trial “uniformly false.”
“The Church has no coverage prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting legal conduct of anybody — Scientologists or not — to legislation enforcement,” the assertion mentioned.
Subsequent week Olmedo will maintain a listening to to find out how a lawyer who represents the Church of Scientology had proof that the prosecution had shared with the protection. The proof concerned hyperlinks that the lawyer by accident included in an e mail to Mueller.
The Related Press doesn’t usually title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused.
Testimony on this case was graphic and emotional.
The 2 ladies whose testimony led to Masterson’s conviction mentioned that in 2003, he gave them drinks and that they then grew to become woozy or handed out earlier than he violently raped them.
The third, Masterson’s then-girlfriend of 5 years whose depend left the jury deadlocked, mentioned she awoke to seek out him raping her, and needed to pull his hair to cease him.
Olmedo allowed prosecutors and accusers to say instantly within the second trial that Masterson drugged the ladies, whereas solely permitting the ladies to explain their situation within the first trial.
Masterson was not charged with any counts of drugging, and there was no toxicology proof to again up the assertion.
The costs dated 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 Present” — 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.