![]() ![]() The judge kept limits on how much prosecutors could talk about the church, and primarily allowed it to explain why the women took so long to go to authorities. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology has many members who work in Hollywood. Tensions ran high in the courtroom between current and former Scientologists, and even leaked into testimony, with the accusers saying on the stand that they felt intimidated by some members in the room.Īctor Leah Remini, a former member who has become the church's highest-profile critic, sat in on the trial at times, putting her arm around one of the accusers to comfort her during closing arguments.įounded in 1953 by L. Olmedo allowed expert testimony on church policy from a former official in Scientology leadership who has become a prominent opponent. The Church of Scientology played a significant role in the first trial but arguably an even larger one in the second. The Church of Scientology played a role in the trial "If you decide that a witness deliberately lied about something in this case," defense attorney Philip Cohen told jurors, going through their instructions in his closing argument, "You should consider not believing anything that witness says." The defense argued that the acts were consensual, and attempted to discredit the women's stories by highlighting changes and inconsistencies over time, which they said showed signs of coordination between them. Masterson did not testify, and his lawyers called no witnesses. They said he used his prominence in the church - where all three women were also members at the time - to avoid consequences for decades. They told jurors he drugged the women's drinks so he could rape them. Prosecutors, retrying Masterson after a deadlocked jury led to a mistrial in December, said he forcibly raped three women, including a longtime girlfriend, in his Hollywood Hills home between 20. ![]() "I am experiencing a complex array of emotions – relief, exhaustion, strength, sadness – knowing that my abuser, Danny Masterson, will face accountability for his criminal behavior," one of the women, whom Masterson was convicted of raping at his home in 2003, said in a statement. Other family and friends sat stone-faced. His wife, actor and model Bijou Phillips, wept as he was led away. The 47-year-old actor faces up to 30 years in prison. Masterson was led from the courtroom in handcuffs. They had voted 8-4 in favor of conviction. They could not reach a verdict on the third count, that alleged Masterson raped a longtime girlfriend. The jury of seven women and five men reached the verdict after deliberating for seven days spread over two weeks. Just months after the LAPD confirmed the sexual assault allegations probe, Masterson was fired from his Netflix series The Ranch in December 2017.LOS ANGELES - A jury found "That '70s Show" star Danny Masterson guilty of two out of three counts of rape Wednesday in a Los Angeles retrial in which the Church of Scientology played a central role. Masterson would later release a lengthy statement claiming, among other things, that the women only came forward with their accusations after they were contacted by Leah Remini, a former member of the Church of Scientology and the driver behind the A&E docuseries, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, which aimed to shed light on the church. He's been out on bail ever since. The sexual assault accusations first surfaced in 2017, following a report that Masterson was the subject of an LAPD investigation. ![]() The actor was ultimately arrested on June 17, 2020, and released three hours later after posting $3.3 million bail. According to prosecutors, the actor was also accused of raping a 28 and 23-year-old woman he allegedly invited to his home sometime between October and December 2003. Masterson, who pleaded not guilty to three counts of forcible rape, was accused of raping a 23-year-old woman between January and December 2001. At the time, the judge said she "found all three witnesses to be credible and the evidence sufficient to support the charges." The retrial ends more than three years after Masterson was ordered to stand trial on charges that he raped three women at his Hollywood Hills home between 20. ![]()
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