"That '70s Show" actor Danny Masterson found guilty of 2 counts of rape
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.
The jury of seven women and five men spent more than six days deliberating. Jurors said they were deadlocked on the third rape charge against Masterson, which alleged Masterson raped a longtime girlfriend. Last Thursday afternoon, the downtown L.A. panel heard again portions of testimony from the alleged victim.
Masterson was led from the courtroom in handcuffs. The 47-year-old actor faces up to 30 years to life in a state prison, according to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.
His wife, actor and model Bijou Phillips, wept as he was led away. Other family and friends sat stone-faced.
"We want to express our gratitude to the three women who came forward and bravely shared their experiences. Their courage and strength have been an inspiration to us all," Gascón said in a statement Wednesday.
"While we are disappointed that the jury did not convict on all counts, we respect their decision," Gascón added.
"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.
The woman, whose count left the jury deadlocked, said in the statement: "While I'm encouraged that Danny Masterson will face some criminal punishment, I am devastated that he has dodged criminal accountability for his heinous conduct against me."
Jurors resumed deliberations after a four-day break in the retrial of Masterson, who was charged with raping three women at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003. In April 2003, Masterson raped a 28-year-old woman, and sometime between October and December 2003, he sexually assaulted a 23-year-old woman whom he had invited to his home, Gascón said.
Prosecutors, retrying Masterson after a deadlocked jury led to a mistrial in December, said he forcibly raped the three women in his home after putting drugs in their drinks. They said he used his prominence in Scientology —all three women were also members at the time— to avoid consequences for decades.
Masterson did not testify, and his lawyers called no witnesses. The defense argued that the sexual 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.
"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 Church of Scientology played a significant role in the first trial but arguably an even larger one in the second. Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo allowed expert testimony on church policy from a former official in Scientology leadership who has become a prominent opponent.
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.
Actor Leah Remini, a former Scientologist 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.
Founded in 1953 by L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology has many members who work in Hollywood. 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.
The women testified that when they reported Masterson to church officials, they were told they were not raped, were put through ethics programs themselves, and were warned against going to law enforcement to report a member of such high standing.
"They were raped, they were punished for it, and they were retaliated against," Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller told 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 policy that forbids members from going to secular authorities.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they've been sexually abused.
Testimony in this case was graphic and emotional.
Two women, who knew Masterson from social circles in the church, said he gave them drinks and that they then became woozy or passed out before he violently raped them in 2003.
The third, Masterson's then-girlfriend of five years, said she awoke to find him raping her, and had to pull his hair to stop him.
The issue of drugging also played a major role in the retrial. At the first, Olmedo only allowed prosecutors and accusers to describe their disorientation, and to imply that they were drugged. The second time, they were allowed to argue it directly, and the prosecution attempted to make it a major factor, to no avail.
"The defendant drugs his victims to gain control," Deputy District Attorney Ariel Anson said 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 is no toxicology evidence to back up the assertion. His attorney asked for a mistrial over the issue's inclusion. The motion was denied, but the issue is likely to be a major factor in any potential appeal.
These charges date to a period when Masterson was at the height of his fame, starring from 1998 until 2006 as Steven Hyde on Fox's "That '70s Show" — the show that made stars of Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace.
Masterson reunited with Kutcher on the 2016 Netflix comedy "The Ranch," but was written off the show when an LAPD investigation was revealed in December 2017.
