Danny Masterson: Rape trial of ‘That ’70s Show’ actor ends in mistrial after jury deadlocks
Prosecutors will have to decide whether to try the actor again
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Your support makes all the difference.Actor Danny Masterson’s rape trial ended in a mistrial on Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles as a deadlocked jury could not agree on a verdict.
The judge in the case declared the mistrial after a weeks-long trial in which three different women testified that Masterson raped them and other witnesses appeared to corroborate their accounts.
Prosectors retain the option to try Masterson, a member of the Church of Scientology, again. They have not yet indicated whether they intend to do so.
Masterson, who achieved fame with his role on the sitcom That ’70s Show, is accused of assaulting the three women at his Hollywood Hills home in the early 2000s. His accusers are also members of the Church of Scientology, and two said that they delayed reporting their alleged assaults because they feared reprisals from church officials.
One of the accusers dated Masterson in the late 1990s and early 2000s and said that while he charmed people when he wanted to, he could also turn violent. She accused him of raping her while she was sleeping in 2001 and that he slapped her face and spit on her when she awoke and tried to make him stop.
Masterson has denied her allegations, as well as the allegations of two women who testified that he assaulted them in his jacuzzi. He was fired from a role on the Netflix show The Ranch following the publicization of the allegations in 2017 and has not recieved a credit for a television or movie appearance since. He did not testify or call any witnesses in his defense.
The Church of Scientology’s role in allegedly protecting Masterson and chilling the advocacy of his alleged victims played a central role in the trial.
“I was a Scientologist and Mr. Masterson is a Scientologist, and you cannot report another Scientologist in good standing to the authorities,” one accuser testified in a statement reported by the Los Angeles Times. “My life would be over. My parents would have to disconnect from me. … I couldn’t talk to any of my friends ever again. … I wouldn’t have anywhere to work or live.”
Masterson’s accusers all ultimately left the church, which denied allegations that it worked to protect Masterson. The defense attorney in the case, Philip Cohen, said that the accusers were using Scientology as a means to redirect attention away from holes in their case.