LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) – On Wednesday (May 31), a jury found That ’70s Show and The Ranch actor Danny Masterson guilty of two out of three counts of rape in the Los Angeles retrial where the Church of Scientology, at times, took the limelight.
A jury of Masterson’s peers, comprising seven women and five men, reached the verdict after a 7-day deliberation spread across a two-week period. The jury could not reach a verdict on the third count (resulting in a mistrial) that Masterson raped a longtime girlfriend. On the other two counts, they voted 8-4 in favor of conviction.
Masterson left the courtroom in handcuffs and faces up to 30 years in prison. His wife, Bijou Phillips, was seen crying as the actor was led away as his family and friends sat in silence.
“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.
This was Masterson’s retrial after a deadlocked jury led to a mistrial in December, where three women (Jane Doe 1 & 2 and former girlfriend, Chrissie Carnell-Bixler) said he forcibly raped them in his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003. They testified Masterson drugged their drinks so he could rape them. And – enter the Church of Scientology – he used his prominence in the church (where all three accusers were also members at the time) to avoid the consequences of his actions.
Masterson’s defense (the actor himself did not testify) argued the acts were consensual and pointed out how the women’s stories had morphed over time. The Church of Scientology played a bigger role in the retrial with Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo allowing expert testimony on church policy from a former official in Scientology leadership.
NPR.org reports tensions ran high in the courtroom between current and former Scientologists – with the accusers saying on the stand that they felt intimidated by some members in the room.
Actor, former Scientology member and the church’s biggest critic, Leah Remini, sat in on the trial periodically, putting her arm around one of the accusers to comfort her during closing arguments.
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. The church denied having any policy that forbids members from going to secular authorities.
The timeframe of the rapes occurred at the height of Masterson’s fame – playing Hyde on That ’70s Show opposite Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis Kutcher, and Topher Grace. Masterson reunited with Kutcher on the Netflix comedy The Ranch but was written off the show when a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) investigation was launched in December 2017.
