Actor Danny Masterson, known for his role in “That ’70s Show,” could receive a prison sentence ranging from 30 years to life. For the rapes of two women that occurred two decades ago. The sentencing is set to be delivered by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo. Following her anticipated rejection of a defence motion for a new trial and after hearing impact statements from the victims.
Danny Masterson, actor now 47 years old, was found guilty by a jury composed of seven women and five men on May 31. The conviction stems from two counts related to sexual assaults that took place in Masterson’s Hollywood-area residence in 2003 when he was at the peak of his fame through the Fox network sitcom “That ’70s Show.”
A third count, an accusation of raping a longtime girlfriend, did not result in a unanimous verdict.
Complex Legal Proceedings and Church Involvement
The guilty verdict followed a second trial after a prior jury failed to reach a decision on three counts of forcible rape in December, leading to a mistrial declaration.
Prosecutors contended that Masterson exploited his status within the Church of Scientology, of which all three women were also members at the time, to evade consequences for the assaults over several decades.
The victims revealed that they hesitated to report Masterson to law enforcement, partly attributing their reluctance to the church. According to their testimony, when they informed Scientology officials, they were told that they had not been raped. Instead, they were subjected to ethics programs and discouraged from reporting a high-ranking church member to law enforcement.
Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller argued at the trial, “They were raped, they were punished for it, and they were retaliated against. Scientology told them there’s no justice for them.”
The Church of Scientology countered these claims in a statement after the verdict. Asserting that the “testimony and descriptions of Scientology beliefs” during the trial were “uniformly false.” They also stated that the church has no policies discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct to law enforcement.
Impact on Masterson’s Career and Industry
During the trial, Masterson did not take the stand, and his defence team called no witnesses. The defence’s argument centred on the assertion that the sexual acts were consensual, and they sought to cast doubt on the credibility of the women by highlighting changes and inconsistencies in their accounts over time, suggesting coordination between them.
The women who testified against Masterson stated that in 2003. He provided them with drinks that left them feeling drowsy or unconscious before he sexually assaulted them.
Olmedo permitted prosecutors and the accusers to explicitly state in the second trial that Masterson had drugged the women. This level of detail was not allowed in the first trial. It’s worth noting that Masterson was not charged with drug offences, and there was no toxicology evidence to substantiate the claim. This issue is likely to be a factor in the planned appeal of Masterson’s conviction.
Masterson shared the screen with Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, and Topher Grace in “That ’70s Show” from 1998 to 2006. He later reunited with Kutcher for the 2016 Netflix comedy “The Ranch”. But was written out of the show when an LAPD investigation came to light in the following year.
Masterson’s conviction and impending sentencing signify a significant success for Los Angeles prosecutors in the era of the #MeToo movement. Following the conviction of Harvey Weinstein last year and the ongoing reckoning with sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry.