Opening arguments started on Monday in a retrial of the rape case towards Danny Masterson, the actor recognized for his position within the sitcom “That ’70s Show,” practically 5 months after the primary trial led to a deadlocked jury.
Masterson, 47, who additionally appeared within the Netflix comedy “The Ranch,” has been charged with raping three ladies at his residence within the Hollywood Hills within the early 2000s. He has denied the allegations and has pleaded not responsible.
The first trial led to November when the jury couldn’t attain a verdict on the three counts of forcible rape that the actor confronted, prompting a choose to declare a mistrial. If convicted within the retrial, Masterson may face 45 years to life in jail.
What is completely different within the retrial?
The costs within the retrial in Los Angeles Superior Court are the identical as within the first trial. But in a probably important shift, the choose, Charlaine F. Olmedo, has allowed prosecutors to inform jurors straight that Masterson had drugged his three accusers, The Associated Press reported.
Prosecutors had urged in the course of the first trial that he may need drugged the ladies however didn’t say so straight, as they introduced testimony that the ladies felt disoriented or confused after Masterson gave them alcoholic drinks.
Masterson’s lawyer, Philip Cohen, instructed jurors in his opening assertion this week that “there is no drugging charge,” The A.P. reported.
How is the Church of Scientology concerned?
The case includes accusations by two of the ladies that the Church of Scientology, to which they and Masterson belonged, discouraged them from reporting the rapes to regulation enforcement. The church has strongly denied that it pressures victims.
Debate concerning the church’s position figured prominently within the first trial and will play a bigger position within the retrial. Prosecutors have indicated that they could name a former church member, Claire Headley, to testify as an professional witness about Scientology’s practices and insurance policies.
The church mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday that it “has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of anyone, Scientologists or not, to law enforcement.”
“Quite the opposite,” the assertion mentioned. “Church policy explicitly demands Scientologists abide by all laws of the land.”
What are the allegations?
According to a trial temporary filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in September, Masterson raped a lady, recognized solely as Jen B., in April 2003 after she went to his home to select up keys and he gave her a purple vodka drink. About 20 or half-hour later, she felt “very disoriented,” the temporary states.
According to the temporary, Masterson raped her after she regained consciousness on his mattress. She reached for his hair to attempt to pull him off and tried to push a pillow into his face, it states. When Masterson heard a person yelling in the home, he pulled a gun from his evening stand and instructed her to not transfer or “say anything,” including expletives, the doc states.
The trial temporary says that Masterson raped a second girl, recognized solely as Christina B., who had been in a relationship with him and had lived with him for six years.
In November 2001, the doc says, she awoke to Masterson “having sex with her” and instructed him to cease. “I tried pushing him off me and saying, ‘No, I don’t want to have sex with you,’” the doc states. She additionally pulled his hair, and he hit her, it states.
In December 2001, she had one or two glasses of wine at a restaurant with Masterson and wakened bare in her mattress the following morning, feeling that it damage to take a seat down or go to the toilet, the temporary states. She mentioned she went downstairs and confronted Masterson, and he acknowledged having intercourse along with her whereas she was unconscious, the doc states.
The temporary says that someday between October and December of 2003, Masterson raped a 3rd girl, recognized solely as N. Trout, who often noticed him at events and gatherings and, like him, was within the Celebrity Centre department of Scientology.
Is there a brand new accuser?
According to a supplemental trial temporary filed by the district legal professional’s workplace in March, prosecutors indicated that they could name to the stand an extra accuser who didn’t testify within the first trial, whom they recognized solely as Kathy J.
She has accused Masterson of sexually assaulting her in Toronto in 2000, after she met him at a celebration for the solid of the film “Dracula,” wherein Masterson had a job, in response to the supplemental temporary.
According to prosecutors, Masterson assaulted Kathy J. after he gave her a vodka drink that made her really feel “lightheaded” after which, after he guided her onto a mattress, “like she couldn’t move.”
She reported the assault to the Toronto Police Department in October 2021, after her niece instructed her that she had been “roofied” at a bar, which “prompted Kathy to think about what the defendant had done to her,” prosecutors wrote.
Masterson has not been charged with assaulting Kathy J. But prosecutors wrote that her testimony and that of one other accuser who testified on the first trial bolster the credibility of the ladies within the case by displaying that Masterson “performed similar acts” on different ladies.
Masterson’s legal professionals wrote in court docket paperwork that Kathy J.’s testimony must be excluded from the retrial as a result of the latest disclosure that she might be a witness “prevents Masterson from fully investigating, preparing for and defending against her 23-year-old allegation.”
Source: www.nytimes.com