Photo: Splash
Danny Mastersonis in court once again as he stands trial onthree charges of forcible rape.
The 46-year-oldThat 70s Showalum arrived at downtown Los Angeles court on Tuesday, marking the first day of his sexual assault trial. PerThe Wrap, jury selection for the case began on Monday. The chosen jurors were then dismissed, later returning to court on Tuesday.
Masteron was previously charged in 2020 with forcibly raping three women in separate incidents between 2001 and 2003. Hepleaded not guiltyto all three charges in January 2021, and a Los Angeles judge ordered him last yearto stand trial. All of the alleged crimes occurred at Masterson’s home, prosecutors say, and all three accusers took the stand to detail their allegations last May.
If Masterson is found guilty, he could face a maximum sentence of 45 years to life in state prison.
Many of the allegations first surfaced in March 2017 when the LAPD’s Robbery Homicide Division confirmed an investigation was taking place into sexual assault allegations against the actor. In November 2017, HuffPost reported thata fourth womanhad accused Masterson of raping her in the early 2000s.
Netflix announced that it hadcut ties with Mastersona month later, as did the United Talent Agency. Four accusers thenfiled a lawsuit against Masterson and the Church of Scientologyin 2019. Official charges were filed against Masterson a year later.
Danny Masterson.Lucy Nicholson/Reuters Pool/Splash News Online
During last year’s trial, the women detailed disturbing accusations against the actor, with one woman alleging that she was drugged at Masterson’s house and woke up to the actor raping her 18 years ago, according to the Associated Press.
Asecond accuser, who had been dating Masterson for five years, alleges that Masterson raped her in their shared home, waking her up. She then alleged that the actor spit on her face, hit her with his fist and called her “white trash.
The woman also alleges that a month later, she blacked out and woke up in pain, after which Masterson told her he raped her. The accuser then took the information to ethics officials at the Church of Scientology but alleges that she was told she was not raped. The Church of Scientology denied the women’s allegations, per the AP.
“I tried pushing him off me and saying no I don’t want to have sex with you,” the woman reportedly said. “He wouldn’t stop. So I did something that I knew would make him angry and likely to get off me. I pulled his hair. He has these rules, ‘no touch hair rule,’ ‘no touch face rule.’ He had this thing about his hair, so I knew if I pulled it really, really hard, he would get off me. But what he did was he hit me.”
Masterson’s third accuser also alleged that he raped her at his home, and that the position of authority he held at the Church of Scientology was part of the reason that she listened to him, per theAP.
Danny Masterson.Lalo Yasky/Getty
On Monday ahead of this latest phase of the trial,Varietyreported that discussion would be limited regarding the actor’s faith and the Church of Scientology’s alleged involvement after the assaults.
“This is not going to become a trial on Scientology,” Judge Charlaine Olmedo said in a pre-trial hearing.
She also appeared to curtail prosecutors Reinhold Mueller and Ariel Anson’s strategic calling of as many as 27 separate alleged incidents of harassment and stalking that followed Masterson’s accusers' decision to go to the police. “We’re not going to start going off into a whole bunch of different instances,” said Olmedo.
According to the outlet, the judge also asserted she does not anticipate the trial will require all of the four weeks that have been allotted.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.
source: people.com
