Rape allegations versus Masterson aired in LA court docket

By Brian Melley and Andrew Dalton | Linked Push

LOS ANGELES — A prosecutor described rape allegations by three gals Tuesday versus “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson from two many years in the past that contained some of the very same disturbing factors.

Two women of all ages grew to become woozy or handed out right after a couple beverages and have been tossed in his scorching tub, Deputy District Legal professional Reinhold Mueller stated in his opening assertion in Masterson’s demo. A single of them mentioned he dragged her to his bed where she regained consciousness to uncover him acquiring sex with her. A 3rd girl, an ex-girlfriend, reported she woke up to obtain him on major of her.

Masterson’s attorney stated the cause the allegations experienced so a lot in widespread is that the alleged victims violated a detective’s warning not to communicate with each individual other and had “cross-pollinated” their accounts and undermined their believability.

“If you communicate to each and every other you will contaminate this case,” they were being informed, defense legal professional Phillip Cohen said in Los Angeles Outstanding Court. “Speaking to each other and other witnesses is fatal to a situation.”

Masterson, 46, has pleaded not responsible to a few counts of forcible rape amongst 2001 and 2003 at his Hollywood residence, which functioned as a social hub when he was at the peak of his fame.

Cohen urged the jurors not to think about Masterson’s affiliation with the Church of Scientology and its relationship to the situation when Mueller claimed that it served explain why the girls — all former members of the church — waited so very long to report the incidents.

Two of the alleged victims initial went to the church to report what happened to them and were advised it was not rape and that reporting it to authorities or telling others about it would conclusion with them remaining ostracized by their closest close friends and even spouse and children customers.

“You in essence turn out to be an enemy of the church,” Mueller said. “You lose it all.”

Cohen stated the case experienced practically nothing to do with the faith and he continuously objected when it was introduced up.

Top-quality Court docket Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo sternly reminded the lawyers that Scientology would not dominate the demo.

The trial’s witness record is comprehensive of members and previous members of the church, which has a potent existence in Los Angeles and has counted numerous well known figures among the its members. The record features former member Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley and previous wife of Michael Jackson, a buddy of 1 of the alleged victims.

One particular of the gals had been Masterson’s longtime girlfriend. Yet another was most effective friends with his private assistant, and the third, an actress, was a newer acquaintance.

The mate of his assistant filed a law enforcement report for the reason that she was not happy with the way the Scientology ethics board managed her complaint. No charges have been introduced at the time.

In 2016, she connected and shared tales with the ex-girlfriend who is a single of the accusers. Each and every submitted a law enforcement report that yr. Masterson’s former girlfriend mentioned she did so following telling her tale to her partner, who helped her realize she had been raped. The 3rd girl went to police in 2017.

At a preliminary listening to previous calendar year, protection attorneys recommended consensual sex was retroactively reframed as rape, and claimed the age of the incidents made correct recollections impossible.

If convicted, Masterson could confront up to 45 many years in prison.

The Linked Press does not usually identify people today who say they ended up victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly.

Masterson was a person of the initially Hollywood figures to be prosecuted in the #MeToo period. His is a person of a number of substantial-profile sexual assault situations that have long gone to trial all over the fifth anniversary of the reporting of accusations in opposition to Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, which reworked the #MeToo movement into an international reckoning.