After a mistrial was declared with a hung jury last year, Danny Masterson’s second rape trial began with a more aggressive and pointed approach from the prosecution who repeatedly told the new jury that they will present evidence that proves the former star of “That 70’s Show” drugged women before he forcibly raped them.
“The evidence will show they were drugged,” said Los Angeles deputy district attorney Reinhold Mueller in his opening statement on Monday, speaking of the four women who will testify against Masterson during the trial. “The symptoms that they’re going to describe,” Mueller told the jury, will include “lightheadedness, loss of vision, loss of motor skills, loss of strength, inability to control their body, vaginal pain, anal pain, all occurring after the defendant had given them an alcoholic beverage and all occurring within a matter of minutes.”
Speaking of one of the Jane Doe’s, the deputy D.A. told the jury she was “drugged and sodomized while unconscious.” In Mueller’s opening statement, he claimed Masterson anally raped many of the women who will testify. “When she awoke in bed, she was confused, she was disoriented, she was in a lot of pain. … She asked, ‘What happened last night?’ … He laughed at her and said, ‘Oh, I had sex with you there.’ She questioned him if she was unconscious. He said ‘yes,’ that she was unconscious the whole time.”
In Masterson’s first trial, prosecutors strongly suggested that Masterson drugged the women he allegedly assaulted, but they never outright claimed that he put drugs into drinks that he offered the women.
Masterson maintains his innocence. On Monday afternoon, the defense did not deny whether Masterson drugged the woman, but the actor’s attorney, Phillip Cohen, noted to the jury that Masterson faces rape charges — not charges of drugging women.
“There is no drugging charge in this case,” Cohen told the jurors.
Masterson faces three charges of forcible rape, associated with three women — identified in this trial as Jennifer B., Christina B. and N. Trout — who all allege they were raped in the early 2000s. If Masterson is convicted on all three charges, he faces 45 years in prison.
This trial will introduce a new woman: The fourth accuser (identified as Kathy J.), will testify as a “prior bad acts witness,” in order to establish a pattern of Masterson’s behavior, though her accusations are not tied to any charges and the jury will not deliberate on her testimony.
The prosecution will also introduce new expert witnesses, some of whom will speak to the jury about the effects of drugs and alcohol on memory, signaling that one of the prosecution’s strategy this trial is to focus intently on Masterson allegedly drugging women. Mueller told the jury during opening statements that they will hear from an LAPD officer from the toxicology unit who will talk about drug-facilitated sexual assault and date-rape drugs and “what you would expect to be the common side effects and symptoms after ingesting the drugs … there’s a very, very narrow window of time to detect that it was in your blood.”
Masterson’s defense stressed to the jury that there is no “tangible” evidence to corroborate the women’s testimony. “There’s no toxicology report, there’s no urine, there’s no DNA,” Cohen said in reference to the drug allegations.
Cohen’s opening statement largely aimed to highlight inconsistencies in the women’s stories, telling the jury that they will hear differing details regarding the women’s memories of the alleged events. He also said that three Jane Doe’s all spoke with each other before going to the LAPD, suggesting that they joined forces to create a larger case against Masterson. Cohen told jurors that many of the women continued their friendships and sexual relationships with Masterson, after the alleged assaults. And he said that the case will be largely he-said-she-said with no evidence to prove any claims.
“There are no witnesses who actually viewed the sexual assault, other than the complaining witness,” Cohen told the jury. “There are no recordings. There are no video.”
In the first trial, the jury failed to reach an unanimous verdict, stating they were “hopelessly deadlocked.” However, those jurors leaned toward acquittal with votes of 10-2, 8-4 and 7-5 on the three counts. While this trial is based on the same three charges and will largely be based on much of the same information and witnesses, Judge Charlaine Olmedo was firm in telling attorneys on Monday that this is a wholly new trial.
“It’s a different trial,” Judge Olmedo said. “It’s a new ballgame.”
Masterson is a lifelong Scientologist, and the three Jane Doe’s are all former members of the Church of Scientology.
The Church of Scientology was a significant theme during Monday’s opening statements with prosecutors telling jurors about the role they allege that Scientology played in the women’s reluctancy to report their alleged rapes. According to the prosecution, the Church of Scientology forbids women from going to the police to report sexual assault, and if they do, they could be declared a “suppressive person” by the Church and “lose essentially your whole life,” which has “devastating” consequences.
“They handle things internally. You don’t go to the outside world,” deputy D.A. Mueller said.
“The evidence that will come out in this case is if you’re a member in the Church of Scientology and you have an issue that comes up like this with another member who is in good standing, you cannot go to law enforcement,” Mueller told the jury. “There are consequences for reporting another member to law enforcement. You do not do it. It can cause you to be excommunicated.”
When Masterson’s attorney addressed the jury, he stressed that they cannot be biased against any religion. “Scientology is not a defendant,” Cohen said. “Scientology is not an element of this case.”
Leah Remini — a former longtime Scientologist who has become one of the most outspoken critics against the church through her Emmy-winning A&E series “Scientology and the Aftermath” — was present on Monday morning, seated in the gallery of the courtroom, observing opening statements. (Remini did not attend Masterson’s first trial last year, but she tweeted about it frequently.) Prior to the jury entering the courtroom on Monday morning, Masterson’s defense requested that the judge remove Remini from the courtroom because they plan to possibly call her as a witness to question her regarding conversations related to production of her A&E series; the judge denied the defense’s request and allowed Remini to stay in the courtroom.
“I am attending opening arguments in the rape trial of celebrity Scientologist Danny Masterson today,” Remini tweeted on Monday. “The women who Danny raped deserve justice for what they’ve been put through, not only by Danny but by Scientology which has tried to destroy them for reporting their rapes.”
Prosecutors plan to bring in Claire Headley — a former member of the Church of Scientology who appeared in Remini’s series — as an expert witness. Mueller said that Headley, who is a fierce critic of Scientology, will “discuss common practices of the Church of Scientology” when she testifies in front of the jury.
Masterson was in court on Monday in downtown Los Angeles, accompanied by his wife, the actor and model Bijou Phillips, along with many family members in his Hollywood family tree, including his brothers, Christopher Masterson and Jordan Masterson, who are also actors, and his wife’s half-sister, Mackenzie Phillips. (During last year’s trial, Billy Baldwin, who is married to Bijou Phillips’ half-sister, the singer Chynna Phillips of the pop group Wilson Phillips, was present many days in the courthouse.)
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