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Actor Danny Masterson Alamy Stock Photo

That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson found guilty of rape in retrial

The charges date to when Masterson was at the height of his fame, starring on Fox’s That ’70s Show.

THAT ’70S SHOW star Danny Masterson has been found guilty of two counts of rape in a Los Angeles retrial in which the Church of Scientology played a central role.

A jury of seven women and five men reached the verdict after deliberating for seven days spread over two weeks.

They could not reach a verdict on the third count, that alleged Masterson raped a longtime girlfriend. They had voted 8-4 in favour of conviction.

Masterson was led from the courtroom in handcuffs. The 47-year-old actor faces up to 30 years in prison.

His wife, actress and model Bijou Phillips, wept as he was led away. Other family and friends sat stone-faced.

Prosecutors, retrying Masterson after a deadlocked jury led to a mistrial in December, said he raped three women, including a longtime girlfriend, in his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003.

They told jurors he drugged the women’s drinks so he could rape them. They said he used his prominence in the church — where all three women were also members at the time — to avoid consequences for decades.

Masterson did not testify, and his lawyers called no witnesses. The defence argued that the acts were consensual, and attempted to discredit the women’s stories by highlighting changes and inconsistencies over time, which they said showed signs of coordination between them.

“If you decide that a witness deliberately lied about something in this case,” defence lawyer Philip Cohen told jurors in his closing argument, “you should consider not believing anything that witness says.”

The Church of Scientology played a significant role in both trials. Judge Charlaine F Olmedo allowed expert testimony on church policy from a former official in Scientology leadership who has become a prominent opponent.

Tensions ran high in the courtroom between current and former Scientologists, with the accusers saying on the stand that they felt intimidated by some members in the room.

Actor Leah Remini, a former member who has become the church’s highest-profile critic, sat in on the trial at times, putting her arm around one of the accusers to comfort her during closing arguments.

Founded in 1953 by L Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology has many members who work in Hollywood. The judge kept limits on how much prosecutors could talk about the church, and primarily allowed it to explain why the women took so long to go to authorities.

The women testified that when they reported Masterson to church officials, they were told they were not raped, were put through ethics programmes themselves, and were warned against going to law enforcement to report a member of such high standing.

“They were raped, they were punished for it, and they were retaliated against,” Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller told jurors in his closing argument. “Scientology told them there’s no justice for them. You have the opportunity to show them there is justice.”

The church vehemently denied having any policy that forbids members from going to secular authorities.

Two women, who knew Masterson from social circles in the church, said he gave them drinks and that they then became woozy or passed out before he violently raped them in 2003.

The third, Masterson’s then-girlfriend of five years, said she woke to find him raping her, and had to pull his hair to stop him.

The issue of drugging also played a major role in the retrial. At the first, Judge Olmedo only allowed prosecutors and accusers to describe their disorientation, and to imply that they were drugged. The second time, they were allowed to argue it directly, and the prosecution attempted to make it a major factor, to no avail.

“The defendant drugs his victims to gain control,” Deputy District Attorney Ariel Anson said in her closing argument. “He does this to take away his victims’ ability to consent.”

Masterson was not charged with any counts of drugging, and there is no toxicology evidence to back up the assertion. His attorney asked for a mistrial over the issue’s inclusion. The motion was denied, but the issue is likely to be a major factor in any potential appeal.

These charges date to a period when Masterson was at the height of his fame, starring from 1998 until 2006 as Steven Hyde on Fox’s That ’70s Show — the show that made stars of Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace.

Masterson had reunited with Kutcher on the 2016 Netflix comedy The Ranch, but was written out of the show when an LAPD investigation was revealed in December 2017.

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    Mute Get Ta France
    Favourite Get Ta France
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    Jul 11th 2011, 6:14 PM

    Roll on 2moro!!!!!! Can’t wait!!

    97
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    Mute Feargal Garvin
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    Jul 11th 2011, 6:28 PM

    I hope he means ‘metaphorically’ and not ‘literally’.

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    Mute Paul Driscoll
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    Jul 11th 2011, 7:31 PM

    Would be a lot more useful if these idiots tackled countries such as China, Iran and Burma that restrict free access to the Internet. Suppose it’s not newsworthy though.

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    Mute Collie Woods
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    Jul 11th 2011, 8:40 PM

    They have recently. Iran was hit by op anti sec. Government departments.

    So there.

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    Mute Collie Woods
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    Jul 11th 2011, 8:42 PM

    You won’t here about it with mainstream media. Try arstechnica.com or wired.com

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    Mute gareth byrne
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    Jul 11th 2011, 9:35 PM

    can they transfare funds into ecb to bail out italy.since the rest of europ is broke.

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    Mute Richard Keogh
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    Jul 11th 2011, 10:45 PM

    I’d prefer if they transferred out of the ECB into Ireland seeing as they’ve screwed us over for the last few years.

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    Mute John Mack
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    Jul 11th 2011, 10:56 PM

    and all across the land IT staff plugged out their modems at home just in case, the work ones can wait till after coffee.

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    Mute Nigel Kenny
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    Jul 11th 2011, 7:22 PM

    Non starter. No-one in Anonymous has any skill beyond SQL injection and DDoS attacks.

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    Mute Mike Reid
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    Jul 12th 2011, 10:25 AM

    They do this to show that big fancy businesses can’t even protect from basic attacks such sql injection or ddos attacks and we’re supposed to trust them with our details.

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    Mute Gis Bayertz
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    Jul 11th 2011, 8:04 PM

    Just criminals

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    Mute Trevor Nolan
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    Jul 11th 2011, 11:42 PM

    …as opposed to unjust criminals? I agree!

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    Mute mr g
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    Jul 12th 2011, 1:06 AM

    Can’t wait to see what they do! Fair play to them exposing the flaws in Internet security. It’s the ones that sneak in and say nothing you need to worry about

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    Mute chrissy
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    Jul 11th 2011, 11:21 PM

    It’s just someone with an agenda
    Spoilists if such a term exists.
    Brilliant brilliant minds used for mediocre purposes.
    Why don’t you try famine, disease, dictatorships etc etc
    Attack them, if you win ……. the world wins
    God bless you and help you to make the right decision

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    Mute fizi_water
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    Jul 12th 2011, 8:22 AM

    Because they don’t have Internet? :-) To be serious, all this hacking is not directed at “who”, it is way more often directed at “viable of doing or not?”. Of course there is extra pride and hype amongst hacker groups if they manage hit something big. But reality is they always look for weak targets and easy points first and then just narrow down more and more to select something attractive. In other words, they hack what they can, not necessarily what they would like to.

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    Mute Jamie Dunne
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    Jul 15th 2011, 12:04 PM

    Guys… anyone know what a false-flag attack is ?? …9/11 … the government / powers that be are gearing up to shut down the web as we know it… and reboot with a new COMPLETELY CONTROLED & CENSORED Web.. …using security fears / blaming hackers for there actions…
    Must Watch >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDwsslGcC4w

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