Danny Masterson has been convicted in a retrial of his rape case.
The jury found Masterson guilty of two counts of forcible rape against two women, while deadlocked on a third count. Regarding the latter, the jury hung 8-4 votes in favor of conviction after more than a week of deliberation. The actor faces a possible sentence of 30 years in prison to life.
Masterson was arrested in 2020 and accused of drugging and raping three women in his Los Angeles home between 2001 and 2003 while starring in That ’70s Show. Juries were previously hanging on all three counts during his initial trial in late 2022, when a mistrial was declared.
“Like all predators, the accused carefully sought out his prey,” said Deputy Attorney General Ariel Anson during closing arguments. “The Church taught his victims that rape is not rape, that you cause it and above all you are not allowed to go to law enforcement. What better hunting ground? In Scientology, the Defender is celebrity and untouchable.”
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All three victims were members of the church at the time they met Masterson, himself a life member, and said Scientology officials forbade them from reporting the rapes to the police.
The Church of Scientology was also dragged directly into the lawsuit when it was revealed that a lawyer associated with the church obtained the discovery of the materials, prompting an LAPD investigation and allegations of wrongdoing from prosecutors.
Masterson denied any wrongdoing and did not testify at either trial. The charges led to his release from the Netflix series farmas well as excluding it from That ’70s Show sequel series This is a ’90s show.
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