Jurors are set to renew deliberations Friday within the retrial of “That ’70s Present” actor Danny Masterson, who was charged with raping three girls at his Hollywood Hills residence between 2001 and 2003.
The downtown LA panel — which has spent about 5 1/2 days discussing the case — re-heard parts Thursday afternoon of the testimony of one of many alleged victims, who was a former longtime girlfriend of Masterson.
The seven-woman, five-man jury had requested final week to re-watch parts of a videotaped interview and to take a look at transcripts from that interview between the identical girl and two Los Angeles Police Division detectives in January 2017.
The Jurors had been handed the case Could 17 after simply over a day of closing arguments from attorneys.
The jury is the second to listen to the case towards Masterson, 47, who was charged in 2020 with three counts of rape by drive or concern involving the three girls on separate events.
Throughout final 12 months’s trial, jurors leaned in favor of acquittal on all three counts — voting 10-2 on one depend, 8-4 on one other and 7-5 on the third — however they had been unable to achieve a unanimous resolution, resulting in the thriller final Nov. 30.
Prosecutors confirmed in January that they needed to retry the actor, and Superior Court docket Choose Charlaine F. Olmedo rejected a protection effort to have the costs dismissed.
In his rebuttal argument throughout closing statements, Deputy District Lawyer Reinhold Mueller advised the jury, “This defendant drugged and raped every one among these victims. … It’s time to maintain Mr. Masterson is accountable for what he has carried out.”
Protection legal professional Philip Kent Cohen had urged jurors throughout his closing argument to acquit his shopper, questioning the credibility of the alleged victims.
In his closing remarks to the jury throughout the retrial, Mueller mentioned the three alleged victims had been — like Masterson — members of the Church of Scientology, and advised the jurors that the church retaliated towards them.
“What occurred after they had been drugged — they had been raped by this man over right here,” the prosecutor mentioned, pointing throughout the courtroom at Masterson. “… You may have a chance to indicate there may be justice. it does exist.”
However Cohen questioned why the panel had heard “a lot about Scientology,” asking jurors if there could possibly be issues with the federal government’s case towards Masterson.
Masterson’s lawyer mentioned he was not alleging that there was some “grand conspiracy” towards his shopper, however advised the jurors the alleged victims have spoken with one another regardless of a Los Angeles Police Division detective’s admonition and that their accounts have been tweaked all through the years.
He mentioned there was no forensic proof to help the prosecution’s competition that the alleged victims’ drinks had been drugged by Masterson.
The Church of Scientology issued a press release final week criticizing the prosecution’s characterizations of the church’s actions.
“The church has no coverage prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting prison conduct of anybody, Scientologists or not, to legislation enforcement,” in line with the assertion. “Fairly the alternative, church coverage Strictly calls for Scientologists adjust to all legal guidelines of the land. All accusations on the contrary are completely false.”
Exterior the jury’s presence final Wednesday, the decide rejected Cohen’s request for both a mistrial, one other likelihood to argue earlier than the jury or a particular jury instruction on account of the prosecution’s repeated references to the lady allegedly being drugged.
Masterson has been free on bail since his June 2020 arrest by the LAPD’s Theft-Murder Division.
In December 2017, Netflix introduced that Masterson had been fired from the Emmy-winning scripted comedy “The Ranch” amid sexual assault allegations.
The actor mentioned then he was “very upset,” and added that “it appears as in case you are presumed responsible the second you might be accused.” He additionally “denied the outrageous accusations” and mentioned he appeared ahead to “clearing my identify as soon as and for all.”
A civil go well with filed in August 2019 towards Masterson and the Church of Scientology by the three girls concerned within the prison case and one girl who was not a member of the church alleges they had been stalked and harassed after reporting sexual assault allegations towards the actor to Los Angeles police.
Concerning the lawsuit, the Church of Scientology issued a press release saying, “The church denies the allegations of harassment as apparent, cynical and self-serving fiction, and the church is aware of will probably be vindidicated.”