“That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison Thursday for raping two women at his Hollywood Hills home in the early 2000s.
The 47-year-old actor and prominent Scientologist was found guilty May 31 on two counts of forcible rape and had faced a sentence of 15 years to life for each count. The jury was not able to reach a verdict on an additional count of rape involving a third woman.
Prosecutors had said Scientology officials protected the actor for years after he drugged and sexually assaulted the women, who were also Scientologists but have since left the church, in three separate incidents between 2001 and 2003. They testified that the church barred them from reporting the assaults to police, blamed them for the alleged rapes and harassed, intimidated and stalked them.
This was the second trial for Masterson, who was charged with the three rapes in June 2020. The first trial ended on Nov. 30, 2022, with the jury deadlocked on all counts. In that trial, the judge did not allow the prosecution to say Masterson had drugged the women. That jury only heard that the women — identified as Jane Does 1, 2 and 3 — had been “incapacitated” when Masterson allegedly raped them.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File
Masterson pleaded not guilty to the charges and didn’t testify in his own defense in either trial. In both trials, his defense team rested without calling any witnesses.
The church vehemently denied how prosecutors characterized its belief and policies, accused the victims of making a money grab with their accusations and also said the trial violated its First Amendment rights.
In the second trial, prosecutors called a former Scientology official, Claire Headley, as an expert witness on how church members are instructed to interact with law enforcement as well as other policies, which have been criticized as controlling and abusive.
According to Headley, who sued the church in 2009, Scientologists may not call police without “specific authorization” — particularly in a matter involving a fellow Scientologist.
Jane Does 2 and 3 “have displayed tremendous strength and bravery, by coming forward to law enforcement and participating directly in two grueling criminal trials,” their attorney said in a statement provided Thursday to HuffPost. “Despite persistent harassment, obstruction and intimidation, these courageous women helped hold a ruthless sexual predator accountable today, and they are not stopping there. They are eager to soon tell the fuller story of how Scientology and its enablers tried desperately to keep them from coming forward.”
The trial also involved controversy over whether the church, which was not an official party in the case, was improperly receiving sensitive information. Masteron’s original attorneys, Thomas Mesereau and Sharon Applebaum, were sanctioned in June for allegedly leaking confidential information about the women with Vicki Podberesky, a lawyer defending the Church of Scientology in a separate stalking and harassment civil suit brought by the women. They were replaced by attorneys Philip Cohen, Shawn Holley and Karen Goldstein, who have denied sharing information with Podberesky.
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