Danny Masterson Rape Case Declared in a Mistrial

A judge declared a mistrial in the Danny Masterson rape case Wednesday, as the court could not reach a choice on whether the star was guilty or innocent.

Masterson, 46, had been charged with three counts of forcible rape over occurrences that occurred between 2001 to 2003 entailing 3 accusers.

Throughout the five-week test, jurors listened to testimony including one lady who said she thought she was “mosting likely to die” when she claimed the former “That ’70s Show” celebrity choked as well as raped her in April 2003.

Adhering to the mistrial, district attorneys must now choose on whether to retry Masterson, a decision they need to reach by March 2023.

Scientology was not a defendant in the test, the sufferers– who were members of the religious beliefs at the time of the events– indicated regarding the worry and also alienation they felt about reporting Masterson, a popular participant of the Church.

The alleged sufferers likewise claimed the religious practices they adhered to at the time didn’t allow them to think the events were rape.

Among the women, Jen B., affirmed when she tried to report Masterson to other Church participants, she was informed to “quit condemning” him due to the fact that according to Scientology, “You can never ever be a target. Nothing ever before takes place to you without it being your fault.”

Jen B. likewise indicated she was in an out of awareness and got up to Masterson in addition to her, his penis in her vaginal canal. She stated she tried to press the star off yet he pulled her hair. At some time, Masterson put his hand around her throat.

Jen B. said she assumed she was going “to pass away. That he was going to eliminate me.”

Jen B. likewise affirmed she was given an option after the incident– either sign a $400,000 non-disclosure agreement or danger being unchurched from Scientology, her family and friends.

Chrissie B., an additional accuser that was a former partner of the actor, told jurors she met Masterson at an event in 1996 when she just transformed 18. Regarding a year into the relationship, she stated Masterson became emotionally as well as sexually violent.

She stated Masterson raped her twice in the Hollywood Hills residence they had shared in 2001. During one of the incidents, Chrissie B. stated she awakened to Masterson’s full weight on top of her. Regardless of howling as well as objecting, Chrissie B. claimed Masterson continued to rape her.

Masterson’s defense attorneys suggested the 3 accusers had changed their stories throughout the years as well as examined the objective and also character of the declared targets.

Defense lawyer Philip Cohen said despite repeated warnings from Los Angeles Police Department private investigators, the 3 accusers had actually talked to each other and also currently “polluted” the case by exchanging details of their encounters with Masterson.

On the stand he likewise asked them questions which led to the accusers contradicting themselves. Masterson himself did not take the stand throughout the trial.

Cohen mentioned exactly how district attorneys depicted his customer as a “commanding terrifying, abusive beast” however likewise his previous partner admitted on the stand she had actually willingly made love with him after her claimed rape.

In his closing arguments, Cohen blew up the accusers “contradictions as well as constructions” and also claimed: “The trick to this case is not when they reported it. It’s what they said when they reported it, what they stated after they reported it and also what they stated at test.”

He also claimed they had actually made use of Scientology as an scapegoat, including: “We’ve listened to Scientology over and over once more– a lot so, it came to be the best excuse.

” When someone didn’t keep in mind something or somebody got contradicted, it became concerning Scientology.”