Actor Danny Masterson, who’s serving a sentence of 30 years to life in jail, is searching for to overturn his conviction for the rape of two girls, together with his attorneys arguing he didn’t obtain a good trial.
A Los Angeles jury discovered Masterson responsible final yr of two counts of rape by pressure or concern for assaulting two girls at his Hollywood Hills residence in separate incidents in 2003 — throughout the identical time he was starring on the Fox TV’s “That ’70s Present.” The jury deadlocked on the case involving a 3rd alleged sufferer. The Might 2023 trial adopted a mistrial in November 2022.
Masterson, 48, is incarcerated at California Males’s Colony, a minimum- and medium-security jail in San Luis Obispo County.
Cliff Gardner, the lawyer dealing with Masterson’s attraction, filed an appellant’s opening transient Tuesday that alleges witnesses informed totally different variations of their tales over time. The transient additionally argues that proof that will have helped Masterson’s protection was not introduced attributable to what Gardner describes as faulty rulings by the court docket. Gardner argues within the court docket filings that these elements assist reversing the convictions.
LUCY NICHOLSON / Getty Pictures
Masterson’s protection argued at trial that he knew each girls socially and his sexual relations with them have been consensual.
“It’s true, in fact, {that a} defendant isn’t entitled to an ideal trial. He’s, nevertheless, nonetheless entitled to a good one,” the transient reads. “Danny Masterson obtained neither. Reversal is required.”
Throughout the trial, one of many girls Masterson was later convicted of raping broke down on the witness stand as she testified that he choked her and smothered her with a pillow when she tried preventing again as he assaulted her, based on the Related Press.
“I couldn’t breathe,” she mentioned, crying.
When the prosecutor requested what she was considering on the time, she mentioned she feared for her life, AP reported.
“That he was going to kill me,” she mentioned. “That I used to be going to die.”
She later testified Masterson took out a gun from inside his bedside desk and informed her to be quiet once they heard voices on the door. She informed jurors she was out and in of consciousness by way of the evening.
Masterson and the victims have been members of the Church of Scientology, which grew to become a central focus of the case as the ladies alleged they have been stalked and harassed after reporting the allegations to police.
They sued Masterson and the church years earlier in reference to these accusations.
Throughout the trial, Deputy District Lawyer Reinhold Mueller informed jurors the church had retaliated in opposition to the victims for reporting the the crimes — the rape of a 28-year-old lady in April 2003 and assault of a 23-year-old lady, additionally that yr.
“What occurred after they have been drugged, they have been raped by this man over right here,” Mueller mentioned, as he pointed throughout the courtroom towards Masterson throughout closing arguments. “You’ve gotten a possibility to indicate there’s justice. It does exist.”
The church launched a press release on the time refuting the allegations.
“The church has no coverage prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting felony conduct of anybody, Scientologists or not, to legislation enforcement,” the assertion reads. “Fairly the alternative, church coverage explicitly calls for Scientologists abide by all legal guidelines of the land. All allegations on the contrary are completely false.”
Within the newly filed transient for Masterson’s attraction, Gardner alleges the victims modified their tales “dramatically” through the years and had a monetary motive to take action. Gardner argues in court docket paperwork that although the statute of limitations to file a lawsuit searching for damages had expired earlier than the trial, underneath state legislation it could be revived if Masterson was convicted of forcible rape involving a number of victims.
Gardner says within the transient {that a} court docket ruling prevented proof associated to that argument from being admitted at trial.
He additionally states within the court docket filings that some witnesses died earlier than the case went to trial, greater than a decade after being reported to legislation enforcement, and alleges that police misplaced a tape-recorded witness interview that will have helped Masterson’s protection.
After the six-day trial leading to Masterson’s convictions, one of many girls he was convicted of raping launched a press release saying she was relieved he had been discovered responsible.
“I’m experiencing a posh array of feelings – aid, exhaustion, power, unhappiness – figuring out that my abuser, Danny Masterson, will face accountability for his felony habits,” mentioned a press release from one of many girls whom Masterson was convicted of raping at his residence in 2003.
