LOS ANGELES, CA (WSAU) – One of the stars of one of Wisconsin’s most notable pop culture references has been convicted on two counts of rape that happened back in 2001 and 2003.
In a retrial of a 2022 lawsuit, the jury on Wednesday found actor Danny Masterson guilty of two counts of forced rape. On his third accusation of rape, the jury was tied. Masterson will now face up to 30 years in prison.
Jurors in the previous trial favored acquittal on all three counts but were unable to agree, resulting in the mistrial on November 30. They voted 10-2 in favor of acquittal on one count, 8-4 in favor of another, and 7-5 in favor of the third.
Judge Charlaine Olmedo of the Superior Court rejected an attempt by the actor’s defense to have the charges dropped after prosecutors announced in January that they intended to retry the actor.
According to Fox LA, after receiving the case on May 17 and hearing the attorneys’ final arguments for just over a day, the jury deliberated for almost 6 1/2 days.
The panel in downtown Los Angeles reheard some of the testimony from one of the alleged victims, a woman who was Masterson’s longstanding ex-girlfriend, last Thursday.
During his closing argument, defense attorney Philip Kent Cohen urged jurors to acquit his client, doubting the reliability of the alleged victims, according to Fox LA.
Cohen stated that there was no forensic evidence to support the prosecution’s claim that Masterson had drugged the alleged victims.
Netflix released a statement back in December 2017 that said the 47-year-old actor had been dropped from the Emmy-winning scripted comedy “The Ranch” due to the claims of sexual assault.
The victims are former members of The Church of Scientology, while Masterson is still a member. The women stated that when they reported Masterson to church authorities, they were informed that they had not been sexually assaulted, were required to participate in ethics training, and counseled against reporting a member of such high standing to law enforcement, according to the Associated Press.
The church fiercely denied having a rule prohibiting its followers from approaching secular authorities for help or reporting crimes.
