actor Danny Mastersonrape of testing ended in a mistrial on Wednesday afternoon in angel There was an impasse as the jury could not agree on a verdict.
The judge in the case declared a mistrial after a week-long hearing in which three separate women Testified that Masterson raped her and other witnesses appeared to corroborate their accounts.
Prosecutors retain option to try Masterson member Church of Scientology, Again. They have not yet indicated whether they intend to do so.
Masterson, who shot to fame with his role on the sitcom “That ’70s Show,” is accused of assaulting three women at his Hollywood Hills home in the early 2000s. His accusers are also members of the Church of Scientology, and two said they delayed reporting their alleged assaults because they feared retaliation from church officials.
One of the accusers dated Masterson in the late 1990s and early 2000s and said that while he wanted to charm people, he could also be violent. She alleged that he raped her while she was sleeping in 2001 and when she woke up, he slapped her face and spit on her and tried to restrain her.
Masterson has denied his allegations as well as those of two women who testified that he assaulted them in his Jacuzzi. He was fired from a role in a Netflix show the ranch following the publication of the allegations in 2017 and has not received credit for any television or film appearances since. He neither deposed nor called any witness in his defence.
The Church of Scientology’s role in allegedly defending Masterson and silencing his advocacy of his alleged victims played a central role in the trial.
One accuser testified in a statement, “I was a Scientologist and Mr. Masterson is a Scientologist, and you cannot report another Scientologist in good standing to the authorities.” informed of From Los Angeles Times, “My life would be over. My parents would have to disconnect from me. … I could never speak to any of my friends again. … I would have nowhere to work or live.
Masterson’s accusers eventually left the church, which denied the allegations that it acted to protect Masterson. The defense attorney in the case, Philip Cohen, said that the accusers were using Scientology as a means to deflect attention from holes in their case.