Actor Danny Masterson Drugged, Raped Women, Prosecutor Says

(LOS ANGELES) – A prosecutor told jurors Monday in his opening statement in the retrial of “That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson that he drugged and raped three women at his Hollywood-area home between 2001 and 2003.

According to Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller, Masterson put chemicals in drinks he provided to a longstanding girlfriend and two women he knew through friend circles at the Church of Scientology, all of whom he is accused of raping.

Mueller told the jurors, “The evidence will show that they were drugged.”

Masterson has pled not guilty, and his lawyers, who will make their opening statement later Monday, have denied that any of the assaults occurred, claiming that the victims’ decades-old accounts are inconsistent and untrustworthy.

After Masterson’s first trial in November, jurors told the court they were hopelessly deadlocked, and a mistrial was declared on all three counts.

The drug aspect was omitted from the first trial, forcing Mueller to infer it through the testimony of the ladies, who stated they were queasy, disoriented, and sometimes unconscious on the nights they described the actor raping them.

However, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo allows the direct assertion at the second trial.

Danny Masterson that he drugged and raped three women at his Hollywood-area home between 2001 and 2003.

If convicted, the actor, 47, could face 45 years in prison.

Because the inquiry that resulted in Masterson’s two prosecutions did not begin until roughly 15 years later, Mueller believes there will be no direct or forensic evidence that he drugged the women.

However, he stated that he would contact a police toxicology analyst “who will tell you how some of the most common drug-facilitated sexual assaults, how some of the most common date rape drugs work, how quickly they are metabolized, and what side effects look like.”

The drugging charges echoed the Bill Cosby trial when women testified about similar experiences. Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned Cosby’s conviction after two separate trials.

Mueller focused much of his presentation on Masterson’s longstanding girlfriend, an actress and model who, according to Mueller, will testify that their relationship had become increasingly physically and sexually abusive before he raped her in December 2001.

“She recalls getting up to leave after dinner, and she has no memory after that,” Mueller added. “That is the last thing she remembers before waking up the next afternoon, naked and alone in bed.”

He stated that she would testify that Masterson laughed while admitting to having sex while asleep.

Only five of the twelve jurors decided to convict Masterson on this point in the first trial. On the other two, even fewer people voted guilty. Nonetheless, the District Attorney’s Office decided to hold a second trial, and the women agreed to testify again.

Mueller also told jurors that the ladies did not immediately go to authorities because Church of Scientology officials advised them not to and that what occurred to them was not rape.

Masterson is a significant church member. The three women are all ex-members.

Following the women’s evidence in the first trial, the church stated it “has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of Scientologists, or anyone, to law enforcement.” Quite the contrary. Church policy requires Scientologists to follow all local laws.” ___

SOURCE – (AP)