Danny Masterson’s Attorneys Ask for Rape Trial Delay Due to Anti-Scientology Public Sentiments
The The '70s Show actor and alleged rapist's legal team said the L.A. mayoral candidates' comments on the "church" could prohibit fair proceedings.
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It’s been five years since five women accused That ‘70s Show star and longtime Scientologist Danny Masterson of sexual assault. Four of the women—including one of Masterson’s ex-girlfriends—first came forward in March 2017, alleging that Masterson sexually assaulted them in the early 2000s, and months later, a fifth woman—a second former girlfriend of Masterson—alleged that he “repeatedly raped” her. Masterson, who received three felony charges for “forcible rape” in 2020, has plead not guilty and vehemently denied all allegations, but three of the women will finally receive their day in court next week on October 11. If convicted, Masterson faces a maximum of 45 years to life in prison.
A series of delays have prolonged the criminal trial. The latest saw Masterson’s attorneys arguing that the Los Angeles mayoral race—namely, candidates Rick Caruso and Karen Bass’s public condemnations of Scientology—would be “inflammatory” to the trial and impact its outcome. On Monday, Philip Cohen, one of Masterson’s attorneys, asked Judge Charlaine Olmedo to, once again, postpone the trial until after the November 8 election. Cohen then went so far as to discourage Olmedo from mentioning Scientology at all during the trial. “The word ‘Scientology’ never needs to come up,” he said. “If something needs to come up, it can be called ‘the church,’ ‘the organization,’ ‘a club.’”
As of now, a decision regarding rescheduling the trial date has not been announced, but the timing of Masterson’s attorney’s request is exceptionally noteworthy considering that, on the same day, the United States Supreme Court denied the church’s petition for a writ of certiorari—a request that SCOTUS review a case from a lower court—in a separate civil suit filed against Masterson, the church, and its leader, David Miscavige. Deadline deemed the church’s petition a “Hail Mary attempt” to settle the allegations outside of the legal system. In the suit, four women—including Masterson’s ex-girlfriends, Chrissie Carnell Bixler and Marie Bobette Riales, and two of the Jane Does from Masterson’s criminal trial—claim that after coming forward about the alleged sexual assaults, the “church” began a harassment campaign that included stalking, intimidation, and even poisoning one victim’s dogs.