It’s a Big Month for Sex Predator Trials

The trial is expected to last eight weeks, and the proceedings will not open to the public with the exception of 24 reporters and two sketch artists.

Danny Masterson

A series of delays—the most recent of which was due, in part to his affiliation with Scientology—has prolonged Masterson’s criminal proceedings, but this week, the actor will finally stand trial for alleged rapes that took place in the early 2000s. Masterson faces charges for raping three women—two women, known as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, and a former girlfriend, Chrissie Carnell Bixler—at his Los Angeles home.

Bixler, who dated Masterson from 1996 to 2001, alleges that he drugged and assaulted her while she was unconscious. During their relationship, Bixler claimed she alerted an ethics officer at the Church of Scientology—where she was also a member—but was told that because she and Masterson were a couple, what happened to her was not rape. She claimed she later confided in a church chaplain who didn’t offer anything more than the same apathy. “My job as his girlfriend was to give myself to him whenever he wanted,” Bixler said when she appeared on the series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. “I was to lay there and take it.”

Jane Doe 1 and 2 have waged similar accusations, stating that they, too, were not only raped while unconscious but intimidated by the Church of Scientology when they attempted to come forward.

The Church of Scientology is expected to inevitably play a role in the proceedings, though Masterson’s attorneys have emphatically discouraged it. Of the witnesses expected to testify, Lisa Marie Presley is reportedly set to be called by the prosecution. Presley was a longtime Scientologist until she left the church in 2012. She’s also linked to Jane Doe 1.

The actor has pleaded not guilty and vehemently denied all allegations.

Kevin Spacey

In 1986, then-14-year-old actor Anthony Rapp was allegedly groped by Spacey at a house party in New York City. Now, 36 years later, Spacey is being sued by Rapp for psychological damages incurred from the incident.

The legal proceedings—which began last week—have already seen Rapp’s emotional testimony against Spacey. According to Rapp, Spacey invited the teenage Rapp to a party at his house when they were both performing in respective Broadway shows. Once he arrived at the party, Rapp told the court he felt uncomfortable as he didn’t know many of the guests. After he went to watch television by himself in a bedroom, Spacey entered and was allegedly “uneasy on his feet” and clearly intoxicated. The elder actor, who was then 26, approached Rapp, grabbed his buttocks, and lifted him onto the bed. Rapp claimed he was forced to “wriggle out” as Spacey “pinned” him underneath his body.

“I had to get out of there,” he testified. When he reached the front door, Rapp alleged that Spacey asked: “Are you sure you want to leave?” Rapp said yes and returned to the apartment wherein he was staying with his mother.

In 2017, after the allegations were made public, Spacey wrote on Twitter that he didn’t remember the alleged incident, yet apologized for it: “But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”

In addition to Rapp’s case, Spacey is currently facing charges of sexually assaulting three men over a decade ago in London. He plead not guilty and is expected to go on trial there next year. He has been publicly accused of sexual misconduct by four other men but legal charges were either dropped or were not pursued.

Rapp is seeking compensatory and punitive damages that amount to $40 million.