“THE JUDGE PUT MY FAITH ON TRIAL INSTEAD OF ME”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, PROSECUTORS SAY DANNY MASTERSON RAPED TWO FELLOW SCIENTOLOGY MEMBERS… AND HE IS NOW SERVING 30 YEARS TO LIFE WHILE ASKING AN APPEALS COURT TO OVERTURN HIS CONVICTIONS.
Danny Masterson is asking a California appeals court to throw out his rape convictions.
The former That ’70s Show actor is currently serving a sentence of 30 years to life.
In 2023, he was convicted of raping two women.
Both women were fellow members of the Church of Scientology.
Masterson’s appeal centers heavily on how Scientology was handled during the trial.
His attorneys argue that the trial judge crossed a constitutional line.
Specifically, the defense argues the judge personally interpreted Scientology doctrine for jurors.
Prosecutors had introduced evidence about the Church’s teachings during the trial.
That evidence was introduced because the women said their religious environment affected how they understood the assaults.
The women said that environment also explained why they delayed reporting them.
Masterson’s attorney, Cliff Gardner, argues that the judge went too far.
Gardner argues the judge decided for herself what certain Scientology writings meant.
He also argues the judge rejected the Church’s own interpretation.
The Church of Scientology International has now entered the appeal.
The Church filed an amicus brief supporting Gardner’s argument.
In the filing, the Church contends that the presentation of its beliefs violated the First Amendment.
According to the defense, jurors were effectively encouraged to accept several claims about Scientology.
The defense says jurors were encouraged to believe Scientology discouraged reporting sexual assault.
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Jurors were encouraged to believe the Church punished members who went to police.
Jurors were also encouraged to believe followers were expected to prioritize Church rules over U.S. law.
Masterson’s attorneys argue that the judge endorsed that framing.
And once the judge endorsed that framing, the defense argues, the jury was not simply evaluating Masterson’s conduct anymore.
It was evaluating his religion too.
The defense also points to comments from the bench.
Those comments allegedly described the assaults as an “organizational crime.”
Masterson’s attorneys argue that such language suggested the Church itself was implicated.
Masterson was tried twice.
His first trial ended in a mistrial.
That mistrial occurred after jurors could not reach unanimous verdicts.
Then came the retrial.
At the retrial, he was convicted of raping two women.
But jurors deadlocked on a charge involving a third accuser.
Masterson has continued to maintain that the sexual encounters were consensual.
The appeal is not arguing that Scientology should never have been mentioned.
It argues that the judge became the interpreter of the religion.
It argues that doing so may have tipped the jury from judging Masterson’s conduct to judging the Church itself.
Whether that is enough to overturn two rape convictions is now up to the appeals court.
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