LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The judge in Danny Masterson's trial agreed Friday to hear victim impact statements from two of the women whom the "That '70s Show" actor was convicted of raping, along with a woman named in a charge that was dismissed last month after two separate juries deadlocked on that count.
Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo said she will allow Masterson's defense team to make further arguments at the next court appearance Aug. 21 about whether she should hear the victim impact statement from the third alleged victim -- a former longtime girlfriend of Masterson -- in the dismissed count.
The judge rejected the prosecution's request to allow three other women, including two who had testified about alleged uncharged crimes, to speak during Masterson's Sept. 7 sentencing in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.
Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller had argued that there was a "great societal impact" in allowing all of the women to speak at Masterson's sentencing, saying that such statements "can resonate with the other victims of sexual assault that are out there."
One of Masterson's attorneys, Shawn Holley, objected to the judge hearing from any of the other alleged victims, saying that the judge should only hear from the two women involving counts on which Masterson was convicted.
The judge is also set at the Aug. 21 hearing to hear arguments over whether the count that's already been dismissed will be done with prejudice or without -- the latter of which would allow prosecutors to potentially re-file that charge in the future.
The 47-year-old actor was convicted May 31 of a pair of rape charges involving two women at his Hollywood Hills home roughly two decades ago, and was taken into custody shortly after the jury's verdict. He is facing a maximum sentence of 30 years to life in state prison.
Jurors deadlocked on a rape charge involving a former longtime girlfriend of Masterson's.
The jury was the second to hear the case against Masterson, who was charged in 2020 with three counts of rape by force or fear involving the three women on separate occasions.
During the first trial last year, jurors leaned in favor of acquittal on all three counts -- voting 10-2 on one count, 8-4 on another and 7-5 on the third -- but they were unable to reach a unanimous decision, leading to a mistrial being declared on Nov. 30.
Prosecutors confirmed in January that they wanted to retry the actor, and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo rejected a defense effort to have the charges dismissed.
In his closing argument of the retrial, Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller told the jury, "This defendant drugged and raped each one of these victims. ... It is time to hold Mr. Masterson accountable for what he has done."
Defense attorney Philip Kent Cohen urged jurors during his closing argument to acquit his client, questioning the credibility of the women.
In his rebuttal argument, Mueller said the three women were -- like Masterson -- members of the Church of Scientology, and told jurors that the church retaliated against them.
"What happened after they were drugged -- they were raped by this man over here," the prosecutor said, pointing across the courtroom at Masterson. "... You have an opportunity to show there is justice. It does exist."
But Cohen questioned why the panel had heard "so much about Scientology," asking jurors if there could be problems with the government's case against Masterson.
Masterson's lawyer said he was not alleging that there was some "grand conspiracy" against his client, but told jurors the alleged victims had spoken with each other despite an LAPD detective's admonition and that their accounts have been tweaked throughout the years.
He said there was no forensic evidence to support the prosecution's contention that the alleged victims' drinks had been drugged by Masterson.
Outside the jury's presence, the judge rejected Cohen's requests for either a mistrial, another chance to argue before the jury or a special jury instruction as a result of the prosecution's repeated references to the women allegedly being drugged.
The Church of Scientology issued a statement criticizing the prosecution's characterizations of the church's actions.
"The church has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of anyone, Scientologists or not, to law enforcement," according to the statement. "Quite the opposite, church policy explicitly demands Scientologists abide by all laws of the land. All allegations to the contrary are totally false."
A civil suit filed in August 2019 against Masterson and the Church of Scientology by the three women involved in the criminal case and one woman who was not a member of the church alleges they were stalked and harassed after reporting sexual assault allegations against the actor to Los Angeles police.
Regarding the lawsuit, the Church of Scientology issued a statement saying, "The church denies the allegations of harassment as obvious, cynical and self-serving fictions, and the church knows it will be vindicated."
In December 2017, Netflix announced that Masterson had been fired from the Emmy-winning scripted comedy "The Ranch" amid sexual assault allegations.
The actor said then he was "very disappointed," and added that "it seems as if you are presumed guilty the moment you are accused." He also "denied the outrageous allegations" and said he looked forward to "clearing my name once and for all."
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