BREAKING NEWS'That '70s Show' Actor Danny Masterson Found Guilty of Rape
May 31 2023, Published 5:58 p.m. ET
Actor Danny Masterson has been found guilty on two counts of rape, with the jury unable to come to a decision on the third count.
The decision in his sexual assault case was announced on Wednesday, May 31, in a Los Angeles courthouse, where he was handcuffed and taken into custody after being deemed a flight risk.
According to a report, the That '70s Show alum, 47, stayed stoic when he heard his fate, while his wife, Bijou Phillips, could allegedly be heard crying.
The TV star reportedly faces 30 years in prison for the two counts. All of the women in question claimed the incidents took place in the early 2000s at his Hollywood home. At the time, everyone involved was a member of the Church of Scientology, though the women have since left the controversial religion.
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The outcome was read months after he temporarily walked free last year due to a mistrial.
In new reports, it was said that this time around, prosecution focused more heavily on Masterson allegedly drugging his victims before the sexual assaults took place. They also pointed to the women's claims that Scientology urged them not to report Masterson to the police.
"The church taught his victims that rape isn’t rape, that you cause this and above all you aren’t allowed to go to law enforcement," prosecutor Ariel Anson stated in his closing arguments. "What better hunting ground? In Scientology, the defendant is a celebrity and he’s untouchable."
"They were all drugged. The defendant drugs his victims to be in control. He does this to take away these victims’ ability to consent. This is not about consent. This is not about the defendant misunderstanding these victim’s signals," he continued. "When he drugs them, he’s able to completely physically control them. You don’t want to have sex? You don’t have a choice … The defendant makes that choice for these victims and he does it over and over and over again."
