2023-09-08 09:38:00
American actor Danny Masterson raped followers of the Church of Scientology of which he is a member.
American actor Danny Masterson, a prominent member of the Church of Scientology known for his role in the series “That ’70s Show”, was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison for two rapes by a Los Angeles court.
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The 47-year-old actor, who was found guilty in June, received the maximum sentence he faced.
During his trial, three women, also Scientologists, accused him of raping them at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003. The jurors agreed with two of them and were not unanimous. necessary to pronounce a verdict on the third.
“Mr. Masterson, you are not the victim,” insisted Judge Charlaine Olmedo, pronouncing the sentence once morest the actor who has always proclaimed his innocence. She also ordered him to be placed on the sex offender register.
At the hearing, the prosecution estimated that the actor had “drugged and raped” his victims.
One of them reacted in court on Thursday, saying that the world is “safer” now that the actor is behind bars.
“You like (…) hurting women,” added the victim, whose anonymity was preserved during the trial. “You’ve lived your life behind a mask, as two people. But the real person is sitting here.”
This affair, triggered in 2017 in the wake of the accusations once morest ex-producer Harvey Weinstein which caused the birth of the #MeToo movement, also raised questions regarding the role of the Church of Scientology.
Two of the complainants notably assured that the organization, very well established in Los Angeles, had dissuaded them from contacting the police.
Mr. Masterson’s defense, on the other hand, insisted that the plaintiffs’ version had evolved over the years and suggested that prejudice once morest Scientology might have motivated the trial.
During a previous trial in November, a different jury refused to reach a verdict, failing to reach unanimity.
Danny Masterson is married to actress Bijou Phillips, with whom he has a 9-year-old daughter. He became known in the late 1990s for his role in the series “That ’70s Show” alongside Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher.
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He also appeared more recently alongside the latter in the Netflix series “The Ranch”, but was dropped in 2017 following the Los Angeles police confirmed they were investigating sexual assault accusations once morest him.
After the actor’s arrest in June 2020, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced that it had dropped two other sexual assault charges once morest him, due to a lack of evidence and because the facts were time-barred. .
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