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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Matt Watts

Danny Masterson: Jury fails to reach verdict in That 70s Show actor rape trial

A judge declared a mistrial after jurors became "hopelessly deadlocked" in a rape case against That '70s Show actor Danny Masterson.

Mr Masterson, who is best known for his role in the US sitcom, was accused of raping three women at his home in Hollywood in the early 2000s.

He had denied the charges, saying he was being persecuted for his membership of the Church of Scientology.

All three women were members of the church at the time and Masterson remains one.

His lawyer said the acts were all consensual.

Jurors said they had voted seven times on Tuesday and Wednesday without being able to reach consensus on any of the three counts.

A retrial has been scheduled for March.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo had previously ordered the jurors to take Thanksgiving week off and keep deliberating after they told her on November 18 that they could not come to a consensus about the rape allegations after a month-long trial.

"I find the jurors hopelessly deadlocked," the judge declared after inquiring whether there was anything the court could do to move them closer to reaching a unanimous decision.

Jurors were forced to start deliberations from scratch on Monday when two had to be dismissed because they came down with Covid.

They deliberated for two days but still could not reach verdicts.

The result was a serious setback for prosecutors and for the three women who said they were seeking long overdue justice.

The accusations were made in 2017, during the #MeToo movement which saw many Hollywood stars accused of sexual assault.

Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller claimed it had taken two decades for the case to get to trial because the church had tried to keep the women quiet.

The Church has strongly denied pressurising victims.

As a result of the accusations, Mr Masterson was written out of the Netflix show The Ranch. He responded at the time by saying that he had not been charged or convicted of a crime, and that in the climate at the time “it seems as if you are presumed guilty the moment you are accused”.

If convicted, he could face 45 years to life in prison.

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