Actor Danny Masterson Found Guilty of Two Counts of Rape

On Wednesday, in his rape retrial, Danny Masterson was convicted on two counts, while the jury was deadlocked on a third charge. This marks the second trial for the former That ’70s Show actor within six months, as the first trial resulted in a mistrial.

Masterson, 47, had been facing a potential maximum sentence of 45 years in prison for three counts of rape by force or fear relating to alleged sexual assaults that took place between 2001 and 2003 at his residence in Hollywood Hills.

Following his arrest in June 2020, Masterson has remained free on a $3.3 million bond. Throughout the legal proceedings, he has pleaded not guilty to the charges and consistently asserted his innocence. On May 16, Deputy District Attorney Ariel Anson presented closing arguments to a jury consisting of five women and seven men.

Danny Masterson Found Guilty of Rape

Danny Masterson, the former star of “That ’70s Show,” was convicted Wednesday on two counts of forcible rape. He faces a potential sentence of 30 years to life in prison on the two charges.https://t.co/QloLGffvFA pic.twitter.com/SjHhfDhCPr

— Variety (@Variety) May 31, 2023

“The defendant drugs his victims to gain control. He does this to take away his victims’ ability to consent,” Anson went on to say. “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.”

Philip Cohen, Masterson’s attorney, contended that the district attorney had downplayed the inconsistencies in the women’s testimonies, emphasizing that these discrepancies were crucial in establishing reasonable doubt regarding Masterson’s culpability.

“She did a very nice job of ignoring many of them,” Cohen stated. “What she views as little inconsistencies are at the heart of trying to determine, ‘Is somebody, reliable, credible, believable enough for a criminal conviction?’”

In January, Cohen submitted a motion to dismiss the charges, arguing that a retrial would unlikely yield a different outcome as it would not significantly differ from the previous trial. The motion highlighted the little likelihood of a distinct verdict.

In November, Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo of the Los Angeles Superior Court declared a mistrial after determining that the jurors were “hopelessly deadlocked” in their efforts to reach a unanimous decision.

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