That ’70s Show star Danny Masterson will go on trial in October

Danny Masterson will stand trial in October for multiple rape allegations after a judge refused his request for another delay after his lawyers claimed they are too busy dealing with the sexual assault case of Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer.

Masterson, 46, who found fame on That ’70s Show in the early 2000s, is accused of raping three women between 2001 and 2003, at the height of the show’s success.

The actor’s trial has already taken two years to get underway. It was scheduled to begin in August, but his legal team won a six-week delay, pushing it to October. 

Earlier this month, the team asked for another delay – until late January – with attorney Shawn Holley claiming that they are too busy with Bauer’s case. 

But at a moved-up hearing on Friday, Judge Charlaine Olmedo denied the request for the delay, journalist Tony Ortega reported. 

Pre-trial motions will start October 3 and jury selection will begin on October 11.  

Masterson’s request for a delay in his rape trial was first reported by journalist Tony Ortega on his substack ‘The Underground Bunker’ in early August. 

The actor’s requested the trial start date be pushed until January next year because his attorney, Shawn Holley, is also representing Bauer against claims he sexually assaulted a woman.

Judge Olmedo on Friday denied Masterson’s request for the delayed trial start date. 

Bauer, who is also being represented by Masterson’s attorneys, was accused of sexually assaulting a woman last June. He has since been placed on administrative leave by the Dodgers. 

The 324-game suspension is the longest since Major League Baseball adopted its new domestic violence policy in 2015, Ortega reported. 

In response to Masterson’s request in early August, one of the victims involved – Jane Doe #1 – wrote a letter saying any further delays would not only harm her, but also the other women involved.

‘My life has been tortured for so many years as a result of what happened to me. Finally, the day of justice was coming and now I see there is another excuse to delay justice, which will only cause greater damage to me and the other victims.

‘I hope the court sees that the matters in this trial, the rights of the victims, and the need for finality of this important matter, trump a scheduling conflict related to baseball,’ she said.

Following the news of Masterson’s request for a delay, Jane Doe #1 put out a statement that not only said that his trial should not be delayed, but that they planned to be in court for the scheduled August 17 hearing that would consider Holley’s motion.

Ortega learned that shortly after the statement, Holley requested the hearing be moved up from August 17 to last Friday, allegedly to avoid a spectacle, Ortega reported.    

Masterson is also being sued, along with the Church of Scientology, of which he is a member, by four women over similar allegations.

Three of the women involved in the lawsuit used to belong to the church, too. They allege that the church tried to cover up their allegations against Masterson for years.

The Church of Scientology has been fighting unsuccessfully to persuade the judge to dismiss their claims.

In January, a court of appeal in California ruled that Scientology’s confidentiality agreement with its members did not apply in the harassment lawsuit filed in 2019 by Chrissie Carnell Bixler, her husband Cedrick Bixler-Zavala, Marie Bobette Riales and two other anonymous victims, known as Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2.

The court said that it was a violation of the accusers’ First Amendment rights to expect them to deal with arbitration from a church they are no longer members of.

Masterson was arrested in June 2020 and is accused of three rapes that occurred between 2001 and 2003 at his home in the Hollywood Hills. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

If convicted on the charges, Masterson could face up to 45 years in prison.

Masterson grew up as a member of Scientology. He told Spin Magazine in 2005: ‘I’d be a flaming crackhead if I didn’t study Scientology.’ When asked in the same interview about allegations that the church is a cult, he said: ‘A cult is a secret society. There’s nothing secret about Scientology.’

Jane Doe #1 testified last year at a preliminary hearing that in 2003, Masterson threw her in his jacuzzi, raped her, and then pulled a gun, telling her: ‘Don’t say a f**king word. You’re not going to tell anybody.’

She claimed he gave her a ‘fruity drink’ and that immediately after drinking it, she began to feel sick and dizzy.

She also claims he unzipped her pants and tossed her into a hot tub. Then, she says, he took her to a bathroom in his home and felt her breasts despite her ‘punching’ him.

She testified that Masterson then took her to his bedroom and tossed her onto his bed, where he raped her ‘vaginally and anally’ while brandishing a pistol.

She said she was losing consciousness at the time but came to when he was ‘inside’ of her.

‘When I came to, he was on top of me and he was inside of me. The first thing I recall is grabbing his hair to pull him off,’ she said previously.

She also alleged that he wielded the pistol and said: ‘Don’t f*****g move. Don’t say a word.’

Masterson’s attorney, however, had argued the two had consensual sex. They pointed out that testimony that Masterson threatened her with a gun hadn’t appeared in an initial police report in 2004.

The woman also claimed she had to overcome objections from the church to report her rape to the LAPD in 2004. 

In addition, all three women testified last year that the church has a policy forbidding them from turning in other Scientologists to the police, which prevented them from reporting Masterson sooner.

The church, the judge said at the time, ‘does not only discourage but prevents reporting of fellow Scientologists to law enforcement.’

When they filed in 2019, the church argued that they signed agreements to settle any claims in front of a panel of Scientologists when they joined, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In a second motion, filed by Masterson, attorneys argued that the two other women’s allegations were vastly different and deserved separate trials.

It also argued that one of the women’s cases did not meet the definition of ‘forcible rape,’ however, Olmedo has already ruled that her case does meet it.

Jane Doe #3 described how she woke up naked to find Masterson raping her and when she tried to fight him off, he hit and spit on her, calling her ‘white trash.’

Masterson’s lawyers argued that she had reframed the incident in recent years only after another alleged rape she reported could not lead to charges.

Jane Doe #2 told a LA court last year how he ‘ravaged me like a rag doll and pounded her from behind like a jackhammer.’

Defense attorneys said she knew she was going to his house for sexual purposes, that she voluntarily stayed most of the night, and that she sought a dating relationship with him that she did not get.

All three said before each alleged rape, Masterson – who has pleaded not guilty to all charges – gave them a drink, after which they felt ‘blurry’ and disoriented.

In an earlier filing to dismiss the charges, one of Masterson’s attorneys, Sharon Appelbaum, challenged and disputed the stories of the three women, claiming there were ‘inconsistencies’ between what they told police and what they said in the witness box.

‘The prosecution did not establish that a crime had been committed in any of these cases, ‘ she argued. ‘We believe that Mr. Masterson has been unjustly accused in this case for actions he did not do…Rape has not been proven in any of these cases.

‘Mr. Masterson believes he had consensual sex’ with Jane Does #1 and #2…and the alleged rape of the third woman ‘did not occur at all.’

Appelbaum has talked about a ‘sisterhood’ between the three women ‘who seem to want to take Mr. Masterson down. The communicate with each other. They speak often, even though the police asked them not to.’

She accused the three – who are suing Masterson in a separate civil case – of ‘colluding’ with each other and ‘changing their stories,’ which she said have become ‘more and more similar’ over recent years.

‘All three of these ladies have monetary motives. They have filed a lawsuit against Mr. Masterson,’ she said last year at the preliminary hearing.

Responding to Appelbaum’s accusations about collusion, Mueller told the court: ‘From the testimony I heard it was anything but collusion. These were not rehearsed statements. They were heartfelt.’

And to the claim that there were inconsistencies in the alleged rape accounts of the three women, Mueller added: ‘If there is one thing that is consistent her it’s that the defendant [Masterson] was consistent in what he did to these girls.’