Danny Masterson Rape Trial: Jane Doe #3 Spotlights Scientology’s Alleged “Terror Campaign” Against Victims

Prosecutors in Harvey Weinstein’s Los Angeles rape trial said Tuesday that they have decided not to move forward with four counts relating to Jane Doe #5. It means the producer now faces seven counts against the four remaining Jane Does: two counts of rape and five counts of sexual assault.

Danny Masterson is a “defendant for whom no never meant no,” said Deputy LA County District Attorney Reinhold Mueller today in his closing argument in the former That ‘70s Show star’s rape trial. “If you were incapacitated in his bed, he would rape you,” the prosecutor said in a downtown LA courtroom Tuesday of the alleged incidents at Masterson’s Hollywood Hills home in the early years of the 21st century.

Danny Masterson has decided not to take the stand in his own defense in his rape trial.

Lisa Marie Presley will not be taking the stand in Danny Masterson’s rape trial.

A fourth alleged rape victim of Danny Masterson will be permitted to testify in the That ‘70s Show actor’s Los Angeles trial.

Dark for the past two days, Danny Masterson’s rape trial resumed Wednesday with testimony from Jane Doe #2 about the former That ‘70s Show star’s alleged assault of her in 2003. However, before the last of the trio of women at the heart of the case had her time on the stand today, the defense accused former Scientologist and The King of Queens star Leah Remini of potentially denying their client a “fair trial.”

Determined to expunge almost any mention of Scientology from Danny Masterson’s rape trial, defense attorney Phillip Cohen told the jury from the beginning that consistency would be core of his client’s case. That vow was very much on display Thursday as the lawyer sought to spotlight the supposed inconsistencies in the testimony of Jane Doe #3.  

“She had told me not to use the word rape,” a visibly shaken Jane Doe #3 told a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Tuesday in the Danny Masterson trial. “She explained to me that you can’t rape someone you are in a relationship with,” the witness went on to say of a late 2003 conversation with a Scientology executive at the church’s Celebrity Centre in Hollywood.

The beginning of the second week of testimony in Danny Masterson’s rape trial hurtled towards another request from the defense for a mistrial.

The final day of the first full week of testimony in Danny Masterson’s multiple rape trial Friday may have started a bit later than usual, but things got fiery pretty quick.

The cross-examination of Jane Doe #1 in the Danny Masterson rape trial continued Thursday and at times turned into a battle of wills between the witness and the defense, with the judge having to step in on a number of occasions.

A woman broke down on the witness stand Wednesday while giving graphic testimony about a 2003 night when she said she emerged from unconsciousness to find actor Danny Masterson raping her. She is the first of three women who say Masterson raped them to testify during his Los Angeles trial. She said at one point she grabbed Masterson's hair to try to pull him away, but he shoved a pillow into her face.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The first witness in the Danny Masterson trial broke down in tears on Wednesday as she told jurors that the actor had raped her in April 2003. The woman, who prefers to be identified as Jane Doe #1, testified that she remembered waking up in Masterson’s bed, with him on top of her and penetrating her. She said she tried to shove him away with a pillow, but he grabbed her wrists with one hand and grabbed her throat with the other. “I just couldn’t breathe,” she said, crying and daubing her face with a tissue. “He squeezed really, really hard.” She added that she felt “that I was going to die.”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Opening statements began on Wednesday in a civil trial against Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis, who has been accused of raping a publicist nearly a decade ago.  Haleigh Breest, who filed a lawsuit against Haggis in 2017, alleges that the screenwriter and director forced her to perform oral sex and then raped her after she reluctantly agreed to have a drink at his Soho apartment following a movie premiere. Her attorneys asserted to jurors that the director used his fame and position in Hollywood to pressure Breest, who was 26 at the time. “The defendant, Paul Haggis, is a famous movie director and screenwriter. He’s won two Oscars. He’s talented. He’s powerful. He’s also manipulative,” the plaintiff’s lawyer Zoe Salzman told the jurors in a Lower Manhattan courtroom. “The evidence in this case will show Mr. Haggis used his storytelling skills and fame to prey on, manipulate and attack vulnerable young women in the film industry.”

The second day of testimony in the Los Angeles rape trial of Danny Masterson heard evidence of an alleged second sexual assault on a fellow member of his Scientology social circle by the ex-That ’70s Show star .  

Danny Masterson, former star of the long-running sitcom “That ’70s Show”, is about to face three women in court who say he raped them two decades ago at a trial whose key figures are all current or former members of the Church of Scientology.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent CANNES — Framing one of the first independent series co-productions between Brazil and Portugal, Ventre Studio, Coral Europa, Canal Brasil and TVI are co-producing “Godless John,” with Brazilian acting legend Marco Nanini as John of God. Directed by Marina Person (“California”), the three-part series’ boasts a powerful Brazilian cast which has gained international recognition: Bianca Comparato,  star of Netflix hit “3%,” Karine Teles (“Second Mother”) and Antonio Saboia (“Bacurau”). Two Portuguese actresses will be confirmed shortly.

A prosecutor described rape allegations by three women Tuesday against "That ’70s Show" actor Danny Masterson from two decades ago that contained some of the same disturbing elements. Two women became woozy or passed out after a couple drinks and were tossed in his hot tub, Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller said in his opening statement in Masterson's trial.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter A jury has been selected in the Paul Haggis rape trial, which is set to begin with opening remarks on Wednesday morning in New York City. Haggis, the Oscar-winning director of “Crash” and screenwriter of “Million Dollar Baby,” has been accused of raping a publicist named Haleigh Breest after a movie premiere nearly a decade ago. Breest’s lawsuit was filed in 2017 in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which led to an influx of sexual assault allegations against prominent men. Haggis has claimed the encounter, which took place in 2013, was consensual and maintains the rape charge came in retaliation for his decision to leave and then criticize the Church of Scientology. Prior to the trial, Breest’s attorneys sought to block Haggis from arguing that Scientology was orchestrating the allegations in retaliation, saying that Breest and other witnesses have no connection to the church. They also argued that pursuing that line of defense will distract the jury from the particulars of Breest’s allegations. But in September, Judge Sabrina Kraus ruled that Haggis will be able to use that argument.

That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson‘s rape trial began today (October 18) with opening statements.