Danny Masterson Rape Trial Tries To Move Beyond Scientology; Jane Doe #1 Testifies About Second Alleged Assault In 2003

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.”

UPDATED with afternoon session: A friend of Haleigh Breest’s who texted her in 2013 that filmmaker Paul Haggis had committed “borderline rape” against Breest dropped the “borderline” qualification in court on Thursday. 

UPDATED with afternoon session: A Los Angeles police officer testified Thursday during Danny Masterson’s rape trial that while didn’t remember the specifics of an initial meeting with Jane Doe #1 in 2004 at the LAPD Hollywood station, he did take her claims about being attacked by Masterson in his Hollywood Hills home in April 2003 “to be a sexual assault.”

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.  

A fourth Jane Doe testifying in the sexual assault civil trial of filmmaker Paul Haggis said Thursday that she was the target of an “attempted rape” by Haggis outside of her apartment building at night after an event at the Toronto Film Festival in 2015. 

“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.

A Canadian woman testifying in the sexual assault civil trial of filmmaker Paul Haggis said Monday that when she rejected Haggis’ sexual advances at a television industry festival in Canada in 2006, he pinned her against a wall in his hotel room, and later groped and shoved her as she prepared to leave the hotel in a taxi.

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.”

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.

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.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Scientology was front and center on Tuesday as the rape trial against “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson began with opening statements. Masterson is a Scientologist and each of his alleged victims was a Scientologist at the time of the alleged rapes, which span from 2001 to 2003. Reinhold Mueller, the lead prosecutor, made several references in his opening statement to church terminology and practices in explaining why two of the accusers delayed reporting to the police. “They can declare you a suppressive person,” Mueller said. “You are essentially an enemy of the church. Your friends, your parents — if you have children who are part of the church — they all have to detach from you. Essentially you lose everything.”

"That ‘70s Show" actor Danny Masterson is set to face three women in court who said he allegedly raped them between 2001 and 2003.  The 46-year-old actor, who is also a Scientologist, has been accused of allegedly raping the women in his Hollywood Hills home amid his rise to fame. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges.  The three women were members of the Church of Scientology; however, they have left since Masterson’s alleged actions.  The "Ranch" actor has been free on a $3.3 million bond since his June 2020 arrest. Opening statements could begin as early as Tuesday in the Los Angeles trial of Masterson, and while a judge has expressed her determination not to have the church become the center of the proceedings, it will inevitably loom large.

With a jury finally selected and seated, Danny Masterson’s trial on multiple rape charges began today with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office putting the Church of Scientology front and center.