Sharon Appelbaum Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer At a pre-trial hearing in the Danny Masterson rape case last week, Judge Charlaine Olmedo laid down a basic ground rule. “This is not going to become a trial on Scientology,” she said. But the role of the church will nevertheless be a key theme in the trial, which begins with jury selection on Tuesday. Masterson, the 46-year-old former star of “That ’70s Show,” is facing three charges of forcible rape and a possible sentence of 45 years to life. Masterson is a Scientologist, and all three of his accusers were members of the church at the time of the alleged assaults. Olmedo has indicated that she will allow some testimony about Scientology and its practices, especially to the extent that it helps explain why the accusers delayed going to the police — for two of them, by more than a decade.

Dominic Patten Senior Editor, Legal & TV CriticDanny Masterson will face charges of rape, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled this morning.In a masked and socially distanced hearing in DTLA, Judge Eleanor Hunter rejected the defense stance that the case against the former That 70s Show star should be tossed out under the statute of limitations.

LOS ANGELES -- “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson, charged with raping three women, made his first appearance Friday in a Los Angeles courtroom, where his attorney declared his innocence and denounced the charges against him as “politicized.”Masterson, 44, who has been free on bail since his June arrest, stood in court in a blue suit and face mask next to attorneys Tom Mesereau and Sharon Appelbaum, as the three women sat in the gallery.Masterson did not enter a plea, but Mesereau said the

That '70s Show actor Danny Masterson, charged with raping three women, made his first appearance Friday in a Los Angeles courtroom, where his attorney declared his innocence and denounced the charges against him as "politicized." Masterson, 44, who has been free on bail since his June arrest, stood in court in a blue suit and face mask next to attorneys Tom Mesereau and Sharon Appelbaum, as the three women sat in the gallery.