Danny Masterson sentenced to 30 years in prison
That '70s Show alum Danny Masterson was convicted on two counts of rape in May 2023
After having been convicted on two counts of rape, That ’70s Show alum Danny Masterson has been sentenced today in Los Angeles to 30 years in prison, reports Variety. Per ABC News, Masterson was previously deemed a flight risk and remanded into custody following the conviction, which was handed down in May of this year.
Masterson was first tried on rape charges in November 2022, a case that ended in a mistrial as the jury was deadlocked over the three charges. Amid the retrial in 2023, Masterson was found guilty of forcible rape in regards to the allegations of two women, while the jury was ultimately “hopelessly deadlocked” over charges relating to a third.
According to ABC News, prosecutors said they would not retry Masterson on the third rape charge. However, Judge Charlaine Olmedo allowed all three women (including the Jane Doe whose allegation resulted in a second mistrial) to give victim impact statements at the sentencing. “I still have to contend with what you did to me that night,” Jane Doe #2 said, per Variety. “That takes a life’s worth of therapy to repair. Every time I think I’m okay, that rape comes back to me.”
Sexual assault allegations against Masterson first came to light in 2017 through the work of Tony Ortega, a journalist who specializes in the misdeeds of the Church of Scientology. Masterson is a longtime Scientologist, and many of his accusers who were involved with the Church claimed that their stories were suppressed by the organization and that they felt pressured not to go public. Scientology was subsequently a specter that hung over Masterson’s trial, as was Leah Remini, who supported the women involved and interviewed his accusers on her show Scientology And The Aftermath. (Remini has since filed her own lawsuit against the Church.)
For its part, the organization released a statement disclaiming any involvement with the allegations, posting on its website, “The Church has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of anyone—Scientologists or not—to law enforcement. Quite the opposite, Church policy explicitly demands Scientologists abide by all laws of the land. All allegations to the contrary are totally FALSE.”