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Revealed Could 16, 2023 • 4 minute learn
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LOS ANGELES — Danny Masterson drugged ladies’s drinks so he may rape them, then relied on his prominence within the Church of Scientology to keep away from penalties for years, a prosecutor informed jurors Tuesday in closing arguments on the actor’s trial.
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“The defendant medicine his victims to achieve management. He does this to remove his victims’ skill to consent,” Deputy District Legal professional Ariel Anson informed the jury of seven males and 5 ladies. “You don’t wish to have intercourse? You don’t have a alternative. The defendant makes that alternative for these victims. And he does it over and over and over.”
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The 47-year-old former star of “That ’70s Present” is on rape trial for a second time after the primary led to a mistrial in December, with a jury hopelessly deadlocked on all counts. The brand new jury is anticipated to get the case Wednesday morning when prosecutors full their ultimate rebuttal.
Masterson has pleaded not responsible to raping three ladies at his dwelling between 2001 and 2003. His lawyer, Philip Cohen informed jurors throughout his closing that inconsistencies within the ladies’s tales that he mentioned Anson downplayed are important and may make it straightforward for jurors to have cheap doubt of Masterson’s guilt.
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“She did a really good job of ignoring a lot of them,” Cohen mentioned. “What she views as little inconsistencies are on the coronary heart of attempting to find out, ‘Is any person, dependable, credible, plausible sufficient for a prison conviction?”‘
He dwelled on one lady testifying that Masterson pulled a gun from a nightstand at one level throughout the evening she mentioned she was attacked, although there was no point out of it within the report from her preliminary police interview. She insisted she had informed police about it then. Cohen mentioned that alone was sufficient to crater her credibility and introduce cheap doubt that Masterson is responsible.
Anson took purpose on the Church of Scientology, of which Masterson is a member and all three ladies are former members, all through her argument, emphasizing that church authorities saved the ladies from accepting what had occurred to them and from reporting it to police for years.
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“The church taught his victims, ‘Rape isn’t rape, you induced this, and above all, you’re by no means allowed to go to regulation enforcement,”‘ she mentioned. “In Scientology, the defendant is a celeb and he’s untouchable.”
The church has denied having any coverage discouraging members from going to regulation enforcement.
Actor Leah Remini, a former member of the church who has change into considered one of its most outstanding public opponents, sat within the courtroom, her arm round one of many accusers, who testified throughout each trials that Masterson raped her in 2003.
“Why have we heard a lot about Scientology?” Cohen mentioned in his closing. “May or not it’s as a result of there are issues with the federal government’s case?”
He emphasised an instruction that mentioned jurors couldn’t maintain his faith as an indication towards his character, and a stipulation from either side that no proof was offered at trial that Masterson had harassed the ladies.
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Cohen mentioned Claire Headley, a former Scientology official who testified as a prosecution knowledgeable in a component not allowed on the first trial, had credibility issues primarily based on an unsuccessful lawsuit towards the church and a relationship with Remini.
“She got here with a bias and a motive,” Cohen mentioned.
Anson guided jurors by the testimonies of all three ladies. One is a former girlfriend who mentioned Masterson raped her 5 years into their relationship in 2001. The 2 others are ladies he knew by social circles surrounding the church.
The Related Press doesn’t usually title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused.
All three testified that they turned unusually groggy and had gaps in consciousness and reminiscence after consuming drinks Masterson gave them. Los Angeles Superior Courtroom Choose Charlaine Olmedo allowed the prosecution throughout the second trial to immediately say he drugged the ladies, after solely permitting descriptions of their states on the first.
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There is no such thing as a forensic proof of any drugging. The investigation that led to Masterson’s arrest didn’t start for about 15 years after the ladies say they have been raped. Anson informed jurors the ladies’s accounts and the testimony of a police toxicology knowledgeable who described signs ought to be sufficient.
“What just isn’t right here is proof of medication,” Cohen mentioned in response. “Miss Anson offered a case as if she was arguing a drugging case. Possibly it’s as a result of there isn’t a proof of pressure or violence.”
Cohen argued that the ladies contaminated their testimony by speaking with one another after the police investigation started in 2016.
Anson mentioned throughout her presentation that the ladies had no motive to lie and that it’s not believable that they have been participating in a “grand conspiracy” to get Masterson.
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Cohen mentioned he was “not claiming some grand conspiracy.”
“It’s a tweak right here, a massaging a phrase there, a saying one thing over right here,” the defence lawyer mentioned. “That’s what contamination actually is.”
Cohen additionally mentioned civil lawsuits introduced by the ladies are proof they’ve a monetary incentive.
“When you’re on the lookout for motives why they won’t be truthful, there are motives far and wide,” he mentioned.
Fewer than half of jurors voted to convict Masterson on any rely after the primary trial.
His lawyer emphasised Tuesday that even when they imagine it’s possible he’s responsible, they have to acquit.
“When you say, ‘I believe he’s in all probability responsible,’ you already know what that results in?” Cohen mentioned, then made a buzzer sound. “Not responsible.”
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