Danny Masterson to be retried for rape charges
The actor Danny Masterson will be retried for three charges of rape after his first trial concluded with a hung jury in November, according to Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller.
Speaking to the court on Tuesday, Mueller stated: “Our office has decided to retry this case…Not giving these victims another chance with a jury who can sit there and consider all of the evidence – win, lose or draw – that would be an injustice”. His comments came after Mueller claimed that the jurors had ignored a vital piece of supporting evidence that would become more clear in a later trial.
The trial itself concerns Masterson’s arrest in 2020 after being accused of sexually assaulting three women between 2001 and 2003 whilst starring in the sitcom That ’70s Show. Like the actor himself, the three accusers were members of the Church of Scientology, with each woman testifying that they had been punished and assaulted by the controversial religion for coming forward.
In response, Masterson’s attorney Philip Cohen stated that there were inconsistencies in the women’s stories, even saying that Mueller was more focused about the church of Scientology itself rather than proper justice. “It’s not that things were ignored that Mr. Mueller thinks were important or significant,” Cohen stated, adding: “It’s that things were discussed and not believed to be important to decision-making for some of the jurors”.
After accusations of Masterson’s crimes came to light in 2017, he was fired from the Netflix sitcom The Ranch, co-starring Ashton Kutcher and Sam Elliot.
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