The trial of actor Danny Masterson began this week with emotional testimony from one of the women who has accused the TV star of rape – marking the latest of several high profile cases now under way in Hollywood, and one in which the Church of Scientology has come under scrutiny.
Inside a Los Angeles courtroom, just down the hall from the trial of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, the first of Masterson’s accusers took the stand on Tuesday and Wednesday. She tearfully recounted a 2003 incident when she says that the actor, best known for his role in That ’70s Show, raped her.
The woman, who came to Masterson’s Hollywood home to pick up a set of keys, told the court how she floated in and out of consciousness after consuming only about half of an alcoholic drink provided by Masterson. She testified that Masterson, now 46, smothered her with a pillow as she tried to pull him away and how she thought “that he was going to kill me”. Hearing noises outside his door, the actor pulled a gun out of a bedside table during the attack and ordered her to be quiet, she said.
Masterson faces three counts of rape for alleged sexual assaults that took place in 2001 and 2003 involving three different women, including a longtime girlfriend, an acquaintance and a close friend of his personal assistant. The actor has denied the allegations and his lawyer has claimed Masterson had consensual sex with the women. His lawyer has also argued the alleged victims undermined their credibility by speaking with each other despite a detective’s warning not to do so.
Masterson’s trial comes as other Hollywood figures face legal proceedings for alleged sexual assaults. Jury selection in the LA trial of Harvey Weinstein, who faces 11 sexual assault charges for alleged attacks against five women, also began this week. In New York, the screenwriter and director Paul Haggis was on civil trial for alleged sexual assault. Actor Kevin Spacey was cleared on Thursday by a jury in a civil trial of molesting actor Anthony Rapp, sparing him from paying $40m in damages.
Scientology takes center stage
In the trials of both Haggis and Masterson, Scientology is playing a major role. Haggis, a former Scientologist who has since become a vocal critic of the institution, argues it is behind the allegations against him.
Masterson is a prominent Scientologist and two of his accusers, former members themselves, say the church discouraged them from contacting law enforcement for years. They were told they would be ostracized for confiding in others about the incidents, Reinhold Mueller, the deputy district attorney, said on Tuesday.
“You essentially become an enemy of the church,” Mueller said. “You lose it all.”
The woman who testified this week told the court that after she told mutual friends about the attack, they filed “knowledge reports” with the church, which indicated their unhappiness with her. An ethics officer summoned her and forced her to make peace with Masterson.
“You can never be a victim,” the woman said. “No matter what happens, you’re always responsible.”
The woman said her relationship with Masterson had been uneasy since the two had sex several months earlier, an incident she told police was consensual in 2004 but later viewed as nonconsensual.
She signed a non-disclosure agreement with Masterson in 2004, and accepted $400,000 over the course of a year, amid fears the church would malign her as a “suppressive person”, she testified. She told the courtroom she feared retaliation from “about half this courtroom” for coming forward.
The judge in Masterson’s trial said she would permit limited discussion of Scientology, but would not allow the church to become a de facto defendant. The actor’s lawyers had sought to prevent any mention of the church in the trial and previously claimed that the prosecution was tainted by antireligious bias against Scientology.
“The trial is not about Scientology. The trial is about Danny Masterson. But that being said, the facts of what happened, why certain things happened, who was involved … it’s so interwoven that certain parts of the trial will necessarily have to involve Scientology,” Brian Kent, an attorney representing some of Masterson’s accusers in a civil lawsuit, told the Los Angeles Times.
Current and former members of the church, which has a strong presence in Los Angeles and many famous followers, are on the witness list, including former member Lisa Marie Presley, a friend of one of the alleged victims.