Mistrial in Masterson case
The Canadian Press – Nov 30, 2022 / 4:26 pm | Story: 399168
Picture: The Canadian Press
FILE – Actor Danny Masterson seems on the CMT Music Awards in Nashville, Tenn., on June 7, 2017. Jurors on the rape trial of the “That ’70s Present” star mentioned Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, that they’re deadlocked, however a choose instructed them they haven’t deliberated lengthy sufficient for her to declare a mistrial. (Picture by Wade Payne/Invision/AP, File)
A choose declared a mistrial Wednesday after jurors mentioned they had been hopelessly deadlocked on the trial of “That ’70s Present” actor Danny Masterson, who was charged with three rapes.
Los Angeles Superior Courtroom Choose Charlaine F. Olmedo had ordered the jurors to take Thanksgiving week off and hold deliberating after they instructed her on Nov. 18 that they may not come to a consensus in regards to the rape allegations after a monthlong trial through which the Church of Scientology performed a supporting function.
Masterson, 46, was charged with the rape of three girls, together with a former girlfriend, in his Hollywood Hills house between 2001 and 2003. He pleaded not responsible and his lawyer mentioned the acts had been all consensual. All three girls had been members of the church on the time, and Masterson stays one.
“I discover the jurors hopelessly deadlocked,” Choose Charlaine Olmedo declared after inquiring whether or not there was something the courtroom may do to maneuver them nearer to reaching a unanimous choice.
Jurors mentioned they’d voted seven instances Tuesday and Wednesday with out having the ability to attain consensus on any of the three counts.
The jury foreman mentioned solely two jurors voted for conviction on the primary depend, 4 voted for conviction on the second depend and 5 voted to convict on the third depend.
Jurors had been compelled to begin deliberations from scratch on Monday when two needed to be dismissed as a result of they got here down with COVID-19. They deliberated for 2 days however nonetheless couldn’t attain verdicts.
The end result was a severe setback for prosecutors, and for the three girls who mentioned they had been in search of lengthy overdue justice.
The proceedings passed off amid a flurry of instances on each coasts with #MeToo connotations, together with the Los Angeles trial of Harvey Weinstein simply down the corridor from Masterson’s. In New York, Kevin Spacey received a sexual misconduct conduct lawsuit introduced by actor Anthony Rapp in New York, and a jury ordered director and screenwriter Paul Haggis to pay $10 million in a civil case there.
