Danny Masterson has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison in his Los Angeles rape case. The sentencing comes just over three months after he was found guilty of two counts of forcible rape against two women who were former members of the Church of Scientology.
The disgraced That ’70s Show star had been immediately remanded into custody due to the “violent nature of the crimes” following his rape conviction on May 31. After the verdict was read in Los Angeles Superior Court, Masterson’s wife, actress Bijou Phillips, let out a wail, prompting the judge to tell the actress to keep her composure or leave the courtroom.
The jury — comprised of seven women and five men — deliberated for just over a week before finding Masterson guilty. He was facing up to 30 years in prison.
The sentencing culminates a case that first made headlines more than six years ago, after reports broke in March 2018 that Masterson was being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department over multiple sexual assault allegations stemming from the early 2000s. Masterson denied the accusations and he then released a lengthy statement claiming, among other things, that the women only came forward with their accusations after they were contacted by Leah Remini, a former member of the Church of Scientology and driver behind the A&E docuseries, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, which aimed to shed light on the church.
But the fallout was swift, as producers of the hit Netflix show, The Ranch, said in late 2018 that Masterson would no longer be part of the production after producers wrote him off the show. The actor’s legal problems only increased from there, as he was then named in a lawsuit in August 2019, leveled by four women who accused him of sexual assault.
Masterson was arrested on June 17, 2020 and nearly a year later, in May 2021, the actor was ordered to stand trial on charges that he raped three women at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003, after the judge said she “found all three witnesses to be credible and the evidence sufficient to support the charges.”
But weeks after the trial finally started in late 2022, the judge declared a mistrial after the jury remained deadlocked. Jurors in last year’s case had leaned in favor of acquittal on all three counts against him — voting 10-2 on one count, 8-4 on another and 7-5 on the third, but were unable to reach a unanimous decision, leading to the mistrial.
A retrial date was set and Masterson remained free on the $3.3 million bond he first posted way back on June 17, 2020. In the retrial earlier this year, prosecutors sought to paint Masterson as “a monster” whose “play book” included the actor asking his alleged victims, “Would you like a drink?” Prosecutors also alleged Masterson essentially used the Church of Scientology as hunting ground for his next victim.
Following his conviction, Masterson was immediately remanded into custody and, for his safety, was kept away from general population at Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail.
RELATED CONTENT: