Danny Masterson is not getting out of prison anytime soon after an appeals court denied his attempt to overturn his 2023 conviction.
Us can confirm on Tuesday, October 27, that a three-judge panel rejected each of Masterson’s arguments for an appeal.
According to the 89-page ruling viewed by Us, the panel confirmed his 30 years to life prison sentence, after Masterson was initially found guilty of two counts of forcible rape, garnering two consecutive sentences of 15 years to life on each.
Masterson was found guilty in spring 2023 of raping two women at his home in 2003. The jurors were unable to reach a verdict on the third count involving the That ‘70s Show alum’s former girlfriend, who alleged she was sexually assaulted by the actor in 2001.
In Masterson’s appeal, his attorneys argued that the trial judge, Judge Charlaine Olmedo, was biased against Scientology, which the accused practices.
The Ranch alum’s legal team claimed that Olmedo made a series of remarks during trial about the religion that allegedly affected his First Amendment rights.
During the trial, Olmedo allowed a former Scientologist to testify as an expert on the church’s beliefs and practices.
The prosecution claimed that the victims, who were all part of the church but have since left, didn’t report the alleged attacks right away due to fear of retaliation for violating a Scientology rule about going to the police.
The panel, however, found on Tuesday that the judge’s statements showed “no animus or departure from neutrality regarding Scientology.”
“The jury in this case was not asked to determine the truth or falsity of Scientology doctrine or beliefs,” the appeals court wrote. “Admission of Scientology evidence for those purposes did not contravene the First Amendment.”
Masterson’s lawyers also claimed his conviction should be reversed back on the 10-year statute of limitations period, which they claimed “barred defendant’s prosecution for forcible rape.”
The appeals court denied the claim, stating that it was “inapplicable where, as here, forcible rape offenses were committed against more than one victim.”
Additionally, Masterson’s legal team argued that the case be overturned due to evidentiary rulings, claiming their client’s request for judicial notice of code of civil procedure “violated his federal and state constitutional rights to confrontation and due process,” per the filing.
Once again, the judges denied Masterson’s request, ruling that it was not a violation of “his federal or state constitutional rights to confrontation and due process.”
The appeals court argued that the trial court’s decision to exclude certain evidence concerning the possible effect on the victims’ pending civil action “did not preclude defendant from presenting evidence of the victims’ possible financial motives as a basis for challenging their credibility.”
Furthermore, the panel denied a separate habeas corpus petition that claimed Masterson didn’t get an adequate defense.
The actor’s appellate attorneys, Cliff Gardner and Eric Multhaup, revealed on Tuesday that they will appeal his case to the California Supreme Court and continue pursuing a separate habeas petition.
“The appellate court’s decision to deny this appeal and deny the habeas corpus petition ignores the extraordinary new evidence that has been before them for more than a year. That evidence includes statements by both complaining witnesses that their sexual experiences with Danny Masterson were both consensual and positive,” Gardner said in a statement obtained by Us. “Danny is serving a life sentence for crimes he did not commit. No one in California — not defendants and not victims who have actually been the victim of a sex crime — is safer by virtue of today’s unfortunate decision.”
Multhaup, meanwhile, called the denial of the appeal and the habeas corpus petition “fundamentally wrong.”
“The habeas petition contains striking evidence of innocence that was never presented to the jury. For example, long before she claimed forcible rape, one of the complaining witnesses confided in two of her closest friends that her sexual experience with Danny Masterson was her ‘best sex ever.’ Now, years later, she has accused him of forcible rape and is suing him for damages,” the attorney alleged in a statement on Tuesday. “The other complaining witness — again long before she made any claim of forcible rape — had a catch-up conversation with a longtime friend who had also had sex with Danny Masterson, and they compared notes about their respective experiences in a light-hearted and favorable manner. Years later, she too accused him of forcible rape and has joined the civil lawsuit suing him for damages. None of this evidence was presented to the jury. None of it.”
Multhaup added: “The Court of Appeal did not address any of the exculpatory evidence that was contained in the habeas corpus petition, and instead justified the denial with a one-paragraph summary of the one-sided evidence presented by the prosecution. This cursory treatment reflects poorly on the administration of justice in the Court of Appeal, and will be rectified by a petition to the California Supreme Court.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
