Danny Masterson’s Rape Retrial Pushed To April Start; TV Cameras Could Be Permitted In Courtroom

Dominic Patten
·3 min read
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Danny Masterson will be facing a retrial on multiple charges of rape a bit later than initially scheduled.

In a downtown hearing Wednesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo ordered the second criminal trial moved to get underway April 11 with jury selection.

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Originally set for March 29, the move was to accommodate potential witnesses. Before the trial begins, various hearings are set for the case, with a motions hearing set for March 27-28.

Thursday’s Masterson hearing at the at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center occurred as a pre-sentencing hearing in Harvey Weinstein’s L.A. rape trial was about to start down the hall, and currently incarcerated former Scrubs EP Eric Weinberg was set elsewhere in the building to receive a preliminary hearing date in his multiple sex crimes case. Masterson was not in court in person today.

With his first criminal trial ending in a deadlocked jury on November 30, 2022 after more than five weeks of often grueling testimony from prosecution witnesses, a second trial was quickly set to begin in late March, but that had always seems more penciled in than inked in.

Unlike the first trial, this retrial could see TV cameras in the courtroom. Although a formal discussion of the matter did not take place this morning, defense sources have told Deadline that they are in favor of the idea. How that goes over with the prosecution and witnesses remains to be determined.

The trio of Jane Does, all former Scientologists, who testified for days last time, are expected to take the stand again this spring.

While never called as a witness in the first trial by the L.A. County District Attorney’s office due to judicial limitations on what she could and could not testify about, it is widely assumed that former high-profile Scientologist Lisa Marie Presley would have been called for the second trial. Of course, regardless of what the rock scion could or could not have revealed on the inner workings of the David Miscavige-led church in regards to allegations it attempted to cover up claims of rape against Scientologist Masterson, Presley’s death on January 12 makes it a moot point now.

First arrested in 2020 over incidents that occurred between 2001 and 2003 in his Hollywood Hills house, Masterson faced up to 45 years in state prison if found guilty on all three rape counts in the first trial. The actor, who was quickly fired from the Netflix comedy The Ranch at the end of 2017 as assault claims became known and who has been excluded from the That 90s Show revival, always has said sex with the Jane Does had been consensual.

Masterson was present each day for the first trial and the jury deliberations that followed and is expected to be in the courtroom for the second trial. He remains free on $3.3 million bail.

The actor is also up against a much-delayed 2019 civil case from a number of the Jane Does and others over claims of harassment and more by Masterson and the Church of Scientology after the now plaintiffs went to the LAPD.

Today’s hearing comes just more than a week after the civil case against Masterson and Scientology saw both sides agree to continue to the stay in that matter as the second criminal trial takes place. However, the Boies Schiller Flexner LLP-represented plaintiffs made clear in a February 1 filing and at a February 7 hearing that it will move for the lifting of the stay later this year regardless of the outcome of the retrial.

That’s a position the church and the actor disagree with, to say the least.

Scientology, its policies and influence played a prominent role in the prosecution’s case in the first criminal trial — despite objections from the defense — and is certain to come up again in the retrial.

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