UPDATED with defense statement: Danny Masterson was sentenced this morning to 30 years to life in prison for multiple rapes. As the one-time That ’70s Show actor was for both of his trials on…
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Speaking to Masterson directly of a “criminal justice system that you feel has failed you,” Judge Olmedo told him that “you are not the victim here … your actions 20 years ago were criminal.” Masterson was informed that because of his sentence, he will have to register as a sex offender upon parole or release — which he told the court he understood.
Given the maximum sentence allocated under the law, Masterson was taken out of the court by Sheriff’s deputies to begin formally serving his time in a state prison. As the sentence was announced, Masterson’s wife Bijou Phillips and other family members quietly wept in the public gallery.
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After the new trial motion was denied today, victim impact statements from all three Jane Does in the case were read out in court.
“I believed him when he called me stupid, untalented, trash,” said the statement by Jane Doe #3, Masterson’s former girlfriend Christina B. Citing how “charming” Masterson could be and the harassment she says she and her family have suffered from the Church of Scientology since reporting the assaults by Masterson to the police years ago, the Jane Doe said that she was “regularly abused …and raped repeatedly” in the “cycle of abuse” that much of their relationship became. Stating the long term ramifications of the rapes by Masterson, the remarks from the former model were read out by LA County Deputy D.A. Ariel Anson.
“No one is alone,“ said a tearful Jane Doe # 2 of others in the case in her own victim statement. “Nowhere felt safe …I have severe PTSD, waves of panic attacks,” she went on to say. “You did this to me and all your victims intentionally.”
“You have to sit in a cell in shame,” added N. Trout from the podium at the front of the courtroom to a stone-faced Masterson less than 30 feet away.
“I still have to contend with what you did to me …the rape deformed my ability to trust others,” stated the Jane Doe #2 with her voice often breaking. A former and self-described “brainwashed” member of Scientology, Jane Doe #2 also condemned the Church for “protecting its prized members” like the “pathetic” Masterson. She went on to claime, as the separate civil trial alleges, that she had been harassed and stalked by the Church for speaking out over the rape.
Pausing for several times throughout her often harrowing comments to compose herself, Jane Doe #1 gave the final victim statement today.
“I didn’t choose to be born into Scientology, just as I didn’t choose to be raped by Danny Masterson,” Jen B told the court. Telling those assembled how her Scientologist mother has shunned her since she went to the police almost 20 years ago to report being “drugged and raped” by Masterson, the passionate Jane Doe #1 also condemned the Church and its “code” against those who speak out against “untouchables” like Masterson.
“I wished I had reported him earlier to the police,” Jen B said of the years after he raped her. Crying during her 20-minute statement, the Jane Doe also told the court how her eldest daughter was mocked and bullied by schoolmates who called the girl’s mother a “liar” for reporting the rape. Jane Doe #1 noted that her then-nine-year old daughter was included in the NDA she was made to sign decades ago in front of then Masterson lawyer Marty Singer. “This is a real court, this is not a Celebrity Center,” she continued, claiming further harassment during the trials by Masterson family members and Scientology supporters.
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