TV star Danny Masterson has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women.
The 47-year-old Scientologist did not react as Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo announced her decision – 15 years for each rape, with the sentences to run consecutively.
His wife, 43-year-old actress Bijou Phillips, who has stood by him in two criminal trials, looked dejected as she sat among a somber group of Scientology friends and family members.
And she waved at Masterson – who responded by blowing her a kiss – before being led back to the cells.
Before handing down the sentence, Judge Olmedo told Masterson that although he had steadfastly maintained his innocence, he was not the victim here. Your actions 20 years ago were criminal and that is why you are here today.
Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women. His wife, 43-year-old actress Bijou Phillips, who has stood by him in two criminal trials, looked dejected as she sat among a somber group of Scientology friends and family members
The 47-year-old Scientologist actor, best known for his role as wise-cracking Steven Hyde on “That ’70s Show,” was found guilty by a jury of two counts of rape last May. He is depicted in a sketch during his trial
Masterson played the wisecracking Steven Hyde on That ’70s Show from 1998 to 2006
Masterson had two trials. His first trial, six months earlier, ended in a mistrial after a different jury was hopelessly deadlocked on all three rape charges.
Masterson was free on $3.3 million bail in both trials. However, that freedom ended with his double conviction on May 31 and he has been incarcerated at the infamous Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles ever since.
The actor has not been pictured since.
Masterson’s victims tearfully told the courtroom how he ruined their lives.
“You are pathetic, disturbed and extremely violent and the world is a safer place when you are in prison,” Jane Doe No. 2 said, looking directly at the actor, dressed in a gray suit and gray open-neck shirt.
“You are a true coward and a heartless monster,” Jane Doe #1 added. “I think life is an appropriate sentence.”
While Bijou Philips watched earlier, trying to hide her feelings with large dark glasses, Jane Doe No. 2 stared at Masterson as she told him, “I don’t have to endure your shame anymore.” You have to wear it. This means you have to sit in a cell.
“I’m still coming to terms with what you did to me… in that brutal way.” She said the emotional and mental damage she suffered from the rape was “a lifetime of reparation,” adding adding that Masterson was “empowered and protected” by Scientology because of his fame in the Church.
And she said she was “angry” when she learned there were other rape victims. After years of remaining silent at the church’s urging, she finally decided to report Masterson to the police.
“I decided to report him with the full understanding that my life would be destroyed again (by violating the Do Not Tell Doctrine) of Scientology, which has terrorized me ever since.”
Jane Doe #2 addressed Masterson directly again and told him, “When you raped me, you took away my ability to have stability in my life for decades.” After you raped me, I stopped life.’
She said her “promising” acting career “collapsed” after the “heinous attack took my life.”
“I know you’re proud of hurting women.” You treated me like I was less than trash. Your emptiness and cowardice will be your true legacy.
“You are pathetic, disturbed and extremely violent and the world is safer with you in prison.” I wouldn’t wish rape on my worst enemy.
“You thought the law didn’t apply to you. You acted smug and defiant.’
She concluded her “victim impact statement” by saying, “I forgive you, although she has suffered two decades of trauma since Masterson brutally raped her.”
Prosecutor Reinhold Müller speaks in front of the courthouse after the verdict was announced
A prison bus takes Danny Masterson back to prison after his sentencing on Thursday
“You are pathetic, disturbed and extremely violent and the world is a safer place when you are in prison,” Jane Doe No. 2 said, looking directly at the actor, dressed in a gray suit and gray open-neck shirt. A court sketch from his trial is shown
On Thursday, in shackles, he made the short journey from prison to Courtroom 105 on the ninth floor of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, where he faced his victims.
A close friend told that Ms Bijou “felt like she was grieving a death” as she awaited her husband’s sentencing.
“Currently Bijou is circling the drain, full of emotion and no emotion at all,” they said.
“She’s a shell of who she was.” She’s really trying to be strong for her daughter as she tries to figure out what life will be like for her.
“It can only be compared to a divorce or death because she couldn’t be with Danny like she used to be.”
The 60-year-old actor Billy Baldwin, who is married to Bijou’s actress half-sister Chynna Phillips (55), was also often in court during the trials.
Masterson was charged with three aggravated rapes between 2001 and 2003, all at his home in the Hollywood Hills. He denied all three counts and claimed the sex was consensual.
His accusers – whom identifies only as Jane Does 1 through 3 – are all former Scientologists and are also suing the actor and the Church of Scientology in civil court, saying they have been harassed and intimidated since reporting them to police. A status hearing on this civil case is scheduled for September 26.
Scientology was the elephant in the room in both processes. All three women said the reason it took them so long to report him to police was their fear of retaliation from the Church of Scientology.
They said that church officials had warned them against using the word “rape,” that handing over a fellow Scientologist to law enforcement would be considered a “serious crime,” and that if they disobeyed that doctrine they would be labeled a “suppressive person.” ‘ could be explained and expelled from the Church and left alone, cut off from family and friends.
In the second trial, prosecutors placed much more emphasis than in the first trial on their allegations that Masterson drugged his victims by spiking their drinks before raping them.
Another difference between the two trials was that the second trial added the testimony of another “victim” – a woman who claimed Masterson raped her in Toronto in 2000, although he was never charged with the alleged assault.
Bijou must come to terms with the prospect of raising her child alone after her 47-year-old husband was convicted of two counts of rape in a Los Angeles court in May
A judge ordered his detention and set a hearing for August 4. Bijou stood at her husband’s side
The 60-year-old actor Billy Baldwin, who is married to Bijou’s actress half-sister Chynna Phillips (55), was also often in court during the trials
Of the two women Masterson was convicted of raping, Jane Doe 1 testified that she was at the actor’s home in April 2003, where he gave her a fruity red drink with vodka that made her feel light-headed, then placed her in his hot tub threw and she carried upstairs where she passed out and woke up to see him raping her
She fought back, pressing a pillow in his face, she told the jury. But he pushed it in her face again, choking her and she passed out again.
When she woke up, she said, Masterson opened a bedside drawer and pulled out a gun, which he brandished and told her, “Don’t move.”
Jane Doe 2 – who the actor was also convicted of raping – met Masterson at a bar in 2003 and gave him her phone number. He called her and invited her to his home.
She went, and after having a drink and soaking in his hot tub, found herself with him in his bathroom shower, where, she told jurors, he “suddenly shoved his penis into her vagina… She said no, me.” said no. ‘Sex.’
Leah Remini and Danny Masterson pictured at a benefit dinner and concert for Project Restart and the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project on November 3, 2007 in Las Vegas
Scientology was the focus of both criminal trials. All three women testified that the reason it took them so long to report him to the police was their fear of retaliation from the Church of Scientology
Jane Doe #1 broke down in tears as she reluctantly recounted the night in September 2002 when she woke up to find Masterson was allegedly anally penetrating her
They ended up in Masterson’s bed, where, despite her protests, he turned her over and began hitting her from behind “like a jackhammer,” she testified, adding that she felt “like a limp rag doll.”
Jane Doe 3 – against whom Masterson was charged with rape but not convicted – lived with Masterson for six years. She was only 17 when she met him and he persuaded her to become a Scientologist, she told the court.
About a year into their relationship, he became very “controlling … and very sexually aggressive” — she would often wake up at night and he would be laying on top of her and having sex with her, she said.
In one such incident in November 2001, when she woke up to find he was having sex with her, she said no and tried to push him away, the court learned.
When that didn’t work, she pulled his hair. But he retaliated by slapping her in the face and calling her “white trash,” she told the jury.
Masterson’s attorney, Philip Cohen, complained of “inconsistencies” in the women’s testimonies and statements to police and accused them of “obvious fabrications.”
And he claimed the three “worked together,” choreographing and “altering” their rape stories to help get Masterson convicted – which in turn could help them win a large sum of money in the civil lawsuit they are filing against him and Scientology -Church have made efforts.