Court Upholds Masterson’s Rape Convictions, Sentence

A California appeals court upheld Danny Masterson’s 2023 convictions for raping two women and his sentence of 30 years to life. In an 89-page ruling, a three-justice panel unanimously rejected his direct appeal and a separate habeas petition. Masterson, now 50, was charged in 2020 with forcibly raping three women in 2000-2003 assaults; a 2022 trial hung, and a May 2023 retrial convicted him on two counts while the jury did not decide a third. The sentence is two consecutive 15-years-to-life terms. The panel rejected a statute-of-limitations challenge because there were multiple victims, evidence-exclusion claims, and alleged judicial bias against Scientology. Justices wrote that cited trial-judge comparisons of Scientology evidence to gangs and white supremacy showed “no animosity toward Scientology,” and that admitting the evidence for limited purposes “did not contravene the First Amendment.” Cliff Gardner said Masterson “is serving a life sentence for crimes he did not commit.” Eric Multhaup called the ruling “fundamentally wrong” and said treatment of the habeas petition “will be rectified by a petition to the California Supreme Court.” Lawyers will seek high-court review and press habeas claims over what they call unpresented exculpatory evidence, including alleged statements that encounters were consensual; the appeals court was not persuaded.