Law&Crime Sidebar - Judge Issues Rulings in 'That '70s Show' Actor's Rape Trial About Victim Testimony, Scientology

Episode Date: October 5, 2022

The judge presiding over "That '70s Show" actor Danny Masterson's sexual assault trial issued key rulings about victim testimony and Scientology. The Law&Crime Network's Angenette Levy and founder of The Underground Bunker Tony Ortega weigh in on the developments.GUEST:Tony Ortega: https://tonyortega.org/LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael Deininger & Logan HarrisGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. The judge presiding over Danny Masterson's sexual assault trial issues a number of rulings, including who can and cannot testify. So how will this impact the case? I'm Janette Levy, and welcome to this latest edition of Law and Crimes Sidebar Podcast. Danny Masterson, of course, is a member of the Church of Scientology. He also starred in the TV show, that 70s show, and he's facing a number of sexual assault charges in Los Angeles, and that trial is scheduled to start next week. And joining us is somebody who has covered this case extensively.

Tony Ortega is with the Underground Bunker Substack page, and he is here to talk with us about these key rulings. Tony, welcome back to Sidebar. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me back, Angelette. And we want to mention really quickly that Tony is at a pediatric dentist office. So we might hear some weird noises, just so everybody's aware. But we wanted to talk to Tony about this. So, Tony, one of these key rulings from the judge was the fact that an accuser from 1996 will not be allowed to testify for the prosecution as the state wanted. So tell us a little bit about the accuser and why this person is not being allowed to testify. Yeah, the case as it stands is three women. Danny's accused of forcible rape of three different women who were all Scientologists,

and the incidents happened between 2001 and 2003. What the prosecution wanted to do was introduce what's called a prior bad act witness or 1108 witness under California law. So even though this other woman, he's not being charged, they want to bring her in to show a pattern. And, And she accuses Danny of assaulting her in 1996 when Danny was only about 20 years old. This woman is a very interesting woman. I'm not naming her because of her allegations at this point. And she may not come into the trial at all now. The judge ruled that her allegations, she would not be a witness unless the defense brought it up.

And I don't see the defense wanting to do that. I think part of the reason the prosecution wanted to bring her in is that the thing the prosecutor is trying to do is show a power. that all of these women felt like they were suddenly drugged with something, they were in and out of consciousness, and when they came to, Danny was on top of them, having sex with them. So that's consistent with what this woman said in 1996. That's why they wanted to bring her in. I believe the judge decided not to because she felt that they already have three cases they're dealing with, and that's going to take a lot of time. This other acts evidence can be really dangerous because there are cases where convictions have later been overturned because of this

type of evidence. I mean, it has to be really relevant and close to these issues at hand in the trial. Yeah, I think that amount of time that passed between her incident in 1996 and then these three that were clustered around, you know, five or six years later, I definitely think that's part of the reason why the judge decided not to include it and probably for the reasons that you just said. And another thing that you mentioned I thought was interesting, you said that it will only come in if the defense brings it up. That's highly unlikely. You wrote that in your blog. Obviously, if the defense opens the door, the prosecution's going to walk right through it. And that's the case with a couple of things she mentioned today that she excluded, but always with the disclaimer that if the other

side brings it up, of course, then it's fair game. So she took, you know, let the defense know that there are these sort of minds they need to stay away from if they don't want it to be part of the trial. And there was another ruling about Scientology itself. The defense, I guess, wanted the religion referred to as the club or the church. So tell us a little bit about that argument and what the judge determined. Right. At the preliminary hearing a year ago, when the women first got a chance to testify, I think we were all surprised at just how much Scientology was allowed to be a part of this case. It is a very important element in this case because, for example, these women say they didn't come forward sooner because they feared retaliation by the church. So that's been a big part of the

case so far. And Danny's defense was arguing that that's unfair to him and that Scientology should not be mentioned. And they were particularly unhappy that in the mayor's race right now in Los Angeles, one of the candidates, Rick Caruso, has been airing ads, you know, showing that his opponent, Karen Bass, 12 years ago, gave a speech at a Scientology event. And he's using that to make her look bad and then she's put out statements of how she's against Scientology. And Danny's defense is saying, look, with both mayor candidates denouncing Scientology in the news every day, how can a Scientologist like Danny Mason get a fair trial? So they wanted to delay and the judge has said she does not want any more delays. She actually compared

it to the fact that in her courtroom she's had cases with motorcycle gangs and white supremacists and serial killers. And all kinds of negative evidence comes in and it's not a So I thought it was interesting that that's the list of things she brought up when the defense had brought up Scientology. So she said, no, there will not be a delay and that Scientology can be mentioned. But she is saying in a limited way only. And she also did that in the preliminary hearing, only where it directly relates to these women and what happened with them.

And I'm sure that the prosecution, knowing that this is a hot topic in the news, may want to capitalize on that. it's very possible because the church of Scientology is incredibly controversial. I mean, we don't have to tell you that. We don't have to tell you that at all. I mean, there have been horror stories coming out of this church. The people, though, who are part of it, swear by it. They love it. Right. And I think the reason why it's a part of this case is that the women have said that they would have come forward sooner, but they feared retaliation from a church that in general, in Scientology, if you are the victim of a major crime, you were told that it's your fault. And so,

you know, the state of mind of these victims is very important in a case like that. And that's why the prosecution feels that that kind of a policy from Scientology should be in. And so far, the judges agreed with that. So what are you expecting next week? Obviously, we'll have opening statements, jury selection, everything we have in a trial. Is there anything you're anticipating that would be surprising to us? What do you think? Well, jury selection starts a week from today. And the thing that I'm going to be interested in is these questions about, for example, Scientology. It'll be interesting to see the questionnaire they come up with because they're going to want to know from these jurors whether they've ever been

Scientologists, if they have opinions about it. What they think about Danny Masterson is career as an actor. I mean, you know the kind of questions they need to ask jurors to make sure they've got a fairly impartial panel. So those are going to be very interesting things. I anticipate that it's probably going to take all of next week. And so we really won't get started on opening statements and the first witnesses until the week after. Yeah, at least, because this is a guy that a lot of people know, but then it's always surprising kind of when you watch jury selection and big trials. There are sometimes people know very little about it. Not everybody pays attention to the news. That's true. And also, a very odd thing about this case is that the Harvey Weinstein trial is

starting the day before on the same floor. Right, right. I read that in your blog. Yeah, like at the end of the hallway, we have, we have Harvey Weinstein on one end of the hallway and Danny Masterson on the other. And in New York, the Paul Haggis trial also starts the same exact day. So there's going to be a lot of, you know, those two trials both have something to do Scientology. And of course, the Harvey Weinstein trial is going to have a lot of press. So it'll be interesting. It's very interesting to me how much the Masterson trial sort of is able to get some room for itself in all of that media. Yeah, I must definitely. Definitely. But I think, you know, I read one headline today. It was talking about four Me Too trials and it included a Kevin Spacey case in one of the trials, one of the four, you know, the three you mentioned along with Kevin Spacey. So it'll be interesting to see how all of these lay out. Obviously, we're going to get a vigorous defense from Danny Masterson's attorneys.

That's right. And you know in cases like this, the defense, their number one strategy is just to attack these women and, you know, attack their credibility, attack them. memory and just do everything they can. I don't even think they're going to call any witnesses of their own. They're just going to cross-examine everybody the prosecution puts on. And it'll be ugly. I mean, it's going to be really rough for these women. I think they're prepared for it. I think they understand what, and they did, you know, they went through the preliminary hearing last year. I think they did very well under cross-examination by Tom Mesero. But of course, this time, it'll be much more lengthy and grueling. Right, because of preliminary hearing, just so our listeners and viewers know, the bar is pretty low.

You just have to get over that probable cause hurdle. It's a low standard. Now we're talking beyond a reasonable doubt. So it will be he said, she says, but very interesting that we have three of these Jane Does all accusing Danny Masterson of sexual assault. With similar allegations, and then there will be other witnesses and documents, I think it's going to be very, very interesting. And both sides will be fighting very, very hard. Do you think that this judge, what do you make of the judge in the case presiding over it? Tell us about the judge.

What impresses me about Judge Charlene Olmeadow is she really has done her homework about the case, about Scientology. Her recall on, you know, testimony and details is very impressive. And also, I think she's been tough on both sides. You know, today she not only denied the defenses ask for, you know, a request for a delay, but she also denied some things the prosecution wanted. They wanted an expert witness on Scientology. She denied that. They wanted this witness from 1996, and she denied that. So I think she's tough. I think she's fair. And I'm just really impressed at how much she really cares about the details. Well, Tony Ortega, with the underground bunker, thank you so much for joining us from the dentist's office. We appreciate it. And we'll be looking forward to your coverage of this very important case. Thank you, Angelette. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. It is produced by Sam Goldberg and Michael Dininger. Bobby Zoki is our YouTube manager. Melissa Fisher handles our bookings. And Kiera Bronson does our social media. You can find Sidebar on Apple, Google, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcast. And of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. I'm Ann Janette Levy, and we will see you next time.

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