Law&Crime Sidebar - Top 3 Moments of 'That '70s Show' Actor Danny Masterson's Rape Trial Week One

Episode Date: October 24, 2022

Law&Crime's Jesse Weber and journalist Tony Oretga break down the top 3 moments from week 1 of actor Danny Masteron’s rape trial. PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Apple’s top 3 improv comedy podcast, The Commercial Break. It’s not for everyone…but it’s free! Listen here: https://www.tcbpodcast.com/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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The That 70 show stars facing charges of forcibly raping three women. This allegedly happened between 2001 and 2003 when these women and Masterson were all members of the Church of Scientology. And he faces a lengthy prison sentence, if convicted, up to 45 years perhaps life in prison. And there is a lot that has happened in week one from opening statements to witness testimony. So to break down those top three moments from week one, I'm joined right now by someone who is inside that courtroom journalist Tony Ortega. And Tony has been following this case. He's been a frequent contributor here on the Sidebar podcast on the Danny Masterson story.

He is the founder of the underground bunker where he writes about Scientology issues. You can find him at Tony Ortega.com. and he is currently outside that courtroom right now. As we always like to see Tony, he's right on the scene. Tony, good to see you once again. Thanks for having me back, Jesse. Yeah, I'm dealing with some sunlight and shadows, doing the best I can here. You've been doing more than the best.

I'll tell you, I know I put you in a tough position to go through the top three moments, but I think, I think we have to start with the testimony of Jane Doe 1, right? I think that could have been one of the top moments if you can't or elaborate on why that might have been. Well, absolutely. I mean, she was describing just a harrowing experience, just really brutal, forcible rape, and the details, of course, are just awful, and she broke down numerous times. There were times when the judge had to literally, like, stop everything, take a recess.

It was very upsetting for her. And I thought that, you know, she came across as credible, and it was tough for her to say certain things. But she, you know, she has these vivid memories. while at the time she's describing having felt suspiciously intoxicated after this one drink at his house and she's fighting to stay conscious and some things are fuzzy. But let me tell you, she spelled out a really, really awful scene for this jury. And we want to take a moment right now and thank our good friends at the Commercial Break Comedy Podcast. Have you ever asked yourself these very important questions like,

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That he raped her, that she fought back in numerous ways. At one point, she says he pulled a gun out of a drawer next to the bed. And then, yeah, she made her way and then immediately reported it to the Church of Scientology. She was a, I mean, that's the other thing. we're learning is just how much Scientology was in control of these lives and how Scientology tried to convince her not to go to the police. At one point, they finally allowed her permission to sue him, but still don't go to the police. And she really had to defy them. And then the other testimony that was amazing last week is she described being pressured by the church to sign an agreement

and accept $400,000 from Danny so that she would never talk about this event ever again. And it was just really something. When she's testifying, and I kind of saw this in the Harvey Weinstein trial when I was in that courtroom watching these victims testify against Weinstein, I was watching the jury intently. What was the jury doing to the best that you could see while she was testifying? When Deputy D.A. Mueller was leading her through that testimony, the jury looked really wrapped. I mean, they were paying attention to every word. And I don't want to read too much into this, Jesse, but during cross-examination, Philip Cohen is doing his best. different style, but I noticed the jurors weren't looking at him. I don't know that that's necessarily

a bad thing. They might have just been sort of thinking about it, but very different style than D.A. Mueller. Let's go into that. So the top two moment, I think would have to be the defense's cross-examination of Jane Doe 1, right? I mean, what stood out to you there? Well, it was interesting to me because in the run-up to this case, of course, the thing that's brought up the most is how long it's taken to get here, that these allegations are from 2001 to 2003, A new LAPD investigation is started in 2016. The women say it's because they fear Scientology. So there's been a lot of talk, you know,

and motions and stuff about the Scientology component, the policies, and this delay. But, you know, defense attorney Cohen said, no, I'm not even going there. I don't care about the delay. All he cares about is that what she's testifying to now is different than what was in a 2004 LAPD report. And what struck me was he's basically put the entire defense

on that one 2004 report. But on redirect, we learned that there's a 2003 report. She wrote for the church, which is more consistent with what she's saying today. And the whole time the prosecution side have been raising questions, not about what she said for the 2004 for the LAPD, but what the LAPD wrote down. So I thought it was a little risky on the defense's side to just put everything on that 2004 report when it's come into question.

And just to clarify, Are you suggesting that what the 2004 report said was the words of the LAPD that maybe were mistaken? They had a misinterpretation of what she said. Or was it that her story changed maybe because of pressure from Scientology, that that's why we're seeing even a discrepancy between 2004 and 2003? Both, Jesse, that she's testifying that she held back certain things from the LAPD because she, to Scientologist, she worried about harming David. She specifically said harming David Miskavich. leader of the church. So she held things back. But also with a problem, she said at one point, the detective didn't seem to understand she was speaking English. This is a native English speaker.

I mean, there's something very strange about that report. And that's not too unusual that the, you know, the LAPD might not have the most accurate report, but to bank the entire defense on it, I just thought that wasn't, you know, a risky move for Cohen. Talk about the defense's moves here. I think the top third moment here is also, you had mentioned to me that the defense was moving for. a mistrial, right, because of all the Scientology-related matters that were coming up. Can you talk about that? In the first week, Philip Cohen made two motions for mistrial, both based on the Scientology content. He wants to keep all Scientology content out. I understand. That makes sense from a defense perspective. But it's really hard to understand what these women went through

without understanding their Scientology background and some of the things the Church of Scientology did. So back on October 4th, Judge O'Meto made a major ruling. It was very lengthy, very well thought out, lots of case law, explaining why she's allowing a limited amount of testimony about Scientology policies. And both sides have kind of fight their way through that now. Judge O'Mado admonished the prosecution for maybe entering too much Scientology too quickly. But since then, she's allowed a certain amount. And Cohen just feels that that's really prejudicial to his client. He made a motion for a mistrial, I believe, Tuesday afternoon and Thursday morning. Both denied. But that was a big moment in the courtroom.

Real quick, before I have to ask you, is anybody from Scientology there? Well, we had a Scientologist witness today. Danny Mason is a Scientologist. His whole family are Scientologists there in the courtroom. And we had a witness today who was a friend of Jane Doe Wands, who testified that he's become more strongly a Scientologist just than the last couple of years. And I reported earlier, he's the son of two of the biggest donors in the Church of Scientology. They're $10 million donors.

And he came in today, a fascinating moment, because he'd been recorded in 2017, basically corroborating some things Jane Doe 1 had told him back in 2003. And he was kind of stuck. He kind of pushed back at the prosecution as they asked him about what was in that recording. But they got through it. But then he said something bizarre that last week on Friday or something, a DA investigator had approached him in the hallway and asked him a question. And he suddenly remembers he was on that 2003 Florida trip with Jane

don't one? An investigator for the DA's office? No, no, an investigator for Masterson, that a private eye working for the defense had approached this Scientologist in the hallway, either Thursday or Friday, I think Friday afternoon. And it asked him a question, which suddenly made him remember for the first time in 18 years, that he was on that Florida trip with the rest of them. Now, we had a cousin come on later today this morning who said, no way, he wasn't on that trip with us. But just a bizarre moment that this, and then there was some real arguing between the two sides with the jury out of the room. Cohen did not like that the DA had made it sound like it was improper for this private investigator to be approaching a witness in the hallway of the courtroom. And Cohen's like, no, that's not improper, both sides can do it.

But I described that on Twitter as this trial's first pentangely brother moment, if you remember from the godfather. Oh, I do. I hope it doesn't end up in a bathtub. I mean, that's the, you know. Except seeing, except for seeing, instead of seeing the brother from Italy, this witness saw the private investigator from Danny Masterson and suddenly had a revelation. The only difference is, according to you, they alerted the court to what happened. Who alerted? This witness, right?

Or there was, or was, did this not happen? I thought it was the witness who alerted the court that they were approached. Yeah. I mean, both sides came in this morning to talk about it. not exactly sure when the DA's office learned about it, but I could tell DA, I could tell DA Mueller was not happy about it. I thought it was the Scientologist who told the DA's office what had happened. It may have been. I, I'm just, I'm trying to think how the DA's office learned about it, but DA Mueller was not happy. And then Cohen was telling Judge O'Mato that it was improper

for Mueller to show that he was unhappy with it because the DA's office knew, but Mueller may have learned, his co-counsel said he didn't learn about it until today. Real quick, we have about 30 seconds. How did the judge resolve the issue? She's denied another motion for a mistrial from the defense this morning and admonished both sides again about how, you know, to stick to the subject. And, you know, I think that, you know, we got through two witnesses to this morning already. Things moved quickly in her courtroom. Tony Ortega, great reporting, as always. We look forward to having you back to tell us more about week two of this trial. You can follow Tony at the underground bugger. That is Tonyartega.com. Thank you so much, sir.

Thank you, Jesse. And thanks so much, everybody, for joining us here on Sidebar. please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. We'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.