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Mega Edition: Danny Masterson And The Mistrial (10/26/26)
Published 9 hours ago
Description
Danny Masterson’s first rape trial ended in a mistrial on November 30, 2022, after a Los Angeles jury said it could not reach unanimous verdicts on any of the three counts against him. Masterson had been accused of raping three women at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003, allegations he denied while maintaining that the encounters were consensual. Jurors initially reported that they were deadlocked before Thanksgiving, but Judge Charlaine Olmedo ordered them to continue deliberating. After the break, two jurors tested positive for COVID-19 and were replaced with alternates, forcing deliberations to begin again from the start. Even with the new panel, the jury remained hopelessly divided, and Olmedo ultimately declared a mistrial.
The final jury split showed that prosecutors had fallen well short of unanimous convictions in the first trial. On the three counts, only two jurors favored conviction on one charge, four favored conviction on another, and five favored conviction on the third, meaning a majority of the panel was leaning toward acquittal on every count. Scientology played a major role throughout the proceedings because all three accusers had been members of the church and testified that its policies and pressure affected how and when they reported Masterson. Prosecutors argued that Masterson’s status within Scientology helped shield him from accountability, while the church denied discouraging victims from reporting crimes. The mistrial did not end the prosecution, however; Los Angeles County prosecutors chose to retry Masterson, leading to his 2023 conviction on two of the three counts.
to contact me:
bobbycapucci@protonmail.com
The final jury split showed that prosecutors had fallen well short of unanimous convictions in the first trial. On the three counts, only two jurors favored conviction on one charge, four favored conviction on another, and five favored conviction on the third, meaning a majority of the panel was leaning toward acquittal on every count. Scientology played a major role throughout the proceedings because all three accusers had been members of the church and testified that its policies and pressure affected how and when they reported Masterson. Prosecutors argued that Masterson’s status within Scientology helped shield him from accountability, while the church denied discouraging victims from reporting crimes. The mistrial did not end the prosecution, however; Los Angeles County prosecutors chose to retry Masterson, leading to his 2023 conviction on two of the three counts.
to contact me:
bobbycapucci@protonmail.com