Actor Danny Masterson Sentenced To 30 Years For Rapes
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“That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson was sentenced Thursday to at least 30 years in prison for raping two women at his home two decades ago.
It was the second rape trial for Masterson, 47, after previous proceedings were declared a mistrial in November when a different jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision.
The jury in the retrial deadlocked on another rape charge against a third woman. That charge was dismissed.
Masterson has been in custody awaiting sentencing since his conviction.
He co-starred again with Kutcher on Netflix’s “The Ranch,” but was fired in 2017 and written off the show after Los Angeles police confirmed they were investigating multiple rape allegations against the actor.
The three women at the heart of the charges against Masterson were members of the Church of Scientology at the time. Two of them said church officials had discouraged them from contacting law enforcement.
Masterson’s lawyers in closing arguments questioned why the court had heard “so much about Scientology,” and the defense had suggested that bias against the church could have been a motivating factor.
“The church has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of anyone, Scientologists or not, to law enforcement,” a statement said.
“Quite the opposite, church policy explicitly demands Scientologists abide by all laws of the land.”
