On Thursday, the actor and Scientologist Danny Masterson was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison following his conviction on two rape counts in Los Angeles. Three women had accused the That ’70s Show star of raping them at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003, a period that overlapped with the height of his acting fame.
The conviction came after two trials; the first ended in a mistrial when a jury found itself deadlocked in November 2022. In both cases, the proceedings often focused on Scientology, as all three of Masterson’s accusers had also been members of the celebrity-linked church. In the second trial, Masterson was convicted of raping two of the three women. Of the three, two said that the Church of Scientology tried to cover up their allegations, which the church has denied.
At a three-hour sentencing hearing on Thursday, the legal journalist Meghann Cuniff reported one of his victims described the church as Masterson’s “enabler and protector,” and said she was a “brain-washed member” for seven years. The church, she said as she addressed Masterson, knew “you had been raping its members” and “made concerted efforts to … punish the victims for being assaulted by you.”
Masterson is a lifelong Scientologist whose mother, Hollywood talent agent Carol Masterson, has also belonged to the church for decades. One of his victims, Cuniff reported, had testified at trial that Masterson forced her into a shower before raping her and that she saw a handgun in his nightstand drawer. “I didn’t choose to be born into Scientology and their rules,” the woman said on Thursday, “just like I didn’t choose to be raped by Danny Masterson.”
“I can’t shower in peace,” she went on. “My husband knows better than to even come into the bathroom when I shower.” The woman signed a non-disclosure agreement in 2004 when Masterson was represented by the Hollywood power lawyer Marty Singer.
Masterson has been held in custody since his conviction in May. He now faces up to life in prison.