Actor Danny Masterson Receives 30 Years to Life in Prison for Rape Convictions

Actor Danny Masterson Receives 30 Years to Life in Prison for Rape Convictions
Actor Danny Masterson will spend 30 years to life in jail for raping two girls inside his California residence in 2003. He’s greatest identified for his position as Steven Hyde on the tv sitcom That ’70s Present.
On Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court docket, Masterson acquired the utmost sentence for his crimes. The 47-year-old was convicted of two counts of forcible rape in Could and had been in custody since, in accordance to the Related Press.
The actor can file a discover of enchantment inside 60 days, in accordance to Deadline. Because it stands now, he shall be eligible for parole upon serving 25½ years in jail.
After listening to statements from the victims describing the struggling they skilled in the years following the rapes, Superior Court docket Decide Charlaine F. Olmedo addressed Masterson as she learn her sentence. “I do know that you simply’re sitting right here steadfast in your claims of innocence, and thus little doubt feeling victimized by a justice system that has failed you,” Olmedo stated. “However, Mr. Masterson, you aren’t the sufferer right here. Your actions 20 years in the past took away one other individual’s voice and selection. A technique or one other, you’ll have to come to phrases along with your prior actions and their penalties.”
Three girls—all members of the Church of Scientology—had accused Masterson of raping them at his residence between 2001 and 2003, and he was arrested in 2020. A deadlocked jury led to a mistrial in the case in November 2022, however prosecutors moved to retry the actor earlier this 12 months. Masterson was discovered responsible of two counts in the retrial, whereas the jury couldn’t attain a verdict on the third.
Masterson has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying the acts had been consensual. Nevertheless, prosecutors argued he put medication in the ladies’s drinks and that the actor used his connections inside Scientology to evade penalties, in accordance to AP.
As well as to That ‘70s Present, Masterson additionally appeared in the TBS comedy Males at Work from 2012 to 2014 and the Netflix collection The Ranch from 2016 to 2018. The streaming service fired the actor a number of months after the allegations surfaced in March 2017.
You Would possibly Additionally Like