LOS ANGELES (CNS) — The jury selection process began Monday in the retrial of actor Danny Masterson, who is charged with raping three women between 2001 and 2003 at his Hollywood Hills home.
Prospective jurors in Masterson’s trial were asked to fill out questionnaires and return to court Wednesday for questioning by attorneys, with another group of potential jurors expected to be asked Tuesday to fill out questionnaires.
Opening statements are tentatively set for April 24.
Masterson, now 47, was charged in 2020 with three counts of rape by force or fear involving the three women on separate alleged occasions.
He has been free on bail since his June 2020 arrest by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division.
During last year’s trial, jurors leaned in favor of acquittal on all three counts against Masterson — voting 10-2 on one count, 8-4 on another and 7-5 on the third — but they were unable to reach a unanimous decision, leading to the mistrial last Nov. 30.
Prosecutors confirmed in January that they wanted to retry the “That ‘70s Show” actor, and Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo rejected a defense effort to have the charges dismissed.
Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller told jurors in Masterson’s first trial that the actor used “force, fear or threats” to sexually assault the women and should be convicted of rape, while defense attorney Philip Kent Cohen countered that the alleged victims lied about their relations with the actor.
The prosecutor told jurors that, for Masterson, “No never meant no.” Although the actor “looks like a well-groomed gentleman” in court, “he looks very different” to his alleged victims, the prosecutor said.
“If you were a young woman, you were far from safe,” Mueller said. “If you were incapacitated in his bed, he would rape you. If you were at his home and you were not yet intoxicated, he would offer you the alcohol to get you there and he would forcibly rape you. And if you were in a relationship with him, he would control you.”
In arguing for an acquittal, Masterson’s attorney told jurors that the prosecution wanted to “win this case so badly” that they ignored “blatantly fabricated” and inconsistent testimony from witnesses during the nearly monthlong trial.
“It’s not just maddening, it’s horrifying,” Cohen said of the case against his client, adding that the alleged victims “have motivations to lie” on the witness stand.
In December 2017, Netflix announced that Masterson had been fired from the Emmy-winning scripted comedy “The Ranch” amid sexual assault allegations.
The actor said then he was “very disappointed,” and added that “it seems as if you are presumed guilty the moment you are accused.” He also “denied the outrageous allegations” and said he looked forward to “clearing my name once and for all.”
A civil suit filed in August 2019 against Masterson — a longtime adherent of the Church of Scientology — and the church by the three women involved in the criminal case and one woman who was not a member of the church alleges they were stalked and harassed after reporting sexual assault allegations against the actor to Los Angeles police.
Regarding the lawsuit, the Church of Scientology issued a statement saying, "The Church denies the allegations of harassment as obvious, cynical and self-serving fictions, and the Church knows it will be vindicated."