California Appeals Court Upholds Danny Masterson’s Rape Convictions

A California appeals court has upheld the rape convictions of former television actor Danny Masterson, affirming his 30-year-to-life prison sentence. On October 27, a three-judge panel from the California Second District Court of Appeal rejected an appeal and a petition for a writ of habeas corpus submitted on behalf of the 50-year-old former "That '70s Show" star, who was convicted in May 2023 of forcibly raping two women at his home in 2003.

In an 89-page opinion, the appellate judges dismissed claims made by Masterson's legal defense team that the trial court proceedings were tainted by judicial bias. Masterson's lawyers had asserted that the presiding trial judge displayed hostility toward the Church of Scientology, an organization to which both Masterson and his accusers belonged during the period of the assaults. However, the three-judge panel concluded that the judge's statements, when viewed in context, demonstrated no hostility or departure from neutrality toward the religious institution.

Following the appellate ruling, Masterson's defense attorneys, Cliff Gardner and Eric Multhaup, issued a public statement condemning the appellate court's decision as fundamentally wrong and confirming their intent to petition the California Supreme Court. Gardner insisted that his client remains behind bars for offenses he did not commit, arguing that the ruling fails to advance justice for defendants or victims of sexual offenses. The defense also declared that it would continue pursuing relief through separate habeas corpus proceedings.

Masterson's legal team has maintained that crucial evidence was improperly withheld from jurors in both the initial 2022 proceedings and the 2023 retrial. According to his attorneys, substantial material exists demonstrating that before approaching law enforcement, the women who accused Masterson made statements to acquaintances that characterized their intimate encounters with him in a favorable light. The actor has consistently maintained that all sexual relations with the women were entirely consensual, pleading not guilty to the charges brought against him.

The allegations against Masterson date back to March 2017, when four women first came forward alleging that the actor had sexually assaulted them in the early 2000s, followed by a fifth woman who reported in December 2017 that he repeatedly raped her while they were dating. Masterson was formally charged and pleaded not guilty in 2020. His first criminal trial in late 2022 concluded with a mistrial after the jury deadlocked, with members leaning toward acquittal. Prosecutors retried the case in the spring of 2023, where a second jury ultimately found him guilty on two counts of forcible rape while deadlocking on a third charge.

During the trial, prosecutors presented detailed testimony from the two women Masterson was convicted of assaulting. One victim, identified in court records as J.B., reported to police in 2004 that Masterson smothered her with a pillow, held her hands above her head, and choked her during the assault, supporting her account with photographs displaying bodily bruises. The second woman, identified as N.T., disclosed the assault to her mother days after the incident, and two friends testified that she had confided in them in 2003 regarding the nonconsensual encounter. Both women testified that officials within the Church of Scientology discouraged them from reporting the assaults to law enforcement, an accusation the church has denied.

Masterson received his formal sentence of 30 years to life in state prison in September 2023. The sentencing was followed almost immediately by significant personal fallout when his wife, actress Bijou Phillips, filed for divorce later that same month. Phillips had initially stood by Masterson throughout the allegations and judicial proceedings before moving to legally dissolve their marriage. With the appellate court's decision affirming his conviction, Masterson remains incarcerated while his defense prepares its upcoming appeal to California's highest judicial authority.