“That 70s Show” actor Danny Masterson’s criminal rape trial took what’s now a familiar turn Friday, with the judge clearing the room to admonish an attorney – this time only 15 minutes into in the cross-examination of accuser Jane Doe No. 1.
Judge Charlaine F. Olmeda asked the jury to leave after defense attorney Phillip Cohen continually pressed the woman, known at trial by the pseudonym “JB,” on what he saw as conflicting testimony between her statements made to police in 2004 and later in 2017. The exchange between Cohen and JB became heated as Cohen asked whether there were inconsistencies between the reports made 13 years apart.
“No,” JB eventually snapped. “I looked at the 2004 report and it was marked injury report, not rape. I was very upset.” JB became visibly distressed, adding, “I reviewed one report, the one marked injury report. I think the problem is you have your date and assumptions wrong.”
“Oh really?” Cohen responded, his voice rising an octave, before pulling himself back and moving on to another question.
Shortly thereafter, Olmeda called for a break.
“Things seem to be a little bit heated or emotional between the witness Mr. Cohen,” the judge said with the jury and witness out of the room. “I know Mr. Cohen that there are some statements you may take issue with … but getting into an argument with her over your knowledge of the case is not appropriate in front of the jury. There is a tone … in the way you phrase your questions that border not just on argumentative but are incredibly condescending. I will ask you to bring down your tone.”
When testimony resumed, Olmeda also instructed JB to only answer questions asked, not to interrupt and to let the judge know if she needed a break.
On redirect, Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller eventually moved in to questions about the difference in her mind between vaginal and anal penetration during the 2002 alleged rape. JB had testified that she initially believed the vaginal sex was consensual but the anal penetration was not, but that she changed her view in 2018.
Holding back tears, she said she felt at the time the anal penetration couldn’t have been consensual, “Because I’d had sex vaginally before but never [anal] and I was terrified of [it] and I believed at the time that our religion prohibited it.”
Asked if she was referring to Scientology, she responded “correct.”
Mueller then asked how her beliefs changed. JB responded, “I had my first therapist.”
Mueller then asked how her views regarding her religion changed – she grew up in Scientology, but has since left – to which Cohen objected.
Olmeda called another recess, and Cohen argued that JB speaking about her therapist meant the doctor/patient privilege had been breached. The judge responded, “You cannot submit to this court that a person who went to a therapist violates privilege.”
Mueller also pushed back on Cohen’s cross, saying the defense had “opened the door that law enforcement and the DA’s office is directing JB,” while Cohen was upset with more references to Scientology.
Olmeda said she was concerned by the questions of both attorneys, and reiterated that she would be OK with JB talking about how leaving Scientology and talking to people changed JB’s opinion, “but we’re not going to necessarily get into those specifics.”
Scientology loomed large when testimony resumed. Mueller questioned JB about when she told her parents about the alleged assault. She said she told her father about the 2003 incident and earlier had informed him about the 2002 incident.
JB also spoke about her fears of being declared a “suppressive person” and being shut off from her family. She broke down as she replied, “Because I thought I wouldn’t get into as much trouble in going to the police. Maybe they would listen and do what was right and I wouldn’t piss them off at the ultimate level. I thought I could report the crime and keep my family.”
Mueller later asked her about her concerns about harassment and retaliation by testifying in this case. JB said she feared harassment and retaliation from “his people and his faith” (meaning Masterson), and that her fears weren’t solely for herself but were also for her three children.
Olmeda instructed the jury that at no point has Masterson personally been accused of stalking or harassing the witness and has not been charged with doing so.
Following more testimony after lunch, JB was finally dismissed as a witness, following three days of graphic testimony that prompted one juror to ask to be excused over “concerns.”
Masterson was formally charged in 2020, but allegations first came to light in 2017 when a blogger covering Scientology reported that detectives were investigating the actor after three women came forward with accusations of rape and assault. The women claim they came into contact with Masterson in the early 2000s through the Church of Scientology, and each has said they were pressured by the Church to keep quiet.
Masterson has denied all wrongdoing. He faces up to 45 years to life in prison if convicted.
