In a retrial of a case involving 3 female accusers, former That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson has been found guilty by a Los Angeles jury of 2 counts of forcible rape. The third count was declared a mistrial.
After deliberating for 6 days, the jury in the case reached its verdict on May 31, according to ABC News.
Masterson, 47, had pleaded not guilty to all 3 counts of felony rape, crimes which allegedly occurred at his home between 2001 and 2003 while Fox’s That ‘70s Show was still in production. The actor played Steven Hyde on the sitcom from 1998 to 2006.
He was initially charged in 2020. But before that, he was fired from the Netflix series The Ranch in late 2017 during a Los Angeles Police Department investigation of the rape claims, which were made that year.
After being deemed a potential flight risk, Masterson was taken into custody after the verdict was reached and left the courtroom in handcuffs. He now faces a penalty of up to 30 years in a state prison, with his sentencing scheduled for August 4.
The case drew extra attention due to assertions that the Church of Scientology, of which Masterson and his alleged victims had been members, had attempted to discourage his accusers from reporting the alleged crimes, according to The New York Times.
The women eventually left the church, which now claims it has no policy that discourages members from reporting the criminal conduct of Scientologists or anyone else to law enforcement.
A former Scientology member, actress Leah Remini, was in the courtroom during the retrial and told ABC News that she was attending to support the “brave” women.
An earlier criminal trial in November of last year ended in a mistrial when the jury was deadlocked and could not reach a verdict. The new criminal trial began in late April.
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That’s when prosecutors said evidence showed that the women were drugged, an assertion that was only suggested in the earlier trial but which the judge allowed in the retrial.
Masterson claimed each of the encounters was consensual. His attorney argued that the stories of his alleged victims were inconsistent, and there was no physical evidence of drugging or the use of force or violence.
Two of the women are also involved in a related civil lawsuit against Masterson and the Church of Scientology.
Texas sexual assault laws are tough
In Texas, sexual assault laws can be especially tough on defendants. Keep in mind that the word “rape” is not used in Texas sex crime laws, but rather the term “sexual assault.”
As a second-degree felony, sexual assault can lead to punishments of 2 to 20 years in a state prison and a fine of up to $10,000. For aggravated sexual assault, in which a weapon was used or was threatened and bodily injury occurred, the minimum prison sentence would be 5 years.
This punishment also would hold if a so-called “date rape” drug was used on the alleged victim—an assertion that was made in the Masterson retrial in California.
Texas punishments become even more severe for sex crimes involving children, such as continuous sexual abuse of a child (carrying punishments of up to 99 years or life in prison), deviate sexual intercourse involving children (also carrying punishments of up to 99 years or life in prison) and other child sex offenses.
Texas sex crime defenses
Not every accusation, allegation or claim of a sex crime is true or factual, and all defendants have a legal right to contest any charges that follow.
Depending on the circumstances of the case, when defending sex assault charges in Texas, a skilled criminal defense attorney can assert that the defendant was not present at the time of the alleged assault. In doing so, the defense lawyer can assert that the defendant has an alibi for the time during which the alleged crime was committed.
A defense lawyer may also argue that the sex crime accusation was based on mistaken identity—that the victim mistook the defendant for someone else who actually committed the sex crime.
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A skilled defense attorney may also apply an “affirmative defense strategy” for a sex crime charge. In that way, a sex crime attorney may advise a defendant to admit to having committed a sex act while countering that the sex act should not be deemed a criminal offense due to the circumstances of the event.
Thus, the defendant would not be admitting guilt for a sex crime but instead would be throwing into doubt the nature of the sex act itself. That can be done by submitting evidence or explanations that show why the act was not an actual crime.
Such explanations can include the following:
- Arguing that the defendant was married to the alleged victim when the event occurred
- Arguing that the defendant did not use threats or force or put the alleged victim under duress when the event occurred
- Arguing that the alleged victim consented to the sex act
Get an experienced Houston sex crime defense lawyer
If you, a loved one or a family member in the Houston area faces an allegation, accusation or charge of a sex crime, you must get a knowledgeable and experienced Houston sex crime defense lawyer or attorney to handle your case.
Persons living in Houston, The Woodlands, Conroe, Katy, Sugar Land and elsewhere in Harris County, Montgomery County or Fort Bend County need to hire the best criminal defense lawyer they can find. The stakes are too high to do otherwise.
Contact us today at the award-winning Neal Davis Law Firm to arrange a confidential consultation for your sex crime case.
