Danny Masterson Will Face a Second Rape Charges Trial
Danny Masterson is facing a new trial.
The 46-year-old That ’70s Show actor, accused of forcibly raping three women at his house in Hollywood between 2001 and 2003, has prosecutors pursuing a second trial after a jury could not reach a verdict in November.
“Our office has decided to retry this case,” Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller told the court, via Variety.
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The jurors leaned toward acquittal before they ultimately deadlocked, with votes of 10-2, 8-4 and 7-5 on the three counts.
“Not giving these victims another chance with a jury who can sit there and consider all of the evidence — win, lose or draw –- that would be an injustice,” Mueller added.
Judge Charlaine Olmedo denied a defense request to dismiss the case, and set a date of March 29 for jury selection.
“It’s not that things were ignored that Mr. Mueller thinks were important or significant. It’s that things were discussed and not believed to be important to decision-making for some of the jurors,” said defense attorney Philip Cohen.
The judge said the defense lawyer’s arguments about what a future jury might do were “speculative and unsupported by the facts.”
“It appears there are many other witnesses the People could choose to call or different arguments the People could choose to make. A different outcome at a retrial is at least a possibility,” the judge added.
Find out more about the first trial, which ended in a mistrial.
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