LOS ANGELES — The fourth lady to accuse “That ’70s Present” star Danny Masterson of rape informed the court docket Thursday that she despatched a supportive message to the actor’s brother two years earlier than she informed police that she, too, was a sufferer.
Jane Doe #4, who reported in 2019 that Masterson had sexually assaulted her twenty years earlier, mentioned she reached out to actor Chris Masterson in 2017 after she learn on Fb that his brother was underneath investigation for rape.
“I noticed a f—ed-up article about Danny,” the message, which was learn aloud in court docket, mentioned. “Simply needed to ship you guys some assist. Danny and also you regarded out for me.”
Underneath questioning by protection legal professional Philip Cohen, Jane Doe #4 confirmed that she had written the notice. However on cross-examination, she mentioned she had despatched the notice to guard herself.
“Danny has pals that I’ve been warned about,” she testified with out elaboration. “I felt like due to his circle of pals, that I needed to maintain every thing, uh, secure for me.”
Jane Doe #4 mentioned she was “signaling” to Masterson’s brother that she wasn’t one of many girls who had already accused Masterson of raping them at his Hollywood Hills dwelling.
“I didn’t need to blow up my world,” she mentioned.
Her testimony got here on the nineteenth day of the intently watched trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court docket, three days after Choose Charlaine F. Olmedo allowed prosecutors to place the previous actress on the stand regardless of repeated objections by Masterson’s attorneys.
Masterson is charged with raping three girls from 2001 to 2003, all of them former members of the Church of Scientology, to which he nonetheless belongs. He isn’t charged with sexually assaulting Jane Doe #4. And he has denied all of the rape allegations.
But when he’s convicted on all three forcible rape expenses, Masterson faces anyplace from 45 years to life in a state jail.
Jane Doe #4, who is just not a Scientologist, testified Tuesday that she met Masterson on a film set in 1996 and that he raped her on two events that very same yr.
Olmedo had initially denied the prosecution’s request to place Jane Doe #4 on the stand however modified her thoughts earlier this week after Deputy District Legal professional Reinhold Mueller argued that Cohen opened the door to her testimony by suggesting that Masterson’s three different accusers had colluded in opposition to him.
Jane Doe #4 was adopted on the stand by Rachel Smith, a buddy of an accuser recognized as Jane Doe #2, one other actress who had testified about how she was allegedly assaulted by Masterson in 2003.
Smith, who mentioned she additionally has identified Masterson since he was a young person, mentioned Jane Doe #2 confided in her in regards to the alleged assault in 2003.
“She begged him to not have intercourse, and the subsequent factor she knew it was actually tough, like a jackhammer,” Smith mentioned the girl informed her.
However Smith mentioned she waited for greater than a decade to speak to the police about what Jane Doe #2 had reportedly informed her as a result of she was raised a Scientologist and “primarily based on my upbringing, issues like that didn’t occur.”
“I simply thought they’d had a kind of fling, and he had simply used her,” mentioned Smith, who’s now not a Scientologist. “I assumed that was douchey. However my perception system was something destructive occurs to you, you created it.”
Earlier than the trial bought underway final month, Olmedo warned “this isn’t going to be a trial on Scientology.”
Cohen has additionally said repeatedly that the case in opposition to Masterson has nothing to do with Scientology, although the witness record was full of present and former members.
However two of the ladies Masterson is charged with raping have testified they have been rebuffed after they informed Scientology officers he sexually assaulted them. Additionally they mentioned they have been subjected to stalking and different acts of retaliation after they reported their allegations in opposition to Masterson to police.
Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw has denied these allegations and insisted that church doctrine requires members to “abide by all of the legal guidelines of the land.”
Mueller introduced yesterday that Lisa Marie Presley, who’s a buddy of accuser Jane Doe #1, wouldn’t be referred to as to testify although her title has been on the witness record for weeks. She, too, is a former Scientologist.
Masterson has been married since 2011 to the actor Bijou Phillips, who can be an energetic member of the Church of Scientology.
Dua Anjum and Diana Dasrath reported from Los Angeles, and Corky Siemaszko from New Jersey.
