LOS ANGELES (AP) — Closing arguments are anticipated to start Tuesday on the second trial of “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson, who’s charged with raping three girls at his Los Angeles home between 2001 and 2003.
Attorneys for either side rested their instances Friday, three weeks into the trial. Masterson’s protection attorneys declined to name any witnesses.
The 47-year-old’s first trial resulted in a mistrial in December, with jurors hopelessly deadlocked on all three counts.
The actor has pleaded not responsible. He may get 45 years in jail if convicted on all three counts.
The Church of Scientology, of which Masterson is a member and all three girls are former members, has performed a good bigger function within the second trial than it did within the first. The choose allowed a former member of the church’s management to testify as an skilled on the establishment’s insurance policies about going to police, and a courtroom controversy broke out in the course of the trial over a Scientology legal professional apparently having possession of trial proof.
The ladies testified that church officers stored them from going to authorities as quickly as they would have about Masterson. The church has denied having any insurance policies forbidding members from reporting different members to legislation enforcement.
Superior Courtroom Choose Charlaine F. Olmedo additionally allowed the prosecution to straight say that Masterson drugged every of the victims. Olmedo solely allowed secondary proof of it on the first trial.
Deputy District Lawyer Reinhold Mueller will probably be first to provide a closing argument within the downtown Los Angeles courtroom Tuesday morning. He’ll attempt to persuade the jury to unanimously convict Masterson after failing to get even half of the jurors on the first trial to vote responsible on any depend.
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