'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Actor Danny Masterson’s ongoing court case was declared a mistrial by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo on Wednesday, November 30, after the jury reportedly deadlocked on the charges.
A mistrial in court can be defined as a trial that is terminated, called off and declared void before the announcement of a verdict. While there can be various reasons for a mistrial, it is most commonly announced when the jury for a case is unable to reach a decision or verdict.
Danny Masterson faced charges for three counts of r*pe by force or fear, for allegedly assaulting three women at his Hollywood Hills residence between 2001 and 2003.
The That 70s Show star previously pleaded not guilty to the charges and said he had a consensual physical relationship with the women. According to the BBC, the actor also claimed he was being subjected to the allegations due to his association with the Church of Scientology.
The jury for the Danny Masterson case could not reach a consensus despite several rounds of deliberations
On November 18, the jury first announced that they were deadlocked in the case and could not reach a consensus following a month-long trial and three days of deliberations.
Judge Olmedo ordered the jurors to take an off on Thanksgiving week but asked them to continue their deliberations to reach a unanimous decision.
However, jurors mentioned that they failed to reach consensus on any of the three counts against Masterson even after voting seven times on Tuesday and Wednesday. The jury foreman revealed that two jurors voted for conviction on the first count, four voted for the second count, and five voted for the third count.
On Monday, the court asked jurors to restart deliberations from scratch after two jury members tested positive for COVID-19 and were replaced by two alternates. The new jury deliberated for two days but failed to reach a verdict.
On Wednesday, Judge Olmedo announced that the jurors were still “hopelessly deadlocked” after mentioning that she inquired if the court could take steps to help the jury reach a unanimous decision.
The judge then announced a March date for the retrial of the case. Danny Masterson could face anything between a maximum sentence of 45 years to lifetime imprisonment if found guilty.
Exploring the meaning of mistrial in court
Britannica defines a mistrial as "a trial that has been terminated and declared void before the tribunal can hand down a decision or render a verdict." It further states that a terminated trial nullifies all previous proceedings related to the case as if it does not exist in the court of law.
If another trial on the same charges and with similar defendants is ordered, the entire case starts from the beginning with all previous testimonies and findings mostly deemed irrelevant in the new court proceedings.
A mistrial mostly occurs when a jury fails to reach a verdict and there is the necessity of a new trial with a new jury or there is a major error in the proceedings or any kind of misconduct that would result in an unfair trial, prompting the judge to adjourn the case without a decision on the merits and announcing a new trial.
Other factors that could result in a mistrial include the death of an attorney or juror where the latter cannot be replaced by an alternate, any remark that is highly prejudicial to a party and cannot be ignored by the jury, or the discovery that jury members have discussed a case beforehand despite court instructions.
A judge can also call for a mistrial if a jury member reads newspaper articles or follows other media reports of the trial. However, a mistrial is most commonly announced when the jury fails to reach a verdict after repeated attempts (i.e., if it is a hung jury).
What are the allegations against Danny Masterson?
Assault allegations against Danny Masterson first came to light during the #MeToo movement in 2017. The actor was arrested over the accusations in 2020 and later released on a $3.3 million bond.
All three female victims alleged that the actor took them to his Hollywood Hills home, provided them with alcohol and violently assaulted them while they were in an inebriated state. One of the victims even testified that she thought Masterson would kill her during the assault.
She alleged that Danny Masterson "smothered her with a pillow” and “strangled” her during the assault in April 2003. During the trial, discussions about the Church of Scientology also took center stage.
While the actor is a prominent Scientologist, reports suggest that all three of his victims are also former Scientologists. The woman who accused Danny Masterson of strangulation said she only reported the assault to the police a year after the incident.
The victim mentioned that she delayed her complaint as “you cannot report another Scientologist in good standing.”
She claimed that she knew she would be immediately “guilty of a high crime” and expelled from the church, which would mean she wouldn’t have contact with any members, including her parents and friends, all of whom were Scientologists.
During closing arguments in the latest trial, Danny Masterson’s attorney Philip Cohen claimed that he noticed inconsistencies in the different statements provided by victims to family, friends, law enforcement officials, and their testimony in court:
“They [prosecutors] have ignored the blatant, obvious, overwhelming contradictions and fabrications that each Jane Doe has given you.”
Meanwhile, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller argued that the differences were only signs of trauma and proof that a long time has passed since the incident:
“Each time, they got to unearth what's inside of them to bring that trauma out. They did the best they can to answer the questions we asked them here in court.”
In the wake of the announcement of the mistrial, attorney Alison L. Anderson told Fox News that the victims are still hopeful that Danny Masterson “will experience some criminal consequences for his vile conduct” and they are now planning to take the allegations to civil court.
