Convicted rapist and “That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson wants his guilty verdict overturned and prison sentence cut short based on alleged erroneous representation by the lawyer who saw him through trial.
Masterson, 49, was convicted on two of three rape charges in 2023 and sent to prison for 30 years to life. It will be 20 years before he can even be considered for parole. It was his second trial for the alleged rapes, which occurred between 2001 and 2003; the first ended in a mistrial.
The actor, who is already appealing his conviction — a process that’s currently pending — filed the new motion on Monday to address evidence he says never made it to court.
The habeas corpus petition filed with California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal claims Masterson’s then-attorney Philip Cohen declined to introduce anything from the “mountain of exculpatory evidence” that pretrial attorney Shawn Holley had gathered, an omission that resulted in a violation Masterson’s constitutional rights.
The same, he says, goes for 18 of 20 potential witnesses Cohen did not call on who might have cast a far different light on the accusations three women levied against him. Cohen called just two of the 20 available witnesses, the complaint alleges.
“In sum, the jury saw only the tip of the iceberg of available defense evidence in the form of the complaining witnesses’ inconsistent statements while the wealth of directly exculpatory evidence went unused for no viable tactical reason,” the petition states.
Masterson’s filing also alleges that presiding Judge Charlaine Olmedo was biased against the Church of Scientology. The actor belongs to the church, and so did his accusers when they met him.
Masterson is now represented by attorney Eric Multhaup, who once tried to get student athlete Brock Turner’s sexual assault conviction overturned on grounds that he was fully clothed and engaged in “outercourse” with an unconscious, half-naked woman he was discovered mounting outside a Stanford University fraternity in 2015.
“The unfairness of the second Masterson trial was the result of prosecutorial misconduct, judicial bias and the failure of defense counsel to present exculpatory evidence,” Multhaup said in a statement. “The jury heard only half the story — the prosecution’s side. Danny deserves a new trial where the jury can hear his side as well.”
With News Wire Services
