Danny Masterson appeals his rape convictions as ex Bijou Phillips attends their daughter’s Christmas pageant
Danny Masterson’s attorney Cliff Gardner officially filed his 246-page appeal to Superior Court Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo on Wednesday after she sentenced him in September 2023 to 30 years to life in prison on two counts of felony rape.
The disgraced 48-year-old allegedly drugged two women – referred to in court filings as ‘J.B.’ and ‘N.T.’ – before sexually assaulting them in 2003, but he claims the encounters were completely consensual.
‘The trial court violated Mr. Masterson’s rights to a fair trial by complaining witnesses had a strong financial incentive to characterize the long past sexual encounters as forcible rape,’ Gardner wrote in the legal doc.
‘The prosecutor reminded jurors that “there is no evidence – there is none at all” to support defense counsel’s suggestion of a financial motive.”‘
Gardner continuously brought up the state’s ’16-year delay in bringing charges’ during which the two women had ‘ongoing communications’ with each other before ‘changing their testimony.’
During the retrial, 18-year police veteran Detective Esther Myape testified that she felt the ‘ongoing communications between the complaining witnesses did not in fact contaminate their testimony.’
Danny Masterson’s attorney Cliff Gardner officially filed his 246-page appeal to Superior Court Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo on Wednesday after she sentenced him in September 2023 to 30 years to life in prison on two counts of felony rape (pictured December 27)
Gardner said J.B. could not be believed as she gave six different versions of her story from September 2003 – the last of which involved Danny wielding a gun and forcing anal sex.
The defense argued that Masterson could not have gotten her intoxicated with half a spiked GHB vodka drink at his home when she was already intoxicated and urinating on the street before arriving.
This, after J.B. had described their first sexual encounter in April 2003 to her friend P.D. as ‘the best sex [I] had ever had.’
As for N.T. who – like the That ’70s Show alum – was a Scientologist, she gave seven different versions of her story from 2003.
N.T. claimed she came over to Danny’s house and had wine with him before getting sick, vomiting on herself, and showering with him before passing out.
The woman then alleged that Masterson was already raping her when she awoke, smothered her face with a pillow, and choked her until she passed out.
But even at trial, N.T. admitted she called and told The Ranch alum several days later: ‘I really like you. I thought you liked me. I thought you were going to call.’
Gardner’s appeal came a month after LA County Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller asked the court for a full hearing to consider sanctions against Danny’s legal team to stop contacting the jurors, who had deliberated for 29 hours at his retrial.
Tony Ortega’s Underground Bunker reported that Judge Olmedo ‘sent a letter to all counsel on the case September 17 stating several jurors had submitted complaints of unwanted contact at their homes or work by members of the defense team.’
The disgraced 48-year-old allegedly drugged two women – referred to in court filings as ‘J.B.’ and ‘N.T.’ – before sexually assaulting them in 2003, but he claims the encounters were completely consensual (pictured in 2023)
Gardner continuously brought up the state’s ’16-year delay in bringing charges’ during which the two women had ‘ongoing communications’ with each other before ‘changing their testimony’ six or seven times (pictured in 2023)
Gardner’s appeal came a month after LA County Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller asked the court for a full hearing to consider sanctions against Danny’s legal team to stop contacting the jurors, who had deliberated for 29 hours at his retrial (pictured in 2023)
Tony Ortega’s Underground Bunker reported that Judge Olmedo (pictured) ‘sent a letter to all counsel on the case September 17 stating several jurors had submitted complaints of unwanted contact at their homes or work by members of the defense team’
Masterson’s legal team previously got into hot water with Judge Olmedo over ‘leaking sensitive evidence in the case to Scientology’s attorneys, who then used that evidence to demand an internal investigation by the LAPD of detectives assigned to the Masterson case’
The Long Island-born actor is currently serving hard time at California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, CA where former inmates include Suge Knight, Charles Keating Jr., Charles ‘Tex’ Watson, and Timothy Leary
Danny’s estranged wife Bijou Phillips filed for divorce from him 11 days after he was sentenced, and she retained full custody of their 10-year-old daughter Fianna Frances Masterson (pictured Wednesday)
On Wednesday night, the 44-year-old socialite Instastoried footage of little Fianna singing at a Christmas pageant in a church, and they visited Masterson in prison last March for his birthday
The Art Center College of Design drop-out first found fame as biracial bad boy Steven Hyde in Fox sitcom That ’70s Show, which aired for eight seasons spanning 1998–2006
Masterson’s legal team previously got into hot water with Judge Olmedo over ‘leaking sensitive evidence in the case to Scientology’s attorneys, who then used that evidence to demand an internal investigation by the LAPD of detectives assigned to the Masterson case.’
The Long Island-born actor is currently serving hard time at California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, CA where former inmates include Suge Knight, Charles Keating Jr., Charles ‘Tex’ Watson, and Timothy Leary.
Danny’s estranged wife Bijou Phillips filed for divorce from him 11 days after he was sentenced, and she retained full custody of their 10-year-old daughter Fianna Frances Masterson.
On Wednesday night, the 44-year-old socialite Instastoried footage of little Fianna singing at a Christmas pageant in a church, and they visited Masterson in prison last March for his birthday.
Bijou and Danny – who wed in 2011 – originally met at a poker tournament in Las Vegas in 2004, and they co-starred in three films (Wake, Made for Each Other, and The Bridge to Nowhere) as well as a 2011 episode of Fox’s Raising Hope.
The nepo-baby of John Phillips and his third wife Geneviève Waïte has been dating Re/Done denim co-founder Jamie Mazur since April.
Masterson first found fame as biracial bad boy Steven Hyde in Fox sitcom That ’70s Show, which aired for eight seasons spanning 1998–2006.
