Danny Masterson Ordered To Stand Trial For Alleged Rapes Of 3 Women
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Actor Danny Masterson has been ordered to stand trial on charges that he raped three women at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003.
"I found all three witnesses to be credible and the evidence sufficient to support the charges," said Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo, who ordered the 45-year-old defendant to report back to her courtroom June 7 for arraignment.
She directed Masterson to surrender his passport by the time of his arraignment, granting a request by the District Attorney's Office.
He remains free on $3.3 million bail and is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on June 7 for arraignment.
Masterson, 45, best known for appearing on "That '70s Show" and "The Ranch," has pleaded not guilty to charges that he raped the women at his Hollywood Hills home.
The criminal complaint, filed last June, alleges that Masterson raped a 23-year-old woman between January and December 2001. He is also charged with raping a woman who was 28 at the time and a 23-year-old woman he had invited to his home some time between October and December 2003, according to Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller.
Masterson was arrested June 17, 2020, by the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division and released about three hours later on a $3.3 million bond.
On Wednesday, a former girlfriend of Masterson's testified that a Church of Scientology official shifted blame to her when she complained that she was the victim of violent sex by the actor.
The witness, identified only as Christina B., was the second of three women scheduled to take the stand against Masterson during a preliminary hearing before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo.
His lawyer, Tom Mesereau, in cross-examination, has sought to show that any sex between Masterson and the women was consensual.
In December 2017, Netflix announced that Masterson had been fired from the Emmy-winning scripted comedy "The Ranch" amid sexual assault allegations.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
