In September, the ’70s Show actor was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison
Convicted rapist Danny Masterson was denied bail pending appeal by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Wednesday.
“If defendant’s conviction and sentence are upheld on appeal, he will likely remain in custody for decades and perhaps the rest of his life,” Judge Charlaine Olmedo wrote in an order (via Deadline).
Olmedo also referenced the divorce proceedings between Masterson and Bijou Phillips, who filed for divorce less than two weeks after the actor was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison after being found guilty of two counts of forcible rape. “In light of the fact that defendant has no wife to go home to, defendant now has every incentive to flee and little reason to return to state prison to serve out the remainder of his lengthy sentence should his appeal be unsuccessful,” the judge stated.
Masterson was first arrested in 2020 on three counts of forcible rape dating back to allegations from 2001 to 2003; the trial ended in November 2022 after the jury deadlocked, resulting a mistrial (Masterson was charged with three counts of forcible rape, but the jury was unable to come to a unanimous decision on the third count.)
A retrial was held in April 2023 and the following May, Masterson was found guilty of two counts of forcible rape. The verdict followed a monthlong trial of testimony from the three women whose allegations were linked to the charges, recalling violent claims that the actor drugged them before raping them.
In both cases, the Church of Scientology was a major focus throughout the trial. Masterson is a prominent Scientologist and all three women who accused him of rape are former members of the organization. Of the three, two of the women claimed the church discouraged them from reporting the rapes to authorities. Representatives for the organization have denied the allegations.
In December 2023, three years after he was ordered to do so following his 2020 arrest for three counts of forcible rape, Masterson relinquished his personal stockpile of assault rifles. One of the Jane Doe victims attended the hearing after saying the month prior that she was “scared” upon learning that her assailant had access to high-powered assault weapons while he was out on bail pending trial.
“Why didn’t he turn them over? Why did he want to maintain them for all these years despite a court order and a judge’s order, putting his bail and freedom at risk? Those rifles are enough to take out a school. Those are serious assault rifles,” she said after the hearing last month.
