Los Angeles prosecutors will retry “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson on three rape counts after a hopelessly deadlocked jury led to a mistrial in his first trial in November.
The LA County District Attorney’s Office declared prosecutors’ plans in court docket filings and at a Tuesday listening to, the place Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo rejected a protection movement to dismiss the fees.
The transfer comes regardless of prosecutors failing to get even half of the earlier jury to vote to convict on any of the counts in opposition to Masterson, who’s charged with the rape of three ladies, together with a former girlfriend, at his residence between 2001 and 2003.
“We are pleased that Danny Masterson will not be permitted to simply escape criminal accountability,” two of the three ladies and the husband of 1 mentioned in a joint assertion launched by way of their attorneys. “Despite suffering years of intimidation and harassment, we are completely committed to participating in the next criminal trial.”
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The Associated Press doesn’t sometimes identify individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused.
The decide tentatively set the retrial to start in late March.
The 46-year-old Masterson had no remark to reporters outdoors court docket after Tuesday’s listening to, and his lawyer didn’t reply to an e-mail requesting remark.
He has pleaded not responsible, and his lawyer has mentioned the acts had been all consensual.
The Church of Scientology performed a significant position in the course of the month-long trial, with Masterson a member and all three ladies former members. Prosecutors mentioned the church dissuaded them from going public for years, which the church has denied.
The costs date to a interval when Masterson was on the top of his fame, starring from 1998 till 2006 as Steven Hyde on Fox’s “That ’70s Show.” The present made stars of Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace and is getting an upcoming Netflix reboot with “That ’90s Show.”
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