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THAT 70S SHOW actor Danny Masterson must stand trial for rape after three women claimed he attacked them nearly 20 years ago, a judge in the US has ruled.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo ordered Masterson to trial on three counts of rape by force or fear, charges that could get him up to 45 years in prison.
She said she found the women’s evidence credible for the purposes of the preliminary hearing, where the bar for sufficient evidence is significantly lower than it will be at the forthcoming trial.
That trial will represent the rare prosecution of a Hollywood figure in the #MeToo era despite dozens of investigations by police and the Los Angeles district attorney, most of which have ended without charges.
Masterson, 45, has pleaded not guilty.
His lawyers said they would prove his innocence, and during the hearing repeatedly challenged the women on discrepancies in stories they alleged the accusers had coordinated in the years since their alleged rapes.
The lawyers said the age of the incidents, which date from 2001 and 2003, made accurate memories impossible.
“Memories fade and memories change,” Masterson lawyer Sharon Appelbaum said.
The actor had no visible reaction to the judge’s decision as he sat in court, with a small group of family and friends behind him.
Masterson’s lead lawyer Thomas Mesereau, who also defended Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby in their sexual misconduct cases, declined to comment outside court.
During the hearing, Mesereau suggested that police, prosecutors and witnesses were tainted by anti-religious bias against the Church of Scientology.
Masterson is a prominent Scientologist, all three women are former Scientologists.
Scientology and its teachings came up so frequently during the hearing that the judge felt compelled to say the church was not a defendant.
The organisation is likely to loom even larger at trial, where most of the witnesses will be either members or former members.
In her ruling, the judge said that a church document on members not going to police about other members and allowing the institution to mediate instead, “sufficiently explains to this course the hesitancy of these women” from reporting their accusations to police for years.
Ms Appelbaum said the three women had colluded to form a “sisterhood” that “seems to want to take down Mr Masterson and take down Scientology”.
Ms Appelbaum said they had spoken to each other, at times in violation of orders, changing accounts they had initially given police.
“Over time their stories are becoming more similar to one another,” she said.
“They’re taking the language of one another.”
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Alive is a mental rag altogether. The last time I read it the ‘agony aunt’ was telling a reader to ban their children from dressing up on Halloween as it was a pagan festival & they were risking their kids souls.
Lol as opposed to all the Christian holidays that are on the same day as Pagan festivals “by coincidence”
@sandbag Christmas=winter solstice Easter=summer solstice weddings ectopic are all pagen all adopted by Christians to make it easier for people to convert, it’s basically a copy of all the popular religion’s at the time they were conceived even the Bible is just a re write
And it is a registered charity! These nutters get to put out their propaganda while enjoying tax free charitable status!
@Richard Easter = Spring Equinox, not summer solstice.
Also Easter was the Pagan celebration of female fertility, that’s how the eggs got involved.
Halloween is evil! Now help me steal some artists’ works so we can let people know how wrong celebrating Halloween is.
Thou shalt not steal !
Some Christians that missed that one !
This story is not remotely newsworthy. However it’s a classic clickbait article for the journal for readers to bash the church.
Or praise it …
Don,t forget IONA is also a charity !!!
“nutters” is not a fair comment. I’m fairly sure that all contributors to the Alive paper are volunteers who are very sincere. You may not agree with them. Have you ever read it?
Being the child of parents with faith is also tough- that scramble on a Sunday evening to get mass and then leg it home in time for Where in the World and Glenroe was a real pain ion the hole.
And as for Lent? No sweets and mass every day. Sure that’s no way for a young fella to live.
A real Catholic would’ve got mass at 11 not forgetting to put the roast in the oven before you went.
The last time I was in mass one of my children was being confirmed and meself and another father spent the service discussing how the Bishop had moved at least two paedophiles around the diocese – not going back there with my children thank you very much !
Yet you got your kids confirmed?
You are a classic Irish hypocrite Hermes. Ya probably don’t even realise how ironic that comment sounded!
The reason my child was confirmed was for the sole purpose of social inclusion – he knew what it was because I explained it to him !
Had I known before I attended the mass that the bishop had done what he did then perhaps things may have been different !
Now, may God bless ye all ……..
How many of you know that the Catholic Church put salt in holy wells …………
Classic Irish hypocrite lives a greedy life dosent care about anyone completely self centred probably has a family like in the pic breaks every religious rule on a daily basis and then goes too mass every Sunday and feels fine about it
Indeed Choc. You are no more a christian for going to church than you are a car if you sit in a garage for an hour a week.
Hold on I’ll just ask my children……no they say it was fine growing up without religious parents
This is the sort of nonsense religious propaganda that needs to be challenged. No one needs to be force fed religion as kids. They can find it themselves if they wish. Telling children they cant be happy without make believe is wrong and has caused generations of adults who have serious problems determining reality from myth and superstition and all the harm and exploitation that such societies give rise to.
Work away Cyril, you challenge it….
The downside is that you have to read it to do that.
This is the crux of it (found at http://www.alive.ie/editors-jottings.html)
“She seems to think we should stop telling children stories with happy endings. That kids need to realise that real life stories don’t end that way.
It was inevitable that people who lost sight of God would eventually turn against fairy tale endings, in the name of “realism”. Being the child of parents with no faith and no ultimate hope is tough.
However, the “realists” have got it wrong. Hope and happiness, not despair, are the realistic attitude to life.”
This is preaching to the converted sort of stuff, there isn’t exactly much of an intellectual argument going on here.
Its pushed trough my door every now and then. I have never known a paper to spew such hate as Alive it should be banned. And the little sh.ts leave my gate open every time.
“Being the child of parents with no faith is tough enough” typical nonsense as if going to Mass and saying a few prayers suddenly sorts all your problems in life and magically makes you a better family. I hope that artist takes them to the cleaners for including her work in that pile of condescending tripe.
I would have been a happier child if I was allowed to watch cartoons on a Sunday morning. I remember I used to pretend I was sick, pretend I was still in a very deep sleep, lose my shoes, all sorts to avoid mass
I love the problem page in that rag!! Great for cleaning the windows
looks like my gaf last night.
Is this only available in Dublin?I’ve never heard of it. If it’s free around cork I might grab a copy and use it to put over my bathroom sink while I’m shaving.
It’s made in the Priory in Tallaght. You could nearly sell it as a satire newspaper it’s that ridiculous. Not a single mention of the Referendum in it either.
Thanks Rob, I can only imagine the shite that’s in it.
Somehow a mate of mine in Killaloe gets it delivered through his door, he has no idea how he was deemed worthy enough to receive it. Seems to be fairly selective.
Very funny. NOT
If you haven’t read it and cant write something constructive then why bother.
If god was so poxy powerful why doesn’t he just talk to everyone and not just a selected few in costumes? Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetards.. Here, have some more money..
Anybody want to ask Leo for an explanation why a 102 year old lady was left on a trolley in Tallaght for 26 hours?
Ok, but where is he? If you know you could just ask him yourself.
Maybe ask the staff at the hospital, they were present!
Surely this is a picture of a typical catholic family. Loads of kids and a downtrodden mother .
“Oh lord as you seen fit to create copyright infringement, we pray that you will send your only begotten legal representative whom deals mainly in copyright law. Also if you could smite some of these uppity gays, that would be peachy. Eamon!”
“Alive!” is the epitome of a misnomer!
i contacted Alive about this disgusting article, here’s our correspondence:
Dear Brian,
Your assertion below continues the condescension and offensiveness. My children have much more hope than those betrayed by your church and its hiding of paedophiles, Magdalene Laundries etc. My mother was deeply Catholic and she ended her days feeling betrayed by the church in which she had put her trust.
We will never agree on the question of whose beliefs are right but the complete lack of compassion for and disdain of those who hold alternative views or lifestyles, as exemplified by the Catholic Church’s behaviour during and after the recent marriage referendum and its campaigning against women being allowed to terminate pregnancies when their lives are at risk, when they have been raped etc, are major reasons that “the faithful” are bolting for the church doors, never to return.
Please ensure that your publication is not delivered to my house again.
Yours sincerely.
Andrew
From: Editor, AlivePaper [mailto:alivepaper@hotmail.com]
Sent: 03 June 2015 17:05
To: Andrew Fitzpatrick
Subject: RE:
Dear Andrew,
You may have raised your 3 children as happy and healthy atheists, but you still left them with no ultimate hope. Why is it condescending or offensive to point that out?
Sincerely,
Brian
Fr Brian McKevitt OP (Editor)
Visit our website at http://www.alive.ie
View homily, We Can Know The Truth:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyyYvDb6H8yUFOEnTgyUyoA
> From: andrew@monsterentertainment.tv
> To: alivepaper@hotmail.com
> Subject: FW:
> Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2015 09:04:03 +0100
>
> Dear Sirs,
>
> The attached came through my letterbox this morning. As a proud and loving
> father who has raised 3 happy and healthy children as atheists, I find your
> headline deeply condescending and offensive. Please desist from delivering
> any more of this rubbish to my door.
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
> Andrew Fitzpatrick
Without hope …what a tosser !
I don’t think the faithful are “bolting for the church doors”. Many have used the excuse of the scandals within the church to leave but if someone is a believer they surely wouldn’t leave because of the few priests/bishops that made serious mistakes.
So sue for breach of copyright.
The story is about copyright infringement yet somehow the artist does not want to focus alone on this but on her own beliefs as well. The comment section also doesn’t want to stick to the actual content of the article ( it being about copyright infringement ) but seems to be full of comments of religion bashing instead. If someone used one of my images without permission even on something I do or do not agree with I would just focus on them having the image removed but I wouldn’t go as far as to state how much I agree or disagree with their company or religious/irreligious ethos because it has absolutely nothing to do with copyright infringement.
Also as for photography, copyright infringement in Irish newspapers of photographers pics happens almost daily but it never makes headlines. Yet somehow the journal makes this case a headline. I’m confused.
My comment was about the article on page 7 of this “newspaper” and the falsehood it states
The problem is the Church is dying yet it still tries to wield the mighty axe it once had. Pathetic really.
“Thou shall not steal”
I don’t know about other Irish newspapers and their commandments ?
Stephen – The artist herself has said she does not subscribe to religion, so I can fully understand her anger over some fundamentalist lunatic magazine using her artwork without permission. The views contained in that rag are completely at odds with her own so she has every right to be p1ssed off and comment on it.
Look how much happier all the ISIS people are compared to atheists
I’ve had my own pics used in places and mags that have questionable content to what I believe but I simply invoice them or ask them to remove the picture no big deal at all. I don’t feel the need to take to social media because I have an anti religious axe to grind and it sounds like both the journal and the artist do because the journal know right well that Irish media are forever stealing photographers pics off their Facebook pages and putting them in their papers but these never make headlines but when it’s something to do with the Catholic Church or Christianity in general……they gather around it like moths to a lightbulb.
Actually Stephen, the last photography copyright issue presented in the Journal was regarding the use of a couple and their child by Mothers and Fathers Matter in the recent referendum. I’m not aware of any anti-Catholic/Christian bias by the journal in the past with regard to copyright issues. Can you provide some examples, please?
Actually George you’re wrong, the mothers and fathers matter couple and child used in the election posters that went up around the city was a shutter stock image and they had every right to use the image but then this couple felt the need to come out and grind their axe about their image being used for something they disagreed with. Childish and ridiculous journalism.
And to my original question, Stephen? Other examples of anti-Catholic bias in regard to copyright issues?
If your face is being used to sell an idea that you think is fundamentally wrong then you have more to lose by staying quiet. People that recognise you will assume all permissions were given and that you support the idea.
“I’m confused “. U sure r stephen but it’s the best comment u have ever posted on the journal but maybe admitting your confused is the first step
The artist is perfectly entitled to share her views regarding the content of the publication, her images aren’t stock images that anyone can use and it’s just a matter of paying for the copyright.
If you want to use them you have to ask the artist for permission, if they had they wouldn’t have got it. She is entitled to point this out and the journal are entitled to report on it.
Stephen – You seem to be quite religious so let me ask you this. You create a drawing (let’s say for this example of jesus). This image is then misappropriated (without any prior consent from you) and used by a satirical publication in an article which mocks your faith mercilessly. Are you going to be ok just to “invoice them” about that or will you voice your discontent about the content and what your image is attached to, in this case an article espousing views that are completely against what you stand for?
“something they disagreed with”
Homophobic bigotry is a much better fit.
Good publicity ,for the artist she should say a decade of the rosary in thanks.
The only good thing about Alive is that it allows you to see what some of the more notable Catholic fundamentalists really think, for example, in one of David Quinn’s articles he advocated using the church’s control of schools to censor history books and give a more rose tinted picture of the church.
No word about the 101 year old left on a trolley for 24 hrs?
At least Leo got his interview with Miriam out. And his referendum passed.
And portlaoise? No sackings.
Good lad Leo you should be gay and proud.
you must think Leo is God if you expect him to be in all hospitals at all times. Pretty sure he had no say in the “decision” to leave the woman on the trolley.
Crime of the century here.
I had a teacher in my secondary school (and not a religon teacher), hand that “newspaper” out to us every day. And she was a nutter too. I did always think the horoscopes were a laugh “It’s the Son not the stars that runs your life”.
This is the same newspaper that described left handed people as “brain-damaged.” My mam read that in work and she got very annoyed (she’s left handed)
The people of Ireland should read 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14.!
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