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With Harvey Weinstein’s trial beginning just down the hall on the same floor at Clara Shortridge Criminal Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, it was an emptier courtroom at the start of Week Two of Danny Masterson’s rape trial on Monday. The week began with the second of three accusers tied to charges on the case recalling violent allegations that the That ’70s Show star raped and abused her during their six-year relationship that ended in 2001.
The woman — referred to as Christina B. and Jane Doe 3 in the courtroom — brought forward several disturbing allegations during the start of her testimony on Monday, including that Masterson raped her while she was asleep in one instance, and berated and abused her if she denied his sexual advances other times.
“I was sleeping and I woke up and he was having sex with me. I did not want to. I told him so, I told him, ‘No,” many times,” she told the court of the 2001 incident. “He wouldn’t stop. I was trying to push him off me. He pushed my arms back and put his forearm on my arm. I felt trapped.”
After continuing to struggle, remembering an apparent rule Masterson had about touching his face or hair, she grabbed the side of his hair and pulled. He allegedly hit her on the cheek in response, spat on her and called her “white trash” before leaving the room, she said.
The rape was one of several allegations she detailed Monday afternoon; she also brought forward other details on how Masterson would allegedly respond if she refused to have sex. Sometimes, he would stop talking to her for the rest of the day until she apologized, she testified. In one particularly violent instance, after getting back from a trip where she said she didn’t want have sex, “he dragged me by the hair on my head across our bedroom floor. He called me fat,” Christina B. said. She also alleged that at various times — because he thought it was funny and not out of anger — Masterson urinated on her.
Masterson was charged with three counts of forceable rape in 2020; he has pleaded not guilty and faces 45 years to life in prison if convicted. Outside of the criminal case, he also faces a civil trial that has been delayed until the conclusion of the the criminal trial.
Christina B. dated Masterson for six years and converted to Scientology within the first year of their relationship. Scientology and its policies and practices have been among the most prominent topics of the case; Masterson is a well-known Scientologist, and the two women tied to the other two rape charges were affiliated with Masterson through the Church. During her testimony last week, the first Jane Doe accuser said she feared retaliation from Scientologists for testifying. She also said she signed a $400,000 settlement and nondisclosure agreement (NDA) in 2004 over fear of being declared a “suppressive person” and being excommunicated from the Church.
Mueller started Monday with testimony from Shaun Fabos, a former friend who also worked for the family of the first Jane Doe accuser, who testified last week. Fabos, a member of the Church of Scientology, recalled Jane Doe 1 telling him about the alleged 2003 rape with Masterson, when Fabos and the Jane Doe 1 accuser met at a coffee shop shortly after the incident allegedly happened. “She felt something weird happened, and definitely some foul play had occurred,” Fabos said, recalling that he reacted to the statement telling her, “That’s not OK, I’m going to beat the shit out of him.”
Jane Doe 1 told him not to do anything, then days later told Fabos she made the story up. Years later, Jane Doe 1 told him she lied about fabricating the story to protect him as well as over fear of punishment from the Church, he said.
Fabos testified that he went on a trip to Florida with Jane Doe 1 and her family after the alleged incident, something he hadn’t told the prosecution in previous interviews, but told a private investigator for Masterson’s defense last week. He was there to take care of the first accuser’s daughter while on the trip, he said. When cross-examined by Masterson’s defense team, Fabos said he never saw any bruises on Jane Doe 1’s body. When asked why he never told prosecutors about being on the trip, Fabos said no one asked him and that he remembered because the private investigator inquired.
The alleged bruises on Jane Doe 1’s body have been a common point of contention for the defense. Jane Doe 1 and her cousin Rachel Dejneka, who was also on the Florida trip and testified Monday, both said Jane had noticeable bruises and pointed at parts of Jane Doe’s body in photos to show where the bruises were. Fabos, however, said he hadn’t seen them. On Monday, the defense questioned how visible the bruises are when looking at photos from the trip that were presented in the court room. The defense also questioned other key details from the alleged 2003 rape, such as if Masterson took a gun out of his drawer during the event. Fabos testified that Jane Doe 1 didn’t tell him about a gun when she first told him the story in 2003.
During a morning recess, Masterson’s defense attorney Phillip Cohen once again motioned for a mistrial, this time following Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller’s “feigning surprise” after Fabos testified that the private investigator spoke with him. Judge Charlaine Olmedo once again denied the mistrial motion. She also said Fabos was being a “hostile witness” and added he was evasive during his testimony.
Following Fabos’s testimony, Dejneka took the stand. She testified that she spent much time with the first Jane Doe accuser during the trip. She said she asked her multiple times what caused the bruises on Doe’s body and said the woman seemed “scared, sad and not energetic.”
During the defense’s cross examination, Cohen asked Dejneka about her communications with Jane Doe 1 as the criminal investigation reopened in 2017, and she acknowledged she had spoken with her several times before speaking with an LAPD rep. In Cohen’s opening statement, he emphasized that the accusers’ communications with one another and with other witnesses sullied their case.
When the prosecution asked about Dejneka’s communication with Jane Doe during their redirect, Dejneka said few of the conversations were related to details on the Florida trip, and they were mainly about obtaining photos for evidence.
The second accuser, also known as Christina B and Jane Doe 3, is expected to continue her testimony on Tuesday.
