In addition to the retrial date and Jane Doe and the defense lawyer’s statements, the trial for alleged forcible rape involving Danny Masterson (That ’70s Show, Dracula 2000) has been declared mistrial. The jury deliberating the case says they were unable to reach a verdict on any of the three criminal courts that Masterson is facing, according to Deadline.
“After thorough and considerable discussion, it is clear that we as jurors are adamant about maintaining our individual positions on each of the three counts,” said the jurors in a letter that was verbally read by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 30, 2022, after the six-man/six-woman panel notified Judge Olmedo that they were stuck.
Shortly after reading the statement sent by the jurors, Judge Olmedo formally declared a mistrial, an event that the defense yearned for since practically the first day of testimonies last October.
“I find the jurors hopelessly deadlocked,” Judge Charlaine Olmedo declared, according to U.S. News. She set the retrial in Los Angeles Superior Court for some time in March.
Masterson was charged with three counts of alleged forcible rape regarding incidents that allegedly transpired between the years of 2001 and 2003 that involved three accusers.
The jurors voted a total of seven times between this past Tuesday and Wednesday with the result being unable to reach a consensus on any of the three counts of alleged forcible rape, told the foreman. Two jurors voted in favor of the conviction on the first count; four jurors voted in favor of the conviction on the second count; five jurors voted in favor of the conviction on the third count, according to U.S. News.
The actor’s defense attorneys debated that his three accusers had changed their stories over the years and questioned the motive and character of the alleged victims, according to New York Post. The defense attorney Philip Cohen stated that despite recurrent forewarnings from the investigators of the Los Angeles Police Department, Masterson’s three accusers had conversations amongst each other and already “contaminated” the case by exchanging details regarding their interactions with the actor.