What we lose in the Shadows (A father and daughter True Crime Podcast)
Fame and Felony: The case of Danny Masterson
Feb 27, 2024
Jameson Keys & Caroline
This week we tread carefully into sensitive territory, with a content warning for discussions on rape and sexual assault, as we scrutinize the shocking actions of Danny Masterson. Known for his role on "That '70s Show," Masterson's conviction and the bravery of the two victims who brought him to Justus. Shifting the lens to celebrity crime, we grapple with the question of whether fame influences the scales of justice.
This week we tread carefully into sensitive territory, with a content warning for discussions on rape and sexual assault, as we scrutinize the shocking actions of Danny Masterson. Known for his role on "That '70s Show," Masterson's conviction and the bravery of the two victims who brought him to Justus. Shifting the lens to celebrity crime, we grapple with the question of whether fame influences the scales of justice.
Good morning and welcome to what we Lose in the Shadows A Father Daughter True Crime Podcast. My name is Jameson Keyes. I'm Caroline. Good morning everyone. Happy Tuesday to you and welcome, caroline. My daughter is not feeling well today, so I'll be trying to provide this thing solo, for better or worse.
Speaker 1:
I wanted to catch up on a couple things. We did a show not long ago and it was about a 61-year-old man died in the San Antonio area that kidnapped a young 13-year-old girl as she was walking to a bus stop. He drove her across the country some 1,300 miles to California. He unfortunately did molester on the way. She was captured, if you'll remember, by putting up a sign that said help me. Some great people actually saw the sign and did just that and stopped this guy from doing anything worse. His name is Steven Sablin and he's from Clairburn, texas, just recently. This happened over the summer, but he was just pled guilty. He will be charged later this year. He will face a sentence up to 20 years in prison and good written to give this guy off the street.
Speaker 1:
Other things I wanted to catch you up on a little bit. My book is your Well Aware. The Vanishing Ballerina is available on all the major platforms. Now it's also available on my website at jamisonkeyscom. You can order it from Amazon or Barnes Noble. You can also order it directly off of the website. Some trigger warnings before we start today. Today it's a tricky, gruesome case as well. The trigger warnings are molestation, rape and sexual assault.
Speaker 1:
Like many people back in the 90s, I was a big fan of that 70s show. It had appeared in the late 90s, early 2000s. The cast was super funny and I could really relate to it because I grew up in the 70s and 80s. Everything the cars, the clothes, the music it was all on point. I even found the characters Topher, grace's character, eric and Donna and Red Foreman. They're all very, very hilarious.
Speaker 1:
Danny Masterson's character had some pretty funny moments too. He always seemed a little dark to me. For some reason. Even the name of Stephen Hyde reminded me of Robert Louis Stevens' novel Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, where Dr Jekyll drinks this concoction, this potion, and turns intoa violent sociopath after drinking the potion. In this Hyde's case, he made drinks for young ladies and then the horror really began for them. It's kind of like having a name like Dracula or Frankenstein or something a monster In the title. It does evoke certain images. Stephen Hyde's character certainly had that effect on me as well. There's no offense to anyone who has the last name of Hyde or Frankenstein or anything else. It's hard to live past that particular moniker.
Speaker 1:
Unfortunately, danny Masterson's real life turned out to be even more disturbing than his character's name. He was sentenced recently to 30 years in prison on September 8th of 2023 after being found guilty of raping two women who were former members of the Church of Scientology. Masterson, who's 47, was also a lifelong member of the same organization and was convicted on those two counts in May On a third charge that was resulted in a hung jury, so that won't be passed on to the grand jury. When they were sentencing over that period of time, it was a crowded courtroom that included Masterson's wife, biju Phillips, his family members and a lot of other people. Even one person that was also there was Leah Remedy. If you know anything about Leah Remedy, she's a former Scientologist who was there to support the victims throughout the trial. Also, there was Cedric Zavala, I think, his last name. He's the lead sender of Mars Volca, a band I'm not familiar with. He is a former Scientologist and his wife is one of the accusers Masterson is facing 15 years to 30 years in state prison, as he was convicted of assaulting multiple women and Charlemagne Omedo gave him 15 years to 30 years and on each individual rape, and those are going to be served consecutively.
Speaker 1:
Masterson has always denied any wrongdoing and claim that the accusations were basically a sort of a conspiracy against him, against Scientology, or have been data from his ex-girlfriends. Before imposing the sentence, omeda dismissed the idea that Masterson had brought up that this was all because of rumors or innuendo or gossip or speculation. He said that you took away another person's voice and choice 20 years ago. Your actions were criminal and that and that only is why you're here Masterson knew who appeared in court and, like Gray Sue Ten you know, slipped back here and full beard that he'd grown since the trial, didn't speak in the sentencing and he didn't testify in his own defense.
Speaker 1:
During the testimony, each victim described in graphic detail a violent assault at Masterson's Hollywood Hills home during the height of his fame, when he starred as the mercurial Stephen Hyde, as we said, on the popular TV show. All of the women said that they fell prey to Masterson after he served them some drinks that made them disoriented, dizzy and nauseous. Each accuser was identified in court by a single initial in either their first or their last name. You know this kind of naturally draws a comparison to former Disgrace TV star and comedian, bill Cosby, who allegedly did the same thing and drugged and raped women over many, many years, although he was later released, on a technicality, in 2021.
Speaker 1:
While Masterson's lawyer, philip Cohen, has argued that the women's stories were inconsistent and there was no physical evidence of drugging or any evidence of force or violence, chrissy B, a former girlfriend of Masterson, said that they were involved in a very tumultuous and abusive relationship, and she stated that she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a modeling career, as many young girls do, and Masterson allegedly repeatedly spat on her and called her white trash and initiated sexual as she was asleep One night in November of 2001, she said she awoke to Masterson forcing himself on her. When she said no, he pinned her down and raped her anyways. Jen B said that she became weak and woozy after having a drink that Masterson had prepared for, and then he brought her back to his home. And then there he got very violent. Apparently he was wielding a gun and using a pillow to suffocate her. Another young lady named N Trout described a similar experience, saying that Masterson isolated her in his house and that she grew weak after being served a drink and as she lost the ability to fight back, that's when the violence happened, and it was so intense and so severe that she vomited after the fact. In their victim statements, the women Masterson was convicted of raping recounting how much speaking out had cost them A second generation Scientologist, jen B, knew that speaking out against Masterson would, in effect, be an excommunication from both the church and her family.
Speaker 1:
When she reported the assault at Los Angeles Police Department, jen B said the church barred all her relatives from communicating with her, with the exception of one parent, and that's only because they had donated a lot of money to the organization. Jen B said that her father died in 2010 and that her mother disavowed her shortly after prosecutors brought charges in 2020. Her mother texted her and told her to never contact her again. Jen B says she had warned her mom ahead of time that she had to see Danny Masterson locked away for what he had done to her, even if it was at the expense of her religion, and Trout said that she'd been tormented by the church for speaking out against Masterson. But since that week that I came forward to the police, I've been terrorized, harassed and my privacy has been dated on a daily basis by the church of Scientology for almost seven years. But she said I do not regret it, masterson. She said, delighted in inflicting pain on her. She said you relish hurting women. It's an addiction and is, without question, your favorite thing to do. Your sickness is no longer my burden to bear.
Speaker 1:
Juris ultimately were deadlocked on the charges that linked Chrissy B to Masterson and that case was not carried on. But the other two cases were at an earlier trial in late 2022 that ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict on any count, although they had pulled the panel at one point in time and there were at least seven of the jurors that were leaning more towards acquittal, and it ended up actually as a 10-2 hung jury, so they threw the case out. Masterson's defense team issued a statement to maintaining Masterson's innocence, saying that they had identified a significant number of evidentiary and constitutional issues which will be addressed in the briefs and in the federal and state appellant courts. The errors which occurred in the case substantially and unfortunately led to a verdict does not support the events, the statement said. Although we have great respect for the jury in this case and our system of justice overall, sometimes they get it wrong.
Speaker 1:
The church has repeatedly denied that it has a policy barring members from reporting one another to the police, but in a preliminary, deputy district attorney Mueller read a passage from the introduction to Scientology Ethics, a 528-page tome by the church's founder, l Ron Hubbard, that discourages Scientologists from reporting other fellow parishioners to the police. One victim testified that she understood the book was an official church doctrine and that's why the judge in this case agreed and that it be ruled in as church policy. Church of Scientology spokesperson Karen Powell blasted the introduction of the church documents as an unprecedented violation of the First Amendment. The church's legal entanglements in LA are just beginning because Masterson's accusers have a pending civil lawsuit against him and Scientology litigation. That can now go forward because the criminal proceedings have closed.
Speaker 1:
Remini, who has also sued the organizations for harassment, alleging that it has spent years trying to intimidate her in deceasing her activities as I said before, she was there on hand in the courtroom. After this court sentencing, remini tweeted her thoughts and she meant no words, saying that Masterson's conviction and sentence are indictments against Scientology, it's operatives and it's criminal leader. Her words, not mine. Sitting in court today with these women who survived any Masterson's predation was a surreal experience, remini said in her statement. Over the past seven decades, former Scientologists have sadly become used to Scientology using its financial resources, its religious protection and relationship ships to snatch justice away from all these women. She pointed out how dangerous it can be for those in Scientology who go against the church and applaud the women for their bravery.
Speaker 1:
I will always remind the public that in Scientology, if you report another Scientologist to law enforcement, you've committed a high crime, the consequences of which are devastating. You'll lose everything you've ever known, from your family, to your friends, to your job. So Danny Masterson was sent originally to the Cochran State Prison, which is really a high, high volume, high security prison, and that's actually where Charles Manson, the founder of the Manson family, who murdered Sharon Tate and all these people back in the 70s and prompted the book Helter Scouter. He was kept there from the time he was convicted and sentenced until his death a few years ago. But Masterson only spent two weeks there. He was just recently transferred to the minimum, medium to minimum security prison in San Luis, abispo. The men's colony is, like I said, a medium or low security prison and, according to a deadline, masterson was transferred there due to the concerns for the inmates' wellbeing, the Scientologist was reportedly placed at a facility in level four unit, the highest tier of security, and that's normally held for people who need extra protection or supervision. He will be eligible for parole in 2042, when he's 66 years old.
Speaker 1:
So what do you think? I don't know. I feel like maybe we haven't seen the last of this case yet. I mean, given the fact that the first case was ended in a mistrial and they had to try it all over again, and given the fact that Danny Masterson can afford a high price legal team and I'm sure there will be appeals, I'm sure we haven't seen the last of this case.
Speaker 1:
How about celebrities and justice?
Speaker 1:
Do they get a different level of justice to celebrities and politicians and their families Get a different level of justice than you and I would?
Speaker 1:
Maybe so, but it really depends, right? I mean Will Smith, that he actually slapped someone on live television and was that assault? Absolutely, but no charges were brought against him and, even worse, he was still allowed to stick around and pick up his Oscar that year. But I think, maybe, just maybe, that the wheels of justice are beginning to spin more fairly towards people. In the last few years, we've seen people like Matt Lauer and Harvey Weinstein and R Kelly get what they deserved, and maybe one of the most telling things about this case is, after the sentencing, danny Masterson's wife, biju Phillips, bound for divorce. Follow the show on whatever streaming site you're listening on and remember all of the source material will be available in the show notes and follow us on Instagram at what we lose in the shadows and let us know if you want to hear a specific case or if you just want to give us some feedback. Okay, join us in the shadows next Tuesday. Bye.