A judge has declared a mistrial in the case of “70s Show” actor Danny Masterson, who faces three counts of rape.
Jurors told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlene Olmedo they were hopelessly deadlocked, with seven votes on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The 46-year-old is accused of raping three women, including an ex-girlfriend, at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003.
Two of the women are 23 years old and the other is 28 years old.
Masterson denies the allegations and says the sex was consensual.
Jurors first told the judge they could not reach a verdict on Nov. 18, but were given time off for Thanksgiving week and then asked to try again.
Two jurors found COVID-19 on Monday, forcing a reopening of deliberations, but a verdict remains elusive two days later, Foreman said two jurors voted for conviction on the first count and four on the second. , and five in the third charge.
A retrial will be held in March.
Masterson was a member of the Church of Scientology, and three of his accusers were at the time of the alleged crimes.
Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller claimed the case took two decades to go to trial because the church tried to silence the women.
The women filed a lawsuit against the church, saying they were intimidated, harassed and stalked after Masterson was charged.
But Masterson’s attorney, Philip Cohen, said the church was mentioned 700 times during the trial as an excuse for the prosecution’s failure to build a credible case.
Masterson has previously said he was persecuted for being a member of the church, but he did not testify, and his lawyers instead focused on inconsistencies in the evidence given by the three women.
In closing arguments, he said: “The key to this case is not when they report it.
“It’s what they said when they reported the case, what they said after the report, and what they said during the trial.”
Two of the women said Masterson gave them drinks and they became dizzy or passed out before being raped, while a third — an ex-girlfriend — said she woke up to find Masterson had raped her.
Mr. Cohen said jurors could acquit Masterson if they believed that Masterson “actually and reasonably believed” the women consented, but Mr. Mueller said no one would believe there was consent, one of the women repeatedly said. Tell Masterson “no.”
Masterson played the role of Steven Head on the sitcom ’70s Show, co-starring Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace.
He teamed up with Kutcher on the Netflix comedy “The Ranch,” but he was sidelined from the show in late 2017 after it was revealed that police were investigating him.