Danny Masterson is sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women

TV star Danny Masterson has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women.

The 47-year-old Scientologist did not react as Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo announced her decision – 15 years for each rape, with the sentences to run consecutively.

His wife, 43-year-old actress Bijou Phillips, who had been at his side in two criminal trials, looked dejected as she sat among a somber group of Scientology friends and family members.

And she waved at Masterson – who responded by blowing her a kiss – before being led back to the cells.

Before handing down the sentence, Judge Olmedo told Masterson that although he had steadfastly maintained his innocence, he was not the victim here. Your actions 20 years ago were criminal and that is why you are here today.

Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years in prison for raping two women

The 47-year-old Scientologist actor, best known for his role as wise-cracking Steven Hyde on “That ’70s Show,” was found guilty by a jury of two counts of rape last May. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the third rape charge against him

Masterson played the wisecracking Steven Hyde on That ’70s Show from 1998 to 2006

Before the verdict was announced, Masterson’s victims tearfully recounted in the courtroom how he had ruined their lives.

“You are pathetic, disturbed and extremely violent and the world is a safer place when you are in prison,” Jane Doe No. 2 said, looking directly at the actor, dressed in a gray suit and gray open-neck shirt.

“You are a true coward and a heartless monster,” Jane Doe #1 added. “I think life is an appropriate sentence.”

Masterson had two trials. His first trial, six months earlier, ended in a mistrial after a different jury was hopelessly deadlocked on all three rape charges.

Masterson was free on $3.3 million bail in both trials. However, that freedom ended with his double conviction on May 31 and he has been incarcerated at the infamous Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles ever since.

On Thursday, in shackles, he made the short journey from prison to Courtroom 105 on the ninth floor of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, where he faced his victims.

A close friend told DailyMail.com that Ms Bijou “felt like she was grieving a death” as she awaited her husband’s sentencing.

“Currently Bijou is circling the drain, full of emotion and no emotion at all,” they said.

“She’s a shell of who she was.” She’s really trying to be strong for her daughter as she tries to figure out what life will be like for her.

“It can only be compared to a divorce or a death because she couldn’t be with Danny like she used to.”

The 60-year-old actor Billy Baldwin, who is married to Bijou’s actress half-sister Chynna Phillips (55), was also often in court during the trials.

Masterson was charged with three aggravated rapes between 2001 and 2003, all at his home in the Hollywood Hills. He denied all three counts and claimed the sex was consensual.

“You are pathetic, disturbed and extremely violent and the world is a safer place when you are in prison,” Jane Doe No. 2 said, looking directly at the actor, dressed in a gray suit and gray open-neck shirt. A court sketch from his trial is shown

His accusers – whom DailyMail.com identifies only as Jane Does 1 through 3 – are all former Scientologists and are also suing the actor and the Church of Scientology in civil court, saying they have been harassed and intimidated since reporting them to police. A status hearing on this civil case is scheduled for September 26.

Scientology was the elephant in the room in both trials. All three women said the reason it took them so long to report him to police was their fear of retaliation from the Church of Scientology.

They said church officials warned them against using the word “rape,” that handing over a fellow Scientologist to law enforcement would be considered a “serious crime,” and that if they disobeyed that doctrine they would be labeled a “suppressive person.” “ could be declared and expelled from the church and left alone, cut off from family and friends.

In the second trial, prosecutors placed much more emphasis than in the first trial on their allegations that Masterson drugged his victims by spiking their drinks before raping them.

Another difference between the two trials was that the second trial added the testimony of another “victim” – a woman who claimed Masterson raped her in Toronto in 2000, although he was never charged with the alleged assault.

Bijou must come to terms with the prospect of raising her child alone after her 47-year-old husband was convicted of two counts of rape in a Los Angeles court in May

A judge ordered him detained and set a hearing for August 4. Bijou wore a dark blue dress with white polka dots as she appeared in court with her husband

The 60-year-old actor Billy Baldwin, who is married to Bijou’s actress half-sister Chynna Phillips (55), was also often in court during the trials

Of the two women Masterson was convicted of raping, Jane Doe 1 testified that she was at the actor’s home in April 2003, where he gave her a fruity red drink laced with vodka that made her lightheaded, then took her into his hot tub threw and carried her upstairs where she passed out and woke up to see him raping her

She fought back, pushing a pillow into his face, she told the jury. But he pushed it back into her face, suffocating her and she passed out again.

When she woke up, she said, Masterson opened a bedside drawer and pulled out a gun, which he brandished and told her, “Don’t move.”

Jane Doe 2 – against whom the actor was also convicted of rape – met Masterson in a bar in 2003 and gave him her phone number. He called her and invited her to his house.

She went and after drinking and soaking in his hot tub, she found herself with him in his bathroom shower where, she told the jury, he “suddenly pushed his penis into her vagina… She said no, I.” said no. ‘Sex.’

Leah Remini and Danny Masterson pictured at a benefit dinner and concert for Project Restart and the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project on November 3, 2007 in Las Vegas

Scientology was the focus of both criminal trials. All three women said the reason it took them so long to report him to police was their fear of retaliation from the Church of Scientology

Jane Doe No. 1 broke down in tears as she hesitantly recounted the night in September 2002 when she woke up to find Masterson allegedly anally penetrating her

They ended up in Masterson’s bed, where, despite her protests, he turned her over and began hitting her from behind “like a jackhammer,” she testified, adding that she felt “like a limp rag doll.”

Jane Doe 3 – against whom Masterson was charged with rape but not convicted – lived with Masterson for six years. She was only 17 when she met him and he persuaded her to become a Scientologist, she told the court.

About a year into their relationship, he became very “controlling … and very sexually aggressive” – ​​she would often wake up at night and he would be on top of her having sex with her, she said.

In one such incident in November 2001, when she woke up to find him having sex with her, she said no and tried to push him away, the court heard.

When that didn’t work, she pulled his hair. But he retaliated by punching her in the face and calling her “white trash,” she told the jury.

Masterson’s lawyer, Philip Cohen, criticized “inconsistencies” in the women’s statements and statements to police and accused them of “obvious fabrications.”

And he claimed the three “worked together,” choreographing and “altering” their rape stories to help secure a conviction for Masterson – which in turn could help them win in the civil lawsuit they filed against him and the Church of Scientology. to win a large sum of money.