In hours of typically tearful testimony, a girl informed a choose Tuesday that she was slipping out and in of consciousness on an evening 18 years in the past when she stated she discovered actor Danny Masterson raping her.
“When I came to, he was on top of me,” stated the lady, figuring out herself on the witness stand solely as Jen B. “The first thing I recall is grabbing his hair to pull him off.”
She testified at a preliminary listening to in Los Angeles Superior Court, the place a choose is deciding whether or not there’s possible trigger to order a trial for the “That ’70s Show” actor, who’s accused of raping three ladies. The Associated Press doesn’t usually title individuals who say they had been victims of sexual abuse.
Masterson has pleaded not responsible, and his lawyer, Thomas Mesereau, has stated he would show his consumer’s innocence.
Jen B. testified that she and Masterson had been a part of the identical group of mates who had been tied to the Church of Scientology within the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s and that she had gone to Masterson’s home to select up a set of keys on April 25, 2003, and obtained caught there.
She stated Masterson had given her a drink with vodka in it at her request _ her first of the evening _ however stated she was “blurry,” weak and queasy about 20 minutes later and had no energy to withstand as Masterson threw her in his jacuzzi.
She stated when she obtained out she couldn’t even sit up. A mutual pal, Luke Watson, tried to assist her.
“I couldn’t walk or stand, so he put me on the tile on the ground,” stated Jen B., who started crying however remained composed all through her testimony. “I said, ‘Luke I can’t see,’ and he said, ‘Open your eyes,’ and I didn’t know my eyes were closed. I couldn’t open my eyelids. I felt really, really sick.”
She testified that Masterson carried her upstairs, the place she vomited, then put her in his bathe. She stated she started shedding consciousness however was awake to search out Masterson soaping her naked breasts. She stated she tried to punch him within the face however was too weak and solely landed evenly on his chest.
She testified that he put her on the mattress and raped her and has solely flashes of reminiscence within the minutes that adopted. She stated that after she didn’t get Masterson off her by pulling his hair, she put a pillow in his face, however he pushed it again on her.
She stated he pulled a gun out of his nightstand drawer to threaten her.
During cross-examination, Mesereau challenged her over why the gun made no look in a police report she filed the next yr.
“Do you think that the police just forgot to put it in?” Mesereau stated. Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo forbade the query after a prosecution objection.
Mesereau repeatedly requested Jen B. about inconsistencies between her 2004 police report and a 2003 “knowledge report” she crammed out concerning the incident for the church because it tried to mediate between her and Masterson. She acknowledged there have been variations however stated she tried to be truthful in each case.
Jen B. testified that within the following days, bruises appeared on her wrists and neck space and that she had unbelievable ache in her genitalia.
She stated the management of the Church of Scientology, of which her dad and mom and all her mates had been members, strongly discouraged her from going to the police, mentioning that by coverage she could be declared a “suppressive person” if she made a report in opposition to a member in good standing like Masterson.
“I would lose my family and everyone I knew,” she stated, although in June 2004 she determined to go to the police anyway.
Mesereau stated she had “mischaracterized” the Scientology response.
Before the listening to started, Mesereau argued that references to the church or harassment of girls by officers and members shouldn’t be allowed. He alleged that the prosecution and lead detective within the case had proven “religious bias in the most blatant form.”
The choose declined to situation a blanket ban, however she stated she would enable the witnesses to debate the church because it affected their way of thinking.
In a lawsuit that the ladies filed in opposition to the church and Masterson, the church denied ever partaking in any harassment.
In Tuesday’s testimony, Jen B. acknowledged prosecutors informed her in 2004 that her case had been rejected partly as a result of there have been too many witnesses in opposition to her. She returns to the stand Wednesday for the listening to that’s anticipated to final 4 days.
Masterson, 45, sometimes took notes in courtroom and had no clear response to the testimony. He has been charged in Los Angeles with three counts of rape by drive or worry over assaults ladies stated occurred in 2001 and 2003.