Three years after being convicted of raping two women, Danny Masterson today saw his appeal hopes disappear and allegations that Scientology was unfairly dragged into his two trial rejected.
“The judgment is affirmed,” a trio of judges from the Second Appelltete District ruled Tuesday on Masteron’s challenge against LA Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo’s conduct during the two trials and the subsequent 30-year sentence the actor received.
“The trial court permitted evidence that the victims had a pending civil action for damages against defendant, Scientology, and Miscavige, alleging claims of harassment and stalking,” the 89-page ruling from the appeals panel said on the claims by the That 70s Show star and his faith that Judge Olmedo inappropriately allowed material about the Church, Masterson and his victims’ roles in Scientology, it’s inner workings and leader David Miscavige into the 2022 and 2023 cases. “The trial court also permitted evidence of the settlement agreement between defendant and J.B. and the amount paid to J.B. pursuant to that settlement.”
“Admission of Scientology evidence did not violate the First Amendment and was not an abuse of the trial court’s discretion,” the panel determined, undercutting one of Masterson’s main thrusts to get his 30-year sentence dismissed or a new trial. The three judges added: “The jury in this case was not asked to determine the truth or falsity of Scientology doctrine or beliefs. Admission of Scientology evidence for those purposes did not contravene the First Amendment.”
With today’s ruling now done, Masterson remains ineligible for parole until 2042.
Representatives of the Church of Scientology did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment on today’s ruling. However, Masterson’s attorneys tell Deadline they are going to try to take the matter the California Supreme Court. Additionally, Cliff Gardner and Eric Multhaup says they intend “to pursue habeas corpus relief based on substantial exculpatory evidence that was never presented to the jury.”
Out on bail of $3 million until May 31, 2023 when the guilty verdict in his second trial on two of three counts of sexual assault was handed down, Masterson was arrested in 2020 over the alleged assaults that occurred between 2001 and 2003 in his Hollywood Hills house.
Both of the women Masterson was convicted of raping in 2023 were members of Scientology themselves at the time of the assaults.
In depositions and testimony, both J.B. and N.T. said they were told by officials at Scientology not to report the incidents to the police or face expulsion from the Church and its entire community – including their families. The appeal petition of late 2025 says that trial defense lawyer Phillip Cohen should have stared down the judge and the DA’s office. Masterson wanted a representative of Scientology to take the stand to lay out their internal processes and dispute the expulsion claims. As the appeals filing of November 2025 made clear, if that testimony had happened Masterson believed the second trial could have ended very differently.
The one-time prominent Scientology member was facing up to 45 years behind bars if found guilty on all three rape counts in the first trial and the subsequent retrial involving J.B. and N.T. After being given his three-decades long sentence by Judge Olmedo on September 7, 2023. Masterson, who remains a member of Scientology, was immediately taken into custody at that time, and later denied bail as a “flight risk.”
Sweeping up other objections by Masterson on the LAPD, evidence admitted, pretrial procedures and more, the appeals court Tuesday concluded: “We reject defendant’s contention that the cumulative effect of the claimed errors identified in his appeal deprived him of due process of law and a fair trial. Because we have found none of the claimed errors to constitute individual errors, they cannot as a group constitute cumulative error.”
Facing threats and more in Charles Manson’s old home of the Golden State’s high security Corcoran State Prison, Masterson was moved in early 2024 to serve out his time at the California’s Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo. Housing around 3,4000 inmates, the Men’s Colony is a both a medium and minimum-security facility.