Danny Masterson Loses Appeal on Rape Conviction, Court Upholds 30-Year Sentence
The appeals court argued that the trial court’s decision to exclude certain evidence concerning the possible effect on the victims’ pending civil action “did not preclude defendant from presenting evidence of the victims’ possible financial motives as a basis for challenging their credibility.”
Furthermore, the panel denied a separate habeas corpus petition that claimed Masterson didn’t get an adequate defense.
The actor’s appellate attorneys, Cliff Gardner and Eric Multhaup, revealed on Tuesday that they will appeal his case to the California Supreme Court and continue pursuing a separate habeas petition.
Danny Masterson's Chances of Winning Appeal Are Slim, Lawyer Says
“The appellate court’s decision to deny this appeal and deny the habeas corpus petition ignores the extraordinary new evidence that has been before them for more than a year. That evidence includes statements by both complaining witnesses that their sexual experiences with Danny Masterson were both consensual and positive,” Gardner said in a statement obtained by Us. “Danny is serving a life sentence for crimes he did not commit. No one in California — not defendants and not victims who have actually been the victim of a sex crime — is safer by virtue of today’s unfortunate decision.”
Multhaup, meanwhile, called the denial of the appeal and the habeas corpus petition “fundamentally wrong.”
“The habeas petition contains striking evidence of innocence that was never presented to the jury. For example, long before she claimed forcible rape, one of the complaining witnesses confided in two of her closest friends that her sexual experience with Danny Masterson was her ‘top sex ever.’ Now, years later, she has accused him of forcible rape and is suing him for damages,” the attorney alleged in a statement on Tuesday. “The other complaining witness — again long before she made any claim of forcible rape — had a catch-up conversation with a longtime friend who had also had sex with Danny Masterson, and they compared notes about their respective experiences in a light-hearted and favorable manner. Years later, she too accused him of forcible rape and has joined the civil lawsuit suing him for damages. None of this evidence was presented to the jury. None of it.”
Multhaup added: “The Court of Appeal did not address any of the exculpatory evidence that was contained in the habeas corpus petition, and instead justified the denial with a one-paragraph summary of the one-sided evidence presented by the prosecution. This cursory treatment reflects poorly on the administration of justice in the Court of Appeal, and will be rectified by a petition to the California Supreme Court.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
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