A week ago this morning, Danny Masterson’s criminal defense attorneys Shawn Holley and Philip Cohen went into the courtroom of Judge Charlaine Olmedo and told tales of woe.
We first broke the news back on August 4 that Holley was using a pretty unusual reason to ask for a delay in Masterson’s upcoming trial from October 11 to late in January: She said she was too busy with the arbitration of suspended Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer, which has been going on in secret in Washington DC.
As a result of that story, one of Masterson’s accusers, Jane Doe 1, put out a rare public statement that evening, asking Judge Olmedo not to delay Masterson’s trial — which could put him in life for prison for forcibly raping multiple women — so a baseball pitcher could get a suspension appealed.
Judge Olmedo agreed, and a week ago denied Holley’s unusual request.
We now have a transcript of that hearing, and it turns out that both of Masterson’s attorneys are complaining that they will be unable to give the That ’70s Show actor the defense he deserves as the October 11 trial date rapidly approaches.
We thought we’d show you what they each said, and then put it to you: Are these genuine concerns that could unfairly hurt Masterson’s chances in court, or simply another strategy in a defense that for more than two years has tried just about anything to derail or delay this prosecution?
At Friday morning’s hearing, Judge Olmedo asked Holley to make her case. Holley said she wasn’t going to say the name of the other matter that she’s handling (even though she made it clear that it was Trevor Bauer’s arbitration in her letter to the court), and that she now realized it was going to extend well into November.
Bauer’s 324-game suspension, announced in April, is the longest since the MLB adopted its new domestic violence policy in 2015. The LA District Attorney’s Office declined to press criminal charges against Bauer last year based on the allegations of a San Diego woman who claimed that the pitcher had sexually assaulted her. But the MLB can suspend a player even if that player isn’t charged criminally, and the league talked to at least two additional women, both in Ohio, who also made allegations against Bauer. The pitcher appealed the suspension, resulting in the arbitration.
“My obligations in that case are overwhelming and extremely time-consuming, and it would be impossible for me to give my attention to this case while I am engaged in that case. It is a trial,” Holley said.
Judge Olmedo then asked Deputy DA Mueller for his input. “Your Honor, People’s position is pretty much what we mentioned in our response,” Mueller said, referring to his August 9 opposition to the delay. “At this point, we would oppose any continuance from October.”
He then clarified what Holley had referred to in her motion, that Mueller had told her that he was open to a delay. Mueller explained that if the court decided to move things back into November, he would then be in favor of avoiding the holiday period and moving the trial to January.
Judge Olmedo then went back to Holley to see if she had anything to add.
Holley then said, “Only that, if a continuance is not granted, I will have to withdraw from the case, which I know is not the wish of my client or Mr. Cohen. But I can’t, I just cannot — ”
But Judge Olmedo interjected at that point. “I think you need court permission to withdraw,” she said.
Masterson, the That ’70s Show actor and Scientology celebrity, is facing charges that he forcibly raped three women, all Scientologists at the time, between 2001 and 2003. He’s been charged under California’s strict “One Strike” law, and if he’s convicted of all three rapes he faces 45 years to life in prison. We first broke the news in March 2017 that the LAPD was investigating Masterson, and he was charged by the DA’s office in June 2020. Since then he has filed a myriad of motions and petitions in order to try and get the case derailed or delayed. On June 30 Judge Olmedo denied the last of his motions to dismiss, but then on July 26 and 28 Holley filed her unusual letter and motion asking for the continuance over the Bauer arbitration.
Judge Olmedo said she wasn’t swayed, and denied Holley’s motion. “The Court finds that there is no good cause to continue this matter as set forth in the written order for a continuance of the currently-set trial date,” she said. She then began setting dates for pretrial motions on October 3 and 4, while the beginning of jury selection is set for October 11.
It was then that Cohen decided to speak up.
“I need to make one statement to the Court. I understand the court’s position that Ms. Holley cannot withdraw this case absent court permission. Logistically and practically, it looks like the position that the defense is in now is that there is one lawyer with time to work on this case. That one lawyer is me,” he said. “When I came into this case and asked the Court and the Court agreed to set a trial date, my expectation was there would be two lawyers working on preparing this case for trial. I understand Ms. Holley may remain on absent court permission as a quote-unquote attorney of record. That does me very little good in terms of having an attorney that is working with me in preparation. So I just want to make that clear for all purposes.”
In response Judge Olmedo proposed they keep the August 17 date so the two attorneys could raise any issues with her ruling. She even agreed to handle it online so they wouldn’t have to be in court.
Holley then spoke up.
“Maybe this is best taken at that time, but I do want to put on the record, because I think that our conversation in chambers last time was off the record out of courtesy and concern to me,” she said.
But Judge Olmedo didn’t agree. “It was not off the record. The court reporter was present and was taking a transcript and that was visible to all. It was on the record.”
Holley then continued.
“OK. I thought that the conversation about my father’s death was off the record. If it was on the record, then that’s fine. That is the reason that everything got delayed, and I wanted to make sure that was on the record.”
Judge Olmedo then said she would give them written copies of her order, and at the online conversation on August 17 they could raise issues with it if they wanted to.
But even Cohen realized it wouldn’t do any good to keep that August 17 date.
“I guess the only reason I would need to be heard further is if the court was going to reconsider its ruling some way. I assume it’s not. The Court has a written order prepared. I don’t think the Court wants to hear about this.”
Judge Olmedo didn’t blink. “All right. We will vacate that date. If there is an additional motion you wish to make or additional request, then you can just calendar it with [my clerk].”
And that was it. The proposed August 17 hearing was removed from the calendar.
As for Holley’s references to her father’s death and to the Bauer arbitration, we will point out what we did when we first broke the news about her unusual delay request: She has been an active member of Danny Masterson’s defense team for longer than she is letting on.
In her motion, Holley pointed out that the Bauer arbitration had begun on May 23, and Masterson didn’t fire his previous attorneys, Tom Mesereau and Sharon Appelbaum, until May 31, making her attorney of record for the upcoming trial.
But that’s somewhat misleading (something that Jane Doe 1’s attorneys also pointed out on their statement to the court on the evening of August 4).
We first noted Holley’s presence on Masterson’s legal team on November 11, 2021, and then confirmed it with the court on December 15. By February we had evidence that new subpoenas were being issued in the case under Holley’s name. And also by that month, a transcript showed, Holley and Cohen, the two new attorneys, were doing all the talking for Masterson in court and Mesereau and Appelbaum had taken a back seat.
All of that took place before Trevor Bauer’s arbitration began in secret on May 23. Also, in Holley’s motion, she admitted that new dates for testimony in Bauer’s matter had not at that point been set by the arbitrator.
So Holley was asking Judge Olmedo to put back a rape trial that could put Danny Masterson in prison for life, which was already firmly set for October 11, so that an arbitration over the suspension of a Dodgers pitcher could take precedence, even though no dates for testimony had been set.
You can see why Judge Olmedo’s decision was not difficult to make.
But you tell us: Are Masterson’s attorneys setting up a situation where they can make a case that Danny has not been given an adequate defense, even though he’s been paying top dollar to big name attorneys for more than two years, resulting in a mountain of legal briefs and delay tactics?
Let us know what you think.
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Sigh, ineffective assistance of counsel. Counsel themselves claiming they are ineffective because the judge was mean to them. I do hope in the appeal they are setting themselves up for that the opposing counsel ensures that the obvious date obfuscations are brought to the surface.
If Trevor Bauer needs help on his arbitration, I hear Tom Mesereau is available. That would solve both problems.