Danny Masterson sentenced to 30 years to life in state prison, 20 years after crimes he's convicted of
As expected, Judge Charlaine Olmedo resisted calls from Danny Masterson’s defense to have his two charges of forcible rape run concurrently, and instead sentenced him to the full 30 years to life in prison called for under California’s strict “One Strike” law.
The defense had also filed a motion to have the charges thrown out altogether, citing the statute of limitations, but prosecutors pointed out that this strategy had been settled long ago.
Before the break, the court heard victim impact statements from all three Jane Does. We have notes on those statements here, and we expect to get full printed versions that we will attach to this story later.
We are also hoping to get copies of letters sent to the court on behalf of Masterson, but that may take some time.
Our friend Dominic Patten was in the courtroom. From his story at Deadline…
Speaking to Masterson directly of a “criminal justice system that you feel has failed you,” Judge Olmedo told him that “you are not the victim here … your actions 20 years ago were criminal.” Masterson was informed that because of his sentence, he will have to register as a sex offender upon parole or release — which he told the court he understood.
Given the maximum sentence allocated under the law, Masterson was taken out of the court by Sheriff’s deputies to begin formally serving his time in a state prison. As the sentence was announced, Masterson’s wife Bijou Phillips and other family members quietly wept in the public gallery.
We have more notes of the hearing coming, and we’ll add them to this piece.
Prosecutors giving a presser.
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Hey! Mr. Miscavige! Tick tock!
I wonder how many other women who he raped who were too cowed to do anything are now sobbing in relief. I may be wrong, but from the reporting, it seems as though Bijou was affected by the victim impact statements. I wonder how her life with him was behind closed doors. Abusers don’t just turn into different people overnight, especially enabled abusers.