Morning session, Day 13 (Day 9 of testimony) Danny Masterson retrial
Judge Olmedo has a draft admonition for the attorneys about the semi-sequestering of the jury that she talked about at the end of the day yesterday.
SARTORIAL SPLENDOR ALERT: Oh, joyous day. While the weather outside is gloomy, defense attorney Philip Cohen is celebrating springtime with a fabulous lavender three-piece suit and matching darker tie, and a white shirt with black grid check. This is what we live for these early mornings at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
Judge Olmedo clears the audience so she can do a sidebar with multiple people, she says. So we go out to the hallway.
Back in at 9:45 am. Jury is already here.
Prosecution calls its next witness, Jane Doe 2.
Deputy DA Ariel Anson: How are you feeling?
Jane Doe 2: Terrible?
Are you familiar with the Church of Scientology?
Yes.
Were you a member?
Yes.
When was that, when you first became connected?
I was actually still in high school. I was experiencing some issues with anxiety and I had asked my mother if I could, I saw a commercial for Prozac, or some help with that. I told her I saw that ad, and I was struggling, can I get on some medication. She said no. She got back to me, she said she didn't trust that. She wanted to talk to an uncle. I have a family member very involved in Scientology, and he knew someone who did field auditing... (Obj, ask next question)
Your mom said something about field auditing.
I basically understood they were auditors, who are kind of like therapists but not really. Auditor means 'one who listens,' and they listen to when you are dredging up memories. But they are not Sea Org, they can do it out of their home.
So your first interaction was through these auditors you could see privately?
Yes.
Meaning you didn't go to the church building.
Not yet.
Did that change?
Yeah, eventually the field auditor I was working with felt it was time to move it over to Celebrity Centre. She felt I could continue there because I was an actor. And a lot of actors and artists went to this org.
How old were you when you began acting?
I was in high school when I began auditioning.
When she asked you to go to CC, were you a working actress?
I believe I had gotten a small part just around then, it's hard to say. It might have been right after graduation. But I was already auditioning beginning in my senior year.
Did you land a bigger role?
Maybe two years after graduating. Some small roles and then a big role on an ABC prime time show. It was an ensemble cast and I was one of the leads. We did several episodes but we didn't finish the year.
When you were at CC, and to be clear you're no longer a member?
Correct.
When did you leave Scientology?
When I left Scientology, it was a very gradual, I was not, "I'm leaving." It was a gradual departure that began the fall of 2004. I was becoming resolute in having some clarity about needing to distance myself, without being too obvious. I was afraid to be too obvious for reasons that there could be repercussions to depart in an obvious way.
Repercussions from whom?
From the other members and the church itself.
Do you recognize someone in court that you got to know through the Celebrity Centre?
Yes.
Can you describe where he is and what he's wearing? (Pointing out Masterson.)
How did you become familiar with him?
There were a lot of different social cliques at CC. Young artists and everybody would go to different galleries and gatherings, like I guess the way it is in college. Going to local bars and each others' houses. Sometimes 10 to 15 people, sometimes 8, sometimes 70.
And it was at these that you saw him?
Yeah, very casual and innocuous.
Do you remember what year you became acquainted with him?
That's hard to pin. Between 2000-ish, 99, 2000. I believe it was around when I booked that show and was doing episodes.
Since then, 1999-2000, but before Oct 2003, were you and he alone?
No.
Before that it was very casual?
Correct.
(She needs a moment, her neck is stiffening, she says.)
Did something happen about six months to a year before the incident, between yoo and another member of Scientology?
Yes. I had a boyfriend, and I broke up with him. And he was pretty upset about that. And I felt really bad that he was upset. We went to a party in Silver Lake, at a friends', not a Scientology friend. We were both drinking. We went outside, I wanted to make things better, less caustic between us. We were outside and we walked up a darker set of stairs, and he raped me on the stairs. And I went, it was really violent, and I went home, and he came with me. I woke up that morning next to him, and I said, this isn't right, I'm going to call the chaplain. He left, and I called the chaplain at the time at CC, who I had talked to a few different times. Something bad happened, can we please come in and talk to you about it. He said yes. So within a day or two we were there speaking with him.
It wasn't a Scientology party but your ex was a Scientologist?
A Scientologist and an auditor and he was training very vigorously up the training side.
And you talked to the chaplain?
(She says he's sort of like a minister but not an ethics officer.)
And your ex went with you?
Yes.
What reaction did the chaplain have to explaining what happened with your ex?
He was calm and said, “yeah, that's not what happened,” and my ex fully denied it. And the chaplain,” yeah we're not going to call it that.” And let me show you some things.
Not call it what?
Well, I'm paraphrasing, I just remember him saying that's not what happened, we're not going to call it rape (Obj, overruled) I wasn't going to be looking at it that way. I was really upset, because I knew, and I was also confused because I didn't want to think of him that way. When he was saying that, I was upset but I thought maybe that's for the best, because then I don't have to think that about him. So I had to crush the truth, basically, is exactly what happened.
Did that reaction have an impact on how you saw the incident?
Yes. I began to blame myself for it. It must have been, all the ways you blame yourself. So many things you say to yourself. You think, oh he didn't know. I had bruises and there was no way it could have been anything else, but it felt safer to say, OK, I don't have to think of it that way. Because I had to keep interacting with him at our church.
And not to think of that, what is that.
Rape.
The chaplain showed you what.
Policies, basically, that line out you cannot go against, you cannot accuse another member in good standing of crimes. That you cannot externally go to law enforcement to report such crimes, and you cannot take legal action. And that you would be in trouble for doing that
Were you told about consequences of that?
They were considered suppressive acts, and you would eventually be declared an SP, which is someone evil, degraded, and if you had family in Sci, and I had some, you would lose connection to them. And you would be publicly, this was a public announcement.
You had fears of those consequences?
Yes.
Now I want to talk to you about something that occurred in the winter of 2003. How old were you?
I think I was 23.
Around that time, who were you living with?
A woman named Ilaria Urbanati.
What was the relationship?
We had been very close, we were like best friends. We had met on the Purification Rundown when we were younger, like 18. And I was looking for an apartment so I was staying with her.
Was she a Scientologist?
Yes.
Where were you living?
We were off of Franklin on Argyle, towards the hills.
(Photo of two women) Who is on the left?
That's Ilaria.
And on the right?
That's myself.
What year was this taken?
Right around the time I was staying with her. Near then.
One night in October 2003, in the wintertime, did Ilaria invite you to go somewhere?
Yes. She said do you want to come to The Well with her and Danny and Luke Watson.
What was The Well?
A bar. I hadn't been there before. On Argyle heading towards Sunset.
Did you know who Luke Watson was?
Absolutely. He was a fixture in those groups, in those parties.
There were some groups within Scientology at the CC. Were you a member of Masterson's group?
No, not really. It's hard to explain. It was like these concentric circles, and I feel I was pretty peripheral, on purpose. Ilaria was a close friend.
Was she close to Masterson?
Suddenly, yes.
Before you went to The Well, how were you feeling?
Nervous.
Why?
I had an anxiety disorder and I still do. Meeting up with people, sometimes triggered anxiety for me, depending on the person and the circumstances. But most social circs were anxiety-triggering for me. especially with someone who were considered important in the church.
Was Mr. Masterson viewed as important in Scientology? (Obj, rephrase) How was he viewed in Scientology?
I really just thought of him as a peer. I didn't necessarily think of him as a celebrity, but a lot of people there did. (Obj, last part stricken)
Did you see him treated as a celebrity?
Yes, and he seemed to think of himself that way. (Obj, last part stricken)
Before going to The Well, how did you deal with the anxiety.
I often would drink a little bit of vodka, to take the edge off. It would keep my hands from shaking. I would even do it for table reads or going to the network. In Scientology you were not allowed to take any medication, nothing psychiatry-related, you can't see a psychiatrist, and this was my only way to function with my social anxiety. So I would have just a little, in hopes that I would be steady enough to be OK in the social setting.
Judge Olmedo calls for the morning break, apologizing that she knows we just got started on her testimony.
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I hope she makes it through the day okay.
Poor JD2 had to self medicate just to make it through life. Gee thanks scientology, way to fix people. They promise you the moon and give you the sewer.