Morning session report, Day 7 (Day 3 of testimony), Danny Masterson retrial.
We now have a tentative trial schedule, which is of course subject to change.
Most days, Monday through Friday, will go from 9 am to 4 pm.
Some days off:
Friday, May 5
Monday, May 8
Wednesday, May 24
Monday, May 29
Tuesday, May 30
Friday, June 9
SARTORIAL SPLENDOR ALERT: We are feeling completely disoriented this morning, because defense attorney Philip Cohen is wearing a bog-standard black suit, and the only splash of color he's exhibiting is a sunny yellow tie. What gives?
Danny Masterson, meanwhile, is wearing a lighter shade of grey.
The family section consists of Masterson's wife Bijou, mother Carol, brother Christopher and a couple of family friends.
Very sparse in the rest of the gallery as well.
Judge Olmedo is on the bench. She tells Masterson about the tentative trial schedule and orders him to be here on the days that are listed as trial days.
Two of our jurors are late this morning. One is very late.
Jury coming in.
Continuing with direct examination of Jane Doe 3.
Deputy DA Mueller: (Puts photo of Chris Scoggins back up.) You recognized this as Christopher Scoggins of Celebrity Centre.
JD3: Yes, sir.
After you first reported to Miranda Scoggins, you had a meeting with him?
Yes, sir.
How soon after meeting her did you see him?
It was while I was doing my ethics program, it was soon after.
How did that get set up?
I don't know how it got set up, I was just told to go meet him.
So you didn't ask for it?
Correct.
How many meetings did you have with him?
I recall two.
At that first meeting, did you tell him that you wanted to end your relationship with the defendant.
I told him that was where I was leaning. After the meeting I told him that. But I had to do my conditions, I don't know how to describe it. It's in the Ethics Book, and in Scientology they say you are in a condition in life, and it starts at Confusion and it goes up to Treason, Enemy, it just goes up, and you have to do these formulas for each condition.
What condition were you told you were in?
Confusion, which is the lowest to be in.
Were you surprised to be told to meet him?
I wasn't expecting it, but I was doing everything I was told.
Now your second meeting with him was in March 2002, correct?
Yes, sir.
And you said this was out in the courtyard area?
Outside the president's office, yes.
Did someone tell you you had to be there?
Chris Scoggins, yes.
Did he tell you what it was for?
To go over the terms of our breakup.
Did he tell you you would have something to sign?
No, sir.
Was there anybody else there besides the defendant and Mr. Scoggins?
No, sir.
One of the conditions of the agreement was that you could never sue him?
Correct.
Did it say suing him for what?
For palimony claims and just generally overall, but I knew I couldn't do that anyways. It's a high crime. I would have been declared.
So you already understood that.
Yes.
Did it mention any consequences if you were to sue him?
I don't know, but I knew what those were.
Did Scoggins tell you about any consequences if you sued him?
I remember Mr. Masterson saying, she wouldn't sue me, she likes being with Scientologists, and I knew what that meant.
So your understanding at the time, when you signed it, what did you understand the cons would be.
I would have been declare, and was the worst thing. The handling for suppressive people is Fair Game, that you can lie to the person, trick them, sue them, ultimately destroy the person.
Which 'they'?
Other Scientologists.
You were familiar with this term Fair Game?
I had to demo it for the ethics officer to show I understood it.
So you demonstrated with this stone and chess piece hitting, for Miranda Scoggins, what was the purpose of that?
So that the ethics officer knew I understood what I was reading.
And the representation of the chess piece hitting the stone, what did that represent?
That I would be utterly destroyed by Fair Game if I were to commit a High Crime in Scientology.
This document that you signed, you said it goes into certain folders.
I would assume (obj, sustained, stricken)
Was this document going to remain an internal document or something that might get filed in a civil court?
At the time I didn't know, I was scared, and I was doing anything he told me to do. I just knew he took the paper.
Did he tell you what would happen to that document?
I didn't ask any questions.
At that time, was Mr. Masterson acting on That 70s Show?
Yes, I think that was at the height of his career?
And was he a member in good standing with the church of Scientology?
Yes, sir.
Did you remain a member of the Church after this relationship?
I did until about 2003...
I don't want to get into the circumstances of when you left yet, but you did remain a member for some time
Yes, sir.
And when did you end your membership?
Oct 23, 2016.
After you ended the relationship, did you see Mr. Masterson?
Yes, sir. Over the years I would see him randomly. After the breakup I saw him a couple of times.
And what were the circumstances the first time?
I think it was, I went to a party with some friends and he was at the party. And I was drinking and went back to the house.
His house?
Yes, sir.
You went back with him?
Yes, sir.
Were you and he intimate at the house?
It was going there, yes sir.
Was there sex?
Yes, sir.
And that was consensual?
Yes, sir.
What were you feeling about that?
I remember I started crying, and it stopped.
Can you explain that a little more?
I don't...
What were you crying about at that time?
I just was feeling all kinds of emotions about it.
Are you talking about emotions about the relationship?
I don't know how to answer, I'm sorry.
You said you cried and then it stopped. What stopped?
The sex.
The second time, how soon after the first time that you saw each other?
I decided I was going to move to New York. He came over to this house where I was staying. We were talking, and we ended up having sex that night? It was in Los Angeles, before I moved to New York.
And was there another time?
In New York. I was going to have dinner with my two friends, and he really wanted to meet this one friend of mine. I invited him out, and we had dinner and went to a bar after. I was drinking, and I went back to his hotel at the Tribeca Grand. And we were starting to have sex and then it was really dark in there and I saw this camera flash go off. He had taken a picture of me naked.
Were you clothed or unclothed?
Unclothed.
Did you actually see him take the picture?
Yes. He'd had a camera in the bed, and I saw it, the camera screen lit up. I asked him to delete the photo and he said no.
How did that make you feel?
It upset me.
Did that have any kind of an impact or effect on how you felt Mr. Masterson?
I think I had put enough time and space between me and him and this really long relationship, that I, for me I was, I don't have to fall back into this mindset of being always agreeable or doing whatever. I got upset, and for me, I was, I would never put myself in this position again.
And after this time, was there another time you saw him?
Just randomly, out, and I kept it friendly. I didn't want any problems.
Ending this relationship, was there any part of that that you struggled with?
Not the relationship part, it was more like, I didn't know who I was, where I belonged, because I was in this very controlled environment, and then I was just trying to... I don't know how to explain it.
Did you still have feelings for him at this time?
I still loved him, but there were no romantic feelings. If I was asked at that time I would have said I would not be with him like that.
Was there a part of you that thought he might change or things might be different?
I think in New York we had a really good time that night, and he seemed like that person I first met.
Anything about that evening that changed that opinion or that thought?
When he took the photo of me and wouldn't delete it when I asked him to. For me that was really, he's not capable of change.
And you recognized that at that point?
Yes, sir.
You at some point subsequently got married.
Yes, sir.
You married Cedric Zavala. When?
July 24, 2009.
Were you still a member of Scientology?
I was what they would say, I was "blown." I wasn't active, but I didn't say I was no longer a Scientologist. I didn't say anything bad about it, because that would be very bad.
So being blown, as you say, does that mean you still take courses occasionally?
I wasn't doing that. I still thought like a Scientologist. But I wasn't active.
Did you still believe in the principles?
Yes, sir.
Did you tell Cedric about what happened to you with Mr. Masterson?
Yes, sir.
When was that?
I would say it was a year or two into our marriage.
What were the circumstances?
I don't remember. I just remember telling him about the time he raped me when I was unconscious, because that really damaged me.
Would you say that was really the event that caused you to end this relationship?
Yes, sir.
Where did that conversation take place.
At this house we were living in in the Hollywood Hills.
Do you remember what you told him about that December 2001 unconscious sodomy?
No, sir.
Do you remember generally?
That he had sex with me there when I was unconscious. And that he told me, because I was really... I just felt so ashamed and embarrassed and I didn't know what I didn't wake up. Because I would always wake up when he was having sex with me vaginally. and I remember my husband saying, he raped you.
He used the word rape?
He did.
What was your reaction?
I remember instantly defending Mr. Masterson.
How were you defending him?
What I would always say, no, he's a good person, he saved my life, he got me into Scientology. I would say that to people a lot.
Did you believe at that time that Scientology saved your life?
Yes, sir.
How so?
Well, it was said to me a lot. And I believed that Scientology had all the answers.
Answers to what?
To any problem in life. We are taught to believe that Scientology has a solution for any problem in life, and that Scientologists are the most ethical people on the planet, and the sanest people?
That's what you were taught?
Yes, and I believed it.
What did Cedric say when you defended Mr. Masterson and told him about Scientology?
I don't, I remember him looking at me in a very strange way. I don't remember him saying anything. I remember him looking at me like, what are you saying?
When he told you, this is rape, did it have an impact on you?
In my head I experienced some relief, because I knew it was rape. And it was the first time I had told anyone where I wasn't blamed for it? And I wasn't made to feel crazy.
When you said you knew it was rape, are you saying intuitively?
Like intuitively.
Did you still believe what Miranda Scoggins told you, that you can't rape someone in a relationship?
Yes, I didn't believe that a crime had been committed.
Had anyone else told you it was rape?
The two people I had told, well Miranda told me it wasn't rape. And she and Christopher told me I'd pulled it in. That I must have done something to deserve it.
Did you believe that?
I did.
Did you believe that when you told Cedric?
I did.
After telling Cedric, did anything change for you, your mindset?
Besides feeling relief, I tend to not like talking about things that hurt me, so I kind of shut the door on it. And my husband was respectful of that.
Aside from the December (2001) incident, you said you told him about times you woke up and he was having sex with you (Obj, rephrase) Did you tell him about other times when you woke up and he was having sex with you?
Later, I started to open up more, and I told him generally what he would do. I told him about the time he hit me. I didn't want to tell him a lot, because I didn't want to cause any problems.
So you told him with no details.
Well, some details, but not the way I'm opening up here.
Do you remember what details you did tell him?
I told him about the time he hit me, that he only hit me one time. And told him he was just really aggressive, just kind of generally.
Was Cedric, was he a part of the Church of Scientology at that time?
At that time no.
Did he become a member or become active to some degree at some point?
I almost died. Our first pregnancy I had to be rushed into emergency surgery, and I remember waking up and the doctors told me I had hours left to live because I had been bleeding out for a long time. And my first thought was, what am I doing, why did I pull this in? And so I went back to the Church of Scientology and I brought him with me.
What were you looking for at that time from the church?
I guess I was, I was really depressed after, because we'd been trying to have a baby, and I was looking for help I guess.
Did Cedric at that point become active to some degree with the church?
Yes, he did the Purification Rundown, which is the service where you go and sit in a sauna for five hours and take a bunch of niacin and vitamins and sweat out toxins.
Did you ask him to join?
Yes, sir.
Did he ultimately join?
He did that, and he did a couple of courses, like the basic courses, and I believe that's it.
In Austin?
In Los Angeles, before we moved to Texas.
At some point did your being an active member with the church, did that end?
Yes, sir.
And what were the circumstances?
When I found out he had raped other women, after I had reported it to the church.
What was it about that that caused you to end your relationship with the church?
I found out that other people knew that I reported him, and I found out that someone I didn't even know existed had written knowledge reports about what he did, and his friends knew and were all laughing at me behind my back And the only way that could have happened was if Miranda told them.
So the handling of the church, the way it was handled, ended up in you ending your relationship?
Yes, sir. In the summer of 2016, I found out he had raped this girl.
You mention that you had found out about other women. Was one of those women [Jane Doe 1]?
Yes, sir.
Did you know her at all when you had this relationship?
I knew of her, but I didn't know her.
What were the circumstances of you learning about her?
One of Mr. Masterson's friends told me (Obj... )
Judge Olmedo calls for the morning break and will deal with the objection afterwards.
Judge Olmedo says she is going to give leeway because the defense is alleging collusion between the women.
She already ruled that anything about Lily should not come in and wants to make sure that won't come in.
Tells Mueller that because of the area he's going into, that he ask leading questions so they know where they are going into. I just want to make sure we don't run into other areas because your question is overly broad.
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Jane Doe 3’s verbal skills are so impressive as is revealed by her ability to provide clear, specific, and sensitive descriptions of her intimately personal experiences. From the course of events that followed, to the conversations with the CoS co-conspirators – including Masterson – she recounts each detail with remarkable clarity. Her ability to also shed light on her decision-making process even in light of the brainwashing tactics employed by the CoS is evidence of her exceptional communication skills.
If I could give a message to Jane Doe 3, it would be with a rocking hug and comment, "You are amazing. I hope you know in your heart that your courage and strength will get you through this. I wish I knew you so I could deliver this message in person."
From this 70+ year ole' senior great-grandmother, I recognize your growing wisdom, you've got this.
"And it was the first time I had told anyone where I wasn't blamed for it? And I wasn't made to feel crazy."
Man, these people piss me off. I know the world is full of people who treat victims of sexual assault like it's their own fault, but an *institution* doing it as a matter of policy is somehow worse.