Late afternoon session, Day 7 (Day 3 of testimony), Danny Masterson retrial
Jury coming in.
Cross-examination of Jane Doe 3 by Shawn Holley continues.
Holley: I'm going to read to you an exchange from June 2017, with Mr. Mueller. He says, "OK, so this time we're talking when he's on top, you're tired, you didn't want to have sex." "What did you do?" "He hit me"... (She reads from the transcript very quickly.) Do you remember that exchange?
Jane Doe 3: No, ma'am.
Would seeing the transcript help?
I don't remember.
Do you remember telling him that Danny hit you with an open hand?
No, ma'am.
Would seeing a transcript help?
Sure. (She reads the document.)
Do you remember now saying that, to him in June 2017?
I don't remember, but obviously I said it.
Thank you. And this is the November 2001 charged incident. And what I'm wanting to ask you about is, you said you pulled his hair because he was "putting himself inside you." So what you are saying, it seems, is that he was putting himself in you and you pulled his hair?
What I saw was he asked me if he was still inside you and I said yes.
Do you remember telling him that Danny hit you with an open hand.
I did not say with an open hand. Do you see that?
You said “I think it was an open hand,” is that more accurate.
I knew he did not punch me. I was trying to describe it. I have a hard time articulating my thoughts and my pain. But I said he didn't punch me.
It wasn't a punch.
I'm a little traumatized by this whole process so I'm trying to be very literal and honest.
Thank you. Now, let us talk a bit about when Det Viegas and Reyes interviewed you in Austin. I think you testified you didn't remember how long it was.
I wouldn't be able to say under oath.
But you know it was several hours.
Yes, ma'am.
Have you seen the video?
I saw it one time. But I had an emotional reaction.
So you remember seeing it, but because of your reaction you don't remember all of it.
Right.
Do you remember Reyes saying, he was on top of you and he was trying to get inside you. Well, maybe we should play that part.
Play the whole thing!
Judge Olmedo: Three hours? (They're all laughing.)
Holley: I would like to play a portion.
Judge: People? You know what, Ms. Holley, I want you to continue and we'll take that up later.
Holley: Do you recall telling Det Reyes that it was just a slap?
No, ma'am. I know I told her four times "he hit me." And I remember her saying was it a slap, and I said yeah, because I didn't realize the significance of her changing my words. And I remember her later saying slap. But I always said hit and I want to make that clear.
There was nothing preventing you from correcting her in that moment.
Well, I thought she understood. I said he hit me four different times, and then she said slap. and I thought she knew what she was doing because she'd been in sex crimes for 13 years.
You didn't say slap, she said slap, and you didn't correct her.
I didn't know I could. Now I would, for sure.
During that several-hour interview, you never said anything about your arms being pinned back, feeling trapped in the Nov 2001 incident.
I was, she didn't really go into detail about that incident, because I reported three incidents. And I recall her just asking me some questions and I didn't know I should volunteer information.
And that's why you didn't say anything about screaming and yelling?
If she would have asked me I would have said that.
And you didn't say anything about your arms trapped above your head/
If she would have asked me I would have told her. I answered all of her questions.
Holley now moves to the preliminary hearing: Do you remember saying that when you woke up, Danny was already inside you?
I may have, yes.
The prelim was May 19, 2021, and so that was four years after your interview with DA Mueller, right?
Yes, ma'am.
And the prelim was the first time that you spoke about your arms being above your head, and feeling trapped. That was the first time you said those things, right?
I don't think so.
And you also testified in a prior proceeding in October.
Yes, ma'am.
And prior to that proceeding, you never said you had to free your arm to pull his hair, is that correct?
I said had to use my left arm to pull his hair. I have always said that.
Well, the new part was that you had to do something to get your arm free to do that. The first time you said that was in the prelim.
I don't think so.
Do you agree that there is a difference between waking up to Danny trying to put it in to have sex with you, and waking up with him inside you. Do you agree those are two different things?
In this situation, yes. I now know to be very careful with my words.
And would you agree that in your interview with Reyes and Viegas, that you had plenty of time and opportunity to say that Danny was inside of you, thrusting you for 30 minutes.
Would I agree that I had time? No ma'am.
Now you had Det Reyes' contact information.
Yes, ma'am.
In fact you called her and texted her.
Yes, ma'am.
And you said you felt very nervous when you met them.
Yes, ma'am.
And because you had her contact info, you had plenty of opportunity to tell her outside the context of that nervous meeting?
She gave me tasks, and that's what we were talking about. And very soon after meeting, I would try to call her or leave a message and very often she was on vacation or couldn't talk to me. So I wasn't afforded that time.
And what about her partner, Det Viegas?
I actually asked for her number and I was not given it. And I asked why I couldn't speak to the partner, but I was told the one person I could talk to was Det Reyes.
Could you have emailed her?
I called her supervisor, I called her captain, I was trying to reach her. And I heard she was closing out the case and couldn't talk to me.
Could you have emailed her?
My email got hacked, so I was having issues with that.
What about communication with Mr. Mueller after you talked to him. He was easier to get ahold of right. Did you provide answers to him later?
What answers. Just more detail?
Yes, I asked you how you answered his questions, did you feel like you could have provided more information and then called or emailed him?
I was told I had to, I had shared more information after the interview but I was told I had to share it with law enforcement before it went to the prosecutor.
Then Det Vargas took over the investigation. Were there times when you realized that you wanted to provide more information and so you reached out to him?
Yes, I reached out to Det Vargas to provide more information. Or he would call me and ask me a question and I would give him information, yes.
In the Oct 2022 proceeding, by that time you had testified at the prelim, and been cross-examined by another lawyer.
Mr. Mesereau.
Yes. So you know by that time it was important to be precise, and you hadn't been early on. (Obj, overruled)
After Mr. Mesereau I understood the importance of every word. He kept picking little things and I thought we were saying the same things, but he didn't think we were.
Do you remember testifying in Oct 2022 at another proceeding, and you were testifying that Danny was on top of you, and you said he was putting himself inside of you.
Which rape?
The November 2001 charged incident. You said "I believe I woke up and he was putting himself..." and you started crying. Do you remember?
I was outside my body that whole time. I don't have a memory of it, I'm sorry.
The very first time you reported Mr. Masterson was the day after the December 2001 incident.
Yes, ma'am.
And you did that so Miranda Scoggins would give him some, the way you said it was handled
That's how Scientologists speak.
So you expected that something would happen to address what happened.
Yes.
And that;s why you went to talk to her?
But you never reported Danny to the church or any of the things he did prior to the Dec 2001 incident.
That's not true.
The first first time you reported Danny to the church, a day or two after the Dec 2001 incident.
The very first time I reported him...
For anything.
For anything? I don't know.
Well, you certainly didn't report him after the Nov 2001 incident.
That was normal.
My question is, you certainly didn't report him after the Nov 2001 charged incident.
After that incident, no.
And that's the incident that was the 30 minute violent rape when you were pinned down and felt trapped?
Right.
And you didn't report to the church that he dragged you down the hallway by the hair because you wouldn't give him sex.
I don't think I understood how ethics worked then, I was new.
That's not my question. My question is that you didn't report him then.
I don't think I knew I could do that.
And all of the other times when you say he abused you, spit on you, called you names, you never reported that.
I don't think I recognized what was abuse at that time.
But you knew it was wrong for your boyfriend to spit on you, right?
Yeah.
And call you names, you knew those things were wrong?
It hurt me.
And you knew there was an ethics office where you could try to get some help. If you would get help who knows, but you could try to get some help.
Right.
I want to shift gears and talk a little bit about after the night of La Poubelle. When you woke up, about 3 in the afternoon?
I don't know what time. I know I didn't say a time.
Whenever you woke up, you felt a great deal of pain in your rectum.
Right.
And you could barely walk.
It hurt to walk, it hurt to sit down.
And your joints were hurting?
Yes, ma'am.
And your rectum was bleeding.
Yes, ma’am.
and when you looked in a mirror you saw it was torn and bleeding.
Yes, ma’am.
And the back of your head hurt
Yes, ma’am.
And your memory was gone.
Yes, ma’am.
Did you go to the hospital?
No, ma’am.
Did you go to a doctor?
I could only do that if he let me because he, at this point I was completely dependent on him.
You could have gone to hospital though, right?
No, ma'am. I didn't have insurance or resources for that.
Did you have a toxicology test to see why your memory was gone?
I didn't know why my memory was gone.
And that didn't concern you?
You mean concern for my health? I just remember being confused and I didn't understand why I didn't wake up. And I was really embarrassed because I thought something was really wrong with me.
Were there any injuries you took a picture of?
Well, we didn't have phones to take photos. I don't recall other than what I looked at any other injuries. Not so say I didn't have any, I just don't remember. I just remember that and all of the feelings I was trying to understand. How he could do that to me when I was unconscious.
I just want to ask if in your mind, the words passed out and unconscious mean the same thing.
Yeah, I would think unconscious would mean something a little different. I think.
Can we play the video now?
Judge: People? Well, if you're done with cross...
I have lots more questions.
Judge: Then just go on.
Holley: When you spoke to Miranda and then Chris Scoggins, am I correct that you didn’t tell anyone that Danny had done something to make you passed out and anally penetrating you. You didn't tell anyone after them until Cedric ten years later?
That's a lot of questions.
OK, after you told Miranda and Chris, you didn't tell anyone else until Cedric ten years later?
Correct.
And you've said you didn't because there would be consequences.
I was told I could never tell anybody.
And your concern about telling anybody in Scientology was that you would be declared a suppressive person?
Yeah, if I went to the police.
Was there anything preventing you from telling friends or family outside Scientology?
Yes, ma'am.
Would it be the same consequences, whether they were inside or outside the church?
I believe so. I also was really embarrassed and I didn’t want to, I was ashamed.
What about Annie? Annie had been your best friend for many, many years before you met Danny?
It was after.
But from when you were like 19?
Yes ma'am.
She in the church?
Yes, ma'am.
He didn't want me to be friends with her, so if I got her on course I could keep her. So that's what happened. And I got her a job being caretaker to his little brother and sister. Because I was friends with her and I wanted to keep her around.
Is she in the church now?
No, ma'am.
Despite the nature of the friendship and you met her when you did, you didn't feel you could talk to her about it?
I don't talk about private things to anyone. You could call her in and ask her, I was the one friend who didn't talk about what was going on. That's just how I was raised and that's how I am. Please call her in and she will definitely let you know.
After you reported the December 2001 incident to Miranda and Chris, you were told to a number of different programs, writing exercises -- is that accurate?
Not really.
What sort of things were you assigned/
While I was in her office she had me reading a lot of things from the Ethics book and other policies. Then word-clearing so that I didn't have any words I didn't understand.
Were there assignments that she gave you away from her or was everything there?
When I was doing Conditions, I had to make amends to him. I remember getting his car washed. I had to do nice things for him.
Do you remember having to do writing assignments somewhere away from the church.
I remember a checksheet, an ethics checksheet. And I would read this and this book. Read this policy in the red volumes or the green volumes.
The things you would do outside the office.
I didn't do it all in one day.
I'm just trying to find out, there were things you had to do there in her office, and things you would do other places.
There were things you needed to get from the red volumes .I don't know what they're called but we called them the Red Vols or Green Vols. And you had to do something called overts and withholds...
I was only asking if it was something you could do there or at home, but it's OK.
You testified that you did all these things you were assigned, and Danny really wasn't doing anything.
Oh, nothing.
And when you asked he laughed and said I'm flourishing and prospering.
He didn't laugh, but he said I don't have to do anything I'm flourishing and prospering.
Did you break up with him in Feb 2002 or thereabouts.
Thereabouts, yes.
At the time of the breakup, you were 23 and Danny was 25?
I'm not good at math.
I think when you first started testifying it was a three year age difference, but you were born in April 1978, and Danny was born in March 1976, will you take my word for that?
I thought he was born in 1974, but OK.
So that would make you two almost exactly two years apart. So now back to my question. When you broke up you were 23 and he was 25.
I'm going to take your word for it.
Do you know the years that you were intimate with Danny after you broke up? Do you remember the year of the first time, in LA? What year was that?
I feel like it was a couple of months after. It was the summer and I knew what I was wearing.
So the summer of 2002?
Yes, ma'am.
That was the occasion you were drinking and you started to have sex and you started to cry?
Yes, ma'am.
You said it stopped.
Yes
Is it accurate to say he stopped?
Yes.
Do you know when the second time occurred, approximately?
Before I moved to New York.
When did you move to New York?
Do you have it written down? I believe it was spring of...
Spring 2003?
Yes.
You moved to New York in spring 2003, so the second incident was between the summer of 2002 and spring of 2003? So that time was unremarkable, nothing to speak of?
Just that it happened.
And so then you moved to New York in the spring of 2003, and do you remember when the New York intimate incident is?
No, ma'am.
That was the last time you were intimate with him?
Yes, ma'am.
On that occasion, isn't it true you spent the whole night?
Yes, because I didn't have keys to where I was staying.
Isn't it true that there are a number of pictures from that night, some of which you took?
No, ma'am. That's news to me.
So you're not aware of pictures you took that night at the hotel.
Judge: As it relates to their intimacy that night?
Holley: Yes
JD3: No, ma'am.
Is that was the last time you were intimate, before you came back from Fall 2003?
You know a lot about me. PIs helping you?
Judge: That will be stricken.
JD3: I'm sorry, I'm just so sick of this whole thing. You draw me in and you’re being nice and then you're not.
Holley: So the last time you were intimate in 2003, you were 25 and 27?
I thought I turned 24 in New York, but I'll take your word for it.
Judge Olmedo: And we'll break there for the day.
Jurors filing out. Jane Doe 3 leaves.
Judge Olmedo calls the attorneys up to the bench. After some discussion, we’re in recess until tomorrow.
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Wow. No wonder rape survivors don't come forward. This is brutal. And this is the second time JD3 has had to relive the trauma and get attacked on the stand for not reciting her story using exactly the same words every single time over a period of decades, and not telling everybody she met what happened to her, and not standing up to the police who would twist her words and not respond when she tried to get in touch with them. Yeesh.
The poor girl. I'm glad she's able to defend herself. Such trauma she has to go through, I can't imagine. It's beyond awful. Praying for her and her family.