Judge Olmedo begins quizzing prospective jurors in the Danny Masterson retrial

It’s Day Three of the Danny Masterson retrial in Los Angeles, and jury selection is going to start getting a lot more involved. In the first two days, Judge Charlaine Olmedo had four sets of prospective jurors fill out questionnaires. Today, she’ll begin quizzing them individually about their answers.

But the first two days were also much more eventful than we were expecting as we were in the courtroom for a number of interesting revelations.

On Day One, we were surprised to see that high-profile attorney Shawn Holley was back on the defense team after she missed the entire first trial. Yesterday, we learned that in fact she has replaced Karen Goldstein, who will not be returning, and we suspect that Holley may now be the lead attorney, with Philip Cohen in second position, and Judge Olmedo has given them until tomorrow to clear that up for her.

Holley was a member of the original OJ Simpson defense “dream team,” and she’s handled a number of celebrity clients, including Kanye West and Lindsay Lohan. We imagine that Masterson is paying a pretty penny to have her take over for Cohen, if that’s what’s going on.

But the real surprise on Day One was that the defense has put its own Scientology expert on its witness list, and it is none other than the stepfather to the prosecution’s Scientology expert, Claire Headley. Is putting OT 8 Scientologist Hugh Martin Whitt on the defense list just a stunt intended to intimidate Claire, or does the defense really intend to call him? Last time, the expert witness for the prosecution was called late in the case, so we may not know how this plays out for several more weeks.

Yesterday, there was another bombshell when we realized that Shawn Holley, at a sidebar, was talking about a subpoena related to the grand jury investigation of Masterson and Scientology.

We first reported on this grand jury back in September 2022, just weeks before the first trial, when Deputy DA Reinhold Mueller entered testimony by entertainment attorney Marty Singer that was from the grand jury probe. And based on that testimony, we could see that the grand jury was looking into a 2004 agreement that Jane Doe 1 says she was coerced into signing with Masterson with the help of Singer, who was Masterson’s attorney. The agreement would require Jane Doe 1 never to speak about her rape allegations again, while Masterson signed the document with the alias “David Duncan.”

Also, we were stunned to learn from Mueller at that time that the grand jury had been looking into Masterson and Scientology since 2018.

At the sidebar yesterday, we couldn’t help hearing Shawn Holley reference material they had received regarding the grand jury probe and Scientology. Then, back on the record, Judge Olmedo explained that the defense wanted the actual subpoena that had been filed which produced that material, but she said she didn’t think the defense was entitled to it. Then, she asked Mueller if the investigation they were referring to was still ongoing, and he said that it was.

We immediately realized what we had just witnessed: Evidence that the grand jury that has been looking into Scientology since 2018 is still investigating the matter. Wow.

Later, Shawn Holley asked to go back into chambers with Judge Olmedo with the other attorneys, and when they re-emerged, Judge Olmedo admonished your proprietor about reporting what was said in sidebar, that we should not publish such things in the future, even if voices carry. We have been duly notified and will comply with her admonition.

But in this case, we really couldn’t help hearing what Holley said. She has a very resonant voice and the courtroom was otherwise completely empty. We were the only reporter in the room, and there was no one else in the gallery.

Well, what an eventful couple of days. And today will be a lot of hard work as we do our best to keep notes on Judge Olmedo’s interactions with prospective jurors. As always, keep an eye on your inbox as our reports are sent out at the breaks!

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