Judge Olmedo's rulings are in: Trial start moved back 6 days, and Claire Headley is IN

[Claire Headley and Kathleen Jenkins are both in]

Judge Charlaine Olmedo’s pretrial rulings for the Danny Masterson retrial are in, and we have a quick summary of them for this afternoon. (We’ll have more detail from them in the morning.)

First, the defense had asked for a delay in order to prepare for the new witnesses and evidence that the prosecution was proposing, but Judge Olmedo only provided them six more days, moving the start of jury selection from April 11 to Monday, April 17. She estimated that testimony will actually begin about April 24.

In a 39-page ruling, Judge Olmedo goes through a lot of case law in order to explain her rulings. We’ll go through the results in brief.

Scientology is still in. The defense had wanted to exclude testimony about Scientology, just as it had the first time around, but Judge Olmedo says that the witnesses can describe Scientology policies that kept them from coming forward to law enforcement sooner about the alleged crimes, and that helps explain their fear of retaliation. (In other words, no change from the first trial.)

Witnesses can testify about feeling drugged. As in the first trial, the witnesses can describe feeling unusually impaired after Masterson gave them drinks, even if they have no specific knowledge of what might have caused the intoxication. However, Judge Olmedo still wants no testimony about Jane Doe 1 urinating in the street prior to her visit to Masterson’s house the night she was attacked, saying that this is extremely prejudicial and does not prove that she had been drinking (she has always maintained that she was not drinking alcohol prior to arriving at his house).

All three prosecution expert witnesses can testify. And that includes Claire Headley, who may testify as a Scientology expert. She was excluded from the first trial.

Jane Doe 3’s uncharged incident is allowed. As in the first trial, the jury can hear about the December 2001 “unconscious sodomy” attack that led Jane Doe 3 to go to the church with allegations about Masterson for the first time. Defense attorney Philip Cohen wanted this incident excluded because he said it confused the jury over the November 2001 incident that is the charged attack.

Tricia Vessey can testify. As in the first trial, actress Tricia Vessey may testify as a “prior bad acts witness” about her allegations that Masterson raped her twice in 1996, even though Masterson is not facing charges based on her account.

Kathleen Jenkins can testify. Kathleen told us in 2021 that she had been attacked by Masterson at a Dracula 2000 cast party in Toronto. Like Vessey, she will testify as a prior bad acts witness but Masterson is not facing charges based on her allegations.

Prior sexual history is excluded. Cohen had wanted to include testimony about various sexual incidents regarding the three Jane Doe witnesses, but Olmedo has ruled that they are prejudicial.

Detective Reyes can testify about inconsistent statements. As in the first trial, LAPD Det. Reyes can testify about interviews she conducted in 2017 which contain differences from what was testified to at trial. This is not a change.

Judge Olmedo is reserving judgment about “DJ Donkey Punch.” Although Danny Masterson’s dj nickname was strictly excluded in the first trial (except for some utterances by Vessey that were stricken), Judge Olmedo is apparently rethinking this, and may allow it under certain circumstances.

Nick Olszewski will not be allowed to testify. Another person you heard about here at the Underground Bunker first, Olszewski was prepared to testify about something Masterson said in 2015 about drugging. But Judge Olmedo finds that this is not proof of what was in Masterson’s mind at the time of the alleged incidents.

Well, we have to say, nearly a clean sweep for the prosecution, and a slight headache for us: We have to move our flight!

Here’s hoping the fee isn’t too high, praise Xenu.

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