OPENING STATEMENTS START: Danny Masterson Re-Trial, Day 5, morning break

After coming by himself during jury selection, Danny Masterson this morning is joined by some of the family and friends who were coming to his first trial.

They include his wife Bijou Phillips, Bijou's sister Mackenzie Phillips, Danny's mother Carol Masterson, and family friend Graham Bruwer. Will Masterson, Danny's younger half-brother just arrived.

Danny is wearing a light bluish-grey suit.

SARTORIAL SPLENDOR ALERT: Defense attorney Philip Cohen is resplendent today in a rust-colored suit with a slightly more orange tie, and his two-tone brown saddle oxfords. As one reporter told me this morning, "You could see the Masterson party from a mile away because of Cohen." Well, we're thrilled about that.

Leah Remini has arrived in the gallery.

We're waiting for two more jurors to arrive.

Danny's brother Christopher Masterson has arrived.

Judge Olmedo on the bench.

Holley: Motion to exclude witnesses, first being Leah Remini. We were provided Ms. Headley's report, and reading it that Ms. Remini would likely be a witness. This morning she is here. Also any attorneys for the defendants.

Olmedo: What authority for removing an attorney? What about just an admonishment to an attorney not to share what they hear? This is a public trial and exclusion from the courtroom is usually a drastic measure. Given the importance of the trial, there is an assumption of openness. (She's citing case law.) There must be an overriding interest to prevent prejudice, and the trial court must consider alternatives. The court is not going to exclude any attorney or agent of witnesses. The court will admonish anyone present in the courtroom that they not share anything said with the witnesses.

As to Ms. Remini. What is your proffer to why you're a witness?

Holley asks to do it in-camera and Olmedo refuses.

Holley says that they plan to call Remini.

Olmedo: What is your grounds?

Holley: She's a percipient witness to certain conversations.

Olmedo: What the law means is a percipient witness to the crimes. So you say she's a witness to a conversation, you're saying she's an impeachment witness. Are you talking about conversations on her show?

Holley: That's one of the things, yes.

Olmedo: Aug 9, 2021, and Feb 8, 2022 the court had extensive hearings on subpoenas about Remini's show, to get outtakes and notes, and the court quashed those subpoenas. The court is not going to revisit that, but under the California constitution, and penal code, the shield law, should you call Ms. Remini, and should she refuse to testify, the court doesn't even have the ability to hold her in contempt. So there's no remedy if she should choose to not disclose any unpublished information. (Cites Delaney v. Superior Court, and additional cases.) Mr Mueller, is Ms. Remini a support person for one of the witnesses?

Mueller: I believe so. (For Jane Doe 1)

Olmedo: A support person may also be a witness, and if a witness the court will admonish the person not to share the testimony. So the court will not take the drastic measure of exclusion.

Holley: Ms. Remini's involvement goes beyond that. She's had communications who with the witnesses, and she was not called in the first trial. Holley is arguing that her involvement is not related to the reporter shield law and that the court has not analyzed this situation.

Olmedo: The court finds that she would be called for impeachment purposes, and that would be speculative at best. If the defense at some point finds that she needs to be called, we can deal with this at that time, and you can say that she's been sitting here the whole time.

Cohen now brings up whether the Jane Does will be referred to as accusers or victims or alleged victims. Judge Olmedo denies that she ordered one or the other, and she tells the two sides to work it out.

Judge Olmedo now addresses the spectators, explaining some rules for the court. Only the reporters in the back row can use laptops, no electronic devices for anyone else. No gesturing or making faces from the gallery. And for Ms. Remini and any others, you are not to share anything said in the courtroom today with any witness.

Attorney Dillon Malar, minion of Scientology attorney Vicki Podberesky, has arrived with a document of some sort.

The prosecution team is still wrestling with technical matters regarding a TV monitor, so we're waiting.

Danny Masterson's brother Jordan Masterson has arrived, and is sitting in the public spectator section because the Masterson family section is full.

Jurors coming in.

Olmedo: Before opening statements, a few brief instructions. The People may present an opening statement, the defense is not required to give one. The purpose of an opening statement is to give you an overview of the evidence. The prosecution then presents evidence, and the defense may but is not required to. It is unfair to the parties that you receive information from any other source than the evidence presented in the trial. The usual admonition: Don't talk about the case to anyone. All you can say is that you are on a trial and how long it is expected to last. During the trial, do not read any news or commentary about the case from any source, etc. (The judge goes through a lengthy admonition.)

She talks about them taking notes and some cautions about doing so. (They were supplied with notebooks on their seats this morning.)

Judge Olmedo now goes through the presumption of innocence. You must not be biased against the defendant just because he's been arrested, charged, and brought to trial.

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt leaves you with an abiding belief that the evidence is true.

You must decide what the facts are in this case. She's going over how objections work, and ignoring testimony that's been struck. And how to evaluate what is said on the witness stand.

People's turn for opening statement.

Mueller: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm about to give an opening statement that will lay out what the evidence will show in this case. There will be some terminology that may be new to you, so I ask that you pay attention as closely as you can.

My goal is that this presentation is going to give you some understanding of the evidence. What this case involves is the sex assaults of three women, the forcible rapes of three women, [Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 3, and Jane Doe 2.]

I'd like to begin with Jane Doe 3.

In Dec 2001, (Shows photo her), he had already been in an six-year liv-in relationship with the defendant, Daniel Masterson. By Sept 1995,she had already been with him for six years.

In Dec 2001 they had gone to the La Poubelle restaurant, near where they lived. They went out to dinner. She had one or two glasses of wine with dinner, nothing before. No medication or drugs. After dinner she recalls getting up and has no memory after that. Until early the next afternoon, in bed, naked and alone. She was a health 23-year-old, no prior medical conditions. Has one or two glasses of wine and no memory after that.

She was confused, disoriented, a lot of pain throughout her whole body, and pain in her anus. In the bathroom she saw bleeding. She went downstairs to find Mr. Masterson. She goes, do yo have any idea what happened? What happened last night?

He laughed at her and said, I had sex with you there. Was I unconscious? He said yes. Was I unconscious the whole time? He said yes.

This moment in time, after having been with him for six years, you will learn that Jane Doe 3 was drugged and sodomized while unconscious, and it was devastating for her. A 6-year relationship, a man she loved, was too much for her. She was extremely upset.

Now, there's not going to be an analyst who came in here who will tell you that looked at blood and found a trace of a date-rape drug. But there will be an analyst from LAPD and will tell you about some of the most common date-rape drugs and how quickly they metabolize, how quickly they take effect, sometimes in just minutes, and the effects, and whether it's consistent with what Jane Doe 3 had, and the other victims as well.

The evidence will show that they were drugged.

These are the women you will hear from: Shows photo of four women, the three Jane Does and also Kathleen J., the fifth accuser.

The symptoms they are going to describe are, light-headedness, loss of motor skills, loss of strength, vaginal pain, anal pain, all occurring after the def had given them an alcoholic beverage and within minutes afterwards.

In some cases they will tell you that when they didn't feel right and needed to go the bathroom, he says I'll show you the way, and then instead takes them to a bedroom and rapes them.

Let's go back to 1994 and Jane Doe 3, and how this relationship started. From rural Alabama, scout in modeling agency spotted her. Parents signed her to a modeling contract at 14. At 15, she began modeling (shows picture). In 1996, at 17, she moved to LA to continue modeling, got a contract with Revlon, was featured with Cindy Crawford and her career was taking off. An exciting time for her. Her agency threw a party for her to celebrate the contract. At that party, the defendant and some friends crashed the party. First time she met him.

They began dating. (Photo of the two of them together.) At the time, Masterson was an actor. When he first met JD3, he had not yet landed that role in That 70s Show. About two weeks after they started dating they moved in together. And JD3 will tell you that he's charming. And within a short time she fell in love with him. And for the first year of that relationship, everything was good.

Mr. Masterson is a second-generation Scientologist. Born into it. And JD3 knew nothing about Scientology. Raised a Christian in Alabama. A few weeks into the relationship, he insisted she become a member of the church. (Image of Big Blue on the screen.) She was isolated from her family. There were many of her friends she needed to disassociate with, and in a short time her friends were Scientologists, part of this tight-knit community.

For that first year, things were good. In 1997, things began to change. (Image of JD3 in Paris). The def became emotionally and physically abusive, and controlling. In 1997 JD3 had cone to Paris for a modeling job. When she got back from Paris, she was fatigued, she was jet-lagged, she had been sick a few days, and def demanded she have sex with him. She said no, she didn't feel well. Mr. Masterson demanded it and she said no. An argument ensued, Mr. Masterson became enraged and grabbed her hair, she was naked, he dragged her across the bedroom floor into the hallway and slammed the door and locked it and left her in the hallway.

Danny's younger brother sleeping in adjacent bedroom. She ran into the bathroom for a towel just for cover. She was very upset about this incident. Some might say she should have got up and left, for some this would be enough to leave. But she didn't. She stayed because she loved him, she will say.

From that night forward, she will tell you, the physical abuse continued, the demands for sex continued, him forcing sex on her continued. And she coped with it. She managed it. In fact she will tell you, for her it became normal. It was normal abuse, and she accepted it.

There were times when she would say no and it would lead to a fight. There were times when she would say no, he would disregard it, and she would give in. Because if she didnt give in, she knew what it would lead to. And she will tell you, for her this was normal and she put up with it. Why? Because she loved him.

In Oct 2001, (slide: Esposito incident). Masterson and JD3 had gone to a function at a hotel, this is Jennifer Esposito, Mr. Masterson had worked with her before. They left after the function. Masterson and JD3 were walking behind Esposito and her boyfriend at the time. When the defendant all of a sudden shouted out to Esposito, "Hey Jennifer, show them your tits!" That's when the boyfriend dragged Masterson out onto Sunset and beat the hell out of them, while JD3 was standing there. This was really tough for her. Why?

Because here's a man she had been coping with abuse, but now while he's holding her hand, he's telling another woman to show her tits. It embarrassed her and caused her to begin to evaluate the relationship.

So JD3 asked a friend to take her home, and she left him for some time. When she got back home, Masterson got in her face, yelling at her. You abandoned me, he yelled. He spat on her, as he often did, and once again grabbed her by the hair, as he often did. Perhaps this would have been a time when some people would say, you know what, I'm done, I'm over you, I'm out. But not JD3, she thought she could cope, and manage, and deal with it.

About a month later, Nov 2001, JD3 goes to bed, goes to sleep. She wakes up with def. on top of her, penetrating her vagina with his penis. And that was normal for her. But after this Esposito incident, JD3 was proud of herself that she had fought back for the first time. Up to this time it was argument, fight, give in. But after this incident, when he was on top of her having sex, she told him no get off of me. He didn't listen. She'll tell you he never listened, no doesn't mean anything to Masterson. She tries to push him off, he pushes down his body weight and thrusts harder. When she tries to push again, he pins her hands behind her head. She will tell you that it's rough and painful. She will tell you as a woman, at that moment her body was not prepared for the penetration and it hurt. She was screaming, he continued to penetrate her. She will tell you that there was one thing she kind of knew, that came to her mind at that moment when she had tried to push him, told him no.

He had a rule: The no touch face, no touch hair rule. It came to her, if she was to grab a fistful of his hair and pull really hard, probably he'd stop. And that's what she did. She reached up with her left hand, grabbed his hair, and pulled. And in response, still penetrating her, he hits her on the side of the face. Not a slap, more than that. Kind of a loose fist, and hit her on the side of the face, and still penetrating her. She screamed some more, and he finally gets off and when he does, he spits on her and calls her "white trash."

The spitting was part of the normal. The calling her white trash and other names was part of the normal.

This is the forcible rape that is charged in this case. He finally got off of her after a lot of struggle and he left the room.

For some this might have been the moment to leave Mr. Masterson. But again, what is important and what I want you to understand, it's really important, this was normal for JD3. For the years she had been with him, except for that good rosy first year, this was normal.

She thought she could cope and deal with it, and she loved this man, despite all of that.

That brings us back to Dec 2001, where we began this opening statement, where they went to La Poubelle and she had one or two glasses of wine, has no memory, and wakes up with a bleeding anus. And she had pain on the back of her head, like he had hit her. And she asked him about that, too. And he admits to sodomizing her.

Among everything that she had gone through this relationship, the physical and emotional abuse, this moment devastated her. Not Sept 2001, not Nov 2001, those were awful but they were normal. But this devastated her, that he would drug her and sodomize her.

She decided that she would report him. Reporting him meant not going to the police, it meant going to officials with the Church of Scientology. Evidence will show that if you're a member of Scientology, and you have an issue with another member, you are not allowed to go to law enforcement. You're going to see this in evidence. There are consequences for reporting a fellow member, you do not do it. It will result in being excommunicated. You will learn about language like being declared a suppressive person, and you will lose your friends and family. It's devastating. everyone has to disassociate with you. If you're employed through someone connected to the church, you lose your job. It's devastating.

She believed that reporting to Mastreson to the church was going ot help him. That they would have resources to help him. That they would put him through an "ethics program" or "handling" and make him better, fix him.

She believed report to Scientology, they would make it right. So she goes to the Celebrity Centre, this is where a lot of the members in the film industry or entertainment, this is where they would go. She met with an ethics officer -- like I said there is new terminology here -- she reported to Miranda Scoggins (shows photo), and told her about the rape, and then she told her about other sexual assaults. The first thing that Miranda does is say, you cannot use the word rape. This is not rape. When you're in a relationship with someone, she said, it's not rape. Don't use that word. And she will tell you that she believed Miranda. Miranda was an ethics officer, kind like a clergy position. A person you go to when you have to report such things. A person of authority in Scientology.

JD3 trusted her when Miranda said this is not rape. Don't use the word. The other thing Miranda told her was "you pulled it in." That's another term you're going to hear about, that you have done something to cause it to happen, it's your fault. So we need to put you through some kind of a handling to straighten you out.

JD3 understood that she could not use the word rape. She also knew the consequences if she went to law enforcement and reported. Because Miranda brought out some texts -- this is what happens, you will be declared a suppressive person. JD3 was scared. She knew she could not tell anybody, she needed to rely on the church and its internal justice system.

JD3 was then put on an ethics program, she took courses, did it every day for about a month because she pulled it in. She also went to, later, she was instructed to talk to Christopher Scoggins (photo), who was a chaplain at the time. She told him also what had happened, but she didn't use the word rape because Miranda had told her not to. Mr. Scoggins explained to her that if you wouldn't say no, this wouldn't happen to you. That there this "exchange" and you are "out-exchange," meaning, Mr. Masterson is providing for you, and you have to give him sex when he wants it. And if you don't do that, you're out-exchange.

After these courses, a week or two later, after doing this penitence training, she ended up breaking up with Mr. Masterson. It was due to everything that was happened, especially the Dec 2001 incident when she was unconscious. But also, after the training, she asked him if he had gone in for help. He said, no I don't need it. That really made her upset. She had gone to the church to get help for him, and they didn't even offer it.

You're also going to hear after leaving this relationship, this was not a clean break, they had communication afterwards and they even had two incidents of consensual sex. This was a six-year relationship, she had loved him, and you will hear from on of our experts that this is not unusual. These breaks, after a long relationship, are a process. In 2009, JD3 marries Cedric Zavala. Met him in 2009 and married in Dec 2009, still married today (photo of Cedric). A couple of years later, in 2011, she told him what had happened. She tells him about that Dec 2001 incident, the restaurant and unconscious sodomy.

You're going to see that she's really focused on that incident, because it was so devastating to her, because it was not normal, and it's what cause her to go to the church and break the relationship was the the Dec 2001 incident. It was significant to her. The other times, including the Nov 2001 rape, that was normal.

She also tells him about some other assaults, but as she tells him about the Dec 2001 incident, he tells her, he raped you. That's rape. At that time for her, it's something she always intuitively knew, but it was the first time hearing it from her husband, the light just kind of came on. Scientology told her it was not rape and she believed it, but she intuitively knew it was, that's what caused her to report it to the church to begin with. But when her husband tells her in 2011 she was raped, it all of a sudden made sense for her, and recognized it for what it was, which was rape.

In 2016, she hadn't told anyone but her husband, then she learns she wasn't the only victim. Around 2015 she got a call from a friend, there's another woman, JD1, who was raped by Masterson. JD3 was shocked. All this time, she believed she was the only one, and she believed she would deal with it. But now hearing there was a second victim, that was really hard for her. She got incredible guilt. She will tell you, perhaps if I'd gone to law enforcement, maybe I could have prevented this from happening to someone else. I thought the church would handle it.

Now there's another victim and she has tremendous guilt. JD3 then tried to contact JD1 through social media, and JD1 responded and asked her please take my name off of social media. Not comfortable talking about it, but I'm supporting you.

You will learn that JD1 had a non-disclosure agreement, and she didn't want to violate it.

After hearing there was another victim, on Dec 9 (2016) JD3 went to Austin PD (where she lived) and a report was forwarded to LAPD. Det Reyes and Det Vargas flew to Austin to interview JD3.

You will hear in a tape that JD3 was very scared. She had never reported anything like this. It was very difficult for her. In addition, she had in her mind the consequences of reporting to law enforcement. Before it was just her husband. She knew the consequences from the church, but she did so anyway.

In this interview, she will discuss with the investigators, really focus on th ething that was the most devastating for her, that Dec 2001 incident, when she was drugged and sodomized. She will talk about that. She will also report other things that happened to her, other assaults, but you will hear that the one thing was devastating for her.

This is Kathleen J. (Photo). In 2000, she was working as an assistant prop master on a film called Angel Eyes in Toronto. By the way, Kathleen J is not one of the charged victims. She is uncharged, but she will be here to testify. You will get an instruction from the judge about how to evaluate her testimony.

After the filming of Angel Eyes, a wrap party at Sutton Hotel in Toronto. She went with her husband, Rob Altman, who will also testify. The parties broke up into suites of the hotel. Kathy J, they got invited to a private party by the cast of Dracula 2000, which was filming there at the time. Defendant was part of that film. So as they went to party in private suit, Kath J sitting on the couch, def came up to her and hands her a mixed drink. It was vodka and orange juice. She accepted it. She had a couple of glasses of wine at dinner earlier, but that's all. She took the drink and shortly thereafter began to feel dizzy. She said she needed to go to the bathroom. Masterson said I'll show you. He shows her to a door, and it's not a bathroom, it's a bedroom. She tries to turn around to leave. He blocks her path. She's feeling really dizzy. He guides her down to the bed, she's on her back.

She felt that she had this incredible weight on her, her lips were burning, she could'n’t speak. And Masterson is puling off her nylons and he penetrates her vaginally with his penis.

That's the last thing she remembers before passing out. She then remembers walking down the hallway, shoes in her hands. Finds her husband in their room, asleep. She changes to go to sleep and finds blood in her panties. She also had a lot of pain vaginally and in her anus.

Later when her husband woke up, she didn't tell him anything. She was embarrassed. She didn't tell him anything until later. Several months later. They were home later and an ad came on for Dracula 2000, a scene pops up and Kathy J recognizes the scene. It's a scene that portrays Mr. Masterson, and that triggered her. She started crying. Husband asked, what is wrong? She told him, that guy in the scene, he raped her in the hotel.

Mr. Altman will testify that he was there on the couch, and that he had seen her going to the bathroom and didn't see her after that. He spent some time looking for her and couldn't find her. He finally went back to his own suite where he fell asleep.

When he asked her why she was crying watching the movie, that Masterson had drugged her and raped her.

Kathy J reported what happened to her later. In October 2021 her niece mentioned that she might have been roofied. So Kathy J looked up the film, Dracula 2000, she say Masterson's name, Googled his name, then saw there were other victims and charges against him. She responded to a tweet by one of the victims, saying I'm so sorry that happened to me too. She also gave an interview to a journalist. Then she reported to the Toronto police department.

Going to take a morning recess before Mueller goes into Jane Doe 1.

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