Scientology concepts were plentiful on 2nd day of testimony in Danny Masterson trial

[Oh, that Ron]

At the end of Tuesday in the Danny Masterson trial, we told you that we were a little concerned about Judge Charlaine Olmedo’s admonishment of prosecutor Deputy DA Reinhold Mueller.

She was unhappy that he’d introduced so many Scientology concepts so quickly that day, during alleged victim Jane Doe 1’s testimony. We were somewhat concerned that Judge Olmedo had become so worked up over what seemed to us like pretty basic features of daily life in Scientology. For example, that Scientologists consider themselves superior to non-Scientologists, which they refer to with the racist term “wogs,” and that non-Scientologists were often thought of as the “enemy.”

If Mueller was going to have a hard time introducing such basic concepts in this case in order to understand the feelings and actions of Danny Masterson’s victims, we thought Mueller might have a very difficult task ahead.

But yesterday morning, after reviewing the preliminary hearing transcript and noting that such concepts had been introduced in the case more than a year ago, Judge Olmedo once again denied defense attorney Philip Cohen’s motion for a mistrial, and things went along much more smoothly.

Plenty of Scientology concepts came into Jane Doe 1’s second day of testimony yesterday, including such arcane things as “Things That Shouldn’t Be” reports, and the notion of “high crimes,” the threat of a “non-enturbulation order,” and the consequences of being “declared suppressive.”

Cohen objected at regular intervals, but not more than you would normally expect during such testimony, and Judge Olmedo continued to respond that the material was being introduced not for “the truth of the matter,” but simply for the witness’s state of mind.

So, it turned out that our concerns that Mueller would be seriously reined in turned out not to be the case. Scientology was a heavy presence in yesterday’s testimony, which was marked with Jane Doe 1’s harrowing and graphic descriptions of a horrific attack that she alleged happened in Danny Masterson’s bedroom on April 25, 2003.

There were so few interruptions, in fact, that Mueller managed to finish his direct examination of Jane Doe 1 by 3:30 pm, and then cross-examination began.

It’s turning out that Judge Olmedo was not kidding when she said that she knew how to move a case quickly through her courtroom. We’ll remind you that the Harvey Weinstein trial, which is happening down at the other end of the hall, started the day before the Danny Masterson trial did, and yet they’re still trying to seat a jury down there while in Judge Olmedo’s courtroom a jury has been seated, the opening statements have unfolded, the first major witness has testified, and cross-examination of her has already begun. Amazing!

So as Day 7 of the trial begins this morning in Los Angeles, we’ll be interested to see what sort of pace defense attorney Philip Cohen sets as he continues his cross-examination, and what Judge Olmedo does to keep that pace high. We’ll be in the back row, tapping away.

Here’s the video we sent out to subscribers yesterday at the conclusion of the court session. And a warning: We got a little hot under the collar in this one, and we’ll try to rein it in a bit next time!

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