this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2024
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Masterson has been interned at Corcoran State Prison in Central California and will be eligible for parole in 2042 – when he’s 66 years old

Danny Masterson has been moved to Corcoran State Prison in Central California, where infamous cult leader Charles Manson spent years of his life.

The former That ‘70s Show star, 47, was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison after he was found guilty of raping two women over two decades ago.

Just last week, Masterson was denied bail pending appeal over fears the convicted rapist has “every incentive to flee”.

The Wrap first reported that, according to state records, Masterson has officially been moved to Corcoran after spending time in an LA County lockup and later the North Kern State Prison intake facility.

Records show that the actor will be eligible for parole in 2042 – when he’s 66 years old.

Blogger Jeffrey Augustine reports that Masterson will be housed in the prison’s Level 4 maximum security housing unit – the highest level of security available.

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[–] krashmo@lemmy.world 26 points 6 months ago (2 children)

What evidence would there even be after 20 years? Unless there's text message records or something like that I would guess it mostly came down to their word vs his anyway, no?

[–] chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world 44 points 6 months ago (2 children)

That's exactly why it was so shocking to see him take such a harsh sentence. Typically in a case like this, the verdict is going to side with the defense because if it didn't, anyone could start throwing wild accusations with no evidence in hopes of a conviction. The fact that it was a twenty year old case with twenty year old evidence and the lawyers couldn't overcome that or even plea bargain him down to a lesser crime tells me that his lawyers weren't really looking out for his best interest, but wanted to get through the system as fast as possible to avoid too bright a spotlight on Scientology.

[–] Vorticity@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I'm not disagreeing with you but, if his lawyers were that bad, how has he not appealed based on ineffective representation?

[–] chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago (1 children)

He's a stooge to the Church. He is either a true believer, or the cult has even worse things on him.

[–] profoundninja@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 months ago

Really interesting read, thanks for contributing.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Because that would mean disobeying the cult, I guess.

[–] quindraco@lemm.ee 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

That sort of appeal has a close to 100% failure rate. How do you know he hasn't tried that and gotten nowhere? On top of that, he'd need to hire new lawyers, which is bound to be slow if he can even manage it.

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Man I'm reading this whole thread trying to find out what he did and how they nailed him, yet I'm not finding any more info. Really surprising such an old case and he gets hammered this hard.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

They had the testimony of three victims who gave detailed descriptions of the rapes. And he did not testify in his defense to refute their testimony. Typical rape cases are difficult to prosecute when it is the victim's word against the accused's. In this case, there were three women with very similar stories, and he was silent.

[–] sailingbythelee@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago

If Masterson was brainwashed by the Church of Scientology and they appointed a lawyer who turned him into their sacrificial lamb, one would think that he could plausibly play the victim card. If the government was interested in going after the bigwigs at the CoS, he might be able to get a good deal. Masterson is not particularly important in the grand scheme. A case against the CoS that would finally take down someone big, whether the head of the CoS or a big celebrity like Tom Cruise would be amazing. Even better would be to dismantle the whole rotten enterprise.

[–] JustUseMint@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Really really interesting summary thanks for sharing

[–] Kellamity@sh.itjust.works 9 points 6 months ago

Im not sure what the evidence was, but there was a 3 year investigation, and two other cases were not brought to charge due to lack of evidence. The prosecution case involved the Scientology cover-up, including attempts to get one of the women to sign an NDA