LOS ANGELES — A fourth woman who has accused “That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson of rape testified Wednesday that she met him more than two decades ago on a movie set and was partying with cast members at his house when she “blacked out” and was sexually assaulted.
When she woke up, the woman, a former actress identified as Jane Doe #4, told the court, she was in Masterson's bedroom, and “he was having sex with me.”
“He was on top of me,” she said. “I mean, he was rough.”
Jane Doe #4 said she was "completely confused" and helpless.
But the next day, she testified, "Danny woke up and he was just smiling at me as if we were on a date or something sweet."
The woman testified on the 18th day of the closely watched trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court, two days after Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo allowed prosecutors to put the former actress on the stand despite repeated objections by Masterson’s attorneys.
Masterson has been charged with raping three women between 2001 and 2003 but has not been charged with sexually assaulting Jane Doe #4.
He has denied the allegations.
Masterson, 46, pleaded not guilty to three counts of forcible rape and remains free on $3.3 million bail.
Jane Doe #4 told police Masterson sexually assaulted her in 1996 at his Hollywood Hills home.
She said she found herself hanging out on the set mostly with Masterson and another male actor. And when Masterson invited everybody over after a wrap party, she did not hesitate.
Jane Doe #4 said she smoked some pot and was “lightly drunk.” She said Masterson later began trying to get her to leave the room where she had fallen asleep.
“I was pushing him off of me and saying that nothing was happening,” she said.
During the struggle, she said, she passed out and then had a flash of consciousness in the hallway where she was being dragged. But Masterson scooped her up and carried her off to his bedroom, she said.
Jane Doe #4 said she began piecing together what happened in the morning and felt ashamed and “disrespected.”
“I felt pretty physically ill, as well as being sore,” she said.
Jane Doe #4 said she waited more than a decade before she told anyone of the alleged assault.
Masterson's defense attorney Philip Cohen made his third request for a mistrial and was again rebuffed by the judge.
On cross-examination, Jane Doe #4 said that about a month later, Masterson assaulted her again at her home. The woman said Masterson gave her a drink from a flask that she mistook for whiskey and quickly left her feeling intoxicated.
"I was telling him I didn’t want to have sex with him," she said.
But Masterson persisted, removed her clothes and sexually assaulted her, she said.
"I completely went unconscious," she testified. "I don’t remember anything until the following day."
Asked by Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller what happened the next morning, she said, "Danny was there."
"He actually woke me up and asked me to give him a ride to this baseball game," she said.
The judge had initially denied the prosecution's request to put Jane Doe #4 on the stand but changed her mind Monday after Mueller argued that Cohen opened the door by suggesting that Masterson’s three other accusers colluded against him.
Masterson is a member of the Church of Scientology. Unlike the other accusers, Jane Doe #4 was not a Scientologist, and she was not in cahoots with Masterson’s accusers, Mueller said. He said the jury should be aware that another woman is “out there with similar experience with Mr. Masterson who also was interviewed” by Los Angeles police detectives.
Masterson's three other accusers, one of whom is a former girlfriend, testified earlier. And their accounts were similar to Jane Doe #4’s.
Two of Masterson’s three accusers also testified they were rebuffed when they told Scientology officials he had raped them, and they have said they were subjected to stalking and other acts of retaliation after they reported the allegations to police.
A Scientology spokeswoman has denied those allegations.
Scientology was started in 1952 by the science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. The religion asserts in its official statements of beliefs that man is an immortal spiritual being with unlimited capabilities, and it offers, for a price, one-on-one “auditing” and classes designed to help members achieve a “clear” spiritual state. It strongly opposes the science of psychiatry as “disastrous.”
Masterson has been married since 2011 to actor Bijou Phillips, who is also an active member of the Church of Scientology.
Dua Anjum reported from Los Angeles and Corky Siemaszko from New York City.
