A judge has ruled a mistrial in the case of That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson, who was facing three rape charges.
Jurors told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo they were hopelessly deadlocked, having cast seven ballots on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The 46-year-old is accused of raping three women, including an ex-girlfriend, at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003.
Two of the women were 23 and the other was 28.
Masterson denies the allegations and said the sex was consensual.
The jurors first told the judge they could not deliver verdicts on Nov. 18, but had a break over the week of Thanksgiving before being asked to try again.
Two jurors detected COVID-19 on Monday, forcing a resumption of deliberations, but two days later the verdicts remained elusive, with the foreman saying two jurors voted to convict on the first count, four on the second and five on the third.
A new trial will be held in March.
Masterson is a member of the Church of Scientology and his three accusers were at the time of the alleged crimes.
Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller said it took two decades for the case to go to trial because the church had tried to keep the women quiet.
The women filed a lawsuit against the church, saying they were intimidated, harassed and persecuted after Masterson was charged.
But Masterson’s attorney Philip Cohen said the church was mentioned 700 times during the trial and was an excuse for the prosecution’s failure to build a credible case.
Masterson, who previously said he was being persecuted for being a church member, did not testify and his attorney instead focused on the inconsistencies in the three women’s evidence.
During closing arguments, he said: “The key to this case is not when they reported it.
“It’s what they said when they reported him, what they said after reporting him, and what they said at trial.”
Two of the women said Masterson gave them drinks and felt dizzy or passed out before they were raped, while the third — the ex-girlfriend — said she woke up to find Masterson raping her.
Mr Cohen said jurors could acquit Masterson if they thought he “actually and reasonably believes” women consented, but Mr Mueller said no one would believe there was consent, with one of the women repeatedly telling Masterson “no”.
Masterson rose to fame as Steven Hyde on the sitcom That ’70s Show, alongside co-stars Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace.
He worked with Kutcher on the Netflix comedy The Ranch but was written out of the show after it was revealed the police were investigating him in late 2017.
