Actor and convicted rapist Danny Masterson’s attorneys have come under criticism for reportedly harassing trial jurors at their homes and workplaces, according to reports.
According to documents filed this month by the Los Angeles County District Attorney s Office obtained byRolling Stoneand theLos Angeles Times,Masterson s appeal team made contact with the jurors that was neither wanted nor was it made at a reasonable time and place as required. Reinhold Mueller, the deputy district attorney, asked for a hearing to discuss prohibiting harassing or otherwise inappropriate behavior by defense team members.
Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of two charges of rape last year. The That Seventies Show performer appealed his conviction.
Law&Crime’s additional coverage: Days after Danny Masterson, an actor from That Seventies Show, was given a sentence of 30 years to life in jail for raping two women, his wife filed for divorce.
A juror requested help from the court by email in July.
Danny Masterson’s appeal team has paid certain jurors a visit at their residences. We believed that our information would be kept confidential. We can’t remember when this happened. According to the email, we are worried.
In September, another juror complained via email that Masterson’s legal team had approached them. The email was shared on journalist Tony Ortega’s Substack website.
A car pulled up, parked, and a woman got out and came over to me while I was working in my front yard. According to the email, she inquired as to whether I was [redacted]. Yes, I replied. She said she is a member of Mr. Masterson s habeas team and wanted to ask me some questions about incidents regarding parking and in the hallway in front of the courtroom that resulted in the jury being sequestered.
Apparently the lawyer got the juror s information from another juror. The juror was uninterested in speaking with the attorney.
I told her I was declining and that I would be letting the juror know of this because juror information is confidential and there should be no contact with me by Mr. Masterson s legal team, the email said.
In response, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo, who presided over the trial, sent all parties a letter saying some jurors felt pressured to speak with defense attorneys. Olmedo issued an order that said all future contact with jurors must go through the court clerk. She said she would have a hearing over the matter if necessary.
Masterson s former attorney, Shawn Holley, reportedly told the court she had contacted jurors but emphasized to them they were no obligation to speak with her. Holley reportedly told the court she had lunch with the jury foreperson and described the conversation as friendly, cordial and forthright.
This is not the first time Masterson s lawyers conduct has been called into question.
As Law&Crimepreviously reported, two former attorneys of his were sanctioned by the court for leaking sensitive information about his victims to the Church of Scientology.
Criminal defense attorneys Thomas Mesereau and cocounsel Sharon Applebaum represented Masterson through May 2022 but were taken off the case before it went to trial. Criminal charges were initially filed against their ex-clientin June 2020,several years after numerous women accused Masterson of rape.
Masterson is a practicing Scientologist. However, Olmedo made a conscious decision to keep the religion out of both criminal trials. The first one ended in a mistrial.
Before the first trial, Mesereau and Applebaum shared criminal discovery information including police reports and addresses of alleged victims with the church by way of its attorney Vicki Podberesky, Olmedo determined on Wednesday. Also allegedly shared with the controversial organization were text messages and emails between the victims and LAPD investigators and victims banking information.
According toThe Los Angeles Times, Mueller voiced concerns on why defense attorneys would provide these documents to the very people who defense counsel was fully aware had certain tactics these victims were worried about.
In the attorneys defense, Mesereau s lawyer, Edith Matthai, reportedly argued there was never a formal protection order placed on any of the documents at issue, according toThe Hollywood Reporter.
The court made a number of statements without question saying that it would not allow certain discovery and that discovery didn t happen, Matthai said. What is being alleged as being shared is discovery that was allowed, and there was no order or statement that I ve seen anywhere in any transcript that says that discovery cannot be shared for purposes of the civil actions.
Olmedo dismissed that line of argument outright.
The court said the defense s position flies in the face of both statutory and caselaw authority and thwarts [victim protection] law, legislative intent, governmental and privacy interests; and most importantly is contrary to this Court s previous findings and orders.
Olmedo lectured the defense that the court had previously made numerous statements during contested discovery hearings repeatedly telling the defense that the criminal discovery process would not be used for discovery in civil cases.
Providing those documents to the Church of Scientology, the court s order says, violated lawful court orders regarding the sharing of criminal discovery with a party to the related civil action.
In the end, the attorneys were sanctioned $950 with payment to be made jointly and severally, the court s order notes.
Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
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