Actor Danny Masterson is scheduled for a court appearance to take place Monday beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. PT. You can watch in the player above.
The defendant, who is best known for appearing in the sitcom That ’70s Show, faces charges of rape for abusing several women in Los Angles, California. The crimes happened in incidents occurring in 2001 and 2003, prosecutors said. If convicted, Masterson will face a maximum penalty of 45 years to life in prison.
Each of the incidents happened at the defendant’s home, said Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller. Prosecutors also revealed they declined to press charges in two other cases: one had “insufficient evidence,” and the other one because the statute of limitations ran out.
Sexual assault allegations have publicly trailed Masterson in recent years. He was kicked off of his Netflix show The Ranch in 2017 amid the allegations. He denied abuse allegations. At the time, one of his representatives denied the accusations, saying that one of the women was the actor’s longtime girlfriend, according to USA Today. She had continued to date Masterson after the alleged assault, said the representative.
“I’m not going to fight my ex-girlfriend in the media like she’s been baiting me to do for more than two years,” he said in a statement in 2019 regarding a lawsuit against him. “I will beat her in court—and look forward to it because the public will finally be able to learn the truth and see how I’ve been railroaded by this woman.” In a criminal court hearing in September, Masterson attorney Thomas Mersereau asserted that Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey bowed to media pressure in pressing the charges, but Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller dismisse this as a speculation, according to Page Six.
[Image via Lucy Nicholson – Pool/Getty Images]
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