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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles prosecutors to retry ’70s Show’ cast danny masterson After an hopelessly deadlocked jury resulted in failed at his first trial November.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced prosecutors’ plans in court filings and at a hearing Tuesday where Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo denied a plea motion to dismiss the charges.
Although prosecutors failed to get half of the previous jury to vote to convict Masterson on any of the charges, he is accused of raping three women, including an ex-girlfriend, at their home between 2001 and 2003.
“We are pleased that Danny Masterson will not be allowed to simply evade criminal responsibility,” two of the three women and the husband of one of the women said in a joint statement released through their attorneys. “Despite years of intimidation and harassment, we remain fully committed to participating in the next criminal trial.”
The AP typically does not name people who say they have been sexually abused.
The judge tentatively scheduled a retrial to begin in late March.
Masterson, 46, did not comment to reporters outside court after Tuesday’s hearing, and his attorney did not respond to an email seeking comment.
He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers say the actions were consensual.
The Church of Scientology played a major role in the month-long trial, Masterson was a member and all three women were former members. Prosecutors said the church had for years discouraged them from making it public, which the church denied.
The allegations date back to the height of Masterson’s fame, when he played Steven Hyde on Fox’s “70s Show” from 1998 to 2006. The show, starring Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace, is getting a reboot on Netflix as “The ’90s Show.”
Follow Associated Press entertainment writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
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