Claire Headley, who told The Post she was once a highly ranked member throughout the Church of Scientology, was meeting a business client Wednesday when she received the decision that Danny Masterson had been found guilty of raping two women.
The “That ’70s Show” actor, a longtime Scientologist, might be taking a look at 30 years to life in prison when his sentencing takes place in August.
“I used to be incredibly relieved,” Headley, who testified for the prosecution, told The Post. “I’m incredibly grateful that justice was served for these women who endured through an awful lot.”
A Los Angeles jury found Masterson, 47, guilty on two of three felony rape charges.
This was his second trial for the offenses, after jurors deadlocked during an earlier trial in November.
This time, verdicts were reached on two of three rape charges, brought by Jen B. and N. Trout (Jane Does 1 and a couple of). The third, brought by the actor’s former girlfriend Chrissie Bixler (filing as Jane Doe 3), was undecided with a vote of 8 to 4 against Masterson.
“Jane Doe 3 is completely happy to see some consequences for Masterson’s criminal behavior,” attorney John Kucera told The Post.
He will likely be representing 4 plaintiffs, including Jane Doe 3, in an upcoming civil case against Masterson, the Church of Scientology and David Miscavage, alleging harassment. “Jane Doe 3 is dissatisfied that the jury was unable to succeed in a conviction in her case however the state can re-charge if it so chooses.”
The Church of Scientology was not a defendant in essentially the most recent case. Nonetheless, in line with Tony Ortega, an outspoken critic of Scientology who publishes “The Underground Bunker” and was present for the whole trial, “often, on most days, there was a representative of Scientology within the courtroom.”
Allegations were made that followers of the faith played a job in discouraging two of Masterson’s alleged victims from going to law enforcement.
“The victims’ testimony was that that they had been threatened or intimidated by Scientology, which led them to not report [their allegations],” a source near the case told The Post. “[Scientology] said that the costs needed to be handled internally.”
A spokesperson for Scientology denied this, saying, “The church has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of anyone — Scientologist or not — to law enforcement.”
Through the first trial, expert testimony on Scientology was denied. Not so this time. Headley served because the prosecution’s expert witness.
“I worked at the highest of Scientology for eight years. I used to be very aware of [Scientology’s] techniques and procedures that prevent Scientologists from calling law enforcement,” Headley maintained. “I witnessed it repeatedly.”
In a civil suit, filed in February 2020, Jane Doe 3 (then identified as Chrissie Carnell Bixler), alleged that she was stalked by church members and filmed; that “an agent of [Scientology]” spit on her after she caught him attempting to hack her phone and that there have been threats to leak nude photos of an underage Bixler.
She also alleged that Scientology representatives contributed to the deaths of two of her pets.
A Scientology spokesperson denied all of those allegations on the time,
When it comes to how silencing works, Headley, who left the church in 2005, told The Post, “Any crime committed in Scientology is reported to the ethics officer, Scientology’s equivalent of your local police officer. That person then determines what steps will likely be taken. When [the women, all onetime members of Scientology] reported [the misdeeds], relatively than being allowed to go to law enforcement, they were made to consider they did something incorrect.”
Within the courtroom, Headley described any Scientologist taking a grievance to law enforcement without the church’s permission as committing “a high crime.”
Masterson got into Scientology through his parents. He once crowed to Paper magazine that by the point he was 15, “I used to be like, ‘Oh, that is f–king awesome.”
He moved to LA for pilot season in 1993 at age 17 and landed his spot in “That ’70s Show” in 1998. That got him and his family into Scientology’s elite Celebrity Centre, where he rubbed elbows with John Travolta.
Not shy about his affiliation, Masterson was known to strut around in a T-shirt that read, “Psychiatrists are here. Hide your Children!” in support of the church’s anti-psychiatry party line.
His status can have bolstered his brazenness. As Ortega told The Post, “One among the principles of Scientology is that celebrities get to interrupt the principles. They usually are not held to the identical standard.”
Allegations against Masterson were made official on June 17, 2020, when the actor was arrested and charged on multiple counts of forcible rape against the three women, between 2001 and 2003.
He was alleged to have committed the rapes at various times in his Beverly Hills home. Within the case of Jane Doe 1, in line with a trial temporary, Masterson provided her with a cocktail created from vodka that resulted in her feeling woozy.
She claimed to have been anally raped after regaining consciousness.
In her rape claim, Jane Doe 2 claimed to have felt “like a rag doll” within the wake of Masterson allegedly raping her.
Jane Doe 3 was actually in a relationship with Masterson and claimed that she would sometimes get up and he could be having sex along with her without getting her permission. He’s alleged to have pulled her across the ground by her hair when she denied sex.
Masterson denied all of those allegations. The primary criminal trial, which resulted in a hung jury for all three women concluded last November.
His lawyer didn’t return a call, requesting comment.
As for what got here out in the course of the retrial, “I believe that is disastrous for Scientology,” Ortega said. “This case was all about how Danny was protected for being a Scientology celebrity and these women were punished for being rape victims. There are allegations of Scientology stopping these women from getting justice.”
Said Headley, “I used to be grateful to impart the knowledge I actually have and expose what Scientology does. It’s important for people to have a knowledge of Scientology’s techniques.”
From what Ortega saw, the decision can have been unexpected by Masterson — described by Ortega as “well behaved” throughout the trial — and his family, including actress wife Bijou Phillips, 43, who is alleged to have “let loose a wail” when the decision was read.
“Yesterday, at 1:30, the court’s hallway was packed,” said Ortega, referring to the time when the jury’s verdict as soon to be announced. “The Masterson family seemed buoyant. I believe they believed they were walking into one other hung jury.”
Ortega admitted that he was shocked by the scene as well.
“Seeing Masterson handcuffed was stunning,” said Ortega. “Then I heard a wail filling the courtroom. It was Bijou crying. The judge asked her to keep up her composure.”
Up until then, said Ortega, “The family was pretty unflappable. But that modified when the guilty verdicts were announced. This family that had been unflappable was suddenly devastated.”