Actor Danny Masterson: He fights against conviction

The former “The Wild Seventies” star (1998-2006) Danny Masterson (48) does not give up in the fight for his freedom. The actor, who was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison for two counts of rape in September 2023, has now officially filed an appeal. , which his lawyers filed on Wednesday, raises serious allegations against the conduct of the trial.

in his client’s convictions. For one thing, the trial was “rife with erroneous judicial decisions” that “distorted the jury’s view of the evidence against him.” On the other hand, there is “an astonishing amount of exculpatory evidence” that was never presented to the jury.

The actor’s case has been preoccupying the US justice system for years. After being arrested in 2020, the actor pleaded not guilty in January 2021. In May 2023, Masterson was found guilty of two of three counts in a retrial. The jury could not agree on the third count, so it was dropped. The crimes in question are said to have occurred in 2003.

The conviction also had drastic consequences for Masterson’s personal life. His wife Bijou Phillips (44), who stuck by him during the trial, filed for divorce after the verdict was announced. The couple agreed that Phillips would have sole custody of their daughter Fianna (born 2014). In March, mother and daughter visited Masterson for his birthday at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, where he had been transferred in February from the maximum-security Corcoran State Prison.

Attorney Gardner announced that the appeal would be supplemented by another petition documenting “additional deficiencies in the trial process.” As early as 2021, when the allegations were first made, “We are confident that he will be exonerated when all the evidence comes to light and the witnesses have the opportunity to testify.”