Leah Remini calls Danny Masterson 'dangerous rapist' after sentencing

Leah Remini calls Danny Masterson a ‘dangerous rapist’ and rips Church of Scientology in statement following actor’s 30-year sentence in rape conviction

• Remini, 53, blasted Masterson, 47, and the church following sentencing 
• Remini said she was present at LA Superior Court, calling it ‘a surreal experience’
• The church told DailyMail.com that its ‘policy explicitly demands Scientologists abide by all laws of the land’

Leah Remini called Danny Masterson a ‘dangerous rapist’ Thursday after the actor was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison in his conviction in the rapes of two women.

The Emmy-winning actress, 53, issued a statement on social media Thursday ripping the 47-year-old actor, and said that the Church of Scientology was complicit in covering up his crimes.

‘I am relieved that this dangerous rapist will be off the streets and unable to violently assault and rape women with the help of Scientology, a multi-billion-dollar criminal organization with tax-exempt status,’ the New York City native, who had a well-publicized departure in 2013 from the church.

The King of Queens actress said she was present at Los Angeles Superior Court Thursday with two of the women who Masterson was convicted of sexually assaulting, calling it ‘a surreal experience.’

She said that ‘for over two decades, Danny Masterson avoided accountability for his crimes;’ that he was abetted by the church; and that Thursday’s sentencing was an indictment against the church and its leadership.

The latest: Leah Remini, 53, called Danny Masterson, 47, a ‘dangerous rapist’ Thursday after the actor was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison in his conviction in the rapes of two women

Remini said the church ‘managed to cover up Danny’s crimes’ and ‘engaged in a conspiracy to cover up crimes of sexual violence’ with its vast resources and personnel in sectors including media, law and intelligence gathering.

Remini said the was ‘in awe of’ the rape survivors who ‘read their victim impact statements aloud in court’ in front of Masterson ‘and some of the very Scientologists who terrorized them over two decades.’

‘These women not only faced the living hell of being raped, having their rapes covered up by the very organization that promised to protect them, but they have also faced ruthless and criminal harassment by Scientology and its agents since they came forward to law enforcement.’

Remini, who has been outspoken against the church in the decade since her separation from the institution, explained what she claims are the dynamics in play in the church in sensitive situations as such.

‘I will always remind the public that in Scientology if you report another Scientologist to law enforcement, you are committing a high crime,’ Remini said. ‘The consequences of such a high crime are devastating: you will lose everything you’ve ever known, from your family to your friends to your job.’

Remini said that ‘the women who survived Danny’s predation fought tirelessly for justice,’ and that ‘their tenacity, strength, and courage have given hope to all victims of Scientology that justice is possible … for that, we will forever be grateful.’

Remini – who was accused by Masterson in 2021 of trying to influence the case against him before his previous trial.

She wrapped up in thanking detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo for their ‘fair and impartial approach to this case and trial.’

Remini was pictured with Masterson in March of 2009 in LA at a benefit event 

Remini was seen in a November 2007 photo alongside Masterson taken at fundraiser in Las Vegas 

The church told DailyMail.com in a statement Thursday that ‘the prosecution’s introduction of religion into this trial was an unprecedented violation of the First Amendment and affects the due process rights of every American.

‘The Church has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of anyone – Scientologists or not – to law enforcement. 

‘Quite the opposite, Church policy explicitly demands Scientologists abide by all laws of the land. All allegations to the contrary are totally FALSE.

The church’s statement ended in saying, ‘There is not a scintilla of evidence supporting the scandalous allegations that the Church harassed the accusers. Every single instance of supposed harassment by the Church is FALSE, and has been debunked.’

Remini last month filed a lawsuit against the church and Scientology leader David Miscavige claiming ‘harassment, surveillance and defamation.’

Remini had past addressed her severance from the institution in her 2015 book Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology.

Remini also was the host and producer on the Emmy-winning A&E docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, which ran for three seasons from 2016 to 2019. 

In Thursday’s hearing, Judge Olmedo, who sentenced Masterson to 15 years for each felony rape, with the sentences to run consecutively, told the actor that although he had ‘steadfastly claimed his innocence,’ he was ‘not the victim here. 

‘Your actions 20 years ago were criminal and that is why you are here today.’

The That ’70s Show alum was seen heading to court last fall in LA 

Remini said the church ‘managed to cover up Danny’s crimes’ and ‘engaged in a conspiracy to cover up crimes of sexual violence’ with its vast resources and personnel in sectors including media, law and intelligence gathering. Pictured in 2019

At the sentencing trial, Jane Doe #1 called Masterson a ‘true coward and heartless monster,’ adding that to this day she suffer from an extreme fear of the dark and frequently wakes up crying.

Sometimes, she said, she hides in a closet or screams out the window: ‘I’m not okay … I think life is an appropriate sentence.’

The woman continued telling the room that she was born into a family of Scientologists, and when she reported the rape to the church, a top official ‘made it clear that Danny was untouchable.

‘I did not choose to be born into Scientology – and I did not choose to be raped by Danny Masterson,’ said the mother of three daughters, fighting back tears. ‘Scientology attempted to silence us … to intimidate us.’

‘I wish I had reported him sooner to the police,’ she said, adding that at no point did Masterson ‘show an ounce of remorse for the pain I was suffering.’

She continued, ‘The first couple of years after the rape were pretty dark. I lost everything pretty much. I had to start my life over at the age of 29,’ she said.

Before he was sentenced, Masterson’s attorney, Shawn Holley, urged the judge to impose concurrent, not consecutive 15 year to life sentences saying that would be ‘fair and just.’

Masterson’s victims tearfully told the courtroom how he had ruined their lives.

‘You are pathetic, disturbed and extremely violent and the world is a safer place with you in prison,’ said Jane Doe #2, looking straight at the actor, dressed in a gray suit and open-neck gray shirt.

‘You are a true coward and heartless monster,’ added Jane Doe #1. ‘I think life is an appropriate sentence.’

Prosecutor Reinhold Mueller speaks outside the courthouse after the sentencing

Earlier, as Masterton’s wife Bijou Philips looked on, trying to hide her emotions with a large pair of dark glasses, Jane Doe #2 stared down Masterson as she told him, ‘I don’t have to carry your shame any more. You have to carry it. You have to sit in a cell with it.

‘I still have to contend with what you did to me…in this brutal manner.’ Saying the emotional and mental damage she has suffered from the rape ‘takes a lifetime to repair,’ she added that Masterson had been ‘enabled and protected’ by Scientology because of his celebrity standing in the church.

And she said she was ‘enraged’ to learn that there were other rape victims. That’s when, after many years of keeping silent at the urging of the church, she finally decided report Masterson to the police. 

‘I decided to report him with the full understanding that my life would be demolished again (by going against the don’t tell doctrine of) Scientology which has terrorized me since.’ 

Addressing Masterson directly again, Jane Doe #2 told him, ‘When you raped me you stole my ability to have any stability in my life for decades. After you raped me I stopped living.’ 

She said that her ‘promising’ acting career ‘nosedived after the ‘heinous attack hijacked my life.’ 

‘I know you take pride in hurting women. You treated me like I was less than trash. Your emptiness and cowardice will be your true legacy.

‘You are pathetic, disturbed and extremely violent and the world is safer with you in prison. I would not wish rape on my worst enemy. You thought the law did not apply to you. You moved in smugness and spite.’

She concluded ‘victim impact statement’ by saying that despite the two decades of of trauma she’s suffered since Masterson brutally raped her, ‘I forgive you.’ 

A prison bus is seen bringing Danny Masterson back to jail after his sentencing on Thursday 

Prosecutor and Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller asked the judge to hand down a 30-to-life sentence, saying that Holley’s plea for just 15 years was ‘not fair and just.’

Mueller added, ‘After Masterson raped the first time he had time to think about what he had inflicted; despite that, he raped again.’

Masterson had two trials. His first, six months earlier, resulted in a mistrial after a different jury were hopelessly deadlocked on all three rape charges.

Masterson was free on $3.3 million bail throughout both trials. But that freedom ended with his double conviction May 31 and he has been locked up in the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles since then. 

Talking of the ‘devastation’ forcible rape victims suffer, the prosecutor in the case added: ‘This is something they carry with them forever. This is long lasting punishment for them. These lives will never be the same.’

He scoffed at Holley’s portrayal of Masterson as an ‘exemplary husband and father.’

‘That did not preclude the defendant from being a violent serial rapist,’ he added.

In addition to imposing 30 years to life in prison, Judge Olmedo ordered Masterson to register as a sex offender when he finishes his sentence.

In her request for leniency from the judge, Masterson’s attorney Shawn Holley sought a reduced sentence by arguing that prior to the rapes, the actor had no criminal history at all and he had lived ‘a productive and positive life in TV.’

Holley said she had 50 letters from different people praising Masterson for ‘selfless acts, opening his home, his wallet and his heart to people in need.’

She added he had been an ‘exemplary father, husband, son, friend and co-worker,’ and argued that a 30 year to life sentence meant that ‘Mr Masterson (now 47) would likely die in prison.’

Scientology was front and center during both criminal trials. All three women testified that the reason they took so long to report him to the police was their fear of retribution from the Church of Scientology 

Her co-counsel on the defense team, Philip Cohen, told the court that ‘a 15 years to life sentence is not 15 years,’ pointing out that if at the end of the 15 years, the parole board decided Masterson was not rehabilitated or had not been a model prisoner, it could add more years to his term, up to life.

On Thursday, he made the short journey in shackles from the jail to Courtroom 105 on the ninth floor of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center where he faced his victims. 

A close friend revealed to DailyMail.com that wife Bijou ‘feels like she is grieving a death’ as she awaited her husband’s sentencing. 

‘Currently Bijou is circling the drain and is filled with all the emotion and no emotion at all,’ they said. ‘She is a shell of who she has been. She is really trying to be strong for her daughter as she is trying to figure out life and what it will be like for her. 

‘It can only be compared to a divorce or a death for her not being able to be with Danny the way they were.’ 

Actor Billy Baldwin, 60 – who is married to Bijou’s actress half-sister Chynna Phillips 55 – was also frequently in court during the trials.

Scientology was a key focal point during both trials, as all three women testified that the reason they took so long to report him to the police was their fear of retribution from the Church of Scientology. 

His accusers – whom DailyMail.com is identifying only as Jane Does 1 through 3 – are all former Scientologists and are also suing the actor and the Church of Scientology in civil court, claiming that they’ve been harassed and intimidated since reporting him to police. A status hearing on that civil case is scheduled for September 26.

His victims said that scientology church officials warned them not to use the word rape, that turning in a fellow Scientologist to law enforcement was considered a ‘high crime’, and if they disobeyed that doctrine, they could be declared a ‘suppressive person,’ cast out by the church and left alone, cut off from family and friends.

Danny Masterson and wife Bijou Phillips arrived for court at the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse on May 12, 2023 

In the second trial, prosecutors put much more emphasis than they did in the first trial on their claims that Masterson drugged his victims by spiking drinks he gave them before raping them.

Another difference between the two trials was the addition in the second of testimony from another ‘victim’ – a woman who claimed Masterson raped her in Toronto in 2000, though he was never charged with the alleged assault.

Of the two women whose rape Masterson was convicted of, Jane Doe 1 testified that in April 2003 she was at the actor’s house where he gave her a fruity red drink with vodka that made her feel woozy, then threw her in his Jacuzzi, carried her upstairs where she passed out and woke up to find him raping her

She fought back, pushed a pillow into his face, she told the jury. But he pushed it back into her face, smothering her and she blacked out again.

When she woke, she said, Masterson opened a bedside drawer and pulled out a gun which he brandished, telling her, ‘Don’t f***ing move.’

Jane Doe 2 – whom the actor was also convicted of raping – met Masterson at a bar in 2003 and gave him her phone number. He called her and invited her to his home.

She went, and, after having a drink and a stint in his Jacuzzi, she found herself in his bathroom shower with him where, she told jurors, he ‘suddenly shoved his penis into her vagina.’

They ended up in Masterson’s bed where, despite her protests, he flipped her over and started pounding her from behind ‘like a jackhammer,’ she testified, adding that she felt ‘like a limp rag doll.’

Jane Doe 3 – whom Masterson was charged with, but not convicted of raping – lived with Masterson for six years. She was only 17 when she met him and he persuaded her to become a Scientologist, she told the court.

About a year into their relationship he became very ‘controlling…and very aggressive sexually’ – she would often wake up at night and he would be on top of her, having sex with her, she said.

In one such incident in November 2001, when she woke up to find him having sex with her, she told him no and tried to push him off, the court heard.

When that didn’t work, she pulled his hair. But he retaliated by hitting her across the face and calling her ‘white trash,’ she told the jury.

Masterson’s attorney, Philip Cohen, challenged ‘inconsistencies’ in the womens’ testimony and statements to police, accusing them of ‘blatant fabrications.’

And he asserted that the three had ‘colluded,’ choreographing and ‘tweaking’ their rape stories to help get Masterson convicted – which in turn could help them win a big cash payout in the civil lawsuit they have brought against him and the Church of Scientology.

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