Five years after allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein triggered a wave of sexual misconduct claims in Hollywood and beyond, he and Danny Masterson, 'That '70s Show' actor, are fighting criminal rape charges at trials down the hall from each other in Los Angeles. Photo: AP
A woman broke down on the witness stand Wednesday (Oct 19) while giving graphic testimony about a 2003 night when she said she emerged from unconsciousness to find actor Danny Masterson raping her.
She is the first of three women who say Masterson raped them to testify during his Los Angeles trial. She said at one point she grabbed Masterson's hair to try to pull him away, but he shoved a pillow into her face.
"I was smothered,” she said, crying. "I could not breathe.”
She said she later grabbed his throat to try to push him away but he held her down and began choking her.
Asked by the prosecutor what she was thinking at the time, she replied: "That he was going to kill me. That I was going to die.”
By this point she was weeping. After she said "I can't do this," the judge called for a brief break and a court victims' services advocate comforted her at the witness stand.
When she took the stand again, she testified that Masterson pulled a gun from a drawer in his bedside table and ordered her to be quiet when there was a commotion - and voices - at the door.
She said that, throughout the night, she passed in and out of consciousness despite drinking only about half of a fruity vodka drink Masterson had handed her.
The woman, then 27, was the best friend of Masterson's assistant and part of the same social circle of Church of Scientology members.
Masterson, 46, who at the time was a star of the sitcom That '70s Show, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape.
His attorney was set to cross-examine the woman later Wednesday.
A previous defense lawyer for Masterson contended the three women had each reframed consensual sex as rape.
The Associated Press does not name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly. – AP
