The actor challenged his 2023 convictions on multiple grounds, but the appeals court found no errors that warranted overturning the verdict

NEED TO KNOW

• Danny Masterson’s convictions for raping two women were upheld by a California appeals court on Tuesday, Oct. 27
• The actor will continue serving his 30-years-to-life prison sentence after the court rejected his appeal
• Masterson was convicted in 2023 after a retrial; the jury deadlocked on a third rape charge

A California appeals court has denied Danny Masterson’s appeal of his 2023 rape convictions, upholding the former That 70’s Show actor’s 30-years-to-life prison sentence.

In an opinion filed on Tuesday, Oct. 27, the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, rejected Masterson’s challenges to his 2023 convictions on two counts of forcible rape. Masterson will continue to serve his prison sentence following the denial, according to the opinion obtained by PEOPLE.

Masterson’s appeal, initially filed in 2024, raised several issues with his trial, including arguments about the statute of limitations, evidence related to the Church of Scientology and how the court handled certain witnesses and evidence.

The appeals court rejected his claims and found no basis to overturn the convictions, per the court’s opinion viewed by PEOPLE.

Masterson was charged in 2020 with forcibly raping three women in separate incidents between 2000 and 2003. His first trial, in 2022, ended with a deadlocked jury on all counts. At his second trial in 2023, jurors found him guilty of raping two women, identified in court as J.B. and N.T. The jury could not reach a verdict on the charge involving a third woman, identified as C.B.

Masterson also challenged the admission of testimony about the Church of Scientology, arguing that it violated his constitutional rights. The court disagreed, concluding that the evidence was relevant to explaining the women’s delayed reports to law enforcement, their actions before and after the alleged assaults and their relationships with Masterson.

In a statement included in his appeal, Masterson’s legal team argued that the trial had been affected by improper rulings and that evidence favorable to the actor had not been presented to jurors.

“The Appellant’s Opening Brief submitted on December 18, 2024, demonstrates two fundamental flaws in Danny Masterson’s convictions: (1) the trial was rife with erroneous judicial rulings that skewed the jury’s view of the evidence against him and (2) there was a stunning amount of exculpatory evidence which was never presented to the jury,” the statement read.

Prosecutor Reinhold Mueller previously told PEOPLE that Masterson had been “consistent in the manner in which he forcibly raped each of his victims.”

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“He surreptitiously drugged the victims using an alcoholic beverage as the vehicle for administration, and then forcibly raped them as they became incapacitated,” Mueller said in a September 2023 interview with PEOPLE. “This afforded him the opportunity to obtain control and dominance over his victims as he carried out his forcible assaults.”

Toxicology tests were not conducted, but an expert testified during the trial that symptoms described by the women were consistent with the effects of GHB.

Masterson’s defense argued that the sexual encounters were consensual. The actor has maintained his innocence through his legal team.

The actor’s appellate attorneys, Cliff Gardner and Eric Multhaup, said in a statement they plan to appeal to the California Supreme Court, reports Variety.

PEOPLE contacted Gardner and Multhaup for comment but did not receive a response.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

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