Criminal charges and trial
On June 17, 2020, Masterson was charged with raping a 23-year-old woman in 2001, a 28-year-old woman in early 2003, and a 23-year-old woman in late 2003. The three counts came after a three-year investigation beginning in 2017.
On January 21, 2021, Masterson pleaded not guilty. A four-day preliminary hearing began on May 18, 2021,
where three women told how Church of Scientology employees tried to stop them from reporting Masterson to the police.
On May 21, 2021, Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Charlaine F. Olmedo ruled "all three witnesses to be credible and the evidence presented during a preliminary hearing sufficient to support the charges." She ordered that Masterson be bound over for trial on three counts of rape by force or fear and that he surrender his passport at his next arraignment, which was set for June 7, 2021. In the ruling, Judge Olmedo determined that the Scientology organization has "an expressly written doctrine" that "not only discourages, but prohibits" its members from going to the police to report illegal behavior.
On June 7, 2021, Masterson pleaded not guilty to rape accusations alleged to have occurred between 2001 and 2003. His defense attorney accused the three women of colluding against Masterson, claiming that they were in contact with each other. His defense attorney also stated that one of the Jane Does had obtained money from Masterson in 2004. After the June 7 arraignment, Masterson remained free on $3.3 million bail. A pretrial hearing was set for August 9, 2021.
During the pretrial hearing on August 9, 2021, Judge Olmedo rejected numerous subpoena requests from Masterson's defense attorneys, calling them "stunningly overbroad", including requests for LAPD records related to David Miscavige and Shelly Miscavige, a subpoena of the producers of the TV show Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, and a subpoena of an investigative reporter. The defense filed a motion to dismiss the case based on a lack of evidence presented during the May preliminary hearing, and Olmedo sent that motion to another judge. On November 10, 2021, Los Angeles County Judge Ronald S. Coen ruled that the testimony of the alleged victims was credible and sufficient to support the charges, setting trial for August 29, 2022 in Judge Olmedo's courtroom.
The August 29 trial date was subsequently rescheduled for October 11, 2022, at the request of Masterson's lawyers. Near the end of the month-long trial, Masterson decided not to testify nor call witnesses in his defense. Both parties rested their cases on November 14, 2022, and made their closing arguments the following day. The jury deadlocked after three days in deliberation; instead of declaring a mistrial, the judge ordered the jury to resume deliberations the week after Thanksgiving. The jury remained deadlocked once deliberations resumed; consequently, a mistrial was declared on November 30, 2022. The jury foreman said that the panel of six men and six women leaned towards acquitting Masterson on all counts because they found the testimonies of the complainants inconsistent and implausible; for instance, one Jane Doe testified in court that Masterson threatened her with a gun during the attack, but a firearm was not mentioned when she reported to the police: "The big big problem for her, credibility-wise, was the gun present in the testimony but not in the early reports", the jury foreman said.
