Karen#1
Well-known member
TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:
[Masterson and his defense team: Gardner, left, and Multhaup]
The 2nd Appellate District docket shows that on the last day of 2025, convicted serial rapist and Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson made an interesting request of the court.
His defense team is asking that his two distinct bids to have his conviction overturned — his direct appeal, which is now fully briefed, and his habeas corpus petition, which was recently filed — be consolidated as one unified case.
Our expert, appellate attorney TX Lawyer, was taken aback.
“I don’t know how the court could possibly grant that request, as the habeas and the appeal present different issues and are based on totally different evidence. All I can figure is that the attorneys — and Scientology leader David Miscavige — want to conflate everything and act as if all the extrinsic habeas evidence is properly part of the appeal. Weird.”
As TX Lawyer helped us understand earlier, Masterson’s direct appeal is based on what happened during his 2023 trial, and raises issues about the testimony by the Jane Doe victims, and about rulings made by Judge Charlaine Olmedo, and it also attacks the prosecution’s use of California’s “One Strike Law” to overcome the statute of limitations on forcible rape charges. Masterson’s direct appeal is being handled by attorney Cliff Gardner, who has been involved in some of the most high-profile post-conviction cases in recent years, including the Menendez brothers and Scott Peterson.
The habeas petition, on the other hand, handled by attorney Eric Multhaup, is about what didn’t happen in the 2023 trial. Namely, a number of defense witnesses who were never called to testify by defense attorney Philip Cohen. As we pointed out, however, what Multhaup doesn’t tell the court in the petition is that these witnesses are primarily Scientologists whose credibility would have easily been called into question by prosecutors.
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tonyortega.substack.com
Excerpt:
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The 2nd Appellate District docket shows that on the last day of 2025, convicted serial rapist and Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson made an interesting request of the court.
His defense team is asking that his two distinct bids to have his conviction overturned — his direct appeal, which is now fully briefed, and his habeas corpus petition, which was recently filed — be consolidated as one unified case.
Our expert, appellate attorney TX Lawyer, was taken aback.
“I don’t know how the court could possibly grant that request, as the habeas and the appeal present different issues and are based on totally different evidence. All I can figure is that the attorneys — and Scientology leader David Miscavige — want to conflate everything and act as if all the extrinsic habeas evidence is properly part of the appeal. Weird.”
As TX Lawyer helped us understand earlier, Masterson’s direct appeal is based on what happened during his 2023 trial, and raises issues about the testimony by the Jane Doe victims, and about rulings made by Judge Charlaine Olmedo, and it also attacks the prosecution’s use of California’s “One Strike Law” to overcome the statute of limitations on forcible rape charges. Masterson’s direct appeal is being handled by attorney Cliff Gardner, who has been involved in some of the most high-profile post-conviction cases in recent years, including the Menendez brothers and Scott Peterson.
The habeas petition, on the other hand, handled by attorney Eric Multhaup, is about what didn’t happen in the 2023 trial. Namely, a number of defense witnesses who were never called to testify by defense attorney Philip Cohen. As we pointed out, however, what Multhaup doesn’t tell the court in the petition is that these witnesses are primarily Scientologists whose credibility would have easily been called into question by prosecutors.
READ MORE
Danny Masterson's last act of 2025: Consolidating his attacks on his criminal conviction
The 2nd Appellate District docket shows that on the last day of 2025, convicted serial rapist and Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson made an interesting request of the court.
tonyortega.substack.com
