Karen#1
Well-known member
TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:
We were fortunate again this year to have the expertise of an appellate attorney who goes by the name of TX Lawyer here at the Underground Bunker, especially with several big cases we’re watching all making slow progress at the appellate level. We asked him for his thoughts about the shape of litigation this year…
The wheels of justice grind slow, and often they don’t end up grinding anything all. As 2025 grinds to a close, I’m pondering on the similarities of the year for two distinct groups of women who have been seeking justice in the decades since they were raped in the early years of the 21st Century. 2025 didn’t finally deliver justice for the victims of either Jeffrey Epstein or Danny Masterson, but both matters covered appreciable terrain this year. Justice hasn’t arrived yet, but you could see it getting closer.
Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and charged for a bunch of his sex crimes in 2019. Danny Masterson was charged almost a year later for his own series of rapes. In both cases, the victims had been waiting for almost two decades for the system to finally hold their attackers accountable. Both men had seemingly gotten away with it, as the allegations against them had been public knowledge for years and nothing ever seemed to happen in consequence of them. And even though Epstein killed himself a few weeks after his arrest, and Masterson was convicted at trial, both groups of their victims continue to seek justice.
For the Epstein victims, justice largely means disclosure of what the government knows about his crimes. That effort got a tremendous boost in November with the passage of legislation requiring the government to release the so-called “Epstein Files,” i.e., everything the government collected in its investigations of Epstein. Even though the victims, via Congress, haven’t actually received very much yet, it’s not hard to see that they likely will see a lot more in the weeks and months to come.
The Masterson victims are in a somewhat similar position. This year didn’t deliver them finality in DJ Donkey Punch’s criminal case, but it was appreciably moved forward by the briefing filed in the court of appeal. We now know what Danny’s issues on appeal are. That’s important because, by and large, those points are the only issues he can pursue from now on. And speaking only for myself, I wasn’t impressed. Sure, he’s got a pretty good appellate attorney handling the briefing, but it’s a bad sign for the defendant when all but one of those issues is only grounds for a new trial. We will probably see oral argument on that appeal in the next few months, and a decision maybe late 2026 or early 2027.
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tonyortega.substack.com
Excerpt:
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The wheels of justice grind slow, and often they don’t end up grinding anything all. As 2025 grinds to a close, I’m pondering on the similarities of the year for two distinct groups of women who have been seeking justice in the decades since they were raped in the early years of the 21st Century. 2025 didn’t finally deliver justice for the victims of either Jeffrey Epstein or Danny Masterson, but both matters covered appreciable terrain this year. Justice hasn’t arrived yet, but you could see it getting closer.
Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and charged for a bunch of his sex crimes in 2019. Danny Masterson was charged almost a year later for his own series of rapes. In both cases, the victims had been waiting for almost two decades for the system to finally hold their attackers accountable. Both men had seemingly gotten away with it, as the allegations against them had been public knowledge for years and nothing ever seemed to happen in consequence of them. And even though Epstein killed himself a few weeks after his arrest, and Masterson was convicted at trial, both groups of their victims continue to seek justice.
For the Epstein victims, justice largely means disclosure of what the government knows about his crimes. That effort got a tremendous boost in November with the passage of legislation requiring the government to release the so-called “Epstein Files,” i.e., everything the government collected in its investigations of Epstein. Even though the victims, via Congress, haven’t actually received very much yet, it’s not hard to see that they likely will see a lot more in the weeks and months to come.
The Masterson victims are in a somewhat similar position. This year didn’t deliver them finality in DJ Donkey Punch’s criminal case, but it was appreciably moved forward by the briefing filed in the court of appeal. We now know what Danny’s issues on appeal are. That’s important because, by and large, those points are the only issues he can pursue from now on. And speaking only for myself, I wasn’t impressed. Sure, he’s got a pretty good appellate attorney handling the briefing, but it’s a bad sign for the defendant when all but one of those issues is only grounds for a new trial. We will probably see oral argument on that appeal in the next few months, and a decision maybe late 2026 or early 2027.
READ MORE
Scientology litigation 2025: A look at the cases grinding through the courts this year
We were fortunate again this year to have the expertise of an appellate attorney who goes by the name of TX Lawyer here at the Underground Bunker, especially with several big cases we’re watching all making slow progress at the appellate level.
tonyortega.substack.com
