Karen#1
Well-known member
TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:
[Leszkay and Gardner battled over Masterson]
We hope you had a chance to join in with us yesterday as we watched, live, the oral argument hearing in Danny Masterson’s criminal appeal that was streamed online at the Second Appellate District in Los Angeles.
It was a pretty interesting contest between two very skillful attorneys who each acquitted themselves quite well, we thought.
Masterson, the Scientology celebrity and That ‘70s Show actor, is serving 30 years to life on two counts of forcible rape. His appellate attorney, Cliff Gardner, spent most of his time criticizing the way prosecutors got around statute of limitations issues by packaging those counts under California’s “One Strike Law.” He also brought up issues with decisions made by trial Judge Charlaine Olmedo regarding evidence and subpoenas. (He did not, however, ever bring up the issue of how Scientology was discussed in the trial.)
California Deputy Attorney General Blythe Leszkay responded for the prosecution, saying that combining forcible rape counts under the One Strike Law for a 30-to-life sentence was not “controversial” and had been done for decades.
And what did the justices think? Victoria M. Chavez (on the Division Two bench since 2005), Anne Richardson (2024), and Stephen Goorvitch (just confirmed last month) asked very few questions, especially about the statute of limitations issue, which we interpreted as not a great sign for Masterson. (And our expert, TX Lawyer, agreed.)
Here’s the full transcript of the short hearing. At noon, we’ll post our conversation with TX Lawyer with his assessment about how both attorneys did, and the reactions from the justices.
READ MORE
tonyortega.substack.com
Excerpt:
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[/td]We hope you had a chance to join in with us yesterday as we watched, live, the oral argument hearing in Danny Masterson’s criminal appeal that was streamed online at the Second Appellate District in Los Angeles.
It was a pretty interesting contest between two very skillful attorneys who each acquitted themselves quite well, we thought.
Masterson, the Scientology celebrity and That ‘70s Show actor, is serving 30 years to life on two counts of forcible rape. His appellate attorney, Cliff Gardner, spent most of his time criticizing the way prosecutors got around statute of limitations issues by packaging those counts under California’s “One Strike Law.” He also brought up issues with decisions made by trial Judge Charlaine Olmedo regarding evidence and subpoenas. (He did not, however, ever bring up the issue of how Scientology was discussed in the trial.)
California Deputy Attorney General Blythe Leszkay responded for the prosecution, saying that combining forcible rape counts under the One Strike Law for a 30-to-life sentence was not “controversial” and had been done for decades.
And what did the justices think? Victoria M. Chavez (on the Division Two bench since 2005), Anne Richardson (2024), and Stephen Goorvitch (just confirmed last month) asked very few questions, especially about the statute of limitations issue, which we interpreted as not a great sign for Masterson. (And our expert, TX Lawyer, agreed.)
Here’s the full transcript of the short hearing. At noon, we’ll post our conversation with TX Lawyer with his assessment about how both attorneys did, and the reactions from the justices.
READ MORE
The Danny Masterson appeal hearing: The full transcript!
We hope you had a chance to join in with us yesterday as we watched, live, the oral argument hearing in Danny Masterson’s criminal appeal that was streamed online at the Second Appellate District in Los Angeles.
tonyortega.substack.com
