On her second day of testimony Tuesday against Danny Masterson, Jane Doe 3 – the ex-long-term girlfriend of the “That 70s Show” star referred to in court as CB – started hyperventilating and struggling to breathe partway through the morning session in a what became a full-blown panic attack while talking about the influence of Scientology.
CB appeared extremely nervous from the outset and her fear was palpable in the courtroom, often looking down and going out of her way to ensure she did not look directly at Masterson or any of his family and friends seated in court. Masterson spent much of his time staring directly at her.
She is one of four women who will testify that Masterson assaulted them in the criminal case. Masterson, who has been attending court daily with his family and wife Bijou Phillips, has denied all wrongdoing. He faces up to 45 years to life in prison if convicted.
Later in the afternoon, during cross-examination by Phillip Cohen, CB asked the defense attorney to not move towards Masterson when he asked her questions.
“When you move to that side of the courtroom, I don’t want to look over there,” she said, requesting that he stay behind the podium directly in front of her.
CB was a successful model who had moved to Los Angeles from Alabama, and was Masterson’s girlfriend for six years from 1999. A non-Scientologist, she met Masterson when she was 18 and
became a Scientologist in order to stay with him.
The witness testified how she had gone to speak with her ethics officer Miranda Scoggins at the Scientology center in December 2001, the day after she alleges she was raped by Masterson. Masterson is not being charged with anything in relation to the December 2001 incident, but is
being charged with forcible rape in a prior incident with CB that took place a month earlier.
During the December 2001 incident, CB testified that she had gone out to dinner with Masterson the night before at La Poubelle Bistro in Hollywood, where she had one to two glasses of red wine. She recalled standing to leave the restaurant and then nothing else except waking up the following morning in his bed, alone, naked, confused, and that her entire body hurt and she felt pain in her anus and rectum.
After checking in the bathroom, she saw a small amount of blood. She went downstairs to confront Masterson, asked him what happened, and he replied that they had had sex.
Scientology loomed large once again as her testimony continued. Testifying she was traumatized by the fact that Masterson had had anal sex with her, which she believed was against Scientology’s beliefs, she reported it the following day to Miranda Scoggins and her husband Chris Scoggins, the chaplain at the Scientology Celebrity Centre.
Miranda Scoggins told her no crime had been committed and that she had “pulled it in” (a Scientology term meaning you have done something in this life or another life to cause bad things to happen to you).
Asked by the prosecutor what she understood Scoggins to mean, CB began hyperventilating and said, “I understood that it almost put me in a state of terror and I just needed to do what I was told and not to tell anybody.” She also spoke of fearing being declared a “suppressive person” and being cut off from the church.
Sobbing, she said she was worried “it would destroy me … He [Chris Scoggins] scared me so much so I just did as I was told … I’m afraid I would not have survived [being declared a suppressive person] at that time.”
At that point, CB could barely breathe and Judge Charlaine Olmeda called for a recess.
Masterson was formally charged in 2020, but allegations first came to light in 2017 when a blogger covering Scientology reported that detectives were investigating the actor after three women came forward with accusations of rape and assault. The women claim they came into contact with Masterson in the early 2000s through the Church of Scientology, and each has said they were pressured by the Church to keep quiet.
When testimony resumed, CB’s breathing was still shallow and she spoke through tears about how Miranda Scoggins had her write a Knowledge Report about her “out ethics” behavior – things she had done wrong. Through heavy breaths and trying not to cry she said, “Miranda wanted me to write a ‘things that shouldn’t be report,’” but that Masterson would not be called
into an ethics officer.
“I didn’t understand why he wasn’t going to be called into ethics,” she said.
The witness then testified that Miranda Scoggins helped her write up the report, detailing her and Masterson’s relationship and what happened but she had to remove H, E, and R (Human
Emotion and Reaction) and could not use the word “rape.”
CB was then required to undergo a month-long ethics program that required her to undertake courses at the celebrity centre every day throughout January 2002. She then asked Masterson if he was required to take the ethics courses and said he responded he didn’t because “he was fortunately prospering in life.”
Asked to elaborate, she explained she read something called ‘Ethics Protection’ “that when
someone’s statistics are up in life, they are called upstats.” Based on his answer she said she was
“done” with the relationship because according to ‘Ethics Protection,’ “you basically make a decision on relationships — and at that point I told him I was done.”
The witness said she and Masterson then had to meet with Chris Scoggins to go over the terms of their breakup and to sign an agreement. The terms that she recalled from the agreement were that she could not sue him.
CB testified she did not tell anyone about either of the alleged rapes until she told her husband around 2010 or 2011, a year or two after they married. After doing so, she said she understood that she had been raped, that they hadn’t just “had sex” as Masterson had claimed.
She then contacted a rape hotline where her views changed and she now believed “a crime had occurred,” which led to her finally reporting the incidents to the Austin, Texas police department, where she was now living.
Asked by the prosecutor how she felt reporting the incidents she said, “Terrified, because of Scientology. I was terrified.”
Asked if she still had fears or concerns to this day, she said, “Oh yeah.” Holding back tears she added that she had been harassed and stalked shortly after reporting the incidents to the police and that harassment and stalking has continued “up until this day.”
Cohen briefly began cross examination before the session ended for the day. Court is dark on
Wednesday; cross examination will continue Thursday.
