Huge win. I've been following this one throughout the trial. Most media refused to cover it. Even TMZ. Scientology has been pulling all the strings to keep this one under wraps.
There's been a former Scientologist who's been going to the trial and reporting on the events. Obviously he has a non-neutral perspective of the situation but he offered a lot of great insight into Scientology and why this was all covered up when it happened.
The jury hung in his last trial. One of the big hangups was why the women did not come forward earlier. This time, the prosecutors put on an expert in Scientology who was a former higher-up in the organization. She testified that Scientology had a rule against going to the police and pressing charges against a fellow member of Scientology. They were able to talk about the reports Scientology made about the incidents and put them into evidence. The women gave full accounts to Scientology and were basically threatened with expulsion and excommunication if they went to the police.
In Scientology, if you do anything against the organization you are labeled a "suppressive person" and anyone you associated with in the organization is forbidden to talk to you, including your family. They put huge pressure on people to keep things quiet.
Masterson's attorneys are also facing sanctions after some protected discovery was leaked to Scientology attorneys.
One of the other big legal issues in this trial was the charge itself. California has a law specifically related to drugging rape offenses, but it could not apply here because that statute of limitations is short. He was accused of drugging them and then assaulting them. He was charged under the forcible rape statute instead because he was still within the statute of limitations, but that requires the prosecutors prove certain acts of violence, which is different than the drugging charge.
