That 70s Show star Masterson 'drugged, raped women'

"The evidence will show that they were drugged," Mueller told the jury.

Masterson has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers, who will give their opening statement later on Monday, have denied any of the assaults took place, saying the accusers' decades-old accounts are full of inconsistencies and not credible.

A mistrial was declared on all three counts at the end of Masterson's first trial in November when jurors told the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked.

Direct discussion of the drug element was missing from the first trial, with Mueller instead having to imply it through the testimony of the women, who said they were woozy, disoriented and at times unconscious on the nights they described the actor raping them.

But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo is allowing the direct assertion at the second trial.

The actor, 47, could get 45 years in prison if convicted.

Masterson, who has been free on bail since his 2020 arrest, sat at the defence table, with a large coterie of supporters behind him who also sat through his first trial. They included his wife, model and actress Bijou Phillips; his sister-in-law, actress Mackenzie Phillips; and his brother, actor Christopher Masterson.

Actress Leah Remini, a former Scientologist who has become one of the church's most vocal opponents on social media and through a TV series she hosted featuring dissident former members, sat in the front row of the courtroom in support of Masterson's accusers.

Because the investigation that led to Masterson's two trials did not begin until about 15 years later, there will be no direct or forensic evidence that he drugged the women, Mueller said.

But Mueller said he will call an analyst from the police toxicology unit, "who will tell you how some of the most common drug-facilitated sexual assaults, how some of the most common date rape drugs work, how quickly they're metabolised, what side effects look like".

Mueller spent much of his presentation on Masterson's longtime girlfriend, an actress and model who he says will testify that their relationship had grown increasingly physically and sexually abusive before he raped her in December of 2001.

"After dinner, she recalls getting up to leave, and she has absolutely no memory after that," Mueller said. 

"That's the last thing she remembers until she wakes up the next afternoon, in bed, naked and alone."

He said she will testify that Masterson laughed as he admitted to having had sex with her when she was unconscious.

Only five of 12 jurors voted to find Masterson guilty on this count in the first trial. Even fewer voted guilty on the other two. The District Attorney's Office nonetheless decided to proceed with a second trial, and the women agreed to testify again.

Mueller also told jurors that the women did not immediately go to authorities because they were told not to by officials in the Church of Scientology, and they were told what happened to them was not rape.

Masterson is a prominent member of the church. All three women are former members.

The church said in a statement after the women's testimony in the first trial that it "has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of Scientologists, or of anyone, to law enforcement. Quite the opposite. Church policy explicitly demands Scientologists abide by all laws of the land".