Rape allegations aired against actor Masterson

LOS ANGELES -- A prosecutor on Tuesday described rape allegations by three women against "That '70s Show" actor Danny Masterson from two decades ago that contained some of the same disturbing elements.

Two women became woozy or passed out after a couple drinks and were tossed in his hot tub, Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller said in his opening statement in Masterson's trial. One of them said he dragged her to his bed where she regained consciousness to find him having sex with her. A third woman, an ex-girlfriend, said she woke up to find him on top of her.

Masterson's lawyer said the reason the allegations had so much in common is that the alleged victims violated a detective's warning not to speak with each other and had "cross-pollinated" their accounts and undermined their credibility.

"If you speak to each other you will contaminate this case," they were told, defense attorney Phillip Cohen said in Los Angeles Superior Court. "Speaking to each other and other witnesses is fatal to a case."

Masterson, 46, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of forcible rape between 2001 and 2003 at his Hollywood home, which functioned as a social hub when he was at the height of his fame.

Cohen urged the jurors not to consider Masterson's affiliation with the Church of Scientology and its relationship to the case, while Mueller said that it helped explain why the women -- all former members of the church -- waited so long to report the incidents.

Two of the alleged victims first went to the church to report what happened to them and were told it wasn't rape and that reporting it to authorities or telling others about it would end with them being ostracized by their closest friends and even family members.