Scientology Scores Major Win in Danny Masterson Appeal as Court Accepts Church's 70-Page Brief Weeks Before Hearing
Danny Masterson and the Church of Scientology have scored a big legal win in their appeal to his rape conviction.
June 3 2026, Published 1:48 p.m. ET
The Church of Scientology is celebrating a major win in its appeal of Danny Masterson's rape conviction, RadarOnline.com can report.
After originally rejecting an amicus brief supporting Masterson, a Los Angeles court has suddenly reversed course and has now accepted the Church's 70-page document, with only three weeks to go before the oral arguments are set to begin.
Danny Masterson's Big Win
The court accepted an amicus brief on his behalf.
An amicus brief, also known as a "friend of the court" brief, is a legal document filed by an interested party who isn't directly involved in a court case. In this case, Scientology whistleblower Tony Ortega revealed the Church filed one for Masterson's appeal, but was turned down – until last month, when the court changed its mind.
"The amicus is a litany of complaints about the way Judge Charlaine Olmedo and prosecutors Reinhold Mueller and Ariel Anson spoke about Scientology at trial," Ortega writes on his Underground Bunker Substack.
"That harsh language, and Olmedo's rulings, violated First Amendment guidelines about religion in court, and infringed Masterson’s religious rights," the Church said.
Scientology Argues Its Case
Church attorneys argued Danny Masterson's First Amendment rights were violated.
According to court documents obtained by Ortega, Scientology leaders argued that "Masterson’s conviction was irretrievably tainted by First Amendment violations—in a way that improperly decided religious questions and smeared his religion."
"These violations denied him a fair trial and, in the process, subjected all Scientologists (and other people and institutions of faith) to intolerable added risks, merely for embracing and practicing their most sacred beliefs," the documents continued. "First, the trial court improperly decided religious questions and allowed religious issues to be put to the jury in determining whether Masterson was guilty. In so doing, the trial court, in clear violation of the First Amendment, allowed Scientology and mischaracterizations about its beliefs and practices to become a central part of the case."
"The second way the First Amendment was violated involved governmental hostility towards Masterson’s religion, manifested in ways that infected nearly every aspect of the case."
Standing by Masterson
The Church has stood by Danny Masterson during his case.
As Ortega noted, the Church of Scientology still supports Masterson, and has been working vigorously to get his conviction overturned.
Masterson was found guilty on May 31, 2023, and sentenced in September of that year.
Cliff Gardner, his attorney, argues that the actor's constitutional rights were violated when the trial court allowed extensive testimony about Scientology during the second trial. Prosecutors, on the other hand, felt the testimony was critical in explaining why the Jane Doe victims delayed reporting the incident, as they were nervous of retaliation under Church policy.
Judge Charlaine Olmedo allowed for the evidence to be heard, with the outcome being that Scientology's internal rules were directly relevant to the victims' credibility and behavior.
"There was substantial testimony about Scientology in the first trial, which ended in a hung jury," the appeal filing alleged.
The Church Responds
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Scientology officials said Danny Masterson's trial was 'tainted' from the start.
Late last year, after the amicus brief was initially rejected, the Church said in a statement to Radar: "Masterson’s First Amendment rights were repeatedly infringed by the trial court and other government actors in their treatment of Masterson’s faith."
"Amicus submits this brief (which supports vacatur of the judgment) to explain in more depth both its own beliefs and doctrines—which were repeatedly misstated by the court, prosecutors, and witnesses below—and the reasons why those mischaracterizations and other attacks on Masterson’s faith not only prejudiced him but violated the First Amendment.”
“The proceedings in this matter were tainted from the outset of the investigation by governmental hostility to the Scientology religion—including even a stated desire to destroy it."
