Friday 14 October 2022 10:58 PM How the shadow of Scientology will inevitably loom large over Danny Masterson's ... trends now
The shadow of Scientology will inevitably loom large over Danny Masterson's rape trial when evidence finally starts next week, a former leading member of the church has told DailyMail.com
With former member Lisa Marie Presley now slated to take the witness stand, the controversial church cannot avoid becoming front and center in the trial, said Mike Rinder, who was just six when his parents joined the church and he had to sign a billion-year contract.
Instead the trial will become Scientology's worst nightmare, said Rinder, who co-hosted an anti-Scientology docuseries with former member Leah Remini.
The pair now host a podcast Scientology: Fair Game.
'Scientology has actual policies and doctrines that direct its members to destroy people – to destroy their enemies – not to cooperate with law enforcement and to treat the judicial system as an abusive system that always gets it wrong,' explained Rinder who left the organization in 2007 after almost 50 years as a member.
Former Scientologist Mike Rinder, who now hosts podcast Scientology: Fair Game with fellow defector Leah Remini (pictured together in 2018) warned Danny Masterson's upcoming rape trial could expose the church's dirty laundry
Masterson, 46 (pictured during his arraignment in 2020) is set to go on trial for allegedly raping three women between 2001 and 2003 starting next Tuesday
Lisa Marie Presley, who left the church in 2014, has been added to the list of prosecution witnesses in the case along with powerhouse attorney Marty Singer
'This is what is the big fear that Scientology has with the Masterson case, is that a bunch of this information is going to come tumbling out in the course of the prosecution of Danny Masterson.'
Just last week trial judge Charlaine Olmeda insisted: 'This is not going to become a trial on Scientology,' and she made it clear she wanted to keep the focus on the alleged sex attacks.
The church had unsuccessfully attempted to delay the trial until after LA's mayoral election on November 8 as both major candidates have carried ads attacking Scientology.
Masterson, 46, who found fame on That '70s Show in the early 2000s, is accused of raping three women between 2001 and 2003. Evidence in his trial is expected to begin on Tuesday.
Presley, 54, along with powerhouse Hollywood attorney Marty Singer – who once represented Masterson – have both been added to the list of prosecution witnesses in the case.
It is understood that Singer is being called in relation to an agreement that one of the women says she was made to sign under pressure.
All three alleged victims were members of the church at the time they claim Masterson attacked them.
One of the women said at an earlier hearing that she did not immediately report the attack because she knew the church would declare her a 'suppressive person'.
'My parents would have to disown me,' said the woman, who DailyMail.com is identifying as Jane Doe 1.
'My friends, everyone I knew would disown me. I couldn't speak to them… I could be lied, cheated, stolen, harmed or destroyed.'
The Church of Scientology allegedly has a policy it calls Fair Game, when anyone who criticizes it or a member can be attacked, and Rinder said that policy has been used against the three women.
