The three women were members of the Church of Scientology, as is Masterson. All three women said they were initially hesitant to speak to law enforcement because they said church teachings discouraged reporting to police. The women eventually left the church.
Cults are bad, people. Religion is bad because it’s a normalized / accepted cult. Eff this guy.
I noticed that Topher Grace didn’t get mentioned for writing a letter to the judge. I’ve never thought he’s a great actor (he was pretty good in Traffic), but I like him a bit more now.
In their interactions and personal knowledge, perhaps he was. If you personally don’t know Danny or anyone else involved, your only exposure is what you’ve heard presented and made public. If you personally knew Danny and hadn’t witnessed any of these crimes yourself, you now have a conflicted view of someone who is both your friend and now guilty of 2 counts of sexual assault. While that conviction almost certainly changes your relationship going forward, it doesn’t change how you thought of that individual beforehand.
Ashton and Mila were asked to write letters of character that described the Danny they knew. It doesn’t change the outcome of the trial, but as with matters that carry different sentencing structures awarded by the judge, a judge will often take letters like this to determine what is appropriate. Is there a chance that the defendant will repeat this offense? What punishment, if any, will be restorative to the victims? How does this punishment affect everyone, including families established years afterwards? Is the defendant the same person today as they were when they committed these crimes?
These aren’t matters easily decided and therfore it isn’t surprising to see letters of character submitted either as part of the trial or during sentencing. If there is a patten of behavior, then sentencing might be maximum allowed, but if there’s no clear discernable behavior, then sentencing might be light.
I don’t know all the details that was considered, but based on my knowledge from reports, I think 15 years concurrent would have been appropriate. However, I don’t have all the evidence or material to make an informed decision. I don’t look upon these letters ss reflecting poorly on Ashton or Mila as they were just doing what was asked of them to help give the judge the context necessary to carry out an appropriate sentence. They aren’t guilty of doing anything wrong, more than the lawyers defending a now convicted and sentenced rapist.
If I had a friend I knew for decades that was convicted of some awful shit like this, I’d find it pretty easy to just not write a letter about their good character. Maybe I never saw even a hint of the monster that was convicted, but it’d be pretty messed up for me to just ignore the reality of the present and talk about how good they were to me in the past. Attesting to someone’s character has a limit. They could have very easily just kept their mouths shut on this topic not supported a convicted rapist. My hypothetical friend can go deal with the consequences of their own actions themselves while I try to internally come to terms with the fact that my friend betrayed me by lying to my face for so long.