Danny Masterson's attorney Cliff Gardner officially filed his 246-page appeal to Superior Court Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo on Wednesday after she sentenced him in September 2023 to 30 years to life in prison on two counts of felony rape. The disgraced 48-year-old allegedly drugged two women - referred to in court filings as 'J.B.' and 'N.T.' - before sexually assaulting them in 2003, but he claims the encounters were completely consensual.
![[The disgraced 48-year-old allegedly drugged two women - referred to in court filings as 'J.B.' and 'N.T.' - before sexually assaulting them in 2003, but he claims the encounters were completely consensual (pictured in 2023)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/16/93323357-14210621-image-a-17_1734626607059.jpg)
'The trial court violated Mr. Masterson's rights to a fair trial by complaining witnesses had a strong financial incentive to characterize the long past sexual encounters as forcible rape,' Gardner wrote in the legal doc. 'The prosecutor reminded jurors that "there is no evidence - there is none at all" to support defense counsel's suggestion of a financial motive."'.
![[Gardner continuously brought up the state's '16-year delay in bringing charges' during which the two women had 'ongoing communications' with each other before 'changing their testimony' six or seven times (pictured in 2023)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/16/93323355-14210621-Gardner_continuously_brought_up_the_state_s_16_year_delay_in_bri-m-19_1734626704124.jpg)
Gardner continuously brought up the state's '16-year delay in bringing charges' during which the two women had 'ongoing communications' with each other before 'changing their testimony.'. During the retrial, 18-year police veteran Detective Esther Myape testified that she felt the 'ongoing communications between the complaining witnesses did not in fact contaminate their testimony.'.
![[Gardner's appeal came a month after LA County Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller asked the court for a full hearing to consider sanctions against Danny's legal team to stop contacting the jurors, who had deliberated for 29 hours at his retrial (pictured in 2023)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/16/93323361-14210621-image-m-21_1734626757258.jpg)
Danny Masterson's attorney Cliff Gardner officially filed his 246-page appeal to Superior Court Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo on Wednesday after she sentenced him in September 2023 to 30 years to life in prison on two counts of felony rape (pictured December 27).
![[Masterson's legal team previously got into hot water with Judge Olmedo over 'leaking sensitive evidence in the case to Scientology's attorneys, who then used that evidence to demand an internal investigation by the LAPD of detectives assigned to the Masterson case']](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/16/63067733-14210621-Masterson_s_accusers_are_former_Scientologists_and_are_also_suin-a-10_1734626405080.jpg)
