Danny Masterson delay attempt: Shawn Holley busy with Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer case

As we pointed out recently, Danny Masterson has broken his streak of appealing failed motions in his criminal rape case, and his October 11 trial in Los Angeles looms.

However, he’s still looking for ways to delay the proceeding. On August 17, at the next scheduled pretrial conference, Judge Charlaine Olmedo will hear Masterson’s latest reason for wanting the trial set back, and this time it’s for a surprising reason: His attorney Shawn Holley is too busy with another celebrity accused of abusing women.

Namely, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer.

In a letter addressed to the judge that was in the court file, Holley says that she is lead attorney in the “MLB v MLBPA/Bauer” arbitration, and that with a new witness to question, she anticipates that the proceeding, happening in Washington DC, will be extended into November.

“Given this substantial time commitment, it will be impossible for me to prepare for the Masterson trial until Bauer is complete. For these reasons, it would be my request that the Masterson trial be continued to late January 2023,” Holley writes in the letter.

Based on her track record, we suspect that Judge Olmedo will resist this attempt to move back a criminal rape trial in Los Angeles that could send Danny Masterson to prison for life so a baseball player can first get his arbitration in DC heard in regards to a two-year suspension.

Bauer’s 324-game suspension, announced in April, is the longest since Major League Baseball adopted its new domestic violence policy in 2015. The LA District Attorney’s Office declined to press criminal charges against Baeur last year based on the allegations of a San Diego woman who claimed that the pitcher had sexually assaulted her. But the MLB can suspend a player even if that player isn’t charged criminally, and the league talked to at least two additional women, both in Ohio, who also made allegations against Baeur.

“The Dodgers signed Bauer to a three-year, $102 million contract in February 2021 on the heels of him winning the National League Cy Young Award as a member of the Cincinnati Reds during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. But he was placed on administrative leave midway through the first year of his contract and remained there — while receiving his full salary — until the league decided on its suspension three weeks into the 2022 season,” ESPN reported in May.

The arbitration has gone on for months, with Bauer trying to get back to playing before the 19th game of the 2024 season, when he’s scheduled to return after his suspension. Because the proceeding is confidential, there has been little detail about it. But Holley spells out a few particulars in a declaration that she submitted to the court on July 28, two days after her letter to Judge Olmedo.

“New evidence was produced on July 7, 2022 which has necessitated the recalling of a key witness in the case. As a result, the estimated date for completion of the arbitration has been extended, though new dates have not yet been agreed upon by the arbitrator or the parties,” she writes. “The evidence in the arbitration matter is voluminous. There are 22 witnesses on the witness list (only 4 of whom have completed their testimony) and substantial documentary evidence. As a result, the time commitment required for preparation and travel is significant.”‘

There are millions of dollars at stake – ESPN says the Dodgers stand to save $60 million over the suspension that they would have had to pay Bauer – and a 31-year-old Cy Young Award winner’s career in the balance.

But will that really be enough to put on hold, once again, the day in court that Danny Masterson’s accusers have been awaiting for so many years?

We first broke the news that Masterson was under investigation by the LAPD in March 2017. It took three more years before the DA’s office charged him in 2020, and he’s thrown a myriad of motions and appeals and petitions at the case to try to dismiss it or to delay it. The Scientology celebrity and That ’70s Show actor is facing charges that he forcibly raped three women between 2001 and 2003 who were Scientologists themselves at the time, and who have testified that they didn’t come forward sooner because they feared retaliation by the church. If he’s convicted of all three counts, he’s facing 45 years to life in prison. (And in a separate case, the accusers are suing Masterson and Scientology for what they say has been a campaign of harassment since they came forward. That case is currently being petitioned to the US Supreme Court by Scientology, which wants to keep it behind closed doors in its own brand of “religious arbitration.”)

Masterson was initially represented in the rape case by famous criminal defense attorney Tom Mesereau, and by Sharon Appelbaum, who handled his preliminary hearing last year. But then, after that four-day hearing resulted in him being bound over for trial, Masterson hired two additional lawyers, Philip Cohen and Shawn Holley, a member of the original OJ Simpson “Dream Team.”

We first noted Holley’s presence on Masterson’s legal team on November 11, 2021, and then confirmed it with the court on December 15. By February we had evidence that new subpoenas were being issued in the case under Holley’s name. And also by that month, a transcript showed, Holley and Cohen, the two new attorneys, were doing all the talking for Masterson in court and Mesereau and Appelbaum had taken a back seat.

Then, according to Holley’s letter to the court, the Trevor Bauer arbitration began in Washington DC on May 23.

Eight days later, on May 31, Danny Masterson surprised us by showing up to a hearing that he wasn’t expected to attend, so he could inform Judge Olmedo that he was firing Mesereau and Appelbaum.

Why, if the two attorneys had taken a back seat to Holley and Cohen months earlier, had Masterson waited so long to let them go? Our experts had predicted that Masterson would make such a move in order to delay the case. But Judge Olmedo only moved the trial date back six weeks, from August 29 to October 11.

Also at that May 31 hearing, Judge Olmedo got assurances from Holley and Cohen that they were prepared to represent Masterson through trial, and she told them to get their calendars cleared.

By then, however, Holley knew that the Bauer arbitration had started and was likely to last months. And now, in her declaration filed last week, Holley is telling Judge Olmedo that she only became “trial counsel” on May 31.

“Mr. Cohen and I substituted in as trial counsel on this matter on May 31, less than two months ago. We have not yet received all the discovery in the case,” she writes.

That’s technically true, but as we pointed out, she and Cohen have been on the case since at least last Fall, and had taken over for the lame duck duo, Mesereau and Appelbaum, by February, months before the Bauer arbitration began in DC.

At the last hearing in the case, on June 30, Judge Olmedo denied Masterson’s most recent motion to dismiss one of the three counts in the case. This time, unlike every other step in the matter in the past, he has not filed an appeal or petition after that defeat. But also during that hearing Holley asked to speak with Judge Olmedo in her chambers, presumably about the Bauer arbitration and her scheduling issues. Holley has told Judge Olmedo, for example, that the Bauer case will make it impossible for her to attend the August 17 pretrial conference in person.

So now, a showdown of sorts is scheduled for August 17, and Holley will find out if her work for Bauer will give Masterson another delay. In her letter, Holley claimed that Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller “had no objection to the matter being continued, particularly in light of the fact that he anticipates providing the defense with additional discovery in the coming days.”

Knowing how much the accusers have already complained about how badly the LAPD handled the investigation at times, and the years of harassment they say they’ve been subjected to, we’re surprised to hear Holley claim that DDA Mueller is amenable to yet another delay. We’ll find out on August 17 if that’s actually true.

Also, one other very interesting detail that Holley revealed in her declaration: The original estimate that the Masterson trial will last only four weeks? That might no longer be the case:

“Mr. Mueller further advised me that there is additional discovery he intends to provide to the defense in the coming days which may necessitate a longer trial time estimate than previously established,” she writes.

We can hardly wait to hear what the new discovery material is.

Here’s the declaration and letter from Shawn Holley in the court file.

Shawn Holley’s declaration asking for more time.

Shawn Holley’s letter revealing which case in DC she’s working on.

 
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Technology Cocktail

“Now you must get the exactly worded item or goal. No near misses will do. The exact wording. The right ‘up’ or ‘upon.’ Exact. If the wording is not EXACTLY RIGHT, the mass of the Item (or GPM) will not as-is. The pc will be left in heavy charge. So almost right is WRONG. Always. The goal ‘To Catch’ is going to cause ARC Breaks and somatics if called ‘To Grab.’ The goal ‘To Be Creative’ will give you a sick pc if found as ‘To Be Artistic.’ And worse, if an Item has one ‘s’ missing, it’s wrong. ‘Moaning’ is wrong as ‘Moanings.’ The bank is a demon for exactness. The mind is not a confusion. It’s a martinet of too much order. So ‘almost finding it’ is not finding it at all. Nothing is ever almost right in Class VI. The meter does not almost read.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1964

 
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Now available: Bonus for our supporters

Episode 6 of the Underground Bunker podcast has been sent out to paid subscribers, and it’s a conversation with Pete Griffiths about how he managed to run a Scientology mission after being declared SP. Meanwhile, we’ve made episodes 1 through 5 available to everyone, with Sunny Pereira dishing secrets of Scientology’s Hollywood Celebrity Centre, Bruce Hines on the crazy life in the Sea Org, Jeffrey Augustine on recent Scientology court cases, Claire Headley exposing Tom Cruise, and Marc Headley on what it must be like for David Miscavige living in Clearwater, Florida. Go here to get the episodes!

 
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Source Code

“Dianetics has probably got more history per square inch connected with it than any other activity that’s ever occurred on this planet. The planet has really never recovered from the impact. That’s the truth of the matter. Along about ’51 or something like that I stopped shoving Dianetics as such, you see, why it sort of left the missing step at the bottom of the steps, you know, sort of feeling. It gives very definite, if somewhat superficial, clues to human behavior. I say somewhat superficially —it’s hilarious, you know, sometimes, somebody trying to find his aberrations in this lifetime. This poor bloke that just went on a mad jihad or amok —that’s the word. The Malays go amok. And we had an American university boy go amok the other day and got up in the tower of the University of Texas and slaughtered a lot of people with rifles and that sort of thing. It was interesting to me that he’d just been to see a psychiatrist. Told the psychiatrist all about it, that he had impulses to do it and so forth. And the psychiatrist said, ‘Good boy.’ And the fellow didn’t turn up for his next appointment. The psychiatrist never much bothered about it and then he went out and killed about 39 people or, I don’t know what the figure was, 14 or something like that. But it was interesting to me just as a little side comment, that if you read carefully into such cases — movie star commits suicide — just been to see a psychiatrist.” — L. Ron Hubbard, August 4, 1966

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“Since Lisbon our rudder has not reached its extreme swing. It gave trouble after the auto pilot was connected. When we disconnected the auto pilot the helm would not turn completely. It has only been partially corrected. As it is limited the ship does not steer well and three times has gotten us near real trouble. This is a dangerous situation.” — The Commodore, August 4, 1969

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“What I find interesting is how critics focus on small details of Ron’s life and try and discredit him with ‘lies’ about them. I don’t care if he went to a particular university or not. These are teeny, unimportant details compared to the unbelievably inhuman ability to put together a whole body of workable tech that is mindblowing.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1997: Scientology’s Poole, England location was again the site of street protests. Martin Poulter, Dave Bird and Jens Tingleff provided reports on the action. “Six people staged a peaceful protest in Poole High Street about the aggressive and deceptive recruiting used by the Scientology/Dianetics organisation. Unlike previous such protests, the two sides mostly kept apart from each other and the protesters were able to make their point to the public without being harassed or abused by the scientologists. The public response was very enthusiastic and supportive as always. The most unpleasant scientologists from last time were not around, and those that were on the street mostly avoided us. A couple of scientologists’ reactions are worth reporting. One bloke with short hair and sunglasses walked by in a Dianetics t-shirt, slowing to a stunned halt as he saw us. He eventually came up to us and asked ‘WHAT are you DOING???’ ‘We’re protesting against Scientology.’ ‘What have you got against freedom?’ As I tried to reply, he shouted ‘You people are CRIMINALS!’ and stormed off, obviously upset. The star protester of the day was our senior friend, who asked passers-by for signatures on a petition, collecting 139 signatures in less than three hours. Smart, polite and approachable, she had more success with the public than the rest of us could have. People were keen to sign the petition, and gave us enthusiastic encouragement.”

 
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Random Howdy

“He needs to do a comeback flick, something full of pathos that will tug at people’s heartstrings like ‘Fresh Prince: Down and Out In Bel Air’.”

 
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Trial scheduled for October 11, pretrial conference August 17.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Last hearing was on January 18, referred to grand jury. Additional charges also referred to grand jury after January 5 assault while in jail.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
— Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Readiness hearing scheduled for August 22 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial conference set for September 19.
— Yanti Mike Greene, Scientology private eye accused of contempt of court: Found guilty of criminal and civil contempt.

Civil litigation:
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Complaint filed April 28 in Tampa federal court, Scientology moving to compel arbitration. Plaintiffs filing amended complaint on August 2.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Selection of arbitrators underway. Next court hearing: February 2, 2023.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Appellate court removes requirement of arbitration on January 19, case remanded back to Superior Court. Stay in place, next status hearing October 25. Scientology petitioning US Supreme Court over appellate ruling.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for December 6.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: New trial ordered after appeals court overturned prior ruling.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Lawsuit filed by the FTC and state of Georgia in August, now in discovery phase.

 
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THE PROSECUTION OF DANNY MASTERSON

We first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation of Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson on rape allegations in 2017, and we’ve been covering the story every step of the way since then. At this page we’ve collected our most important links, including our four days in Los Angeles covering the preliminary hearing and its ruling, which has Danny facing trial and the potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison.

SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.

LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH

An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.

SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z

Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

 
Other links: SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks. Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society. Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in a weekly series. How many have you read?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Danny Masterson delays motion to dismiss, and other recent mysteries for Scientology celeb
[TWO years ago] Leah Remini podcast: The ‘Scientology and the Aftermath’ episode that never aired
[THREE years ago] Scientologist-led anti-vaxx ‘Conscience Coalition’ is off to a humble start
[FOUR years ago] Ron Miscavige: ‘When I look back, it reminds me of stories I heard of the Stasi in East Germany’
[FIVE years ago] Almost four years after its grand opening, a new look inside Scientology’s ‘Super Power’
[SIX years ago] Nancy Cartwright’s ‘defense’ of Scientology is the saddest thing ever
[SEVEN years ago] London! And a member of government asks us, what can we do about Scientology?
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology’s newest testimonials video is everything you want it to be
[NINE years ago] Sunday Funnies: Scientology Puts the Fun in Fundraising!
[TEN years ago] Chick Corea, Heber Jentzsch, Ingo Swann, and Scientology’s 1977 OT Summit!

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on August 4, 2022 at 07:00

E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2021 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2021), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 15 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…

Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele

 

Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast