Prosecution plans to call Lisa Marie Presley as witness at Danny Masterson rape trial

 
This week, the two sides in the upcoming Danny Masterson rape trial have been arguing over what evidence would be allowed, and which witnesses would be called. Yesterday, Judge Charlaine Olmedo issued some rulings in the case, denying a delay that Masterson had asked for, but also denying an expert witness for the prosecution.

But not everything played out in open court before the judge, and we have now learned that there’s a bombshell waiting to go off once the trial starts.

The Underground Bunker has learned that the prosecution has notified Masterson’s defense team that it intends to call Lisa Marie Presley as a witness in the trial.

Before this week, we had been looking into whether Presley might be involved in the case, based in part on what was said at the preliminary hearing held last year, the first time the three alleged victims were allowed to testify.

During her testimony at the preliminary hearing last year, the alleged victim known as Jane Doe 1 referred multiple times to a “Lisa” as a friend. We have now determined that this was, in fact, a reference to Lisa Marie Presley.

“My friend Lisa had someone named Luke who lived and worked with her who was close to Danny…Luke Watson,” Jane Doe 1 testified last year.

Watson and Presley dated briefly in 1998-1999, and they were part of an extended Scientologist clique that included Masterson and Jane Doe 1.

Jane Doe 1 testified that the night of her attack on April 25, 2003, after she had felt suspiciously intoxicated from a drink and Masterson had insisted she get in his jacuzzi, she was feeling ill. At that point, she testified, Watson and Masterson argued over what to do with her as she began saying she needed to throw up.

“It’s better that I do it, really,” Watson told Masterson, she testified. And at that point, Masterson said something that implied Watson understood what might be at stake.

“Oh my God, dude. She is my homie. I wouldn’t. I would never,” Masterson said, according to Jane Doe 1’s testimony.

She said that Masterson then led Jane Doe 1 upstairs to a bathroom in his house. put his finger down her throat, and then showered her off before beginning to sexually assault her while she struggled to remain conscious.

After she was attacked by Masterson, Jane Doe 1 testified that he admonished her not to tell anyone what had happened, including their friend Lisa.

When I first came to, he was saying: “It’s good. You like this. I’ll tell you what you’re not going to do. You — you can do this any time. But you’re not going to tell fucking Paige. You’re not going to tell fucking Lisa. You’re not going to fucking tell anybody.”

At the time of the alleged attack, in 2003, Jane Doe 1 and Presley were both, like Masterson himself, longtime Scientologists who had grown up in the church.

Jane Doe 1 is no longer a Scientologist. And in 2016, we reported that Lisa Marie had made a dramatic exit from the church after trying to confront leader David Miscavige over his treatment of his own father, Ron Miscavige.

But this is the first time that Presley has been publicly connected to this case, and her appearance on the witness stand should turn what already promises to be heavy media coverage into a feeding frenzy.

Masterson, the That ’70s Show actor and Scientology celebrity, is facing charges that he forcibly raped three women, all Scientologists at the time, between 2001 and 2003. He’s been charged under California’s strict “One Strike” law, and if he’s convicted of all three rapes he faces 45 years to life in prison. Jury selection in his trial is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Lisa Marie is, of course, the daughter of Elvis Presley, who wanted nothing to do with Scientology and was vocal about it. But when he died in 1977, his young former wife, Priscilla, was drawn into Scientology at that point after reaching out to John Travolta for help. Lisa Marie was nine years old when her famous father died.

Lisa Marie was then raised in Scientology and became one of its most visible and reliable celebrities. But like Leah Remini, it appears that Lisa Marie’s journey out of Scientology took several years.

In April 2012, we first noticed that she had released a single with lyrics that suggested she was pushing Scientology away. She followed that up with an album a month later that was even more explicit about her split with the church.

That was also the year that Ron Miscavige made his escape from the Sea Org and life working under his own son, Scientology leader David Miscavige. Ron, who died last year, told us that he and Lisa Marie were very close, and she was very concerned about what he was going through.

He told us that he shared with her the shocking news when local police in Wisconsin where he was living told him that they had arrested a private investigator duo who had been surveilling him, and with a small arsenal in their car.

But what really set off Lisa Marie, he told us, was when he attempted to see his two daughters, David Miscavige’s sisters, in Florida, and was told they refused to see him. Ron said that Lisa Marie was incensed that David Miscavige would rip apart his own family, following Scientology’s toxic policy of “disconnection.”

At that point, in October 2014, Lisa Marie went to Scientology’s Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida, determined to have a showdown with Miscavige. Instead, he sent his two sisters to have a confrontation with her.

Ron told us that at that point, Lisa Marie said that she stormed out and told her family that she was no longer a Scientologist. Then, she did something that Mike Rinder has just confirmed in his new book, A Billion Years: My Escape from a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology: On behalf of Lisa Marie, Rinder passed along the police reports from the Wisconsin arrest to the Los Angeles Times for a blockbuster story about how David Miscavige was paying private eyes $10,000 a week to follow his own father.

As we said in 2016, Lisa Marie had gone on the warpath with David Miscavige.

But since then, she has gone through a very difficult time, with a rancorous divorce and custody battle, as well as the shocking 2020 suicide of her son Ben Keough, and if she has remained critical of Scientology, it has been difficult to assess.

Now, she may appear in one of the most high profile, contentious events in Scientology history.

We don’t yet know why the prosecution wants to call her, or what she might testify about. But we are anxious to find out.

Technology Cocktail

“OUT-ETHICS: An action or situation in which an individual is involved contrary to the ideals and best interests of his group. An act or situation or relationship contrary to the ethics standards, codes or ideals of the group or other members of the group. An act of omission or commission by an individual that could or has reduced the general effectiveness of a group or its other members. An individual act of omission or commission which impedes the general well-being of a group or impedes it in achieving its goals.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1972

 
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THE PODCAST: How many have you heard?

— The Underground Bunker Podcast

[1] Marc Headley [2] Claire Headley [3] Jeffrey Augustine [4] Bruce Hines [5] Sunny Pereira [6] Pete Griffiths [7] Geoff Levin [8] Patty Moher [9] Marc Headley [10] Jefferson Hawkins [11] Michelle ‘Emma’ Ryan [12] Paulette Cooper [13] Jesse Prince [14] Mark Bunker [15] Jon Atack

— SPECIAL: The best TV show on Scientology you never got to see

[1] Phil Jones [2] Derek Bloch [3] Carol Nyburg [4] Katrina Reyes [5] Jamie DeWolf

— SPECIAL: Your Proprietor’s updates

[1] Sep 21 [2] Sep 28 [3] Oct 4

— The Underground Bunker Podcast on YouTube

[1] Marc Headley

 
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Source Code

“The most serious barrier that an auditor has to overcome in Security Checking is not necessarily his own case, but a courage in asking . . to ask the questions. You know, that’s kind of a raw, mean, brassy sort of a thing to do. You sit down. Here’s this nice young girl. Everybody knows she’s a virgin. Everybody knows this. And you’re in very good ARC with her and everything is going to go along fine. And then you say to her, crassly and meanly, ‘Have you ever committed any carnal sins of any character or another? Have you ever been to bed in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong man?’ And put it mildly, this is a startling question. But since I’ve started security checking, I haven’t found any virgins.” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 5, 1961

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“The LRH Comm Correction Form will be used on any flagrant departures from the standard scene. Not only is it a sign of hat-dump if data is withheld on the grounds that a question is Dev T, it is also a sign of gross hat-dump if the LRH Comm is involved in an excessive amount of running around to get straightforward data. Any action that is Dev T is of course handled as such, and rightly. Getting data is NOT Dev T. Co-ordination requires co-operation.” — LRH Pers Comm, October 5, 1971

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“You can’t measure time in years to another universe, it’s another universe outside the time reference of this universe. So basically incident zero occurs in this universe and that’s it. It’s out-ethics to evaluate incidents to run. The processes quite simply run a person into a network of implant stations which programs people into cycles of action operating across the entire tone scale.”

Past is Prologue

1996: Hud Nordin reported a second appearance of the Scientology Chicken on the Conan O’Brien show. “The famous Scientology Chicken, Johnson, made his second appearance on NBC’s Conan O’Brien show, on Tuesday October 8 (broadcast early morning, October 9). The plot was about the same, the animated chicken is invited out to entertain the kids and fails to do anything but harp on L Ron Hubbard, Dianetics and scientology. This time, when pressed, Johnson’s aborted attempt at a story was about a boy named Tom, and a girl named Nicole, and a pie made out of… Scientology berries!”

 
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Random Howdy

“It will take a Snowball of Theta to save the planet from the Hairball of Entheta that is growing bigger in Basement Cat’s belly by the day.”

 
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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.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Arraigned on August 29.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff scheduled to be sentenced on Oct 28.

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 filed amended complaint on August 2. Awaiting ruling on arbitration motions.
— 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.
— 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] US Supreme Court denies Valerie Haney; CA court gets letters on Scientology’s ‘neutrality’
[TWO years ago] SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS, Ep 9: Director Paul Haggis responds to a lawsuit’s rape allegations
[THREE years ago] Fight Scientology, and you can end up paying the price for years and years
[FOUR years ago] Buried in US archives, a stunning indictment of Scientology and prediction of the future
[FIVE years ago] Never before seen: Video of a woman moments after achieving superhuman Scientology powers
[SIX years ago] DRONE FLYOVER: Scientology’s secret saucer-looking underground vault in Northern California
[SEVEN years ago] VIDEO LEAK: Scientology’s New Year’s Eve 2006, when Leah Remini was still a front-row celeb!
[EIGHT years ago] Sunday Funnies: Scientology wants your child, even if it’s not yet born!
[NINE years ago] Claire Headley Gets Us Prepped for Scientology’s OT Levels!
[TEN years ago] Oregon Dentist ordered to pay $348,000 after pressuring employee to attend Scientology symposium
[ELEVEN years ago] Johnny Depp and Vanity Fair: Confused About Scientology, Or Just Trolling?

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 5, 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