Opening statement a big improvement for prosecution at Danny Masterson retrial

[Another great shot by Meghann Cuniff: L to r, Philip Cohen, Danny Masterson, Shawn Holley, Mackenzie Phillips, Bijou Phillips]

After opening statements yesterday at the Danny Masterson retrial, the journalists we talked to were pretty unanimous: They said that Deputy DA Reinhold Mueller had done a much better job presenting the government’s case this time than he did at the first trial in October.

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How will today’s opening statements in the Danny Masterson retrial differ?

[Defense attorney Philip Cohen and Deputy DA Reinhold Mueller]

After an eventful week covering jury selection at the Danny Masterson retrial in Los Angeles, the main event gets underway with opening statements scheduled to begin this morning.

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Scientology issues pics of LRH Birthday event, when David Miscavige was dodging service

On March 18 Scientology held its annual birthday party for founder L. Ron Hubbard, who was born on March 13, 1911.

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A warrior’s journey in and out of Scientology

While we take a weekend break in the Danny Masterson retrial, we’re glad to see that Jon Atack and Mark ‘Warrior’ Plummer have begun a conversation about Mark’s journey in Scientology.

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Did prosecutors leave a Danny Masterson fan on the retrial jury?

Judge Charlaine Olmedo succeeded yesterday in sticking to her schedule by seating a jury for the Danny Masterson retrial after a couple of long days of voir dire. By about 4 pm yesterday we had a sworn jury of seven women and five men, and eight alternate jurors evenly split between men and women. Opening statements in the trial will begin Monday morning.

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Jury selection in the Danny Masterson retrial: Today, the attorneys take over

[Defense attorney Shawn Holley and Deputy DA Reinhold Mueller]

It’s Day 4 at the Danny Masterson retrial in Los Angeles, and Judge Charlaine Olmedo has indicated that she’s hoping she can get a jury seated by the end of the day so we can take tomorrow off.

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Judge Olmedo begins quizzing prospective jurors in the Danny Masterson retrial

It’s Day Three of the Danny Masterson retrial in Los Angeles, and jury selection is going to start getting a lot more involved. In the first two days, Judge Charlaine Olmedo had four sets of prospective jurors fill out questionnaires. Today, she’ll begin quizzing them individually about their answers.

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Day one at the Danny Masterson retrial was wild, what’s in store for day two?

[Attorney Shawn Holley and former Sea Org official Claire Headley]

We had wondered how the Danny Masterson retrial might be different than the first trial, which ended in a hung jury on November 30. And wow, on day one of the retrial yesterday, we really got some confirmation that the differences could be pretty stark.

Continue reading Day one at the Danny Masterson retrial was wild, what’s in store for day two?