Actor Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he was convicted of raping two women in 2003. The 47-year-old actor was sentenced on September 7. Masterson was a lead actor on That '70s Show from 1998 to 2006. He also joined the 2016 Netflix comedy The Ranch but was written off the show when the Los Angeles police investigation was revealed the following year. The actor, who has been in custody since May, watched motionless as his victims recounted their horror. "When you raped me, you stole from me," said one woman. "That's what rape is, a theft of the spirit. You are pathetic, disturbed and completely violent. The world is better off with you in prison." The other woman Masterson was found guilty of raping said he "has not shown an ounce of remorse for the pain he caused". She told the judge: "I knew he belonged behind bars for the safety of all the women he came into contact with. I am so sorry, and I'm so upset. I wish I'd reported him sooner to the police." After an initial jury failed to reach verdicts on three counts of rape in December and a mistrial was declared, prosecutors retried Masterson on all three counts. Masterson waived his right to speak before he was sentenced and had no visible reaction after the judge's decision, nor did the many family members sitting beside him. His wife, actress Bijou Phillips, was tearful earlier in the hearing. This time, a jury of seven women and five men found Masterson guilty of two counts on May 31 after seven days of deliberations. Both attacks took place in Masterson's Hollywood-area home in 2003. They could not reach a verdict on the third count, an allegation that Masterson also raped a longtime girlfriend. They had voted 8-4 in favour of conviction. The sentence was the maximum allowed by law. Masterson will be eligible for parole after serving 25 and half years, but can be held in prison for life. "Mr. Masterson, I know that you're sitting here steadfast in your claims of innocence, and thus no doubt feeling victimised by a justice system that has failed you," the judge told Masterson before handing down the sentence. "But Mr. Masterson, you are not the victim here. Your actions 20 years ago took away another person's voice, and choice. One way or another you will have to come to terms with your prior actions, and their consequences." Prosecutors alleged that Masterson used his prominence in the Church of Scientology - where all three women were also members at the time - to avoid consequences for decades after the attacks. The church said in a statement after the verdict that the "testimony and descriptions of Scientology beliefs" during the trial were "uniformly false". Actor and outspoken former-Scientologist Leah Remini was in the court to support Masterson's victims and released a statement on X, formerly Twitter, after the sentencing. "Sitting in court today with the women who survived Danny Masterson's predation was a surreal experience. Over the past seven decades, former Scientologists have sadly become used to Scientology using its financial resources, religious protection, and relationships to snatch justice away from them. "For over two decades, Danny Masterson avoided accountability for his crimes. "Scientology managed to cover up Danny's crimes with the help of its intelligence agency, the Office of Special Affairs, top "church" officials like Kirsten Caetano Pedersen and Julian Swartz, its network of media-hungry unethical attorneys, private investigators, agents, and civilian Scientologists who engaged in a conspiracy to cover up crimes of sexual violence," she wrote. With Australian Associated Press