Opening arguments began on Monday in a retrial of the rape case against Danny Masterson, the actor known for his role in the sitcom “That ’70s Show,” nearly five months after the first trial ended in a deadlocked jury.

Masterson, 47, who also appeared in the Netflix comedy “The Ranch,” has been charged with raping three women at his home in the Hollywood Hills in the early 2000s. He has denied the allegations and has pleaded not guilty.

The first trial ended in November when the jury could not reach a verdict on the three counts of forcible rape that the actor faced, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial. If convicted in the retrial, Masterson could face 45 years to life in prison.

What is different in the retrial?

The charges in the retrial in Los Angeles Superior Court are the same as in the first trial. But in a potentially significant shift, the judge, Charlaine F. Olmedo, has allowed prosecutors to tell jurors directly that Masterson had drugged his three accusers, The Associated Press reported.

Prosecutors had suggested during the first trial that he might have drugged the women but did not say so directly, as they presented testimony that the women felt disoriented or confused after Masterson gave them alcoholic drinks.

Masterson’s lawyer, Philip Cohen, told jurors in his opening statement this week that “there is no drugging charge,” The A.P. reported.

How is the Church of Scientology involved?

The case involves accusations by two of the women that the Church of Scientology, to which they and Masterson belonged, discouraged them from reporting the rapes to law enforcement. The church has strongly denied that it pressures victims.

Debate about the church’s role figured prominently in the first trial and could play a larger role in the retrial. Prosecutors have indicated that they might call a former church member, Claire Headley, to testify as an expert witness about Scientology’s practices and policies.

The church said in a statement on Wednesday that it “has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of anyone, Scientologists or not, to law enforcement.”

“Quite the opposite,” the statement said. “Church policy explicitly demands Scientologists abide by all laws of the land.”

What are the allegations?

According to a trial brief filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in September, Masterson raped a woman, identified only as Jen B., in April 2003 after she went to his house to pick up keys and he gave her a red vodka drink. About 20 or 30 minutes later, she felt “very disoriented,” the brief states.

According to the brief, Masterson raped her after she regained consciousness on his bed. She reached for his hair to try to pull him off and attempted to push a pillow into his face, it states. When Masterson heard a man yelling in the house, he pulled a gun from his night stand and told her not to move or “say anything,” adding expletives, the document states.

The trial brief says that Masterson raped a second woman, identified only as Christina B., who had been in a relationship with him and had lived with him for six years.

In November 2001, the document says, she awoke to Masterson “having sex with her” and told him to stop. “I tried pushing him off me and saying, ‘No, I don’t want to have sex with you,’” the document states. She also pulled his hair, and he hit her, it states.

In December 2001, she had one or two glasses of wine at a restaurant with Masterson and woke up naked in her bed the next morning, feeling that it hurt to sit down or go to the bathroom, the brief states. She said she went downstairs and confronted Masterson, and he acknowledged having sex with her while she was unconscious, the document states.

The brief says that sometime between October and December of 2003, Masterson raped a third woman, identified only as N. Trout, who occasionally saw him at parties and gatherings and, like him, was in the Celebrity Centre branch of Scientology.

Is there a new accuser?

According to a supplemental trial brief filed by the district attorney’s office in March, prosecutors indicated that they might call to the stand an additional accuser who did not testify in the first trial, whom they identified only as Kathy J.

She has accused Masterson of sexually assaulting her in Toronto in 2000, after she met him at a party for the cast of the movie “Dracula,” in which Masterson had a role, according to the supplemental brief.

According to prosecutors, Masterson assaulted Kathy J. after he gave her a vodka drink that made her feel “lightheaded” and then, after he guided her onto a bed, “like she couldn’t move.”

She reported the assault to the Toronto Police Department in October 2021, after her niece told her that she had been “roofied” at a bar, which “prompted Kathy to think about what the defendant had done to her,” prosecutors wrote.

Masterson has not been charged with assaulting Kathy J. But prosecutors wrote that her testimony and that of another accuser who testified at the first trial bolster the credibility of the women in the case by showing that Masterson “performed similar acts” on other women.

Masterson’s lawyers wrote in court documents that Kathy J.’s testimony should be excluded from the retrial because the recent disclosure that she could be a witness “prevents Masterson from fully investigating, preparing for and defending against her 23-year-old allegation.”