Danny Masterson Blames Lawyer for Rape Convictions

Danny Masterson is throwing his lawyer under the bus ... the actor is seeking to have his rape convictions tossed aside, claiming he's sitting in prison because his lawyer didn't do his job right.

In new legal docs filed Monday, Masterson's lawyers claim the trial attorney who handled his rape case failed to call key witnesses or contradict the prosecutor's claims about Scientology ... despite Masterson's insistence.

According to the court docs, Philip Cohen -- who Masterson says took over trying the case due to a scheduling conflict with his former lead attorney -- only spoke to 2 of the "more than 20 potential witnesses" who could have testified in his defense.

He says Cohen "wrote off the great majority of them without any personal contact" despite their "prior statements to the police and to investigators" that he believes tended to show his innocence of the charges.

According to Masterson ... Scientology came into play when prosecutors argued women are discouraged and sometimes faced with threats if they report high-profile church members to the police.

In the papers, Masterson's lawyers claim legal counsel for the Church of Scientology recommended Cohen call a Scientologist to rebut the claim -- but Cohen never did. Instead, he says Cohen just questioned why Scientology was being made a focal point.

Masterson argues that "the jury saw only the tip of the iceberg of available defense evidence in the form of the complaining witnesses' inconsistent statements while the wealth of directly exculpatory evidence went unused for no viable tactical reason.”