Subject: Blatant Lying in 8/22 Scientology Press Release (was Re: U.S. MARSHALS SHUT DOWN MORE COPYRIGHT INFRINGERS) From: Ron Newman Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology References: <41d15u$hap@crl10.crl.com> In article <41d15u$hap@crl10.crl.com>, milne@crl.com (Andrew Milne) wrote: > PRESS RELEASE August 22, 1995 > U.S. MARSHALS SHUT DOWN COPYRIGHT INFRINGERS > Federal Judge Orders Raid to > Safeguard Scientology Copyrights [mega-snip] > But there was an even darker side to this chapter of > the Wollersheim story. Later investigation revealed > evidence that the judge and jury were the subject of a > covert dirty tricks campaign to influence them against the > Church. Wollersheim and his attorney hired a team of thug > "security guards" to create an intimidating presence in the > Court. The trial judge was the target of particularly > scandalous harassment which, as the judge himself later > revealed to a national legal reporter, included drowning his > dog and slashing his car tires. OK, let's put ALL the cards on the table here. The "national legal reporter" that Judge Swearinger talked to is William W. Horne of _The American Lawyer_. His article, entitled "The Two Faces of Scientology", appeared in the July/August 1992 issue, pages 75-82. Read the following four paragraphs, and then ask yourself whether the above paragraph is a fair and truthful summary: ______ Begin excerpt from _American Lawyer_ July/Aug 1992 p 77 col 2 _____ California superior court judge Ronald Swearinger, who presided over the _Wollersheim_ trial, describes the case itself as anything but normal: Church trial lawyer [Earle] Cooley and his co-counsel, the late John Peterson, filed a number of unsuccessful "writs and motions" throughout the trial in an attempt to halt it, according to Judge Swearinger. Three days into the trial, the judge says, they moved for his disqualification, based on "some secret conversation I'd had with someone I'd never heard of." They also filed a Section 1983 federal civil rights action against both him and the judge who sat on the case prior to him, says Swearinger, on the theory that by allowing the case to go to trial the judges were denying the church its civil rights. (Cooley confirms that the Section 1983 action and the disqualification motion were filed.) But Swearinger's recollections of the oddities of the _Wollersheim_ case go beyond court filings: "I was followed [at various times] throughout the trial ... and during the motions for a new trial," the judge claims. "All kinds of things were done to intimidate me, and there were a number of unusual occurrences during that trial. My car tires were slashed. My collie drowned in my pool. But there was nothing overtly threatening, and I didn't pay attention to the funny stuff." Church official Kurt Weiland strenuously denies Swearinger's assertions: "The allegations that the church had anything to do with it are completely outrageous." Civil liberties lawyer Eric Lieberman, a partner at New York's 12-lawyer Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman who worked on the appeal of _Wollersheim_ and has represented the church for 14 years, claims Swearinger's charges are yet another example of the judicial bias with which the church must contend. "That is highly, highly improper!" he shouts. "Even if [the judge's assertions are] true, it was the height of impropriety for him to continue sitting [on the case]." ____ End excerpt from _American Lawyer_ July/Aug 1992 p 77 col 4 ____ Nowhere does the judge imply that any of the alleged harassment came from Wollersheim's side of the case. Even the Church's spokesman and the Church's lawyer do not claim that this harassment came from Wollersheim's side. Once again, the Church of Scientology officially LIES, this time in a widely distributed press release. > The judge himself later > admitted that he was concerned about the harrassment during > the trial, but never disclosed what was going on or his > prejudice to the Church's lawyers. He also confided that > the jury verdict was wrong but refused to take any action > because he wanted to get even. No such statements appear in the _American Lawyer_ article. If they were printed in any other publication, I challenge Andy Milne, Karin Pouw, Gail Armstrong, Leisa Goodman, or any other Scientology spokesperson to produce that publication. The _American Lawyer_ article does, however, go on to say this: _____ Begin excerpt from _American Lawyer_ July/Aug 1992 p 78 col 1 ____ ... At the [Wollersheim] trial Scientologists packed the courtroom and hallways of the courthouse and regularly interrupted the proceedings by protesting against alleged religious discrimination. "I'd let the jury out, let the [protesters] blah on, and then let the jury back in," says Judge Swearinger. "It didn't bother me." Swearinger said he thought Cooley's histrionics were "comical" rather than effective, and that he often found the jury "rolling their eyes" at Cooley's "loud talk and hostility to opposing counsel and witnesses." The judry returned a $30 million verdict in July 1986: $5 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitives. [Another section of the article explains that this award was later reduced to $2.5 million and affirmed on appeal.] _____ End excerpt from _American Lawyer_ July/Aug 1992 p 78 col 2 ______ By the way, Scientology didn't care much for Horne's article when _American Lawyer_ first printed it three years ago. The following two issues (September and October 1992) contained no fewer than *10* letters to the editor from Scientology lawyers across the country, including Earle Cooley and Helena Kobrin. None of these letters asserted the claim that Wollersheim or his legal team harassed Judge Swearinger. Judge Swearinger died after heart surgery in September, 1992, according to the _National Law Journal_ (June 14, 1993). He is not around to refute these smears against Wollersheim, which the Church never dared to make while the judge was still alive. -- Ron Newman rnewman@cybercom.net Web: http://www.cybercom.net/~rnewman/home.html