Webbed with links at: http://www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/legal/decl-2006-03-07.html
UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
SAN JOSE DIVISION
In re: KEITH HENSON,
Debtor
HILLARY DEZOTELL, KEN HODEN,
and BRUCE WAGONER,
Plaintiffs,
vs.
H. KEITH HENSON
Defendant.
CASE NO.: 98-51326 ASW-7
ADV.NO.035136
DECLARATION OF GERRY ARMSTRONG
IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANT KEITH HENSON
Date: March 10, 2006
Time: 3:00 p.m.
(Served by E-mail and Overnight Courier)
DECLARATION OF GERRY ARMSTRONG
I, Gerry Armstrong, declare:
1. I have personal knowledge of the facts set forth in this declaration and could competently testify thereto if called to do so.
2. I am making this declaration to support an effort by Keith Henson to demonstrate that the Scientology organization perpetrated a fraud to deny him proper defenses and fair trials. //
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3. I have known Mr. Henson personally since 1996, communicated with him many times, and am familiar with the Scientology organization's legal proceedings against him. I was inside Scientology from 1969 through 1981, and have studied the subject and organization almost continuously since leaving, as a personal and unremitting victim, target and opponent. I have acquired considerable knowledge of Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard, and particularly their "Suppressive Person" doctrine, which manifests in the treatment or handling of perceived "enemies" as "Fair Game." I have testified in depositions or trials in Scientology related cases sixty-some days, as both percipient and expert witness.
4. When I left Scientology in December 1981, organization leaders immediately declared me a "Suppressive Person" or "SP" and have considered me an SP without remission or moderation and Fair Gamed me ever since. In 1984, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Paul G. Breckenridge, Jr. stated in a judgment after a length trial in the first of six cases in which Scientology sued me:
In addition to violating and abusing its own members civil rights, the organization over the years with its "Fair Game" doctrine has harassed and abused those persons not in the "Church" whom it perceives as enemies. The organization clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and this bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder LRH [L. Ron Hubbard]. The evidence portrays a man who has been virtually a pathological liar when it comes to his history, background, and achievements. The writings and documents in evidence additionally reflect his egoism, greed, avarice, lust for power, and vindictiveness and aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile.
In 1991, the California Court of Appeal affirmed that judgment and stated about me being Fair Game:
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Commencing in February 1982, the international "Church" of Scientology issued a series of " suppressive person declares" in effect labelling Armstrong an enemy of the "Church" and charging that he had taken an unauthorized leave, was spreading destructive rumors about senior "Church" officials, and secretly planned to leave the "Church". These "declares" subjected Armstrong to the " Fair Game Doctrine" of the "Church", which permits a suppressive person to be " tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed ... [or] deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist. ..." "Church" of Scientology v. Armstrong(1991) 232 Cal.App.3d 1060 , 283 Cal.Rptr. 917.
5. I have written and published extensively about my experiences, knowledge, opinions and beliefs in relation to Scientology, including in many declarations or affidavits that have been filed in numerous legal cases. Along with my wife Caroline Letkeman, I built and presently maintain three web sites that educate the public with our Scientology related experiences, knowledge, opinions, beliefs and documentation. http://www.gerryarmstrong.org http://www.carolineletkeman.org http://www.suppressiveperson.org Caroline is also a declared SP and Fair Game. Although Mr. Henson, to my knowledge, has never been the subject of a formal "Suppressive Person Declare," as Caroline and I have been, in my experience and opinion there is no doubt that Scientology's leaders have declared him an SP and are having him Fair Gamed as well. Scientology applies its Suppressive Person doctrine and its Fair Game policy to people who, like Mr. Henson, have never been Scientologists as well as to ex-Scientologists who have left the organization.
6. In January 1997, while living in San Anselmo, California, I obtained an Internet account and discovered for the first time a section of Scientology's IRS Form 1023 responses that included several pages of Black Propaganda on me. Scientology
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had obtained its tax exemption, and consequently "full "religious" status," in October 1993 on the basis of this 1023 submission. "Black Propaganda" or "Black PR" is Hubbard's and Scientology's term for the organization's practice of covertly and overtly, widely and relentlessly, defaming and defiling their targets to destroy their reputations, credibility, relationships, livelihoods and lives. Black PR is a key channel in the Fair Game campaigns Scientology wages against SPs such as Caroline, Mr. Henson and me. The Black PR Scientology and its agents have generated and used against Mr. Henson over the past decade is in fact a confirmation of his classification as an SP. Scientology only Black PRs or otherwise Fair Games people whom organization leaders identify as SPs.
7. Scientology is a ""religion"" and its Suppressive Person doctrine, Fair Game and Black PR policies and practices are laid down in ""religious" "scripture"." SPs comprise a "religious" class, established by the "religious" dogma and "religious" hierarchy of the Scientology "religion", and are portrayed and viewed within the SP doctrine as roughly equivalent to "demons," "devils" or "bogeymen" in some other "religion"s. Hubbard and Scientology teach that SPs comprise two and a half percent of the planetary population and are totally evil, totally destructive, totally criminal and totally insane. Hubbard and Scientology teach that SPs are the cause of all illness, accidents and bad conditions and should be given no civil rights. Hubbard and Scientology impute to SPs the characteristics given in psychiatric texts for "antisocial personality
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disorder" or "sociopathy," and in fact Scientology "scripture" also refers to SPs as "Antisocial Personalities."
8. Hubbard and Scientology teach that Scientologists will lose all their "gains;" which are the "wins," abilities or awarenesses the Scientologists had "gained" by doing Scientology; just by being connected to a Suppressive Person. Hubbard and Scientology also teach that SPs are unsalvageable, cannot be reasoned with, and may not be listened to. These teachings justify an organization-wide practice called "Disconnection" that prohibits Scientologists from communicating with or even "granting credence" to SPs, on penalty of the Scientologists themselves being declared SPs. The only Scientologists or organization agents that the leaders permit to have any contact with SPs are those persons whose specific duties are to Fair Game the SPs. Disconnection justifies and mandates even the breaking up of families if Scientology's leaders declare a family member an SP.
9. In truth, what makes an individual an SP and Fair Game is standing up to Scientology by communicating about its evil, dangerous and "religious" doctrines, policies and practices, such as Suppressive Person, Fair Game, Black PR and Disconnection, and its organized deprivation of property and rights, lies, trickery, barratry, injury and destruction. In 2001, when Caroline communicated some of her criticisms of certain Scientology doctrines, policies and practices, organization leaders made her daughter Ann Disconnect from her, and Caroline has not heard from Ann since. To be an SP and Fair Game, a person must have knowledge of Scientology's
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doctrines, policies and practices, must have the calling, ability, courage or other qualities necessary to communicate these things, and must stand up and communicate. The only response that Scientology "scripture"s permit, and what has been Scientology's practice throughout its history, when confronted with criticism of its doctrines, policies and practices, is to attack the SPs communicating. Many people with the requisite knowledge are afraid to stand up to Scientology and Fair Game, and some people who are perhaps not afraid have little knowledge and no desire or calling to acquire more knowledge to communicate. Mr. Henson has stood up to Scientology and communicated his criticism of its doctrines, policies and practices for many years, and he has continued to acquire more knowledge of these things. Scientology has forced the SPs, such as Caroline, Mr. Henson and me, to find out ever more about this "religion" and to communicate that knowledge ever more widely and effectively to everyone reachable and teachable with it. The only safe place to head for is everyone understanding and communicating freely about Scientology's antisocial doctrines, policies and practices so that there will be too many SPs for Scientology to ever Fair Game or destroy us all.
10. Following Scientology founder Hubbard's death in 1986, enforcement of the SP doctrine, the identification of SPs to target, and Fair Game activities against SPs, have been directed by David Miscavige. Mr. Miscavige exercises control over the whole Scientology enterprise as head or "Captain" of the Sea Organization, or "SO," Scientology's pseudo-military core "elite;" and as head or "Chairman of the
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Board" of the corporation "Religious" Technology Center ("RTC"), which claims to own the Scientology trademarks and service marks and to control Hubbard and Scientology copyrights. RTC operates as Scientology's "religious" police, and Mr. Miscavige is its "ecclesiastical head," enforcing the orthodoxy and exact application of Scientology "scripture"s such as the Suppressive Person doctrine, Fair Game, Black PR and Disconnection.
11. The Black PR on me in Scientology's submission to the IRS that, as mentioned above, I discovered in January 1997, was particularly alarming because, even by Scientology's admission, there was a billion dollar tax liability or windfall involved; because the organization had withheld this material from me in the cases it was then prosecuting against me in Marin County Superior Court; because I had already been Fair Game for fifteen years, including being physically assaulted and threatened with assassination; and because the IRS had accepted this Black PR and granted the global Scientology enterprise tax exemption. I almost immediately decided to leave California and to move to Canada, where I had grown up, where I am a citizen, and where I believed I would be able to speak out to correct Scientology's Black PR on me and to defend against Fair Game's other forms.
12. Fair Game channels, in addition to Black PR, that Scientology standardly uses against SPs include intelligence or espionage, legal and finance. The organization is extremely wealthy and spends immense sums and pays huge fees to lawyers and private investigators to destroy SPs. Scientology's central litigation philosophy and
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practice, which is also part of its "religious" "scripture", is to use the law to harass its opponents, or competitors, and ruin them utterly. It is clear that Scientology is able to more easily use the U.S. and California justice systems for this purpose than the organization is able to use the justice systems for this purpose in a number of countries, including Canada where I live, and Germany where I have also lived for some time in recent years. In California and elsewhere in the U.S., Scientology has been able to use the justice system to deprive me of my basic human rights, including the right to discuss my "religious" experiences, knowledge or beliefs in relation to the Scientology "religion", the right to defend myself from Scientology's Fair Game attacks, and the right to defend members of my own Suppressive Person class from Fair Game persecution. In Canada, the law does not so readily permit Scientology to use the justice system to destroy the human rights of the organization's SP victims, but specifically protects SPs' human rights with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Indeed, in Canada, Scientology is well known as a criminal enterprise, having been convicted as an organization for infiltrating or burglarizing several federal and provincial agencies including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In Germany, the government views Scientology as a commercial enterprise with anti-democratic totalitarian goals and the Federal and State intelligence services charged with protecting the German Constitution keep the organization under official observation.
13. In 1986, through threat, deceit and the Fair Gaming of my attorney at the time Michael J. Flynn of Boston, Massachusetts, Scientology got me to sign an
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unconscionable "contract" to "settle" my lawsuit, in which I was seeking redress for years of fraud, lies and abuse inside the organization and for more years of Fair Game after I left. I was one of some twenty victims of Scientology with claims against the organization, all of whom Mr. Flynn represented and who participated in this "global settlement" that he set up with Scientology at that time. Scientology's contract with me contains a fifty thousand dollars per utterance liquidated damages penalty if I utter anything about my experiences or knowledge of any kind in relation to the Scientology "religion", or if I utter anything about thousands or millions of the contract's "beneficiaries." These beneficiaries include every Scientology corporation, organization or affiliated entity and all of their directors, officers, employees, volunteers, agents, assigns and attorneys. There was no negotiation whatsoever as to the reasonableness of this fifty thousand dollars per utterance penalty, and in fact Mr. Flynn stated emphatically that the liquidated damages provision was judicially unenforceable. The contract also prohibits me from "assist[ing] or cooperat[ing] with any person adverse to Scientology," a condition that Mr. Flynn also said was judicially unenforceable. People adverse to Scientology are all members of my own class of Suppressive Persons. I had no choice, however, but to sign Scientology's contract to get the organization to stop Fair Gaming Mr. Flynn, his family, other clients and myself. Scientology had for years considered Mr. Flynn an SP, and had Fair Gamed him and terrorized his family, including by framing him with, and trying to have him prosecuted for the attempted theft of two million dollars from the Bank of New
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England, and, according to Mr. Flynn, attempting to murder him by sabotaging his private plane. Scientology paid a corrupt Los Angeles Police Department officer at least ten thousand dollars for a series of phony "authorizations" for Scientology private investigators to wiretap and eavesdrop on Mr. Flynn and me. Organization agents infiltrated Mr. Flynn's office, stole records and carried out an international Black PR campaign to destroy his practice and life. Scientology promised through Mr. Flynn that with my signing of its contract in the "global settlement" the organization would stop Fair Gaming everyone and forsake the Fair Game policy completely and forever. Mr. Flynn promised that if Scientology ever attacked me after the settlement he would be there for me to defend me. When, however, after Scientology did attack me, I did request a declaration from him as to the circumstances at the time of the settlement, he told me that he had been forced to sign a contract himself with Scientology that prevented him from assisting me in any way, and that he was afraid of being Fair Gamed even more if he helped me.
14. Scientology and all the beneficiaries claim that their contract with me is one-sided, and does not require them to be silent about me, to stop Fair Gaming me, or to not assist or cooperate with anyone adverse to me. Indeed, after getting me to sign the contract, the beneficiaries have continued to Black PR, Fair Game, and threaten me to this day. Scientology willfully reneged on its promise to end Fair Game, and its policy and practice for the treatment and handling of SPs remain Fair Game to this day. Since what Scientology sought by its contract to silence me about were virtually
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all my experiences, knowledge and beliefs then over seventeen years; since these were my "religious" experiences, knowledge and beliefs about a "religion"; and since my own mental health and safety depended on my being able to communicate about Scientology related matters, it was always, even the day of signing the contract in 1986, been virtually impossible for me to be silent about my experiences, knowledge and beliefs. Since I now have over thirty-seven years of intense "religious" experiences, knowledge and beliefs in relation to the Scientology "religion"; since Scientology leaders have continued to have me declared an SP and have continued to conspire to have me Fair Gamed; since the Scientology beneficiaries have continued to carry out their leaders' conspiracies and orders for my Fair Gaming; and since the Suppressive Person doctrine continues in force in Scientology and my "religious" class of SPs continues to be threatened, it is totally and demonstrably impossible for me to be silent about my Scientology related experiences, knowledge and beliefs. I have a condition known as Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or Complex PTSD, which is not a mental illness but psychological injury resulting from prolonged attacks, threat, bullying, cruelty or abuse, which is exactly what Scientology's Fair Game campaigns against SPs are and are intended to be. Hubbard and Scientology teach that Scientologists are to wage a "war of attrition" on SPs and are to "go all the way in and obliterate" them. Enduring and dealing with Complex PTSD is not possible without communicating about the injury and its cause, in my case the lies, fraud and abuse inside Scientology and the now twenty-four years of being an SP and the target of Fair
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Game attacks since leaving. Scientology's efforts to compel me by its unconscionable contract and court orders to not communicate about these things, and to get courts to punish me if I do communicate about my injury and its cause, while Scientology and the beneficiaries continue to Black PR, threaten and Fair Game me, simply and cruelly adds to the injury this organization and its personnel have already inflicted.
15. In 1991, Scientology first attempted to get the Los Angeles Superior Court to enforce its contract against me, since the contract specified that the LA Court retained jurisdiction to enforce. LA Judge Bruce R. Geernaert refused to enforce the contract, however, and stated:
that is [...] one of the most ambiguous, one-sided agreements I have ever read. And I would not have ordered the enforcement of hardly any of the terms if I had been asked to, even on the threat that, okay the case is not settled. I know we like to settle cases. But we don't like to settle cases and, in effect, prostrate the court system into making an order which is not fair or in the public interest.
16. Scientology then took its effort to enforce to Marin Superior Court where the organization found Judge Gary W. Thomas willing to issue the orders it wanted that were not fair and not in the public interest. In 1995, Judge Thomas mendaciously and unfairly eliminated all my legitimate defenses on summary judgment and unfairly deprived me of the trial this case unquestionably deserved. I believe that Keith Henson has similarly been wrongly denied fair trials by judges doing Scientology's pre-trial bidding in cases that unquestionably deserved fair trials. Judge Thomas ruled that Scientology's fifty thousand dollars per utterance liquidated damages penalty was reasonable; in fact, he ruled that the penalty is actually fifty thousand dollars per
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utterance per recipient. Thus, according to Judge Thomas, for this declaration that I will send to the Court and copy to Mr. Henson, Scientology's attorney and sixteen other people, I must pay Scientology the reasonable sum of nine hundred fifty thousand dollars. If I web this declaration on my site, which I will, and if a million visitors look at it, which I trust they will, Scientology will say its reasonable value is fifty billion dollars. Judge Thomas ruled that Scientology and all the beneficiaries could say whatever they wanted about me, no matter how untrue, defamatory or perverse, and I could not say one word in response to defend myself, my reputation or my SP class. If I said even one word to defend myself against Scientology's lies and attacks, according to Judge Thomas, I had to pay Scientology fifty thousand dollars per utterance per recipient. Judge Thomas completely ignored my profound "religious" liberty defense, which was properly pled and properly before him in the summary judgment oppositions. I am even more convinced today that it is just as impossible, unlawful, un-American and diabolical to silence someone about the Scientology "religion" and the person's Scientology related experiences, knowledge and beliefs, since Scientology insists that it is a "religion", as it is to silence people about Christianity, Judaism or Islam and their experiences, knowledge and beliefs in relation to those "religion"s, by contract, by court, by coercion or by any other device. Judge Thomas awarded Scientology a judgment against me for three hundred thousand dollars in liquidated damages for six "breaches" of its contract, and over three hundred thirty thousand dollars in attorney fees, which forced me into bankruptcy. Scientology
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filed an adversary proceeding in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Rosa to prevent me from discharging this "debt," but, after a trial in 1996, Bankruptcy Judge Alan Jaraslovsky ruled against Scientology and granted the discharge. Judge Thomas also signed an injunction against me for Scientology in 1995 enjoining me from discussing Scientology or any of the beneficiaries with anyone, and enjoining me from voluntarily assisting any organization targets or victims in any legal proceedings. I timely filed an appeal from Judge Thomas' judgment and injunction in 1996.
17. I have no doubt today that Scientology's injunction is unlawful, even by U.S. and California law, and was obtained by unlawful means. I believe that Judge Thomas dealt with my case, the facts and me dishonestly and deliberately cruelly, for reasons of Scientology's manufacture, and served neither law nor justice, reason, or any higher purpose. Judge Thomas' judgment and injunction against me, his actions enforcing his injunction, the enforcement actions of the judges who succeeded him after he retired, and the actions of the California Court of Appeal regarding his judgment and injunction, form an astonishing, clear and ongoing example of Scientology's scriptural practice of prostrating the court system. This case also is a clear demonstration the world sees of the willingness of American judges to allow Scientology to prostrate their court system, and that what Scientology wants to use the prostrated courts for is to persecute and crush its "religious" enemies, the Suppressive Persons, pursuant to its "religious" "scripture", the Suppressive Person doctrine. It is detestable that courts abet Scientology's "religious" persecution of a class of citizens, but
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that abetment is understandable because the organization also executes covert and overt Fair Game campaigns against judges, lawyers and other court personnel who might stand up to Scientology and criticize its doctrines, policies and practices. Many judges, of course, don't know or learn about these things, but there is no doubt that some judges have abetted Scientology's persecution of me, and have abetted its persecution of Keith Henson, in violation of U.S. laws and justice.
18. On January 23, 1997, while I was getting ready to leave California because of the Black PR on me I discovered in Scientology's IRS filing, Grady Ward, defendant in the case of RTC v. Ward, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Case No. C-96-20207 RMW, served me with a subpoena for production of documents, including specifically declarations authored by myself documenting fraud, abuse and unlawful acts by Scientology. On January 24, 1997, I received a fax letter from Scientology attorney Andrew H. Wilson threatening me if I produced the documents Mr. Ward had subpoenaed. Mr. Wilson's letter was frightening, and, I believed, the threat was unlawful, and I immediately wrote a declaration about the threat and in general terms what my knowledge, expertise and testimony were in order to explain why they were relevant and why Scientology would threaten me to prevent me from testifying. On January 26, 1997, I executed the declaration and sent it to the Judge presiding in the Ward case, the Honorable Ronald M. Whyte. I knew at that time that the Ward case was closely related to two other cases then before Judge Whyte, RTC v. Dennis Erlich, No. C-95-20091 RMW, and RTC v. Keith Henson, No.
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C-96-20271 RMW. Mr. Ward, Mr. Erlich and Mr. Henson were all Suppressive Persons and targets of Scientology litigation Fair Game. I therefore sent a copy of my declaration to each of these defendants or their lawyer to advise them as well of what I was sending to Judge Whyte. I believed that these related parties all had a right to know that Scientology was threatening a relevant, knowledgeable and subpoenaed witness in one of their cases, and potentially a witness in all these cases. I also sent a copy of the declaration to RTC's attorney in the three cases. A true and correct copy of the declaration is appended hereto as Exhibit A, and I hereby reaffirm its contents, and incorporate it herein in its entirety.
19. As I was leaving California, I visited Mr. Henson in Palo Alto where he then lived to let him know about the threats to me, and my plan to go to Canada. He gave me a check to retain me as a witness in his defense, which I thought was a prudent thing for him to do, and which I would have done if I was in his position. Mr. Henson's giving me the retainer, which I believe was one hundred fifty dollars, at that time was also assisting me to get safely to Canada and get back for his trial when I would be needed to testify.
20. On February 19, 1997, after I was in Canada and without service on me or notice to me, Scientology obtained an order to show cause re contempt against me from Judge Thomas in the case of Scientology v. Armstrong, Marin County Superior Court Case No. 157680, for my sending my declaration to U.S. District Court Judge Whyte. I have recently obtained a copy of the declaration of Scientology attorney
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Andrew Wilson on which the application for the OSC re contempt is based. I have not been able to obtain a copy of Scientology's application. Nowhere in his declaration does Mr. Wilson mention that I was subpoenaed by defendant Ward to produce the declaration I produced in the Ward case, that I was subpoenaed by Mr. Ward at all, that Mr. Wilson had threatened me with prosecution if I produced the documents I was subpoenaed to produce, or that the whole reason for my sending the declaration to Judge Whyte was to report the threat in the case in which I was a subpoenaed witness.
21. On June 5, 1997 Marin Superior Court Judge Gary W. Thomas signed an order, a true and correct copy of which is appended hereto as Exhibit B, finding me in contempt for sending my January 26, 1997 declaration to U.S. District Court Judge Whyte. Nowhere in the contempt order is there any mention that I was subpoenaed by Mr. Ward to produce the very type of declaration I produced, or that I was subpoenaed by Mr. Ward at all, or that Mr. Wilson had threatened me with prosecution if I produced the documents I was subpoenaed to produce, or that the whole reason for my sending the declaration to Judge Whyte was to report the threat since I was a subpoenaed witness. Judge Thomas ordered me punished for sending the declaration to Judge Whyte by a fine of one thousand dollars and two days in jail, and Judge Thomas signed a warrant for my arrest. I believe that what Scientology did in threatening me after I was subpoenaed in the Ward case was a violation of 18 U.S.C. §1512, "Tampering with a Witness, Victim, or an Informant." I believe that I had a duty to report the tampering to Judge Whyte as I did pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 4,
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"Misprision of Felony." I believe that Judge Thomas was derelict in his duty by punishing me for properly reporting the threat to me as a subpoenaed witness, and by omitting the essential facts from his order that I had been subpoenaed, that Scientology had threatened me, and that my declaration properly reported these facts. I believe that Judge Thomas was knowingly in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242, "Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law." I believe that what Scientology has done to me getting me to sign its contract and its years of threats and efforts to enforce it is a monstrous violation of 18 U.S.C. § 241, "Conspiracy Against Rights." I believe that what Scientology has done to Keith Henson using the law to Fair Game him, and which certain courts in the U.S. have abetted, also constitutes violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 241 and 242.
22. In August 1997, while living in Canada, I timely filed my opening brief in the appeal I had taken from the Judge Thomas' judgment and injunction. Scientology filed a motion to dismiss my appeal, claiming that, by Judge Thomas' contempt order jailing me for reporting the threat by declaration to Judge Whyte, I was a fugitive from justice and therefore should be denied any aid from the Court of Appeal. The motion and supporting declaration to dismiss the appeal were signed by the same Scientology attorney Wilson who had threatened me in the Ward case. Nowhere in the motion, memorandum of points and authorities or the declaration is there any mention of Mr. Ward's subpoenaing me, Mr. Wilson's threat letter, or the real and legitimate reason I had sent my declaration to U.S. District Court Judge Whyte. In December 1997, the
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California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District Division Four granted Scientology's motion and dismissed my appeal, I believe very wrongly and unjustly. 23. Also in December 1997, Scientology filed another application for an OSC re contempt, which Judge Thomas granted, seeking to have me held in contempt of court for thirteen more "violations" of his injunction. These consisted of thirteen times I discussed my Scientology beliefs, experience or knowledge while in Canada or Germany. In February 1998, Judge Thomas signed a contempt order against me, punishing me with a fine of two thousand six hundred dollars and twenty-six days in jail. I am even more convinced today that it is unlawful and execrable even in the U.S. to jail and fine someone for discussing with anyone his Scientological beliefs, experiences or knowledge, just as it would be unlawful and execrable to jail and fine someone for discussing his Christian, Judaic, Islamic, Buddhist, or Atheist beliefs, experiences or knowledge. I believe that such a concept has never been lawfully permissible on U.S. soil since the Constitution was first amended. The concept, however, of a California Judge ordering a Canadian citizen living in Canada fined and jailed in California for discussing in Canada and Germany his "religious" beliefs, experiences or knowledge in relation to a "religion" that actively sought his obliteration, I believe, is deranged. Yet this must be the clear function and purpose of the injunction Judge Thomas gave Scientology on summary judgment, since he was the person signing the contempt order. Although Scientology applied to Judge Thomas to punish me for thirteen violations of his injunction up to the date of the application, I
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had actually publicly discussed my beliefs, experiences and knowledge in relation to the Scientology "religion" hundreds or thousands of times in Canada or Germany with hundreds or thousands people during that period. I believe that Scientology limited the claimed violations to thirteen, when it was known the violations were hundreds of times that number, because somebody might do the math and see that, just for discussing my "religious" beliefs, experiences and knowledge in Canada and Europe during less than a year, I would be jailed for life.
24. Mr. Henson's trial occurred in U.S. District Court in San Jose in May 1998. I was warned not to go, and certainly Scientology would have acted to have me arrested if I had attended the trial and attempted to testify. I would have been facing a lengthy jail sentence if I returned to California, and be at the mercy of Judge Thomas, whom I was convinced was either corrupted or coerced into doing the evil Scientology wanted. I believe that the jail sentences and fines against me were unlawful and unlawfully obtained. The threat of execution of these unlawful orders prevented me from freely testifying at Mr. Henson's trial. I believe that if Scientology had not obtained these unlawful orders and not threatened me with endless jail time if had attended the trial, if I, the witness he had retained, had testified, and if a fair jury heard the evidence, the verdict would almost certainly have been in Mr. Henson's favor. Because he was prevented from presenting evidence as to the doctrines, policies and practices of the entity suing him, to show that what he was accused of doing was
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legally justified or privileged, and to explain why in truth that entity was suing and attacking him, he was denied a fair trial.
25. In July 2000, Scientology pressed criminal terrorism-related charges against Mr. Henson in Riverside County for his picketing of the Scientology base at Gilman Hotsprings. The main person used by Scientology to get the Riverside Sheriff's Department and the Riverside District Attorney to charge and prosecute Mr. Henson was Ken Hoden, then claiming to be the manager at the Gilman base. Mr. Henson was arraigned in September 2000.
26. In November 2000, Scientology filed another application in Marin Superior Court for an OSC re contempt against me for one hundred thirty-three "violations" of Judge Thomas' injunction. Each "violation" was an expression of my "religious" beliefs, experiences or knowledge concerning the Scientology "religion", expressed in Canada, except for two such expressions expressed during a trip to Florida. Judge Vernon Smith, who had inherited my case when Judge Thomas retired, granted the OSC, and I timely filed an opposition. Judge Smith granted Scientology's application but would not impose a specific punishment until I had been apprehended. The contempt order, the OSC application, a declaration of Mr. Wilson in support, and the contempt order all cite to Judge Thomas' contempt order against me for sending my declaration to U.S. District Court Judge Whyte, but none of these documents mention that I had been subpoenaed to produce the documents I produced, that Mr. Wilson had threatened me for Scientology, or that my declaration reported that threat. The
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contempt order that Judge Smith signed acknowledged that I "file[d] a lengthy opposition and a sworn declaration, but said nothing about the content of the opposition and declaration. I believe that by any reasonable standard I showed that Judge Thomas' injunction was unlawful, that he had unlawfully stripped me of my basic rights that may not lawfully be stripped from anyone, especially the "religious" liberty right he ignored, that the earlier contempt orders and punishments were unlawful, that the contractual conditions that gave rise to the injunction and the contempts were unconscionable, and that what I deserved from the Court was not financial ruin and imprisonment but a fair trial in which I got to defend myself. The number one hundred thirty-three "religious" expressions as violations is again ludicrously low, since in its own papers Scientology admits that I violated the injunction "tens of thousands of times." Certainly up to the date of Scientology's application, I had made sufficient public expressions or utterances, almost all of them right to the Scientologists themselves that at the rate of two days in jail for each utterance I was facing multiple life sentences. It is frankly terrifying to contemplate being jailed in California, even without being put there as Scientology's SP victim. Any SP victim like Mr. Henson or me who are ordered incarcerated should be very concerned because Scientology has a history of using incarcerated criminals against major SPs, and has an international recruiting program in prisons called Criminon which includes indoctrination in the Suppressive Person doctrine. Scientology is able to recruit in prisons because it is a "religion", equal in the eyes of the law with
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Christianity, etc. For a number of reasons, including what Scientology has risked and paid to get its unlawful orders against me and to get me fined and jailed, I believe I am at real risk of assassination, and that the opportunities for harm while being incarcerated as a criminal are frightful. Scientology agents have physically assaulted me on six occasions, run into me bodily with a car, and terrorized me on highways in California in 1982 and Germany in 2002. I believe that Keith Henson is similarly at real risk of serious harm or assassination, and the reasons include what Scientology has risked and paid to get its unlawful orders against him and to get him jailed.
27. The trial against Mr. Henson in Riverside County occurred in April 2001. The key witness against him was Ken Hoden. I was prevented from attending and testifying at Mr. Henson's trial by the threat of wrongful and long imprisonment I was facing in California orchestrated by Scientology. I am convinced that if I had not been prevented, by Scientology's efforts within Mr. Henson's case and against me personally in the Marin Court and the Court of Appeal, from testifying concerning my knowledge of Scientology, its doctrines, policies and practices, a halfway fair jury would never have convicted him on the charge it did convict him on, California Penal Code 422.6, "Interfering with a "religion"." Scientology's actions denied Mr. Henson a very knowledgeable witness, he was not able to present evidence that was crucial to his defense, and he was denied a fair trial. 28. Scientology leaders had used the same Ken Hoden in a similar attempt in 1985 and 1986 to have me prosecuted by the Los Angeles District Attorney on charges
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that the organization itself manufactured. Scientology ran a covert operation on me from 1982 through 1984 involving a writer Dan Sherman whom organization leaders operated to befriend me, get close to me, and set me up in a series of secretly recorded and videotaped meetings with other covert agents. Mr. Sherman and the other agents claimed that there were people inside the organization who wanted to reform it and stop Fair Game, but they were afraid for their lives and so sought out my help. The other agents David Kluge and Michael Rinder, pretending to be reformers, attempted to entrap me into the commission of crimes, without success. The recordings were made without my permission or knowledge and were illegal, and were in no way evidence of what Scientology claimed they were. Nevertheless, Scientology edited the recordings and used Mr. Hoden and others to try to get the LA DA to prosecute me, as well as my attorney Michael Flynn. Appended hereto as Exhibit C is a true and correct copy of the letter dated April 25, 1986 from LA DA to Mr. Hoden, et al. fortunately refusing prosecution or further investigation of Scientology's claims. Scientology claimed that its covert videotaping operation was legal because it was authorized by the LA PD. As mentioned above, a Scientology agent had paid an LA PD officer at least ten thousand dollars for a series of phony "authorizations" to wiretap and eavesdrop on Mr. Flynn and me. Appended hereto as Exhibit D is a true and correct copy of a public announcement of April 23, 1985 from the LA Chief of Police denouncing the "authorizations" as not from the LAPD. Despite the scathing denouncement from the Chief of Police, and the corrupt officer being suspended from
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the LA PD, Scientology has continued to this day to justify its unlawful entrapment operation and the false charges it sought with the lie that the videotaping was approved by the LA PD.
29. At the time he attempted to have me prosecuted on Scientology's trumped up charges, Mr. Hoden was part of the organization authorized and directed to handle or treat or Fair Game SPs. Scientologists in such positions are expected to lie, including under oath, to obstruct justice, and do what is necessary and can be gotten away with to harm the people organization leaders want harmed, like Mr. Henson and me. I believe that Mr. Hoden was used specifically in the efforts to have us prosecuted because he has been willing to lie, testify falsely or otherwise Fair Game us, whereas other Scientologists might not be so willing. I believe that my knowledge of Scientologists lying and testifying falsely as a practice, and specifically Ken Hoden lying, to have the organization's SP victims prosecuted and jailed or otherwise harmed, was very relevant in Mr. Henson's terrorism case, and if the jury had heard that testimony he would have been found not guilty on all counts.
30. The scriptural principle given by founder Hubbard that Scientology is following in its actions in the legal arena against people like Mr. Henson and me states:
The DEFENSE of anything is UNTENABLE. The only way to defend anything is to ATTACK, and if you ever forget that, then you will lose every battle you are ever engaged in, whether it is in terms of personal conversation, public debate, or a court of law. NEVER BE INTERESTED IN CHARGES. DO, yourself, much MORE CHARGING, and you will WIN. And the public, seeing that you won, will then have a communication line to the effect that Scientologists WIN. Don't ever let them have any other thought than that Scientology takes all of its objectives.
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The charges that the Scientologists and their agents who execute the Suppressive Person doctrine bring against their SP victims are often false charges. Scientology sought to have me falsely charged by the LA PD in 1982 for theft. In 1985 and 1986, as shown above, Scientology tried to have me prosecuted by the LA DA. In 1985 and 1986 Scientology tried to have me prosecuted by the FBI in Boston on a charge Scientology manufactured that I had impersonated an FBI officer. In 1992 through 1994, Scientology sought to have me punished for contempt of court on false charges. In 1997, Scientology was successful, as shown above, in having me punished with a fine and jail for reporting the organization's threat to me after I was subpoenaed. In 1998, Scientology was successful in having me fined and ordered to jail for twenty-six days for expressions expressed in Canada and Germany. In 2001, Scientology was again successful in having me found in contempt of court for more "religious" expressions in Canada. In 2001, Scientology also sought to get me in trouble with the FSB, the Russian intelligence service that succeeded the KGB, and tried to have me picked up by U.S. agents in Moscow. In 2002, Scientology sought to have me charged by the Ekaterinburg, Russia prosecutor on the basis of false statements by Scientologists that I had trespassed in their office in that city. In 2004 and 2005 a Scientology agent leased an office across the street from my apartment in Chilliwack, B.C. Canada, spied on my wife throughout that period, and tried to trick us into making a video recording to later be used against us.
31. I am convinced that Ken Hoden and any Scientologists who testified that they were frightened by Keith Henson possibly bombing them or hurting them in any way are lying as part of a conspiracy run by Scientology's leaders to deprive him of his rights in violation 18 U.S.C. § 241, and in violation of other state and federal criminal statutes. What Scientology is trying to do in silencing me judicially and
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extra-judicially demonstrates the same, and the list of beneficiaries of Scientology's efforts to deprive me of my civil rights shows that the conspiracy is organization-wide. Since Scientology is demonstrably inter alia a criminal conspiracy against rights, Mr. Henson has every justification in the world to interfere with the conspiracy, even if the conspirators call their conspiracy "religion".
32. In 2002, Scientology sued me again in Marin Superior Court seeking over ten million dollars in liquidated damages for two hundred utterances I had made in Canada and Europe. I felt that I had a chance of getting a fair hearing from the judge presiding in the case Honorable Lynn M. Duryee, so I traveled to California when she set a trial in April 2004. She ruled after trial that ninety-five percent of what Scientology sought was unconscionable, and she discharged or remitted all the fine and jail punishments that Judge Thomas had inflicted on me. Amazingly, Scientology filed a writ in the Court of Appeal to direct the Marin Court to reinstate the discharged punishments. More amazingly, the same First Appellate District Division Four Court that improperly dismissed my appeal in 1997, in October 2005 granted Scientology's petition and reinstated the punishments, including even the fine and jail sentence for reporting Scientology's threat to me after I was subpoenaed in the Ward case.
33. My documentation of the facts stated in this declaration is far too voluminous to append hereto as exhibits, but I will provide such documentation should the Court request it, or if there is future evidentiary hearing set in this matter. The lies Scientology's personnel and lawyers have told to have prosecuted or punished in various courts and to prevent me from testifying for Mr. Henson, are also too voluminous for this declaration. Nevertheless I believe that I have shown that Mr. Henson was by Scientology's actions denied the witness he needed and the testimony
and evidence he needed to prove his defenses and denied the fair trials every citizen deserve.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of California, the United States and Canada that the foregoing is true and correct.
Executed this 7th day of March 2006 in Chilliwack, B.C., Canada.
______________________________________ Gerry Armstrong
PROOF OF SERVICE
I am employed in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. I am over the age of eighteen years and am not a party to the above-entitled action. My business address is #1-45950 Alexander Avenue, Chilliwack, B.C. V2P 1L5.
On March 8, 2006 I served the following documents: DECLARATION OF GERRY ARMSTRONG IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANT KEITH HENSON on the following persons on the date set forth below, by placing true copies thereof enclosed in sealed envelopes addressed as stated on the service list, as follows:
XX BY OVERNIGHT COURIER
Roger White Deputy In Charge U.S. Bankruptcy Court Room 3035 280 South First Street San Jose, CA 95113
XX BY E-MAIL:
David J. Cook, Esq. Cook, Perkiss & Lew 333 Pine Street, Suite 300 San Francisco, California 94104 CookDavidJ@aol.com
Elaine M. Seid, Esq. McPharlin, Sprinkles & Thomas LLP Ten Almaden Blvd., Suite 1460 San Jose, CA 95113 emseid@mstpartners.com
Keith Henson hkhenson@rogers.com
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of Canada, the United States, and the State of California that the above is true and correct.
Executed on March 8, 2006 at Chilliwack, B.C., Canada
_______________________________________ Caroline Letkeman
© Gerry Armstrong http://www.gerryarmstrong.org