From: dennis.l.erlich@support.com
Subject: Statement to court
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 95 20:33:53 -0800
* Faithful Reader * +---------------------------------+ I presented this to Judge Whyte. He's looking out for our rights.

More later.

Dennis +--------------------------------+ February 21, 1995, 10AM
The Honorable Ronald M. Whyte
U. S. District Court
Northern District of California
San Jose Re. Case Number: C 95 20091 RMW Dear Judge Whyte:

Please excuse the lack of proper form in my reply to you regarding this matter. I have not had time to find adequate representation for my appearance in court today.

For this reason I would beg the court's protection regarding my rights, unknown to me at this time, in this court. Please endeavor to advise me regarding such rights as we proceed. I know virtually nothing of the law, but, with all due respect, I feel my civil rights have been flagrantly violated in this suit thus far. For this reason, I am willing to waive none of my rights, even though I don't fully know what they are.

I will be requesting that a jury decide both this suit and the counter- suit I will be filing against the plaintiff.

I also feel that this case has been misplaced in your court. Please examine this matter in light of my belief and consider changing the venue to somewhere more convenient to the main participant:

namely me. As to the specific court I would request, with all due respect, might I suggest that the Court of the Hon. Manual Real, Southern District of California, would be more appropriate.

Background:

On June 22, 1984, The Honorable Paul G. Breckenridge, Jr. wrote in his decision of Church of Scientology, et al v. Gerald Armstrong: "In addition to violating its own members' civil rights, the organization ...

has harassed and abused those persons not within the Church whom it perceives as enemies ... (it) clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid ..." (Nos. BO2590 and BO38975, Super Ct No C420153) As a writer and former minister of scientology (1970-1982), I have worked tirelessly, though somewhat futilely, for the past thirteen years, to reform scientology and to expose the crimes I saw committed during a 15 year career as a minister which took me into the inner circle (the Sea Organization) of the "church" of scientology.

To these ends I began posting my experiences and views to an Internet newsgroup, alt.religion.scientology, devoted to the cult, in August of 1994.

At 7:30, on the morning of February 13, 1995, I was called on a cellular phone by an off-duty police officer from Inglewood, California (Sgt. Ed Eccles), who, at that moment, was at my front door, repeatedly ringing the doorbell. He shouted that he had a warrant to enter my house and a writ of seizure signed by a federal judge and that I better let him in. I immediately called the Glendale Police on 911. I was told by the 911 operator to let the group of people into my house, that they had a warrant.

Escorted by the Glendale Police Officer Steve Eggett (badge# 12126), six unidentified individuals entered my home and told me that I would have to cooperate with a search and seizure directed by your honor. They presented me with a stack of legal documents about six inches thick to prove their right to do so. I protested the legality of the raid, and was told in no uncertain terms, that if I resist, force would be used against me. I was not permitted to have an attorney present before they proceeded. At least two of the individuals, beside the Glendale officer were armed. After about an hour, officer Eccles left my house without saying goodbye to me or making his absence known.

None of the remaining people would show me identification, despite my asking repeatedly.

I was left for the rest of the six hour search and seizure, with an in- house attorney for the scientology cult (Small), a private investigator working for the cult (Robert Shovlin), 2 armed, off duty-officers working for the scientology lawyer (Off. Mark Fronterotta and Sgt.

Ed Eccles) and another dozen or so scientologists ransacking my property, including the plaintiff, Warren McShane. The scientologists went through my computer, all my papers, every closet, every drawer. They busted open a door to my garage and, I assume, searched my car. They also photographed every nook and cranny of my house.

I believe that they deliberately mislead you in obtaining the writ.

They then misused your authority by executing it in such a way as to invade every bit of my privacy they had not previously stolen from me.

During the search, the files on my hard drive were deleted and the entirety of the data on my disk was copied onto two 250 mb Colorado back-up tapes the scientologists brought with them into my house. Also, after their raid, I was missing a key to my house, my current bank statement and a tape with several of my copyrighted songs recorded on it. God only knows what else. I haven't had time to search.

After several hours the press arrived and began recording the scene.

At first the scientology agents said that the press was not allowed in. I invited them in anyway and the scientologists fell back and seemed to try to finish up and get out of my house more quickly.

When they were ready to depart, neither they (the scientologists), nor the other Glendale Policeman, Sgt. MiKillop, whom I had summoned at the end of the raid to protect my rights, would permit me to inventory or even look at the hundreds of disks and files they had copied and were removing from my possession. I begged the officer not to allow the material and files to be taken without my examining the poorly inventoried items.

After they had departed, two of my computers would no longer boot properly. They had left me with no current back-up of the material they illegally deleted. I no longer have the material to use in my own defense, or to restore my disk to full operation.

In the course of carrying out your Writ of Seizure, the plaintiff and their paid agents deleted and copied from my computers the evidence I need to adequately defend myself against the barratrous assault on my freedom of speech and religion which they themselves have launched.

I am somehow sure that this is not what you had intended.

Regarding Exhibit A:

To the best of my recollection, I quoted only a few sentences from each of those policies. I believe that fair use and my status as a minister trained on these materials while within my ministry in scientology, allows me to quote small segments to make a point, for public service, or for use in my religious sermons on the Internet.

Those policies consist of small quotes (several paragraphs) from scientology's (12 volume, 400+ page each) green policy and red technical volumes. Those volumes are available in many used bookstores in California.

Regarding Exhibit B:

Those documents were posted anonymously to Internet by another.

When I made comments about them, I sometimes used portions of the original message and sometimes included the entire message. I do not know who originally put these messages on the Internet. I studied similar documents when I was a minister in Scientology.

During my career as a scientology minister, materials were often taken home by individuals for use in private.

As a minister, trained on these "scriptures", I am quite certain that I have not violated any law by using them as I see fit in my current ministry on the Internet.

In the course of my futile attempt to resolve this problem by letter with the plaintiff, I even offered to delete any material I had posted and apologize publicly, if they would provide me with their copyrighted text for comparison. They ignored my sincere request for clarification. And instead, about a month later, sent, without first calling, two suited thugs to intimidate me at 10:30 as I walked a young lady to her car on my darkened street.

Further, you honor, these materials were introduced in a case in Los Angeles, Church of Scientology v Steven Fishman and Uwe Geertz No. CV 91-6426. Currently, the question of whether these documents are in the public domain is before, I believe, the Ninth Circuit Court in California. The copyright status of these materials is also in dispute in a court case which is currently being litigated in Great Britain.

Because of the obvious bad faith displayed by the plaintiff in both the manner in which the order was obtained and how it was carried out, I request that your honor lift the temporary restraining order against me, order the forfeiture of the bond and dismiss this case immediately.

Respectfully Yours, Rev. Dennis L. Erlich
in pro per +--------------------------------+ A victory!

Shelly and Alan Hacker were present and will give full account.

Then I'll answer all questions.

Press:

Glendale News-Press - editorial today article tomrrow
LA Times - article tomorrow
Information Week
Info World - with pic
San Jose Mercury News - article tomorrow.

ttyl, and thanks ....

ARC for DENNIS ERLICH, Beverly

Go Back