I was at the trial today and got to see all the video tape. The first couple were very interesting but after the third time showing the same thing, only from a different camera, I was over it. It did seem as Mr. Minton did hit the guy, but Howd WAS following him. (and what a wimp to lay on the ground as he did, as if he had fallen out of a window!) It seems as though Mr. Minton has a good defense in implying the OSA were stalking him since his arrival to Clearwater, and that the whole initial physical interaction between Bob and OSA was a set up. I think they may have missed a good point in the 2nd OSA tape, when the guy rounded the corner and told the other OSA agents not to get in the way of the camera. (READ: SETUP!) And I think another point that may have been missed, when Howd was being grilled by Denis deVlaming about the files on Minton (and company), howd said that they were his personal files, not belonging to the church. Later he said he got the info from the church's legal office. But what did he know... it's hard being coached from the gallery.

I will say that I was sitting behind what appeared to be top $ciento officials, and that I kept getting some VERY strange looks, as if everyone thought _I_ was in the cult.(sad to be me). The defense is up tomorrow, I just wonder what I am going to tell my boss when I don't get to work until late afternoon....:) C.

During opening arguments in the trial of Robert Minton, a leading church opponent, defense attorney Denis de Vlaming conceded to jurors that his client's unusual defense "may seem strange to you."

Minton does not deny striking church member Richard Howd Jr.

with a protest placard. In fact, of the four videotapes of the incident shown to jurors Monday, the only one that clearly depicts Minton shoving the edge of the sign into Howd's face was taken by Minton's friend.

But Howd had already used a video camera to strike out at Minton in an incident that was not clearly visible on any of the four tapes, de Vlaming told the jury. Minton was in the process of calling Clearwater police on a cell phone when Howd succeeded in provoking him to strike, his attorney said.

And by striking Howd, Minton ensured that Howd succeeded in his mission to discredit the church critic by drawing him into a situation that resulted in Minton's arrest, de Vlaming said.

The attorney likened Howd's job to that of a basketball player told to "take the foul to stop the shot." He said evidence will show that Howd, as a member of the church's Office of Special Affairs, was under orders to do whatever it took to discredit Minton.

The defense team that includes de Vlaming and two other lawyers will get its chance today. Assistant State Attorney Bill Tyson rested his case late Monday after calling just two witnesses:

Howd and the arresting police officer who happened to see the incident while stopped at a red light in front of the Fort Harrison.

A key defense witness in the case is former Scientologist Frank Oliver, who held a job investigating the background of church critics in the same department in which Howd now works.

Testifying outside of the hearing of jurors so that Pinellas County Judge Robert Morris Jr. could rule on what would be allowed during the trial, Oliver said members of the Office of Special Affairs are rewarded for discrediting church critics and punished if they fail in that mission.

A reward might include higher pay or a choice assignment, Oliver said. Punishment might be having to scrub all the toilets in the Fort Harrison Hotel, he said.

Minton, 53, a New Hampshire millionaire who made his money as a developer in the Boston area, faces a maximum of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor charge.

Lawyers predicted the case could go to the jury late today.

The Halloween incident was already the subject of a civil court hearing at which a judge coined the term "picket chicken" for the sort of confrontations that take place whenever Minton or any other church critic stages a protest.

Pasco-Pinellas Circuit Judge Thomas Penick Jr. ended up revoking an emergency injunction that kept Minton well away from Howd and church property and instead decided that "both parties must be mutually restrained."

David Sommer can be reached at (727) 799-7413 or dsommer@tampatrib.com

I just received a phone call from Mark Bunker, who was calling from just outside the courthouse where Bob Minton was being tried for battery of Richard Howd on October 31st.

He didn't have time to give me all the details, given the fact that the press was swarming around like sharks and interviewing everyone, but he did say that Bob was acquitted after a very short deliberation - less than 30 minutes.

I'm sure that all the details will be forthcoming tonight, but I felt that this was important enough to get the word out ASAP.

Shukaido

But then these are the same folks that brought us Battlefield Earth!

arnie lerma

Robert S. Minton.

Bob's attorneys, Denis deVlaming, Kim Rivelini and Chuck deVlaming did an excellent job of educating the jury about the Church of Scientology's policies and practices of destroying anyone they perceive as an enemy. They were able to show the jury in less than a day and a half of testimony and arguments that Richard Howd was under orders to provoke an incident with Bob Minton on the night of October 31, 1999, just as Frank Offman was under orders to provoke an incident on September 10, 1998.

After the verdict was announced one of the many reporters covering the trial asked a juror why they had found Minton not guilty. The juror replied simply, "It was a set-up."

Thanks to this trial and the media that will result from it, many more people will be informed about the Church of Scientology's policy of destroying its perceived enemies. The more people learn about this "church's" fair game practices, the less Scientology will be able to practice its deceit and abuse.

Stacy Brooks

This verdict doesn't just clear Bob's name, it signals that the tide has turned and no longer will OSA be able to destroy people's lives. We are onto them. We know what they are and what they do. The immoral, unethical and criminal activites of OSA will stop.

People who criticize Scientology are not criminals. They are informed. Everyday more and more people will become informed and like the six jurors who heard a day and a half worth of material on Fair Game, those informed people will not like finding out that a "church" has a division whose activities include investigating "enemies" and silencing opponents.

Folks have been saying that next we have to clear my name in my Chicago trial. Well, my name is already clear. We will have no problem showing that but that trial is still months away.

In that time, we will finish off this Nigerian nonsense. OSA will fall flat on that one as well.

The tide has turned.

My congratulations to Bob whose strength of character shone through on the stand today as it does every day. The jury saw a man of integrity who is human, who has buttons which can be pushed, but who does what he believes to be moral and just.

I am proud to know Bob, Stacy, Jesse, Jeff, Grady and all of the rest of the LMT and the critics at large.

And my hat is off to Bob's defense team who did such a superlative job. Especially Denis deVlaming whose closing argument I wish could be brought to you on XENU TV. That we did not have a camera in the courtroom is a crime in itself.

Denis was simply amazing.

I'll bring you the news coverage tomorrow. Till then....

Mark Bunker

as if that one sentence could impeach the mountain of evidence that Frank produced.

Next Bob got on the stand and went over how OSA was Fair Gaming him since 1997. The prosecutor tried to impeach Bob by saying that BOB was doing the Fair Gaming by his actions, such as picketing Bennetta Slaughter's house, picketing Flag at night, and such things.

I felt that the prosecutor was relying on emotion and extraneous evidence while skipping lightly around the actual assault. Bob's defense attorney did a good job of providing evidence in his closing argument that indeed this was an OSA setup.

When the jury started deliberating, we went down to the cafeteria. I was insisting to everyone that the jury would take at least a day. But lo and behold, in just enough time for me to eat a piece of cake and drink some milk, the jury returned with a verdict.

It was very emotional when we went back into court. When the verdict of not guilty was read out, some people on bob's side began crying, and I had trouble holding back tears of relief.

No doubt there were tears on the other side as well.

When a Scientology staffer used a syringe to force a mixture of aspirin, Benadryl and orange juice into McPherson's throat while others held her down, it was "spiritual sustenance," the church argues.

THOMAS C. TOBIN
St. Petersburg Times
May 24, 2000 LARGO -- Defense attorney Denis de Vlaming knew his audience.

Among the six jurors he faced during his closing argument Tuesday were a father of four and a single mother who turned out to be the jury forewoman.

So he condensed the three-year feud between Robert S. Minton and the Church of Scientology to a scenario any parent could grasp: a fight between children.

Minton, accused of misdemeanor battery against a Scientologist in Clearwater, is the kid who finally fights back after being pushed and heckled, de Vlaming submitted. The church, he said, is the child who started it all -- then cries foul.

De Vlaming urged the jury to be the savvy parent who sees the truth.

After 40 minutes of deliberation Tuesday, the jury agreed with him, acquitting Minton after a trial that turned a spotlight on the church's often aggressive way of reacting to its critics.

"He was pushed," de Vlaming said of Minton. "He was pushed, he was set up and they (the church) got what they wanted."

Prosecutor Bill Tyson said it was Minton who initiated the trouble, harassing church members to the point they felt the need to follow him.

"It's hard to argue self-defense when you're the one picking the fight," Tyson said, adding later that Minton, a New England millionaire crusading to reform Scientology, is 53 years old.

"This isn't kids pushing kids," Tyson said.

The charge was filed after Minton pushed church staffer Richard W. Howd with a picket sign the night of Oct. 31, 1999, after a day of cat and mouse.

Minton was greeted that morning by Scientologists at Tampa International Airport who told him to go home. He had come, he said, to find office space for a Scientology "watchdog group"

that has since opened a headquarters in Clearwater.

When Scientologists followed him, Minton and a companion drove to Scientology's Fort Harrison Hotel in downtown Clearwater and began to picket.

After that, Scientologists followed him to his hotel. That night, Minton and his companion showed up at the home of a prominent Scientologist and videotaped the property, then went to picket again at the Fort Harrison, where Howd was waiting with his digital video camera.

Howd shadowed Minton closely, trying, he said, to create a record of everything Minton said and did. Minton said Howd was invading his space. Howd told the jury Minton appeared aggressive.

The alleged battery took place after a moment when the two apparently jostled each other. Minton turned to call police on his cell phone, but whirled around, pointing his picket sign, to stop Howd from following him. Howd was struck in the face by the sign and fell to the sidewalk.

The trial became a debate over which party was more guilty of causing the contact.

Pat Jones, a Scientology spokeswoman, said in a statement that the church appreciated the prosecutor's efforts.

"Mr. Minton knows what really happened," the statement said, "and we're hopeful that, regardless of the verdict, this prosecution will at least help to prevent further acts of violence against our members."

De Vlaming said Scientology staffers choreographed the incident in an ongoing attempt to get Minton arrested and ruin his credibility.

He put Frank Oliver on the stand, and the former member of the church's Office of Special Affairs testified that he received special training to go after church critics.

Tyson noted that Oliver is now on the advisory board of Minton's Clearwater organization.

De Vlaming pointed to what he said were several indications Minton was set up. Among them was a video that showed Howd sprawled motionless on the ground, his eyes closed. The tape then shows him opening his eyes, seeing the camera, then quickly closing them.

"Look at him," de Vlaming told the jury, ridiculing Howd. "Out cold! Needed an ambulance!"

Tyson said Minton was the one who stepped over the line. "He has the right to protest," the prosecutor said, "but one thing he doesn't have the right to do is break the law."

After the verdict, Minton said his purpose in coming to Clearwater was to tell the public about Scientology's way of dealing with critics, and the trial, he said, helped accomplish that.

One juror, Joyce Green of St. Petersburg, said the panel initially voted 5-1 to acquit Minton, but the vote was unanimous after they reviewed one of the videotapes of the incident.

There was no serious discussion of Scientology or its practices, she said.

"I think he was provoked, and a lot of it was set up," said Green, a home health aide. She said she might have reacted as Minton did, adding that Howd did not appear seriously hurt.

Juror Leroy Joiner of Clearwater, the father of four, said of Minton: "He didn't mean to do it."

One of six jurors in the two-day trial said a variety of factors led the panel to acquit Robert Minton.

The avowed Scientology foe used a protest sign to whack a church security officer, leaving him sprawled on a sidewalk with a small cut above his left eye.

"Nobody should hit anybody, but due to the circumstances, he was pressured into it," said the juror, who asked not to be identified.

Minton never disputed that he hit Richard Howd Jr. with the edge of a cardboard and foam placard during a brief protest outside the church's spiritual headquarters, the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater,. Defense attorneys maintained that Minton acted in self-defense and that Howd was angling to be hit.

For two days, the defense attempted to portray the church as a vengeful organization that investigates and harasses anyone who dares to criticize it.

Howd's job, defense attorney Denis de Vlaming argued before the jury, was to provoke Minton into striking him so the millionaire New Hampshire retiree would be arrested and convicted.

Asked if she feared church retribution for the verdict, the juror responded: "That's why I don't want my name in the paper." Other members of the four-woman, two-man panel declined to comment.

Minton said the trial provided church critics an opportunity to showcase the very practices they find objectionable. But he said striking someone and getting arrested for it was not the proper way to go about generating publicity for his cause.

"My intention was to push him away from me and get him out of my face," he said in reference to the 10-minute confrontation that preceded the act of violence.

"There was certainly no intention to hurt Richard Howd, and I'm sorry that the metal clip that was on the sign cut him," Minton said.

In a written response to the verdict, church spokesperson Pat Jones said: "We're hopeful that ... this prosecution will at least help to prevent further acts of violence against our members."

Although four videotapes of the Halloween night incident show Minton striking Howd, they also show that Howd anticipated being struck and then played to the hilt the part of a wounded victim, de Vlaming told jurors.

On the witness stand, Howd said he didn't wear his glasses that night because the video camera he was operating had a tiny "peep sight." But de Vlaming produced a photograph of Howd filming a different demonstration using the same type of camera while wearing his glasses. Howd took them off because he hoped to be hit, the defense attorney said.

As he lay sprawled on a sidewalk after Minton struck him, Howd could be seen on videotape peeking through one eye, de Vlaming said. Then, when a policeman asked for identification, Howd pulled something out of his pocket and handed it the officer before resuming his horizontal pose, the lawyer told jurors.

Toward the end of Richard Howd's testimony I glanced back at Rathbun and saw him giving hand signals to the witness and actually mouthing words to him as Howd spoke. Rathbun saw me looking at him. I even pointed at him and mouthed my own words to him. "I caught you," I said.

Incredibly, Rathbun barely missed a beat and kept up the coaching because by now Bob's attorney was hitting Howd hard with the Fair Game policy.

I alerted Patricia and the others around me and we eventually notified one of Bob's counsel who saw Rathbun as well. In total, there were five people who saw Rathbun behaving this way.

We broke shortly thereafter and I notified the bailiff who alerted the court. When the trial started again after the break, the judge called the attorneys to his bench to confer about this.

Tellingly, the next day Rinder and Rathbun were in the courthouse for the trial but they did not appear in the courtroom. They watched the second day of the trial on a closed circuit TV.

Wog laws mean nothing to the Scientology brass.

Where is your evidence for this? This is a very serious criminal charge. Are the jurors SPs now? What about the judge?

If every new victory against CO$ breeds new SPs, you're doing a mighty shitty job of clearing the planet. If your cult wasnt so lawsuit-happy, you would wind up with a lot less bad publicity.

All this ill will and bad press isn't brought on you by outsiders - you do it to yourself with your fraudulent promises, secretive practices, intense persecution of critics, and shady finances. Eliminate these things, and Xenu or no, youll have a lot more friends. Cheese23 Mike McKean Sr wrote:

> They'll most likely update it when they find out how much $$ Bob paid the
> jury.
> Mike

He apologizes for not posting earlier but he had to go into deposition immediately after the trial and then immediately board a plane to Europe.

Thanks again for the good wishes.

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