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gentlemen. Now trial is over except for closing
arguments, there is one thing that you need to go back
there to decide, and that’s did Robert S. Minton
intentionally touch or strike Richard W. Howd against his
will on October 31, 1999. That’s what you are deciding.
 
There has been some defense issues raised,
one of them was self—defense. Of course, now we saw on
the video that Mr. Minton told the police that Mr. Howd
walked into the sign. I’m not sure how you want to
square out that with self-defense. And according to Mr.
de Vlaming, Mr. Howd took one for the team. He took one
for the team that night, that’s the defense. He wanted
to set him up.
 
I submit to you Mr. Minton is on a
crusade. He doesn’t know where the line is. I think it
is obvious by his testimony. It is a contentious
relationship between the Scientologists and Mr. Minton.
That’s not in dispute. Nobody disputes that. They don’t
like each other. Just because you don’t like each other
doesn’t mean that the law doesn’t apply. I told you
before the law applies to everyone. It is there to
protect everyone. No one is above the law.
 
To believe the defense in this case, and
it boils down to this if you really think about it, to
believe the defense you have to believe that a multi-

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