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VOLUME I TRIAL
TRANSCRIPTS, 2-10-01 1
1 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT IN AND FOR
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA
2
3 CASE NO. 99-7430-CI-08
4
5 ----------------------------------------X
:
6 CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY FLAG SERVICE :
ORGANIZATION, INC., a Florida :
7 corporation, :
:
8 Petitioner, :
:
9 vs. :
:
10 ROBERT S. MINTON, JR., ET AL., :
:
11 Respondents. :
----------------------------------------x
12
BEFORE: The Honorable THOMAS E. PENICK, JR.
13
PLACE: Pinellas County Judicial Building
14 545 First Avenue North
St. Petersbrg, Florida
15
DATE: February 10, 2001
16
TIME: 9:00 A.M.
17
18 REPORTED BY: JACKIE L. OSTROM
Court Reporter
19
20 ---------------------------------------------------
ORDERS TO SHOW CAUSE
21 ---------------------------------------------------
Pages 1 - 176
22 Volume I
23
ROBERT A. DEMPSTER & ASSOCIATES
24 P.O. BOX 35
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA
25 (727) 443-0992
2
1 APPEARANCES
2
The Honorable THOMAS E. PENICK, JR.
3 CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE
4
F. WALLACE POPE, JR., ESQUIRE
5 JOHNSON, BLAKELY, POPE ET AL
911 Chestnut
6 Clearwater, Florida
7
MICHAEL LEE HERTZBERG, ESQUIRE
8 740 Broadway, Fifth Floor
New York, New York 10003
9
Attorneys for Church of Scientology Flag Ship
10 Organization
11
12
JOHN MERRETT, ESQUIRE
13 2716 Herschel Street
Jacksonville, Florida 32205
14
15 BRUCE G. HOWIE, ESQUIRE
PIPER, LUDIN, HOWIE AND WERNER
16 5720 Central Avenue
St. Petersburg, Florida 33707
17
18 Attorneys for Robert Minton and
Lisa McPherson Trust, Inc.
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
3
1 PROCEEDINGS
2 THE COURT: All right, ladies and
3 gentlemen. We're here today on case number
4 99-7430-CI08, Church of Scientology Flag
5 Services Organization, Inc., a Florida
6 Corporation versus Robert S. Minton, Jr. et
7 al as respondents. And attorneys for both
8 sides, are we ready to proceed?
9 MR. MERRETT: Yes, Your Honor.
10 MR. POPE: Yes, sir.
11 THE COURT: Thank you, gentlemen. We
12 have on this morning the evidentiary hearing
13 to the orders to show cause and I believe
14 that Mr. Minton, or excuse me, Mr. Merrett,
15 sir, you had filed first and so we'll go with
16 yours first.
17 MR. POPE: Your Honor?
18 THE COURT: Yes, Mr. Pope?
19 MR. POPE: May I make a suggestion that
20 might assist some of the witnesses and that
21 is that we with have various nonparty
22 witnesses, including four police officers
23 present. I wondered if we might just be able
24 to take every side's nonparty witnesses first
25 so that we could excuse them and let them go
4
1 on about their business rather than keeping
2 them down here all day.
3 THE COURT: I have no problem with that
4 but I want to keep them in their respective
5 cases. In other words, I want to go with his
6 show causes that were filed by Mr. Merrett,
7 that side first.
8 They filed first, and as long as I keep
9 them straight to each particular defendant
10 because we've got keep that straight for the
11 record, so.
12 MR. POPE: I don't have a nonparty
13 witness that I know of for that particular
14 matter, so perhaps the court should proceed
15 without them.
16 THE COURT: Mr. Merrett and Mr. Howie,
17 you understand what I'm saying on this?
18 MR. POPE: Yes.
19 MR. HOWIE: Yes.
20 THE COURT: Okay. I don't know -- you
21 have any problem taking them, doing it that
22 way? I'd like to do it if at all possible.
23 MR. MERRETT: I'm not sure that is has
24 any meaning if the cases are going to be
25 tried separately.
5
1 THE COURT: Yeah. It will have to do.
2 I want to keep them in their respective
3 cases. That's all I can say and we'll just
4 do it that way.
5 So, let's go ahead. The first one,
6 Mr. Merrett, sir.
7 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
8 THE COURT: And your defendant, if you
9 would, we're ready to proceed on those cases.
10 MR. MERRETT: Call Stacy Brooks.
11 THE COURT: And this is going to be for
12 the three or I believe it was two individuals
13 and the Church?
14 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
15 Thereupon:
16 STACY BROOKS
17 was called as a witness and having been duly sworn, was
18 examined and testified as follows:
19 DIRECT EXAMINATION
20 BY MR. MERRETT:
21 Q Would you state your name please, ma'am?
22 A Stacy Brooks.
23 Q And you are the President of the Lisa
24 McPherson Trust?
25 A Yes, I am.
6
1 Q Let me ask you if you recall meeting an
2 individual named Ferman Geiger?
3 A Yes, I do.
4 Q And when did you meet him?
5 A On the evening of November 30.
6 Q What were you doing that evening?
7 A I was having dinner with the family of Lisa
8 McPherson, Ken Dandar, the attorney for the family of
9 Lisa McPherson, Bob Minton and several other people.
10 Q And who is Lisa McPherson or who was she?
11 A Lisa McPherson was a Scientologist who died
12 at the Ft. Harrison Hotel in 1995.
13 Q What is it that caused you to meet or become
14 acquainted with Mr. Geiger on that occasion?
15 A Well, in the middle of dinner he suddenly
16 thrust his hand in front of me with a sheet of paper.
17 Q Okay. Where were you at dinner?
18 A We were at the Ruth Chris Steakhouse on
19 Westshore Boulevard in Tampa.
20 Q Okay.
21 THE COURT: I'm sorry, the name of the
22 steakhouse, again?
23 THE WITNESS: Ruth Chris Steakhouse, I
24 think is the way you say it.
25
7
1 BY MR. MERRETT:
2 Q Okay. What happened when he stuck these
3 papers through to you?
4 A Well, I was extremely startled because we
5 were in the middle of dinner. We were all talking.
6 We were very glad to see Lisa's family. We hadn't
7 seen them for a while. They had just gotten into
8 town, and it was very upsetting to me really because
9 he was suddenly -- I mean, I was just sitting like
10 this and all of a sudden he really kind of bumped into
11 me and thrust these papers right here.
12 Q What were the papers?
13 A Well, I found out within a few moments that
14 it was a copy of the injunction that Judge Penick had
15 just signed that afternoon.
16 Q Okay, but the current injunction in this
17 case?
18 A Yes.
19 Q Were there any other papers that he was
20 trying to serve on you?
21 A No, not that he was trying to serve me.
22 Q Okay. Did he have any other papers with
23 him?
24 A Yes.
25 Q What else did he have?
8
1 A He had a piece of paper with my photograph
2 on it and a name and address written on it. I mean a
3 name and a phone number written on it.
4 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, if could I see
5 the court file that has the motion for the
6 order to show cause in it? I believe I filed
7 it.
8 THE COURT: I'll put the court files up
9 here. I don't represent which one they are
10 in. You can go through them, sir.
11 MR. MERRETT: Thank you.
12 THE COURT: Might be there or it might
13 be one of these.
14 MR. MERRETT: This is probably it.
15 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
16 place.)
17 THE COURT: Tell you what let's do.
18 Let's put all these down here on the clerk's
19 table. You can all come up to the clerk's
20 table and get them as needed.
21 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
22 place.)
23 THE COURT: Let the record reflect, I
24 have put the court file on the clerk's table
25 due to the fact that this is being tried on
9
1 Saturday, the 10th day of February, 2001 and
2 Sunday, February 11, 2001, I do not have a
3 clerk present.
4 I'm going to ask the attorneys as
5 officers of the court to be responsible for
6 the court files and to look at them and see
7 that they are not damaged or anything is
8 missing.
9 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
10 place.)
11 THE COURT: Ian, come forward. Would
12 you sit up here? I'm going to have my staff
13 attorney, Ian Brewster, sit up here at the
14 clerk's table and see if he can assist the
15 attorneys in locating things. And, Ian, you
16 know those sticky tabs that you and I were
17 using this morning? They're right on my
18 desk. Go get those and mark these things so
19 they will be available for both sides.
20 (Discussion was had off the record.)
21 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
22 place.)
23 MR. MERRETT: May I approach the
24 witness?
25 THE COURT: You may, sir.
10
1 BY MR. MERRETT:
2 Q Ms. Brooks, let me ask you, tabbed with a
3 pink post-it note what appears to be a photograph of
4 you on an annotated sheet of paper?
5 A Yes.
6 Q Is this the document that Mr. Geiger had?
7 A Yes.
8 Q Or rather a copy of it?
9 A Yes.
10 Q Okay. Let me ask you, can you tell the
11 judge who Judy Ross is?
12 A She is someone who works for the Church of
13 Scientology.
14 Q Okay. Do you know her from your past
15 association with Scientology?
16 A Yes.
17 Q Okay. Do you know what division or
18 department within Scientology she works for then?
19 A She was in the legal department, the Office
20 of Special Affairs when I was also in the Office of
21 Special Affairs.
22 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, I would tender
23 the document as our Exhibit One.
24 THE COURT: All right. Mr. Pope, any
25 objection?
11
1 MR. POPE: No objection, Your Honor.
2 THE COURT: Okay. That will be
3 Defendant Minton's Exhibit Number One is in
4 evidence.
5 MR. MERRETT: May I proceed?
6 THE COURT: Yes, please, sir, go ahead.
7 BY MR. MERRETT:
8 Q Did you have occasion to discuss with
9 Mr. Geiger how it was that he came to be at your
10 dinner party?
11 A Yes.
12 Q And what did he tell?
13 MR. POPE: Objection, Your Honor. I'm
14 not sure that Mr. Geiger has been served with
15 an order to show cause. I don't think he's a
16 party to this proceeding in an official
17 sense. I think that this is therefore
18 hearsay.
19 MR. MERRETT: He clearly is a party in
20 any sense. He has been served February 2 at
21 4:45 PM.
22 I'm now tendering to the court a copy of
23 the order to show cause and return of
24 service.
25 THE COURT: Mr. Pope, have you seen
12
1 this?
2 MR. POPE: I have not see this.
3 THE COURT: All right. Let Mr. Pope
4 look at it.
5 (Whereupon, documents were reviewed.)
6 MR. MERRETT: I would additionally point
7 out to Your Honor that statements by party's
8 opponent include agents, persons acting on
9 behalf of a party and if you recall,
10 Mr. Hertzberg was here in court last time
11 with a photostat of Mr. Geiger's process
12 server's license and I believe Mr. Pope
13 admitted on the record the last time we were
14 here Mr. Geiger had been retained by him for
15 the purpose of serving process on behalf of
16 Scientology.
17 MR. POPE: Your Honor, I would merely
18 point out that on December 1 you entered an
19 order acknowledging that a process server was
20 acting on behalf of the court, not for a
21 party. The process server is therefore an
22 agent of the court and not an agent of the
23 parties.
24 THE COURT: I did do that on that
25 particular date, but the event alleged
13
1 happened prior. We'll wait and see what's
2 been established or where he goes from there
3 and also in light of the fact that Mr. Geiger
4 had now been served, Mr. Pope, is he present
5 today so I can arraign him?
6 MR. POPE: I don't know.
7 THE COURT: Okay.
8 MR. POPE: I have not seen him.
9 MR. MERRETT: I wouldn't know him if I
10 saw him, Your Honor.
11 THE COURT: Mr. Bailiff, if you would
12 sound the halls for one Ferman Geiger?
13 THE BAILIFF: Yes, Your Honor.
14 (Whereupon, halls were sounded by the
15 bailiff and there was no response to the call to
16 the court.)
17 THE COURT: Let the record so reflect.
18 MR. POPE: Your Honor, we apparently had
19 a communication from Mr. Geiger yesterday to
20 the effect that he intended to appear at the
21 court at about ten o'clock this morning, so
22 we don't know if that's accurate of if he's
23 going to show up or not. That's the only
24 information we have about the matter.
25 THE COURT: Okay. Hold on. Let me look
14
1 at this. I'll come back to you in just a
2 minute. I want to see what's been handed to
3 me.
4 I have an affidavit of service. Let me
5 look at it.
6 (Whereupon, documents were reviewed.)
7 All right. I have before me an
8 affidavit of service. It's an affidavit by
9 one Michael Kortz, K-O-R-T-Z, being duly
10 sworn to depose and say that on the third
11 day of February, 2001 at 4:25 PM executed
12 service -- actually substituted service on
13 Ferman Geiger and it is under oath and
14 attached to that was the order to show
15 cause, which the order to show cause said
16 that Ferman Geiger and Judy Ross shall
17 appear before the undersigned judge,
18 Pinellas County Judicial Center, 545 First
19 Avenue North, St. Petersburg, Florida at
20 9:00 AM on Saturday, February 10, 2001. And
21 let the record reflect that by the court's
22 clock it is now 0922 hours. The halls were
23 sounded for one Ferman Geiger. He has
24 failed to appear.
25 According to go the service, he was
15
1 served, had notice to be here at nine
2 o'clock, there has been no attacks on the
3 notice of service.
4 Mr. Bailiff, we will continue to sound
5 the halls. If he appears if you would take
6 him into custody and hold him to bring him
7 forward in front of me and we will proceed
8 thus forth once he appears.
9 THE BAILIFF: Yes, Your Honor.
10 THE COURT: If he appears.
11 THE BAILIFF: Yes, Your Honor.
12 THE COURT: Otherwise I'll deal with it
13 with a capias at a later date.
14 THE BAILIFF: Yes, your Honor.
15 THE COURT: Today. All right. Let me
16 file this, please.
17 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
18 place.)
19 All right. You may proceed.
20 BY MR. MERRETT:
21 Q Thank you, Your Honor. What did Mr. Geiger
22 tell you when your discussion with him turned to the
23 issue of how he happened to be at the restaurant where
24 you were?
25 MR. POPE: I renew my objection, Your
16
1 Honor.
2 THE COURT: Overruled. Proceed.
3 THE WITNESS: He said I'm very, very
4 sorry to do this. I've never been asked to
5 interrupt someone at dinner before to serve
6 process on them, but I have specifically been
7 ordered to interrupt your dinner to serve
8 process on you.
9 BY MR. MERRETT:
10 Q And did you ask him specifically how he knew
11 to come to Ruth Chris Steakhouse as opposed to the
12 Crystal on Missouri Avenue?
13 A Yes.
14 Q What was his answer?
15 A He said there are OSA people in the dining
16 room here with you in this restaurant and they told me
17 where to find you.
18 Q Can you tell the court what or who OSA
19 people are?
20 A OSA people are Office of Special Affairs,
21 members of the Church of Scientology whose job it is
22 to deal with all of the legal matters, intelligence
23 matters, things like that and one of their jobs is to
24 harass critics of Scientology like me.
25 Q Did you have -- let me ask you this. The
17
1 conversation about how he knew that you were there and
2 that OSA was at the restaurant with you, did that
3 occur before or after you got the document that's been
4 introduced as exhibit one, if you recall?
5 A Well, it was after, because the first thing
6 that happened was he thrust the paper in my face.
7 MR. MERRETT: Okay. All right. I have
8 nothing further of this witness, Your Honor.
9 THE COURT: All right. Mr. Pope. Sir.
10 MR. POPE: May I exam from here, Your
11 Honor?
12 THE COURT: Yes, sir. That's fine.
13 CROSS-EXAMINATION
14 BY MR. POPE:
15 Q Now, Ms. Brooks, on the 30th of November,
16 you had knowledge, did you not, that on the 29th, the
17 day before, the court had entered an order joining you
18 as a party to this lawsuit and instructing the
19 plaintiff to serve you with a copy of the order and
20 summons and complaint; didn't you know that on the
21 30th?
22 A I believe so.
23 Q All right. So didn't you anticipate that
24 you were going to get served with papers in connection
25 with your now being a party in this lawsuit?
18
1 A Yes.
2 Q All right. Now, didn't Mr. Geiger identify
3 himself as a process server and tell you he was there
4 to serve process?
5 A After he apologized to me, yes.
6 Q Okay. Did he show you any identification at
7 all or did he simplify identify himself as a process
8 server?
9 A I don't recall actually.
10 Q Was Judy Ross anywhere present in that room
11 when you were served with those papers?
12 A I don't know.
13 Q Weren't you served with a copy of the
14 Temporary Injunction Number Two and a summons and a
15 complaint, amended supplemental complaint in this
16 action all at the same time?
17 A Possibly.
18 Q You don't know?
19 A It was in the middle of dinner, so it was a
20 little inappropriate at the moment.
21 Q So you don't know exactly what was served on
22 you at that time?
23 A I know I was served with the injunction.
24 Q All right, and you took the papers that he
25 handed you, didn't you?
19
1 A Yes.
2 Q And you actually got quite angry with
3 Mr. Geiger, didn't you?
4 A Yes, I was very upset with him.
5 Q All right.
6 A He was very upset also.
7 Q Did you also grab some other papers out of
8 his hands?
9 A No.
10 Q You didn't do that?
11 A Only the paper that Mr. Merrett showed, the
12 one with my photograph on it.
13 Q You didn't take papers out of -- snatch
14 papers out of Mr. Geiger's hand and refuse to return
15 them to him?
16 A No, I took the photograph of me with Judy's
17 name on it and her phone number.
18 Q You took that out of his hand, right?
19 A Well, he was extending his hand with those
20 papers in it like this.
21 Q And you took it, right?
22 A Yes, I did.
23 Q And you took the photograph as well and he
24 asked for it back and you refused to give it back to
25 him, didn't you?
20
1 A There was no separate photograph. It was a
2 photograph on that piece of paper with Judy's name and
3 number on it.
4 Q And you took -- he didn't serve that on you,
5 did he?
6 A Well, I don't know. It was in his hand with
7 the rest of the papers.
8 Q Okay, and didn't you snatch that away from
9 him and refuse to give it back to him upon his
10 request?
11 A Did I snatch it, no. I took it from him.
12 Q You took if from him?
13 A Uh-huh.
14 Q Okay. He asked for it back, didn't he?
15 A Yes.
16 Q And you refused to give it back?
17 A Well, I didn't give it to him.
18 Q Okay. And this whole episode lasted what,
19 three or four minutes?
20 A Actually, I would say probably more like
21 seven or eight minutes. Maybe up to ten minutes,
22 because Mr. Geiger and I had quite a lengthy
23 conversation about these circumstances under which he
24 was interrupting my dinner.
25 Q And you say Mr. Geiger told you that there
21
1 were people from the Office of Special Affairs
2 somewhere there in the restaurant observing you; is
3 that what he told you?
4 A Yes. He said there were OSA people in the
5 restaurant and that's how he knew where I was in the
6 restaurant.
7 Q Did you recognize any of these OSA people
8 that were purportedly there?
9 A You know, Mr. Pope, I wasn't looking all
10 over the restaurant for the OSA people.
11 MR. POPE: All right. May I have a
12 moment, Your Honor?
13 THE COURT: You may.
14 MR. POPE: I don't have any further
15 questions at this time, Your Honor.
16 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you, sir.
17 Redirect?
18 MR. MERRETT: Very briefly.
19 THE COURT: Proceed.
20 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
21 BY MR. MERRETT:
22 Q Ma'am, you were asked whether or not you
23 expected to be served with papers as a result of the
24 order entered on the 29th. Did you expect to have
25 somebody from Scientology walk in and stick his hand
22
1 in your face in the middle of dinner?
2 A Certainly not.
3 MR. MERRETT: I don't have anything
4 further.
5 THE COURT: Anything else, Mr. Pope?
6 MR. POPE: No.
7 THE COURT: You may step down and have a
8 seat back by your attorney. Yes, sir?
9 MR. MERRETT: Call J. R. Enerson.
10 THE COURT: All right.
11 Thereupon:
12 J. R. ENERSON
13 was called as a witness and having been duly sworn, was
14 examined and testified as follows:
15 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
16 place.)
17 MR. MERRETT: May I see that exhibit?
18 THE COURT: Yes, that's in evidence.
19 MR. MERRETT: Thank you, Your Honor.
20 THE COURT: It is marked into evidence.
21 MR. MERRETT: Thank you. May I approach
22 the witness?
23 THE COURT: You may, sir.
24
25
23
1 DIRECT EXAMINATION
2 BY MR. MERRETT:
3 Q Mr. Enerson, I want to show you what's been
4 received in evidence as Exhibit One and ask you to
5 take a look at the handwritten items on the document
6 and I want to direct your attention back to the time
7 to and between November 30 and December 4 of 5, that
8 weekend coming into the first part of the next week.
9 Were you requested by anyone to undertake any
10 investigation to determine what those phone numbers
11 were?
12 A Yes, I was.
13 Q And who is that it requested you to do that?
14 A You did.
15 Q And what did you do to find out what those
16 phone numbers next to Judy Ross' name were?
17 A I actually called those phone numbers.
18 Q What was the response that you got?
19 A There was a female voice on the other end
20 that answered --
21 MR. POPE: Objection. This is hearsay.
22 There has been no predicate laid that this
23 can be attributed to the plaintiff or any
24 agent of the plaintiff.
25 THE COURT: Mr. Merrett?
24
1 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, the statement
2 is the statement of a person who is an agent
3 or owner of the telephone number. The
4 purpose is to identify the telephone number.
5 THE COURT: Sustained. Proceed.
6 BY MR. MERRETT:
7 Q What did the female voice say?
8 A A female voice answered saying special or
9 public affairs.
10 Q And did you make further inquiry to find out
11 exactly what that was?
12 A I said is this Scientology.
13 Q What was their response?
14 A Yes.
15 Q That was their response?
16 A Yes, that was the response.
17 MR. MERRETT: Thank you. I have nothing
18 further of this witness, Your Honor.
19 THE COURT: Mr. Pope?
20 MR. POPE: No questions, Your Honor.
21 THE COURT: Sir, you may step down.
22 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, at this time I
23 would tender into evidence as an admission of
24 Mr. Geiger and as an adopted admission of
25 Scientology by virtue of their having filed
25
1 it as an attachment to a motion, the
2 affidavit of Ferman Geiger dated December 12,
3 2000.
4 MR. POPE: No objection, Your Honor.
5 THE COURT: Okay. Hold on. Let me get
6 it in. This is Defendant's Exhibit Number
7 Two.
8 (Whereupon, Defendant's Exhibit Number Two
9 was admitted into evidence.)
10 THE COURT: That is in evidence.
11 MR. MERRETT: Thank your, Your Honor. I
12 would move the court to take judicial notice
13 rather than dig through the file, of the fact
14 that evidenced by the affidavit before you
15 and the photostat of Mr. Geiger's
16 identification card previously tendered by
17 Scientology, that Mr. Geiger is appointed in
18 Hillsborough County by Judge Alvarez as a
19 special process server or certified process
20 server.
21 THE COURT: All right. Bear with me
22 just a minute.
23 MR. POPE: We have no objection to you
24 so noting, Your Honor.
25 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
26
1 place.)
2 THE COURT: That's so noted. For the
3 record, as far as Mr. Geiger is concerned, he
4 is a failure to appear or respond to a court
5 order at this time. He has not been
6 arraigned on this and quite frankly, I think
7 any proceedings that we are doing that
8 involve him are going to have to be done
9 again if he does show up and give him
10 arraignment he did not plead to.
11 MR. MERRETT: I understand, Your Honor.
12 THE COURT: All right. I just wanted to
13 make that clear. All right, let's go ahead.
14 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, we would call
15 Robert Minton to the stand.
16 Thereupon:
17 ROBERT MINTON
18 was called as a witness and having been duly sworn, was
19 examined and testified as follows:
20 DIRECT EXAMINATION
21 BY MR. MERRETT:
22 Q Mr. Minton, would you state your name?
23 A Robert Minton.
24 Q And were you present during the event
25 described by Ms. Brooks in her testimony?
27
1 A Yes, I was.
2 Q And can you tell the court what you recall
3 seeing and hearing as far as what Mr. Geiger did and
4 said?
5 A It was pretty much just like Ms. Brooks
6 said. You know, he appears, you know, on her left
7 side.
8 I was sitting to the right of Ms. Brooks.
9 Mr. Geiger, I later learned that's his name, appeared
10 over Stacy Brooks' left shoulder and he put these
11 documents right in front of her face.
12 Q Do you recall specifically what documents he
13 had in his hand?
14 A It was the injunction.
15 Q Do you recall whether there were any other
16 documents other than the injunction and the photograph
17 that's already been tendered in evidence?
18 A I'm not aware that there were any others. I
19 mean, I flipped through and it just looked like the
20 injunction to me.
21 Q Okay. Did you hear Mr. Geiger's response to
22 Ms. Brooks' inquiry regarding how out of all of the
23 gin joints in all the cities and all the world he
24 ended up at Ruth Chris Steakhouse?
25 A Yes.
28
1 Q What was his response?
2 A His response was about his OSA handlers were
3 in the restaurant.
4 MR. MERRETT: I don't have anything
5 further of this witness, Your Honor.
6 THE COURT: Mr. Pope?
7 MR. POPE: No questions, Your Honor.
8 THE COURT: Mr. Minton, sir, you may
9 step down.
10 Also, again for the purposes of the
11 record, Mr. Merrett has been asking the
12 questions and Mr. Pope has been doing the
13 cross-examination, but I don't mean to
14 slight Mr. Howie, sir.
15 MR. HOWIE: I don't feel slighted, Your
16 Honor. I have no questions for these
17 witnesses.
18 THE COURT: Okay. The thought occurred
19 to me I haven't given you an opportunity.
20 MR. HOWIE: I'll intervene if I do have
21 questions.
22 THE COURT: Yes, sir. All right. Okay.
23 Call your next witness.
24 MR. MERRETT: Prosecution rests, Your
25 Honor.
29
1 THE COURT: As far as?
2 MR. MERRETT: As far as the Church,
3 Mr. Geiger and Ms. Ross.
4 THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Pope, sir.
5 MR. POPE: I'll ask Mr. Hertzberg to
6 make a motion, Your Honor.
7 THE COURT: Okay.
8 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor, may I stand
9 at the podium?
10 THE COURT: You may, sir.
11 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor, at this time
12 on behalf of defendants Judy Ross, and Church
13 of Scientology Flag Service Organization, we
14 ask for a directed verdict or a judgment of
15 acquittal for the failure to prove.
16 As Your Honor knows, the standard for
17 this proceeding is proof beyond a reasonable
18 doubt and for a variety of reasons which I'd
19 like to touch on briefly, we would maintain
20 that that proof has not been made by the
21 party forward.
22 The overt action order of this court
23 that guides us here in determining whether
24 it is a violation of the injunction is this
25 court's order of December 1, of the year
30
1 2000, and in particular paragraph three
2 where this court made clear that it did not
3 intend for its injunction to bar the service
4 of process by a lawful process server. And
5 I will just remind the court of the specific
6 language that paragraph, quote: Any process
7 server obtained by any party to this action
8 pursuant to the laws of the State of Florida
9 and the applicable rules of court is free to
10 legally serve process on any person,
11 notwithstanding the terms of Temporary
12 Injunction Number Two, inasmuch as such
13 process server will be an agent of this
14 court for the purpose of the serving
15 process, end quote.
16 Now, they have established in many
17 different ways that Mr. Geiger was a process
18 server, a licensed process server in
19 Hillsborough County. They put into evidence
20 the photocopy of his license signed by Judge
21 Alvarez in Hillsborough County. I really
22 don't need anything further, although
23 Ms. Brooks also conceded on
24 cross-examination that he represented
25 himself to be a process server, and they put
31
1 his affidavit in, in which he also stated
2 that he was a licensed process server in
3 which he stated that the reason that he was
4 present on the 30th in that restaurant was
5 to serve process.
6 We also have the concession from
7 Ms. Brooks that not only was he serving a
8 copy of the injunction, but she said on
9 cross-examination, she conceded on
10 cross-examination that she could not rule
11 out the possibility that Mr. Geiger was also
12 serving a summons and complaint.
13 Your Honor may take notice of your own
14 order in this case dated the 29th of
15 November which is the day before these
16 events which are the subject of this
17 particular order to show cause in which Your
18 Honor stated in paragraph two, you ordered
19 quote: The clerk shall, upon plaintiff's
20 request, issue additional summonses with
21 respect to each of the foregoing defendants
22 and plaintiff shall serve upon each of said
23 defendants a summons, a copy of a verified
24 amended and supplemental complaint and a
25 copy of this order. And one of the
32
1 individuals listed in the paragraph above,
2 paragraph one which Your Honor was referring
3 to in paragraph two in which Your Honor
4 directed that those documents be served upon
5 various individuals is Stacy Brooks. In
6 fact, her name is the first name that
7 appears on your order of the 29th.
8 Now, some other important evidence, if
9 we needed anything more, came out in
10 Ms. Brooks' testimony. She conceded her
11 knowledge when she was asked to describe who
12 Judy Ross was, what her knowledge of Judy
13 Ross was she said Judy Ross worked in the
14 legal department at the Church. That's
15 totally consistent with this.
16 What we have then is testimony that a
17 process server appeared in a public place
18 after the order that Your Honor issued
19 directing that Stacy Brooks be served with
20 process. And that, we think -- we submit to
21 Your Honor, is clearly protected under the
22 terms of your order.
23 If there was any doubt about it, and I
24 don't think that there is at this point, I
25 think that for the reasons I've given
33
1 already the case has to be dismissed for
2 failure to prove.
3 Your Honor also has in the court file
4 and can take judicial notice of, a document
5 that I would like to hand up to Your Honor
6 through the bailiff and which is the proof
7 of service that Mr. Geiger swore to under
8 oath in which he states that he served a
9 summons and complaint, as well as Injunction
10 Number Two, Your Honor, if I may direct Your
11 Honor's attention is up here on this
12 portion --
13 THE COURT: Okay. Hold on just a minute
14 please, sir.
15 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
16 place.)
17 MR. HERTZBERG: If Your Honor would
18 look, it's the proof of service which is
19 under oath by Mr. Geiger which describes --
20 THE COURT: -- received it and served
21 it, up here?
22 MR. HERTZBERG: I'm sorry, it is up
23 here, Your Honor, that I'm directing your
24 attention to. May I approach?
25 THE COURT: You may.
34
1 MR. HERTZBERG: Summons and Complaint
2 and injunction Number Two.
3 THE COURT: Okay. Yes, sir. okay.
4 MR. HERTZBERG: And he describes that
5 pursuant to the request of an attorney
6 Mr. Moxon and Geitzen Associates, his
7 employer, he went to serve Stacy Brooks at
8 the steakhouse, in the public place in Tampa
9 and he swore to that on December 1 in the
10 return service. So, what we have here is the
11 proof of service for the summons and
12 complaint as well as the injunction.
13 I would submit to Your Honor that under
14 the terms of your order where you made clear
15 that it is not a violation of Injunction
16 Number Two for process to be served, I would
17 submit to Your Honor that even if, even if
18 the only thing that Mr. Geiger served on
19 Ms. Brooks that evening was the copy of the
20 injunction, that would not be sufficient to
21 make out an allegation of a violation of the
22 injunction whether under a theory of
23 harassment or any other theory that they
24 argue to the court, but we don't even have
25 to be restricted to that because, and this
35
1 is significant. We have the sworn affidavit
2 of Mr. Geiger in the file saying that he
3 also served a summons and complaint which is
4 what Your Honor directed be done.
5 You ordered that that be done, and we
6 also have Ms. Brooks on cross-examination
7 unable to deny, in effect, that she received
8 documents other than a summons, other than
9 the injunction on that evening and
10 Mr. Minton didn't help him at all because he
11 could not rule out that other documents were
12 being served by Mr. Geiger at that time.
13 And we also have in the comments if Your
14 Honor would look at the comments in the
15 sworn affidavit of Mr. Geiger in the
16 document that I handed up to you, we have
17 his account of what occurred in that
18 encounter with Mrs. Brooks on that evening
19 which is significantly different than the
20 testimony, but in addition -- just take a
21 moment if Your Honor wants to look at that.
22 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
23 place.)
24 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, I would --
25 MR. HERTZBERG: In addition to that, we
36
1 have --
2 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor I object to
3 consideration of that as being inadmissible
4 hearsay. It's another part of the return.
5 THE COURT: Okay.
6 MR. HERTZBERG: It is part -- it is
7 part. It's part of the integrated document,
8 but beyond that Mr. Merrett put into evidence
9 Mr. Geiger's affidavit and in that affidavit
10 also -- but let me give the context for how I
11 want to use this affidavit.
12 I would submit that on the basis of what
13 I've said so far we are entitled to a
14 directed verdict or a judgment of acquittal
15 here because they have failed to establish
16 even a prima facie case of a violation of
17 the injunction.
18 THE COURT: Okay.
19 MR. HERTZBERG: But I will add, unless
20 you want to --
21 THE COURT: I want to ask a question.
22 MR. HERTZBERG: Sure.
23 THE COURT: Mr. Hertzberg, when you
24 started here you cited an order 29, November,
25 year 2000?
37
1 MR. HERTZBERG: Yes, sir.
2 THE COURT: Could I see that?
3 MR. HERTZBERG: Yes. I don't want to
4 give you my marked up copy.
5 THE COURT: Just give me a copy. Let me
6 see.
7 MR. HERTZBERG: Here, Your Honor. And I
8 direct Your Honor's attention, please, to
9 paragraphs one and two on the first page.
10 THE COURT: Thank you, sir.
11 MR. HERTZBERG: Yes, Your Honor, so I
12 wanted to do two arguments. The first
13 argument, and I am sort of resting in the
14 middle of my argument, is that based on that
15 order and based on Mrs. Brooks' and
16 Mr. Minton's testimony, we are entitled --
17 they just didn't make that a prima facie
18 case.
19 We win just based on what I've said so
20 far, but without being cumulative there is
21 also another reason that you should grant it
22 and that's because they have raised a
23 reasonable doubt. This is a sort of
24 separate theory, failure to make a prima
25 facie case.
38
1 They've also injected reasonable doubt
2 into the case by introducing Mr. Geiger's
3 affidavit because Mr. Geiger's affidavit has
4 some very interesting things in here. Does
5 Your Honor have a copy of it?
6 THE COURT: Let me ask you, which
7 affidavit are you talking about. I've got
8 affidavit of service and the one that I have
9 is -- I filed the one, just mark it filed
10 that he gave me for Ferman Geiger.
11 MR. HERTZBERG: That's correct. This is
12 the affidavit of December 12, 2000.
13 THE COURT: I'm sorry. Yeah, that --
14 MR. HERTZBERG: That one, as well, Your
15 Honor.
16 THE COURT: Okay.
17 MR. HERTZBERG: Okay. Now, let's look
18 at that affidavit for a moment. Look at
19 paragraph three. Again, he's confirming that
20 he's a Hillsborough County certified process
21 server. Then in paragraph four he says that
22 on November 30, which is the date in
23 question, Geitzon and Associates contacted
24 him to do a service job in the early evening.
25 And he says Judy Ross gave him the paper to
39
1 be served. It's in the plural. He didn't
2 say "paper" like an injunction. She said
3 papers and information on where I might
4 locate the person.
5 I met Ms. Ross. She gave me the papers
6 that were to be served and also furnished me
7 a photograph of the person to be served,
8 Stacy Brooks, as I had never seen her
9 before.
10 Your Honor, this photograph which has
11 been introduced into evidence, there is some
12 suggestion that there was something
13 improper. There is nothing improper if
14 you're providing a process server with
15 photograph of the person who is to be served
16 and in fact that's done all the time and
17 Mr. Geiger, through the affidavit that
18 they've introduced into evidence, has given
19 the reason why he needed a photograph,
20 because he hadn't ever seen Ms. Brooks
21 before so he needed a photograph of her, so
22 this is totally corroborative of his going
23 out to his duty as commanded by the court's
24 order of the 29th to serve process on
25 Ms. Brooks. And he goes to the steakhouse
40
1 and he has his instructions where to find
2 her.
3 That's not a violation of the injunction
4 and he was given, in paragraph five he was
5 given a telephone number where Ms. Ross
6 could reached in case he had any questions
7 and that's not a violation of the injunction
8 and he goes to the restaurant, he identifies
9 Ms. Brooks in paragraph six by the
10 photograph he has. Not through any OSA
11 operatives through this testimony that they
12 gave here, the vague testimony about
13 so-called OSA operatives.
14 He states under oath in this affidavit
15 that Mr. Merrett put into evidence that the
16 way he found Ms. Brooks was through the
17 photograph and he goes to the table and he's
18 subjected to verbal abuse. That's in
19 paragraph six of the document that they put
20 into evidence. Making comments about me for
21 serving Scientology related papers, papers
22 again in the plural.
23 Ms. Brooks got very angry at me. She
24 forceably grabbed all the papers I was
25 holding from my hand. That's contrary to
41
1 her testimony.
2 She said, she tried to evade on
3 cross-examination, she refused to adopt
4 Mr. Pope's question that she grabbed and
5 said she took it. Well, the document they
6 put in contradicted that, Your Honor. it
7 says that she grabbed it. And then he asked
8 for the paper back. Quote: I explained I
9 was a process server performing my job, but
10 she refused to give them back to me. I
11 attempted to convince her that she needed to
12 give me back my papers, but the only thing
13 she finally gave back to me was the original
14 summons.
15 Your Honor, that is very significant
16 lest there be any doubt this is cumulative
17 of course of the proof the service which
18 says that the summons which Your Honor
19 directed to be served on them be served.
20 There's that word. It's the document they
21 put in today.
22 This fills in the gap Ms. Brooks said
23 she was uncertain whether she got a summons
24 but they put in evidence saying that it was
25 a summons from Mr. Geiger. That's their
42
1 exhibit.
2 Then in paragraph seven of this
3 affidavit, Your Honor, which they put into
4 evidence, Mr. Geiger gives a completely
5 different account than Ms. Brooks and
6 Mr. Minton about the Office of Special
7 Affairs. He denies even knowing what the
8 Office of Special Affairs is.
9 He says at the bottom of page two of his
10 affidavit quote: I did not tell Stacy
11 Brooks or anyone else that I was acting on
12 the instructions of and applying information
13 provided by the Office of Special Affairs.
14 Nor did I state that one or more members of
15 the Office of Special Affairs was involved.
16 Your Honor, they have raised, if for any
17 reason Your Honor concludes and I urge you
18 not to because I think we are completely
19 correct on this, but if Your Honor does not
20 agree that they failed to make a prima facie
21 case, then they, themselves, have raised a
22 reasonable doubt because this affidavit that
23 they put on in their case in chief
24 materially, materially contradicts in
25 significant ways the testimony of Stacy
43
1 Brooks and Robert Minton. So, I submit to
2 Your Honor this raises a reasonable doubt
3 we're entitled to an acquittal. Thank you.
4 THE COURT: Okay. Let me ask you
5 another question. You represent the Church
6 of Scientology.
7 MR. HERTZBERG: Flag Service
8 Organization and Judy Ross.
9 THE COURT: Is Judy Ross present, today?
10 MR. HERTZBERG: She is, Your Honor.
11 THE COURT: Who are you pointing to.
12 MR. HERTZBERG: Please stand.
13 THE COURT: Are you Judy Ross?
14 MS. ROSS: Yes, sir.
15 THE COURT: And you've previously plead
16 in this case?
17 MS. ROSS: Yes, Your Honor.
18 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you. Let the
19 record so reflect as to those two defendants
20 you made your argument at this time.
21 MR. HERTZBERG: Thank you, Your Honor.
22 THE COURT: All right. Mr. Merrett.
23 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, I don't know
24 if the court wants to proceed at this point
25 or reserve at the conclusion of the case.
44
1 I'm prepared either way.
2 THE COURT: I'll reserve.
3 MR. MERRETT: Thank you.
4 THE COURT: Let's do this. We've been
5 going for about an hour. Let's take a break.
6 Take ten minutes and we'll come back.
7 (Thereupon, a short recess was taken, after
8 which the proceedings continued.)
9 THE COURT: All right. Mr. Bailiff, if
10 you would while we're getting started here,
11 would you again sound the halls for a Ferman
12 Geiger, sir.
13 THE BAILIFF: Yes, sir.
14 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
15 place.)
16 THE BAILIFF: Your Honor, he's being
17 detained down in the lobby.
18 THE COURT: You say he has appeared?
19 THE BAILIFF: That's right.
20 THE COURT: Would you please have the
21 bailiff bring him forward?
22 THE BAILIFF: Yes, Your Honor.
23 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
24 place.)
25 THE BAILIFF: He's in route, Your Honor.
45
1 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
2 place.)
3 THE COURT: Sir, are you Ferman Geiger?
4 MR. GEIGER: Yes, sir, I am.
5 THE COURT: Mr. Geiger, I have in front
6 of me an affidavit of service that you were
7 served with an order to show cause to appear
8 at this court here in the Pinellas County
9 Judicial Center, 545 First. Avenue North,
10 St. Petersburg, Florida at 9:00 AM on
11 Saturday, February 10, 2001.
12 MR. GEIGER: Yes, sir.
13 THE COURT: Halls were sounded at 9:15.
14 You were not present. Attorneys for the
15 Church of Scientology told me that maybe you
16 would show up around ten o'clock. You did
17 not respond to the sounding of the halls at
18 9:15.
19 The order that was served on you said
20 that you were to appear on Saturday,
21 February 10, the year 2001 at nine o'clock.
22 Your failure to be here at the time
23 appointed can be direct criminal contempt.
24 You can be incarcerated for up to six
25 months. I am dealing with it at this time
46
1 as direct criminal contempt. Do you have an
2 attorney present to represent you?
3 MR. GEIGER: No, sir, I do not.
4 THE COURT: Mr. Pope, do you represent
5 this man?
6 MR. POPE: I do not, Your Honor.
7 THE COURT: Mr. Pope, I'm appointing you
8 to represent him at this time in a direct
9 criminal contempt proceeding.
10 MR. POPE: Your Honor, I'm wondering if
11 I might not have a conflict in this matter.
12 THE COURT: Well, you might. Quite
13 frankly, I've looked at the case law and the
14 case law says he does not have to be
15 represented by counsel for direct criminal
16 contempt.
17 You, Mr. Geiger, were directly legally
18 served.
19 MR. GEIGER: No, sir, I was subserved.
20 THE COURT: I have not asked you yet for
21 any comment. If you want get double direct
22 criminal contempt just keep proceeding.
23 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
24 place.)
25 THE COURT: All right, now, I'll try one
47
1 more time. You were served. You did not
2 appear as ordered. You are now present. Let
3 the record reflect it is now 10:35 by the
4 courtroom clock.
5 I will give you an opportunity at this
6 time to explain yourself. Tell me why you
7 weren't present. If you have a valid excuse
8 or any mitigating circumstances.
9 MR. GEIGER: Thank you, Your Honor. I
10 apologize for being late. I underestimated
11 the time, the traffic and the location. I'm
12 totally unfamiliar with the area. I traveled
13 from my home and gave myself an hour and 20
14 minutes.
15 THE COURT: Where is your home?
16 MR. GEIGER: In Zephyrhills, Florida,
17 sir.
18 THE COURT: Okay.
19 MR. GEIGER: And I gave myself an hour
20 and 20 minutes and I ended up at the 49th
21 Street courthouse because I thought that's
22 where it was at.
23 THE COURT: You didn't read the paper
24 that was served on you?
25 MR. GEIGER: Yes, sir, but I'm totally
48
1 unfamiliar with St. Pete and I asked for
2 directions.
3 THE COURT: You're a process server?
4 MR. GEIGER: Yes, sir, for Hillsborough
5 County.
6 THE COURT: Okay.
7 MR. GEIGER: And I'm totally unfamiliar
8 with this area. And I went to the 49th
9 Street courthouse because in periods of time
10 as an investigator, as well, I have
11 associated myself with that courthouse.
12 It is error on my part and I apologize
13 for the lengthy time. I have no excuse
14 other than that, Your Honor.
15 THE COURT: Okay. All right. You did
16 receive the paperwork, the order to show
17 cause?
18 MR. GEIGER: Yes, sir.
19 THE COURT: Do you have an attorney to
20 represent you to that matter?
21 MR. GEIGER: No, sir.
22 THE COURT: Let he me ask you this. In
23 as much as the order to show cause against
24 the Church and Judy Ross with evidence
25 involving yourself had already been
49
1 presented, but I've also put on the record
2 that as far as you were concerned that would
3 have to be done again, but you weren't
4 present.
5 I'm going to put you at the end of the
6 line and I'll deal with you after I get
7 through everything else and because I'm
8 having to do it twice I'm still considering
9 the charge of direct criminal contempt and
10 we'll deal with that later.
11 Now, I'm continuing you and your matter
12 and it will be heard when the court can hear
13 it.
14 Now, you've been absent once. If you're
15 absent a second time I don't think there is
16 any mitigation or excuse you can come up
17 with, really. You're going to be hurting
18 real bad to come up with something. So,
19 rather than put you in the holding cell so I
20 know you're going to be here when I need
21 you, I'm telling you and I'll let you go at
22 this time, but I expect you to be ready at
23 the call of the court when I come back to
24 your case. Do you have any questions about
25 what I just said?
50
1 MR. GEIGER: No, sir, I do not.
2 THE COURT: All right. Mr. Bailiff, let
3 him sit out there with everybody else.
4 THE BAILIFF: Yes, Your Honor.
5 THE COURT: I will continue the matter
6 of the direct criminal contempt. I'll deal
7 with it later. We'll see how it goes.
8 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
9 place.)
10 All right. Let's go back. All right.
11 Now, as to the motion that was argued for
12 directed verdict, I'll hold off on that.
13 I've got that under advisement and I will
14 wait and see who that falls with all of the
15 other matters, especially if that Geiger is
16 going to have to be tried. Mr. Pope?
17 MR. POPE: Your Honor, as to Judy Ross
18 and the Church, they rest, and renew the
19 motion for judgment if acquittal.
20 THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Merritt?
21 MR. MERRETT: Yes, Your Honor, I'm
22 prepared to respond at this time.
23 THE COURT: Okay. Now, remember, I want
24 the record real clear this is as to the
25 Church of Scientology Flag Service
51
1 Organization and Judy Ross only.
2 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
3 MR. POPE: Yes, sir.
4 MR. MERRETT: May it please the Court.
5 THE COURT: Yes, sir.
6 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, the place to
7 begin, as in most things, is at the
8 beginning, and the beginning here is to the
9 extent that sheds light on the court's intent
10 in the injunction of November 30, your order
11 of December 1.
12 In response to the petitioner's first
13 motion for clarification or amendment or
14 whatever it was, but the December 1 order
15 that made the first expressed mention of
16 process servers and I think that the lesson
17 we have all learned is that we are in a
18 court where words mean something, sometimes
19 to a terrifying effect do they mean
20 something, and one of the words that the
21 court took the special pains interlineate on
22 that order of December 1 was word the I
23 believe "legally". It was either legally or
24 lawfully in the paragraph describing the
25 exception that the court was creating for
52
1 process serving, so what we begin with is
2 the fact that assuming that the intent of
3 the injunction was never to alter the law as
4 it pertains to service of process, ee have
5 to look at what service of process is.
6 The place where that starts and I'll
7 make this part of the argument brief because
8 I do not -- I cannot represent to you that
9 the record clearly establishes that there
10 was no service of anything other than the
11 injunction. I mean, I don't think that's
12 established.
13 THE COURT: Right.
14 MR. MERRETT: So where I would like to
15 start is briefly with section 48.011 Florida
16 Statute which defines process. Actually it's
17 not identified as a definition. It's the
18 second sentence that I'm looking at that says
19 that all process except subpoenas shall be
20 directed to all and singular the sheriffs of
21 the state and this is why we have what often
22 is the puzzler, the annotation at the top of
23 at summons or a writ that says to all in
24 singular the sheriff and deputy sheriffs of
25 the State of Florida because of this.
53
1 Now based on what section 48.011 says,
2 the document which is not directed to all in
3 singular to sheriffs of the state is not
4 process. Consequently, it necessarily
5 follows that the injunction, if the court
6 should find that the injunction was the only
7 document that was served by Mr. Geiger on
8 the night of the 30th, the injunction is not
9 process of court because it is not directed
10 to the sheriff.
11 Process of court is, of course, a term
12 of art. It is, you know, this is preaching
13 to the choir. This is not the legal
14 process. It's not due process.
15 It's a piece of paper, a specific type
16 and piece of paper which under section
17 48.011 must be, if it is to be processed,
18 directed to falling in singular to sheriffs
19 of the state.
20 The next place to which I would direct
21 the court's attention derives more directly
22 at the issue of legal service of process.
23 I'm directing the court's attention at this
24 time to section 48.021 Florida Statute which
25 when I was reading this it was another one
54
1 of the sections that brings home a thought
2 that just terrifies me as an attorney and
3 that is the extent to which I practice law
4 based on folklore. There are so many things
5 that we assume, that we think we know why
6 they are done.
7 If you recall there was a long period of
8 time when "The Rule" didn't exist. The Rule
9 is just the custom of the invoking the rule
10 of sequestration of witnesses. It was
11 actually relatively late grafted in the
12 Rules if Civil Procedure.
13 We all knew what it was. We all figured
14 there must be a rule, but there was an
15 interesting article in the Bar Journal a few
16 years back and found out that there really
17 wasn't one for the longest time.
18 What section 48.021 in sub paragraph one
19 provides is this. All process shall be
20 served by the sheriff of the county which
21 person to be served is found except initial
22 nonenforceable civil process may be served
23 by a special process server appointed by the
24 sheriff or by certified process server and
25 that refers you to the statute authorization
55
1 the chief judge to appoint certified process
2 servers. So, what you have is the full
3 extent of authority to special process
4 servers appointed by the sheriff and
5 certified process servers appointed by the
6 chief judge of the circuit.
7 Now, it is important to bear in mind
8 that persons who are special process servers
9 or certified process servers are not
10 authorized to serve any process of court
11 except -- I'm sorry, are not authorized to
12 serve any process except initial
13 nonenforceable civil process.
14 Now, one of the cases that I looked at
15 on this quoted Dean Trawick as holding that
16 that was an absurd locution and there is no
17 such thing as initial nonenforceable civil
18 process, but I think he has kind of a
19 different attitude toward the legislature
20 than most of us practicing lawyers do.
21 So there is a -- what process servers
22 are permitted to serve is initial
23 nonenforceable civil process and then
24 pursuant to the rule of civil procedure I
25 think it's 1.410, they're authorized to
56
1 serve subpoenas in civil cases because
2 anybody's authorized to serve a subpoena.
3 So that's where we are so far.
4 Now, I would next ask the court to
5 direct it's attention to section 48.27
6 Florida Statutes which is the statute that
7 essentially ratified what I assume would be
8 the inherent authority of the court to
9 appoint process servers because I'm sure the
10 court is aware that practice was previously
11 limited to appoint on a case-by-case
12 officials who were known as deleasors (sic).
13 THE COURT: Okay.
14 MR. MERRETT: Which were special process
15 serves appointed in a given case to serve a
16 given instrument. If you look at
17 subparagraph two of section 48.27, what that
18 provides is that when a person becomes
19 certified by the chief judge, it authorizes
20 him or her to serve initial nonenforceable
21 civil process and it's important to listen
22 here because this becomes critical, on a
23 person bound within the circuit where the
24 process server is certified when a civil
25 action has been filed against such person in
57
1 the circuit court or in a county court in the
2 state.
3 THE COURT: I'm sorry, where did you
4 read that?
5 MR. MERRETT: This is from subparagraph
6 two. This is the end of the first sentence.
7 THE COURT: Where it says authorized him
8 or her to?
9 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
10 THE COURT: Okay.
11 MR. MERRETT: To serve initial,
12 unenforceable civil process on a person found
13 within the circuit.
14 Now, the question is for Mr. Geiger and
15 Scientology is what circuit, right? What
16 circuit is the process server authorized to
17 serve process in the circuit where he is
18 certified, when? When a civil action has
19 been filed against such person in the
20 circuit court or in the county court.
21 These are the statutes that we're
22 working with when we turn to the judicial
23 gloss regarding the authority of Mr. Geiger
24 and people in his position.
25 Factually, if the court will recall
58
1 we've heard three different ways that
2 Mr. Geiger is a certified process server
3 appointed by the chief judge in the, is it
4 the Thirteenth Circuit or the Sixth Circuit?
5 THE COURT: Thirteenth is Hillsborough.
6 The Sixth Circuit is this one.
7 MR. MERRETT: So he's appointed by the
8 chief judge in the Thirteenth Circuit in
9 Hillsborough County. You remember his little
10 card that Mr. Hertzberg presented to you.
11 That raises an interesting question.
12 And the answer to the question is this. I
13 would refer to court first to -- I have no
14 idea how this name is properly pronounced.
15 It's spelled A-B-D-A-T-E, Abdate versus
16 Providence National Bank, 631 So. 2d. 312.
17 That is a Fifth District case from 1994.
18 In that case Providence National Bank
19 initiated the suit by filing in the circuit
20 court in orange county. Thereafter the bank
21 caused a summons and amended complaint to be
22 served on Mr Abdate in Palm Beach County by
23 Charles Smith was what? A certified process
24 server like Mr. Geiger certified to serve
25 process in Palm Beach, County. So the
59
1 situation here is that we have an Orange
2 County case being served in Palm Beach,
3 county by a process server who is certified
4 in Palm Beach, County. Held that -- I'm
5 turning here to the next to the last page of
6 the copy of the opinion that you have, the
7 statutory language, reading from just below
8 the last time that it says in the footnotes,
9 the statutory language indicates that a
10 certified process server may serve civil
11 process on a person found within the circuit
12 only when the action has also been filed
13 against this person in the same circuit.
14 And service of process on Mr. Adbate was
15 quashed because the case had not been filed
16 in Palm Beach, County of in the circuit that
17 includes Palm Beach, County but in Orange
18 County which was a different circuit.
19 The rule as enunciated in the statute
20 and affirmed by this case is that a process
21 server who is certified, judicially
22 certified and only authorized to serve
23 process within the jurisdiction in which he
24 is certified when the process originated
25 from the court within the jurisdiction in
60
1 which he is certified and if you look again
2 at the fourth page of the Adbate opinion
3 you'll see that it's laid out quite neatly
4 and it is on all fours with the evidence as
5 adduced in this case, that is in the second
6 and third paragraph, lawsuit was filed in
7 Orange County, the summons and complaint
8 were served in Palm Beach County by a
9 process server certified to serve in Palm
10 Beach County.
11 The situation that we have, here unless
12 I'm sadly mistaken is we've got a case that
13 was filed in Pinellas County which is not
14 part of the judicial circuit encompassing
15 Hillsborough County where Mr. Geiger is
16 appointed and authorized to serve process.
17 We have a Pinellas County case being served
18 in Hillsborough County by a Hillsborough
19 County process server, exactly like the
20 situation in the Adbate case.
21 Consequently, what Mr. Geiger was
22 attempting to go do was not within the ambit
23 of either the court's intent on the
24 December 1 order because that wasn't legal
25 service of process. They picked the wrong
61
1 process server. They should have used the
2 sheriff.
3 They should have decided and I'll come
4 back to this point again, they should have
5 made the thought that civilized human beings
6 let other people eat and waited until
7 Ms. Brooks went back in Pinellas County and
8 served her like civilized human beings do,
9 instead of taking the deliberately abusive
10 and harassing tactic that they took.
11 And in that again, I'll come back to,
12 but I want you to think about that, Judge.
13 They went far enough out of their way to
14 attempt to affect invalid service of process
15 to make sure that interrupted her at dinner.
16 Keep that in mind.
17 The next thing to which I would direct
18 the court's attention is another
19 pronunciation. Farrey's Wholesale,
20 F-A-R-R-E-Y-'-S versus Hobbies Sound
21 Industrial Park.
22 THE COURT: Thank you so much.
23 MR. MERRETT: I'm looking at the --
24 THE COURT: Just a minute. Let me catch
25 up.
62
1 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
2 THE COURT: Okay, sir.
3 MR. MERRETT: In the Farrey's Wholesale
4 case, I read here from the second paragraph
5 of the first page, says Farrey's sued Hobbies
6 Sound in Dade County Circuit Court and we
7 turn to the next page of the opinion, one,
8 two, three, like four paragraphs up from the
9 bottom, it says here the action was filed in
10 Dade County Circuit Court. The process
11 server was certified in Palm Beach in Dade
12 County and Mr. Townsen and Hobbie Sound were
13 served in Palm Beach, County. Thus the
14 service was legally defective. Again,
15 because why? Because the process server was
16 not certified and serving both in the county
17 in which the action originated. That's what
18 the statute says and that's what is laid out
19 most clearly in the Adbate case.
20 THE COURT: Now, the Farrey's case.
21 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
22 THE COURT: A suit was filed in Dade
23 County.
24 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
25 THE COURT: Okay, and then served in
63
1 Palm Beach County, again.
2 MR. MERRETT: Yes sir.
3 THE COURT: With a Palm Beach County
4 certified process server.
5 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
6 THE COURT: All right.
7 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, I think the
8 court reporter might be obliged if I gave her
9 the cite.
10 THE COURT: Oh, yeah, please sir.
11 MR. MERRETT: It's 719 So.2d. 374, Third
12 District 1998.
13 THE COURT: Thank you. Did you give her
14 the cite on that other case?
15 MR. MERRETT: I think I did.
16 THE COURT: The Adbate case.
17 MR. MERRETT: Yes, I believe I did.
18 THE COURT: Okay, good. Thank you.
19 MR. MERRETT: And, Your Honor, I don't
20 know what it is you do down here, but back in
21 Jacksonville we sometimes make fun of Fifth
22 District Court of Appeal, because they kind
23 of do seem to be the district that's most
24 inclined to make bold strokes in the
25 advancement of the law, shall we say.
64
1 They often times felt alone, but that's
2 not the case here. We just got a case from
3 the Third District and handing you one ow
4 from the First District which states as
5 succinctly as possible the principle in
6 operation here. Dickinson versus Dickinson,
7 706 So. 2d. 114 First District 1998 and the
8 last paragraph of the single page case says
9 quite succinctly, as for the second issue
10 appellant correctly states that under
11 section 48.272 Florida Statute, for service
12 by a private process server to be valid, the
13 server must be certified in the county which
14 action originated.
15 Mr. Geiger told you out of his mouth, he
16 told you in an affidavit, he told you
17 through Mr. Hertzberg who for some reason
18 has access to him but doesn't want to
19 represent him, through his identification
20 card where he's certified in Hillsborough
21 County which is not part of the circuit in
22 which the case indicates originated.
23 So that gets us is this, Your Honor.
24 The only way that someone who's hired by
25 Scientology's lawyers to walk up and stick
65
1 this in someone's face during dinner is not
2 violating your injunction is according to
3 the terms of the December 1 order if that
4 person is legally serving process.
5 Judge, whatever papers you decide were
6 in his hand it is irrefutable that the
7 process that he was seeking to effect that
8 didn't amount to legal service. He had no
9 right to serve those papers. That's what
10 the law says.
11 Now, the issue is not whether or not the
12 court has jurisdiction over Ms. Brooks. If
13 the question were did that convert
14 jurisdiction over Ms. Brooks, then this
15 would have been raised on a motion to quash.
16 That would be the issue to deal with.
17 The issue is simply whether he was
18 engaged in legal, lawful service of process
19 sufficient to take him outside of the ten
20 foot rule and the harassment rule that the
21 court imposed in the injunction on
22 November 30.
23 Point number one, that was no exception
24 for people who Scientology hired to fly
25 their false flag over service of process on
66
1 no the face of your November 30 order. That
2 didn't happen until December 1.
3 More to the point, Judge, I'll tell you
4 for the last time that the law has been
5 commended for your study that clearly
6 Mr. Geiger could not legally serve process
7 in this case in Hillsborough County, period.
8 That's what the cases say and what the
9 statute says.
10 So, we're past that exception and that's
11 really the question that has been raised by
12 the argument of counsel and the question
13 that cries out just from the case of the
14 pleading and from the evidence here is is
15 there an exception.
16 Ms. Brooks testified without reputation
17 that Mr. Geiger came and put his hand in
18 front of her. You saw him, Judge. His arms
19 are less than ten feet long.
20 We know that he violated that and we
21 also know from the evidence adduced from the
22 statements that Ms. Brooks recounted that he
23 had been specifically instructed by about
24 Scientology to go there during dinner and
25 serve them.
67
1 Now, a couple points that I want make in
2 that respect. The one that just jumps out
3 at you and I have to wonder if you're going
4 to get a newspaper article of the benevolent
5 effects of surveillance on the ground since
6 you got one about nobody should be worrying
7 about Scientology having cameras all over
8 the planet, but maybe you'll get one that
9 will justify this.
10 How did Judy Ross know they where they
11 were eating dinner? How did he know --
12 MR. POPE: Your Honor, objection. Your
13 Honor, objection. He's arguing matters that
14 are not in evidence.
15 THE COURT: Overruled.
16 MR. MERRETT: Since the statements that
17 Mr. Geiger made to Ms. Brooks were that that
18 Judy Ross had told him where to go since his
19 affidavit said he went there to find them.
20 Judy Ross was the person who related the
21 information to him, etcetera, etcetera
22 etcetera.
23 That's the question. How does this
24 outfit over here find out where people are
25 eating dinner without violating the
68
1 prohibition against harassment? How do they
2 do that, Judge? I don't think it's doable.
3 I think it tells you that indisputably
4 Scientology was engaged in surveillance of
5 these people.
6 MR. POPE: Your Honor, objection. He's
7 arguing matters -- there's not the first bit
8 of evidence that he has presented about
9 surveillance or harassment except for a
10 process server coming in and handing
11 Ms. Brooks papers at dinner. That's what the
12 evidence shows.
13 For him to be arguing harassment and
14 surveillance on this record is highly
15 improper, Your Honor.
16 THE COURT: Mr. Merrett?
17 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, the statements
18 made by Mr. Geiger were clearly to the effect
19 that there were OSA handlers, employees of
20 the Church of Scientology in the restaurant
21 with these people, that he had received
22 specific instructions to interrupt their
23 dinner from Scientology.
24 THE COURT: Proceed with your argument.
25 MR. MERRETT: Thank you. There is no
69
1 other way for him to turn up there. I mean
2 we have not heard testimony that he, himself,
3 is a Scientologist with OT powers so we know
4 that he didn't just figure this out by going
5 exterior. We know he got this information
6 from somebody in the real, three dimensional,
7 solid world who conveyed it to him and we
8 know that that person has to have been acting
9 at the direction of Scientology.
10 We also know from the statement of
11 Mr. Geiger that Scientology had OSA people
12 and it's interesting to know that
13 Mr. Hertzberg use the term of art which
14 Ms. Brooks did not. She referred them as
15 people. He referred to them as operatives.
16 Operative is probably a better word given
17 what they do. Those people were in the
18 restaurant.
19 Even if Mr. Geiger wasn't telling the
20 truth or didn't say that, you're left with
21 the inescapable question, how did they know?
22 And the fact is that the only way to find
23 out is through harassment.
24 Now, I will if, the court deems it
25 appropriate, what I'd to do since
70
1 Mr. Hertzberg brought to your attention the
2 return of service executed by Mr. Geiger or
3 read to you the name of what he referred to
4 as an attorney, I want to give Scientology
5 an opportunity to number one, show the court
6 where that attorney is of record in this
7 action and number two, maybe they can give
8 you his bar number if he's an attorney.
9 He's not an attorney, not in the State
10 of Florida. He's not a member of the
11 Florida Bar and he has not in connection
12 with this case.
13 MR. POPE: Your Honor, he's arguing --
14 MR. MERRETT: He isn't --
15 MR. POPE: Objection. He's arguing
16 stuff that is not in the record.
17 THE COURT: Okay, now, there other than
18 what you say in the record, he did present --
19 now, just wait a minute. Let me get
20 something.
21 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
22 place.)
23 Mr. Merrett?
24 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
25 THE COURT: Where is the reference to
71
1 that attorney?
2 MR. MERRETT: It's the first line of
3 the --
4 THE COURT: I see it. You're talking
5 about this document that Mr. Hertzberg called
6 my attention called return of service
7 affidavit Stacy Brooks and then up here when
8 he showed me summons and complaint and
9 Injunction Number Two and then right below if
10 you drop down under the first line that goes
11 across the page under the style it says
12 pursuant to the request of Kendrick L. Moxon,
13 M-O-X-O-N, Esquire, 1100 Cleveland Street,
14 Clearwater, Florida. Now that's the attorney
15 you're making reference to?
16 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir and I would
17 suggest to you that I would be appalled, but
18 maybe not surprised, if opposing counsel
19 wants to represent to you that Mr. Moxon is a
20 lawyer in the State of Florida or is
21 affiliated with this case, but if that's
22 their next step --
23 THE COURT: Let's wait and see --
24 MR. POPE: Your Honor --
25 THE COURT: You've raised the point at
72
1 this time and I'll give Mr. Pope a chance or
2 Mr. Hertzberg when they argue to comment.
3 MR. MERRETT: The point would be that
4 that's a matter for judicial notice who is
5 and isn't a member of Florida Bar. I'm sure
6 you've got directory in your office. It's
7 not subject to reputation or dispute.
8 The question is why is he involved? Why
9 is he the one who is directing -- he's the
10 named contact for the instructions to Ferman
11 Geiger to pursue these people to the supper
12 table and wave papers in their faces.
13 He ain't a lawyer. Wherever he's a
14 lawyer, he ain't a lawyer in this case. He
15 has no connection to this action other than
16 having been present at some of the events
17 the court has heard evidence about, he has
18 no connection to it.
19 What does that tell you, Judge?
20 Customarily when lawyers are serving
21 process, it's something that lawyers,
22 members of the Bar do.
23 We say, you know what? It's time to
24 serve Bob Minton and we prepare the papers,
25 we pick a process served or have an
73
1 assistant pick a process server and we sent
2 it out. We ordinarily don't refer it to
3 someone that's not associated with the case
4 and not an attorney in the State of Florida.
5 That tells you something about the lack
6 of good faith in the activities that took
7 place on the night of November 30.
8 Now, the argument so far as been based
9 on this. Number one, it is absolutely
10 impossible that what Mr. Geiger was up to
11 was effecting legal service of process
12 because of the rules that are laid out in
13 the statutes and case law that I gave you
14 requiring that the person be certified in
15 the county in which the action originated.
16 Second, that they necessarily,
17 regardless of what you choose to believe
18 about the details, necessarily Scientology
19 has to have been engaged in harassing
20 behavior in order to know where the woman
21 was eating.
22 I mean, that's not something that people
23 just intuitively know. We don't know what
24 that was, but there is no other way for them
25 to know that other than by following them,
74
1 or otherwise engaging in surveillance.
2 That's where we gotten so far.
3 The notion that this was part of a
4 campaign of harassment is bourne out to an
5 extraordinary degree by the fact that with
6 was all directed by a non-lawyer who os not
7 associated with this case. Not by any of
8 these lawyers. None of these guys did it.
9 It was farmed out to somebody with special
10 skills.
11 The last point that I want to bring the
12 court to is this. If you disregard all of
13 that, if you disregard the law that says
14 Ferman Geiger cannot lawfully service
15 process which originates in Pinellas County,
16 if you disregard the fact that somebody had
17 to be doing something spooky to figure out
18 where these people were eating, if you
19 disregard the fact that they associated an
20 outside person to oversee this operation
21 you're left with this point, Judge. What
22 these people are telling you is that you
23 know what? As long as we're serving
24 process, we can have Mr. Geiger serve it on
25 Ms. Brooks when she's in gynecologists
75
1 office on the table. As long as we're
2 serving process we can send a process server
3 into church on Wednesday night to serve
4 process and that's not going to violate the
5 injunction. We can send a process server
6 into the intensive care unit where someone
7 is standing next to his dying mother's bed
8 and serve process and that's not harassment.
9 That's what they're trying to tell you,
10 Judge.
11 The fact of the matter is, the conduct
12 in question, prima facie, violates the
13 injunction as it was entered on November 30
14 and the exception which has been suggested
15 to you which is the purported right to serve
16 process has not been proven because of the
17 lack of legal authority for the actions
18 undertaken and the limitation in your order
19 of December 1 to legal action in pursuit of
20 service of process.
21 That means that exemption doesn't apply
22 to Mr. Geiger and it doesn't apply to them
23 and lastly the exemption cannot no apply
24 unless the court is inviting perpetual
25 subterfuge the exception cannot apply to
76
1 behavior which while otherwise lawful is
2 specifically conducted in a way to make it
3 harassing.
4 Now, I want to make it real clear. If
5 he's telling the truth, if they're right,
6 it's going to --
7 THE COURT: I'm sorry, who is he?
8 MR. MERRETT: He, Scientology, L. Ron
9 Hubbard, them.
10 THE COURT: Okay.
11 MR. MERRETT: If they are right it's
12 going to be a hot time at the Ft. Harrison
13 because you know what, Judge, all
14 Scientologists are subject to your injunction
15 and I just believe I may get me a few process
16 servers to go in and serve everybody who's
17 eating dinner in the Ft. Harrison since
18 serving people while they're eating dinner is
19 okay according to Mr. Hertzberg since this is
20 not harassing behavior according to
21 Mr. Hertzberg.
22 The fact is, Judge, I didn't do that.
23 I'm not going to do that. You know why?
24 Number one, it's not decent. It's not
25 civilized.
77
1 Number two, it violates your injunction
2 because it's harassing people.
3 Judge, you've been on the bench a while.
4 It's my understanding you practiced law
5 before that, which is something I really
6 admire in a judge. There's awfully little
7 of it.
8 You know what's going on. This is no
9 mystery. This is just another episode of
10 perversion of the process by Scientology.
11 Now, I can quote you any time you want
12 to, I can quote a dozen appellate opinion
13 explaining that this is Scientology's deal.
14 This is what they do.
15 If there is a way to harass people, they
16 will use it. That's judicially established
17 fact over and over and over and over again.
18 You know what's going on, Judge. It's
19 clear that this was undertaken deliberately
20 to harass Ms. Brooks and their attempted
21 cloak of service of process vanishes when
22 you read the law.
23 It's clear that while Mr. Geiger is not
24 before you at present, the Church and anyone
25 acting in collusion with the Church in
78
1 setting this up is guilty. Thank you.
2 THE COURT: All right. Thank you, sir.
3 Rebuttal?
4 MR. POPE: May it Please the Court.
5 THE COURT: Yes, sir.
6 MR. POPE: Your Honor, an injunction
7 that's contained within it a prohibition
8 against the service of process would be a
9 nullity. I mean that is on its face patently
10 ridiculous that an injunction would prevent
11 the service of process.
12 What your order of December 1 did was
13 simply state what the law has always been
14 and that is that process servers are agents
15 of the court.
16 Now, if they these cases that
17 Mr. Merrett has cited to you are correct,
18 the remedy for that is to file a motion to
19 quash the process.
20 In this case they did no such thing.
21 They have waived that. If that is a defect,
22 they have waived it.
23 What they're trying to go now is
24 bootstrap a contempt charge based upon the
25 claim that the process server of
79
1 Hillsborough County, certified though he may
2 be, can't serve a Pinellas County summons
3 and complaint. Bear in mind, however, Your
4 Honor, that there were three items served on
5 Ms. Brooks. There was the temporary
6 injunction served and why was that served?
7 Because your order says that if you have
8 knowledge of the injunction and you're
9 acting in concert or participation, you're
10 bound by it. Anybody can served one of
11 those orders. You don't have to be a
12 process server. Anybody can hand somebody a
13 paper and give them notice.
14 Now, let's go back, Your Honor, and
15 recreate the situation beginning on
16 November 29, the day before you entered your
17 order of injunction.
18 You signed an order that says the clerk
19 shall upon plaintiff's request issue
20 additional summonses with respect of each of
21 the foregoing defendants and plaintiff shall
22 serve upon each of said defendants, a
23 summons, a copy of the verified, amended and
24 supplemental complaint and a copy of this
25 order.
80
1 We had every right under that order to
2 do that. That was the 29th. No injunction
3 had been issued as of that time. You
4 brought us down especially to your chambers
5 here on the afternoon of the 30th at about
6 three, two or three o'clock, and you said
7 I'm doing that now because I understand the
8 urgency the big weekend of picketing is
9 coming up. That was the time pressure.
10 That was what created time -- made time of
11 the essence with respect to this matter.
12 At the conclusion and you announced your
13 injunction in an effort to preserve peace
14 and order.
15 I had, pursuant to your order joining
16 Stacy Brooks, Jeff Jacobson, Patricia
17 Greenway, Peter Alexander and Tory Bezazian,
18 I was under an instruction here to serve
19 them. And I wanted them served right away
20 because of the urgency of the matter.
21 I wanted them served, not only with the
22 complaint, but also with a copy of the
23 injunction, so there would be no doubt that
24 they knew about it. It was an effort to
25 make sure they had fair notice.
81
1 That's what service of process is all
2 about. I will represent to the court that I
3 asked the client to do everything in its
4 power to effect service of process as soon
5 as possible.
6 Now, the record shows that the client
7 contacted a certified process company called
8 Geitzon and company in Tampa and they
9 selected Mr. Geiger to serve the process.
10 Mr. Geiger goes in and his own return
11 indicates that the way he located Ms. Brooks
12 was through the manager. He had a picture
13 of her and he located her through the
14 manager. He states that on his return and
15 he goes and serves her.
16 Now, Your Honor, let's go back to
17 basics. The case of Schrimshaw versus State
18 focuses on a contempt, a criminal contempt
19 issue and here's the standard.
20 In you present case, quoted from
21 Schrimshaw.
22 THE COURT: Did you give the cite on
23 that?
24 MR. POPE: The cite is 592 So. 2d. 753.
25 THE COURT: Where's it from?
82
1 MR. POPE: It is from the Fourth
2 District Court of Appeals, I believe. I'm
3 sorry, it's the Third District Court of
4 Appeal, but the point of the case -- there's
5 lots of cases out there that lay out what the
6 standard is a contempt matter.
7 THE COURT: What's that, about 1987?
8 MR. POPE: That would have been 1992.
9 THE COURT: '92, okay. Thank you.
10 MR. POPE: The record is devoid of any
11 evidence indicating that the Detective
12 Schrimshaw's conduct was intended or
13 reasonably calculated to degrade, embarrass
14 or hinder the judicial function.
15 Your Honor, what Mr. Geiger was trying
16 to do was assist the judicial function by
17 serving the papers on a party who had been
18 joined as a brand new defendant and who was
19 planning to engage in activities that very
20 next day touching upon the injunction.
21 That's we have here.
22 Now, as to the Church of Scientology and
23 Judy Ross, the only evidence in the record
24 is that they asked a private process company
25 in Tampa, Florida to serve process. That's
83
1 the only evidence in the record. You don't
2 convict a person on a beyond a reasonable
3 doubt standard on things like how did they
4 know, the how did they know argument that
5 Mr. Merrett made. Or they had to be engaged
6 is harassing conduct.
7 It is incumbent upon him to prove beyond
8 a reasonable doubt that they were engaged in
9 harassing conduct. The evidence just
10 doesn't support it. Thank you, Your Honor.
11 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
12 place.)
13 THE COURT: Okay. I've got this under
14 advisement. We've been going about an hour.
15 Let's take a break. We'll take ten minutes.
16 (A short recess took place after which the
17 proceedings continued.)
18 THE COURT: Let's do this. At this time
19 we'll move over into the show causes on the
20 other side and I want to do a couple things.
21 Is Tory Bezazian present today?
22 MR. MERRETT: She is, Your Honor. I
23 think she's in the ladies room. She's been
24 here all morning.
25 THE COURT: Okay. Keith Henson.
84
1 MR. MERRETT: He is not present, Your
2 Honor. Your Honor, Ms. Bezazian is now
3 physically present before the court.
4 THE COURT: Okay. Very good. Frank
5 Oliver.
6 MR. OLIVER: Right here, Your Honor.
7 THE COURT: Okay. I see you. Thank
8 you. Okay, Heather Bennett?
9 MS. BENNETT: Here, Your Honor.
10 THE COURT: Thank you. Rod Keller.
11 MR. KELLER: Here, Your Honor.
12 THE COURT: Thank you. John Merrett.
13 MR. MERRETT: Present, Your Honor.
14 THE COURT: Thank you, sir. Jesse
15 Prince. Where is he? He was here.
16 MR. MERRETT: I think he's in the men's
17 room.
18 THE COURT: I'll come back to that in
19 just a second. Grady Ward.
20 MR. WARD: Here, Your Honor.
21 THE COURT: Thank you. The Lisa
22 McPherson Trust, Inc.
23 MS. BROOKS: Here, Your Honor.
24 THE COURT: Yes, thank you. Robert
25 Minton.
85
1 MR. MINTON: Here, Your Honor.
2 THE COURT: Thank you. All right. Do
3 this. Mr. Bailiff, would you sound the halls
4 for a Frank Oliver?
5 MR. OLIVER: I'm right here, Your Honor.
6 THE COURT: I'm sorry, Keith Henson.
7 I'm sorry, Mr. Oliver, thank you. Keith
8 Henson.
9 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, I can save the
10 bailiff --
11 THE COURT: Let him -- just a minute.
12 My record. Hold on.
13 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
14 THE BAILIFF: Your Honor, the halls were
15 sounded for Keith Henson. No response to the
16 call of the court, Your Honor.
17 THE COURT: Okay. Let the record
18 reflect that it is now 1136 hours on this,
19 the 10th day of February, the year 2001 which
20 is a Saturday morning and that Keith Henson
21 did not answer the call of the court. The
22 bailiff sounded the halls in the courthouse.
23 Now, hold on, Mr. Merrett. Just a
24 second. We'll get to that. Jesse Prince,
25 are you present?
86
1 MR. PRINCE: Yes, sir.
2 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you. All
3 right. Now, Mr. Merrett, you were going to
4 say?
5 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, Mr. Henson is
6 not present and will not be present for the
7 reasons previously stated in the motion which
8 was denied and the affidavit previously filed
9 with the court regarding his inability to
10 obtain transportation transcontinentally to
11 attend the proceeding.
12 I believe we had moved, but the court
13 had not ruled on a -- moved to require the
14 Church of Scientology to advance the costs
15 of transportation since in the event an
16 acquittal would be taxable against
17 Scientology in any event.
18 THE COURT: Was there a formal written
19 motion on that?
20 MR. POPE: Your Honor --
21 MR. MERRETT: No, Your Honor. If I
22 recall correctly it was a -- it may have been
23 included in one, but I distinctly recall
24 making it as an oral motion at the conclusion
25 of the hearing in which --
87
1 THE COURT: To excuse him because he
2 couldn't afford to come?
3 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir, and as I said, I
4 don't recall whether it was included in the
5 motion, the written motion, but I know that I
6 did raise it orally at the conclusion of that
7 hearing.
8 MR. POPE: Your Honor, may I refresh the
9 court's recollection?
10 THE COURT: Yeah, please.
11 MR. POPE: Your order of February 1.
12 THE COURT: Yes, sir.
13 MR. POPE: Mr, Henson made a motion to
14 excuse personal appearance which you denied
15 without prejudice to Mr. Henson's right to
16 timely arrange for a video conference hearing
17 in which he shall appear and testify subject
18 to cross-examination with regard to his
19 desire to excuse himself from further
20 personal appearance in this matter. And you
21 arranged -- you allowed that.
22 A video conference hearing shall be
23 limited to the issue of whether Mr. Henson
24 wishes to his excuse himself from further
25 personal participation in this matter, he
88
1 was given the opportunity to do that in the
2 intervening days. He didn't do it.
3 THE COURT: Is that an order I signed?
4 MR. POPE: That is an order you signed
5 on February 1. You remember we had a --
6 THE COURT: Oh, yeah, I remember all of
7 that. I just, in that order -- okay. Let me
8 just look at it a minute. Hand me a copy.
9 MR. MERRETT: That's what it says,
10 Judge.
11 THE COURT: Okay. Let me just look. I
12 don't doubt either one of you. I'm just
13 looking for something for myself. Hold on.
14 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
15 place.)
16 MR. HERTZBERG: Paragraph eight, the
17 last page.
18 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you, sir.
19 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
20 place.)
21 All right. Mr. Merrett.
22 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
23 THE COURT: Did you or were you
24 representing Keith Henson?
25 MR. MERRETT: Yes, I was.
89
1 THE COURT: Did you forward a copy of
2 this to him?
3 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
4 THE COURT: Okay.
5 MR. MERRETT: However, for the same
6 reasons relating to his impecunious status
7 he's not able to set up a video conference.
8 I mean, that's, you not, if he had the money
9 it wouldn't be an issue.
10 MR. POPE: Your Honor, I would point out
11 that he didn't have any trouble coming here
12 to picket --
13 THE COURT: So noted. So noted. That
14 argument was made earlier and that's --
15 MR. HERTZBERG: Your Honor.
16 THE COURT: Just a minute.
17 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
18 place.)
19 THE COURT: All right. Well, just for
20 the record, based upon the bailiff sounding
21 the halls and Keith Henson not being present
22 nor do I find at this time do I have any
23 evidence or anything in front of me to
24 explain away his failure to comply with
25 paragraph eight of the court's order of the
90
1 first day of February in the year 2001 and
2 based upon the Sandstrom v. State case, which
3 is found at 390 So. 2d. 448, it's a Fourth
4 DCA case from the year 1980, that clearly and
5 unequivocally says that a defendant's failure
6 to appear in court on the day and time
7 ordered can be a basis for direct criminal
8 contempt.
9 At this time I will put on the record
10 later, but I'm treating this as a direct
11 criminal contempt and we'll deal with it
12 accordingly and I'll probably issue a
13 capias.
14 All right. Now, let me go -- I want
15 Mr. Merrett and then I will come to you,
16 Mr. Howie, but I want to double check. To
17 my knowledge Ms. Bezazian did enter a plea
18 in this matter and entered a not guilty
19 plea.
20 If I'm wrong in any of these,
21 Mr. Merrett, correct me, but I believe
22 Ms. Bezazian, Mr. Oliver, Ms. Bennett,
23 Mr. Keller, yourself, Mr. Prince, Grady
24 Ward, and the Trust all entered not guilty
25 pleas and were arraigned, am I not correct?
91
1 MR. MERRETT: I know that they were all
2 arraigned. I'm not sure who entered pleas
3 and who stood mute.
4 THE COURT: You want me to call them all
5 up or are you going to enter a not guilty for
6 all of them with the exception of Henson?
7 MR. MERRETT: What I would ask, Your
8 Honor, is that the respondents stand mute and
9 that the court deem pleas of not guilty
10 entered on their behalf which is the
11 provision under criminal rules.
12 THE COURT: Yeah, I'll treat it that
13 way. You have any objections, Mr. Pope?
14 MR. POPE: No, Your Honor.
15 THE COURT: We'll go that way. Now,
16 Mr. Howie, as to Mr. Minton.
17 MR. HOWIE: Your Honor, Mr. Minton was
18 already arraigned and a plea of not guilty
19 was entered at that time.
20 THE COURT: Okay. All right. Then
21 we're ready to proceed. And, Mr. Pope, I'll
22 come over to you and, sir, how would you like
23 to proceed?
24 MR. POPE: I'd kind of like to do it in
25 a way that would make it easy on the nonparty
92
1 witnesses.
2 THE COURT: Okay. Let's do that. I'm
3 willing to do that. Just let's --
4 MR. POPE: I'd like to start with --
5 we've got an amended and consolidated order
6 to show cause that deals with Bezazian and
7 Henson you've already resolved, and a group
8 of people including Mr. Merrett and
9 Mr. Minton.
10 I'd like to with Bezazian because there
11 are three police officer who have testimony
12 to offer on that issue and I'd like to just
13 call them and get them and have them
14 testify.
15 THE COURT: All right.
16 MR. POPE: One of the police officers
17 has testimony with respect to both of the two
18 orders to show cause and just to save
19 everybody time, when I have him on the stand
20 I'd like to cover both areas.
21 THE COURT: All right. You know where
22 we're going --
23 MR. POPE: I'll do that.
24 THE COURT: The main thing is I want
25 this record clear so that it can be followed
93
1 on each and intervested.
2 MR. POPE: All right.
3 THE COURT: All right, now, Mr. Merrett.
4 MR. MERRETT: Yes, Your Honor. We have
5 served yesterday and are filing today as soon
6 as I can dig it out, a motion to dismiss or
7 compel ori tenus, a statement of particulars
8 which complies with the court's order.
9 If you recall, we filed a motion for a
10 statement of particulars asking among other
11 things a specific portion in the injunction
12 which were alleged to be violated that they
13 be enumerated and that the conduct in
14 question which violated them be enumerated.
15 The response of Scientology was simply to
16 refer to paragraph of the injunction.
17 For example, when it says, you know,
18 what portion of the injunction if violated
19 by the conduct described in paragraph three
20 the response was paragraph one, two and
21 three of the injection was all the
22 prohibited paragraphs in the injunction and
23 essentially this response to the court's
24 order for a statement of particulars that
25 was responsive to the request was entirely
94
1 nonresponsive and was deliberately evasive
2 and left -- it made no change or narrowing
3 or increased specificity in the order to
4 show cause, so we move, Your Honor, to
5 dismiss for lack of specificity in the order
6 to show cause or to dismiss it and sanction
7 for failure to comply with the court's order
8 or alternatively to compel him to announce
9 now specifically what portions of the
10 injunction are said to have been violated by
11 each of the acts described in the order to
12 show cause.
13 THE COURT: Mr. Howie.
14 MR. HOWIE: May it Please the Court, I
15 received Mr. Merrett's written motion fairly
16 late. I think it was just yesterday and I
17 did not have an opportunity to respond or
18 join in. At this time I would join in with
19 his motion concerning the motion to compel
20 statement of particulars.
21 THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Pope.
22 MR. POPE: I haven't even seen this
23 motion yet, so it's a surprise to me. Your
24 Honor, we did not specify in the order to
25 show cause even a paragraph and when we did
95
1 this and the statement of particulars, I
2 filed what I thought was a good faith
3 response and pointed to each paragraph that
4 we contended was violated.
5 I mean the language is in the paragraph
6 and some cases it's paragraph one and two
7 and in some cases it's paragraph one, two
8 and another one.
9 You know, I'm pointing their nose right
10 at the paragraph that's involved in this
11 thing and I haven't even see this motion now
12 that he's purporting to call up for hearing.
13 I mean the notice is a little short.
14 MR. MERRETT: Judge, I'm wondering if
15 Mr. Pope would read to us for example,
16 paragraph one, and maybe explain to the court
17 how that specifies what violation is alleged
18 to have been caused by any of the behavior
19 since there are three specific prohibitions
20 in paragraph one.
21 That's my point. He didn't tell us
22 anything.
23 THE COURT: Mr. Pope, you want to
24 respond to this?
25 MR. POPE: Your Honor, the order to show
96
1 cause sets forth the facts that we contend
2 constitute a violation.
3 THE COURT: And you are standing on all
4 of them, paragraphs one, two, three, four,
5 five, six, etcetera.
6 MR. POPE: Absolutely.
7 THE COURT: Let's proceed.
8 MR. POPE: All right.
9 MR. MERRETT: Judge, if I may, I need to
10 make this clear for the court if not for the
11 record, what Mr. Pope is apparently
12 representing to you is that Ms. Bezazian
13 sitting in the Santa Claus chair was putting
14 her within ten feet of a member of the
15 Church, blocked a path of a member or motor
16 vehicle of a member of the Church and
17 physically inhibited a church member from
18 enter or leaving property owned and operated
19 by the Church.
20 That's what he's telling us and that is
21 insufficient and obvious that he knew that.
22 That's what he's saying in each of these
23 allegation that every act that he
24 alleges -- he's alleging for example that
25 climbing up the ladder and looking at the
97
1 camera, did it put us within ten feet, did
2 it block a path of a member of Scientology,
3 did it physically inhibit them, did it
4 harass a member of the Church. That's what
5 he's saying and that patent nonsense. That
6 is not a statement of particulars in
7 compliance with the court's order.
8 Essentially, the statement of
9 particulars says read the injunction,
10 however, the injunction is multifarious
11 paragraph by paragraph in its prohibition
12 and consequently that does not apprise the
13 defendant of the conduct which is charged.
14 MR. POPE: We allege facts instead of
15 legal conclusions. The facts either fit
16 within the terms of the injunction or they
17 don't. If sitting in the Santa Claus chair
18 is not a violation of the injunction, he's
19 certainly free to argue that and compare it
20 to the injunction.
21 I cited him to each paragraph. His
22 motion says what provision of Temporary
23 Injunction Two said that it had been
24 violated. I said in paragraph one, two and
25 eleven. That tells those are the
98
1 provisions. I didn't do it on a
2 word-by-word basis. You broke it out into
3 paragraphs and I responded thusly.
4 MR. MERRETT: Again, Your Honor, if
5 Mr. Pope is proceeding in good faith, he can
6 stand back up and he can tell you without a
7 moments hesitation exactly what prohibition
8 was violated by Ms. Bezazian committing
9 grievous acts by sitting in Scientology's
10 Santa chair. I mean it's not a complex
11 procedure. He drafted the charge.
12 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
13 place.)
14 THE COURT: All right. After looking at
15 the order to show cause injunction and the
16 statement of particulars, there is enough to
17 go on there. We'll see where it goes. Let's
18 proceed.
19 MR. POPE: Call the first witness, Your
20 Honor?
21 THE COURT: You may, sir.
22 MR. POPE: Officer Butterfield. Your
23 Honor, this relates to the amended and
24 consolidated order to show cause specifically
25 relating to Tory Bezazian.
99
1 Thereupon:
2 JAMES BUTTERFIELD
3 was called as a witness and having been duly sworn, was
4 examined and testified as follows:
5 DIRECT EXAMINATION
6 BY MR. POPE:
7 Q Would you tell us your full name, Officer
8 Butterfield?
9 A James Robert Butterfield.
10 Q And your occupations?
11 A Police officer for the City of Clearwater.
12 Q How long have you had that position?
13 A About a year-and-a-half, sir.
14 Q All right. I want to bring your
15 attention -- before I bring your attention to that,
16 are you familiar with what is known as Injunction
17 Number Two in this proceeding?
18 A Yes, I am.
19 Q How is that you're familiar with that?
20 A I have briefly reviewed the document itself.
21 Q Was a copy provided to you by the police
22 department?
23 A No, a copy was provided to me by the Church
24 of Scientology on the days that I worked there.
25 Q Okay. And on, specifically on December 1,
100
1 2000, did you have an opportunity to have discussions
2 about this injunction and its terms with Ms. Bezazian?
3 A Yes.
4 Q Would you tell us how often you spoke to her
5 about it on that day?
6 A Approximately five times.
7 Q All right. Would you just walk us through
8 if you can remember what the nature of your discussion
9 and her response was as to each of those episodes?
10 A When I showed up for work that day --
11 MR. MERRETT: Judge, I'd ask at this
12 point for permission to examine the document
13 to which the witness refers to while
14 testifying.
15 THE COURT: Come forward.
16 (Whereupon, documents were reviewed.)
17 (Discussion was had off the record.)
18 MR. MERRETT: I would just, Your Honor,
19 that in accordance with accepted practice and
20 the evidence code, the witness be instructed
21 to refrain from reviewing the document unless
22 predicate is laid regarding lack of
23 recollection or there is an attempt to move
24 it into evidence. Witnesses are to testify
25 from their own recollection.
101
1 THE COURT: All right. Mr. Pope.
2 MR. POPE: Your Honor, may I return this
3 to the witness?
4 THE COURT: You may, please, sir.
5 MR. MERRETT: Judge, I ask that it be
6 placed on the clerk's table unless and until
7 there is some legitimate reason for the
8 witness to be --
9 THE COURT: Mr. Pope, lay a predicate.
10 MR. POPE: Your Honor, I wasn't going to
11 ask him any question about it. He brought
12 it. I didn't ask him --
13 THE COURT: All right.
14 MR. POPE: Put it face down and we'll go
15 from there.
16 THE COURT: Thank you.
17 BY MR. POPE:
18 Q Now, we were on the subject of your five
19 different encounters with Ms. Bezazian, would you
20 start and tell us about the first one?
21 A If I can give you a little history before
22 that?
23 MR. MERRETT: Objection. Nonresponsive.
24 BY MR. POPE:
25 Q Please give us some history then in leading
102
1 up to the question just asked you.
2 MR. MERRETT: Objection. Calls for a
3 narrative, relevance.
4 THE COURT: You may proceed. Thank you
5 very much.
6 THE WITNESS: I showed up for work at
7 the Church of Scientology for detail that day
8 about one minute before the start of my
9 shift.
10 I was given that document. I quickly
11 reviewed the document with some of the other
12 members of the Church of Scientology who
13 showed me what the high points were and
14 which maps we would refer to the given area
15 that I was working at.
16 At that exact moment in time, so I'm
17 told., at the --
18 MR. MERRETT: Objection. Hearsay,
19 competence.
20 THE COURT: As to hearsay, sustained.
21 BY MR. POPE:
22 Q Don't tell us what anyone told you. Just
23 tell us what happened at that exact moment in time.
24 A They were having a meeting at the --
25 MR. MERRETT: Objection. Competence.
103
1 The witness has no personal knowledge of
2 this.
3 BY MR. POPE:
4 Q All right. Just move on.
5 A I quickly read the document and reviewed the
6 map and went to my assigned post.
7 Q Which was where; you're assigned post?
8 A If I could look at the map I could tell you
9 which building it is. It's the Church of Scientology
10 building on Cleveland Street on the south side,
11 whatever that building number is.
12 Q All right.
13 A There were several protesters walking around
14 at that time. One of them was Tory. Since I had not
15 had much time to review the map or the document, every
16 time I interacted with them or thought they were doing
17 something inappropriate, I would walk over to them and
18 say, hey, I don't understand this document any better
19 than you because I just received it a minute ago.
20 Let's review it together, so every single time we
21 looked at the map together and we looked at the
22 narrative together to figure out what was being done,
23 if it was right or wrong and exactly what the map said
24 or showed that it should or should not be. So, in the
25 several instances where Tory was where she should not
104
1 have been, we would look --
2 MR. MERRETT: I'm going to object.
3 Legal conclusion.
4 THE COURT: Overruled. Proceed.
5 THE WITNESS: We would look at the map,
6 decide if she should or should not be
7 protesting in that area. Every single time
8 we came to a mutual agreement whether she
9 should or should not be there and I
10 instructed her to adhere to the agreement,
11 which she did in every case except for one
12 time.
13 BY MR. POPE:
14 Q Tell us about that one time?
15 A If I -- on this building on Cleveland Street
16 on the south side, on the south side of that building
17 there is a parking lot. To the east of that parking
18 lot is the area in question.
19 There is a side street there. I don't
20 believe the side street has an actual name to it.
21 She was standing in front of the entrance
22 way to the parking lot. According to go the map the
23 property line seems to go through or into the next
24 building that's not owned I believe by the Church of
25 Scientology. So she was standing extremely close or
105
1 on the border.
2 She had her sign up at one time. She was
3 yelling chants of some sort as the cars or buses or
4 people walking by. I approached her, showed her the
5 map. We agreed that she could not be legally
6 protesting there.
7 I instructed her she had to turn her sign
8 upside down and yet she could be there, she just
9 couldn't protest there, so she would stand there with
10 her sign upside down.
11 She stayed for several minutes, maybe 15 to
12 20 minutes and there was one time another member of
13 the Church of Scientology walked over to me a said
14 she's got her sign up and she did have her sign up.
15 MR. MERRETT: I object. Move to strike
16 and ask counsel take charge of the witness
17 rather that inducing a narrative. Move to
18 strike statements of this other Scientologist
19 and again ask that counsel take charge of the
20 witness.
21 MR. POPE: I'll agree --
22 THE WITNESS: I did see --
23 THE COURT: Hold on just a minute. Give
24 Mr. Pope a chance.
25 MR. POPE: I agree that his statement
106
1 about what the Scientologist said is
2 inadmissible.
3 THE COURT: Okay. Rephrase your
4 question.
5 BY MR. POPE:
6 Q Just go ahead and explain what you did and
7 what she did without reference to with the
8 Scientologist said.
9 A I visually witnessed her with the sign or
10 saw her with the sign up and chanting or yelling at
11 the buses. I walked over to her and said you can't do
12 that. We, I believe, we reviewed the map again and
13 the narrative and she stopped.
14 MR. POPE: All right. I have no further
15 questions for this witness.
16 THE COURT: You may inquire,
17 Mr. Merrett.
18 CROSS-EXAMINATION
19 BY MR. MERRETT:
20 Q Was that the first time you worked a detail
21 for the Church of Scientology?
22 A No, sir.
23 Q Was is the last time?
24 A No, I think I've done it once since then.
25 Q Can you tell the court how much money
107
1 Scientology has paid you since you've been working
2 with them?
3 A I believe it's around $21 an hour.
4 Q Okay. How much total?
5 A I did receive the W-2 the other day, but I
6 did not look at it. If I had to take a guess I would
7 saw between on and two thousand.
8 Q Okay.
9 A I would guess 1400 for the year.
10 Q And at what rate are you being compensated
11 for your presence here today?
12 A The standard overtime rate which I believe
13 is $21 an hour.
14 Q So you're here testifying to the facts that
15 you observed for the fee of $21 an hour; is that
16 correct?
17 A As is true with all times that I have
18 testified, yes.
19 Q And that is being paid by whom?
20 A At this moment in the time, the City of
21 Clearwater.
22 Q Now, on the date of the event that you just
23 discussed, your compensation was being paid by the
24 Church of Scientology, correct?
25 A Correct.
108
1 Q Now, the building that you referred to, is
2 that the what is sometimes known as the Coachman
3 Building?
4 A It could be, sir.
5 Q Okay.
6 A I don't usually work that area of the city.
7 Q Is this the one at the -- let's see, what
8 would that be, the southeast corner of Cleveland and
9 Ft. Harrison?
10 A Yes, sir.
11 Q And where you're talking about Ms. Bezazian
12 being is on the street or the sidewalk on the street
13 which is south of the parking lot behind that
14 building, right?
15 A Yep.
16 Q Okay. Where?
17 A It would be the alleyway. I don't believe
18 it has a name and it doesn't have a sidewalk, to the
19 east of that building.
20 Q So this is the alleyway that cuts through to
21 that, what is that, Garden?
22 A It could be. Can I refer to the map?
23 MR. MERRETT: Actually, I'm looking for
24 a copy of it, but you're welcome to.
25 THE COURT: Here it is right here.
109
1 That's is.
2 THE WITNESS: Yes. It's the alleyway
3 between Cleveland Street and Park Street.
4 BY MR. MERRETT:
5 Q Hang on a second. The alleyway between
6 Cleveland and where?
7 A Park Street, sir.
8 Q Okay. So this is running down the east side
9 of the building, right?
10 A Correct.
11 Q Now, if I understood your testimony
12 correctly, you didn't know any more about the
13 injunction than the protesters, did you?
14 A I'm sorry, what?
15 Q You didn't know any more about the
16 injunction than the protesters did, right? I mean, it
17 was news to you?
18 A I don't know what they knew. I only knew
19 what I had strictly reviewed in the document.
20 Q Well, didn't you just tell us that you told
21 them you didn't know any more about it than they did?
22 A That was a friendly statement on my part to
23 enhance our chance of communication. I don't know
24 what their personal knowledge of this document is.
25 Q But you were telling the truth, weren't you?
110
1 A I don't know. I believe I was.
2 Q Okay. So your knowledge of the injunction
3 was limited at best at that point, correct?
4 A It was limited did.
5 Q Okay. Now, who were these Scientologists
6 that delivered a copy of the injunction to you and who
7 explained to you where you were suppose to be watching
8 for?
9 A There were three of them. I only knew one
10 by name which was Tony. The other two I'd never met
11 before.
12 Q Tony what?
13 A I don't know Tony's last name.
14 Q Okay. Are any of those people in court
15 today?
16 A Tony is, yes.
17 Q Can you point him out by where he's sitting
18 and what he's wearing?
19 A I believe he's outside in the hallway.
20 Q Okay. You don't know his last name?
21 A No, sir.
22 Q Okay. Now, when you asked her to turn her
23 sign upside down she complied, right?
24 A Yes, sir.
25 Q Okay. And then after that I guess what I'd
111
1 like for you to do is -- may I approach the witness,
2 Your Honor?
3 A You may, sir.
4 Q You can compare this to the one that you
5 have there. I think that's the same map?
6 A Yes, it is.
7 Q That shows the Coachman Building?
8 A Yes, sir.
9 Q Can you mark on there in fact where she was
10 when you went to her the second time?
11 A Yes.
12 Q If you would please?
13 A If I could have a pencil, please?
14 MR. MERRETT: If I could approach again?
15 THE COURT: Come on. Yes, sir.
16 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
17 BY MR. MERRETT:
18 Q If you could just put an X wherever that
19 was?
20 A Yes, sir.
21 Q And when you went to her the second time and
22 she complied with your request?
23 A Yes.
24 Q What is it that you saw her doing at that
25 time?
112
1 A She had her sign in the upright position and
2 she was saying things to the passing by buses.
3 Q Where were the buses passing by?
4 A One of two places. They were either coming
5 out of the parking lot or they were actually driving
6 down the alley.
7 Q Okay. What was she saying to them?
8 A I don't recall at this time. I can tell you
9 that tit was nothing vulgar or gross. She was kind of
10 saying it in something louder than a talking voice,
11 she wasn't screaming, but it certainly audible from
12 probably 50 feet away.
13 Q If you would please, can tell us that just
14 what time of day this was?
15 A Daytime, maybe between noon and oneish.
16 MR. MERRETT: Okay. I have nothing
17 further of this witness.
18 MR. POPE: Your Honor, may I examine the
19 X mark that was put on the --
20 THE COURT: Come forward.
21 (Whereupon, documents were reviewed.)
22 MR. MERRETT: I would tender it into
23 evidence but I don't want to lose it until
24 the end of the trial.
25 MR. POPE: I just want the court to see
113
1 it, Your Honor.
2 MR. MERRETT: I don't have any objection
3 to that.
4 (Whereupon, documents were reviewed.)
5 THE COURT: You want to tender it now?
6 It's your call.
7 MR. MERRETT: No, sir. I will hang on
8 to it and if somebody wants it.
9 THE COURT: We'll mark for ID purposed,
10 though.
11 MR. MERRETT: Okay.
12 THE COURT: So we know what we're
13 talking about. This is called -- I'm going
14 to call you Defendant Number One.
15 MR. MERRETT: That's by no means the
16 worst thing I've been called even recently.
17 THE COURT: Let's see, number one for
18 ID.
19 MR. MERRETT: May I approach counsel?
20 THE COURT: Come forward.
21 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
22 BY MR. POPE:
23 Q Officer, where you put the X here is where
24 she was standing on which event of the five encounters
25 that you had with her?
114
1 A It was probably three and four.
2 Q You said that the last one was the one that
3 you had difficulty getting her to comply with?
4 A The fourth one was one or the third and
5 fourth one was the one that was difficult to get her
6 to comply with.
7 Q And the X is where that occurred?
8 A Yes, sir.
9 MR. POPE: Thank you.
10 MR. MERRETT: Judge, I ask the court to
11 notice there is one thing I forget to ask.
12 THE COURT: You may. Go ahead.
13 RECROSS-EXAMINATION
14 BY MR. MERRETT:
15 Q Who made the annotations and marks on your
16 copy of the injunction where it says like Lisa
17 McPherson Trust and has parts underlined and things
18 like that?
19 A I did to refresh my memory for today's
20 activities.
21 MR. MERRETT: All right. Thank you,
22 officer.
23 MR. POPE: Nothing further.
24 MR. HOWIE: May it Please the Court if I
25 could --
115
1 THE COURT: Mr. Howie, I'm sorry, I
2 didn't mean to cut you out of this. You may.
3 CROSS-EXAMINATION
4 BY MR. HOWIE:
5 Q Officer Butterfield, the picket sign that
6 you described held by Tory Bezazian, was this a
7 standard picket sign on a small picket or a stick?
8 A Yes.
9 Q All right. And when you instructed her to
10 turn the sign upside down, she complied with that?
11 A Yes.
12 Q And your purpose in having her turn the sign
13 upside down was so that by doing so she was not
14 protesting in the location where she was standing; is
15 that correct?
16 A My understanding of what they considered a
17 protest to be, if you hold the sign upside down she's
18 not protesting, so, yes.
19 Q And this was your understanding of the
20 purpose of the injunction after you had discussions
21 with members of the Church of Scientology?
22 A And after reading the documents, yes.
23 Q Okay. And as a result of both those things,
24 that was your own interpretation of this injunction?
25 A Correct.
116
1 MR. HOWIE: Thank you. No further
2 questions.
3 THE COURT: Mr. Pope?
4 MR. POPE: No further questions, Your
5 Honor.
6 THE COURT: Mr. Merrett?
7 MR. MERRETT: None, Your Honor.
8 THE COURT: May we excuse the officer?
9 MR. POPE: He may be as far as I'm
10 concerned.
11 MR. MERRETT: Yes, for our part.
12 MR. HOWIE: Yes, sir.
13 THE COURT: Sir. thank you. You're free
14 to go. Thank you very much. Mr. Pope, call
15 your next witness.
16 MR. POPE: Officer Linda Stverak.
17 Thereupon:
18 LINDA STVERAK
19 was called as a witness and having been duly sworn, was
20 examined and testified as follows:
21 DIRECT EXAMINATION
22 BY MR. POPE:
23 Q Ma'am, please state your name?
24 A Linda Joyce Stverak.
25 Q What is your occupation?
117
1 A Police officer with the City of Clearwater.
2 Q How long have you been a police officer?
3 A Almost 12 years.
4 Q I note you brought what appears to be a copy
5 of the injunction. I'd like to ask you, just don't
6 refer to it for the time being unless you need to for
7 your testimony?
8 A Yes, sir.
9 Q I want to call your attention to the date of
10 December 7, 2000?
11 A Yes, sir.
12 Q And ask you if you, while you were
13 performing your duties as a police officer had
14 exchanges with Tory Bezazian?
15 A I did.
16 Q And would you tell us about the first of
17 those?
18 A During the shift Officer Butterfield had
19 spoken to Tory.
20 MR. MERRETT: Objection. Competence.
21 BY MR. POPE:
22 Q Don't tell us what Officer Butterfield did,
23 just tell what you did.
24 A I stood by and listened.
25 Q Oh, you were present?
118
1 A Yes.
2 Q When Officer Butterfield spoke to her?
3 A I was.
4 Q Okay. And what did you do thereafter? Was
5 this on the December 7?
6 A I believe so.
7 Q All right. What did you do?
8 A I just hung out and listened to the
9 conversation.
10 Q I'm sorry. Did you discuss any of these
11 matters with Tory Bezazian on December 7, yourself?
12 A Yes, I did.
13 Q Tell us your discussion with her.
14 A Okay. Later on during my shift, Tory had
15 walked in front of the Clearwater Building with a
16 couple of picket signs in her hand. They were in the
17 upright position. She was walking from the building
18 which was an area which was covered under the
19 injunction as a place that she could not walk.
20 Q What did you do when you saw that?
21 A I made contact with her, spoke to for a few
22 minutes, asked her to not do that anymore and if she
23 was going to walk through the sidewalk area she needed
24 to put the signs in a downward motion and not upright,
25 because as an upright motion it appeared to me that
119
1 she was picketing.
2 Q All right. And what was her response to
3 that?
4 A She said okay.
5 Q All right. Did she comply with your
6 request?
7 A She did.
8 Q And did you have any additional encounters
9 with her on December 7?
10 A No, sir.
11 MR. POPE: All right. No further
12 questions.
13 THE COURT: You may inquire,
14 Mr. Merrett.
15 CROSS-EXAMINATION
16 BY MR. MERRETT:
17 Q The events that you've testified to occur on
18 December 7; is that right?
19 A I believe that was the date.
20 Q What is your regular assignment?
21 A I'm a patrol officer. I was working
22 midnight shift.
23 Q I'm sorry, you work midnights?
24 A Yes, sir.
25 Q Okay. And I assume then that these events
120
1 in seventh occurred during the day?
2 A Yes, it did.
3 Q You would have been working an off-duty job?
4 A That's correct.
5 Q And that was, your compensation was provided
6 by the Church of Scientology; is that correct?
7 A My compensation is given to us by the City
8 of Clearwater, but the Church pays the City of
9 Clearwater.
10 Q $21 an hour or thereabouts?
11 A I believe it's $23.50.
12 Q Okay. And was December 7 the first time
13 that you worked for the Church?
14 A No. I worked the Church several times last
15 year and I've already worked several times this year.
16 Q What's the total amount that has been paid
17 to you for working for the Church?
18 A This year I couldn't tell you yet, but last
19 year it was 1600-some odd dollars.
20 Q And you are not presently assigned to the
21 detective division; is that correct?
22 A I am not.
23 Q And why is it that you're not in uniform
24 today?
25 A I'm off duty. I'm not required to wear a
121
1 uniform to court.
2 Q Okay. And how are you being compensated for
3 your appearance here today?
4 A City of Clearwater.
5 Q Any reimbursement from the Church of
6 Scientology?
7 A A mileage fee of $20.
8 Q Now, you said at one point in your direct
9 testimony that you saw Ms. Bezazian passing I guess on
10 the Cleveland Avenue side of the Clearwater Bank
11 Building; is that right?
12 A The Ft. Harrison side.
13 Q Okay. What direction was she headed?
14 A In a south direction on the east side of the
15 roadway.
16 Q So she was between the Trust and the
17 Ft. Harrison Hotel?
18 A Yes.
19 Q On the Trust side of Ft. Harrison, right?
20 A Yes.
21 Q Okay. And was she in transit; was she
22 moving up until the time that you asked to speak to
23 her?
24 A Absolutely.
25 Q At any time she could have turned around and
122
1 headed back or walked a loop on the sidewalk, right?
2 A Absolutely.
3 Q Okay. But she didn't to that, right?
4 A Nope.
5 Q She was in continuous transit from the
6 direction of the Trust. Could I approach, Your Honor?
7 THE COURT: I'll just look at that
8 exhibit that you had.
9 MR. MERRETT: I can give it back to you.
10 THE COURT: I'm just trying to follow
11 her testimony, that's all.
12 MR. MERRETT: I don't think that's on
13 the map, but maybe it is.
14 THE WITNESS: I have a copy of the map,
15 Judge.
16 THE COURT: Well, we've got one we're
17 using. Just a minute and let me see if I can
18 get that one and sort of make it because the
19 Bank of Clearwater is on there and the
20 Ft. Harrison on there, I think. Let's see
21 what she IDs.
22 MR. MERRETT: If you can pass it over
23 her?
24 THE COURT: Yeah, here. There is an X
25 on there, but you called it the Clearwater
123
1 Building. Whare are you referring to?
2 THE WITNESS: It's this one right here,
3 sir.
4 THE COURT: Show me?
5 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. This is
6 Cleveland Street here.
7 THE COURT: Right.
8 THE WITNESS: And this is Ft. Harrison.
9 THE COURT: Right.
10 THE WITNESS: And she was walking in
11 that area.
12 THE COURT: Okay. Let the record
13 reflect that she showed me the building
14 that's called the Clearwater Building on this
15 map and she pointed to the general area on
16 the -- headed south. Well, actually it's on
17 the northeast corner of Cleveland and
18 Ft. Harrison intersection. And she pointed
19 the general area of headed south on the
20 south -- well, that northeast corner about
21 maybe 20 feet north of the corner of the
22 building.
23 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
24 THE COURT: Do you mind if I ask her to
25 put an X there?
124
1 MR. MERRETT: No, that would be fine,
2 Your Honor. I gave her a pen, I think, or
3 somebody did.
4 THE COURT: Just put an X there and I'll
5 put a yellow arrow there where she indicated.
6 Can you put your initials there?
7 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
8 THE COURT: Thank you very much.
9 Mr. Pope, did you want to look at that?
10 MR. POPE: That's fine. I'm all right.
11 Thank you.
12 THE COURT: Okay.
13 BY MR. MERRETT:
14 Q Officer, we were talking about what you had
15 done and I believe your testimony was she was in
16 transit continuously moving south along Ft. Harrison
17 Avenue, correct?
18 A That's correct, sir.
19 Q And when she stopped, was it when you told
20 her you needed to speak to her or however you
21 approached her, right?
22 A That's correct, sir.
23 Q Okay. Now, in your direct testimony you
24 mentioned at one point there being an area or areas
25 indicated on the map where she could not walk. There
125
1 is not any areas on the map that people can't walk,
2 are there?
3 A Picket, I'm sorry.
4 Q So, the issue is not where she was walking
5 as far as you're concerned and as far as you were
6 concerned back on December 7. The issue is where she
7 was picketing, right?
8 A That's correct.
9 Q Okay. And you asked her to put her sign
10 down and she did?
11 A Yes, sir.
12 Q Okay. And did she then continue on south
13 along Ft. Harrison or where did she go?
14 A She did.
15 THE COURT: Okay.
16 MR. MERRETT: I don't believe I have
17 anything further.
18 THE COURT: Okay. Let's do this.
19 Mr. Howie, do you want to go next?
20 MR. HOWIE: Yes, and I just have a few
21 questions.
22 THE COURT: Go ahead.
23 CROSS-EXAMINATION
24 BY MR. HOWIE:
25 Q Officer, when you had this encounter with
126
1 Tory Bezazian, you were in uniform, correct?
2 A Yes, sir.
3 Q And you observed that Officer Butterfield
4 was also in uniform when we had his discussion with
5 her, correct?
6 A Correct.
7 Q And in your discussions with Tory Bezazian
8 you indicated to her that there was no problem with
9 her being where she was as long as she turned her
10 picket signs down; is that correct?
11 A What I told her was if she going to continue
12 down the street with the picket signs she would have
13 to turn them upside down.
14 MR. HOWIE: Thank you very much.
15 THE COURT: Yes, sir. Mr. Pope?
16 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
17 BY MR. POPE:
18 Q I don't have any further questions. Oh, I
19 do have one question. Did you prepare a report of
20 this incident?
21 A I did, sir.
22 MR. POPE: Thank you.
23 THE COURT: Anything else? Can we
24 excuse the officer?
25 MR. POPE: Sure.
127
1 THE COURT: Officer, thank you coming in
2 and testifying. You're free to leave. Thank
3 you.
4 MR. POPE: Officer Harbert will be our
5 next witness.
6 THE COURT: Okay.
7 MR. POPE: Your Honor, while they're
8 calling Officer Harbert I'd like to offer
9 into evidence a certified copy of her police
10 report.
11 THE COURT: Any objection?
12 MR. MERRETT: Yes, Your Honor.
13 THE COURT: Tell me.
14 MR. MERRETT: Hearsay.
15 MR. HOWIE: I would join in the
16 objection, Your Honor.
17 MR. MERRETT: In case we've missed the
18 point that the court's made the last time we
19 were here, this is a criminal proceeding.
20 THE COURT: Uh-huh. Mr. Pope.
21 MR. POPE: Your Honor, it is an official
22 record certified by the police. It's
23 admissible under the Florida Evidence Code.
24 It's an official record of a government
25 agency.
128
1 (Whereupon, a pause in the proceedings took
2 place.)
3 THE COURT: Mr. Merrett, do you have a
4 case to cite me?
5 MR. MERRETT: No, Your Honor. What I
6 would like to do is tell you what my copy of
7 the evidence code says.
8 THE COURT: Please proceed.
9 MR. MERRETT: That's section 90.303(8).
10 THE COURT: Hold on. Let me catch you.
11 All right. I'm with you, sir.
12 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir. It says here
13 records, reports, statements reduced to
14 writing or data compilations in any form of
15 public offices or agencies setting forth the
16 activities, etcetera, or matters observed
17 pursuant to a duty imposed by law as to
18 matters which there was duties to report
19 excluding in criminal cases matters observed
20 by a police officer or other law enforcement
21 personnel are admissible under the public
22 records exception of the hearsay rule and I
23 mean there is another evidence code book
24 around out there but that's what mine says.
25 THE COURT: Mr. Pope, sir.
129
1 MR. POPE: I have nothing further to
2 add, Your Honor.
3 THE COURT: Okay. The objection is
4 sustained. Call your next witness.
5 MR. POPE: Officer Harbert.
6 Thereupon:
7 LARRY HARBERT
8 was called as a witness and having been duly sworn, was
9 examined and testified as follows:
10 DIRECT EXAMINATION
11 BY MR. POPE:
12 Q Tell us your name, please, sir?
13 A Larry Harbert.
14 Q And your address?
15 A 645 Pierce Street.
16 Q And your occupation?
17 A Police officer.
18 Q You've been a police officer for how long?
19 A Going on 11 years.
20 Q With what city?
21 A City of Clearwater.
22 Q I want to call your attention to the date of
23 December 8, 2000 and ask you if on that date you had
24 any contact with Tory Bezazian?
25 A Yes, I did.
130
1 Q And would you tell us about the first
2 contact you had with her?
3 A I was advised by the security for the Church
4 that Tory and believe it was Patricia Greenway were in
5 the area of the Santa chair taking turns sitting in
6 the chair, which was located in front of the 500
7 Building on Cleveland Street.
8 Q What action. if any. did you take?
9 A I spoke with them and told them based on my
10 interpretation of the injunction that they possibly
11 could be in violation and told them they needed to
12 discontinue the action and that I would be writing a
13 report on what had happened.
14 Q What response did you get from them?
15 A I was told basically that it's
16 Christmastime, it is a Christmas parade and that they
17 were just in the Christmas spirit of taking pictures
18 sitting in the chair.
19 Q Did they comply with your request?
20 A They left after I told them it would be best
21 based on circumstances of the violation of the
22 injunction possibly so they did leave.
23 Q Did you have any other encounters with
24 either one of them on that day?
25 A Earlier in the day Tory was by the -- there
131
1 was a camera that's adjacent to the properties at the
2 end of 500 at the north side of Waterson and she was
3 by the camera and had some kind of pole waving it in
4 front of the camera and we went up myself and I
5 believe it was Officer --
6 MR. MERRETT: I'm going to object at
7 that point and move to strike for relevance.
8 I'm sure counsel can refer to the section of
9 the order to show cause that deals with this
10 incident if it's relevant.
11 MR. POPE: I haven't heard enough of the
12 testimony to know yet, Your Honor. I'm sure
13 the court can disregard it if it turns out
14 that it's not pertinent to the order to show
15 cause.
16 MR. MERRETT: Judge, I hate to be a
17 pill, but customarily when people practice
18 law, they kind of have an idea of what
19 evidence we're going to present and we don't
20 make others people --
21 THE COURT: Attorneys, approach the
22 bench.
23 (Thereupon, the following proceedings were
24 had out of the presence of the audience:)
25 THE COURT: Gentlemen, I have the
132
1 injunction in front of me. He said that he's
2 relying on the injunction on the he, listed
3 paragraph, the part of the injunction.
4 Now, let me do something just a minute.
5 Okay, you said Ms. Bezazian violated
6 paragraph one, two and eleven. I note that
7 last sentence says that are enjoined from
8 any criminal acts of harassment, violence in
9 may fall under that.
10 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, if I may, the
11 issue is not where it falls in the statement
12 of particulars or anything else. The issue
13 is what acts are charged according to the
14 order to show cause which occurred involving
15 camera on December 8. This is like charging
16 a breach of the peace that occurred on June 5
17 in Clearwater and then coming in and wanting
18 to put on all this evidence about somebody
19 drinking a beer in a park in St. Petersburg
20 on June 12.
21 There is nothing in the order to show
22 cause that deals with the incident this
23 officer is about to describe and counsel
24 knows that.
25 MR. POPE: Your Honor, the respondent's
133
1 state of mind and the attitude toward this
2 injunction and complying with it is if this
3 is a willful violation is at issue in this
4 matter and any incident that shows that that
5 state of mind is pertinent.
6 MR. HOWIE: Your Honor, if I may?
7 THE COURT: Yes, sir.
8 MR. HOWIE: It seems to be a violation
9 of another provision 90.404(2)(b) of the
10 Florida Statutes.
11 THE COURT: 90 what?
12 MR. HOWIE: 90.404(2)(b) of the Florida
13 Statutes.
14 THE COURT: 90.404(2)(b)?
15 MR. HOWIE: Yes, sir. No notice was
16 provided to us concerning the use of this
17 matter to show state of mind or any other
18 matter. We would object on both the grounds
19 of relevance and violation of notice.
20 MR. MERRETT: And I would joint in that.
21 I think that's the Williams Rule, Judge.
22 MR. HOWIE: I would add that there is no
23 notice in the motion for the order to show
24 cause or the order to show cause itself.
25 MR. POPE: Your Honor, this is not a
134
1 jury trial and you're certainly free to
2 disregard the matter if you think it
3 ultimately does not go to the intent issue.
4 MR. MERRETT: That's reference to a case
5 that I have been looking for for years that
6 the evidence code doesn't apply unless
7 there's a jury in the room, but I've never
8 seen --
9 THE COURT: Proceed. Go on. Just a
10 minute. Hey, hey, come here. Inasmuch as we
11 are under the criminal rules, I will sustain
12 them. Move on.
13 (Thereupon, the sidebar conference was
14 concluded and the following proceedings were had
15 in the presence of the audience:)
16 BY MR. POPE:
17 Q Officer, let me go back to the initial
18 incident that you testified about the sitting in the
19 chair. Where was that chair located?
20 A The chair was located directly in front of
21 the what I would consider to be the front door of the
22 building.
23 Q The entranceway?
24 A On the north side, yes.
25 Q On Church property?
135
1 A I would say, yes it's a --
2 MR. MERRETT: Objection. Competence.
3 Move to strike.
4 BY MR. POPE:
5 Q You were getting ready to say was it was
6 under the overhang?
7 A Under the overhang of the front door.
8 MR. MERRETT: Okay.
9 MR. POPE: Now, Your Honor, that's all I
10 have as to this particular episode. I want
11 to shift -- he has some facts relative to the
12 other motion. Perhaps counsel wants to --
13 THE COURT: You talking about Greenway?
14 MR. POPE: No, there is a separate
15 motion dealing with the -- we got two
16 motions, orders to show cause. This
17 testimony so far has been only on the amended
18 consolidated order.
19 He also has information relative to the
20 order to show cause for an event on
21 January 7 on Waterson Avenue involving
22 Mr. Minton and three other people.
23 THE COURT: Okay. Proceed.
24 BY MR. POPE:
25 Q Fine. Let me direct your attention, please,
136
1 sir, to January 7. Where were you patrolling on that
2 day?
3 A I was working off duty at Waterson and
4 Cleveland and it was on Waterson at an area where we
5 stop traffic and assist the pedestrians as the exit
6 and enter buses to go to eat.
7 Q About what time of day was it?
8 A I don't recall the exact time. I would say
9 sometime around six o'clock.
10 Q Was it in the evening?
11 A Yes, sir. it was.
12 Q Had it started to get dark?
13 A Yes, sir.
14 Q Okay. Can you tell us what happened on this
15 date? First of all tell us who you had an encounter
16 with?
17 A Well, I had an encounter with Mr. Minton.
18 I'm not sure who else was there. I believe Tory was
19 there.
20 They had come down to protest in the
21 designated area in which they were allowed to protest.
22 They had their signs.
23 Myself and Officer Correa was standing in
24 that area because that's where we watch the vehicles
25 as the travel northbound on Waterson so we can stop
137
1 them in time to assist people as they're loading and
2 unloading the buses. And they began to protest there
3 and Mr. Minton was standing in the street. We asked
4 him to step out of the street.
5 Q What was his response?
6 A He became very agitated with us. He began
7 cursing at Officer Correa and myself and yelling
8 screaming that we were in violation of the injunction.
9 Q Did you he tell how it was that you were
10 violating this injunction?
11 A He said we were considered officers of the
12 Church.
13 Q Did he other elucidate as to how that
14 violated the injunction?
15 A He said the injunction states that all
16 officers of the Church are to stay away from him ten
17 feet and being that we were working for the Church as
18 a off-duty job that we were thus considered I guess on
19 his behalf he believed we were part of the Church.
20 Q How did this encounter between you and
21 Mr. Minton and the others resolve itself?
22 A We warned him several times that he needed
23 to step out of the street and that his carrying on
24 could possibly lead to disorderly conduct. He was
25 yelling and screaming and using profanities.
138
1 There was a number of people who were
2 unloading at the buses at the time and he was like
3 sitting in the street. Eventually we were able to
4 convince him to step back up off of the sidewalk.
5 MR. POPE: Okay. No further questions.
6 THE COURT: All right. I'm going to go
7 this way. Mr. Howie, you can go first.
8 MR. HOWIE: Your Honor --
9 THE COURT: Mr. Minton is your client
10 and he's talking about Mr. Minton, so I will
11 give you first cross.
12 MR. HOWIE: Since the first part of his
13 testimony dealt with Tory Bezazian, which is
14 Mr. Merrett's client, I thought Mr. Merrett
15 might want to go.
16 THE COURT: Okay. I don't know.
17 Gentlemen, don't arm wrestle. Somebody get
18 up there.
19 CROSS-EXAMINATION
20 BY MR. MERRETT:
21 Q Yes, sir. All right. I'd kind of like to
22 refine and focus on your testimony about the events of
23 December 8 involving a Santa Claus chair. How long
24 you been about working out there for Scientology?
25 A I believe we've been out there about a year.
139
1 Q You have been out there off and on for a
2 period of approximately 12 months?
3 A Yes, sir.
4 Q Tell the court how many thousands of dollars
5 Scientology had paid you over that time?
6 A I believe I made $6700 this year.
7 Q $6,700?
8 A Yes, sir.
9 Q Okay. And you're paid that money in order
10 to inducing you to stand in particular places and
11 watch particular property, right?
12 A Whatever we're asked to do by the off-duty
13 contractor we do pursuant to our general orders and
14 state law.
15 Q Okay. Now, off-duty contractor, that means
16 in this instance Scientology, right?
17 A Correct.
18 Q Okay. So you were paid $6700 in the last 12
19 standing where Scientology wanted you to stand and
20 watch out for what they wanted you to watch out for,
21 right?
22 A Correct.
23 Q Okay. So, for example, based on what your
24 instructions have been during that 12 month period,
25 you wouldn't for example be down at the Walgreens
140
1 three blocks away watching for shoplifters, right?
2 A Right.
3 Q Okay. What you're doing is protecting
4 Scientology's interest at their request, correct?
5 A Correct.
6 Q Now, how long had the Santa Claus chair been
7 there as of December 8?
8 A I don't know. I didn't set up Santa's
9 chair.
10 Q Okay. Well, interestingly, I didn't ask you
11 if you set it up. I asked you how long it had been
12 there?
13 A I don't know.
14 Q Okay. Was that the first time that you saw
15 it there?
16 A First time that I paid attention to it, yes.
17 Q Is it correct that prior to December 8 when
18 you we're alerted by members of Scientology that you
19 had made no notice of Santa's chair?
20 A Like I said originally, no, I not notice it.
21 Q Okay. Now, you testified on direct
22 examination that you advised Ms. Bezazian and
23 Ms. Greenway that sitting in the chair might possibly
24 be a violation of the injunction?
25 A That's correct.
141
1 Q You didn't accuse them of any crimes, did
2 you?
3 A I didn't accuse them of anything, no.
4 Q Did you mention any criminal activity?
5 A I said that it could be a possibility of an
6 injunction violation.
7 Q Okay. Did you mention any crimes apart from
8 the injunction?
9 A No.
10 Q Now, so the record is clear, you have a
11 clear recollection of this, right?
12 A Sure.
13 Q And is it correct that all of your
14 references to Ms. Bezazian and Ms. Greenway regarding
15 violations of the injunction were couched in terms of
16 possibility and hypothesis and your opinion, right?
17 A Correct.
18 Q Okay. Now, you did tell them repeatedly
19 that they needed to read the injunction, didn't you?
20 A Rephrase that. I didn't understand.
21 Q You did tell them repeatedly they needed to
22 read the injunction?
23 A Make sure they understood it, correct.
24 Q Now, there was in fact a Christmas parade
25 that night, right?
142
1 A Yes, there was.
2 Q And I assume that given that you were
3 investigating this potentially serious breach of
4 public peace and order you took the time to examine
5 Santa Claus' chair after they left, right?
6 A No need for me to examine the chair.
7 Q Okay, them you can tell me if you think
8 about it, I'm sure, was the was chair blocked in any
9 way? Was there an obstruction in the chair?
10 A Was there an obstruction?
11 Q Uh-huh.
12 A The chair was just sitting under the
13 overhang of the porch area by the entrance.
14 Q And you saw other people sitting in the
15 chair?
16 A I didn't pay attention to anyone else
17 sitting in the chair, no.
18 Q Okay. Let's make sure that your answer came
19 out clearly. You did not pay attention to anyone else
20 sitting in the chair?
21 A I did not notice them, no.
22 Q And the signs that said Warning, this is
23 Scientology's chair, don't sit in it, where were they
24 situated?
25 A I saw no signs to that effect.
143
1 Q And the OSA security operative who was
2 instructing that this was Scientology's Santa Claus
3 chair, where was he stationed?
4 A I don't know who you're referring to.
5 Q Okay. Well, there wasn't any such person
6 that you know of, right?
7 A I don't know who you're referring to, so
8 obviously no.
9 Q Okay. Now, Ms. Bezazian and Ms. Greenway
10 were walking east across the of the Clearwater Bank
11 Building when you turned and walked back to them to
12 discuss this matter with them, right?
13 A I believe so, yes.
14 Q And they didn't at any time approach you,
15 right?
16 A No.
17 Q Okay. After you had this discussion in
18 front of the Clearwater Bank Building, they walked
19 around the corner onto Waterson, right?
20 A I believe they did, yes.
21 Q And you followed them?
22 A That's where I normally stand on Waterson,
23 so, yes, I returned back to where I normally work.
24 Q Okay. You normally stand on the east side
25 of Waterson, right?
144
1 A Yes.
2 Q But as it happened what you did, although
3 you just told us that were just going back to where
4 you stood, you followed behind Md. Bezazian and
5 Ms. Greenway on the west side of Waterson?
6 A I don't recall which side of the street I
7 was on.
8 Q But the only reason you would have had to
9 going around the corner on to Waterson would have been
10 to resume your post on the east side?
11 A I will stand on whatever side of the street
12 I choose to stand on.
13 Q Okay. That would be because you're an
14 American citizen, right?
15 A Because I'm a Clearwater police officer and
16 I'm doing my job and I will stand where I want, yes.
17 Q Okay. Now can you give us an idea of what
18 it is that you had in mind as far as the portion of
19 the injunction that was violated by Ms. Bezazian's
20 behind being in Scientology's Santa chair?
21 MR. POPE: Objection, Your Honor.
22 That's the very legal question that's before
23 the court.
24 THE COURT: What do you say,
25 Mr. Merrett?
145
1 MR. MERRETT: I say the question is that
2 he already testified that he felt like that
3 might be a violation of the injunction. I'm
4 trying to get him to tell us what he thinks
5 she violated.
6 THE COURT: Okay. He can answer, but
7 the ultimate decision is mine.
8 MR. MERRETT: I understand, Your Honor.
9 THE WITNESS: Base on what I've been
10 told by our supervisors and the way I
11 understand it is that there is designated
12 protesting zones and there is also protested
13 that are the named parties on both sides have
14 to remain away from the entrances of the
15 buildings and I took that as an entranceway
16 to a building.
17 BY MR. MERRETT:
18 Q Okay. We'll talk about that in just a
19 second, but I want to make sure I clearly understand
20 your understanding. You're out there supposedly
21 enforcing the law, right?
22 A Yes.
23 Q With the impression that this court order
24 prohibits people who are named in the injunction from
25 going around the entrances of Scientology property,
146
1 period?
2 A Correct.
3 Q Okay. Have you read the injunction?
4 A I've been through the injunction. I haven't
5 read it word-for-word.
6 Q Now, the entrance that you're talking about,
7 I want you to look at the judge and tell him the last
8 time you saw people going in and out of those doors?
9 A I normally don't view that doorway because
10 it's on the other side, so I couldn't tell you.
11 Q Okay. That doorway is normally closed,
12 right?
13 A Like I said, I normally do not stand in that
14 area to maintain who goes in and out.
15 Q Let's focus on something you may have seen
16 this night because of the chair caper. The chair was
17 blocking the door, wasn't it?
18 A The chair was in that vicinity, yes.
19 Q Well, was it six feet to the right of the
20 door?
21 A I didn't measure it. I didn't have a tape
22 measure.
23 Q Was it off to the right of the door?
24 A It was somewhat in front of the center of
25 the doorway.
147
1 Q Okay. So the chair was blocking the
2 doorway?
3 A I don't know if you could open the doors ot
4 not. Like I said, I didn't have a tape measure to
5 measure how wide the doors were.
6 Q Okay. Now, the next thing I'd like for you
7 to do is give us the names of just physical
8 descriptions of the people who were trying to come and
9 go through that door when Ms. Bezazian was sitting in
10 the chair?
11 A There was nobody at that time.
12 Q Okay. Did you have any further discussion
13 or confrontation with Ms. Bezazian or her companions
14 after they went around the corner onto Ft. Harrison
15 Street?
16 A No, not that I recall.
17 Q But you do have a clear memory of this,
18 right?
19 A Yes. I have a memory of what happened but I
20 don't recall if we had any more confrontations. I
21 don't remember it verbatim.
22 Q Well, I'm not asking you to tell me about it
23 verbatim. Let's be clear on the question. The
24 question is not what did you day. The question is did
25 you have further confrontation or discussion after
148
1 they turned the corner onto Waterson?
2 A Like I said, I don't recall having anymore
3 further conversation.
4 Q But according to you, you do have a clear
5 memory of that event?
6 A Yes.
7 Q Now, I assume that before you received a
8 certificate to engage in the profession which you
9 presently pursued, you had to go to the police
10 academy, right?
11 A Yes, I did.
12 Q Okay. And one of the things that they teach
13 in great length in the police academy is
14 constitutional law, right?
15 A They teach law, yes.
16 Q Okay. So, of course, you're familiar with
17 the constitutional issues surrounding whether or not
18 screaming and yelling are breaches of the peace and
19 disorderly conduct, right; you know that?
20 A Correct.
21 Q Okay. So, if you made any promises or
22 threats or suggestions inconsistent with that law, you
23 did it deliberately?
24 A I would not deliberately violate the law.
25 Q Okay. My question is this. You told us
149
1 that you're familiar with the law regarding screaming
2 and yelling and whether or not that's a breach of the
3 peace and disorderly conduct, right?
4 A I'm familiar with that.
5 Q Okay. If you make threats to Mr. Minton and
6 to people with him that's not supported by that law
7 that you know, you did it deliberately, right?
8 A Sir, I didn't threaten anybody.
9 Q Okay. Okay. Now, when Mr. Minton was
10 coming down the street headed south on Waterson, you
11 say he went out into the street, correct?
12 A Yes.
13 Q Okay. Describe the oncoming traffic on
14 Waterson Street?
15 A There was buses and vans and cars.
16 Q Let me try to refine it for you. Let me
17 point out I started out when he was walking down the
18 street. I'm not asking you globally what traffic may
19 be there at any begin moment since the dawn of
20 creation. I'm asking what the oncoming traffic was
21 when he was walking down the street?
22 A I could not describe the exact vehicle.
23 Like I said, that's a loading zone there with Church
24 buses and Church vans.
25 Q There were Church buses?
150
1 A In that area. I don't know when -- if they
2 were exactly there when he started out of his doorway
3 or when he got to that position.
4 Q No, the fact is nothing came down the street
5 moving while he was in the street, correct?
6 A I don't know if they did or not. I was
7 paying attention to him.
8 Q Okay. So you're not testifying that there
9 was any traffic block?
10 A There were vans in that area during that
11 time to the best of my knowledge, yes, there was a bus
12 there.
13 Q Parked beside the road?
14 A What came through at that time, I don't
15 know.
16 Q Okay. And the -- you ended up standing
17 pretty close to Mr. Minton, didn't you?
18 A Yeah, we stood close to each other, yes.
19 Q And the other officer who was with you,
20 what's his last name?
21 A Correa.
22 Q How is it spelled?
23 A I don't know.
24 Q What are his initials?
25 A I think it's Steve, S.
151
1 Q Now how did it come to pass that you and
2 Officer Correa and Mr. Minton were standing in
3 proximity to one another?
4 A We asked him to get out of the street.
5 Q Okay. And the sound waves of his voice
6 pulled you out toward him?
7 A It's where I stood to talk with him. He was
8 in the street and I stood there to ask him to step
9 back up on the sidewalk.
10 Q Okay. Let me back up and go through this
11 slowly. My question is what was the sequence of
12 events that caused you and Officer Correa to find
13 yourselves in the immediate proximity to Mr. Minton?
14 A Like I said, Mr. Minton was standing in the
15 street.
16 Q And what did you do?
17 A I told him to step up on the sidewalk
18 because he could not stand out there and yell and
19 scream.
20 Q Then what happened?
21 A Then he complied.
22 Q Okay. Did you change your position after
23 the first time that you or Officer Correa said
24 something to him about getting out of the street?
25 A Did I change my position?
152
1 Q Did you move after the first direction to
2 get out of the street was given?
3 A I believe Officer Correa spoke with him
4 first and then I walked into the street and asked him
5 to step on to the sidewalk.
6 Q At what point in all this did Mr. Minton
7 stop moving?
8 A He moved the entire time.
9 Q So he was in transit down the street
10 throughout this event?
11 A Well, he would stop on occasion.
12 Q Uh-huh. And at the time that you're
13 describing he was stopped because and Officer Correa
14 were talking to him, right?
15 A He was more or less yelling at us.
16 Q Uh-huh. And that means what?
17 A That's what he was doing. You asked what he
18 was doing. That's what I'm telling you.
19 Q Okay. In fact, first Officer Correa and
20 then you left the position where you had been standing
21 and walked out in the street so that you were
22 essentially in Mr. Minton's face, correct?
23 A No, I was telling Mr. Minton to get out of
24 the street.
25 Q Okay. Let's back up and I will ask you a
153
1 question and you listen to it and answer the one I'm
2 asking you, if you don't mind?
3 A I just answered your question.
4 Q The question is this. In fact, first
5 Officer Correa and then you left the position that you
6 occupied and traveled into the street to place
7 yourselves nose to nose with Mr. Minton, right?
8 A We don't occupy any position. I can walk
9 anywhere I like to on that street and so, yes, I
10 walked over to Mr. Minton and told Mr. Minton to step
11 out of the street and back on to the sidewalk.
12 Q Is that all that you said?
13 A That's all I recall saying, yes.
14 Q Was there any other subject matter that you
15 discussed with him?
16 A Not that I recall, no.
17 Q Was there any other subject matter that
18 Officer Correa discussed with you?
19 A I didn't talk to him. Officer Correa did.
20 You'll have to ask him.
21 Q Okay. Well, let's explore that. I'm going
22 to start walking toward you and you tell the judge
23 when I'm as far away from you as Officer Correa was
24 when he said these things that I'm going to have to
25 ask him about?
154
1 A I'd say in that vicinity.
2 Q Okay. And you have good hearing
3 bilaterally?
4 A My hearing is fine.
5 Q Okay. And you have a clear recollection of
6 these events?
7 A Roughly, yes.
8 Q Now, the fact of the matter is Mr. Minton
9 did not approach you and Officer Correa, right?
10 A He did approach us because we were standing
11 there and that's the area he worked so he did come to
12 us.
13 Q Okay, walking down the street?
14 A Sure.
15 Q Okay. You and while you may not think you
16 have a position and it is a free county. You have a
17 position, right now. You're sitting in the chair in
18 the witness stand.
19 A Very good.
20 Q You left from the place where you were
21 standing, first Officer Correa and then you and walked
22 out into the street to place yourself within inches of
23 Mr. Minton; isn't that correct?
24 A No, I would tell him -- yes, that is
25 correct.
155
1 Q Thank you.
2 A Tell him to get back on the sidewalk.
3 Q Okay. So the physical proximity was the
4 result of your and Officer Correa's decision to step
5 out into the street?
6 A No, for him standing in the street yelling
7 and screaming. If he wouldn't have done it I would
8 have never had to make contact with him.
9 Q Okay. And the basis for your interest in
10 what you were doing was what?
11 A Safety to the public.
12 Q Okay. And the public consisting of whom?
13 A Consisting of everybody; Mr. Minton and the
14 church members.
15 Q Okay. And which church members?
16 A Whoever might be coming and going at that
17 time.
18 Q Okay. But you've already told us that there
19 might not have been any?
20 A There was Church security there. I don't
21 recall who all was standing there.
22 Q Well, the Church security was there because
23 the Church security was videotaping all of this and
24 walked out to the scene of this confrontation, right?
25 A I believe they walked away from Mr. Minton
156
1 so they wouldn't be in violation of the injunction the
2 way I understand it.
3 Q Interesting. You don't remember the OSA
4 security guard coming out into the street with his
5 video camera to videotape you and Officer Correa
6 shaking your fingers at Mr. Minton?
7 A I didn't shake my finger at nobody.
8 Q Officer Correa did, right?
9 A Better watch the videotape. I didn't shake
10 my finger at anybody. If you're going to give me a
11 question, give me a true one.
12 Q Okay. So, I guess at this point based on
13 your last answer we can assume that you have watched
14 the videotape recently enough so that anything you say
15 that differs from it is a knowing difference, right?
16 A I didn't watch the videotape.
17 Q Okay. That just sprung to mind?
18 A What's that?
19 Q That just spring to mind?
20 A I know I didn't shake my finger at
21 Mr. Minton.
22 Q Okay. Officer Correa did, right?
23 A I don't know what Officer Correa did.
24 Q How close did you come to Mr. Minton?
25 A How close did he come to me?
157
1 Q How close did you come to Mr. Minton?
2 A We were within inches.
3 Q Any particular reason for that?
4 A No.
5 Q Just talking you need to be physically close
6 to him?
7 A No, I was actually asking him to get off the
8 street which is what normal citizens normally do when
9 they're asked to do so by the police and he continued
10 to stand there and yell.
11 Q Okay. But of course at that point Officer
12 Correa was standing immediately in front of them, four
13 square, right?
14 A At that point in time I don't know where
15 Officer Correa was. That's when I was talking with
16 Mr. Minton.
17 Q Okay. Let's make sure we're real clear on
18 what you're saying. You're saying at the time you
19 were standing within inches of Mr. Minton talking to
20 him, you don't know where Officer Correa was?
21 A I don't know directly, no.
22 Q Okay. So the answer is you don't know where
23 he was?
24 A He was in the vicinity. I don't know if he
25 was behind me, to the right, to the left.
158
1 Q Okay. But you do have a clear recollection
2 of all this?
3 A Like I said, I wasn't worried about what
4 Officer Correa was doing at that time.
5 Q You don't watch for you partner when their
6 in a confrontation with somebody who's raising hell?
7 A I didn't think I was in a confrontation.
8 Q You didn't?
9 A No.
10 Q Okay. Did you not tell me moments ago that
11 Mr. Minton was agitated, that he was screaming and
12 yelling?
13 A He was yelling at me, but I didn't see the
14 problem -- there was no confrontation on my part. He
15 was yelling and screaming.
16 Q Okay. And have you read that you're able to
17 recall the portion of the injunction that prohibits
18 walking in the street?
19 A Like I said, for public safety I was asking
20 him to step on to the sidewalk.
21 Q Okay. But his is hypothetical public
22 safety, right?
23 A Anything could happen. I don't want him
24 standing out in the street and get hit by a car.
25 Q Okay, and of course the other thing was that
159
1 like if a grain of sand were to fall like in a
2 cartoon --
3 A Yes, anything is possible.
4 Q Okay. Now, who was the Scientology security
5 guard present that night?
6 A I believe that was Anthony; known to me as
7 Antonio.
8 Q Antonio who?
9 A I don't know his last name.
10 Q Now, ordinarily when people who are believed
11 associated with Lisa McPherson Trust come and go down
12 Waterson Avenue, whatever security guard that's on
13 duty makes a call on his radio or phone, right?
14 A I don't know what they do with their
15 policies. It's not my policy.
16 Q Okay. Let me back up again and tell you I
17 didn't ask anything about the policy. What I asked
18 you was it is correct, is it not, that the people who
19 are believed to be affiliated with the Lisa McPherson
20 Trust come and go down Waterson Avenue, whatever
21 Scientology guard is stationed down there near you,
22 pick up a telephone or radio and make a call, right?
23 A They normally talk on the radios quite
24 often, yes.
25 Q Okay, and they normally do that among other 160
1 times in specific conjunction with the appearance of
2 people who are believed to be affiliated with the
3 Trust, right?
4 A That has happened in the past.
5 Q Okay. Who is it they're calling?
6 A I have no idea.
7 Q Okay. If I correctly understand the sum of
8 your testimony, it is that Tory Bezazian sat in
9 Scientology's Santa chair, right?
10 A That is correct.
11 Q And Bob Minton walked in the street and
12 yelled at you?
13 A That is correct.
14 MR. MERRETT: The public thanks you.
15 THE COURT: Thank you.
16 MR. POPE: Your Honor --
17 THE COURT: Time out. Mr. Howie.
18 MR. HOWIE: May it please the court,
19 I'll reserve cross until after Mr. Pope's
20 motion.
21 MR. POPE: Your Honor, Mr. Merrett just
22 made a totally gratuitous comment, the public
23 thanks you or something like that. I wonder
24 if we could just raise the level of the
25 examination in the room just a little bit.
161
1 That's uncalled for.
2 THE COURT: The answer to your question
3 is yes and I've noticed that might have a
4 bearing on the emptiness of one's stomach.
5 I'm well aware that we're into the lunch
6 hour, but I would like to finish up with this
7 officer we can and I'm going to ask everybody
8 until you can get something to eat, don't try
9 my patience.
10 Mr. Howie, you're next.
11 CROSS-EXAMINATION
12 BY MR. HOWIE:
13 Q Officer Harbert, have you had the
14 opportunity view the videotapes taken either during
15 the incident that you described with Tory Bezazian or
16 with Mr. Minton?
17 A I have not completely viewed the videotape,
18 no.
19 Q When you say you have not completely viewed
20 them, have you viewed portions of them?
21 A I seen a fragment just to know that they had
22 the videotape. That's it. I didn't pay any attention
23 to what was on the videotape and did not watch them.
24 Q Under what circumstances did you see the
25 fragment?
162
1 A I don't recall. I believe someone had it.
2 I know it was turned over to the department, the
3 police department. I don't remember if someone had it
4 on their camera. It might have been on security's
5 camera. I don't recall that.
6 Q What specific instant do you recall viewing
7 the fragment of?
8 A All I see is Mr. Minton in confrontation
9 with me, but it had no audio and like I said it was
10 maybe two seconds worth. I didn't watch anymore.
11 Q This would be the incident that you
12 described in Waterson Street the night of January 7?
13 A That would be correct.
14 Q And the small fragment that you did see
15 fairly and accurately depicted the incident as you
16 recall it?
17 A Yes, sir.
18 Q Did you also see any portion of the
19 videotape -- well, let me back up with a predicate.
20 Were you aware that during your discussion with Tory
21 Bezazian on December 8, 2000, that you and she were
22 being videotaped at that time?
23 A No, I was not.
24 Q You did not observe a video camera to you?
25 A No, I did not.
163
1 Q Did you ever have an opportunity to view
2 later on any segment of the videotape of that
3 incident?
4 A Yes, I did. I seen some video of, I believe
5 she was leaving the chair and I was walking up to her.
6 Like I dais, I don't believe I watch the whole video,
7 just a very short fragment of the video.
8 Q Okay. From what little you saw of the
9 fragment of the video do you have reason to believe
10 that that was taken from either a handheld or a fixed
11 camera?
12 A I could not tell. I couldn't be positive
13 how it was taken.
14 Q Okay. From what you observed of that
15 fragment, could you tell whether the incident was
16 filmed at a fairly close range, by which I mean say
17 within 20 feet as opposed from across the street?
18 A No, it was from a distance.
19 Q Okay. Again, under what circumstances did
20 you review that videotape?
21 A There was a copy that was placed in the
22 property, and like I said, I don't recall if I also
23 viewed through my department or it might have been
24 that security had a copy of the tape. I believe is
25 was through the Church security.
164
1 Q How exactly did you come to view this will
2 segment?
3 A I think we took that inside and watched it
4 inside the recorder just to see if it was what had
5 taken place.
6 Q When you say we, who is --
7 A The security for the Church.
8 Q So you were shown this by security from the
9 Church?
10 A Yes, I was.
11 Q And this was during the course of your
12 employment as security for the Church?
13 A I'm employed by the City of Clearwater. We
14 subcontract with the church; that is correct.
15 Q Okay. During your subcontract work for te
16 church?
17 A Correct.
18 Q Likewise, both during these confrontations
19 on the December 8 with Tory Bezazian and again on
20 January 7 with Robert Minton, you were in fact
21 employed in your subcontract capacity?
22 A Yes, sir.
23 Q You indicated to Mr. Minton on the Waterson
24 Street incident on January 7 that he was subject to
25 arrest for disorderly conduct; is that your testimony?
165
1 A I don't recall ever saying that to this him,
2 no.
3 Q You did not indicate to him at anytime that
4 he was subject to arrest?
5 A No, I did not tell him he would be arrested.
6 Q And did you ever inform him that his actions
7 constituted disorderly conduct in violation of state
8 law?
9 A I don't recall if I ever told him that he
10 was violating at that time. If he was violating I
11 would have charged him accordingly and I didn't.
12 Q And you would have been able to charge him
13 accordingly in your capacity as a Clearwater police
14 officer?
15 A If he was violating the law, yes.
16 Q Okay. In fact you did not do that?
17 A Correct.
18 Q And Mr. Minton was not taken into custody.
19 He was free to leave at that time?
20 A Sure, he was.
21 Q Mr. Minton complied with your direction to,
22 eventually complied with your direction to go back and
23 stand on the east sidewalk of Waterson?
24 A Yes, he did.
25 Q At that time Mr. Minton did not have any
166
1 kind of picket sign or protest sign in his hand, did
2 he?
3 A They had signs. I don't recall if he was
4 holding one at the time or not.
5 Q From what you saw of the videotape, had
6 Mr. Minton held a picket sign, that videotape would
7 have depicted it?
8 A It should have.
9 Q Did Mr. Minton -- at any time when you
10 observed Mr. Minton that night, not just in the street
11 but on the sidewalk, did Mr. Minton appear to have a
12 picket sign in his hands to your recollection?
13 A I do not recall that.
14 Q Did you have any further contact with
15 Mr. Minton on January 7, that evening, other than this
16 incident that you've just described?
17 A Nope.
18 MR. HOWIE: Thank you. I don't have any
19 further question?
20 THE COURT: Mr. Pope.
21 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
22 BY MR. POPE:
23 Q Officer, you described the situation in
24 which you and Mr. Minton were in close proximity and
25 that he was yelling at you; is that correct?
167
1 A Yes, he was.
2 Q Tell us what it was he said to you?
3 A I was using profanities and told us we were
4 working for the Church and we were church officers and
5 he just screaming and the whole thing was just --
6 Q I mean what specifically did he say? Do you
7 remember the words he uttered?
8 A He was using the F-word and saying basically
9 to F the police, that we worked for the Church.
10 Q Okay. Did you consider that be fairly
11 insulting commentary?
12 MR. HOWIE: Objection, Your Honor.
13 Calls for a conclusion. Speculation.
14 THE COURT: Overruled.
15 THE WITNESS: Yes, I did.
16 MR. POPE: Thank you. That's all I
17 have.
18 THE COURT: All right. Can we excuse
19 the officer?
20 MR. POPE: We can.
21 MR. MERRETT: I have some brief recross
22 based on the matter that have just been
23 opened up.
24 THE COURT: Within the scope.
25 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
168
1 THE COURT: Please.
2 RECROSS-EXAMINATION
3 BY MR. MERRETT:
4 Q All these conversations involving Mr. Minton
5 began with him essentially making a circle out into
6 the street and pointing at you all telling you to stay
7 away from him, right?
8 A Correct. He kept saying that we were
9 violating the injunction.
10 Q Okay, but it started with him, if you heard
11 what Mr. Howie asked, it was more of him coming out in
12 the street pointing his finger at you saying you guys
13 stay away from me?
14 A Yeah. Like I said, he was yelling and
15 screaming.
16 Q And in the context of doing that I think you
17 just testified that he accused you of standing where
18 you were standing because Scientology was paying you
19 22 bucks an hour for working for Scientology, right?
20 A That's right.
21 MR. MERRETT: Nothing further.
22 THE COURT: Mr. Howie.
23 MR. HOWIE: Nothing further, Your Honor.
24 THE COURT: All right. Let me see if I
25 understand is this now. You observe
169
1 Mr. Minton walking down Waterson in a
2 southerly direction was he at the time
3 yelling or saying anything to anybody from
4 the church?
5 THE WITNESS: He was yelling profanities
6 that way. I believe there were people when
7 he first got there, Your Honor, there were
8 people getting off the of bus.
9 THE COURT: Okay. You told me -- okay,
10 there were people getting off the bus. Okay.
11 You said there were some vans and stuff
12 parked there also?
13 THE WITNESS: Yes, there was.
14 THE COURT: So you walked out in the
15 street to hey, could you get over here on the
16 sidewalk?
17 THE WITNESS: He was screaming, yelling
18 that we're f-ing in violation.
19 THE COURT: Okay. Thank you.
20 THE WITNESS: We told him to get back on
21 the sidewalk, that we weren't going to let
22 him to carry on in the street.
23 THE COURT: Got it. Thank you very
24 much. All right can we excuse the officer?
25 MR. MERRETT: Your Honor, I do have a
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1 couple questions I need to ask based on the
2 court questions?
3 THE COURT: Okay. You may, sir, within
4 my scope.
5 RECROSS-EXAMINATION
6 BY MR. MERRETT:
7 Q Yes, sir. I just want to make it really
8 clear that you've raised you hand and swore to God
9 that you're telling is the truth and you're saying
10 there were people coming off that bus when you came
11 down the street?
12 A I said I believe initially there were people
13 coming off the bus, yes, sir.
14 Q Okay. Are you testified that there were
15 people from Scientology coming off the bus or in the
16 street at that time, yes or no?
17 A There were people coming off the bus when he
18 came down the street.
19 Q Okay.
20 A At some point in time. I don't know what
21 point in time you're being specific to.
22 Q Im talking about the night that you've been
23 testifying to?
24 A There had been people coming off the bus,
25 yes.
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1 Q Okay. How long before Mr. Minton reached
2 your position?
3 A It was in the same proximity of time. I
4 can't give you an exact.
5 Q So what you're telling me is if we look at
6 the videotape and it shows Mr. Minton coming down the
7 street and there is a bus in the background, we're
8 going to see people coming of the bus?
9 A The to best of my recollection there were
10 people coming off the bus, yes.
11 Q And you do have a clear recollection of
12 that.
13 A I believe there were people in that vicinity
14 at some time that night yes.
15 Q Well, now wait a minute.
16 A During that incident there were people in
17 the area.
18 Q Okay. There were what people?
19 A There were Church members coming off the
20 bus.
21 Q Okay.
22 A Off a bus or a van. I don't recall exactly
23 what because I was watching traffic, I'm watching
24 Mr. Minton, I'm watching the protesters to make sure
25 everybody does what they're supposed to and nothing i
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1 instigated.
2 THE COURT: Let me just try some here.
3 When you say coming off or get off or
4 something, you mean unloading?
5 THE WITNESS: Unloading, yes, sir. I'm
6 sorry.
7 THE COURT: Is that what we're taking
8 about?
9 MR. MERRETT: I believe so, Your honor.
10 THE COURT: All right.
11 BY MR. MERRETT:
12 Q But the fact is that you're not telling us
13 that you remember that at all, are you?
14 A I'm saying there were people there at that
15 time during that incident.
16 Q There being where?
17 A On Waterson.
18 Q Okay. Were they between bus and --
19 A I believe they were unloading off the bus,
20 yes.
21 Q Okay. Well --
22 A There was a bus there so obviously people
23 must have gotten off of it and believing that
24 timeframe there were people leaving the bus, yes.
25 Q It is your testimony that at the time of
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1 these events when Mr. Minton was coming down the
2 street yelling there were people exiting through the
3 door of the bus?
4 A Somebody did, correct.
5 MR. MERRETT: Okay. Thank you very
6 much.
7 THE COURT: Mr. Howie?
8 MR. HOWIE: Your Honor, again within the
9 scope of your questions.
10 THE COURT: Please, sir.
11 RECROSS-EXAMINATION
12 BY MR. HOWIE:
13 Q Officer Harbert, do you recall verbatim what
14 it was Mr. Minton was saying before you confronted him
15 in the street?
16 A I don't recall verbatim, no. He was very
17 upset and yelling and screaming.
18 MR. HOWIE: Okay. Thank you. No
19 further questions.
20 THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Pope, anything?
21 MR. POPE: Nothing, Your Honor.
22 THE COURT: All right. Gentlemen, may
23 we please excuse the officer now?
24 MR. POPE: You may.
25 THE COURT: Mr. Merrett?
174
1 MR. MERRETT: Yes, sir.
2 THE COURT: Officer, thank you very
3 much. You are free to. All right, we're
4 going to go the lunch.
5 This is a good time to take a break. Be
6 back at 2:25 and the courtroom will be
7 locked during the lunch hour unless, only
8 attorneys, only attorneys during the lunch
9 hour will I allow in here and -- excuse me.
10 Mr. Feathers, do we have a problem out
11 there?
12 THE BAILIFF: They're speaking out loud,
13 sir.
14 THE COURT: Bring the two of them
15 forward. Everybody else sit down. Could I
16 have your names?
17 MR. WARD: My name is Grady Ward, Your
18 Honor.
19 THE COURT: Okay. And your name, sir?
20 MR. PETERSON: Robert Peterson.
21 THE COURT: Okay. All right. Let me
22 ask both of you, where are we today?
23 MR. PETERSON: We are in your courtroom,
24 Your Honor.
25 THE COURT: You have any questioned
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1 about that?
2 MR. PETERSON: No, Your Honor.
3 THE COURT: How about you?
4 MR. WARD: We're in your courtroom, Your
5 Honor, and should observe the decorum in the
6 courtroom.
7 THE COURT: Can I trust you to continue
8 to do that or please and no more problem?
9 MR. WARD: Yes, Your Honor.
10 THE COURT: Now, let me make it clear to
11 everybody in this courtroom. Please,
12 remember where we're at. We're here today on
13 some serious business and everybody is
14 represented by attorneys. I know you're
15 probably paying top dollar because you've got
16 AV lawyers. Now, if you don't know what that
17 means ask the lawyers. And I'm sure they
18 won't be bragidocious when they tell you but
19 that's the top, that's the best rating you
20 can get and that only comes -- there are only
21 a few people authorized to make that
22 recommendation to the Martindale-Hubble who
23 does that.
24 Now, if have you any other questions
25 about what you need to do, please ask my
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1 bailiffs. But so there is no doubt about
2 who works for whom around here, the bailiffs
3 work for me when they're in my courtroom.
4 So if they have any problems, I got a
5 problem. Have you good lunch everybody.
6 (A luncheon recess took place after which
7 the proceedings continued.)
8 End of Volume I
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