Tampa Tribune: Asked if she feared church retribution for the verdict, the jurorresponded: ``That's why I don't want my name in the paper.'' Othermembers of the four-woman, two-man panel declined to comment.

St Petersburg Times De Vlaming pointed to what he said were several indications Minton was setup. Among them was a video that showed Howd sprawled motionless on the ground, his eyes closed. The tape then shows him opening his eyes, seeing the camera, then quickly closing them. "Look at him," de Vlaming told the jury, ridiculing Howd. "Out cold! Needed an ambulance!"...""I think he was provoked, and a lot of it was set up," said Green, a home health aide. She said she might have reacted as Minton did, adding that Howd did not appear seriously hurt. Juror Leroy Joiner of Clearwater, the father of four, said of Minton: "He didn't mean to do it."

Newscast Archive [ Real Media ]from XENU.TV Here's the coverage from yesterday's court victory

Title: MINTON found NOT guilty! Less than 30 minutes deliberation
Author: Arnie Lerma <www.lermanet.com> <Arnie_member@newsguy.com>
Date: 23 May 2000 12:47:54 -0700



After less than 30 mins of deliberation,

after a trial that featured a breakdown of OSA's PATTERN
of dirty tactics tricks...by Ex OSA employee Frank Oliver


Bob minton was found NOT GUILTY

The jury did not even have to to think about it

Newscrew asked juror why did you find not guilty?

Juror said: " It was setup!! "

It could be said that Scientology has been
found guilty of bad acting.

But then these are the same folks that brought us

Battlefield Earth!

arnie lerma




I'd prefer to die speaking my mind than live fearing to speak.
The only thing that always works in scientology are its lawyers
The internet is the liberty tree of the 90's
http://www.lermanet.com - mentioned 4 January 2000 in
The Washington Post's - 'Reliable Source' column re "Scientologist with no HEAD"

Release from LMT:

It took a jury thirty minutes this afternoon to return a NOT GUILTY verdict in the battery trial of the State of Florida v. Robert S. Minton.

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

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

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

Stacy Brooks 4:55 PM

Title: Rathbun mouths off
Author: "Mark Bunker" <markbunker@lisatrust.net>
Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 18:45:31 GMT

A particularly outrageous aspect of the Bob Minton trial was the behavior of
Scientologist Marty Rathbun.  On Monday, Rathbun and Rinder sat smugly, side
by side in the courtroom, smirking to one another through the testimony.

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

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

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

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

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

Wog laws mean nothing to the Scientology brass.

Title: Bob Minton gets Human Rights Award in Germany
Author: Joe's Garage <swatron@xenu.net>
Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 16:40:13 -0400

Robert Minton, a man noted for his public opposition to the Scientology
Organization, will receive the first Alternative Charlemagne Award in the
Federal Republic of Germany.  The ceremony is to take place June 3, two
weeks before U.S. Congressional hearings are scheduled to occur in the
third year of an as yet unresolved decision to ask President Clinton to
convey disapproval to Germany for that country's treatment of Scientology. 
The award site is http://www.alt-charlemagne-award.de. 

Joe Cisar:        http://cisar.org/rfs0100.htm
Award site:       http://alt-charlemagne-award.de
Why would Gottfried Helnwein, one of the world's leading Scientologists,
lie?  See http://members.tripod.com/German_Scn_News/has00.htm