Describing events of Feb 5th and 6th 2001

Another example of "Simulation of a Felony" by Scientology

Well, its been one full year since Scientology had me arrested on trumped up
charges but I finally have had the chance to tell my story to a jury of 12
good people who saw fit to find me not guilty.

It has been quite an experience. Never did I expect to stand trial for
anything in my life, but then I had never planned to square off against a
dangerous cult either. The phrase "I need to speak to my attorney" was a
phrase I never expected to utter but now, not only did I have an
attorney...I had two.

First, I'd like to thank my attorneys for their superb job. Denis deVlaming
is top notch. We knew that from Bob's trial. The man knows what he is
doing and he is not afraid to go toe to toe with Scientology. I couldn't
have been in better hands.

Julie Aimen was completely unfamiliar with Scientology. When Denis and I
first flew to Chicago last summer to discuss whether she would like to
become involved with my case, we could see it was going to take some time to
explain to her just how bizarre the world of Scientology is. She quickly
found out first hand when she and her P.I. went to the Chicago Org to take
some photographs and Mary Anne Ahmad came out of the Org to take pictures of
them. Miss Ahmad informed them that the sidewalk was their private property
and they had to leave. At least she didn't hire police to arrest them.

Over the past many months, Julie has become more and more aware of how
Scientology behaves. But then so have the state prosecutor and the Chicago
Police. While we were educating Julie, the Scientologists were hounding the
prosecutor and the police. So much so that by the time of the trial, the
prosecutor was fed up with Elliott Abelson's interference
(sorry...assistance) and Officer Bonifazi swore on the witness stand that he
would never work for them again.

Its an unusual feeling to be on trial. I can't imagine what it would be
like to be a guilty person and face the pressure. Knowing that I was
completely innocent gave me a calm sense of assurance through the whole
affair. Over the past year many people have wished me well and stated their
concerns but I had never doubted for a moment that any twelve people would
find me innocent. Never, that is until the jury started their
deliberations. More about that in a moment.

Let me quickly go over a few of what I considered the highlights of the
trial. The first witness called was Mary Anne Ahmad and while it was
humorous to see her try to explain why the complaint she signed against me
was dated February 25th, 1900, and then finally admit she had no idea when
she actually did sign it...the most important moment in her testimony came
when Denis asked her if she worked for the Office of Special Affairs. She
admitted she was the Director of Special Affairs. Then Denis asked if part
of her duties included investigating critics. Although the state objected,
the judge allowed her to answer. She admitted that, yes, part of her duties
were to investigate critics of Scientology.

Within minutes of the start of the trial, the jury had a very chilling
thought to consider. What church investigates people? And why did the
Zizics pay a church over $100,000 for courses? And why didn't this church
want to return the Zizics money?

The trial may have been won right there.

Next, the officers were brought to the stand. First up was Officer Foria,
the larger of the two officers. In my earlier posts after the arrest, I
mixed up the names of the officers. Foria was the large cop, Bonifazi was
the small one. Foria was the "boss" the night I was arrested. He was the
first to come at me with his insistent bark that I "turn off the camera!"

Foria's testimony was hard for me to listen to because it galls me to hear a
duly sworn officer not tell the truth. He claimed I was the first at the
door and trying to barge my way in shouting "it's a free country...I can go
in if I want to!" He said I was asked my name and identified myself as Mark
Bunker. He claimed he asked me three times to leave and I refused each
time.

Virtually every aspect of his testimony was not accurate. And he quite
often contradicted himself as when he first said I set down my camera,
reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. Moments later he
claimed I had my cell phone in one hand, the camera in the other and when he
cuffed me, the camera was knocked from my hand and fell to the ground. I
wondered why Denis didn't point out those contradictions in cross but he
told me "the jury heard and they noticed." You'll see these points when the
transcript is put on the web.

Bonifazi was next and he said much the same. They both had me at the door
of the building when in actuality I never got off the sidewalk. I'm going
to give Bonifazi the benefit of the doubt and believe that perhaps his
memory of the events were a bit hazy. I don't believe he had anything to do
with the disappearance of the tape for after the trial he was very upset at
allegations that the cops stole the tape. I believe him when he says he
knew nothing about the tape. I apologize for implicating him in the theft
of property but still don't believe his account of the event was accurate.

The state rested their case then we called Bill Zizic. Bill did a fine job
but damned if he couldn't get out one word which would have been fun to hear
in the court house. He explained that he called the LMT after getting our
number from Jim Beebe from CAN. When asked what CAN stood for, Bill
couldn't remember the word "Cult." We were all sending out intention beams
but all he could remember was Awareness Center. Oh, well.

Barbara Zizic did great and she even got to say the X word. She told the
jury that I was the cameraman for XENU TV. The state didn't object one bit
even though, if Elliott Abelson had had a drink, he would have done a spit
take. Memo to the cult...when you supply the state your propaganda about
me, it may not be a good idea to white out XENU from XENU TV if you want the
state to recognize this as a "bad" word.

Finally it was time for me to take the stand. I guess I did okay. The
state tried to make fun of my documentaries and the fact that I had done
some voices for animated programs but I don't think she was very effective.
She made a face that Mary DeMoss would have been proud of when she asked "In
fact, weren't you...an ACTOR?" Her expression added the "failed" actor
charge Scientology loves so much.

I tried to be a good boy on the stand but I did let one response slip. When
the state asked me if I had won any awards for my documentaries I answered,
"no...not yet." I was afraid I may have come across as a smart aleck but
was glad to hear that some on the jury (including the foreman) laughed.

Well, after I had my say, the state brought on two more officers for
rebuttal. These two came on the scene after I had already been cuffed.
Their purpose was to show that the cops couldn't have stolen the tape but
neither of them were effective as the camera was already in the cops hands
when they arrived.

When the closing arguments were done, we retired across the street to a nice
restaurant. Before we could even sit down, the call came for us to return
to the court room as they jury had reached a verdict.

As I said before, I felt confident but at that moment I wondered what would
happen. The tape would never be seen again. It was our word against the
cops. Would the police in uniform be enough to sway the jury whose members
had many close friends and relatives on the force? It seemed every juror
questioned knew a Chicago cop or state trooper.

When the not guilty verdict was read I tried to make eye contact with each
juror and thank them for the job they did. Afterwards, I shook the hands of
several of them including the foreman and one juror who worked for the
Department of Justice. When he was being questioned during the selection
process I knew he was a straight shooter and was happy he was on board.

So this whole affair has ended. Again, I would like to thank Denis and
Julie for the great job they did. And I would like to thank Stacy and Jesse
and everyone at the LMT for their support and kindness. And thanks to all
you folks on the internet as well. It means a lot to me to hear your kind
words and I couldn't wait to get home last night to read all the comments
you would post on ars.

Most importantly, I would like to thank Bob Minton who is the most
remarkable man I have ever met. Yesterday, while awaiting the verdict,
Stacy and I were reflecting on how different this whole fight would be
without Bob. How many people would Scientology squash under their thumb if
Bob wasn't there to level the playing field? I certainly wouldn't have been
able to fight this case alone. And if truth be told, I wouldn't even be a
presence in this fight if it weren't for the courageous stance that Bob has
taken. Without his example, I would still be a lurker, not a fighter.

Thank you, Bob. We will win.

Bon Minton's description:

Mark's defense contingent arrived in Chicago on Saturday eager to show a
Chicago jury that Scientology is a lying mafia-like cult. Meetings were held
during the weekend to sort out strategy with Julie Aimen, Mark's Chicago
attorney, Denis deVlaming, Mark's Clearwater attorney, Stacy Brooks, Frank
Oliver and other potential witnesses, including the star witnesses, Bill and
Barbara Zizic. Naturally, fun was had by all especially when they went to see a
very funny play on Saturday afternoon, The Producers by Mel Brooks, staring
Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. Mark said the play was fabulous. Stacy said
that she and Denis deVlaming could hardly stop laughing and Frank Oliver was
still laughing when I talked to him 10 minutes after the play was over :-) For
Mark, it was the highlight of the trip.

Monday a jury was selected and the trial started late in the day with the
prosecutor and one of Mark's attorneys, Denis deVlaming making their opening
arguments. It sounded like it would be a humiliating trial for Scientology.
Time was up for the day and court was then adjourned until 10:00 am Tuesday.
Present for Scientology's mafia-like cult was the former Mafia lawyer for the
Gambino's, now Scientology's in house legal counsel, Elliott Abelson
accompanied by Mary Ann Ahmad, OSA Chicago, Pam Valinski, OSA New York, and 2
OSA Int guys whose names Stacy does not remember.

The entire cast for all three sides were back in court sharply at 10:00 am
today. The morning consisted of the prosecutors case starting with testimony of
Mary Ann Ahmad who in typical OSA fashion stumbled and mumbled her way through
the events on the night of the incident. During cross-examination by deVlaming
Ahmad had some trouble explaining how a notary public could get the date wrong
by a month on a document the Scientologists had submitted in the case. The 2
off-duty cops were not credible at all according to the report I got and did
not hold up well under cross by Aimen. After that the defense team of deVlaming
and Aimen presented the Zizics and Mark Bunker who were all three credible,
compelling and believable witnesses. At 3:45 PM Chicago time the defense rested
and the prosecutor brought a rebuttal witness. The Judge went through
instructions to the jury and at 4:35 Chicago time the jury was charged to
decide the case.

At 5:00 PM sharp the jury came back and announced a verdict of NOT GUILTY.


Bob Minton