SCI
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was not willing to discuss a mutually acceptable date for my
testimony, particularly at the end of that period, when
Geertz's counsel declined even to propose a date for my
deposition. In the meantime, while refusing to depose me, he
threatens me with contempt for not having been deposed. I am
convinced that this entire tactic of attempting to bring me
into a case where my only involvement stems from this pursuit
of my testimony, is for the purpose of harassment and to
forward a litigation tactic of avoiding litigation of the
actual case by use of abusive and irrelevant discovery
tactics.
15. As a result, I feel I should make whatever effort I can
to set the record straight on many of the false and
inflammatory allegations that have been injected into this
case. Therefore, I am using this written declaration to
inform the Court of what my testimony would have been. I also
am making my testimony available, because of my great concern
that my name has been attacked in such a way that the Court
has made rulings regarding my appearance based entirely on
falsehoods presented by Geertz's counsel and Vaughn and Stacy
Young.
NO KNOWLEDGE OF DEFENDANTS
16. I first heard the name Steven Fishman in the summer of
1990, when it was brought to my attention that someone by
that name had been sentenced to prison for mail fraud and
obstruction of justice and that in the course of being
sentenced, he had referred to me by name and it had been
alleged that illegal acts he had committed were as a result
of Fishman being "implanted" and caused pain by inserting BIC
pens in his penis and forcing him to smell human feces. As I
had never heard of Fishman and because the allegations were
such tabloid rot, I assumed this was some new form of
"insanity defense" and that Fishman had picked my name out of
the press or something. I never thought about the matter
again, until 1991, when I read the 8 page cover story in Time
Magazine concerning CSI in the May 6, 1991 edition. At no
time, either before or since I read their names in that
magazine, have I met with, spoken to, communicated with or
otherwise had any contact or communication of any kind with
either Geertz or Fishman. It was when I read that article
that I first heard the name Uwe Geertz.
17. Geertz has submitted copies of purported correspondence
from defendant Steven Fishman to Church members making
reference to me as a participant in Fishman's mail fraud
crimes. These references to me are pure fiction. Indeed, I
have been informed that CSI has filed with the Court an
unrebutted declaration of a typewriter expert who concluded
that these letters could not have been created on the dates
claimed by Fishman.
18. Other than the falsified documents of a convicted felon,
the defendants have identified no other "evidence" that I
even knew Fishman, much less ordered or condoned crimes for
which he was imprisoned. Instead, Geertz has submitted two
vicious declarations, from Vaughn and Stacy Young, which
attack and vilify me personally without reference to any
issue in this case. Most significantly, neither of the
Young's ever suggests that they ever heard me or any other
senior official in the Scientology religion mention Steven
Fishman or Uwe Geertz in their presence. At no time does
either one even suggest that they know anything that connects
me to any issue in this case. The reason they have failed to
do so is clear: they have no such evidence of my involvement
with Fishman or Geertz because no such evidence exists.
19. Exemplifying the unsupportable, irrelevant and malicious
nature of Vaughn Young's personal assault on me is his false
and repugnant insinuation that I was involved with the death
of my mother-in-law, Mary Florence Barnett. Not only is there
no evidence to support this claim by Young, but there is
clear evidence to the contrary. With the reports of the
coroner and the medical examiner's investigator, and with the
deposition of the medical examiner taken by Geertz's counsel
at hand -- all to the unanimous, unequivocal conclusion that
Ms. Barnett died from self-inflicted gunshots -- Young has
the temerity to suggest that I should be investigated to
determine what he calls my role in that tragic suicide. With
complete disdain for the facts and no regard whatsoever for
any sense of decency, Young has taken a personal tragedy in
my family's life, the suicide of my mother-in-law, and
attempted to make this an issue in this lawsuit by twisting
it to imply non-existent wrongdoing on my part. I not only
had nothing to do with this tragic incident, but Vaughn
Young's gratuitous embellishment that I ordered the matter
"hushed up" is equally false. My only association with this
tragedy was to console my wife who was understandably