We told you previously about Judge Charlaine Olmedo announcing, at a February 8 hearing in Danny Masterson’s criminal rape case, that she had changed the rules in her courtroom regarding attorneys and their smartphones and laptop computers.
We speculated that the judge may have been reacting to our reporting that Scientology attorney Vicki Podberesky appeared to be using her laptop to provide Scientology leader David Miscavige a live account of what was going on during last May’s preliminary hearing, when Masterson’s accusers got their first chance to testify live to the violent rapes that Masterson is charged with.
We had obtained a transcript of the February 8 hearing, and we thought you’d be interested in the ways Judge Olmedo announced new rules that would make it harder for Miscavige to get a live feed of the proceedings — short of his actually, you know, coming down to the courthouse himself, which Judge Olmedo has actually proposed, funny enough.
Anyway, besides those rule changes, the bulk of the February 8 hearing was in regards to a new set of subpoenas that Masterson’s new attorney, original OJ Simpson Dream Team lawyer Shawn Holley, had tried to serve on Danny’s accusers and various other parties related to the case, such as Leah Remini’s production company and others involved in her A&E series, Scientology & the Aftermath.
Masterson’s defense attorney Tom Mesereau had served similar subpoenas (and one on your proprietor) last May, and they were quashed in an August hearing. We pointed out that this new set of subpoenas not only looked a lot like the previous set, but we heard from some of the targets that the process servers that were employed were pounding on doors and acting very aggressive, and it was intimidating Danny’s victims.
For the February 8 hearing, attorney Kelli Sager, who represented some of the television production companies, had filed a new motion to quash, expressing some outrage that they were so similar to what had already been quashed last August.
So then it was Holley’s chance to explain herself to Judge Olmedo. We thought you’d want to see how that went down, again from the transcript.
Holley: As the court is aware, we did come into the case late. I have, however, read the transcript, Ms. Sager’s argument, the court’s concerns. And, as I understood them, both the concerns were that the [subpoenas] were overly broad and, for that reason, we tried to substantially narrow them. I don’t have an issue with speaking with Mr. Stahl or Ms. Sager, who I’ve know for a long time, whether or not they can be narrowed further…I would ask the court allow us an opportunity to meet and confer with them…If the court would permit us to reply to the motion to quash that was filed yesterday, also the motion to quash filed by Mr. Mueller, and return to this court at a later date for hearing on those, because, again, we have narrowed the issues substantially. I don’t know if you want me to go on with respect to the other subpoenas.
Judge Olmedo: So this is the court’s concern, Ms. Holley, and I say this with the utmost respect to you.
Holley: Thank you.
Judge Olmedo: Your presence here is certainly welcome, but it doesn’t give the defense the right to relitigate issues that this court has already decided. You’ve kind of come in at the stage it is, and the court has already decided this issue. I do appreciate that the subpoenas are substantially narrowed in scope and time, which was certainly a concern of the court. But that was not the main concern for the court’s quashing of the subpoenas, which include the invasion of privacy, the lack of plausible factual scenario as to the defense theory, and the application of the shield law to the media. So I’m prepared to go forward without relitigating this….The court is not a party here. If you have an issue with the court’s order, take a writ. I’m not going to relitigate it. I’m not going to set it further hearing on [subpoenas] that the court has already ruled upon. I say that with the utmost respect to you.
Holley: No, no. I appreciate that. I did take that into consideration when we made that determination to narrow the subpoenas. I actually agree with the court, with all respect to our co-counsel, that they were overbroad, which is the reason we narrowed it and took into consideration the concerns as expressed by Ms. Sager and the court and felt that we were in compliance with what was stated by the court in its ruling. So I do refresh my request that the court allow us an opportunity, at the very least, to respond to what was filed just yesterday.
Judge Olmedo: All right. Thank you. The court is actually not going to set a further hearing on the [subpoenas]….The defense already has access to an incredibly large amount of materials regarding impeachment and bias of the victims and prior statements made by the victims in this case, including statements made to the police initially, statements made to the police over a decade later, letters written by the victims regarding rapes and police investigation, statements made in the civil case, statements made to the DA’s office, the preliminary hearing testimony of each victim statements made by the victims published in some manner in film or print, and statements that appear to be made in the course of the practice of Scientology to Scientology officials as was evidenced at the preliminary hearing in this matter and introduced by the defense into evidence…For today’s purposes, the motions to quash subpoenas to No Seriously Productions, Intellectual Property Corp., and Slauson Productions is granted. The [subpoenas] are duplicative and in violation of the court’s previous order notwithstanding the changes made to those subpoenas. I’ve also indicated that the court’s subpoena power will not be used to harass any individual on either side. The court at this time is not making a finding that that was the purpose of these subpoenas. I do think, in good faith, Ms. Holley, you tried to narrowly tailor those subpoenas to seek the information.
Holley: Thank you.
Judge Olmedo: Please don’t take what I’m finding is any statement as it relates to you.
Holley: Thank you.
Judge Olmedo: To that end, the court orders that any party seeking to file additional [subpoenas] to a third party that the court has already issued orders about….Now the party seeking those [subpoenas] must first file the proposed [subpoena] with the court, ex parte and in camera, and must obtain the court’s permission to serve the [subpoena] on the third party…Failure to abide by the court’s order may result in sanctions….If you have an issue with the court ruling, I will always allow counsel time to make a record. If you want to address that and make a record, you may. The court is not a party to these proceedings. Your remedy is to seek review by way of writ.
AdvertisementHolley: I understand.
Pretty strong stuff there from the judge.
As we’ve seen, in the subsequent weeks since the hearing, the defense has petitioned for a writ to the state appeals court system (written by Danny’s other new attorney, Philip Cohen), but it was in regards not to these subpoenas but to the denial of Masterson’s “995” motion to dismiss, which was also denied on February 8, but by Judge Ronald S. Coen.
Judge Coen found that Judge Olmedo had acted properly when she determined last May that enough evidence had been presented by the prosecution to bind Danny over for trial. The appeals court denied Danny’s petition for review of that ruling, and now he’s petitioned the state supreme court. This past week, the court asked the DA’s office to answer Danny’s petition, which will take a few weeks.
As far as Judge Olmedo is concerned, however, Danny’s criminal trial is scheduled for August 29, it will last about four weeks, and if he’s convicted he’s facing 45 years to life in prison. And the nonsense with process servers pounding on doors to deliver duplicative subpoenas has been shut down.
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“I had an example of this. I had a couple of words on a line plot, when I was auditing, and they didn’t make much sense, and I let them go by! They didn’t make any sense to me and by George, we had a wrong item! And as soon as we got the thing straightened out and they did make sense, and so forth, they rocket read, and we went ahead beautifully. The point I’m stressing here is even though you have those forms, don’t try to gobbledygook it. Because gobbledygook won’t work. But sometimes it looks a little gobbledygooky, let’s get the idea of ‘to be Catholic.’ Let’s say that somebody had a goal like that. Got it down in the Vatican or somewhere, they got implanted, and ‘to be Catholic,’ you know. And you get down to the ‘-ness’ form of the goal. And you say, well that’s obviously the beingness of a Catholic. But by George, that doesn’t work! And you finally find out that it’s ‘Catholicness.’ Makes sense, doesn’t it? Catholicness. It isn’t an English word, but it’s a perfectly decent concept. It’s the ‘-ness’ ness of being a Catholic. See? And Catholicness, you’ll find out will fire right at that point, very nice.” — L. Ron Hubbard, April 18, 1963
“NAME CHANGE: The harbour recognized the ship but not the flag or name and were curious. So you better know why so you can explain it. The Hubbard Exploration Co Ltd was the original owner. It was a British Company. Because of currency restrictions the ships were sold to me, then to Operation and Transport Corporation of Panama, a Panama Company so the flag and name had to be changed. We run student cruises and came from Cadiz and will eventually be returning there. We cruise on the coasts of the Western Med.” — The Commodore, April 18, 1969
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“One applies the capability to postulate at a level of pure static. Previous auditing actually accomplished this in varying degrees but it didn’t knowingly use that residual free theta to wisely postulate at that moment of conversion – a knowing and willing CAUSE. I exteriorized from whole track identities and realized it was who I thought I was. The beingness called basic personality was just a collection of winning identities up the track. I looked at the winning identities and said ‘that’s me’; lo, even these as-is and static regains with more wisdom.”
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2001: Helsingborgs Dagblad reported that a member of the Swedish parliament will not appeal her sentence for copyright violation. “The Social Democrat member of parliament Carina Hagg, who was convicted in the district court of Jonkoping for having handed in a copy of the so-called Scientology Bible to the town library, will not appeal the sentence. Carina Hagg, who is a member of parliament from Varnamo, was sentenced to a fine of fifty units. She is also to pay damages to the Church of Scientology, and their legal costs. Carina Hagg has, after discussion with her family, decided not to appeal the verdict. ‘I am disappointed about not having been acquitted by the court, but that disappointment has to be weighed against the pressures that an appeal of the verdict would involve’, she writes. ‘I handed the ‘bible’ over to the library because I wanted to create a debate about cults. I will certainly continue the scrutiny of cults such as Scientology’.”
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“It would be fun if there were real monsters, but the only real monsters on this planet are us.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Next pretrial conference May 31. Trial scheduled for August 29.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Last hearing was on January 18, referred to grand jury. Additional charges also referred to grand jury after January 5 assault while in jail.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
— Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Pretrial conference May 20 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial conference set for May 5.
— Joseph ‘Ben’ Barton, Medicare fraud: Pleaded guilty, awaiting sentencing.
— Yanti Mike Greene, Scientology private eye accused of contempt of court: Found guilty of criminal and civil contempt.
Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Eleventh Circuit affirmed ruling granting Scientology’s motion for arbitration. Garcias considering next move.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Valerie’s motion for reconsideration denied on March 15.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Appellate court removes requirement of arbitration on January 19, case remanded back to Superior Court. Next hearing scheduled for June 29.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for June 28.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs. Appeal hearing held Aug 23-27. Awaiting a ruling.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Lawsuit filed by the FTC and state of Georgia in August, now in discovery phase.
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THE PROSECUTION OF DANNY MASTERSON
We first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation of Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson on rape allegations in 2017, and we’ve been covering the story every step of the way since then. At this page we’ve collected our most important links, including our four days in Los Angeles covering the preliminary hearing and its ruling, which has Danny facing trial and the potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison.
After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.
LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH
An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.
SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z
Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Other links: SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks. Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society. Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in a weekly series. How many have you read?
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THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] Scientology social media: Taking the planet higher than it’s ever been
[TWO years ago] Scientology denied: Watch Clearwater church members calling Mark Bunker a bigot
[THREE years ago] When Scientology is caught spying, it always pretends it was the victim
[FOUR years ago] Spinning cars, self-healing cuts — more ‘OT’ ghost stories from Scientologists
[FIVE years ago] DOX: Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s nutty scheme to strong-arm America’s psychologists
[SIX years ago] Louis Theroux’s ‘My Scientology Movie’ premieres at Tribeca: Our on-scene report
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology hit with another federal lawsuit over refunds — but with a twist
[EIGHT years ago] The rising business star, his mother, and Scientology’s attempt to rip them apart
[NINE years ago] Hysterical Hyper-Sight, and Other Lost Concepts of Dianetics
[TEN years ago] One Year Ago Today: Did the Squirrel Busters Mark the Beginning of the End of Scientology?
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Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,638 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 3,143 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,663 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,683 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,574 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,881 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,749 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,523 days.
Doug Kramer has not seen his parents Linda and Norm in 1,854 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,327 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,643 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 12,209 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 8,128 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 4,296 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,876 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 4,138 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 3,174 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,889 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 2,414 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 769 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,944 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,495 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,644 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,964 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,819 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,938 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 2,294 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,597 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,703 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 3,101 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,977 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,560 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 3,055 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,309 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 14,418 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 18, 2022 at 07:00
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Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2021 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2021), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 15 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…
Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele
Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast
