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Keith Henson, an engineer, writer and futurist, was arrested Friday in Prescott, Ariz., where he has been living for the past few years, and now faces extradition to California. Henson originally fled to Canada after the 2001 conviction.
Keith Henson
Michael Kielsky, Henson's defense attorney, said Monday that his client will likely be released on Monday evening and is required to appear in court for a March 5 hearing.
Kielsky said that Henson was mistreated by police and jailers--including being told during the arrest that he had no right to an attorney and being held in solitary confinement in a poorly heated cell without adequate bedding. "My best information is that it's very political," he said. "They gave him an extra blanket but then an hour later they took it away--(this is) a 66-year-old man with a heart problem."
A message left with Sheila Polk, the Yavapai County Attorney, was not returned on Monday.
A brief flap that ensued over the amount of Henson's bond delayed the process. A judge initially set the amount at $7,500, but then increased it to $500,000 at the request of prosecutors, according to the Yavapai County Detention Center. After a telephone conference with the judge and attorneys on Monday afternoon, the bond was lowered to $5,000.
Henson's frequent encounters with Scientology, coupled with his lengthy resume of programming, electrical engineering and futurist accomplishments, have made him something of a legal cause celebre in technology circles.
Supporters have created a "Free Keith Henson" blog, posted a note from his wife, Arel Lucas, and are asking for donations to a legal defense fund. The fund was set up by members of the Extropy Institute, a nonprofit group that has been a gathering point for futurists and technologists since 1991.
Convicted of making threat to interfere with religion
Henson was convicted in 2001 under a California law (Sec. 422.6) that criminalizes any threat to interfere with someone else's "free exercise" of religion. One Usenet post that was introduced at his trial included jokes about sending a "Tom Cruise" missile against a Scientology compound (the actor is a prominent Scientologist). Picketing Scientology buildings and other "odd behavior" were also part of the charges, Deputy District Attorney Robert Schwarz said at the time.
Jeanne Roy, a deputy district attorney in Riverside County, Calif., said that the next step for her office is to see whether Henson shows up for his March 5 court date. If he does not, an Arizona warrant would be issued for his arrest. If he does, Roy said, another court date would be set to deal with extradition through a process known as a governor's warrant.
"That won't happen by March 5," Roy said. "It's usually a 30- to 90-day process, depending on the state, for that paperwork." If extradited to California, she said, Henson faces a year in jail or six months in jail and 3 years of probation.
When asked whether it's common for California to try to extradite someone on a misdemeanor conviction, Roy said: "It's not common, but it's not unusual either. We do it in some cases."
Henson's family is concerned about what might happen to him in jail. "The Scientologists have made death threats to my father," his daughter Amber Henson said in an e-mail message to CNET News.com. "My mom and I are going to do everything possible to make sure that they are not able to silently do away with him." (The Church of Scientology could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.)
Before his misdemeanor conviction, Henson had become embroiled in a civil lawsuit that Scientology filed against him.
It arose out of supposedly secret scriptures written by L. Ron Hubbard, the late science fiction author and founder of Scientology, which describe a galactic overlord named Xenu who is allegedly the source of all human evil. Since the early 1990s, Scientology has made a concerted effort to remove those documents from the Internet--including suing Henson--but they finally found a permanent legal home in the Netherlands.
Scientology's tactics, which critics say include cult-like retention practices and intimidation, have drawn fire in the past. A Time magazine cover story, for instance, concluded that "Scientology poses as a religion but really is a ruthless global scam." Xenu and Cruise were also satirized in a November 2005 episode of South Park.
See more CNET content tagged:
Scientology, Tom Cruise, Arizona, attorney, Usenet
However, as far as I'm concerned they are free to do what ever they want as long as it's legal, but they come sticking a foot in my door they'll end up with a broken foot. :)
OH CRAP. I'm being arrested for threating a Scientologist with bodily harm. :)
Read about some of the trials of Scientology working to gain their tax exemption as a recognized religion.
The wiki article says: "Scientologists infiltrated the IRS and stole confidential documents in what was termed Operation Snow White. Eleven high-ranking Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife Mary Sue Hubbard, served time in federal prison for acts surrounding this operation."
So they literally infiltrated the IRS for information that many believe was to be used to strong arm the government into restoring their tax exemption.
From this entry on Hubbard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Ron_Hubbard#Controversial_episodes
It states: A Reader's Digest article of May 1980 quoted Hubbard as saying in the 1940s "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion."
Hubbard was a science fiction author. I know people that believe it would be a good time for the IRS to re-consider their tax exempt status.
Of course, I don't claim to support or endorse any of this information. I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of Keith Henson right now.
There are people in this country who have REAL problems and the state of California is wasting its money on THIS!!!?
Because a group of people whom arguably are fortunate to even be able to USE the word religion in reference to the gift of tax-free status got their feelings hurt by a joke?
And just slightly prior to this we hear on the evening news that while our troops were being killed in a Iraq, regardless of where you stand on our involvement there, Tom Cruise is reportedly talking Scooter L. in Washington about what? A way to solve the mid-east peace crisis? World Peace? Keeping the troops safe? NOOOOO...
He was upset because of problems Scientology is having in GERMANY for God's sake.
Well Gee Whiz. I'm an Episcopalian and just in CASE you haven't noticed, we haven't had a sparkling year either, Tommy, my boy. Seems that some of the more conservative diocese from other countries are trying to split the entire church apart because they don't think Tinky Winky should be dispensing the communion wafer. Personally, I don't care what the priest wears under his robes as long as the wine is good.
And I don't think that any of US have been up on the hill whining to the administration about it and asking them to solve our problems. Of course, we also allow freedom of speech among our members and ex-members without suing them, disappearing them, erasing them from our history, and putting them in jail. Jokes too, are permitted. Even at our own expense.
I just wonder. Do Scientologists think that this public litigation helps their cause? Being known as litigious and worse than the Hotel California when it comes to check-out time is not very good advertising.
http://obliqueone.blogspot.com
Scientology cannot be considered a religion if the US government is doing anything for them (Seperation of Church and State)
Eather they are not a religion or they are doing something illagal and should be shutdown
Why does Scientology feel free to publicly use "jokes in bad taste" that can be construed as terrorist threats while persecuting Keith Henson for making a similar joke? This is hypocrisy on Scientology's part. I ask Riverside County officials to consider Scientology's double standard. I ask them to either release Mr. Henson or consider pressing charges against Mr. Miscavige for making a terrorist threat against mental health professionals. There has to be fairness and balance in the pursuit of justice. Mr. Henson has already paid hell for the past six years. He is 66 and not in good health. Is the common good served by imprisoning him to satisfy a religion that practices the same tactics for which it condemns Mr. Henson?
What happened to a man's freedom of speech? Is this precedence stating that I cannot march down to the nearest church and stand outside with a picket sign? That I can't post my opinion on the Internet?
This feels an awful lot like our First Ammendment being trampled on.
They lost the tax-exempt status in a 1967 IRS audit, but in 1992 they traded a $250,000 property to the government for only $28,000.
They tax-exempt status was reinstated in 1993, in a settlement document that was sealed.
The NYT also stated in 96 that they believed Scientologists paid private investigators to obtain compromising material on the IRS commissioner to regain the status.
The church has an aparent history of strong arming to get what they want, and they have been successful at it if nothing else.
Also on your quote "but Scientology from what I understand, only deals with facts." is funny.
You REALLY need to watch this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z4TsRayoXWE
There's a reason they went to ridiculous lengths (including framing people for physical violence) to try and prevent their secret religious doctrines from appearing on the Internet; because if the average unbrainwashed person reads them, they wonder how people could be so horribly STUPID as to believe most of it...
OSX comes with far more applications than Windows.
Windows still has only solitare, mspaint, notepad, and calc but Vista now needs 15 gig to install them.
As a savvy Windows users whos PC is well taken care of, even I have to wonder sometimes if Windows isn't just a huge framework for spyware.
when it comes to sheer stupidity. What you say is not witty, funny
or even slightly (childishly) amusing. Please for the sake of that one
last brain cell put your mommy's keyboard down and clean your
room like a good child.
PS. Have you picked up your new 802.11N Airport router yet? They are great!
Here I tought, there would be something funny about Apple's High Priest, Steve Jobs, applying for tax-free status for his cult.
But PC trolls apparently have no sense of humor.
Here I tought, there would be something funny about Apple's High Priest, Steve Jobs, applying for tax-free status for his cult.
But PC trolls apparently have no sense of humor.
Real religions don't charge thousands of dollars for salvation. Real religions can tolerate criticism and condemnation without retaliation and vendettas.
If it looks like a cult and acts like a cult, it's a cult, even if they hang a sign out front that says "Religion" and borrow a Christian Crucifix to nail on their roof.
Have we forgotten about Salman Rushdie and "Satanic Verses"? Or, while I'm at it, how about the historical practice of excommunication of critics?
Yes, you do have a point about charging thousands for salvation and being a cult - in the modern usage of the word.
It's true that religions can be very emotional for their followers, and are used to justify many horrific things.
But Scientology isn't a religion. It's a scam masquerading as a religion to claim tax-exempt status and to avoid prosecution for fraud.
It's unfortunate that the First Amendment didn't more clearly define 'religion'.
I realize that the government can't protect people (i.e. cult members) from their own stupidity all of the time, but it doesn't need to be complicit in furthering the cult's agenda.
populated, and why the US shortage of judge and jailer... Can't
they have some "2nd life" type of prison instead? Would save
money and really move forward to the future..
It wasn't even that personal - the guy, in light of some of Tom Cruise's recent movies, could have said something like "drop a Tom Cruise bomb on them". (That is a joke, darn it.)
The case isn't just about a "joke". There might be just a bit more background to it.
Unless he said a lot more than is indicated here I don't see how he is guilty of "threatening" anything. It's like one of those nightmares that you get in schools where overzealous principles suspend pre-K students for playing cops and robbers on the grounds that running around and shouting "Bang" breaks the zero tolerance on guns.
do with Scientology. I'm an avid user of Macs but I'm Methodist.
What crack head notion do u have to back this up. Are u 5 years
old or something?
scientoligists and macs? If you haven't been paying attention,
Apple has been picking up computer marketshare slowly for the
last five years and even more now with the introduction of intel
macs. I am a mac user but, I am also a college senior taking a
physics degree with no particular religious preference. Infact, a
very high percentage of people in the sciences use macs
because the operating system itself is more powerful than
windows as far what you can do if you know how. When was the
last time that windows let you easily search you directory from a
command line. (Note, the same idea can also be applied to
linux). The reason you seem to be confused (the only one I can
think of anyway) is that most of the people in the visual arts use
macs because they are better suited for that than windows. But,
I am still able to see no cause and effect relationship.
:)
No more Tom Cruise or John Travolta movies for me. Sorry, but I can't see anything in those faces other than members of a fascist, weirdo cult.
- Evidently so...
- by phantomsoul February 6, 2007 8:02 AM PST
- ...or else this would have been a non-issue.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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