DECLARATION OF KURT WEILAND 1. I, Kurt Weiland, declare under penalty of perjury that the following is true and correct. 2. I have worked for the Church of Scientology International (CSI) since 1987. Since that time, I have primarily worked in executive positions concerned with the direction, management and supervision of the Office of Special Affairs International, the CSI department responsible for the legal, government and other external affairs of the Church. I am therefore personally knowledgeable and competent to put ...

This is the Church of Scientology's response to the St. Petersburg Times story that, in addition to the four church defectors the newspaper wrote about in June, quotes 11 more defectors who have provided accounts of physical or mental abuse by Scientology leader David Miscavige. The Church of Scientology provided 25 affidavits and declarations from current and former church executives and staffers who uniformly describe David Miscavige as a kind, compassionate, inspiring leader who never has been violent or abusive, physically ...

In recent years the Church of Scientology worked hard to present a kinder, gentler image to the public, claiming it had cast aside the criminal activities, dirty tricks and abusive behavior of the past that brought it widespread condemnation and sent some of its former leaders to prison. But a St. Petersburg Times special report this week revealed the reality behind the new facade: At its core, the Church of Scientology has not changed. It is an organization that uses intimidation ...

The four high-ranking executives who left Scientology say that church leader David Miscavige not only physically attacked members of his executive staff, he messed with their minds. He frequently had groups of managers jump into a pool or a lake. He mustered them into group confessions that sometimes spun into free-for-alls, with people hitting one another. Mike Rinder, who defended the church to the media for two decades, couldn't stomach what was happening on the inside. The tactics to keep executives ...

The night after Lisa McPherson died, the leader of the Church of Scientology sent word for one of his top lieutenants to wait by a pay phone at the Holiday Inn Surfside on Clearwater Beach. When Marty Rathbun answered the ringing phone in the lobby, David Miscavige let him have it: Why aren’t you all over this mess? The police are poking around. Do something. "Yes sir," Rathbun said. McPherson, a 36-year-old parishioner in apparent good health, had spent 17 days ...

Part ONE of THREE The leader of the Church of Scientology strode into the room with a boom box and an announcement: Time for a game of musical chairs. David Miscavige had kept more than 30 members of his church's executive staff cooped up for weeks in a small office building outside Los Angeles, not letting them leave except to grab a shower. They slept on the floor, their food carted in. Their assignment was to develop strategic plans for the ...

Marty Rathbun Born: California Age: 52 Joined Scientology: at age 20, in 1977 Left Scientology: 2004 Family status: Divorced from Sea Org member Anne Rathbun. They had no children. Career highlights: A top lieutenant to Miscavige. Key player in legal affairs unit. Miscavige's "detail guy" during lengthy negotiations with IRS; among those who signed settlement agreement. Inspector general and board member of Religious Technology Center, church's top ecclesiastical authority. Known for his auditing skills. Audited Tom Cruise. Coached auditors working with ...

The Church of Scientology pressed vigorously Friday (June 19, 2009) to delay publication of the Times' Scientology story. Its spokesmen and lawyers said that the few days the newspaper gave the church to respond to Mike Rinder, who only recently agreed to go public, was not enough time. The church also said the Times needs to talk to more people. Church spokesmen, executives, attorneys and others flew in from around the country to meet with reporters in Clearwater. The parade started ...

David I. Minkoff loses his license for one year for improperly prescribing drugs for the Scientologist. TALLAHASSEE — Florida's Board of Medicine has sternly sanctioned Clearwater physician David I. Minkoff, finding he improperly prescribed medicine for a patient he had never seen — Scientologist Lisa McPherson. Minkoff, also a Scientologist, prescribed Valium and the muscle relaxant chloral hydrate at the behest of unlicensed Church of Scientology staffers who were trying to nurse McPherson, 36, through a severe mental breakdown. When they ...

Church leaders say the German official is a "fascist demagogue'' who has stoked a hate campaign. She says they exaggerate. CLEARWATER — The battle between the Church of Scientology and the German government, a long-running dispute steeped in emotion and international politics, has come crashing into Clearwater with a visit by a controversial German official. Ursula Caberta, who heads a government office in Hamburg that works to curb Scientology in Germany, said Tuesday at a downtown news conference that Scientology is ...

CLEARWATER — Alarmed at the "massive impact" of two criminal charges, the Church of Scientology's worldwide leader quickly offered Pinellas County's top prosecutor a deal. Drop the charges, David Miscavige told State Attorney Bernie McCabe in November 1998, and the church would make a $500,000 donation to the county's EMS system. It also would pay the nearly $200,000 in expenses incurred in what then was a three-year investigation into Lisa McPherson's 1995 death while in the care of her fellow Scientologists. ...

Blaming the medical examiner for damaging their case, prosecutors quietly end the inquiry into Lisa McPherson's death. CLEARWATER — State Attorney Bernie McCabe's weekend reading was a memo by his chief assistant urging him to drop the first criminal charges ever filed in the United States against the Church of Scientology. The 31-page document was filled with medical words that McCabe had never heard, but its essence was all too clear: The star prosecution witness, Medical Examiner Joan Wood, really didn't ...

L. Ron Hubbard said he didn't want his science-fiction work to be a press release for the church he founded. Nevertheless, the connections between Battlefield Earth and Scientology are worth noting. Put him in front of a typewriter and L. Ron Hubbard's fingers flew. He did not "piddle around" with his prose like other writers, as his friend and fellow science fiction author, Robert A. Heinlein, observed in a 1982 letter. Known in the 1930s and 1940s as a writer of ...

The judge ruling on Scientology's plea to remove its leader from a lawsuit says he'll carefully sift arguments. TAMPA – A judge said Wednesday he will take some time to decide whether Scientology leader David Miscavige should remain a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit against the Church of Scientology in Clearwater. Hillsborough Circuit Judge James S. Moody Jr. will consider a variety of legal issues, including whether Miscavige was properly served with the lawsuit at his Hollywood, Calif., office and ...

The rulings say the Church of Scientology's actions in respect to Lisa McPherson are not protected by the Constitution. © St. Petersburg Times TAMPA – In a ruling that stunned the Church of Scientology and its lawyers, a Hillsborough County judge said Friday that religious rights are not a central issue in the 1995 death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson. Circuit Judge James S. Moody Jr. also said it is not clear whether McPherson consented to her treatment by Scientology staffers before ...

Promising a decision in a month, she questions the state's criminal charges against the church over a member's death. ST. PETERSBURG – After listening to legal arguments over two days, Pinellas-Pasco Chief Circuit Judge Susan F. Schaeffer said Thursday she will take a month to decide whether to dismiss the criminal case against the Church of Scientology. She also expressed support for key arguments raised by the church, which is defending itself against two charges in the 1995 death of Lisa ...

Pinellas prosecutors are standing by their allegation that Lisa McPherson suffered severe dehydration before she died in the care of Church of Scientology staffers in Clearwater. The hearing in downtown St. Petersburg included a rare public appearance by Scientology's Los Angeles-based leader David Miscavige, who huddled with the church's lawyers at breaks and passed them notes during the proceedings. Behind him: an estimated 200 local Scientologists, many of whom have written affidavits saying the prosecution of Scientology has burdened the practice ...

If the judge denies the church's request, the focus shifts to a five-week criminal trial scheduled in October. Seventeen months after it was criminally charged in the death of Lisa McPherson, the Church of Scientology will have its first big day in court on Wednesday and a chance, it hopes, for vindication. "The entire basis for the state's prosecution of this case has now collapsed," begins one of the many Scientology legal briefs arguing the case should be dismissed. The prosecution ...

The city's permit allows the church to shift from underground work to above ground, where the $45-million building will rise seven stories and a tower, 15 stories. CLEARWATER – After months of negotiations with the Church of Scientology, city officials issued a permit Tuesday that allows the church to continue construction of its massive new downtown building. The pair of towering white cranes that loom over the project, mostly idle since the fall, will come to life once more. For 16 ...

CLEARWATER – The records came in unrelenting batches. Medical studies, scientific research, sworn testimony and more – thousands of pages from the Church of Scientology that Medical Examiner Joan Wood considered over five months before changing her ruling in the 1995 death of Lisa McPherson. Wood refuses to say what finally tipped the scale, prompting her to rule last month that McPherson's death was an accident. But records from her office examined by the St. Petersburg Times show she reviewed a ...

More than 200 church members ask a Circuit Court judge to dismiss the Lisa McPherson criminal case, saying it is an undue burden on them. CLEARWATER — A group of more than 200 Scientologists says the criminal prosecution against the Church of Scientology has hurt them personally, and they are asking a judge to dismiss the case. In affidavits filed Wednesday in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court, many church members said the criminal case stemming from the 1995 death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson ...

A former member of O.J. Simpson's "dream team" defense says Lisa McPherson's death was accidental. CLEARWATER — As prosecutors consider whether to proceed with criminal charges in the death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson, the Church of Scientology on Monday presented two nationally known pathologists who said they have scientific evidence that the 1995 death was accidental. Drs. Michael M. Baden and Cyril H. Wecht also suggested their work is so conclusive the case should be dropped. Their primary conclusion: McPherson, 36, ...

Questioning his impartiality, Scientology asks Judge Brandt C. Downey III to remove himself. LARGO – The Church of Scientology says it fears Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Brandt C. Downey III cannot be impartial and is asking that he remove himself from presiding in the Lisa McPherson case. In a motion filed late Thursday, Scientology asserts that several of Downey's former law partners were active in anti-Scientology efforts in the late 1970s and early 1980s, after the church's controversial arrival in Clearwater. The ...

The Church of Scientology in Clearwater cannot rely on religious grounds to escape prosecution in the death of one of its members, Pinellas-Pasco prosecutors argued in a strongly worded document filed Monday. The document referred to the church's Clearwater entity as "a multifaceted non-profit corporation" that "engages in extensive revenue sharing activity" and generates "tremendous cash flow." The wording aims to undercut an argument by church lawyers that Scientology staffers were giving "spiritual assistance" to parishioner Lisa McPherson when she died ...

The church selects Johnson Blakely to represent it on a number of local issues. CLEARWATER – The Church of Scientology has hired Clearwater's most prominent and well-connected law firm to represent it on a wide range of issues, yet another indicator of Scientology's increasing acceptance into Clearwater's civic circles. Church officials reached an agreement for legal services on Tuesday with the firm of Johnson Blakely Pope Bokor Ruppel & Burns. The account will be handled by Ed Armstrong, a partner in ...