“Battling Scientology” Follow-Up
Depending on whom
you ask, Massachusetts-based protest organizer Gregg Housh had a major victory –
or a significant loss – in Boston Municipal Court this Wednesday. As reported
in The Phoenix this past week in the feature “Battling Scientology,” Housh
faced charges of harassment, disturbing the peace, and disturbing religious
worship for his involvement with the picket group Anonymous and his actions against
the Boston Church of Scientology.
According to an
Anonymous press statement that circulated earlier this afternoon: “On October
22nd Boston Municipal Court dismissed the charge of criminal
harassment against ‘Anonymous’ anti-Scientology activist Gregg Housh, pending
an order for the two parties to not approach each other.”
Boston Church of
Scientology attorney Marc LaCasse was quick to comment that Housh did not get
off so easily. “Gregg Housh – under oath – admitted that the [evidence
presented against him] was true. The document he signed is called ‘admission to
sufficient facts.’ If it doesn’t get any
clearer than that…”
Legally
speaking, charges against Housh were not technically dismissed. Instead he
agreed to a Continuance without a Finding (CWOF), which the Massachusetts Criminal Defense
Resource Page explains as: “Under Massachusetts Criminal Laws, agreeing to a Continuance without a
Finding is not the same as pleading guilty. Technically, it is
an admission that "there are sufficient facts to find you guilty" of
the charges. Pleading to a CWOF will happen at a pre-trial conference as
part of a plea agreement, if your attorney can get the prosecutor to agree.”
(For more about the legal side see this article from Massachusetts Lawyers
Weekly).
The good news is
that all parties seem to be happy with the outcome. At least for now, it appears
that Housh – who was placed on one year probation and who faces one year in
prison if he enters within 100 yards of the Boston Church of Scientology on Beacon Street – avoided
what promised to be a lengthy trial. On the other side, LaCasse says the
outcome works for him: “My client simply wanted to be left alone.”