Scientology protester’s case continued without a finding
October 22nd, 2008 | by davef |I have to admit I didn’t see this coming, but a Boston Municipal Court judge has continued without a finding the case against a man accused of disrupting proceedings at the Back Bay Church of Scientology earlier this year.
On Oct. 22, Judge Thomas C. Horgan imposed a one-year CWOF against Gregg Housh, who had been charged with disturbing an assembly of worship and disturbing the peace.
As part of the plea, Housh was ordered to stay away from the Back Bay headquarters of the Church of Scientology and its new headquarters in Boston’s South End.
Suffolk prosecutors also moved to dismiss a criminal harassment complaint against Housh after determining they could not prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.
Prosecutors alleged that Housh and other members of a controversial web-based group called Anonymous entered the Church of Scientology’s Beacon Street building during a March 1 protest, disturbing the proceedings and alarming those inside.
Housh and other members of the group, who conceal their identity by wearing plastic Guy Fawkes masks modeled after those worn in the 2005 film “V for Vendetta,” allegedly began protesting when the church took legal steps in January to prevent them from running clips of a Tom Cruise Scientology video on YouTube.
Where the case pitted First Amendment free-speech protections against an individual’s right to practice religion without harassment, many legal experts thought it would be resolved either at the motion to dismiss or trial stage.
When I spoke to Housh’s Braintree lawyer, Michael D. Dlott, before his April arraignment, he too sounded confident that the case would be dismissed.
“I spoke to a police officer who was at each of the rallies,” he said at the time. “And his take on it was that the harassment charge wouldn’t hold up, and my feeling is that this is just a free speech/right to assembly issue.”
- David E. Frank
11 Responses to “Scientology protester’s case continued without a finding”
By Jeff on Oct 22, 2008 | Reply
Wow, this is the second Anonymous in the past couple of days getting in trouble for harassment (last Friday the US DOJ announced that a NJ Anonymous was charged with sabotaging Scientology computers and faces up to 10 years of jail).
So Gregg Housh got some kind of a one year “probation” (CWOF). What happens if he violates it and goes on harassing the Scientologists?
By Terryeo on Oct 22, 2008 | Reply
Smart Judge. Disturbing the peace while on a public street is a different activity than disturbing the peace when within a House of Worship. Masks might be tolerated on a public street, or shouting. But within a House of Worship these things are inappropriate, and especially if you enter with the intent of causing disturbance.
By Zubaida on Oct 22, 2008 | Reply
This is actually very good news (though a dismissal would have been better). In a year, no-one will give a sh-t about this ancient history. The Scilons LOST this case.
By Dave on Oct 23, 2008 | Reply
Going inside the church was a bad idea. Although the purpose wasn’t to disrupt as such, but rather to hand out fliers, I can imagine it to be threatening to the Scientologists if a group of masked people enters the building.
However, Gregg wasn’t part of the group that went inside. The only reason criminal charges were brought upon him was because he was the one who got the protest permit from city council, and therefor had his name exposed.
It is rather unfortunate that the Scientology cult still has enough influence to push a prosecutor to spend a lot of tax money to go after a case which didn’t stand a chance from the very beginning.
Why not spend that time and money to look into Scientology’s many crimes (see my linked site)?
By Mark Abien on Oct 23, 2008 | Reply
Just what you’d expect from the ‘Church’ of Scientology. They probably cried about being a religion and that they should have the right to practise this ‘religion’, though it should get stripped of that title very soon because they are a money-making business.
They have copyright! Businesses have copyright! Religions don’t!!! When will anyone stand up and do something about this?
Thank god Anonymous is at least keeping new members from entering this deceiving fraudulent organization.
Just my 2¢
By JeffNYC on Oct 23, 2008 | Reply
Jeff said this “Wow, this is the second Anonymous in the past couple of days getting in trouble for harassment ”
Jeff, did you even read the article whatsoever?
The charges for harassment were just dropped, there are no pending charges at all. And the charges were not brought “a couple of days” ago, but many many months ago.
So given that even the prosecutor gave up on the charges, how in the hell do you state that he is going to “continue” to harass them.
You post makes you look silly and stupid. Read the story before you post and you won’t have to deal with people scolding you for being clueless.
By Mike on Oct 23, 2008 | Reply
Actually, no one will give a sh** about Gregg Housh. He’s had his fifteen minutes of fame and it did not go well for him, to say the least. He admitted that the facts were sufficient to warrant a finding of guilty. That is not a win if you have any idea what a CWOF actually is and how it works. If he violates his probation, he could go to jail for a year. That’s not a win in the mind of any reasonable person.
By Kim on Oct 23, 2008 | Reply
Jeff and Terryeo are $cientologists
By Nate on Oct 23, 2008 | Reply
I don’t see how this could be seen as a “win” for the cult.
It’s another documented case of the “fair game” practice the cult claims to no longer use.
But go ahead and dance your little victory dance for being “upstat” this week my dear shortsighted $cientologists, and just go ahead and keep on proving the critics right.
By Jon on Oct 23, 2008 | Reply
Lesson learned — stay in the street.