I am a former member of the
Unification Church who walked out after eight months of
indoctrination and was never
deprogrammed. Before commencing law school as a result
of my experience in the Moonies, I acted as a deprogrammer for a number of
years and am in part the subject of the book, Moonwebs, by Josh
Freed, which was later the basis for the feature film, Ticket to Heaven.
I have litigated against the
Church of Scientology for over 10 years.
In addition, I litigated and won an appellate
court decision, Molko v.Holy Spirit Association (1988) 46 Cal.3d 1092, in
which the California Supreme Court held that the First Amendment did not bar
civil causes ofaction for fraud, intentional infliction of emotional
distress and restitution when a cult used deception to cause an unsuspecting
individual to expose himself to brainwashing techniques and suffered damage
as a result. My cult-related litigation experiences also include the
successful use of the "choice of evils" defense in a criminal prosecution
for kidnapping and false imprisonment based on an unsuccessful and forcible
recapture and deprogramming (State of Colorado v. Whelan and Brandyberry)
and a $1.625 million jury verdict rendered in February 1998 in Bertolucci v.
Ananda Church of Self Realization in San Mateo Superior
Court, California for fraud, coercion and sexual exploitation.
