By: Janmashtami Dasa
SUN: In response to Anon prabhu's posting, Factual Errors, we with a New Vrindaban slant on these events, and there are multiple opinions even on this side, find some of what we believe to be "factual errors" in his posting that we might ask others to consider. We respectfully submit these thoughts:
"Tirtha under close police surveillance was soon picked up."
Tirtha was never under close surveillance. He was a suspect in a first degree murder case who was being actively pursued by the police, thus the second Tirtha's whereabouts (which Tirtha was making quite the effort to conceal) became known to law enforcement, he was immediately arrested. Thankfully cops don't let suspected serial murderers run around loose so they can "surveillance" them.
The supposition that "cops don't let suspected serial murderers run around loose so they can "surveillance" them" may be a west coast belief, but those with political history recollection going back to the 60s and 70s of the former American empire, we know that they do, in fact, allow crimes to develop to a point before they can legally interdict. Who decides the degree of involvement in criminal activity before the interdiction takes place is determined by 'whose jurisdiction' and what level of corruption they are pursuing.
By its very nature, racketeering implies the multiple commissions of multiple felony crimes over a sustained period of time. For example, two car hijackers who perpetrated multiple felonies in one outburst of crime would not qualify as 'racketeers', even though the charges against them may appear as similar to the casual reader. The FBI was involved, actively, in this case and that is an undeniable fact. 'How actively?' is exactly what needs to be determined here. Unfortunately, those with such information are apt to be miserly in their 'sharing'. We welcome this opportunity for full disclosure, from all concerned parties, so that this fundamental right, our right to practice freely the religious path of our preference, shall not be infringed.
"Subsequently, Kirtanananda and Tirtha dutifully took the fall for the murder."
Keith Ham did not even come close to taking any kind of a "fall". Quite to the contrary, Keith Ham made every effort to lie his way out of this legal disaster that had landed flat in the middle of his little kingdom, especially, of course, all the murders committed in connection with the criminal enterprise which was laughingly being referred to as "New Vrindavana". The guilty plea he made in his second trial was prompted when Tirtha unexpectedly got up on the stand for the prosecution and began being completely truthful about Mr. Ham's involvement in Sulochana's killing.
Contrary to Anon prabhu's perception of Kirtanananda's legal strategy, it was not as 'well thought out' as he would like to have us believe. Kirtanananda was innocent of any of the planning and execution of Sulochana. Kirtanananda did, in fact, "take the fall" for Radhanath, since it was Radhanath and not Kirtanananda that ordered the hit back in 1985, when Kirtanananda was barely off life support. Six weeks of breathing tubes down your gullet will make you hungry for some more of that maha you've been luring children into your bed with for the last thirty years. How's all that working out for you?.
For the thousands of devotees that experienced New Vrindaban, "laughingly" was only a part of the far greater experience. And if sarcasm be leveled at The Holy Dhama, who benefits from it?
The difference in Tirtha's testimony at the two trials was as varied as night from day. The financial mantle had passed from Kirtanananda to the next generation, his lieutenants, and Tirtha's life support system was controlled by them if he wanted more than indigent treatment while he was incarcerated. Those who know Tirtha know that his attachment for the regulations was not all that much. The concept of 'sanyass' was Kirtanananda Swami's way of thanking him for the 'selfless act' of killing on behalf of his guru. He hadn't been anything close to serious before his incarceration and the concept was laughed at by some, but that was not New Vrindaban. New Vrindaban, she just lay there watching...
Originally Ham had been offered a quite generous plea agreement which called for a very light prison sentence, something around seven years in exchange for pleading guilty to some of the lesser fraud and copyright charges which the U.S. Attorney had him completely dead guilty on. The other charges, which were not supported by completely airtight evidence, would be dropped, including Sulochana’s murder.
Kirtanananda Swami's "best deal", the one the Dershowitz law firm brokered, had him getting sent to the federal health facilities for 90 days, after which time HE WAS TO BE RELEASED, citing "Article 35", the federal loophole that the government can use to deposit it's "too costly to care for" inmates back on to the same streets that they had been removed from earlier. The deal fell through when the judge suffered a heart attack, the Dershowitz law firm having only received a non-binding verbal agreement from one specific judge who was more under the bench than on it. The judge did recover and sit again, but by that time Kirtanananda had been moved from the federal health club to the federal funny farm. All mental cases in the federal system used to go directly to Butner, North Carolina. They now have the super-max facility, also.
Anon prabhu wrote:
Ham, fresh off having won the appeal which granted him the new trial must have thought he was at the start of a winning streak. After having his first conviction and the 77 year sentence that went with it thrown out, Ham, wallowing in over-confidence (amongst other things) quickly and unequivocally told the Prosecution to go to hell, clearly convinced that he was going to get out of this whole thing unscathed. He soon learned the huge difference between paying famed attorney Alan Dershowitz $300,000.00 to find some procedural flaw in the previous trial, and going forward with the new proceeding facing all of the previously presented evidence, with the addition of the convicted hit man hopping up on the stand and pointing the finger directly at him.
Tirtha began to testify on the morning of the fourth day of the second trial and by lunch break, Ham's attorneys approached the U.S. Attorney to let him know they would be happy to just go ahead and take that friendly little plea agreement that had been offered some weeks before the start of the new trial. This time it was the U.S. Attorney's turn to tell them to go to hell. He countered by saying he would allow Ham to plead guilty to one count, any count of his choosing, but that the judge would then be at liberty to take into account all the other charges and all the testimony that had been heard so far and would have no restriction when passing sentence. This is how Ham wound up with the sentence of 20 plus years for the relatively benign crime of a copyright infringement.
The figures we were to collect for were a $ 2.5 million dollar legal bill, JUST FOR THE DERSHOWITZ LAW FIRM, and then they only got the idiot brother, Nathan, who forgot to get everything in writing.
Kirtanananda's confidence came from his factual understanding that he had nothing to do with the planning of the murder and that, coupled with his widely stated belief they he had surpassed his own spiritual master as KRISHNA's favorite, he predicted only good as its outcome. When the folks handling Tirtha's needs informed Tirtha of the changing politics of New Vrindaban, he had scant options but to listen. With the heart attack of visiting Circuit Judge Mehridge, the twenty-year sentence for Kirtanananda became "a reality", rather then the regular ploy of sentencing hard and then overturning on appeal (much the same as some suppose ISKCON might try with the gurukula abuse settlement in the future). Further, on the subject of court arranged "deals", Radhanatha crony, Sri Galim, was able to completely avoid jail time for his involvement in the New Vrindaban child sexual abuse cases by supplying $65,000 to West Virginia State Supreme Court Justice Klackley. This was arranged by Sri Galim's cattle rancher father.
Anon also wrote:
The U.S. Attorney and the FBI guys I spoke to were convinced there were other “fish” who escaped their nets in connection with this case, but exuded a kind of “It goes along with the job” attitude about it. This was clearly not their first case where guilty people had managed to avoid capture and punishment, nor of course would it be their last.
This does not prove that no deal was brokered, and in fact, would be the very ploy used if a deal had been brokered. How could the real "big fish" withstand such verbal scrutiny? They couldn't! Many of those "fish", bottom feeders of our society, will appear to be materially well off, but who would trade places with them before the Yamadutas? The Holy Koran states that even if one can do nothing to stop the oppressions, they can at least speak out against them. We are thankful to those giving us that facility.
ALL GLORIES TO SRILA PRABHUPADA!!!
