B. The Highly Prejudicial Publicity 12 C. The Government's Prosecution of This 1. The Government Consistently 39 41 Oversight Hearing on Religious Liberty INTRODUCTION SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTS ON BEHALF UNIFICATION CHURCH OF AMERICA This document is presented to the Subcommittee in response to an invitation extended by the Chairman, Senator Orrin G. Hatch, at the conclusion of its hearings concerning Current Issues in Religious Liberty on June 26, 1984. Reverend Sun Myung Moon ("Reverend Moon") the spiritual leader of the worldwide Unification Church movement and the Unification Church of America, was convicted of filing false Federal income tax returns on July 16, 1982, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. This conviction followed a six-week trial, during which the Government sought to buttress its vague and novel theories of taxability with 2 In "evidence" which maligned and generally cast aspersion upon the religious tenets and practices of the Unification Church, as well as its members and Reverend Moon. essence, the case against Reverend Moon is, and has been since its inception, an indictment and trial of the Unification Church. These comments are submitted as a supplement to the oral testimony given by Reverend Moon before the Subcommittee, and are designed in part to address questions raised by certain members of the Subcommittee with respect to the fundamental fairness of the prosecution against Reverend Moon. No attempt has been made herein to justify ór criticize specific legal theories asserted during the course of the various proceedings in this case. This document, rather, attempts to portray the full tenor of the prosecution, from the indictment of Reverend Moon to the time of his incarceration, through spontaneous statements of the Court, the prosecutors and the jurors. These remarks . have not been culled selectively for the purpose of creating a predetermined impression. In all cases, they are arranged as fairly as possible, in order to demonstrate individual attitudes and reactions, and to shed light upon the vital issues of religious freedom, Constitutional right and proper functioning of the judicial system, which are the concern of this Subcommittee. 3 Against this background, an objective review of the record herein leads to the conclusion that the purpose of the investigation and trial of Reverend Moon was not, as 1/ suggested by the Government and the Court, 2/ simply to determine "whether or not certain property belonged to defendant Moon and whether he should have declared them as his and paid taxes on them." The purpose of this prosecution, rather, was to determine "whether or not the Unification Church is a true religion or a cult and whether or not it has been beneficial to America." 3/ BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY The investigation of Reverend Moon began with a letter dated January 9, 1976, from Senator Robert Dole, a member of the Senate Committee responsible for the oversight of the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), to Mr. Donald Alexander, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. In 1/ TR. 2194. Citations to the record as reprinted in the appendix submitted to the Court of Appeals will be denoted as follows: Citations to pre-trial transcript, "P__"; to trial transcript, "TR. "; to post-trial transcript, "S__"; to Government Exhibits "GX. "; and to Defendants' Exhibits, "DX. 3/ See, TR. 1758. The Court acknowledged after jury selection and prior to trial that because of the jurors' negative attitudes, if these were the issues to be tried "the situation would be pretty critical." |