Scientologists Picket Court

Between 800 and 1,200 Scientologists, chanting “Religious Freedom Now!” peacefully picketed the Los Angeles County Courthouse on Hill Street today, protesting a Superior Court jury’s $30-million award to an ex-member who claimed that the church drove him to the edge of insanity. The Rev. Ken Hoden, president of Scientology’s Los Angeles congregation, vowed that the church would never pay any part of the award, charging that the trial violated the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion. (Story, Part II, Page 1.)