Preliminary Hearing: Day One

Today was the first day of the preliminary hearing. The purpose of the hearing is to determine if there is probable cause that the defendant, Sitchin, committed the crimes he is indicted on. The prosecution this week will present some of their case to the court.

The proceedings began with the testimony of an unnamed witness from the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. He began by saying he was a special investigator. Then he described his expierence with the case.

"I began on the Sitchin case in June 2006. I examined some of his books to start off with, before preparing to do some physical research." The detective who I will further call as John Smith then said that he went to some pro-Sitchin events in the early fall of 2006, and eventually attended a meeting by Sitchin. He explained how he "got into the circle of trust", in mid-December, and began working with Sitchin and four others. The group was planning a secret gathering of 'believers' (as Smith described their followers) in February to start an organization that would as Sitchin told him, "rid the Earth of false communication and bring knowledge to all when the time comes".

The defense was drawn in so closely to the testimony that lasted for about twenty minutes that they forgot to object on grounds of hearsay. It was sustained, but it was too late.