A colleague of reputed cult leader Scott Caruthers entered a guilty plea
yesterday to a charge of conspiring to murder one of the group's business
associates.
David S. Pearl, 48, who has been jailed since his arrest in October 2001, will
continue to pursue a plea that he is not criminally responsible, according to
his attorney.
Carroll Circuit Judge Michael M. Galloway said yesterday that he would not
sentence Pearl until receiving a psychiatric report from Springfield Hospital
Center, where staff doctors examined Pearl a few weeks ago.
Caruthers, an author and inventor who has been described as the space-alien
leader of a Westminster-based cult, is awaiting trial on similar charges and
also is undergoing psychiatric evaluations to determine whether he would be
held criminally responsible.
A doctor retained by the defense has determined that Pearl should not be held
criminally responsible, Pearl's lawyer, Gary S. Bernstein, said.
"Once the judge has the psychiatric report, I expect my client will be
placed under the care of the state for appropriate treatment," said
Bernstein. "There is no reason that this [should] be inpatient treatment.
No one thinks of him as a danger to himself or to others."
Prosecutors are not likely to seek additional prison time for Pearl, who
remains at the Carroll County Detention Center in lieu of $1 million bail.
"At this point, we are not recommending more active incarceration,"
Deputy State's Attorney Tracy A. Gilmore said.
Pearl, a lawyer, became an officer for a company controlled by Caruthers and
moved from Owings Mills to Westminster, where Caruthers lived. Caruthers met
Pearl and other co-defendants in the case while promoting a business venture
involving "Strongput," a no-grip exercise weight.
Caruthers, a high school drop-out who held a variety of low-paying jobs but
told others that he led a secret life as a test pilot, spy, astronaut and
government assassin, has been described as the leader of an organization called
BDX - Beta Dominion Xenophilia. He has denied being a cult leader and has said
that some descriptions of his group were a product of science-fiction writing
exercises. Pearl entered an Alford plea, in which a defendant concedes that
prosecutors have sufficient evidence for a conviction but does not admit guilt.
He is the second of the five people charged in the case to plead guilty to conspiracy
in a failed scheme to kill E. David Gable, a Baltimore County businessman.
Caruthers' wife, Dashielle Lashra, who also had been jailed since October 2001,
was sentenced last month to time served and was placed on five years'
probation.
The suspects believed that Gable had stolen money from a company Caruthers
founded and they wanted to prevent him from testifying as part of a securities
investigation, said Gilmore, the prosecutor.
"They had brought Gable in originally to control their investments,"
Gilmore said in court yesterday. "Then, [a Securities and Exchange
Commission] investigation meant their stocks were frozen. Gable was scheduled
to testify in that investigation and they wanted him killed before that court
date."
Pearl was present at meetings at which a plan to hire a hit man was discussed,
Gilmore said. The alleged plot was foiled when the would-be hit man told
Gable's lawyer of the plan.
Bernstein called Gilmore's account "the most sanitized version and the
most favorable to the state."
"We would present other evidence, if there was a jury trial,"
Bernstein said.
Also charged in the alleged scheme are Dulsa Naedek, a woman who lived at the
Caruthers home outside Westminster, and Amy C. Dardick, who was released on
$10,000 bail soon after the arrest and sent for deprogramming treatment with
the expectation that she would testify for the prosecution if Caruthers' case
goes to trial.