File: LVCrt-06
Nikolas Schreck
Post Box 169
1070 Vienna, Austria
Re:
Diane Hegarty, Plaintiff
v.
Anton LaVey, Defendant
Case #891863
DECLARATION OF NIKOLAS SCHRECK PERTINENT TO HEARING SEPTEMBER
17,
1991
From February 1988 to April 1990 I worked as an associate of
and
frequent collaborator with Anton LaVey.
During the duration of my relationship with Mr. LaVey, I
became
increasingly aware of his tendency to use a litany of alleged
illnesses and sicknesses as a convenient excuse to avoid any
unpleasant situation, or indeed to avoid any decision-making or
responsibility for his own actions. I witnessed that Mr. LaVey
frequently attempted to forestall, postpone, or evade any
situation
in his life which may have proven confrontational, challenging,
or
even minutely stressful to him through such medically-oriented
excuses.
Many times during my attempts to work with Mr. LaVey on
various
projects (interviews for books, recording of his music, etc.), he
and his secretary Blanche Barton would procrastinate, cancel at
the
last minute, or completely alter their previous plans due to what
both of them claimed to be his "health problems". It
became clear to
me that in his dealings with me and others it was a long-standing
habit of Mr. LaVey's to blame any irresponsibility,
inconsistency,
or unreliability on what he consistently represented as his poor
state of health.
I believe it is relevant to the present legal proceedings
concerning
Mr. LaVey and Diane Hegarty that during the period I knew him, he
often disdainfully failed to respond to any of the various legal
troubles with which he was presented. To the best of my
recollection, Mr. LaVey did not claim to be shirking his legal
responsibilities because of his "poor health", but on
the grounds of
a frequently-expressed contempt for lawyers, courts, and the
entire
apparatus of the U.S. justice system.
When I or other of his associates inquired as to why he
continuously
refused to attend hearings or depositions involving this case or
even to hire an attorney to represent him, he repeatedly stated
that
he couldn't trust anyone in the legal profession and that
furthermore he believed he was being wrongfully attacked since in
his opinion he was not in the wrong whatsoever concerning Diane
Hegarty's complaints. He also claimed that he had no intention of
ever giving up his California Street residence or honoring any
financial agreement with Ms. Hegarty.
Despite frequent warnings from those who knew him, he
continued to
take this course. That Mr. LaVey now claims that he could not
comply
with his long-standing legal responsibilities because of his
health
seems to be yet another refusal to admit his own culpability in
this
matter, a last-ditch effort of evasion that fits in entirely with
my
impression of Mr. LaVey's character.
I trust that in light of Mr. LaVey's track record of utilizing
medical problems to escape from responsibility and his unwavering
contempt for the due process of law, the court will not allow him
to
continue to avoid justice with such flimsy prevarications.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true
and
correct.
Executed on August 27, 1991 at Vienna, Austria:
/s/ Nikolas Schreck