Art News

Son in NY Dead Sea Scrolls Case: There’s No Crime

NEW YORK (AP).- A lawyer charged with impersonating a Judaic studies professor online took the witness stand in his defense Monday, offering jurors a history lesson on the Dead Sea Scrolls and arguing his attempts to defend his father’s lifelong research on the ancient texts weren’t criminal. Raphael Golb doesn’t dispute that he sent e-mails and messages under pseudonyms attacking his father’s critics, but he testified his actions weren’t illegal. “These blogs were about a pattern of unethical conduct in this field of study,” he said. The case is about ancient history, but the accusations are quite contemporary. The 50-year-old lawyer and writer has pleaded not guilty to identity theft, criminal impersonation and other charges related to his online posts. Golb, a gaunt man with wiry brown hair, is a brainiac who graduated from Oberlin College, studied in France on a Fulbright scholarship and earned