Thank the Lord that yesterday has passed. We want you to know that the grace and peace of the Holy Spirit was with us, and your prayer was tangibly felt. We thank the Lord for the brothers and sisters who came to be with us and support us by their presence. As each one appeared in court or outside, we felt excited and honored by their presence. The media were swarming, but all in all were very positive and favorable towards us. We had interviews one after another, which continued even when we got home in the evening by phone.

Akram Balbisi ,the father of Teitel's first victim, Samir Balbisi, also was present in court with us, accompanied by one of his nephews. This is the second time we've met them, and it is incredible the bond that we feel because of our mutual tragedy of having been victimized by the same person.

Several interesting moments occurred - Teitel's lawyer didn't show up! The word was that he was doing army reserve duty, but neither he nor his organization made a formal announcement to the court and therefore they had to find a State appointed defence attorney to represent him. This caused a two hour delay.

Teitel entered with what has become his trademark - cynically smiling and holding up his hands in the V for victory sign. He refused to stand up when the 3 judges entered, and when one of the judges told him to stand to respond to the indictments, he refused and said he could listen from where he was. The judges could have punished him for contempt of court, but we were told later that they decided not to fall into that trap.