Academic dispute about Dead Sea Scrolls spurs NYC criminal trial over plagiarism accusations

...A New York attorney went on trial Tuesday on criminal charges that accuse him of adopting electronic aliases to discredit one of his professor-father's academic rivals. The debate is over the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Prosecutors say Raphael Golb turned commentary into crime with e-mails and blog posts that accused his father's adversary of plagiarism. The rival academic denies it.

Golb does not acknowledge crafting the messages. His lawyers say the online musings — whoever wrote them — are satire, not a crime....