Peter Gersten

Peter Gersten (born 1942) is an American attorney known for his representation of UFO claimants including Betty Cash and Vickie Landrum; J. Allen Hynek; and others. In retirement, Gersten has been an unofficial hiking docent in Sedona, Arizona, where he volunteers to lead frequent excursions to Bell Rock.

Gersten has worked in the Brooklyn District Attorney's office; the Navajo County, Arizona Public Defender's Office; and as a partner at the New York law firm of Rothblatt, Rothblatt, Seijas, and Peskin.

Early life and education Born 1942, Gersten graduated from Brooklyn Law School and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1971.

Career Early in his career, Gersten worked as a prosecutor in the Brooklyn District Attorney's office. During the course of the trial, Gersten acknowledged that, as a prosecutor, he was "young and inexperienced" and that the case should not have been brought. The three inmates were acquitted and Gersten resigned his office and entered private practice as a partner at the New York law firm of Rothblatt, Rothblatt, Seijas, and Peskin.

Gersten's later law practice focused on criminal defense. In 1985, he represented Lee Ernest Walker in his trial for the murder of NYPD officer Juan Andino.

By the 1990s, Gersten had moved to Arizona, where he worked in the Navajo County Public Defender's Office. He later retired to Sedona.

UFO litigation Gersten has been referred to as "the UFO lawyer".

On January 8, 1999, Gersten joined Stephen Bassett, Steven Greer, Richard C. Hoagland, William Birnes, and Jim Marrs as a guest on Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell to discuss the topic of "UFO disclosure". Gersten appears in the 2013 documentary Mirage Men, which puts forth the idea that UFO mythology was seeded into the public imagination by the U.S. armed forces to provide cover for classified military projects.

Ground Saucer Watch lawsuit In 1977, Gersten represented the UFO group Ground Saucer Watch (GSW) in a FOIA filing, and subsequent lawsuit, against the CIA, for documents GSW alleged they held about UFOs. Gersten had contacted several UFO groups offering his legal counsel pro bono but, according to him, only GSW responded.

In the mid-1980s, he unsuccessfully represented Betty Cash and Vickie Landrum in their $20 million lawsuit against the United States Government for injuries they claimed to have suffered during their alleged 1980 UFO encounter.

Following the 1997 publication of The Day After Roswell, Gersten — on behalf of Citizens Against UFO Secrecy — sued the United States Government seeking release of documents alleging UFO retrieval described by author Philip Corso. The lawsuit was dismissed by Roslyn O. Silver of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in April 1999.

In 1999, Gersten threatened to sue Winston over copy to an ad the cigarette company ran that read "If aliens are smart enough to travel to space, why do they keep abducting the dumbest people on Earth?"

Personal life In a 1984 story on Gersten for the Reporter Dispatch, columnist David Bushman described him as "a cool-looking character — blue shades, shirt unbuttoned to the chest, tie untied. The kind of guy who struts into his Tarrytown law office, briefcase in hand, as if he just flew in from California and has a plane waiting to take him somewhere across the world. He kept making phone calls in the middle of the interview".

Top of Bell Rock Club After retirement, Gersten became involved in the CouchSurfing community. According to an interview with the company's blog, he hosts visitors who agree to climb with him to the top of Arizona's Bell Rock in an unofficial group known as the "Top of Bell Rock Club". and, by the following year, had inducted more than 2,000 people into membership in his Top of Bell Rock Club.