Andy Rooney brought his curmudgeonly presence to a courtroom in White Plains, NY Monday as one of several celebrity witnesses due to testify in a fraud trial against Alan Walker, president of the Program Corporation of America, a speakers bureau. As reported by the Associated Press, Rooney balked at the swearing in, remarking, “I don’t know about God,” when he was asked to swear to tell “nothing but the truth, so help you God.” He told how he had signed a $20,000 contract with Walker to deliver a speech at Indiana State University in 2003 but was not paid — and that his phone calls were not returned when he called to inquire about the payment. He said he thought the matter might make a feature for a 60 Minutes commentary and took a camera crew to Walker’s office and home where he intended to confront him about the payment — but still couldn’t find him. A defense lawyer asked Rooney how he found Walker’s address. “As an old reporter,” Rooney, who is 86, replied, “we have a few secrets, and the first thing is we try the phone book.” Asked later by the Westchester County Journal News about the punishment that ought to be meted out to Walker, Rooney replied, “I’m against the death penalty … but, yeah, yeah, I think we have a system that puts people in prison for stealing, and he stole from me.”