From: Xenubat@primenet.com (Bat Child (Sue M.))
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 06:41:46 GMT
Message-ID: <38b5d236.17855640@news.primenet.com>
Fox 13 News, Channel 13 Fox 13 News, Channel 13, 2/23/2000 Description of video is in [brackets] [background screen saying "Scientology" in white letters on blue background] NEWSCASTER: A Pinellas County judge today granted the latest wish of the Church of Scientology. It wanted tons of information about the death of Lisa McPherson kept locked up while criminal charges are reviewed. This, after a startling change in opinion by the medical examiner. Fox 13's Steve Nichols has more now on today's developments. [pictures of Lisa McPherson; Scieno building; Pinellas County Criminal Justice Center; picture of Lisa] STEVE NICHOLS--VOICE OF: The investigation into the 1995 death of Lisa McPherson has produced thousands and thousands of pages of documents. McPherson died while under the care of the Church of Scientology at its Clearwater headquarters. Some of the documents should spell out why prosecutors charged the church with practicing medicine without a license and abuse or neglect of an incapacitated person. [footage in courtroom, close-up of Judge Brandt Downey] STEVE NICHOLS--VOICE OF: But an attorney for the church today told a judge the defense does not want to see any of the evidence. LEE FUGATE (addressing judge--caption, "Lee Fugate, attorney"): There has been a significant change in the medical examiner's opinion which changes the le--the legal basis of the charges, I believe. [Pinellas County medical examiner's office; autopsy photos of Lisa; autopsy lab samples; Joan Wood; Sea Org members going through door] STEVE NICHOLS--VOICE OF: Specifically, medical examiner Joan Wood now believes McPherson's manner of death was an accident. She also removed a reference to a fatal blood clot being caused by severe dehydration. Those changes appear to reverse Dr. Wood's earlier conclusion that squarely put McPherson's death on the shoulders of the church. JOAN WOOD (footage from "Inside Edition"): I'm very careful with my wording, and my wording would be this: From the time that Lisa McPherson died, backward 24 to 48 hours, she was unconscious. [picture of Lisa; Lee Fugate in courtroom; outside courthouse; apparently people from the prosecutor's office] STEVE NICHOLS--VOICE OF: Now that Dr. Wood has shifted any claim in McPherson's death, the church does not want to see the evidence in large part because the media would also get to see it. That wish granted, high-ranking Scientologists left the courthouse without comment. Silence also from the assistant state attorney, who says the criminal case must be reviewed because of the major impact of the medical examiner's new opinion. STACY BROOKS (in office with computers and TV showing the "Inside Edition" footage of Joan Wood): I'm sure Scientology is jubilant today. STEVE NICHOLS--VOICE OF: But the Lisa McPherson Trust, avowed enemies of current church leadership, remains unswayed by the latest developments. STACY BROOKS (caption--"Stacy Brooks, Lisa McPherson Trust"): She was held against her will. Um, she was, uh, not provided proper medical treatment. Uh, she did die in their care, um, very unnecessarily. STEVE NICHOLS--ON CAMERA (outside courthouse): Prosecutors won't say how long they'll spend reviewing the case but presumably they'll have some sort of decision by March 13. That's when the judge has scheduled a hearing on a motion to dismiss the charges against the Church of Scientology. In Pinellas County, Steve Nichols, Fox 13 News. NEWSCASTER: The unusual change of opinion has many people wondering who the medical examiner worked for. They are appointed by the governor and then paid by the counties where they work. Sue, SP4(:), listed on the Scieno Sitter list 5 times! -- http://www.primenet.com/~xenubat "It will take a *long* time to find another enemy with the combination of evil and incompetence you see in Scientology."--Keith Henson