Description of video is in [brackets]. ==================== Tampa Bay Channel 28 News, 4/05/2000: NEWS ANCHOR: It's a big day in court for the Church of Scientology. The church is trying to convince a judge to dismiss the felony charges it faces for the death of Lisa McPherson. [split screen with newscaster and Ron Spieker outside St. Petersburg courthouse] NEWSCASTER: 28 Tampa Bay's Ron Spieker is live at the courthouse in St. Petersburg with the latest. Ron? RON SPIEKER, ON CAMERA: All right. Church members have flooded this court hearing today, so much so that court is in an early lunch break right now so that a second court room can be set up so that everybody who's here can listen in and see and follow what is going on. The Church of Scientology is hoping to avoid a criminal trial by arguing that it is not responsible for Lisa McPherson's death. [picture of Lisa McPherson holding her Clear certificate; picture of Lisa with two other women; court room footage] RON SPIEKER, VOICE OF: McPherson died back in December of 1995 after a 17-day stay at the church's Fort Harrison headquarters. She had checked herself out of the hospital after an accident which may--which made her disoriented to "be in the care of her friends". Prosecutors say neglect led to her death but the church says now that the medical examiner has changed her ruling and called McPherson's death an accident, the charges should be dismissed. LEE FUGATE (caption--"Lee Fugate, church attorney"): (in front of various charts on display pointing to areas on the charts) This is pulmonary thromboembolism, which is something that, uh, is one of the leading killers in our country. It's called the sudd--silent and virtually undiagnosable killer. DOUG CROW (caption--"Doug Crow, prosecutor"): Current testimony has some changes but it continues to indicate that she believes in this case that the death resulted from medical neglect. RON SPIEKER, ON CAMERA: Prosecutors say because death is not an element in the charge and neglect is the only thing that matters, there should be a trial; however, the defense has many more arguments to make and constitutional concerns to bring out before the judge. The judge has set aside both today and tomorrow for this hearing before making a ruling. Depending on whatever she decides, it's possible there could be a full trial, just a partial trial on one, two--on one or two of the three counts they face, or no trial at all. Laura? NEWSCASTER: Okay, thanks a lot, Ron, for that update. Scientology officials have warned if there is a trial they'll let their lawyers mount an all-out offense that could be bad for the city of Clearwater. ==================== 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