Fox 13 News, Channel 13

[23 February 2000]

From: Xenubat@primenet.com (Bat Child (Sue M.))
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Fox 13 News, Channel 13, 2/23/2000--transcript
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