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May 29, 2004
Scientologists settle death suit — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Robert Farley Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Terms of the unexpected settlement are confidential in the wrongful death suit brought by the estate of Lisa McPherson. A 7-year-old wrongful death lawsuit filed by the estate of Lisa McPherson against the Church of Scientology reached a surprise settlement this week, ending one of the most fiercely contested and enduring legal battles in Pinellas County history. The out-of-court agreement ends the last remaining legal threat facing the church after the widely publicized 1995 death of McPherson, a Scientologist who died ...
Mar 11, 2001
Church pays those it reviled — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Deborah O'Neil Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Off-duty Clearwater police provide security for the Church of Scientology, subject of many investigations. To some in law enforcement, the officers are crossing an ethical line. [Picture / Caption: "Off-duty Clearwater police officer Scott Wilson watches for oncoming cars on Watterson Avenue as Scientologists leav a bus."] CLEARWATER – Every day, off-duty Clearwater police officers provide security for the Church of Scientology, which was investigated by police for 18 years but now is putting thousands of dollars in officers' pockets. The ...
Sep 30, 2000
Medical examiner leaves office — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
William R. Levesque Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Pinellas-Pasco Chief Medical Examiner Joan Wood was forced to resign after 18 years on the job. LARGO — It wasn't a happy day for employees of the Pinellas-Pasco medical examiner's office on Friday. Their longtime chief was finally gone. Chief Medical Examiner Joan Wood, the embattled doctor who swore never to resign after 18 years at the helm, finally closed out her last autopsy, cleared out her office this week and headed for a new start. "We've all gone through a ...
Jun 23, 2000
Editorial: Able medical examiner needed — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Medical examiners are vital to the criminal justice system. They investigate suspicious deaths, help determine if crimes were committed and influence the outcome of trials. They should be competent medical professionals, managers and witnesses. In each of those areas, serious questions have been raised about Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Joan Wood. Before Gov. Jeb Bush decides whether to reappoint Wood to another three-year term, he should consider the consequences. Wood was at the center of a controversial decision by State Attorney Bernie ...
Jun 14, 2000
A case so different from all the others — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Howard Troxler Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) The distinction was important. To McCabe, the issue was never about the Church of Scientology as a religious institution. It was about whether a corporation of the church had illegally abused a member named Lisa McPherson, and whether it practiced medicine on her without a license, in the days leading to her death in 1995. The Church of Scientology now has two distinctions at the hands of Bernie McCabe. The first is that he chose to prosecute the church (I mean, ...
Jun 14, 2000
Scientology leader wanted a deal — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) CLEARWATER — Alarmed at the "massive impact" of two criminal charges, the Church of Scientology's worldwide leader quickly offered Pinellas County's top prosecutor a deal. Drop the charges, David Miscavige told State Attorney Bernie McCabe in November 1998, and the church would make a $500,000 donation to the county's EMS system. It also would pay the nearly $200,000 in expenses incurred in what then was a three-year investigation into Lisa McPherson's 1995 death while in the care of her fellow Scientologists. ...
Jun 13, 2000
Florida drops charges against Scientology in 1995 death — New York Times
Type: Press
Author(s):
Douglas Frantz Source:
New York Times Criminal charges against the Church of Scientology in the death of a church member who was under the organization's care were dropped yesterday because Florida prosecutors said they could no longer prove the accusations. Bernie McCabe, the state attorney for Pasco and Pinellas Counties, said in a document filed in state court in Clearwater that his office was dismissing the charges because the medical examiner had determined earlier this year that the death of the church member, Lisa McPherson, was accidental. ...
Jun 13, 2000
McPherson case expected to haunt medical examiner — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Craig Pittman Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) The blow to her credibility could make it difficult for Joan Wood to do her job, lawyers say. Although prosecutors said her "serious forensic error" ruined their case against the Church of Scientology, Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Joan Wood said Monday she has no plans to resign. But veteran lawyers predicted the case – and particularly the 31-page memo from prosecutors that blasted Wood as "illogical" and "inconsistent" – will dog her every time she takes the witness stand. That could make ...
Jun 13, 2000
State drops charges against Scientology — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Blaming the medical examiner for damaging their case, prosecutors quietly end the inquiry into Lisa McPherson's death. CLEARWATER — State Attorney Bernie McCabe's weekend reading was a memo by his chief assistant urging him to drop the first criminal charges ever filed in the United States against the Church of Scientology. The 31-page document was filled with medical words that McCabe had never heard, but its essence was all too clear: The star prosecution witness, Medical Examiner Joan Wood, really didn't ...
Apr 6, 2000
Scientology goes to court - Hearing weighs church claims — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Pinellas prosecutors are standing by their allegation that Lisa McPherson suffered severe dehydration before she died in the care of Church of Scientology staffers in Clearwater. The hearing in downtown St. Petersburg included a rare public appearance by Scientology's Los Angeles-based leader David Miscavige, who huddled with the church's lawyers at breaks and passed them notes during the proceedings. Behind him: an estimated 200 local Scientologists, many of whom have written affidavits saying the prosecution of Scientology has burdened the practice ...
Apr 4, 2000
Scientology to argue for dismissal of case — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) If the judge denies the church's request, the focus shifts to a five-week criminal trial scheduled in October. Seventeen months after it was criminally charged in the death of Lisa McPherson, the Church of Scientology will have its first big day in court on Wednesday and a chance, it hopes, for vindication. "The entire basis for the state's prosecution of this case has now collapsed," begins one of the many Scientology legal briefs arguing the case should be dismissed. The prosecution ...
Mar 7, 2000
Doctors paid by church give defense — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)More: Hired pathologists take church's side
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) A former member of O.J. Simpson's "dream team" defense says Lisa McPherson's death was accidental. CLEARWATER — As prosecutors consider whether to proceed with criminal charges in the death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson, the Church of Scientology on Monday presented two nationally known pathologists who said they have scientific evidence that the 1995 death was accidental. Drs. Michael M. Baden and Cyril H. Wecht also suggested their work is so conclusive the case should be dropped. Their primary conclusion: McPherson, 36, ...
Mar 3, 2000
A cry for justice — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)More: news.google.com , pqasb.pqarchiver.com
Type: Press
Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) A Times Editorial: Despite a reversal in the autopsy report of Lisa McPherson, the state attorney still has an obligation to prosecute those his office believes to be responsible in her death in a Scientology hotel room. The tragedy of Lisa McPherson's death in a Scientology hotel room has turned into a sad, convoluted mess that cries out for justice. An unexplained reversal by Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Joan Wood has prosecutors reviewing their case and raises questions about Wood's competence. Meanwhile, ...
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