Page 1 of 1:
⇑ Latest
↑ Later
Earlier ↓
Earliest ⇓
Jun 23, 2000
Church attacks new French anti-cult law — The Guardian (UK)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Jon Henley Source:
The Guardian (UK) The French parliament yesterday adopted Europe's toughest anti-sect legislation yet, creating a controversial new crime of "mental manipulation" punishable by a maximum fine of £50,000 and five years imprisonment. The move was applauded by Alain Vivien, head of a government committee that has identified 173 dangerous quasi-religious groups in France, but was denounced by both the Church of Scientology and the Unification Church as fascist, anti-democratic and in breach of basic human rights laws. Current French law, described as "inadequate to ...
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 7, 2000
Scientology's defense impresses judge — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Promising a decision in a month, she questions the state's criminal charges against the church over a member's death. ST. PETERSBURG – After listening to legal arguments over two days, Pinellas-Pasco Chief Circuit Judge Susan F. Schaeffer said Thursday she will take a month to decide whether to dismiss the criminal case against the Church of Scientology. She also expressed support for key arguments raised by the church, which is defending itself against two charges in the 1995 death of Lisa ...
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 27, 2000
Travolta and Will Smith caught in religious rows — Guardian Unlimited
Type: Press
Source:
Guardian Unlimited In yet another fine weekend for protest groups, the anti-scientology group FactNet has warned that "lawsuits may soon be flying" over John Travolta's upcoming Battlefield Earth. FactNet accuses the movie - adapted from a sci-fi novel by cult founder L Ron Hubbard and starring celebrity scientologist Travolta - of accommodating "subliminal messages to surreptitiously recruit new members from the movie audience". FactNet goes on to allege that the would-be religion - beloved of Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and other film stars ...
Mar 3, 2000
Church wants judge removed in McPherson case — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Type: Press
Author(s):
Thomas C. Tobin Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) Questioning his impartiality, Scientology asks Judge Brandt C. Downey III to remove himself. LARGO – The Church of Scientology says it fears Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Brandt C. Downey III cannot be impartial and is asking that he remove himself from presiding in the Lisa McPherson case. In a motion filed late Thursday, Scientology asserts that several of Downey's former law partners were active in anti-Scientology efforts in the late 1970s and early 1980s, after the church's controversial arrival in Clearwater. The ...
Page 1 of 1 :
⇑ Latest
↑ Later
Earlier ↓
Earliest ⇓
Permalink