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 know why
Scientologist Lisa McPherson died in 1995 while in the care of
Scientology staffers in Clearwater. It said she had botched the case
beyond repair.
When McCabe arrived at his office Monday morning, he remained
undecided. He read the memo one more time before the weight of its words
finally sank in.
Then, "I realized I had nowhere to go," he said Monday
evening. "You just have to do the right thing and let the chips
fall where they may."
[snip]
It was a quiet ending to a case that took police two years to
investigate and prosecutors two years to prepare before it evaporated
Monday just four months before the scheduled trial.
[snip]
Although the civil case is still pending in Hillsborough County
Circuit Court, McCabe ended Scientology's biggest headache -- the
criminal prosecution -- with one stroke of his pen
[snip]
Crow, the assistant prosecutor, placed the blame squarely with Joan
Wood, the veteran medical examiner, who in 1997 broke her usual practice
of discussing cases only in court.
[snip]
Crow described Wood's more recent statements on the case as
"illogical," fluctuating and inconsistent. He questioned her
memory and her judgment, adding her actions leave prosecutors unable to
prove the case against the church beyond a reasonable doubt.
"Her inability to logically explain her opinions makes it clear
that she cannot withstand cross-examination in this case," he said.
"The actions and testimony of Dr. Wood, a forensic witness
essential to the state's case, has so muddled the equities and
underlying facts in this case, however that it has undermined what began
as a strong legal position."
In the death certificate she issued in 1996, Wood said the blood clot
that caused McPherson's death was due to "bed rest and severe
dehydration." She listed the manner of death as
"undetermined."
When the church asked her last fall to reconsider her conclusions,
Wood reviewed thousands of pages of medical studies and consultant
reports provided by Scientology. In February, she amended the death
certificate, changing the manner of death to "accident" and
leaving out the words "bed rest and severe dehydration."
Surprised, McCabe's office began its own review of the case, which
was detailed in Crow's memo.
Among the issues he cites are the events leading up to Wood's
decision to change the death certificate.
Wood initially changed it to read the death was an
"accident" not caused by dehydration, Crow said. She then
reconsidered, he said, deciding to re-insert dehydration as a cause of
death and list the death as a homicide. The next morning, she changed
her mind once again and finalized the changes.
Crow submits that several factors may have "impacted the quality
of her judgment." He cited Wood's vulnerability to litigation in
the case and a suggestion by Scientology that it could "reveal
information extremely damaging to Wood's office and her career."
Crow was dismayed after a two-hour deposition of Wood on June 1, a
transcript of which was released Monday.
That document shows the state's case was on even shakier ground than
he realized. It was clear that the state's chief witness had severe
credibility problems.
Wood's recollection of events, actions and conversations was
inconsistent. Her opinions seemed to change each time he asked her a
question about why she made a decision. Wood admitted to him that she
made a forensic error. She could not logically explain or justify why
she decided to change the death certificate and kept equivocating on
forensic issues in the case.
"The most recent statment given by Wood represents yet another
decided shift in her opinion," Crow wrote. "She indicates she
has doubts about the severity of Lisa's dehydration and testified that
dehydration "may or may not' have been a factor in her death.
Among the problems he cited:
Wood did not do McPherson's autopsy personally but assigned it to
Robert Davis, an employee who later was asked to resign and has become a
witness for the church. He disputed Wood's conclusions and testified
that she did not speak to him about her findings before signing his
autopsy after he had resigned.
She admitted to Crow that, until shortly before she changed her
findings, she never saw evidence of a bruise on McPherson's leg which
could explain the formation of the blood clot behind her knee that is
thought to have traveled to her left lung, killing her. She could not
explain why she did not see this in previous examinations.
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