Long shrouded in secrecy about its practices, leaders at the local Church of Scientology have opened up to discuss basic processes they employ to achieve Scientology's ultimate goal: increase stability in a person's environment through an increase in rational, sane behavior. Eric Everett, director of community services for the Scientology Mission of Memphis, says Scientology is an "applied religious philosophy" appropriate for any faith tradition. "We live in a society under siege, bombarded by an onslaught of drugs and toxins. No ...

It is unknown whether [Wood] and [Marie Hansen]'s conduct simply was inept or disturbingly conspiratorial in the zeal to hold someone accountable for the death of a child. Their sloppy records in the Long case include listing the wrong gender for the baby and contradictory accounts of the existence of subarachnoid hemorrhage - bleeding in the brain. Inexplicably, the autopsy report contains no documentation of the baby's pneumonia-filled lungs. Wood, who approved Hansen's autopsy of Long, has little credibility left. Her ...

CLEARWATER – No angry swarms picketed the Church of Scientology last week. No candlelight vigils. No TV cameras. No extra police patrols. For the first time in six years, the anniversary of the death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson passed quietly. The McPherson maelstrom, which brought nightmarish publicity for the church, has ebbed dramatically, now that the high-profile criminal charges against the church were dropped and a raucous group of church critics recently left Clearwater. But one critical battle remains, one so ...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – A doctor was suspended for a year for improperly prescribing Valium to unlicensed Church of Scientology workers caring for a church member who had suffered a mental breakdown. Dr. David I. Minkoff, 53, of Clearwater, Fla., also a Scientologist, will lose his medical license for a year and will be required to practice under probation for two more years, the Board of Medicine ruled Friday. He was fined $10,000. Lisa McPherson died Dec. 5, 1995, 17 days ...

David I. Minkoff loses his license for one year for improperly prescribing drugs for the Scientologist. TALLAHASSEE — Florida's Board of Medicine has sternly sanctioned Clearwater physician David I. Minkoff, finding he improperly prescribed medicine for a patient he had never seen — Scientologist Lisa McPherson. Minkoff, also a Scientologist, prescribed Valium and the muscle relaxant chloral hydrate at the behest of unlicensed Church of Scientology staffers who were trying to nurse McPherson, 36, through a severe mental breakdown. When they ...

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 ...

By all appearances, Clearwater lives up to its name. Located just outside of Tampa Bay, the city boasts palm trees, white beaches, sun, surf, and six cruise tour companies with "dolphin sightings guaranteed." Liberally supplied with spacious hotels within driving distance of the Busch Gardens amusement park and the Salvador Dali museum, Clearwater is a tidy burg with street names like Gulf to Bay Boulevard and Sunset Point Road. Clearwater is also home to the most prestigious international instructional center for ...

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 ...

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, ...

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. ...

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. ...

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 ...

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 ...

[Lisa McPherson] now has been in the care of Scientologists at the Fort Harrison for 17 days. On the evening of Dec. 5, Scientologists caring for her worry she has become seriously ill. They decide to drive her to a hospital in New Port Richey - a 45-minute trip - so she can be seen by Dr. David I. Minkoff, a Scientologist who works in the emergency room there. At the hospital, McPherson is not breathing and has no heartbeat. She ...

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 ...

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 ...

CLEARWATER – The records came in unrelenting batches. Medical studies, scientific research, sworn testimony and more – thousands of pages from the Church of Scientology that Medical Examiner Joan Wood considered over five months before changing her ruling in the 1995 death of Lisa McPherson. Wood refuses to say what finally tipped the scale, prompting her to rule last month that McPherson's death was an accident. But records from her office examined by the St. Petersburg Times show she reviewed a ...

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, ...

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, ...

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 ...

The promise of a free dinner in an estate-like atmosphere, plus live entertainment, were enough to entice Barbara Moke to spend her Saturday evening behind the gates of Church of Scientology's newest film studio. Moke, a volunteer at the Hemet Police Department, said her office received an invitation to the opening of The Castle, the sprawling film studio operated by Golden Era Productions in Gilman Hot Springs. "This is the perfect place for a party," she said, while partaking of the ...

Church of Scientology officials now admit they made a mistake in the case of the Lisa McPherson, who died in the organization's care, but questions remain. hen Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe filed two criminal charges against the Church of Scientology last week over Lisa McPherson's death, the reaction of church officials was unusually benign. "We'd like to see how to move forward and put this unfortunate incident behind us," said Mike Rinder, a top Scientology official known more for his ...

CLEARWATER, Florida (CNN) — The Church of Scientology was charged by Florida prosecutors Friday in the death of a member. The State Attorney's office in Pinellas County filed the felony charges after a lengthy investigation into the 1995 death of Lisa McPherson. McPherson had been a member of the church for 18 years and, according to relatives, had been talking about leaving the church. McPherson, 36, died December 5, 1995, after being confined for 18 days to a Scientology property called ...

Justice: Severe dehydration proved fatal to female believer who, family contends, was held against her will. Prosecutor files two felony counts. CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Church of Scientology was charged Friday in the 1995 death of a member whose family claimed she became severely dehydrated after being held against her will for 17 days. Prosecutor Bernie McCabe charged the church with abuse or neglect of a disabled adult and unauthorized practice of medicine, both felonies. The church noted that prosecutors did ...

CLEARWATER (AP) — A prosecutor charged the Church of Scientology on Friday with two felonies in the death of a member whose family claims she became severely dehydrated after being held against her will for 17 days. Lisa McPherson, 36, died in December 1995. She had been under the 24-hour care of church members at the Fort Harrison Hotel, Scientology's international retreat in downtown Clearwater. Her family has claimed she was held against her will after trying to leave the church. ...