Wednesday, June 6, 2001

[Editor's note: The following letter has been edited. Brackets [] indicate changes to the letter writer's original words.]

I am writing this letter to appear in your Letters column. I must admit to being extremely surprised to read in your Wednesday, May 23, 2001, edition that the recent high-profile child molestation trial of the Wheelers ended in a deadlocked jury and mistrial on all of the major charges and allegations against these parents.

My familiarity with the facts of this case is, at this point, limited to the coverage of the trial provided by Mr. John Munford on your staff, as well as a brief conversation with a member of the District Attorney's office.

I must admit that based upon Mr. Munford's reporting, I believed the Wheelers could be convicted on all counts, a view I would suspect was shared by the majority of your readership. Even after the reporting of the hung jury by Mr. Munford, I am still at a loss (based on the reporting) of how the jury failed to convict on all charges.

As you are aware from our previous phone conversations, as well as my previous letter to your paper, I also was once the focus of a journalist and prosecutorial witch hunt regarding molestation allegations. In the original press coverage of my situation, I also felt that I had been tried and convicted by the reporter (who had never even bothered to attempt to interview me).

After an ordeal which inflicted tremendous damage upon my children and included subjecting them to repetitive coercive questioning, intrusive examination, and an unbelievable experience in psychological cruelty (aided and abetted by [Fayette County] DFACS and the Fayette County District Attorney's Office), I was eventually not only exonerated but fully vindicated by being awarded full custody in the divorce litigation which triggered these false allegations. My previous letter to your paper several months back constitutes the only journalistic effort to set that allegation straight.

As you know, I have previously provided both yourself and Mr. Munford with documentation attesting to the incredible lack of objectivity and frank carelessness with which the "investigations" and prosecution of purported crimes against children are conducted here in Fayette County.

I believe that a thorough investigation of materials which have already been provided to you (and to the District Attorney's office) will show that the primary medical "expert" who has been used by the District Attorney's office for the past several years has repeatedly differed in her physical findings and testimony from multiple other medical experts used to evaluate these cases.

In fact, that "expert" is currently defending herself in a malpractice lawsuit related to a [diagnosis] in a previous case which was unsuccessfully prosecuted by the Fayette County District Attorney's office.

In that case, the alleged perpetrator (who is an upstanding professional person in this community) was the subject of relentless one-sided and judgmental reporting by your paper. Despite being fully informed of the disturbing [conduct] of investigators and prosecutors in that case (and the lawsuit which has grown out of it), no reporting of this issue has appeared in your newspaper.

Curiously, the same medical expert in this aforementioned case also represents the chief prosecution medical witness in the case against the Wheelers. It is interesting to find that her medical opinion differs from that of three other medical experts.

Despite Mr. Harden of the District Attorney's office being aware of [those issues regarding] his medical expert, he nonetheless chose to go forward with her testimony as well as with the charges which stemmed from it.

To make matters even more interesting, as a part of the discovery process in the aforementioned civil suit against this medical expert, depositions have been obtained from the District Attorney's office in Texas (where the medical expert used to practice) stating that he eventually refused to use her opinion due to the biased and nonobjective nature of her testimony.

I have further provided you and your reporting staff with objective evidence demonstrating that the [Fayette] District Attorney's office condones and actually enables false allegations, and prosecutes such cases, in an attempt to generate public hysteria surrounding the issues of crimes against children.

This is done in an attempt to portray the district attorney (who must stand for reelection every four years) as a heroic defender of children. This misguided political strategy, however, is not free of casualties.

The handling of my case (and other false allegations) by the District Attorney's office, including their reluctance to dismiss these cases in the face of overwhelming evidence that allegations are unfounded, results in estrangement of children to brainwashing, intrusive and unnecessary examinations, etc.

As mentioned previously, I have no firsthand knowledge regarding the case of the Wheelers. I do, however, have firsthand knowledge of the self-serving [conduct] of the District Attorney's office in their "investigation" and prosecution of these cases.

I believe strongly in the American principle that all men are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. It would behoove everyone if the District Attorney's office would embrace that premise.

The failure of the District Attorney's office to respect the presumption of innocence and to present objective evidence rather than tainted evidence constitutes a disservice to all citizens.

Likewise, biased reporting intended to create a more judgmental and less informed readership similarly disserves the public interest. Reforms in both of these areas are long overdue.

Kenneth J. Lazarus, M.D., Ph.D.

[Dr. Lazarus has a neurological practice in Fayetteville and Newnan.]

Back to Opinion Home Page | Back to the top of the page