ALAN YURKO CASE: PART SIX: REVELATIONS ABOUT GORE AND MEDICAL EXAMINER'S OFFICE LEAD TO CALLS FOR REVIEW OF POSSIBLY HUNDREDS OF OTHER CASES;

"A FURTHER REVELATION THAT RECENTLY CAME TO LIGHT IS THAT DR. SHASHI GORE, WHO HAS RUN THE MEDICAL EXAMINER’S OFFICE SINCE 1996, LACKS BOARD CERTIFICATION AS A FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST. WORSE, NONE OF THE OTHER DOCTORS THERE ARE BOARD-CERTIFIED FORENSIC PATHOLOGISTS."

FROM ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN "FLORIDA PRISON LEGAL PERSPECTIVES";

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The calls for a review in the aftermath of revelations from the Yurko case and elsewhere was reported in "Forida Prison Legal Perspectives. (Vol. 6, Issue 6); I am astounded by the similarities between Dr. Shashi Gore and Dr. Charles Smith. Smith. like Gore, did not go out of the way to inform the criminal justice system - or the public at large - that he was not board certified as a forensic pathologist. A major difference is that the Ontario government and the Chief Coroner's Office re-opened dozens of Smith's cases to ensure that any miscarriages of Justice could be rectified. I fond it difficult to understand why a similar review and public inquiry was not conducted in relation to Dr. Gore;

"ORLANDO: Stunning revelations of forensic evidence missing from or mishandled by the Medical Examiners Office for Orange and Osceola Counties, located in Central Florida, shocked public defenders, defense attorneys and Floridians during October and may lead to a wave of new post conviction appeals by dozens or even hundreds of criminal defendants who are still in prison," the article began;

"According to a report that was only recently released, during the mid-1990s, specifically in 1994 and 1995, the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner’s Office lost bullets, blood, hair and other evidence in murder cases without informing police, prosecutors, public defenders, or defense attorneys," it continued;

"Chief Public Defender Bob Wesley noted that at least 26 cases from 1994 and 1995 may be involved after he reviewed the 66-page report that was written in 1995 but that didn’t surface until this September.

Among the findings of an in-house report were missing evidence lists and logs; bags and boxes of evidence in hundreds of cases that had been cut open or had their seals broken; bones, teeth and skulls without identification of any kind; and missing money and drugs, along, with missing bullets and tissue scrapings from under murder victim’s fingernails.

“From a forensic standpoint, I was shocked,” said Orange County sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Corriveau, who was lent to the Medical Examiner’s Office in 1995 to supervise an inventory after it was found the evidence stored there was in total disarray. He described what he found as a legal nightmare. Many evidence bags were ripped open or unsealed, there was no way to know how many cases had been cross- contaminated.

A further revelation that recently came to light is that Dr. Shashi Gore, who has run the Medical Examiner’s Office since 1996, lacks board certification as a forensic pathologist. Worse, none of the other doctors there are board-certified forensic pathologists.

Orange County officials who had knowledge of the massive problem 7 years ago but who kept quiet about it, and prosecutors who claim they only recently learned about it, are now claiming it’s really no big deal. Others are saying different.

Carol Gross, office manager for the Medical Examiner’s Office in 1995, said, “This put our credibility at high risk.”

Joe DuRocher, Orange-Osceota chief public defender in 1995, said, “There is no question in my mind something as significant as this investigation should have been revealed to the public defender’s office.”

More than just murder cases may be impacted by this now-revealed fiasco. Insurance cases may also be affected. However, Orange County officials have stated they do not intend to review the 1994 and 1995 cases further without specific request from attorneys or law enforcement.

The following statement has been made by the Ninth judicial Circuit Public Defenders’ Office:

"Defendants and inmates who believe their cases may be affected by the controversy at the medical Examiner’s Office should consider consulting an attorney. Assuming the fact that evidence problems exist(ed) at the Medical Examiner’s Office, and that these problems were not previously disclosed at the time of trial or plea, an inmate might seek the advice of an attorney to discuss: (1) whether evidence in their case was mishandled, mislabeled, contaminated, lost or destroyed by the ME Office; (2) whether favorable exculpatory or impeachment evidence was suppressed related to the ME Office; (3) the general reliability, credibility, and competence of work performed by the ME’s Office; and (4) whether they have a remedy, e.g. petition for writ of habeas corpus and/or motion for post-conviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850."

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;

ALAN YURKO CASE: PART (5) COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST PATHOLOGIST SASHI GORE WHO LATER RESIGNED AS TEXAS MEDICAL EXAMINER; ECHOES OF CHARLES SMITH;

"PAGE 1 AND PAGE 3 STATE DECEDENT WAS TWO MONTHS OLD, WHEREAS DECEDENT WAS (10) WEEKS OLD...

PAGE 6 STATES THAT HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE IS 22 CM, WHEREAS DECEDENT WAS BORN WITH A 31.5CM HEAD, AND JUST PRIOR TO AUTOPSY, DECEDENT IS NOTED TO HAVE A 37.5 CM HEAD...

PAGE 9 HAS A DESCRIPTION OF MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION OF INNER HEART MUSCLE TISSUE, WHEREAS PAGES 2 & 5 STATE THAT THE HEART WAS SURGICALLY ABSENT AS A RESULT OF ORGAN HARVESTING. SPECIAL PROCEDURES ON PAGE 6 NOTES THAT BLOOD WAS OBTAINED AT HARVESTING, BUT NO HEART TISSUE. TRANSLIFE RECORDS DO NOT INDICATE TISSUE SAMPLES SAVED FOR THE ME. TISSUE BLOCKS ON FILE AT DR. GORE’S OFFICE DO NOT CONTAIN A HEART SAMPLE. THE EXPERT FOR THE DEFENSE IN THE SUBSEQUENT CRIMINAL TRIAL NOTED IN TESTIMONY THAT HEART TISSUE SLIDES WERE NOT INCLUDED IN THE SET. TISSUE SAMPLES OF MYOCARDIUM ARE NOT LOGICAL FOR DONOR ORGANS. THE HEART WAS SUCCESSFULLY TRANSPLANTED...

PAGE 10 NOTES THAT DECEDENT WAS A 2 MONTH-OLD BLACK MALE, WHEREAS HE WAS A 10 WEEK-OLD WHITE MALE...

AFTER THE CRIMINAL TRIAL, DR. GORE ALTERED HIS REPORT TO STATE THE CORRECT RACE WITHOUT NOTICE TO THE COURTS OR INVOLVED PARTIES, AND THUS ALTERED EVIDENCE IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS. DR. GORE TESTIFIED THAT THE MISTAKE WAS A TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR; HOWEVER, IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THERE ARE NO LETTERS IN THE WORD “BLACK” THAT ARE IN THE WORD “WHITE.”...

PORTIONS OF ALAN YURKO'S COMPLAINT AGAINST DR. SHASHI GORE:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following complaint (copy-edited version) was filed with the Florida Department of Health on May 2, 2003. (This may outdo the infamous Dr. Charles Randal Smith who was caught in numerous lies and mistatements both outside court and under oath, and the convenient "loss" of exhibits which would have showed that his opinion was wrong; I don't recollect any allegations that he wrote an autopsy report on the wrong body!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"On 29 November, 1997 at 10:15 A.M., Shashi B. Gore, MD performed autopsy on Alan Ream Yurko, wherein he attributed the cause of death to subdural hematoma (SDH) due to Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), and the manner of death a homicide," the complaint begins;

"This Complaint surrounds the autopsy report and procedure as well as Dr. Gore’s testimony and role in the connected criminal proceedings," it continues;

"Attached to this Complaint in the form of a compact disc are copies of the autopsy report, hospital records, trial transcripts, and other relevant data.

It is alleged that Dr. Gore performed a substandard autopsy, cross-contaminated data and tissue from another case, provided numerous erroneous facts and false testimony in a First-Degree Murder Trial, and altered evidence after trial to deflect attention from his errors.

Perusal of the autopsy report will verify the facts enumerated below.

1.) Page 1 and page 3 state decedent was two months old, whereas decedent was (10) weeks old.

2.) Page 2 states there were no hemorrhages at the thoracic, lumbar, or sacral spine, whereas page 7 states that there are hemorrhages in the lower thoracic, lumber, and sacral spine.

3.) Page 6 states that head circumference is 22 cm, whereas decedent was born with a 31.5 cm head, and just prior to autopsy, decedent is noted to have a 37.5 cm head.

4.) Page 9 has a description of microscopic examination of inner heart muscle tissue, whereas pages 2 & 5 state that the heart was surgically absent as a result of organ harvesting. Special Procedures on page 6 notes that blood was obtained at harvesting, but no heart tissue. TransLife records do not indicate tissue samples saved for the ME. Tissue blocks on file at Dr. Gore’s office do not contain a heart sample. The expert for the defense in the subsequent criminal trial noted in testimony that heart tissue slides were not included in the set. Tissue samples of myocardium are not logical for donor organs. The heart was successfully transplanted.

5.) Page 6 notes a normocephalic head, whereas hospital records note swelling, bulging fontanelle, and visible edemic/macrocephalic conditions prior to autopsy. As well, a 22 cm head circumference on a 9 lb. baby would indicate a microcephalic head.

6.) Page 4 notes a contusion of the left lateral surface of the chest, whereas page 8 states that the skin does not show any subcutaneous contusions of the buttocks, chest or abdomen. Yet, elsewhere on page 8, a chest contusion is noted.

7.) No toxicology, virology or bacteriology testing was ordered by Dr. Gore.

8.) Page 10 notes that decedent was a 2 month-old black male, whereas he was a 10 week-old white male.

9.) After the criminal trial, Dr. Gore altered his report to state the correct race without notice to the courts or involved parties, and thus altered evidence in criminal proceedings. Dr. Gore testified that the mistake was a typographical error; however, it should be noted that there are no letters in the word “black” that are in the word “white.” (TT Vol. III p.272; 24 thru p.273; 23)

10.) Dr. Gore testified that he did not seek or review medical history of the decedent, which would have revealed a 75-hour course of heparin overdose in an absolutely contraindicated setting (decedent had received iatrogenically 1095 IUs of heparin every five hours, whereas maximum dosage for this infant, according to the Physicians Desk Reference (2002 and 1997 editions), is only 125 IUs of heparin every five hours; and, as stated, heparin was absolutely contraindicated due to the high risk of hemorrhage. Furthermore, had Dr. Gore properly investigated, he would have seen that CT scans revealed only an antemortem intracranial hemorrhage, 10 hours post terminal hospital course admission. As well, the CT scans revealed only one “tiny” subdural hemorrhage occurring in hospital. Therefore, the bilaterality and inclusion of subarachnoid hemorrhages indicate that these hemorrhages occurred during the hospital course and could not have been SBS, but were a result of absolutely contraindicated over-heparinization, infused at 8.8 times maximum recommended allowances.

11.) Dr. Gore testified that he did not, nor did his office, interview the caretakers or get the medical history/records of the infant—necessary procedures in diagnosing SBS. Dr. Gore admitted that this was necessary to make the diagnosis, yet made the diagnosis despite it. (TT Vol. III pp. 246; 20 thru 254; 2)

12.) Dr. Gore testified that he removed the heart, lungs and all the organs, whereas TransLife removed the heart, liver, pancreas, spleen and other organs. (TT Vol. III p.218; 14-17, p.246; 2-5 & p.277; 20-23)

13.) Dr. Gore testified that he observed Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI) in the decedent; however, the autopsy report makes no mention of DAI. (TT Vol. III p.280; 2-25, p.281; 1-6)

14.) Dr. Gore testified that DAI is very minute pinpoint hemorrhages in the brain, thereby providing the court with erroneous definition: DAI involves no blood or hemorrhage, but rather, injury to brain axons. (TT Vol. III p.226; 15-25, p.227; 1-4)

15.) Dr. Gore’s attention to the medical history would have shown that egregiously excessive administration of bicarbonate occurred also. Bicarbonate was continuously infused, despite pH levels of 7.6 and 7.7, accounting for the hypoxic, edematous and other changes seen intracranially and in the CNS.

16.) Dr. Gore did not decribe the microscopic appearance of the meninges or the presence of DAI in the brain or spinal cord.

17.) Dr. Gore presented no description of his x-ray findings of the rib changes.

18.) Dr. Gore presented slides and testified about the old callous of the 5th, 6th & 10th ribs, unrelated to the present condition, as there was no new callous; yet he notes the 7th as well in his report. (TT Vol. III p.221; 1-17)

19.) Dr. Gore’s description of the bleeding in the subdural spaces indicates a 3-5 day process, yet he testified that the bleeding occurred in a few minutes or seconds. (TT Vol. III pp. 256; 15-20, p.275; 9-25, p.276; 1-3, p.279; 16-25 & p.280; 1-11)

20.) The presence of bleeding in the lungs and lower spinal cord is not indicative of SBS, yet Dr. Gore maintains his diagnosis of SBS.

21.) Dr. Gore testified that he did not test the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) because it was mixed with blood, whereas his autopsy report notes on page 7 that the CSF was clear. (TT Vol. III p. 238; 20-25, p.239; 1-22, p.242; 23-25 & p.243; 1-6)

22.) Dr. Gore testified decedent did not have meningitis; however, his autopsy report indicates that there was meningitis. Tissue samples of the meninges revealed prominent and acute meningitis. (TT Vol. III p.278; 9-14)

23.) Dr. Gore presented photos of decedent in trial and remarked about two bruises on the head, thereby presenting evidence not related to the cause of death: he later admitted that these bruises occurred in the hospital as a result of handling. (TT Vol. III p.215; 21-25, p.216; 1-18, p.254; 12-25 & p.255; 1-8)

24.) Neither Dr. Gore, nor his office, performed a crime-scene investigation, per protocol.

25.) Numerous other discrepancies are revealed when Dr. Gore’s autopsy report and his testimony are scrutinized and compared by independent analysts.

Dr. Gore’s neglect, errors, false testimony, and malfeasant performance led to a wrongful conviction, placing an innocent man in prison for life without parole. Moreover, he caused severe mental, emotional, and financial harm to an already grieving and traumatized family.

Appendix A is contact information for experts who have reviewed the materials and assert Dr. Gore’s negligence, as well as the serious and grave questions surrounding the integrity of Dr. Gore’s autopsy and testimony.

Also attached is an article which reports on an internal investigation which reveals that, among other things, hundreds of cases in the Medical Examiner's office were cross-contaminated as early as 1994. This article also points out that Dr. Gore is not a board certified forensic pathologist. Another attached article indicates ethical misgivings surrounding Dr. Gore.

Based on the above information, it is clear that an exhaustive and extensive independent review of Dr. Gore’s role in this case be examined and proper disciplinary action be taken. Dr. Gore’s incompetence is a liability to Orange/Osceola County and a threat not only to his profession and the courts, but to the families and citizens he serves. It is also noted that the two Orlando newspapers and three Orlando TV-news stations are reporting the case, as are dozens of other media sources here and abroad. This elevates the need for exhaustive review to the level of great public importance. Dr. Gore’s long history of incompetence and unethical practice calls for swift and thorough resolution."

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;

THE ALAN YURKO CASE; PART FOUR; INTERVIEW WITH AUSTRALIAN PHYSICIAN "ARCHIE" KALOKERINOS:

"AND THE AUTOPSY. THE SHOCKING, ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING REPORT GIVEN BY DR. GORE, WHO DID THE AUTOPSY WHERE HE DELIBERATELY ALLOWED HIMSELF TO WRITE THINGS IN THE REPORT TO THE COURT WHICH ABSOLUTELY WERE NOT TRUE, SUCH AS THE FACT THAT HE EXAMINED THE BABY’S HEART WHEN THE HEART DIDN’T EXIST. IT HAD BEEN TAKEN OUT OF THE BODY A LONG TIME BEFORE FOR A TRANSPLANT. THAT MAN IS WANDERING AROUND FREE. HIS EVIDENCE WAS A VERY SUBSTANTIAL FACTOR IN FINDING ALAN YURKO GUILTY..."

"DOCTORS HAVE GONE CRAZY, LITERALLY CRAZY. BECAUSE THEY THINK, SOME OF THEM THINK SINCERELY IN THEIR MINDS THAT THE BABIES WERE KILLED AND THEY ARE DETERMINED THEY MUST STOP ANYMORE BABIES FROM BEING KILLED AND THEY MUST PROSECUTE AND PROSECUTE VERY HARD. BUT THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND THE ISSUES."

DR. "ARCHIE" KALOKERINOS; IN INTERVIEW WITH ROY KUPSINEL MD;

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Kalokerinos, an iconoclastic Australian physician, set out his views on the Yurko case in an interview with Roy Kupsinel which ran in Dr. Kupsinel's holistic health newsletter;

Wikipedia tells us that:

"Archivides Kalokerinos was born in Glenn Innes, Australia, on September 28 1927 (he was named after the Greek hero Alcibiades, but during translation the spelling was mistaken). Kalokerinos took his MD degree from Sydney University in 1951 and then spent six years in England. On his return to Australia he was appointed Medical Superintendent of the hospital at Collarenebri, a town 500 miles north-west of Sydney. In 1965, temporarily disillusioned with medicine, he tried opal mining at Coober Pedy, but after being injured in a fight he returned to medicine at Collarenebri, where he served until 1975. Kalokerinos became very concerned about the high death rate of Aboriginal children in that part of New South Wales. He came to the conclusion that the infants had symptoms of scurvy, a deficiency of vitamin C, and he treated them accordingly. The Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling in the foreword to Kalokerinos' book Every Second Child endorsed his views. Kalokerinos is a Life Fellow of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, a Fellow of the International Academy of Preventive Medicine [3], Fellow of the Australasian College of Biomedical Scientists, Fellow of the Hong Kong Medical Technology Association, and a Member of the New York Academy of Sciences. He is an author of 28 papers listed in PubMed, including 22 published in The Australasian Nurses Journal. He is also the author of two books on the subject of opal. He retired from full time practice in 1993 and spends most of his time doing private research.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Kup's comments leading into the interview:

In August 2004, the five day evidentiary hearing here in Orlando, Florida was attended by many of Alan’s (Alan Yurko) supporters that number over 2000. Some came from as far as the United Kingdom and Australia. The expert witnesses for Alan were beyond outstanding. They came from academia with backgrounds in the science of medicine and testified with assertiveness, insights, authority, and documentation. The day by day account of this hearing is available here.

On Friday afternoon the hearing had a surprise and suspenseful ending. Alan plea bargained to the charge of manslaughter, was given credit for his time served and later in the evening set free from the Orange County Jail. To paraphrase, Alan stated the only crime he was guilty of was not having the knowledge about the dangers of immunizations and not stopping the doctors from administering them to his son.

What a thrill to see Alan along with wife and daughter and some of the supporters walk in to the talk being given by Dr. Kalokerinos at Orlando North Hotel. Had Alan declined the bargain, he may have spent many more years in prison to await a new trial and the possibility of not winning. Dr. Archie and I went to visit Alan and Francine the following day at their home. Quite a bit of excitement with reporters from the Orlando Sentinel and a team from Fox News, Channel 35.

Before Dr. Archie Kalokerinos left for Australia, I interviewed him on the Yurko case. I have known Dr. Archie for over twenty years. I have visited him in Australia and had the honor of his speaking at an alternative medicine seminar I organized back in the 80s along with his colleague the late Dr. Glen Dettman. In my opinion, Archie is deserving of the Nobel Prize for his services to his patients, to Australia and to the world for his great discoveries and work with SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (or Cot Death); with SBS, or Shaken Baby Syndrome; and the role especially of vitamin C and other nutrients in these conditions.

You may read all about it and more in his autobiography "Medical Pioneer of the 20th Century". See information at the end on how to acquire this. Profits go to the Yurko Project.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The interview:

"Roy: Archie, it is almost going home time via Alaska for you. It has been a wonderful week plus having you here, and the experience we had with the Yurko case, the freedom that he has obtained and the party that we attended on Saturday. As you know, I have these reports of each day that Don did. You have read them. I am going to send them to you via email so that you can copy them for others Oh, they are available on the Yurko Project website! I would just like to ask you for your postscripts. You have had a bit of time to reflect back upon what has happened. I’d like to get your remarks for my newsletter Holistic Health Focus". Why don’t you give me and the readers your comments.

Archie: My first comment is the incredible intelligence displayed by Alan Yurko. Instead of rotting in jail, he got hold of great heaps of medical textbooks, studied the very complicated issues, was able to interpret them very clearly. Quite frankly, I can’t think of any doctor, including myself, who has been able to sort out these issues so clearly. Next, I was not aware until the case proceeded that with this type of hearing that Alan could not be declared to be innocent. That would have required a new trial and to wait quite a few years, probably enormous expense and continued suffering. So, the judge was able to free Alan; let him go home. But it is not a total and absolute proof that he is innocent.

There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that he is innocent. Just one detail alone, just one detail, which is a fact of admission that baby Alan developed an extremely severe anemia that required blood transfusions. The prosecution was unable to explain that anemia. In fact one of the main prosecution witnesses who spoke so forcibly when asked about the anemia said it would have to be a typographical error. Then he was shown in the records in his own handwriting. So, he fumbled. He couldn’t explain that one factor alone, the development of that anemia could not be explained. It wasn’t due to hemorrhage and it certainly can’t be caused by shaking an infant. So, I feel very strongly about that.

I think the system of law needs to be changed so that the people in this situation if they produce evidence showing quite clearly that they are innocent, don’t have to wait for years and years and years for a new trial with all the expenses and the problems that are involved. I think that is most undemocratic and America, and Australia, for that matter, went to war in Iraq saying that America was a democratic country and had to free the rest of the world where it is an actual fact when it comes to details like this. Americans are guilty of a form of terrorism which is frightening.

The real significance of Alan Yurko’s case goes far beyond Alan Yurko. If doctors took the time and trouble to sit down and study the literature as they should and understand pediatrics like they have never understood it before, they will save a tremendous amount of suffering; they will save many, many infant deaths.

These doctors, including prosecution witnesses, and medical practitioners outside do not have the time to study the literature. There is so much of it. In other words, many of them, including prosecution witnesses, are too bloody lazy, too determined to prosecute so that they are unaware of the volume of literature and they are unaware of the implications that is in the literature. One prosecution witness, in my opinion, deliberately misrepresented the situation. He spoke very forceably, declared quite clearly that baby Alan had been shaken.

One crucial detail in the defense was the fact that baby Alan suffered a severe reaction to vaccines administered two weeks or so before the final collapse and death. That particular witness said that could have nothing to do with the death because effects of the vaccines all disappear from the body in a matter of a day or so. It could not possibly be related. He did not say from the moment almost that baby Alan received those vaccines he was never well, he was seriously ill. And that was a gross misrepresentation of the truth. He was either guilty of deliberately misrepresentation or he had not bothered to study the case history properly.

When someone like that gives evidence that could result in the incarceration of an individual for the rest of his life and hasn’t bothered to study the case notes properly, who hasn’t bothered to study the medical literature properly, a person like that should be guilty of a serious crime and charged. I think the time is coming when that will happen.

R: In listening to you the thought came to me, what recommendations might you have for any doctor with an open or partially open mind to educate himself in this field? Also, there are a lot of open minded lay people and an ever growing number of parents of children or a child that are being accused of Shaken Baby Syndrome.

A: Well, I can provide the basis of understanding in the selection of literature that I have collected. And they should read that and go on from there. They should look at it and then go to the medical library and particularly look up the references in the medical literature. They should study endotoxins and other bacterial toxins and their effects. They should study vitamin C intensely. They should study immune responses. They should study coagulation bleeding disorders in relation to endotoxins. They should be very careful to study every little detail in the case history.

For example, in many cases that I have examined, prosecution witnesses have written the report which begins with the previously well baby when the case notes show quite clearly that the baby was never well from day one. That sort of thing should not be tolerated. Judges should be trained to recognize details like that and pull them up fast. Because if they give evidence like that when the case records show quite clearly that there have been serious problems all along, then they are guilty of negligence and should be charged with negligence. They should not be free to continue to say things like that.

R: Would you like to summarize what, in your medical opinion, were the causes of the death of infant Yurko?

A: Yes. The baby was never well. The mother had many problems with infection and antibiotics and so forth before the baby was born. There was a degree of kidney failure. So, the fetus wasn’t producing urine, which of course keeps replenishing the supply of amniotic fluid which surrounds the fetus in the uterus. Without a proper supply of this fluid serious health problems are initiated. Because there is gross deficiency of that fluid the birth had to be induced. And from then on baby Alan was from what you might call really not well. He had infections. He had serious respiratory problems. The doctors, unfortunately, that cared for him at different times, never properly investigated. See, if you don’t look you don’t find. And they ignored very important details.

Then, of course, there was the final collapse. And the autopsy. The shocking, absolutely shocking report given by Dr. Gore, who did the autopsy where he deliberately allowed himself to write things in the report to the court which absolutely were not true, such as the fact that he examined the baby’s heart when the heart didn’t exist. It had been taken out of the body a long time before for a transplant. That man is wandering around free. His evidence was a very substantial factor in finding Alan Yurko guilty.

Alan spent seven years of his life in jail. Absolute torture. And yet, Dr. Gore is wandering around free. He should be either locked up in a lunatic asylum because he is dangerous; or, he should be made to compensate Alan Yurko for the years of suffering and the destruction, the virtual destruction, of the main part of his life. He should not be allowed to do that.

It should be made clear that prosecution witnesses, if they don’t do their work properly, that they are guilty of negligence. If, as a doctor, I don’t do my job properly I would be charged with negligence. Why are they allowed to go into a court and not do their job properly, be negligent and sometimes deliberately misrepresent things and get away scot free? The system needs to be changed. And the worst thing, and I will repeat it again, is the fact that if they really sat down and studied the problems that are involved and understand pediatrics, as I said, like they’d never understand it before, it would result in a completely new method of dealing with sick babies.

R: Well, in short, there is a need to help raise the consciousness of the individuals and the mass consciousness of the people in our country and also throughout the world for this is not just unique to Florida and the United States. You are having cases in Australia and other spots. There is an increasing number of cases. We were talking this morning to a woman in the Miami area, who has a serious problem with a child that is deceased and had a missing thymus on autopsy and a hole in the heart. She is under house arrest and awaiting a hearing in January.

Any comments, as we close, in the increasing number of cases that we are seeing. It seems the attitude of the legal system is to persecute and prosecute these people and assume they are guilty until proven innocent and with that criteria for Shaken Baby Syndrome, it doesn’t seem you can prove one way or another.

A: It’s worse than the old days when women were charged with practicing witchcraft. And if they denied that they were guilty they would be thrown into a river. And if they didn’t drown, that was an indication of guilt and they would be burned at the stake. If they drowned, well they were innocent. In those days at least they could use an excuse -- they are ignorant But nowadays, this is worse than those old witch trials for there is no excuse. The knowledge is there. And it is going on all over the world.

Doctors have gone crazy, literally crazy. Because they think, some of them think sincerely in their minds that the babies were killed and they are determined they must stop anymore babies from being killed and they must prosecute and prosecute very hard. But they don’t understand the issues.

There is no doubt that it is possible to shake a baby to death. But in more than forty cases that I have investigated there has been real evidence to suggest strongly that the babies were not shaken but the hemorrhages that were found at the autopsies which could be in the retinas, in the brain or the membranes surrounding the brain are caused by disturbances in coagulation-bleeding factors. And the so-called fractures that are found in these babies are not true fractures. That is they are not inflicted injuries that are due to an increased utilization of vitamin C caused mainly by the presence of bacterial toxins.

If this goes on long enough then there will be bone changes that to the uninitiated look exactly like trauma initiated fractures, but they are not but a variety of scurvy. But, authorities say you don’t get scurvy in a baby under the age of six months. That was largely true in the old days. But nowadays with the antibiotics, with mothers smoking, with failure to exclusively breast feed and the administration of vaccines these bone changes can occur at a much earlier age. And, furthermore, it is possible in experimental animals to develop these bone changes in the fetus before birth while in the uterus. They look like trauma-induced fractures but are actually induced by a deficiency of Vitamin C which can affect areas in bone where rapid growth is occurring. There is a breakdown in bone structure. So, these are very important issues. They need to be seriously considered. Otherwise, the suffering is going to continue.

R: Well, Dr. Archie, I really appreciate your comments. As you were concluding, I was thinking of another famous Greek, the musician, Yanni. And we talked about him at the Acropolis where he gave a concert. To paraphrase, between a couple of the songs, he stated that everything that happens begins with a single thought. And you have given out more than a single thought, and these thoughts create. I hope and pray that what you have had to say (not to be a poet) will touch the hearts and minds and souls of thousands of people out there.

Harold Levy...hlevy@gmail.com;

ALAN YURKO: PART THREE; PATHOLOGIST SHASHI GORE RETIRES FROM CHIEF EXAMINER POSITION IN FACE OF ALLEGATIONS OF SERIOUS ERRORS IN YURKO CASE;

"EITHER THIS GUY HAS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AUTOPSY OF SOME OTHER CHILD'S OR HE HAS COMPLETELY BOTCHED OURS," FRANCINE TOLD INDIA-WEST. "AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, WHERE THERE IS NO AUTOPSY, THERE IS NO CASE."

REPORTER ASHFAQUE SWAPAN: INDIA-WEST;

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"An Indian-American chief medical examiner of two Florida counties has announced his decision to retire in the summer of 2004 amid mounting criticism of his office and a state probe of an allegedly botched autopsy he conducted," India-West, a major west=coast Indian weekly newspaper reported on October 24, 2004;

"Dr. Shashi Gore, the chief medical examiner of Orange and Osceola counties, has announced his decision to retire, but both the 69-year-old medical examiner and county officials have denied any link between the recent controversy and his decision," the story, by reporter Ashfaque Swapan continued, under the heading: "Florida Medical Examiner to Retire Following Controversy."

"In recent years, several cases that have drawn criticism include Gore's autopsy of a 10-week-old infant in 1997. His conclusion led to the father, Alan Yurko, 33, being given a life sentence without possibility of parole for shaking his infant son to death.

The Florida Department of Health is investigating Gore after he mistakenly described the child as being black when the baby was white. He also gave a detailed description of the child's heart in the autopsy report, but the heart had already been harvested for an organ donation.

When reached by phone, Gore declined to comment specifically on the case. "My attorney has asked me not to talk about the case," he told India-West.

Yurko's wife Francine, who has launched an Internet campaign to free her husband, told India-West she could not believe it when she first learned that the autopsy contained errors.

"I was amazed because you expect a medical examiner doing an autopsy report to be thorough and correct in their evaluation," she said. "You expect them to go through the proper procedure and they have done everything possible to be able to render their decision, especially considering a man's life is at stake, let alone the devastation of a family, for goodness' sake."

Francine said she and her husband discovered a host of errors in the autopsy after her husband was convicted.

"We didn't know half of what we know now until after the trial when we got hold of the records and trials," she said. "We were not educated in the medical and legal issues. We were naïve in believing that justice would prevail." Through her Internet Web site www.freeyurko.bizland.com, she received an outpouring of support and information that helped her fight back.

In a detailed complaint filed against Gore with the Florida Department of Health, Francine mentioned 25 discrepancies and errors. Among other things, it presents examples of contradictory information, mistakenly reported size of the infant's head size, and other errors.

Gore diagnosed the case as Shaken Baby Syndrome, which led to Alan's conviction, but now Alan and Francine say the autopsy has no merit.

"Either this guy has a completely different autopsy of some other child's or he has completely botched ours," Francine told India-West. "As far as I am concerned, where there is no autopsy, there is no case."

The Yurkos have filed a motion for post conviction release, which is pending before the court. The judge ordered the state to respond, "to show good cause why Alan should not be granted his release," Francine said. "We've gone back and forth."

Gore has faced criticism with other cases as well.

The death of 23-month-old Dany Lopez was such a case. Lopez was rushed from Volusia County to Florida Hospital for emergency surgery in October in 2001, and bruises and devastating injuries led nurses and doctors -- including the head of Volusia County's Child Protection Team - to conclude that the child was a victim of abuse.

Although some classified Lopez's case as a probable homicide when he died after surgery Oct. 6, Dr. Sara Irrgang of the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner's Office concluded in January 2002 that the toddler died by tripping and falling onto his baby bottle.

Outrage over Irrgang's conclusion propelled a 19-month investigation to overturn the finding of accidental death.

Gore, Irrgang's boss, agreed to review the case in June 2002 after the head of Volusia County's Child Protection Team threatened to ask the state Medical Examiners Commission to intervene.

Almost a year later -- after Volusia County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Beaver called the death a homicide -- Gore concluded the boy had been killed.

"Gore made headlines in November after an investigation revealed he was doing private work on county time, a practice he openly condemned," the Orlando Weekly reported Jan. 23. "County administrators considered firing him, until they realized only the state can discipline medical examiners."

The Orlando Sentinel reported that Gore courted controversy when he took the job in February 1996 "after he was hired over finalists with far superior medical credentials."

Hiring standards needed to be lowered twice before he could apply, the newspaper reported.

Initially, the applicant had to be a board-certified forensic pathologist—a title that requires five to six years of postdoctoral study and is considered the field's top credential by the American Board of Pathology.

Gore is not board certified in any medical specialty. Only one of Florida's 22 chief medical examiners—in Collier County—is not a board-certified pathologist, according to the newspaper.

However, the newspaper added that Gore and his assistants at the morgue on Lucerne Terrace in Orlando investigate hundreds of violent, suspicious and unnatural deaths each year, and "known mistakes are few."

Gore is credited with taking on "a nearly impossible task of restoring order to a staff split by vicious infighting," the paper said.

"Dr. Gore has a leadership style that did bring that office back together," Lawson Lamar, the Orange-Osceola state attorney who chaired the search committee that hired him, told the Orlando Sentinel. "There was some unhappiness between some different people, and he did a great job of bringing them back together."

Gore concedes it's a tough job. "If you do one thing that [the families and friends of the deceased] don't like, then you're damned," he told the newspaper. "If you don't do the thing they would like you to do, you are damned on the other side as well. It's a tough job."

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;

ALAN YURKO CASE; PART TWO; MORE ECHOES OF CHARLES SMITH; AN EARLIER JUSTICE DENIED STORY BY HANS SHERRER; "WHO KILLED BABY ALAN?"

"AFTER BABY ALAN’S HEART AND OTHER ORGANS WERE HARVESTED, HE WAS TURNED OVER TO THE MEDICAL EXAMINER’S OFFICE FOR AN AUTOPSY. MEDICAL EXAMINER SHASHI GORE’S AUTOPSY REPORTED BABY ALAN WAS A TWO MONTH OLD S BABY WITH A CRANIAL MEASUREMENT OF 22 CM, AND WHOSE ORGANS WERE ALL INTACT. THE REPORT ALSO DESCRIBES THE EXCISING OF HEART TISSUE THAT WAS MICROSCOPICALLY EXAMINED. YET BABY ALAN WAS A 10 WEEK OLD CAUCASIAN WHOSE CRANIAL MEASUREMENT AT BIRTH WAS 31.5 CM, AND WHICH LATER HOSPITAL EXAMINATION RECORDS LIST AS 37.5 CM. IN ADDITION, BABY ALAN’S HEART AND OTHER ORGANS WERE REMOVED FOR TRANSPLANTING PRIOR TO HIS BODY BEING TURNED OVER TO THE M.E.’S OFFICE FOR AUTOPSY. SO THE AUTOPSY ALLEGEDLY PERFORMED ON BABY ALAN WAS ACTUALLY OF A PHYSICALLY DISSIMILAR CHILD WITH INTACT ORGANS.

CONSIDERING WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE SLOTHFUL WAY THE MEDICAL EXAMINER’S OFFICE TRACKED PHYSICAL EVIDENCE AND RECORDS IN THE MID-1990S, IT IS A REAL POSSIBILITY THEY WOULD NOT HAVE DETECTED THE SWITCHING OR MISLABELING OF TWO DISSIMILAR BODIES. IT BECAME PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE IN SEPTEMBER 2002 THAT IN THE MID-1990S THE MEDICAL EXAMINER’S OFFICE FOR ORANGE COUNTY (ORLANDO) WAS RUN SO SLIPSHOD THAT IN HUNDREDS OF CASES IT LOST AND CONTAMINATED EVIDENCE, AND COULDN’T FIND MISSING LISTS AND LOGS. AT THAT TIME IT ALSO CAME TO LIGHT THAT DR. GORE WAS NOT A BOARD CERTIFIED FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST WHEN HE WAS HIRED IN 1996 TO RUN THE MEDICAL EXAMINER’S OFFICE AND PERFORM AUTOPSIES."

HANS SHERRER; JUSTICE DENIED;

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hans Sherrer's story "Who Killed Baby Alan?" ran in Justice Denied - the self-styled "magazine of the wrongly convicted" - in June, 2004, under the heading: "Alan Yurko is innocent, so who is responsible for the death of his infant son Alan Jr.?

"The worst nightmare of every young child’s parents was experienced by Alan and Francine Yurko on November 24, 1997," the story began;

"Alan rushed their ten-week-old son, Alan Jr., to an Orlando, Florida hospital after noticing he had stopped breathing," it continued;

"Although resuscitated at the hospital, baby Alan died three days later.

Doctors suggested baby Alan's condition was attributable to Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS). Police investigators locked onto Alan Yurko as the suspect since he was the last adult alone with his son before his hospitalization. Believing they had an open and shut case against him, prosecutors charged Alan with child abuse and first degree murder. After a three day trial in February 1999, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

That seemed to close the book on the death of Alan Yurko Jr. Yet six years later troubling questions pervade baby Alan’s death, and the fairness of his father's investigation, trial, conviction and imprisonment.

The extent of those doubts was hinted at during Alan’s trial. Five local doctors relied on bleeding in baby Alan's brain for their testimony he died from SBS. However none of the doctors agreed about when his alleged injuries occurred or even what those injuries were. Their tangled testimony was compounded by Dr. Douglas Shanklin. One of the country's most respected pathologists, he testified during Alan’s defense that baby Alan's bleeding began less than 24 hours before his death. That meant the bleeding began more than two days after he was transported to Florida Hospital and placed under the intensive care of its staff. Dr. Shanklin’s testimony was consistent with the lack of witnesses to Alan being anything other than a caring father.

Aided by dozens of doctors and medical professors with expertise in at least eight different disciplines, Francine Yurko has assembled a considerable body of evidence since her husband’s trial that explain the causes of baby Alan's death, and substantiates his innocence. This information can be viewed on the Free Yurko website (http://freeyurko.bizland.com).

In a February 16, 2002 presentation – Did Baby Alan Die of Shaken Baby Syndrome? – Dr. Harold E. Buttram outlined how all of baby Alan’s alleged injuries attributed to SBS could have been caused by known factors unrelated to parental mistreatment, and that dozens of innocent parents are known to have been falsely accused of SBS in this and other countries. Doubts that baby Alan died from SBS are further supported by a report, Perimacular Retinal Folds From Childhood Head Trauma, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in March 2004. The report found that a certain type of eye injury – “subdural and retinal haemorrhages” (severe bleeding into the eye) - that has been used to diagnose SBS, can have causes other than abuse. [1] Researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina reviewed the medical literature and case studies on the syndrome, and found, “Statements in the medical literature that perimacular retinal folds are diagnostic of shaken baby syndrome are not supported by objective scientific evidence.” [2] More precisely, they found there are only two flawed case-control studies on the subject, and that the published work displays “an absence of …precise and reproducible case definition, and interpretations or conclusions that overstep the data.” [3]

The March 2004 report in the BMJ is not the first one questioning the scientific basis of SBS: In a review of review of SBS medical literature from 1966 to 1998 that was published in 2003 by the American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, researcher Mark Donohoe found, “there was inadequate scientific evidence to come to a firm conclusion on most aspects of causation, diagnosis, treatment, or any other matters,” and that in regards to SBS, there are “serious data gaps, flaws of logic, inconsistency of case definitions.” [4] Indicative that SBS’s origin had no scientific basis, Donohoe reported, “the evidence for shaken baby syndrome appears analogous to an inverted pyramid, with a very small database (most of it poor quality original research, retrospective in nature, and without appropriate control groups) spreading to a broad body of somewhat divergent opinions.” [5]

Some doctors are questioning whether SBS actually exists, and the BMJ wrote in its March 27, 2004 editorial that due to doubts about the scientific basis of SBS – “We need to reconsider the diagnostic criteria, if not the existence of shaken baby syndrome.” [6] Yet in spite of doubts that SBS even exists as a medical condition, the testimony of prosecution witnesses at Alan Yurko’s trial that it was the cause of his son’s death was relied on by the jurors to convict him. [7]

Consistent with doubts about the existence of SBS and Dr. Buttram’s analysis that there are established medical explanations for baby Alan’s alleged injuries, is Francine’s discovery that baby Alan's emergency hospitalization could have been caused by his injection on November 11, 1997 with six vaccines identified in a federal database (vaers.org) as “hot lots” known to cause significant adverse reactions. One of the “hot-lot” vaccines given to baby Alan (DTaP-7H815087) has been associated with the death of at least five other children. Its average reaction time of about 12 days is consistent with baby Alan’s emergency hospitalization 13 days after being injected with that vaccine.

After Baby Alan’s admittance to Florida Hospital, he was systematically given nearly nine times the recommended dosage of Heparin: An anticoagulant drug that not only promotes, but can trigger brain bleeding. One of Heparin’s uses is to preserve organs for transplanting, and Baby Alan was a designated organ donor. Medical expert’s have noted baby Alan’s brain bleeding could have been induced by the overdoses of Heparin proscribed for him during the last three days of his life.

Although it is troubling in its implications, the nature of baby Alan’s care before and after his hospitalization makes sense from one perspective: He was medically worthless alive, but as a designated organ donor he was extremely valuable dead. That suggestion is consistent with the close working relationship doctors at Florida Hospital have with TransLife, an Orlando company that provides organs, tissue and transplant services. After his death, baby Alan's heart and other organs were harvested and provided to TransLife for distribution.

Baby Alan’s value dead was explained in a December 2, 2002 press release by TransLife’s marketing manager, who wrote that because there are insufficient organs available to meet the transplant demand, “ways to increase the supply” were being investigated. Among the ways being considered was increasing the number of cadavers considered to have organs acceptable for transplanting. The acute shortage of transplant organs was the subject of New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd’s November 16, 2003 column, in which she reported that 83,000 people are on waiting lists, and about 6,000 people die yearly waiting for a critical organ transplant. [8]

Since there was an unmet need for organs in 1997, as there is now, TransLife’s publicly expressed desire to pursue “ways to increase the supply” of cadavers has gruesome implications for what is now known about the life and death of baby Alan.

The many seedy and devious ways the insatiable world-wide demand for transplantation organs is being filled are hinted at by the fact based 2003 movie Dirty Pretty Things, about how illegal immigrants in the United Kingdom sell their organs for money and residency papers, reports of organs harvested from condemned Chinese prisoners, March 2004 news stories about the harvesting of organs from hundreds, and possibly thousands, of cadavers stolen from UCLA’s medical school over a five-year period, [9] and the revelation in April 2004 that organs were stolen during unauthorized autopsies in several British hospitals. [10]

Baby Alan’s death seems to suggest another ghoulish method: The medically induced death of a known organ donor. Considering the suspicious circumstances of baby Alan’s treatment, it is pertinent to ask how Florida Hospital, his doctor Ben Guedes M.D., and TransLife, directly and indirectly benefited financially and otherwise from his death.

After baby Alan’s heart and other organs were harvested, he was turned over to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. Medical Examiner Shashi Gore’s autopsy reported baby Alan was a two month old s baby with a cranial measurement of 22 cm, and whose organs were all intact. The report also describes the excising of heart tissue that was microscopically examined. Yet baby Alan was a 10 week old Caucasian whose cranial measurement at birth was 31.5 cm, and which later hospital examination records list as 37.5 cm. In addition, baby Alan’s heart and other organs were removed for transplanting prior to his body being turned over to the M.E.’s office for autopsy. So the autopsy allegedly performed on baby Alan was actually of a physically dissimilar child with intact organs.

Considering what is known about the slothful way the medical examiner’s office tracked physical evidence and records in the mid-1990s, it is a real possibility they would not have detected the switching or mislabeling of two dissimilar bodies. It became public knowledge in September 2002 that in the mid-1990s the medical examiner’s office for Orange County (Orlando) was run so slipshod that in hundreds of cases it lost and contaminated evidence, and couldn’t find missing lists and logs. At that time it also came to light that Dr. Gore was not a board certified forensic pathologist when he was hired in 1996 to run the medical examiner’s office and perform autopsies.

Dr. Gore’s autopsy on a black baby labeled as baby Alan, but who was smaller, younger and with intact organs is conceivable in the climate of incompetence and confusion that pervaded the medical examiner’s office.

Another discrepancy is baby Alan’s records indicate that Francine Yurko positively identified his body for the medical examiner’s office. Yet she maintains she never did so, and she further asserts that the last time she saw her son was in his hospital room the day prior to the harvesting of his organs for distribution by TransLife. Her claims are supported by Dr. Gore’s testimony at her husband’s trial that she was never interviewed by the medical examiners office, from which her son’s body was directly shipped for cremation.

Francine Yurko also reports the oddity that after she expressed the desire for a second autopsy, she was rushed to get the body out of the medical examiner’s facility. So while in a state of shock over the death of her son, and with a cloud of police suspicion hanging over her husband who was in custody, a sedated Francine Yurko was pressured to authorize cremation of the body listed as baby Alan without a second autopsy being performed.

The evidence that Alan Yurko didn’t receive a fair trial was also bolstered by the Orlando Sentinel’s report on March 27, 2004, that at least one of his jurors believes he should get a new trial. The juror, Thomas Miller, told the paper that if what has been publicly reported about Dr. Gore’s suspect testimony had been disclosed during the trial, “...there’s no way I could have found [Yurko] guilty.” [11]

Serious questions are also raised by the inexplicable negligence of local prosecutors and police investigators: Although baby Alan was a suspected murder victim and his body constituted the sole physical evidence of any alleged crime, those law enforcement authorities did not make any attempt to preserve the autopsied body or prevent the cremation.

So there are at least four prongs to baby Alan’s mysterious death. First, if baby Alan was murdered, it appears to have involved one or more doctors entrusted with his care at Florida Hospital. Second, the removal of baby Alan’s organs may have been related to an organ harvesting scheme involving his doctor(s), TransLife, and with the Florida Hospital involved at least to the degree of providing use of its facilities. Third, since Dr. Gore’s autopsy was not of baby Alan – where was he then, and where is he now? Fourth, why did prosecutors and police investigators not do anything to attempt to preserve the evidence of the crime Alan Yurko was then under investigation for – namely the body they would have been expected to believe was his son?

The answers to these questions are vitally important to the prosecution of Alan Yurko, particularly since he was convicted of murdering the autopsied baby that the available evidence indicates was not his son.

It is reasonable to conclude at this point that Alan Yurko is innocent, he was wrongly convicted, and he has spent more than six years falsely imprisoned for his son’s death. If Alan Yurko Jr.’s death was a crime, the trail leads straight to the inner sanctum of Orlando’s medical community. However, local prosecutors and police investigators have thus far protected those individuals and organizations from investigation, and the prosecution they may deserve for their role in the death of Alan Yurko Jr.

Some of the mysteries surrounding baby Alan’s death may be cleared up in the fall of 2004. On March 26, 2004, Circuit Judge C. Alan Lawson ordered an evidentiary hearing to begin on August 23, 2004. After the hearing Judge Lawson can reverse Alan Yurko’s conviction and order a new trial, or he can let the conviction stand.

If baby Alan could speak one has to believe he would demand justice for his father – and for those responsible for snuffing out of his young and precious life. He could then rest in peace.

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;

ALAN YURKO CASE: PART ONE; ECHOES OF DR. CHARLES SMITH; HANS SHERRER ARTICLE; JUSTICE DENIED MAGAZINE;

"AN ARRAY OF EXPERTS ASSEMBLED ON BEHALF OF YURKO PAINTED A PICTURE OF MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE BY HIS SON’S DOCTORS THAT COMPOUNDED BABY ALAN’S POOR HEALTH, AND AN AUTOPSY REPORT BY ORANGE-OSCELA MEDICAL EXAMINER SASHI GORE SO RIFE WITH ERRORS THAT IT WAS OF NO VALUE IN DETERMINING HIS CAUSE OF DEATH."

HANS SHERRER: JUSTICE DENIED MAGAZINE;

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In an earlier post I featured an article by Dr. Alan Clemetson which said: ""There has undoubtedly been a grave miscarriage of justice in the conviction of Alan Yurko of Orlando, Florida, who was accused of "shaken baby syndrome" and was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder."

Determined to learn more about the Yurko case, I stumbled on an article in Justice Denied Magazine by Hans Sherrer, under the heading "Alan Yurko’s Murder Conviction is Vacated" which reminded me of the all too many cases where people pleaded guilty or no contest to lesser crimes they did not commit to avoid being convicted by the lethal evidence of Dr. Charles Randal Smith;

Wikipedia tells us that: "Justice Denied is the only regularly published print magazine in the world solely devoted to issues related to wrongful convictions. The magazine prints stories about wrongful convictions, miscarriages of justice, and criminal justice issues related to prosecution and conviction of innocent people in countries around the world. Justice Denied was founded in 1998 as a volunteer, non-profit magazine to promote awareness of wrongful convictions, and their causes and preventions. Its first issue was in February 1999, and the two original co-publishers were Stormy Thoming-Gale and Clara Boggs."

"After a week-long evidentiary hearing, on August 27, 2004, Circuit Judge C. Alan Lawson vacated Alan Yurko’s 1998 first-degree murder conviction of shaking his ten-week old son to death in November 1997, for which he was sentenced to life in prison," Sherrer's story begins.

"An array of experts assembled on behalf of Yurko painted a picture of medical negligence by his son’s doctors that compounded baby Alan’s poor health, and an autopsy report by Orange-Oscela Medical Examiner Sashi Gore so rife with errors that it was of no value in determining his cause of death," it continues;

"Earlier in 2004, the Florida State Medical Examiners Commission reviewed Gore’s conduct in the Yurko case. The Commission determined his conduct was so deficient that it barred from performing autopsies until his June 2004 retirement.

Facing a re-trial with their “star” forensic witness’ professional reputation in shreds, Alan’s prosecutors offered him a deal within hours of Judge Lawson’s ruling: Plead no-contest to the manslaughter death of his son and be sentenced to time served - 6 years and 125 days. The alternative for Alan was to most likely spend several more years in prison while the prosecution appealed the judge’s ruling. (Above photo: Alan Yurko on his release from prison);

An important consideration for Alan, was that by pleading no-contest to manslaughter, he would be abandoning any opportunity to seek compensation for his 6-1/2 years of wrongful imprisonment. However the desire to get out of prison immediately and to be reunited with his wife Francine and his step-daughter won out. Alan accepted the deal and after pleading no-contest to manslaughter at an afternoon court session, he was sentenced to time served and released about 8 p.m. on August 27th. When he entered his plea, Alan denied ever physically harming his son, but he accepted parental responsibility for not having conducted research into the dangerous vaccines his ill-son’s doctor’s prescribed and administered to him.

Alan’s wife Francine, who steadfastly stood by him during his ordeal and was the person most responsible for amassing the new evidence of his innocence, had mixed emotions about the plea deal: “By him taking a plea, he gets to come home. But we’re still victims of the system. We’ve still spent seven years of our lives to prove his innocence and restore the name of our family. A plea … regardless of no contest, that’s not a victory to me. We know he’s innocent, and I guess when it comes down to it, that’s all that really matters.”

The irony of Alan’s plea deal, is that prior to his trial he was offered and turned down, a deal under which he would have served less than the time he was actually imprisoned. More than six years of wrongful imprisonment gave him a new perspective on the inner workings of the legal system. It is unlikely that Judge Lawson’s acceptance of Alan’s plea to something the judge knows he didn’t do increased his already shaken faith that the system’s interest is in protecting the innocent, and not to cater to the prosecution’s goal of obtaining a conviction at all costs."

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;