Pat Speer Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 As an L.A. native I remember the constant politicking and in-fighting surrounding Thomas Noguchi. There is an element of government that frowns upon coroners who attract publicity. Those familiar with Wecht's career will note that he has been very active in Pennsylvania's Democratic party. There may or may not be a connection.. The charges against him all sound like typical bureaucratic abuses. While Wecht is a man of tremendous ego, and the charges against him may very well be true, it seems to me that if there is any merit to these charges they should have been dealt with on the lowdown at the local level. That this has become a Federal case is of great concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Pat, did you notice that a Republican who had defeated him is apparently a leader in raising defense funds for him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Speer Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Pat, did you notice that a Republican who had defeated him is apparently a leader in raising defense funds for him? I didn't notice that, but it doesn't completely surprise me. I believe Wecht was friendly with Specter as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Charleston Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 They also, took with them, all his JFK, assassination files, documentation and such...which has and had absolutely nothing to do with his actions as a coroner....... As far as I know, at present nothing has been returned. Ah, then if they took ALL of his doucmentation on JFK then they have a copy of some of my work which explains what actually happened in Dallas, but there were some holes in that presentation that Dr. Wecht helped me fill. I have since answered his questions but I have not closed the loop. But Dr. Wecht's secretary in his office told me last year that he cooresponded frequently with several other researchers on the jFK assassination, and he may have met some objections to those activities. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Mauro Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 At the risk of repeating myself, we must assume that Dr. Wecht is innocent of all charges brought against him.Not sure if we accomplish much here by reviewing the CHARGES against Dr. Wecht. He will have a vigorous defense and the jury will decide whether any of the charges are true beyond a reasonable doubt. And I have no doubt that if he is convicted on any count, there will be an appeal. It is sad that, if true, a man of Dr. Wecht's credentials engaged in the conduct charged against him. But let us simply assume (as we should) that he is innocent and let the criminal justice system sort this out. ********************************************************* "It is sad that, if true, a man of Dr. Wecht's credentials engaged in the conduct charged against him. But let us simply assume (as we should) that he is innocent and let the criminal justice system sort this out." That's the second time you've brought up Dr. Wecht's right to "due process", T.G. I haven't denoted any "Kangaroo Court" attitude or mentality being directed at Wecht's predicament here. At least, not by any of the members' posts on the subject. If anything, Wecht is beginning to appear to have been set up as a "patsy", on some seemingly trumped up charges, in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 I wonder why the FBI would be so concerned about the business practice of a county coroner in Pennsylvania. Even if Wecht were guilty on any of the counts, it's not like he was killing anybody. The people were already dead when they got to his office. The UK abolished Grand Juries a long time ago. Grand juries are a throwback to a less enlightened era. As Caroline Kennedy notes in her book on the Bill of Rights, it is a truism that any DA worth his salt could persuade a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. I personally have no particular fondness for Cyril Wecht, but I tthink the idea of hitting him with a 60-odd count indictment is no way to treat a ham sandwich. If they had ONE charge against him I would be more impressed, but a 60-odd count indictment screams out the bankruptcy of the prosecution case. As Ron points out, the people were already dead when they got to Wecht's office. Are they alleging that he made personal phone calls from the office? Students of the JFK assassination are sometimes considered paranoid. The case of Dr. Wecht is evidence that even paranoids have enemies. Okay, Dr. Wecht is an original founding member of COPA - and more recently honored with the establishment of the Cyril Wecht Institute of Forensic Pathology (at I believe, Duquesne U.), which was the sponsor of a series of chriminology seminars, one of which included Sen. Spector, who has participated in more than one such seminar. Spector gave his talk on the single bullet conclusion and then left without listening to any of the other presentations. Last year Wecht's institute co-sponsored a symposium in Washington with the Assassination Archives and Research Center (Jim Lesar) and COPA (John Judge), which examined new evidence (Morley/DRE; digital acoustics; etc.) which Lesar repeated this year, in support of the idea of "cracking the case." I've known Cyril personally since 1987 when I lived in nearby Oakmont for awhile, visited him at his office, swaped research and talked about forming an organization like COPA. I found him a true professional, beyond reproach, unable to intentionally comit a crime, and the type of person you can just trust. They might be able to get him on sloppy bookkeeping if they really want to, but he isn't a serial killer. For whatever reason - and they might be acting on an annonymous tip or request from a political enemy, the FBI took his files and records, including his JFK assassination files, which I can imagine gets to the heart of the matter. What I know was in Wecht's JFK files are the grey schale photographic experiments conducted by Tom Wilson, the medical and autospy records Wecht has studied over the decades, and Wecht's work with Lesar and company, which may have been the last straw. There are also a number of important cases, including a Cuban's foreknowledge and Soviet Counterintelligence records related to the JFK assassination, that were developed out of the Pittsburgh FBI office. The same FBI that failed to follow up on them are going after Wecht with a vengence. In any case, the grand jury, as appropriated from the British, might have been abolished in the mother country, but is alive and well in the U S of A, and any county prosecutor, worth Caroline Kennedy's butt, should be able to indict somebody for a crime related to the murder of JFK, even if its the Smith Act. BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 An interesting article re a mistake made by Dr. Wecht: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-s...ov=ap&type=lgns Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 An interesting article re a mistake made by Dr. Wecht:http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-s...ov=ap&type=lgns Tim, What is the mistake again? He determined the cause of death - swelling of the brain, and when the tests came back showing the anti-freeze, he ruled it suicide. Where's the mistake? BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 (edited) Bill, from the article: The Allegheny County coroner ruled in September that Long, 45, had died of meningitis. The condition, a swelling of the lining of Long's brain, was caused by football-related "chronic traumatic encephalopathy," also known as "punch-drunk syndrome," said the coroner at the time, Dr. Cyril Wecht. But a revised death certificate, which Wecht's office never publicly announced, was filed Oct. 19, listing the manner of Long's death as suicide from drinking antifreeze. The ruling was changed when outside laboratory tests on Long's tissue and urine showed they contained ethylene glycol, the active ingredient in antifreeze, county officials said. The finding was first reported by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Thursday. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office, which was created to take over the coroner's duties earlier this month, confirmed the ruling to The Associated Press on Thursday. Wecht originally ruled, and it was reported, that what turned out to be a suicide was an accidental death caused by football injuries. There is a significant difference between an accidental death and a suicide, my friend. And the more significant item is that Dr. Wecht, who has long decried the cover-up in the Kennedy case, failed to report his own error! The whole point is that pathologists, like all the rest of us, can make mistakes. Edited January 28, 2006 by Tim Gratz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 I understand that former Attorney General of the USA and ex-Governor of the State of Pennsylvania Dick Thornberg will be Wecht's attorney of record. Thornberg is reported to have said that there may be some administrative mistakes made, but they should have been taken care of with a formal forensic audit, and not the targeted prosecution that is taking place. The prosecutors want to make every disputed phone call a "charge" so each would be a separate "count" in the indictment. They are trying to stick it to him. BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 (edited) Bill, you can get it "straight from the horse's mouth" here: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0602/06/lkl.01.html (Transcript of February 6, 2006 transcript of Larry King interview with Dr. Wecht.) Edited February 10, 2006 by Tim Gratz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 While not everyone is in a position to help out on this count, there are a few reseachers out there who Cyril has helped out over the years who might be able to send him a check. Here's a note from John Judge and Cyril about this issue. Also note that while the JFK assasination and other controversial cases are not a part of the indictment, Cyril's JFK papers and computer files were confiscated by the FBI. - BK Cyril Wecht, the founding chairman of COPA has always been there for us, he needs your support now that he is clearly under attack - John Judge Dear JFK Assassination Researcher, By now, I'm certain you are aware of the serious legal problems with which I have been confronted in recent weeks. It is not possible to discuss this matter in any detail within the context of this letter, but I will simply state that my attorneys -- who include former U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and J. Alan Johnson, former U.S. Attorney for Western Pennsylvania -- strongly believe the charges against me are unjustified. All of them agree that this vindictive inquisition is completely indefensible and that ultimately, I will prevail. Unfortunately, the legal defense that I must mount all the way through a prolonged trial will be astronomically expensive. But I have no choice. My entire life is literally at stake -- personally, professionally and financially. And most important, the incredible emotionally traumatic impact this investigation has had on my wife, children and grandchildren must be reversed. Your financial assistance in this critical matter would be deeply appreciated and, together with similar contributions from other key individuals, might even prove life-saving. Should you find yourself in a financial position to contribute to this cause, please direct it to the "Wecht Legal Defense Fund" at 1119 Penn Ave., Suite 404, Pittsburgh PA, 15222. Thank you for your consideration of this fervent plea. With kind regards, Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., J.D. p.s. There is no particular reason to believe that my four decade-long search for the truth in the assassination of John F. Kennedy is the "cause" of this prosecution, but neither is there reason to believe that resistance to that work is not one of the government's motivating factors. It is of note, for instance, that the F.B.I. has seized all of my JFK assassination files and correspondence, even though none of the allegations against me have been related in any way to that case. Ben Wecht Manager, Program Development and Communication The Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law Duquesne University School of Law Edward J. Hanley Hall 600 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15282 P: (412) 396-1049 F: (412) 396-1331 E: wechtben@duq.edu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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