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.]