Carpenter admitted he was going to cause Stephanie compounding emotional problems, but Ms. Frederick could deal with these through the mental health facilities, or place her in a Restricted Care Facility. Judge Carpenter felt Stephanie's happiness living with her father would only be short term, and he had to look at long term which could only be accomplished through mental health care treatment and mental institutions that the mother was willing to provide.
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It wasn't until after my mother passed away on July 27th, that Ms. Mears attempted to make any contact with me. On July 28th, Ms. Mears called my sister to ask what my opinion might be on Stephanie attending her grandmother's funeral. It wasn't until two weeks after I filed my appeal to Superior Court on August 9th, that Mears sent a letter advising me of my court ordered right to see my daughter for an hour a week.
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On July 28th, I again approached Christa Miloro and asked when I could expect to have the transcripts of my hearing. Using the same excuse as before, she said they were not started since she was still was working on the homicide case transcript. At this point, I told her I would need them for an appeal to Superior Court.
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On August 7th, I received a letter from CYS telling me that Karalyn Smeltzer was the new case worker assigned to Stephanie's case. I was told later that Shannon Kelly quit CYS.
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As indicated, I filed an appeal to Superior Court on August 9th, and sent a request for transcripts to Christa Miloro and Sally Zeek.
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On August 18th, I received a telephone call from Christa Miloro advising me that she had only completed a partial transcript of the April 6th hearing. She also informed me that she resigned her position with Judge Carpenter's office this day. The production of my transcripts would be assigned to a new girl, she said. To receive the partial transcript I was told to send Sally Zeek $12.90 and she would see that I got the transcript.
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On or about September 4th, I received Christa Miloro's partial transcript and perused through Dr. Eugene Polmueller's testimony. Within a few minutes, I discovered that Dr. Polmueller's answer admitting that Stephanie's emotional symptoms were indicative of being emotionally abused was modified to appear as a statement by me, and not my question to which Polmueller answered, yes. As I read back and forth through the transcript I found other major material errors in Polmueller's testimony. I also found Judge Carpenter's statement about seeing the system hasn't treated me fairly was deleted. From my recollection of the hearing, I rated this particular transcript to be about 85% accurate.
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Given my findings, I called Sally Zeek to inform her of the errors and there will need to be transcript corrections. Ms. Zeek asked, what kind of errors? I told her, material and factual errors. Ms. Zeek said, she doesn't know what can be done about it because that transcript was Christa Miloro's work and she quit. Passing that off, Ms. Zeek asked me, if I would like each transcript as they are completed or all at once when done? I told her, I would take them when they are all done.
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As the September 24th deadline approached to have my case record transmitted to Superior Court, I went to the courthouse and asked Sally Zeek if we were going to make the 24th deadline. Ms. Zeek said, I don't think so, I am busy. My dad just died, and we're not going to make that deadline. Ms. Zeek flippantly said, she really never received an order to do the transcripts, other than the letter I sent them. I told Ms. Zeek, that a transcript of my case from last February 1999, had been altered and now the first forty pages that Christa Miloro just did has been changed. Ms. Zeek asked if any of hers were messed with? I told her, I would have to review them again. I asked Ms. Zeek, if it wasn't procedural to notify me before transcripts are filed with the prothonotary? And isn't there a five day period to determine their accuracy in case they need corrected? She answered, we don't do that in civil cases. Ms. Zeek told me, if I would pencil mark the transcript errors, she would be glad to check out the mistakes with the hearing audio tapes. I agreed and indicated I would do that. As I was leaving, Ms. Zeek said, she would contact me when the transcripts are docketed.
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Since it was my understanding that the Superior Court only excepts valid excuses for a record being delinquent, I believed Ms. Zeek's excuse could not meet the parameters of validity. On or about October 17th, Judge Carpenter notified Superior Court that he had not been fully staffed with court reporters since around August 17th. Given that, he reasoned my hearing transcripts were a long term typing project that would have to be prioritized according to the court reporters' work load.
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On or about December 18th, I sent a letter to Sally Zeek pleading for her to produce my hearing transcript of April 20th. I was concerned for the time span that I haven't seen my daughter and suggested if I could have that particular transcript I would contact the United States Justice Department for help. On December 19th, I received a telephone call from Sally Zeek telling me the transcript I requested was recently completed by Brenda Prosser, Christa Miloro's replacement. She said I may pick it up along with the second half of the April 6th hearing the next day.
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On December 20th, my brother and I went to the courthouse and gave Brenda Prosser the $86.10 for the two transcripts. I asked Ms. Prosser, if Judge Carpenter ever had that transcript in his possession. She said no, I kept that transcript locked up in my file cabinet at all times. It never left my possession until I filed it in the prothonotary's office, she said. When we left her office, we stopped in the stairwell and paged directly to Shannon Kelly's testimony in cross-examination. In brief, new dialog now appeared in the record with Ms. Kelly confirming that Stephanie was examined by Dr. Hanlon. New dialogue now has me asking Ms. Kelly how long it had taken Dr. Hanlon to examine Steph. New dialogue has been added with Ms. Kelly denying that Stephanie needed to be placed in protective custody. Removed from the transcript was Ms. Kelly recommending foster care for Stephanie. When we returned home, further review of the testimony found the transcript to include new and expanded cross-examination of Ms. Kelly by Attorney Mears. Reading this part of the transcript enlightened us as to why it was staged to appear Ms. Frederick entered into exhibit on April 20th, a letter by Dr. Hanlon explaining her examination of Stephanie on April 10th.
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I also discovered that where Eileen Delozier had admitted a knife was involved the night Stephanie was removed from the marital residence, was deleted. Testimony of Eugene Frederick was also altered. Where he had said he didn't see or know much about the bathtub beating of Stephanie on April 9th, was deleted. From my recollection of the April 20th hearing, I would rate the transcript to be about 65% accurate.
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Within minutes after returning home I telephoned Judge Carpenter's office and asked to speak with Brenda Prosser or Sally Zeek. I was put in touch with Ms. Zeek and I told her I had just picked up the transcripts from Ms. Prosser and I found numerous material errors in the transcription (big time errors). Ms. Zeek gave me the impression she was concerned with my discovery. I asked Ms. Zeek what it will take to disclose the audio tapes of the hearing, a court order? She told me to hang on the telephone and she would see what can be done. A few minutes later, Judge Carpenter's secretary broke in and asked if I could wait a few more minutes. When Ms. Zeek took the phone again I detected a new attitude and demeanor. All of the sudden, she had no idea what could be done about the alleged transcript errors. It was now her opinion that the transcripts were accurately transcribed from the audio tapes and there was no way the audio tapes can be disclosed. Never, ever, heard of anything like this, she said. She told me that, if I believe there are errors I should file something with the court. I said, do you mean a petition to disclose the hearing tapes? "No, no," she answered, that can't be done, you can't hear the tapes. I told Ms. Zeek that maybe we can make some special exception in this case. I hung up telling her that I would file something.
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On December 21, 2000, I wrote a letter to the Blair County Prothonotary's office, requesting that my case file record not be transmitted to Superior Court until the hearing transcripts be corrected pursuant to the rules of appellate procedure.
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On December 29th, my dad went to the courthouse and talked with Sally Zeek. She told my dad that, she feels bad about the transcript errors, but has no idea how they could be tampered with. She said, she works for Judge
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continued on Page Eleven
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