Caseworkers' documents altered in Tatar case, report says

Caseworkers' documents altered in Tatar case, report says
By Renatta Signorini

TRIBUNE-REVIEW NEWS SERVICE

Saturday, September 13, 2008


A sworn statement from a caseworker and an expert's report that caseworkers' documents were altered were accepted into evidence Friday during an appeal hearing for an Armstrong County man serving a life sentence for the starvation death of his daughter.

Jeffrey Miller, the attorney for James Tatar, 46, of Parks Township, had asked that Judge Kenneth Valasek provide him with resources to bring the forensic document examiner, Albert H. Lyter, from North Carolina to testify. Miller also asked for a detective's help to find Pamela Walmsley, a caseworker who worked with 4-year-old Kristen Tatar and her parents before the girl's death in 2003.

Valasek instead permitted the statement and report be part of the record of an appeal hearing in which Tatar is seeking a new trial.

see full story: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleyindependent/teenscene/s_588017.html