Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 13, 1994 TAG: 9405130122
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The tests on tissue samples preserved at a Charlottesville hospital could prove or disprove the identity of Anna A. Manahan, who died here in 1984 and who was cremated without verifying her claim.
Richard Schweitzer of Great Falls, who filed the original lawsuit seeking access to the tissue last fall, said he hopes genetic testing can be done and the results released about June 17. That's the 93rd anniversary of the birth of Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II of Russia.
The New York-based association's suit against Martha Jefferson Hospital and Edward H. Deets Jr., a Charlottesville lawyer who is administrator of Manahan's estate, sought testing of the tissues at two laboratories to ensure scientific integrity.
Charlottesville Circuit Judge Jay Swett agreed Wednesday with hospital attorney Matthew Murray's contention that the tissues are ``none of (the association's) business.''
``I cannot find a legal theory under which this petitioner can exert a claim against Martha Jefferson Hospital,'' Swett said.
The hospital had agreed not to release the tissue while the matter was under litigation.
Lindsey Crawford argued that the association's goal is to verify the claims of people who say they are members of the Russian aristocracy.
``Even though the association does not believe Mrs. Manahan was Anastasia Romanov, we have proffered that with dual testing we will not fight the results if she is found to be Anastasia Romanov,'' she said.
After Wednesday's hearing in Charlottesville Circuit Court, lawyers on both sides discussed the testing. Crawford and Schweitzer said they hope the dual testing will be carried out.
They agreed to approach both Dr. Peter Gill of the British Forensic Science Service, who has a commission from Schweitzer and his wife to test the tissue, and Dr. Mary-Claire King, a University of California-Berkeley geneticist with whom the association has been in touch, to try to have dual tests performed.
Crawford wouldn't comment on possible appeals because she hasn't talked to her client, but she did say that Swett was ``very firm in his ruling.'' Murray said he would advise the hospital to release the tissue ``since their chances of winning on appeal are so negligible.''
Schweitzer filed the original suit on behalf of his wife, Marina Botkin Schweitzer, granddaughter of the czar's doctor. She said Manahan always said Dr. Eugene Botkin was with the czar's family when the other members of the family were assassinated in July 1918. Positive identification of Manahan as Anastasia would help with positive identification of Botkin's remains, Marina Schweitzer said.
The Schweitzers dropped their suit in February in light of the discovery of a German baron who said he was Manahan's executor. An executor has rights to medical records under Virginia law. Schweitzer requested the appointment of Deets to speed the process of gaining access to the tissue and in case the baron didn't qualify as executor.
by CNB