Doctor was fighting ruling

By KATHERINE GAZELLA

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 15, 2000

TARPON SPRINGS -- At the time of his death Wednesday, former Tampa psychiatrist Louis J. Tsavaris was not only talking about clearing his name, he was pursuing it in court.

In July, an attorney filed a motion in Hillsborough Circuit Court seeking to have Tsavaris' 1981 manslaughter conviction overturned, alleging that, among other things, autopsy photographs were misinterpreted and some jurors committed misconduct.

Now, with Tsvaris' death in a bizarre accident, attorney John D. Middleton said he does not know what will happen to the case.

"I want his motion to go forward, but I don't know if I legally can," Middleton said Thursday.

Tsavaris, 70, died Wednesday when he was knocked down by his own car and pinned to the ground by a wheel axle. He suffered massive head injuries. No charges will be filed in the case, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper R.C. Espinola said.

Tsavaris was at the center of the 1975 slaying of 24-year-old Cassandra "Sally" Burton, a former patient and, according to prosecutors, Tsavaris' lover. Prosecutors said Tsavaris killed Burton by strangling her.

A jury convicted Tsavaris of second-degree manslaughter in 1981, and he served 21/2 years in prison. He always maintained his innocence, and he fought to have his name cleared and his psychiatry license restored.

Middleton's motion asserts that autopsy photographs show that Burton's body was moved after her death. The movement of her body could have caused damage to her throat similar to the damage the medical examiner attributed to strangulation, according to the motion.

The evidence also includes statements reportedly gathered from jurors, including one who said she did not think the prosecution proved its case against Tsavaris but voted to convict him partly because she thought the case would be overturned on appeal.

The motion also asserts that Dr. John Feegel, then Hillsborough County's medical examiner, perjured himself during the trial.

Feegel could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

Tsavaris died after stopping his 1988 Volvo at a construction site to visit his cousin.

He had stepped in front of the car, but had left it in drive instead of shifting it into park. Espinola estimated the car was traveling about 2 mph at the time of impact. A nearby construction worker raced to the car, put it in park and turned off the ignition while Louis Tsavaris' wife, Irene, sat in the passenger seat.

Firefighters arrived shortly afterward and lifted the car off Tsavaris with a backhoe. Tsavaris was pronounced dead at Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital on Wednesday evening.

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