Delaware Doctor Convicted of Waterboarding Own Child - East Idaho News
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Delaware Doctor Convicted of Waterboarding Own Child

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GETTY 21414 Faucet?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1392372602315Natthawat Wongrat/Thinkstock(GEORGETOWN, Del.) — A Delaware doctor dedicated to helping heal sick children was found guilty of child endangerment Thursday for waterboarding his own daughter when she was as young as 9.

Pediatrician Melvin Morse, a best-selling author and frequent TV guest, was convicted on six of eight charges including third-degree assault, endangering the welfare of a child and first-degree reckless endangerment, a felony.

Morse, 60, could receive up to 10 years in prison when he’s sentenced in April.

A child advocate first learned of the waterboarding allegations after Morse was arrested in May 2012 for pulling his daughter out of a car, dragging her across a gravel driveway and spanking her in their Sussex County home.

Morse’s daughter claimed that four times between May 2009 and 2011, her father would hold her face under a running faucet, causing the water to go up her nose, as a form of discipline.

Waterboarding is an illegal practice that was popular with CIA interrogators shortly after the 9/11 attacks to get terrorist suspects to talk. It simulates the effect of drowning.

During the trial, Morse denied all the allegations, claiming that he was only trying to wash his daughter’s hair.

Morse is the author of two books on near-death experiences, Closer to the Light and Transformed by the Light. He appeared on Oprah and Larry King Live in 2010 to discuss his research on the psychological effects of being on the verge of death.

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