The man’s attorney said an expert determined that documents had been altered.

The man’s attorney said an expert determined that documents had been altered.

KITTANNING, Pa. (AP) — A man serving a life term in the 2003 starvation death of his daughter is appealing his conviction, alleging that some child welfare caseworkers’ documents were altered and others were destroyed.

James Tatar, 46, was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of 4-year-old Kristen Tatar, whose 111‚Ñ2-pound body was found stuffed into a picnic cooler put out for garbage collectors near her Armstrong County home in August 2003.

Tatar’s attorney, Jeffrey Miller, contends that a forensic document examiner determined that four documents from the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau, which had been working with Tatar’s parents, had been altered.

The documents, which were cited by a child abuse expert witness at trial, included one in which the examiner said a risk assessment level appeared to have been changed from low to moderate.

Armstrong County Judge Kenneth Valasek allowed the examiner’s report and other documents as evidence during an appeal hearing that concluded Friday. He must now decide whether a new trial is warranted.

Also admitted into evidence were documents unearthed for a civil lawsuit contending that Armstrong and Westmoreland county child welfare caseworkers violated the child’s civil rights.

In one, Penn State Cooperative Extension worker Pam Walmsley indicated that she was told by a supervisor “to make a bonfire and burn” documents in the case. Walmsley, who provided family services, said she took hundreds of pages of notes and reports of the family’s progress.

“And make sure that you sit down with a glass of wine and a box of Kleenex when you burn Kristen’s” records, Walmsley testified in a deposition detailing her supervisor’s instructions. “And get it out of your system and move on.”

A federal judge in December dismissed the civil suit filed by Kristen’s aunt, saying she could not prove that the government’s actions directly caused the girl’s death. The aunt has appealed the dismissal.

James Tatar, who has maintained his innocence, is also contending that his defense counsel at trial was ineffective. Janet Crawford, Kristen’s mother, was also convicted of first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence in her daughter’s death.