Florida lawmaker says he will consider impeaching Schiavo Judge Greer

Thats what the outcome will be I'm sure of it.

The online petition to impeach Judge Greer mentioned on Rush Limbaugh's show today is as follows:

http://www.petitiononline.com/ijg520/petition.html

I'm just stating the facts as I see them.

May I respectfully suggest that you review the facts in a little greater detail? Greer has violated so many provisions of due process it's hard to know where to begin.

Exactly. Judge Greer denied Terri due process. Even if the impeachment does not succeed, it will serve as a warning the corrupt judges that they are not yet absolute rulers.

"If we start impeaching these judges they might learn that they actually DO have something to fear."

Agreed!

Look hardly any brain activity with this guy. Lets pull the artificial means of feeding him, the spoon and the glass. Lets lock him up in a room with armed guards and starve him and let him terminally dehydrate. Its such a wonderful thing. Such beauty. He can join his wife!

Michael Schiavo:

The online petition to impeach Judge Greer has a complete listing of all the reasons he should be impeached. (The link to sign the petition is at #102):

To: Florida House of Representatives
Whereas the Florida Constitution Article III Section 17 provides for the impeachment of judges for misdemeanor in office, misdemeanor being defined as a misdeed or offense less than a felony.

Whereas Judge George W. Greer is a judge in the 6th circuit court of Florida and bound to rule in agreement with Florida Statutes and the Judicial Code of Ethics,

The undersigned are petitioning Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd and the Florida House of Representatives to impeach Judge George W. Greer pursuant to the provisions in the Florida Constitution for the following violations of Statutes and Judicial Canons, which prove justification for impeachment.

Judge George W. Greer has caused public confidence in the judiciary to deteriorate due to his rulings regarding Terri Schiavo and thus violated Judicial Canon 1.

Judge George W. Greer has made rulings, which advance the private interests of Michael Schiavo, George Felos, and Senate President Jim King by allowing the statutes, which apply, to persons with terminal illness to order the death of Terri Schiavo by dehydration and starvation at the request of Michael Schiavo and thus is in violation of Judicial Canon 2B.

Judge George W. Greer has not ruled according to law in the case of whether to remove Terri Schiavo’s tube by which she receives nutrition and hydration. The rulings, which are inconsistent with Florida Statutes and Constitution, are:

1. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri’s guardian even though he should be removed as Terri’s guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(2 ) for failure to discharge his duties as guardian. The statute requires that the guardian protect the rights of the ward, provide for her health and safety, properly manage her financial resources and help her regain her abilities to the maximum extent possible.

2. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri’s guardian even though he should be removed as Terri’s guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(3) for abuse of his powers as evidenced by his denying her any significant sensory stimulation and his efforts to have her life ended.

3. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri’s guardian even though he should be removed as Terri’s guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(7) for wasting, embezzlement, or other mismanagement of the ward's property, one example is Michael’s statement on national television that he had Terri’s wedding rings melted down and made into jewelry for himself.

4. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri’s guardian even though he should be removed as Terri’s guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(11) because of a conflict of interest between the ward and the guardian due to Michael Schiavo living with and fathering children with another woman.

5. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri’s guardian even though he should be removed as Terri’s guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(13) for failure to comply with the guardianship report.

6. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri’s guardian even though he should be removed as Terri’s guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(14) for failure to file annual guardianship reports in a timely manner.

7. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri’s guardian even though he should be removed as Terri’s guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(16) for improperly managing the ward’s assets by using Terri’s money which was awarded by a court to be used for her rehabilitation but at the authorization of Judge Greer is being used to pay legal fees in an effort to end Terri’s life.

8. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri’s guardian even though he should be removed as Terri’s guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(17) because there has been a significant change in Terri’s assets due to the actions of her guardian. Terri’s assets have likely increased since her accident and Michael Schiavo is denying Terri the benefit of any assets accrued after the malpractice award which would be equally hers as Michael’s legal spouse.

9. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri’s guardian even though he should be removed as Terri’s guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(18) because Michael’s adulterous relationship (which is a misdemeanor under Florida law) with another woman ought to disqualify Michael as a suitable guardian for Terri as the interest which Michael said (in malpractice trial court proceedings) he had toward Terri is directed to another woman who is not his wife and has two children by said other woman of whom he is the father.

10. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri’s guardian and has aided Michael in abusing, neglecting, and exploiting Terri, a vulnerable adult, by appropriating funds that were awarded for her rehabilitation to pay legal fees, and has aided in exploiting Terri by denying the money to be used for her benefit. Both these infractions were committed with the
knowledge that Terri lacked the capacity to consent and explained in detail in Florida Statute 415.102.

11. Judge Greer’s rulings to date have deprived Terri Schiavo of her constitutional right to enjoy and defend life and liberty, to pursue happiness, to be rewarded for industry, and to acquire, possess and protect property which are detailed in Section 2 of the Florida Constitution by ordering her life to be ended by denying her hydration and nutrition.

12. Judge Greer has deprived Terri of her constitutional religious rights by allowing Michael Schiavo to prevent Monsignor Malonowski from visiting Terri, by allowing Michael to prevent Monsignor Malinowski from administering last rites when her feeding tube was removed in October 2003, and by allowing Michael to prevent Terri’s blood relatives from placing pictures of religious figures in her room.

13. Judge Greer has allowed Terri’s constitutional right to privacy to be violated by Michael Schiavo by not restricting his comments during interviews on national television.

14. Judge Greer has denied Terri the right under 744.3215C(a) To have an annual review of the guardianship report and plan.

15. Judge Greer has denied Terri the right under 744.3215(b) (b) to have continuing review of the need for restriction of her rights.

16. Judge Greer has denied Terri the right to be restored to capacity, FL statute 744.3215C.

17. Judge Greer has denied Terri the right under 744.3215(d) (d) to be treated humanely, with dignity and respect, and to be protected against abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

18. Judge Greer has denied Terri the right under 744.3215(e) to have a qualified guardian.

19. Judge Greer has denied Terri the right under 744.3215(f) to remain as independent as possible, including having her preference as to place and standard of living honored, either as she expressed or demonstrated her preference prior to the determination of his or her incapacity or as she currently expresses her preference, insofar as such request is reasonable.

20. Judge Greer has denied Terri the right under 744.3215 (g) to be properly educated. She is not receiving any rehabilitative therapy.

21. Judge Greer has denied Terri the right under 744.3215 (h) to receive prudent financial management for her property and to be informed how her property is being managed. Michael Schiavo stated on national television that he melted Terri’s wedding rings down and had them made into jewelry for himself.

22. Judge Greer has denied Terri the right under 744.3215 (i) to receive necessary services and rehabilitation. Judge Greer has allowed Michael to deprive Terri of the same. She did not have a working wheelchair for an extended and unnecessarily long period of time.

23. Judge Greer has denied Terri the right under 744.3215 (k) to have access to the courts. Judge Greer has relied upon the testimony of others related to Michael Schiavo as to Terri’s condition yet ignored the testimony of her blood relatives which was contradictory to information provided by Michael and his family.

24. Judge Greer has denied Terri the right under 744.3215(l) to counsel.

25. Judge Greer has denied Terri the right under 744.3215(m) to receive visitors and communicate with others.

26. Judge Greer has allowed violation of 744.3215(a) by allowing Terri to be moved to different facilities without prior approval of the court.

27. Judge Greer has allowed violation of 744.3215(b) not requiring Michael to have follow up examinations of electrodes, which were implanted in Terri’s brain. These implants should have been removed years ago, as they are a source for both infection and hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus may cause pressure that could suppress cognitive function and be responsible for much of Terri’s condition. If so, there could be a vast improvement in her condition if a shunt were placed. Hydrocephalus could also cause pressure that would flatten the brain and show fluid filled areas on a brain scan.

28. Judge Greer has allowed Michael to violate a court order stating that he is to keep Terri’s family advised of her medical condition.

29. Judge Greer has ignored Terri’s right under 765.102(5)(a) to palliative care which addresses physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and existential needs of patients.

30. Judge Greer has not required Michael Schiavo to implement a plan which would provide for Terri’s needs under 765.102(5)(a).

31. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to neglect Guardianship Education, which is a requirement under Florida law.

32. Judge Greer relied on Dr. Ronald Cranford’s definition of PVS (Persistent Vegetative State) instead of the legal definition contained in the Florida Statutes. There were several doctors who gave reports that Terri is not PVS but Greer decided not to use the Florida Statute’s definition.

33. Judge Greer has failed to be impartial and has ignored testimony and evidence presented by Counsel for Terri’s natural family and has consistently ruled in agreement with Counsel for Michael Schiavo.

34. Judge Greer has allowed Michael to continue denying visitation to Terri’s family even though a police investigation found that they were not responsible for marks found on her arm.

35. Judge Greer in his February 11, 2000 Order, committed malpractice by
misdiagnosing Terri as being an unconscious and unaware person and then ordered the Guardian of the Ward to commit a 1st Degree Felony Crime by removing Terri's feeding tube and denying her constitutional and legal right to be protected and not feloniously victimized by being caused to die.

35. Judge Greer authorized the euthanization of Terri Schiavo by authorizing the removal of her feeding tube when she does not fit the definition of PVS under Florida statutes. Euthanasia is illegal in Florida.

36. Judge Greer has violated the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. Sections 12101 provides that necessary and appropriate rehabilitation services and physical/motor skill therapy may not be denied a substantially disabled patient in the United States of America.

37. Judge Greer has violated the ADA Cf 28 CFR, Ch 1, Subpart B, Sect 35.130 States "Nothing in the Act or this part authorizes the representative or guardian of an individual with a disability to decline food, water, medical treatment, or medical services for that individual."

38. Judge Greer has violated FS 38.10 four times by not disqualifying himself from the case when it was requested. The statute states whenever a party to any action or proceeding makes and files an affidavit stating fear that he or she will not receive a fair trial in the court where the suit is pending on account of the prejudice of the judge of that court against the applicant or in favor of the adverse party, the judge shall proceed no further, but another judge shall be designated in the manner prescribed by the laws of this state for the substitution of judges for the trial of causes in which the presiding judge is disqualified.

The rulings and actions listed above are in violation of Judicial Canon 3B(2)

Judge Greer has violated Judicial Canon 3B(4) as seen in a video clip of a court proceeding where Judge Greer was visibly impatient and angry during court proceedings. The video can be viewed at this url. http://real.scripps.com:8480/ramgen/tampalive/news/2003/11/1105schiavo.rm

Judge Greer should be investigating whether any life insurance policies have been purchased or other investments made with funds intended for Terri, which would cause Michael Schiavo to profit from her death.

Judge Greer serves on the Committee for Guardianship Monitoring but is, in fact, violating the intentions and guidelines established by the Committee. Information concerning the Committee for Guardianship Monitoring may be found at this url http://www.flcourts.org/osca/divisions/Guardian/guardianshipmonitoring.pdf

1. Judge Greer has neglected the mission of guardianship monitoring in Terri’s case.The mission of guardianship monitoring is to collect, provide, and evaluate information about the well-being and property of all persons adjudicated of having a legal incapacity so that the court can fulfill its legal obligation to protect and preserve the interests of the ward, and thereby promote confidence in the judicial process.

2. Page 5 of the document contains “Thus, the court must be proactive to discover and respond to disputes and issues.” Judge Greer has intentionally ignored disputed issues in Terri’s case and not made any ruling to correct them.

3. On page 6 of the document is this statement “An ideal guardianship monitoring program encompasses four major service areas: (1) initial and on-going screening and reviewing of guardians; (2) reporting on the well-being of the ward; (3) reporting on the protection of the ward’s assets; and (4) case administration.” Judge Greer’s flagrant oversight of Michael Shiavo’s violations of the statutes pertaining to guardians is certainly no example for any monitoring program.

4. It is unclear whether Judge Greer has required Michael Schiavo to meet all the requirements of a guardian (listed on page 6 of the document). “A family member guardian is required to hire an attorney, provide detailed personal information, undergo a credit check, post a fiduciary’s bond, attend an 8-hour training course, and file detailed initial and annual personal and financial reports.”

5. Pinellas County employees a full time monitoring staff, which reviews cases to make sure guardianship plans are being filed and followed. It would not have been possible for them to give approval of the plan for Terri since the guardianship plans have not been an important issue with Judge Greer evidenced by his granting Michael extensions to file the plan. Judge Greer is deliberately undermining the guardianship monitoring program which was established to make sure that all wards receive the protection they are entitled to by the law.

6. Judge Greer did not adhere to the monitoring guidelines which state that “in cases where it appears there is substantial likelihood for serious irreparable harm (similar to the injunctive relief standard), immediate action steps by the court should include but not be limited to: Filing an abuse, neglect, or exploitation complaint with the Department of Children and Families, as required by statute, referral to local law enforcement agencies or the state attorney and, conducting immediate hearings among several other possible actions. Terri is at risk of irreparable harm as long as Michael is her guardian. He didn’t want to treat her for an infection, has not had preventive health care examinations for her and stated on national television that he would do whatever it takes to have her feeding tube removed. Michael also stated during the same interview that Terri's teeth were fine but recently she is missing several teeth.

Judge Greer’s rulings ought to be thrown out due to all these violations and the Supreme Court ruling on May 18, 2004 that states may be liable for money damages for denying disabled persons access to the court.

Terri’s feeding tube can only be removed “if” she is PVS and Judge Greer’s ruling is based on a definition not contained in the Florida Statutes. This is an outrageous liberty which Judge Greer has taken and combined with the other violations of statutes there is no question that he should be removed from his duties immediately.

We urge Florida Speaker of the House Johnnie Byrd and the Florida House of Representatives to begin immediate impeachment proceedings against Judge George W. Greer of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Florida for the violations contained in this petition.

Bump!

If you think judge Greer is clean or even the judge before him I suggest you read this report about their actions in this case.www.theempirejournal.com titled Schiavo Case Tangled Web Of Deception,Corruption.The people who hold power in Pinellas county are corrupt and there's plenty of proof to put them in jail.

The world has a history of making bad laws and then reversing them later on. Don't lose sight of the fact that slavery was legal in America, Jews in Hitler's Germany were outlawed from society, Christians in Stalin's Russia were suppressed and murdered, all under the pretense that it was "lawful".

Certainly true, but none of the 'laws' being enforced here have anything remotely in common with Nazi Germany or Communist Russia. The original complaint here was that the objectors did not agree with Judge Greer's determinations of fact. They sided with the parents. While it is wholly understandable that reasonable people could take another side in almost any factual dispute, this got way beyond this very quickly. Ad hominem attacks on Judge Greer, on the appellate court judges on anyone who disagrees.

Because I believe Judge Greer reached the correct decision based on the evidence before him, I have been called a "bloodless zombie leftist" and an "arrogant p---y" for the 'crime' of agreeing with a judicial determination.

This is not the second coming of Nazi Germany, this is a decision based upon evidence with which the most absolutist of the pro-lifers here disagree. And let's not forget here that some of the appellate judges fully concurred with Terri Schiavo's lawyers and excoriated the judges who dismissed the appeals.

Feeding her as an "experimental proceedure"??

I see you got that. Clever, huh? Declare eating to be an unwarranted "experimental procedure" and issue a court order prohibiting it.

This crap is straight out of the Josef Mengele medical procedures book.

I didn't see it in the petition list, so I'll add this one from Cheryl Ford's site: Florida Statute 798.01 Prohibiting Cohabitation under Adultery

It's an "antiquated" law. But it's still on the books and codifies the moral objection to a guy like Schiavo being the "guardian" of someone who can't object when he has obviously left her behind and has no factual relationship to her but only a legal relationship.

Conviction under this statute would be grounds for divorce. If she had a true guardian of her interests, that is precisely what would have happened.

BTW, seen any of the cops in P.P. enforcing any of these existing statutes on Mikey? You know, the cops who are hell bent on enforcing the legally questionable court orders?

I haven't either.

He has to have someone read to him. How do we know that in that case he hears everything on each side?

I thought the same thing.

He may be able to read, but with great difficulty. My grandfather was legally blind, he could play cards and read the paper with huge glasses and a magnifying glass - but it was slow and arduous.

That is so stupid. Being blind should not be a consideration in whether someone can do a job, even if things have to read to them. I have a cousin who is legaly blind. She attended college and received several degrees. She sews, keeps house, cooks, raised a daughter, and works for the IRS. She travels for the IRS and conducts classes, also reviews returns. Her husband has never once said she can't do something because she is blind and of course that helps. Her parents wanted to keep her at home and "protect" her. Her sisters rescued her from that, thank the Lord. Her 95 year old Mother is in an asited living apartment and she comes home for the weekend once a month to help her Mother, she and her two remaining sister and a brother and his wife all do the same, so someone is there every week end.

"Will consider"???

He has accepted campaign money from Schiavo's lawyer while the trial was going on. This could be seen as a conflict of interest. Also the judge is affiliated with the ACLU which was with Schiavo in the beginning to get custody of Terri.

"Certainly true, but none of the 'laws' being enforced here have anything remotely in common with Nazi Germany or Communist Russia."

Nothing could be further from the truth, and it's appalling that somebody with the name "Winstonchurchill" could put forth such a false notion. The REAL Winston Churchill was an accomplished historian, and he knew full-well of the Nazi operation that sent tens of thousands of mentally and physically handicapped citizens to "special" hospitals, where they were 'treated' by being sterilized or KILLED, just as Ghoul Greer is doing to Terri Schiavo.

During 1935-1938 the mentally and physically disabled in Nazi Germany were being systematically sterilized or killed, by the tens of thousands, to foster Hitler's 'perfect race'. The ultimate goal, as Hitler expressed in his writings, was to exterminate all of them, including those suffering with physical disabilities like multiple schlerosis or polio; and those with mental handicaps such as schizophrenics, and even people with alcoholism and repeat criminals.

HILTER'S PROPAGANDA MACHINE MARGINALIZED PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OR DEFECTS TO FOSTER A NATIONAL CONSENSUS THAT THEY WERE USELESS TO SOCIETY, AND HENCE COULD EVENTUALLY BE "LEGALLY" KILLED BY GOVERNMENT. .

Here are some relevent excerpts from an article in the "Journal Of Special Education", (Fall, 2002). Please pay particular attention paragraph 3, (the last one).

"To this point, while Nazi law had become increasingly segregationist and isolationist for people with disabilities, it had not yet sanctioned murder, even though it is clear that as early as 1935 Hitler voiced thoughts that he would use the cover of war to murder psychiatric patients in fulfillment of a long-held belief that he had articulated in Mein Kampf (Yahil, 1987). However, Hitler understood that state-sanctioned homicide would depend on other factors to severely curb public outrage until war became reality. The war, Hitler reasoned, would provide both a distraction and an excuse for officially killing those deemed undesirable. One such factor was the use of propaganda to convince the public of the desirability of some lives over others.

Marker 4: Disability Propagandized as Life Unworthy of Living

By 1938 the tide of public and official benevolence toward people with disabilities had begun to turn. The public mind now characterized people with disabilities as a separate, different, often criminalized group of less economic value than their counterparts without disabilities. German literature and art soon depicted lives unworthy of living in a host of propagandistic projects (Lifton, 1986; Michalczyk, 1994). For example, two 1935 silent documentaries produced largely for distribution among Nazi Party functionaries and sympathizers depicted persons with severe physical and intellectual disabilities in staged scenes to show them to their greatest disadvantage (Burleigh, 1994; Lifton, 1986). Other films were produced for wider audiences. A 1935 propaganda sound film, Das Erbe (The Inheritance), depicted, in a pseudoscientific format, the medical, social, and economic consequences of hereditary disabilities. Other films soon followed. The 1937 film Opfer der Vergangenheit (The Victim of the Past) went much further, comparing healthy, ideal German citizens with institutionalized people with severe disabilities and adding that Jewish mental patients were creations in violation of natural law. The film proposed the solution of compulsory sterilization.

Propaganda was not limited to film, however, but also appeared in German literature. An exemplar of this work is the novel Sendung und Gewissen (Mission and Conscience), which was turned into a very popular film, Ich Klage an! (I Accuse!). In the story, a beautiful young woman suffering from multiple sclerosis decides that her life is no longer worth living and requests a "merciful death" at the hand of her husband, a physician. In the film's death scene climax, he administers the fatal injection to his wife, who dies peacefully to the strains of soothing piano music played by a friend in the next room. At his trial, the doctor heroically refuses to allow his colleagues to invent an alibi for the murder and challenges the court by asking, "Would you, if you were a cripple, want to vegetate forever?" Predictably, the court acquits the physician because his actions were merciful, not murderous, a notion reinforced in the closing scenes, where the words of the Renaissance physician Paracelsus are recalled, that "medicine is love" (Proctor, 1988).

I am amazed that this has happened. There has got to be some accountability of judges. Melton has publicly stated that guardianship accounts are milked for what they're worth(not exact quote but that's the main jist). Just the fact that it's being looked at is a major advancement imo.

It would be a waste of time and taxpayers' money since Greer has technically done nothing illegal…

That's the nut of the farce. The courts have done nothing technically illegal, but very wrong. They, and this judge, could have also done nothing technically illegal, but right.

Can you impeach a judge in Florida for being an incredibly bad judge but technically legal?