Judge in Life or Death Case Considered Conservative, Compassionate (Terri Schiavo Case)

AP | 10/25/03 | Vickie Chachere

[kattracks]

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (AP) - Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer has been called a murderer and equated with the Roman governor who condemned Jesus to death. He has been vilified in Internet chat rooms and has received death threats by e-mail.

Greer is the judge who granted Terri Schiavo's husband permission to remove her feeding tube in one of the longest and most contentious right-to-life battles. His decision was second-guessed and essentially overridden by the Florida Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush last week.

Following judicial code of conduct, Greer has been silent about the public debate over the Schiavo case and the criticism he has faced. He declined a request for an interview.

But those who know the 61-year-old probate judge say he is a prudent jurist who probably agonized over his decisions.

"He is such a good and decent man and to have this kind of rap being put on him right now is so unfair," said Mary Repper, a political strategist who has helped Greer's campaigns. "If ever this was to be put into the hands of someone who is going to be fair and do the right thing, George was the right person."

Through four years of hearings and legal wrangling, Greer considered Michael Schiavo's request to remove his severely brain-damaged wife's feeding tube against the wishes of her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler.

A heart attack in 1990 left Terri Schiavo, now 39, in a persistently vegetative state and court-appointed doctors believe there is no hope of recovery. Greer ruled Michael Schiavo showed "clear and convincing" evidence his wife did not want to be kept alive artificially and permitted him to end her nourishment.

The extraordinary reversal of his ruling by Bush and the Legislature will now become the central issue in a new legal fight over the separation of powers that will be waged to overturn what's now known as "Terri's Law."

While Greer has become a key figure in the international news event, few outside of Pinellas County know the man who friends describe as conservative, religious and particularly sensitive to protecting the disabled.

Greer is legally blind and cannot drive. While his condition doesn't hamper his abilities on the bench, colleagues and others said in interviews last week it gives him a perspective in dealing with the rights of the impaired few jurists have.

"He is so conscientious anyway, you put a case involving human life in front of him and it makes him even more careful," said Ed Armstrong, a Clearwater attorney who describes Greer as his mentor. "It's been an ordeal for him too."

Greer is a member of a conservative Baptist church which recently advocated keeping Terri Schiavo alive in a church newsletter. A moderate Republican, Greer served on the Pinellas County Commission for eight years before running unopposed for a circuit judgeship in 1992.

Repper and former Pinellas County Commissioner Charles Rainey said the fact that no one opposed the quiet, studious Greer speaks volumes for how well he is regarded in Pinellas County.

"He's doing what the law says to do. I am sure he struggles with himself, knowing George," Rainey said. "The man did everything he was asked to do as far as checking out the case, checking out the medical situation and he did it two or three times."

Greer is known for answering his own telephone in chambers and until recently being easily accessible to the press, characteristics that his friends say are holdovers from his days of being an elected official.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Greer graduated from Clearwater High School. He graduated from the University of Florida law school and was a successful zoning attorney in Clearwater when he was elected to the county commission in 1984. He been a judge since 1992 and is up for re-election next year.

Michael Schiavo first asked the probate court for permission to disconnect his wife's feeding tube in 1998, saying his wife had told him that she never wanted to be kept alive artificially. Her parents disagree. Two other judges handled the case before it was passed to Greer.

Greer turned down repeated requests from the Schindlers to order therapy for their daughter or to dismiss Michael Schiavo as her guardian. Just this week, Greer set a hearing in November, nearly a year after the Schindlers' last motion for a new guardian, to discuss that issue.

The Schindlers' attorneys attempted to have Greer removed from the case in recent weeks, saying he had improperly discussed the case with others. An appeals court decided Greer would stay.

The Schiavo case is not the only time Greer has been faced with the issue of removing a feeding tube from a vegetative patient. In 2000, the wife and grown children of St. Petersburg attorney Blair Clark faced off in Greer's courtroom after Clark collapsed from a heart attack.

Clark had a living will which said he did not want a feeding tube or respirator if he was determined to be in a permanent vegetative state. But his Chinese-born wife - who disputed her husband was vegetative and believed he could hear her - wanted to try acupuncture and medical techniques from her homeland.

Greer allowed an acupuncturist to administer a treatment session, and then granted Clark's children permission to withdraw their father's feeding tube. Clark's wife did not appeal the decision.

Clark died within days of the tube's removal.

"He was sympathetic and empathetic to the fact that we had somebody who in her culture believed in these alternative methods," said Doug Williamson, who represented the Clark children.

William Mayhew, who represented Clark's wife Ping, said he too believes Greer simply followed the law.

"Many judges would have figured out a way to dump (the Schiavo) case," said Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice, Greer's friend for more than 20 years. "But he stuck by it. He deserves a medal for enduring that alone."

[AbsoluteJustice]

OMG NO COULD IT BE!!!???

Could it be that this judge has been conservative all his life ?? Oh no it's a blow to all those so called lock step sheeples.

[tessalu]

Judge Greer is NO King Solomon. I wonder if the truth were known, if he would like to die in the manner that he perscribed for Terri Schiavo? I could never have any confidence in this man, for any reason!

[EternalVigilance]

Perhaps you could put in for sainthood for your beloved judge?

Apparently this elected politician has the spinmeisters ready to help in the campaign; and obviously there are folks in the press who will be glad to assist.

[EternalVigilance]

You gonna have a party if and when they succeed in killing her?

[Ethan_Allen]

"The only "expert" testimony afforded a fair hearing was from experts chosen by the husband - and that is NOT a fair hearing.

Also, from what I have read here, all of Terri's indications of consciousness and responsiveness have been by way of physical reaction. If the judge is incapable of seeing such responses, HE IS INCAPABLE OF RENDERING JUDGEMENT, AND OUGHT TO RECUSE HIMSELF FROM THIS CASE. His failure to do so manifests gross judicial misconduct, and ought to be grounds for impeachment and REMOVAL. "
___________________________________________________________

Theodore:
This just reminded me of another thing I ran across in my reading of the statutes! I'm posting exactly as I wrote it on my other page:

744.3725 Procedure for extraordinary authority.--Before the [KANGAROO] court may grant authority to a guardian to exercise any of the rights specified in s. 744.3215(4), THE [KANGAROO] COURT MUST:.......

(1) Appoint an independent attorney to act on the incapacitated person's behalf, and the attorney must have the opportunity to meet with the person and to present evidence and cross-examine witnesses at any hearing on the petition for authority to act;

(2) Receive as evidence independent medical, psychological, and social evaluations with respect to the incapacitated person by competent professionals or appoint its own experts to assist in the evaluations;

(3) PERSONALLY MEET WITH THE INCAPACITATED PERSON to obtain its own impression of the person's capacity, so as to afford the incapacitated person the full opportunity to express his or her personal views or desires with respect to the judicial proceeding and issue before the court; ******[OH MY GOSH!!! PAGE THE FREEPER WHO IS ALWAYS SAYING, 'JUDGE GREER, YOU SHOULD HAVE LOOKED INTO TERRI'S EYES AND ASKED HER IF SHE WANTED TO EAT'!!!!]

(4) Find by clear and convincing evidence that the person lacks the capacity to make a decision about the issue before the court and that the incapacitated person's capacity is not likely to change in the foreseeable future;

(5) Be persuaded by clear and convincing evidence that the authority being requested is in the best interests of the incapacitated person; and.....

__________________________________________________________

****AGAIN.

*****(3) PERSONALLY MEET WITH THE INCAPACITATED PERSON to obtain its own impression of the person's capacity, so as to afford the incapacitated person the full opportunity to express his or her personal views or desires with respect to the judicial proceeding and issue before the court; ******[OH MY GOSH!!! PAGE THE FREEPER WHO IS ALWAYS SAYING, 'JUDGE GREER, YOU SHOULD HAVE LOOKED INTO TERRI'S EYES AND ASKED HER IF SHE WANTED TO EAT'!!!!]

NOW I'M HEARING THE KANGAROO COURT IS LEGALLY BLIND!!?? CAN THIS CASE GET ANY MORE WEIRD???

[Ethan_Allen]

BUMP!

[First_Salute]

"the court just made a judgment that this woman's life is not worth living"

Yep; you probably have estimated well.

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

They didn't mention the bit about Greer's wife being on the board of Felos' hospice, I note.

You have got to be kidding!

Wow! The judge's wife is on the board of the hospice run by the lawyer who is trying to have one of the residents starved to death at the request of her husband has two children by his new girl friend...

Is it just me or does this sound like a made-for-TV movie?

[Graymatter]

YOUR HONOR:

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.


(Freepers, excuse the caps. He has poor vision.)

[isrul]

"Many judges would have figured out a way to dump (the Schiavo) case," said Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice, Greer's friend for more than 20 years. "But he stuck by it."

Just proves that he's a maniacal control freak who believes in his own divinity.

I read in his bio that he is a consummate politician.

That alone, is enough to damn, him IMHO.

[Theodore R.]

But those who know the 61-year-old probate judge say he is a prudent jurist who probably agonized over his decisions.

"He is such a good and decent man and to have this kind of rap being put on him right now is so unfair," said Mary Repper, a political strategist who has helped Greer's campaigns.

I can't buy Mary Repper's position. There is nothing decent that George W. Greer has done in this case.

I am unsurprised to finds that Greer, a native New Yorker, is a "moderate" Republican. I had suspected this, but we had been unable for all these weeks to confirm his party affiliation. This does explain his friendship with the Pinellas Co. Republican sheriff.

I am surprised that he is in a conservative Baptist Church. I wonder what his fellow believers think about him now? Could you in good conscience attend a church with this kind of "judge" there?

He is therefore a "Republican" that Lawton Chiles chose from "the other side" to put on the bench. I think that Greer could be power-hungry in an attempt to compensate for his lack of "vision." Remember how George Herbert Walker Bush used to downplay the "vision thing." Now we see that George W. Greer literally has "no vision" at all! And certainly he lacks sympathy for the disabled, the kind of people that George H.W. Bush tried to help by signing the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990, the year that poor Terri collapsed. He wouldn't even examine Terri before ordering her starvation. He must not follow the Baptist interpretation of Scripture.

Could Greer's "Republicanism" be a reason that Governor Bush seemed hesitant to challenge him earlier?

[Theodore R.]

"The man did everything he was asked to do as far as checking out the case, checking out the medical situation and he did it two or three times."

Isn't this another patent lie of the FL news media? He would not allow Terri to have feeding lessons, as long urged by the parents. This man is a fraud in my book.

[Theodore R.]

I have long said that this is a made-for-TV movie (4 hours on two nights, maybe 5 hours). However, this film would so discredit the euthanasia movement that CBS (the only network still doing made-for-TV movies) won't touch it. Of course, CBS could put out a film of lies, but the legacy of William S. Paley wouldn't permit that, would it?

[Theodore R.]

"It's been an ordeal for him too," said the lawyer Armstrong.

Now Lawyer Armstrong, I did not gather in the least that George W. Greer hesitated to have Terri starved and dehydrated. Where did you gather that he was reluctant? It seemed to me that he could not wait to have this outrage committed on his watch?

For all I know, I may have agreed with every previous decision that George W. Greer has made from his "bench." But his role in Terri's fight negates anything and everything he has or has not done in the past. If he is so wrong on this, I would wonder how he could have been such an excellent jurist otherwise????

[FR_addict]

If it is true that the judge's wife is on the board of the hospice run by the lawyer who is trying to have one of the residents starved to death at the request of her husband, then the Judge Greer should have excused himself.

This should be reason enough to get the judgement overturned.

[middie]

The FR self-righteous, boorish bunch of arrogant dunderheads who have the answers to all issues without the travail of knowing the facts or applicable law, and more importantly, don't care about the facts or law, are illustrative of the maxim saying that there is nothing so dangerous as stupidity exercised by a large group.

The Florida Legislature has become the collective poster child of that truism.

Every once in a while that governmental branch, and the Executive as well, needs to reminded of the separation of powers doctrine has has preserved our Nation and protected us from the tyranny that dilution of the doctrine would create.

The circuit judge presiding in probate did what the evidence and applicable law indicated. The Legislature, playing to the fanatical madding crowd, knowingly contravened the separation of powers principle and transgressed into the realm of the judiciary. The courts will have little difficulty setting the Florida constitutional balance back in the equilibrium necessary to sound government.

Get over it!

[Theodore R.]

If it is true that the judge's wife is on the board of the hospice run by the lawyer who is trying to have one of the residents starved to death at the request of her husband, then the Judge Greer should have excused himself.


I agree, and we need to get the media to understand this point. Thus far, the media sees this as elimination of a "vegetable" who has already "told" her husband to remove her feeding tube against the wishes of the "meddling" parents and siblings. Will the truth ever prevail? I remember Bob Dole in 1996 getting so frustrated because "truth" never seemed to be accepted in his campaign against Clinton.

[EternalVigilance]

The circuit judge presiding in probate did what the evidence and applicable law indicated. The Legislature, playing to the fanatical madding crowd, knowingly contravened the separation of powers principle and transgressed into the realm of the judiciary. The courts will have little difficulty setting the Florida constitutional balance back in the equilibrium necessary to sound government.

B.S.

The courts are only one branch of co-equals. They are not our masters.

[sweetliberty]

"He is such a good and decent man and to have this kind of rap being put on him right now is so unfair,"

A good and decent man doesn't help a man murder an inconvenient, disabled wife. If he really is a "good and decent" man, he is an idiot who has been duped by the self-serving grandstanding of an unscrupulous and delusional lawyer. In any event, it has become blatantly obvious that he is incapable of objectivity in this case and he should immediately recuse himself due to undeniable conflicts of interest.