Posted on 03/26/2005 8:15:27 PM PST by FairOpinion
To: National Desk, State Desk
Contact: Dan Costanzo of the Thomas More Law Center, 734-827-2001
ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 24 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Former prosecutor of Jack Kevorkian, Richard Thompson, reaffirmed Thursday morning the authority of Florida Governor Jeb Bush to utilize state criminal laws to prevent the death of Terri Schiavo. Pointing to two legal memos prepared by the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which were delivered to Governor Bush in October of 2003, Thompson again urged Bush to launch a formal criminal investigation into the facts surrounding the disability of Schiavo.
Copies of the letters sent to Governor Bush can be viewed at http://www.thomasmore.org
The two letters dated October 15th and 16th point to the constitutional authority of Governor Bush to order the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate violations of criminal laws. The letters cite a number of facts suggesting Terri Schiavo is a victim of domestic abuse and neglect, and may be a victim of domestic violence. Furthermore, the letters point out that officials from the Florida Department of Children and Family Services have the authority to enter the premises where Schiavo is currently being held and remove her if they believe that medical care is necessary to avert a likely risk of death or serious injury.
The October 15 letter concludes that a growing number of facts establish probable cause to "conduct a full criminal investigation of the circumstances surrounding the disability of Ms. Schiavo. To date, the facts of this case have not yet been viewed through the lens of a criminal investigation. Shamefully, the government's investigatory resources have not been brought to bear on discovering the truth in this case."
Speaking Thursday, Thompson once again urged Governor Bush to launch a formal criminal investigation and remove Terri Schiavo from the custody of her current guardian. He further indicated that the consent of Schiavo's guardian is not necessary to obtain custody of Terri. Thompson also offered the assistance of attorneys from the Thomas More Law Center to assist the Governors staff if needed.
The two legal opinions were prepared and delivered to Governor Bush in October of 2003, after Schiavo's feeding tube was removed. Bush through his aides requested the legal counsel at the time, but instead chose to work with the Florida legislature to pass emergency legislation to prevent the death of Schiavo.
The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life through education, litigation, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization. You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at 734- 827-2001 or visit our website at http://www.thomasmore.org/
and breaking a court order wouldn't be illegal - ? maybe right, but still illegal - fodder for the dems, just what they're hoping he'll do
ACcipiter's first post - 25 March 2005 -
DU'er lurker egging on the bash Jeb crowd?
well, that'd be a moot point if he breaks the law - impeached governors are usually done for...
then you must be forgetting who the enemy leftists are in the country and how they operate.
Jeb breaks the law, rescues Terri, court order to arrest if he does goes into effect, he's arrested, Terri then slammed back to Hospice and the barbarism starts all over again -
that sound good to you?
We are talking about politics, not law. The question is: once the public is informed, will there be enough state legislator to impeach Jeb. Will people be more upset about the court order to block health and human services, or about the ruling which allowed a wayward husband to kill his helpless wife. The answer is highly unlikely.
what the dems are learning now is how easily people like most of the posters here will turn on our own - and they are going to run away with it - gleefully.
Giving aid and comfort to the enemy used be called treason -
H*ll, it IS treason.
ahh, what part of the USSC refused to even hear the case did you miss?
Very few Freepers argue that Michael, Felos, and Greer are the good guys. Those of us who have singled out Jeb have done so because as the executive in Florida, he bears ultimate responsibility. That's what executives are for. In this case, no matter how much he tried to do, he failed. No doubt, with all the action and risk he has taken, he would prefer Terri to live. However, at bottom, he wasn't willing to put everything at risk in the name of what he has stated is the right thing to do. If either you or I back down from our values, any fair observer has the right to challenge our integrity to those values. He has chosen the stage of being an elected official. Scrutiny is fair. No one can make a convincing case he has done everything within his power--because when push came to shove, he backed down in spite of what he believed was right. He isn't evil; however, he did fail.
Again, it is nice that he tried. Success is not relative, however, and the only definition of success in this case is the continued survival of Terri.
As conservatives look for their next leader, they have every right to consider not just where Jeb's heart is, but whether he has the fortitude to put everything at risk and communicate those inner values into outward action that gets the desired result. Jeb doesn't. He failed. Period.
The only word to describe the inaction is cowardice.
I will never vote for a Bush again. Neither brother has shown any spine. Weary lawyers are ill-advising them. An innocent, sick woman is dying of starvation and the Bushes are looking at the polling data. Starvation is so horrible we humans wouldn't do this kind of barbarism to an animal...still it's being done to Terri because lawyers "robbers of widows" want to open up the latest money-making cottage industry...Nazi-Hospice-Starvation-Death-Camps. Both brothers have been proven to be yellow in all this... this entire ordeal has sickened the American people beyond belief...
If Jeb can't face down a probate judge, how will he handle a real dictator with a real army?
Jeb, like Santorum backing Specter over Toomey, choked when he had a chance to do the right thing. They both have put political considerations ahead of principle. Both ruined their political futures, but it is best that they revealed themselves now for neither are presidential timber.
No, it is not.
When the Acting Governor spent several days at the Que Creek Mining Disaster where 9 lives were at risk, he was glorified throughout the media as a hero.
Wonder if Jeb even noticed?
Good post.
"Gilmore was sued for some of those things after trying to save Hugh Finn, and later, after Hugh was killed with dehdyration, Gilmore was exonerated. "
I don't know anything about that case -- could you elaborate, please?
Well, I have not heard about that case, but thanks to Google, I found out about what it was about.
But I don't know how Finn's condition really compared to Terri's. Also, in Terri's case, the parents were willing to assume full responsibility for Terri -- I don't know whehter the same was offered in Hugh Finn's case.
2000-03-04 - Virginia governor released from fine in right-to-die case
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled unanimously Friday that Gov. Jim Gilmore does not have to pay $13,000 in legal costs to a woman who fought the state to remove her brain-damaged husband's feeding tube. The decision reverses previous sanctions levied against Gilmore for his lawsuit to try to prevent Michele Finn from removing the tube from her husband, Hugh Finn. A county circuit judge had said Gilmore had no legitimate basis for intervening. Finn, a former television anchorman in Louisville, Ky., had been in a persistent vegetative state after a 1995 car accident. His wife wanted the tube removed, but other family members disagreed and asked the governor to intervene. Gilmore filed a lawsuit on Sept. 30, 1998, to try to prevent Michele Finn from having the feeding tube removed, but the state Supreme Court rejected his petition. Doctors removed Finn's tube in October 1998, and Finn died eight days later. The court said Friday it was reasonable at the time for Gilmore to believe that his lawsuit was legitimate. The justices also cited a Virginia law that gives the governor the "duty to protect and preserve the general welfare of the citizens of the Commonwealth," and said the governor should be given the
benefit of the doubt when exercising his duties. "I'm very pleased the court recognized the governor has a right, and even a duty, to protect those who can't protect themselves," Gilmore said. Michele Finn said she wasn't sure further appeals would do any good. "I am surprised and extremely disappointed," she said of the ruling. "It's scary that a government has unlimited resources to file a lawsuit and a private citizen has to respond with their own resources" and can't recoup expenses when the government loses. The $13,000 penalty that had been assessed against Gilmore is separate from $48,000 in legal expenses approved by the General Assembly for Michele Finn's legal expenses.
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