Eagles up. Contact judiciary commitee and demand justice be done for Terri and for us.

self | 3/31/05

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Do you want to make a change and see some justice? Congressman Tom DeLay said the House Judiciary Committee will be investigating Terri's case and making recommendations to the full house about any reforms that they believe are necessary in this debacle over Terri's life and death.

This thread is to brainstorm, and to report what contacts we have made and the results. Below is a link to the committee members.

Anyone who wants to help organize a ping list- SPEAK UP. We need someone to make a list of objectives and contacts.

This thread is for activism. If you are not interested in that - please move to a different thread. I am done with the flame wars.

This is for those who want action and want a change.

[all4one]

How much money can we bet that more than a few book deals are being courted by Felos and Michael Schiavo.

[TheGrimReaper]

And don't forget the TV movie...

[supercat]

Wow. I would not have been so forceful, but you are right on.

[GretchenM]

Please add me to your ping list on this.

[starsandstrips]

There should be a complete autopsy but Judge Greer continues to call the shots.

There will be NO investigation. The autopsy is to determine cause of death which the world knows was death by dehydration/starvation. Also there will be a look at her brain and the debate over if "PVS" will continue. All the past medical history will be put in the privacy custody of MS!

This is a wrongful death and a complete autopsy should be demanded!!!

[combat_boots]

From Dawn Patrol
'Ye Shall Be As Gods'
"I've been on the bench. I know what it's like to be all-powerful." So writes former Montgomery County, N.Y., Judge Robert N. Going, in an entry on how the judicial system failed Terri Schiavo.

Ye shall be as gods
Whittaker Chambers called it the world's second oldest religion: "Ye shall be as gods." That temptation in the Garden has manifested itself in many forms over the centuries. Currently it's hanging out in a courtroom in Florida and similar places.

I've been on the bench. I know what it's like to be all-powerful. Every decision I rendered was with the sure knowledge that there was very little likelihood of being overturned on appeal, or even of an appeal being taken. Part of my training as a Family Court Judge came from Judge Judy. Several of us spent an afternoon with her in New York County Family Court and learned the importance of including certain phrases in our decisions: "This Court has had the unique opportunity to examine the credibility and demeanor of the witnesses in this case." That was a good one. What Appellate Court could overturn you on factual issues with language like that? The prevailing party has always "met the statutory standard of proof." From other judges I learned to dismiss strong opposing arguments by writing, "The mere fact that . . .", etc.

And so it is that Judge Greer can make life and death decisions based on conflicting testimony, and never be overturned. He, after all, had the unique opportunity to examine the credibility and demeanor of the witnesses. The mere fact that Michael Schiavo never mentioned his wife's wishes for seven years, and that no one else ever remembered them until after her court-appointed law guardian suggested Michael might not be credible, has no bearing on the decision. All a judge need do is reject the credibility of people he doesn't want to believe and accept the testimony of people he does, and then fill his decision with language from statutes and case law which support his result, and that is that! It's very easy. And it actually is "due process of law."

Once in a while a case like this comes along when very reasonable people can ask, "What judge in his right mind could find clear and convincing evidence of Terri's physical state or her intention to die based on this conflicting testimony?" But absent wrong-doing, the trier of fact will receive great deference from the courts above and the courts beside.

That's the way the system works. I HOPE everyone understands that now.

And yet, one need not have years of legal training and judicial experience to suspect that something is really wrong with a system that not only allows but even DEMANDS that an innocent disabled woman be starved to death.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/rgoing/562.html

[Sun]

In view of all of the collusion and corruption in Judge Greer's county, Terri should have an independent autopsy.

Governor Bush FAX 850-921-9077

jeb@myflorida.com

Governor's Legislative Affairs Office 1-850-488-5000

Governor Bush phone #850-488-4441

Also, Tom Delay might be able to help. His contact info is at:

http://tomdelay.house.gov/contactme.htm

It would carry more weight, though, if you are from Texas.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[windchime]

Please count me in, Diva!

[FairOpinion]

"Please help us make a list of points people can use when contacting the Judicial Committee. Combat boots is compiling a ping list. We want justice."

===

I was actually thinking of putting together a list of specific points. Thanks for the post. I'll try to post it tomorrow and ping both of you. So it can be compiled. I hope lawyers and those well versed in the law will help with the list. (Andrew C, that's why I am pinging you on this -- please add your points). I do think that we should make a very compact, to the point, compelling list of specifics -- to include everything from Greer's misrulings, to the specifics of the Florida Legislature, what they should do AND the "issues" with the US Federal Judiciary and what the US Congress should do about these judges, as well as pass a law, that what happened to Terri will not happen to other innocents.

And please put me on your ping list.

"We want justice" should be our motto!

[PhilDragoo]

Click on the document to see the letter I faxed to both of Delay's Fax Numbers--and Please Put Me On Your Ping List

[sam I am]

Please add me to your ping list. Thank you.

[AndrewC]

Well one point on due process that I find as a glaring example.

From the decision to deny the Temporary restraining order 22 Mar 2005 Decision by Whittemore

Throughout the proceedings, the parties, represented by able counsel, advanced what they believed to be Theresa Schiavo's intentions concerning artificial life support. In Florida, counsel for Michael Schiavo as Theresa Schiavo's guardian owed a duty of care to Theresa Schiavo in his representation.Op. Atty. Gen. 96-94 (November 20,1996). Finally, with respect to presenting the opposing perspective on Theresa Schiavo's wishes, the Court cannot envision more effective advocates than her parents and their able counsel. Plaintiffs have not shown how an additional lawyer appointed by the court could have reduced the risk of erroneous rulings.

Upshot of this commentary is that Terri did not have counsel.

Florida Statute. 744.3215 Rights of persons determined incapacitated.--

(1) A person who has been determined to be incapacitated retains the right:

...

(k) To have access to the courts.

(l) To counsel.

[FairOpinion]

"Well one point on due process that I find as a glaring example."

====

Thanks!

BTW -- I am also wondering about something: Greer is a probate court judge. Do probate courts have jurisdiction over life or death decisions? Shouldn't MS have filed his initial request to stop feeding Terri in another court? Why did the probate court even accept it? Probate courts are to decide issues about estates of people who are already dead, aren't they?

What is your opinion about the probate court's jurisdiction?

I haven't heard anyone address this.

[AndrewC]

What is your opinion about the probate court's jurisdiction?

I am not capable of having a relevant opinion on that question. Shrug. But here is the law concerning the situation.

765.105 Review of surrogate or proxy's decision.--The patient's family, the health care facility, or the attending physician, or any other interested person who may reasonably be expected to be directly affected by the surrogate or proxy's decision concerning any health care decision may seek expedited judicial intervention pursuant to rule 5.900 of the Florida Probate Rules, if that person believes:

(1) The surrogate or proxy's decision is not in accord with the patient's known desires or the provisions of this chapter;

[FairOpinion]

Thanks.

I appreciate your sharing your knowledge and information.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!

[Gondring]

What HARM would it have done for people to have been allowed to try to feed and hydrate Terri through natural means?

The same harm it would do if you tried that with me in that state--I wouldn't want it done, so you'd be violating my rights.

Since when did rights become so worthless to "conservatives"???

And if you think her body "clinging to life" was an indication of a will to live, then you haven't spent enough time around people who want to die and curse their bodies for not letting them do so. The body will live on regardless of will. MANY suicidal people have tried to will their life away, actually, and it doesn't work.

[The Red Zone]

The same harm it would do if you tried that with me in that state--I wouldn't want it done, so you'd be violating my rights.

You're reading something into Terri's alleged wishes that not even Mikey's late and self contradictory testimony claimed. That's called overreaching. You are not an extension of Terri, sorry to disappoint your apparently pantheistic thinking.

No, the oral feeding was banned on a technicality: it would be "unwarranted experimental treatment." This has GHOUL written on it in letters 10 feet tall.

[Gondring]

I wouldn't use starvation or dehydration as the means to put down horses. To use such against a human being is barbaric.

Agreed. I think that any activism should be directed at correcting this barbarism and allowing more civilized methods of deliverance.