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."

[Theodore R.]

You mentioned a claim of up to $800,000. Yesterday George J. Felos spilled the beans that there is NO insurance policy. Could George J. Felos lie to the American people, or could Schiavo have lied to George J. Felos? Or BOTH?

[Ohioan from Florida]

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 do not like what is happening to Terri, but please let's stick to the facts. Unless you guys have turned up something new while I've been away, I have not seen anywhere that Judge Greer's wife is on the board of Terri's hospice. It is true that his bench buddy, Judge Lenderman has a sister, Martha, who is on the board there. It's also true that someone else, I believe her name is Barbara Todd, is on the board, and she served with Judge Greer while he was on city council. So unless Greer is married to Barbara Todd, this has just been a mix-up. If you can show me where his wife is Barbara Todd, then I'll apologize for having overlooked that.

[Theodore R.]

Good point, I thought that someone had tracked down that Mrs. George W. Greer is on the board of Suncoast. It seems like that would be a major point in the campaign to save Terri, doesn't it? Maybe it is another false hope.

[Theodore R.]

that he is a consummate politician.

Did you mean George W. Greer or Greer's friend the sheriff?

[PeyersPatches]

"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. "


If this be the law, then the law is an ass. It is not progressive, nor does it make one appear superior to gleefully salivate over murdering the disabled. Joseph Gobbels should never reincarnate on FR or anywhere else.

[gg188]

This judge is "conservative, compassionate", like Terri is "comatose, vegatative."

More media spin with redefining words and redefining reality.

[Theodore R.]

Yet the FL media swears by the loyalty and "compassion" of George W. Greer. I don't see how a serious Baptist who is a member of Greer's church could stay in that congregation!

[Theodore R.]

Can anyone cite the post again where it was said that Mrs. Greer is on the hospice board?

[sweetliberty]

"this film would so discredit the euthanasia movement that CBS (the only network still doing made-for-TV movies) won't touch it."

Sure they would, with Michael Schivao as the adoring and grieving husband who only wants to fulfill the expressed desires of his beloved wife (which of course will actually BE expressed by Terri's character in the movie), George Felos, as the idealistic champion of the "right to die" brigade and Judge Greer as the knight in shining armor who makes it all happen despite the unceasing obstacles thrown in the way by obsessive parents unwilling to allow their vegetative daughter die. Those who contend that Terri should not be killed will be portrayed in the same unfavorable light as the violent anti-abortion nuts who kill abortion doctors.

All that remains is for the saintly Judge Greer to ultimately prevail over the parents and the religious "nuts," and set Terri free to die blissfully in hubby's arms.

HINO collects a fat check and rides off into the sunset to live happily ever after with the mother of his children, or at least until she has an unfortunate accident.

Excuse me, but I think I've made myself sick!

[gg188]

The courts will have little difficulty setting the Florida constitutional balance back in the equilibrium necessary to sound government.

Kinda like the Flordia courts did in the 2000 presidential election, huh.

[Theodore R.]

Yes, that would be what CBS had in mind. This may be what is so motivating Schiavo to continue with his plans to kill her. He may have movie and book rights in hand if no specific insurance policy through Jodi's "company."

[sweetliberty]

" I don't see how a serious Baptist who is a member of Greer's church could stay in that congregation!"

Well, I don't measure my spirituality by other attendees of my church. Now if he were the minister of the church, that would be a different story altogether.

[Ohioan from Florida]

I hope somebody finds the answer, because if it is true, then I have missed something big!

[Theodore R.]

Did I read that Greer's church put a notice in the bulletin calling for prayer for Terri? If so, did the church mean that Terri should starve or that she should be given over to the parents? Seems like I saw something on that several hundred posts ago.

[FR_addict]

"I do not like what is happening to Terri, but please let's stick to the facts. Unless you guys have turned up something new while I've been away, I have not seen anywhere that Judge Greer's wife is on the board of Terri's hospice."

I think you're right. I couldn't find anything else that supports this. It was on the thread tonight and it was the first time I heard about it. I found the current hospice members at:

http://www.hospicepatients.org/is-the-hospice-A-faithful-Steward-of-Donations.html

Also the fact that Felos was former CHAIRMAN of the hospice board, according to his bio on his publishers site:

http://www.bluedolphinpublishing.com/Felos.htm

[sweetliberty]

I don't believe for a minute that he has no insurance on her. But whether he does or not, he still stands to gain and it wouldn't even surptise me to learn that George Felos had entered into some untoward investment scheme with Terri's money (hospice perhaps?) which just might be discovered if things didn't go as planned. Just speculation, mind you. On the other hand, it is already known that Felos is writing a book on Terri's case and it could be downright inconvenient if she doesn't die according to schedule at this point.

[Pegita]

Heavenly Father, we return to give You thanks that more and more people are becoming outraged at the treatment of this mother's child at the hands of callous men. Lead us, dear Lord, to the places where we can be most effective in our time and talents, that Terri would be restored to the loving care of her parents.

We recognize, Father, that there are obstacles ahead .. most that we cannot see .. light the way for us, dear Lord, that we not stumble or fall or fail in our task. Continue to shed light on the demonic grip that ensnares dear Terri, for there is no other way to explain how tightly the web is woven around her. We take comfort, O God, that with one sweep of Your hand, all of this would fall away. Act on her behalf, for no one has yet prevailed for her in the courts of men .. uphold the Power of Your Word, for in Your hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

Father, by prayer and petition, we stand guard over Terri this night. We call upon the heavenly host to protect her .. to refresh her .. to calm her .. to be her companion .. to encourage her .. to love her. Let her not feel alone or abandoned. Speak to her where she is, for she is a precious child ... to You ... to her parents and her family ... to those who labor for her ... to us.

As Monday approaches and the battle lines are drawn in the courts, we pray that You will go before and prepare the way. As with Gideon, there are but a few brave souls, challenged by a mighty army of the merchants of death. We stand ready to defend Terri .. and the infirm and disabled and eldery .. not by our own might, but by Your power. To God be the Glory, and to God be the Victory. In the Name of Jesus, I pray, Amen ...

[FR_addict]

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

I couldn't find anything that backs up that Greer's wife is/was on the board of the hospice. Do you have any new information? Or did you confuse his wife with the other members connected with Judge Greer?

[sweetliberty]

I read it too, but don't recall where right off. I had thought it was in the original post. Maybe not. Anyway, I got the impression that his church was on Terri's side.

[Theodore R.]

There is no Greer on the hospice board that I could find. I just checked through the list. Maybe she is not using the name "Greer" but a maiden name. Somehow false information seemed to have gotten out this morning.