Award for judge in Schiavo case criticized

Award for judge in Schiavo case criticized

By Robert Green
Fri May 6, 9:35 AM ET

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Reuters) - The Florida judge who presided over the politically and emotionally charged Terri Schiavo case received a special award from a local legal association on Thursday, prompting more controversy.

Judge George Greer received the West Pasco Bar Association's Special Justice Award for his integrity and professionalism, according to the attorney in charge of the event, Alan Miller. He said the award was intended to honor Greer for his entire career, not just the Schiavo case.

"I liken this to a lifetime achievement award for an actor," Miller said. "He's an excellent judge. He followed the law."

Greer ordered Schiavo's feeding tube removed on March 18 at her husband Michael's request and over the objections of her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler. Schiavo died on March 31 at a hospice in Pinellas Park, near St. Petersburg.

She had been in what doctors said was a persistent vegetative state since suffering a heart attack in 1990 and her husband said she would not have wanted to remain alive in her condition.

President Bush, his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and Vatican officials urged that Schiavo be kept alive and the U.S. Congress passed an emergency law requiring federal courts to review Greer's decision. But a federal judge in Tampa, an Atlanta federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court all refused to overrule him.

Greer, a 63-year old Republican, was first elected as a judge in 1992 and was re-elected three times, including twice after he first ruled in 2000 that Schiavo's feeding tube could be removed.

Miller said his office had received telephone calls from people around the country upset about the award to Greer.

Among those condemning the award was Father Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, who called Greer "a murderer" and said no court had moral authority to take innocent life.

"Terri was not dying until she stopped receiving food and water ... It does not require any legal or medical expertise to recognize that as murder. Nobody who has lost the basic capability to understand that should be honored," said Pavone, who spent several days at the hospice before Schiavo's death.

Greer received several death threats during the case and resigned from the Baptist Church he attended because of the controversy.