George Greer
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-->George Greer is a judge serving in the Pinellas County-Pasco County Circuit Court, probate division, in Clearwater, Florida who received national attention when he presided over the Terri Schiavo case.
Background and personal information
Born in 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, Judge Greer grew up in Dunedin, Florida. He received his associate's degree from St. Petersburg Junior College in 1962, his bachelor's degree from Florida State University in 1964, and his law degree from the University of Florida's Levin College of Law in 1966. He became a commissioner of Pinellas County in 1984. He was first elected to his present position of probate judge in 1992 and plans to retire in 2010 after his current term expires.Greer is a Southern Baptist and a Republican.
He is legally blind and cannot drive cars.[link][link] His colleagues say his condition gives him a unique perspective on the rights of the impaired. Critics have complained that he has misled the public about his disability. They say that it prevents him from being able to properly see and evaluate evidence and that he does not reveal this to all parties who bring cases before him. [link] It should be noted that blindness does not inherently disqualify one from acting as an effective jurist. [link]
During Greer's studies at Florida State, he was for a time a roommate of Jim Morrison's, who later became lead vocalist of The Doors.
Helene Ball McGee Case
In a noted case, Greer in 1998 denied an injunction for a woman, Helene Ball McGee, who sought protection from her husband, arguing that domestic violence was not imminent. Days later, she was killed when her husband fatally stabbed her. This case was noted in the context of the Schiavo case. For example, columnist Ann Coulter described this as an example of judges making mistakes, while saying that his finding of fact on the Terri's wishes is "essentially unreviewable by any other court".Terri Schiavo Case
He received substantial attention in the American national media and around the world for his involvement in the controversial Terri Schiavo case, as well as criticism from conservative groups for his ruling that her feeding tube should be removed according to what her husband insisted (and the courts had previously and consistently for more than a decade ruled) would be her wishes.Because Greer's decisions in the Schaivo case conflicted with the opinions of patrons at his church, the Calvary Baptist Church of Clearwater, Greer was asked by pastor William Rice to end his relationship with his church.[link]Greer was also the subject of death threats during his involvement in the Schiavo case, as well as petitions calling for his impeachment.
Conservative online news site WorldNetDaily reported allegations by The Center for Reclaiming America and the Empire Journal that George Greer received a contribution of $250 for his 2004 re-election campaign from Felos & Felos, the law firm of George Felos, and that other pro-Michael Schiavo lawyers gave money for his re-election campaign. Judges are not required to recuse themselves in such circumstances, but a 2002 poll by the American Bar Association said that 84 percent of all Americans are concerned that the impartiality of judges is compromised by their need to raise campaign contributions.
References
- WorldNetDaily: [Michael Schiavo lawyer gave to judge's campaign] March 25, 2005
External links
- [article in the St. Petersburg Times]
- http://judgegeorgegreer.com/ (Attack site, but has copies of some documents)
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