The latest…
Posted on March 29th, 2005 by Private Idaho
The following article is from the Miami Herald. Its funny that nobody
has talked about this incident so far. I mean, heck a person, like Jeb
Bush, could get impeached over stuff like this:
Police ’showdown’ averted
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
cmarbin@herald.com
Hours after a judge ordered that Terri Schiavo was not to be
removed from her hospice, a team of state agents were en route to seize
her and have her feeding tube reinserted — but they stopped short when
local police told them they would enforce the judge’s order, The Herald
has learned.
Agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told police in
Pinellas Park, the small town where Schiavo lies at Hospice Woodside,
on Thursday that they were on the way to take her to a hospital to
resume her feeding.
For a brief period, local police, who have officers at the hospice
to keep protesters out, prepared for what sources called “a
showdown.”
In the end, the squad from the FDLE and the Department of Children
& Families backed down, apparently concerned about confronting
local police outside the hospice.
”We told them that unless they had the judge with them when they
came, they were not going to get in,” said a source with the local
police.
”The FDLE called to say they were en route to the scene,” said an
official with the city police who requested anonymity. “When the
sheriff’s department and our department told them they could not
enforce their order, they backed off.”
The incident,known only to a few and related to The Herald by three
different sources involved in Thursday’s events, underscores the
intense emotion and murky legal terrain that the Schiavo case has
created. It also shows that agencies answering directly to Gov. Jeb
Bush had planned to use a wrinkle in Florida law that would have
allowed them to legally get around the judge’s order. The exception in
the law allows public agencies to freeze a judge’s order whenever an
agency appeals it.
CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS
Participants in the high-stakes test of wills, who spoke with The
Herald on the condition of anonymity, said they believed the standoff
could ultimately have led to a constitutional crisis and a
confrontation between dueling lawmen.
”There were two sets of law enforcement officers facing off,
waiting for the other to blink,” said one official with knowledge of
Thursday morning’s activities.
In jest, one official said local police discussed “whether we had enough officers to hold off the National Guard.”
”It was kind of a showdown on the part of the locals and the state
police,” the official said. “It it was not too long after that Jeb
Bush was on TV saying that, evidently, he doesn’t have as much
authority as people think.”
State officials on Friday vigorously denied the notion that any ‘’showdown” occurred.
”DCF directed no such action,” said agency spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez.
Said Bush spokesman Jacob DiPietre: “There was no showdown. We
were ready to go. We didn’t want to break the law. There was a process
in place and we were following the process. The judge had an order and
we were following the order.”
Tim Caddell, a spokesman for the city of Pinellas Park, declined to discuss Thursday’s events.
SHELTER FOR SCHIAVO
The developments that set Thursday morning’s events in motion began
the previous afternoon, when the governor and DCF chief Lucy Hadi held
an impromptu news conference to announce they were considering
sheltering Schiavo under the state’s adult protection law. DCF has been
besieged, officials say, by thousands of calls alleging Schiavo is the
victim of abuse or neglect.
Alerted by the Bush administration that Schiavo might be on her way
to their facility, officials at Morton Plant Hospital went to court
themselves Wednesday, asking Circuit Judge George Greer, who ordered
the removal of Schiavo’s feeding tube last week, what to do.
”It’s an extraordinary situation,” said Beth Hardy, a hospital
spokeswoman. “I don’t think any of us has seen anything like it.
Ever.”
Greer signed an order Wednesday afternoon forbidding DCF from
”taking possession of Theresa Marie Schiavo or removing her” from the
hospice. He directed ”each and every and singular sheriff of the state
of Florida” to enforce his order.
But Thursday, at 8:15 a.m., DCF lawyers appealed Greer’s order to judges at the Second District Court of Appeal in Lakeland.
That created the window of time to seize Schiavo. When DCF filed
its appeal, it effectively froze the judge’s Wednesday order. It took
nearly three hours before the judge found out and canceled the
automatic stay, shortly before 11 a.m.
Administrators of the 72-bed hospice, who have endured a withering
siege of their facility by protesters since Greer ordered Schiavo’s
feeding tube removed on March 18, declined to discuss Thursday
morning’s events in any detail.
”I don’t really know, or pretend to know, the specifics of what is
going on behind the scenes,” said Mike Bell, a spokesman for Hospice
of the Florida Suncoast, which operates Woodside.
DCF INTENTIONS
According to sources, DCF intended to take Schiavo to Morton Plant
Hospital, where her feeding tube had been reinserted in 2003 following
a previous judicial order allowing its removal. But hospice officials
were aware that the hospital was not likely to perform surgery to
reinsert the tube without an order from Greer.
”People knew that taking [Schiavo] did not equate with immediate
reinsertion of the feeding tube,” a source said. “Hospital officials
were working with their legal counsel and their advisors, trying to
figure out which order superseded which, and what action they should
take.”
Hardy, the hospital spokeswoman, said she does not believe the
hospital was made aware Thursday morning that DCF and state police
planned to bring Schiavo in. ”We were not aware of that three-hour
period,” she said. “It’s not a discussion we even had, really.”
George Felos, Michael Schiavo’s attorney, said he does not think
DCF officials knew of the window of opportunity they had created until
well after they filed their appeal.
”Frankly, I don’t believe when they filed their notice of appeal
they realized that that gave them an automatic stay,” Felos said.
“When we filed our motion to vacate the automatic stay . . . they
realized they had a short window of opportunity and they wanted to
extend that as long as they could.
“I believe that as soon as DCF knew they had an opportunity, they were mobilizing to take advantage of it, without a doubt.”
Herald staff writers Phil Long and Marc Caputo contributed to this story.
Get the word out!
Sphere: Related ContentBY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
cmarbin@herald.com
Hours after a judge ordered that Terri Schiavo was not to be
removed from her hospice, a team of state agents were en route to seize
her and have her feeding tube reinserted — but they stopped short when
local police told them they would enforce the judge’s order, The Herald
has learned.
Agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told police in
Pinellas Park, the small town where Schiavo lies at Hospice Woodside,
on Thursday that they were on the way to take her to a hospital to
resume her feeding.
For a brief period, local police, who have officers at the hospice
to keep protesters out, prepared for what sources called “a
showdown.”
In the end, the squad from the FDLE and the Department of Children
& Families backed down, apparently concerned about confronting
local police outside the hospice.
”We told them that unless they had the judge with them when they
came, they were not going to get in,” said a source with the local
police.
”The FDLE called to say they were en route to the scene,” said an
official with the city police who requested anonymity. “When the
sheriff’s department and our department told them they could not
enforce their order, they backed off.”
The incident,known only to a few and related to The Herald by three
different sources involved in Thursday’s events, underscores the
intense emotion and murky legal terrain that the Schiavo case has
created. It also shows that agencies answering directly to Gov. Jeb
Bush had planned to use a wrinkle in Florida law that would have
allowed them to legally get around the judge’s order. The exception in
the law allows public agencies to freeze a judge’s order whenever an
agency appeals it.
CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS
Participants in the high-stakes test of wills, who spoke with The
Herald on the condition of anonymity, said they believed the standoff
could ultimately have led to a constitutional crisis and a
confrontation between dueling lawmen.
”There were two sets of law enforcement officers facing off,
waiting for the other to blink,” said one official with knowledge of
Thursday morning’s activities.
In jest, one official said local police discussed “whether we had enough officers to hold off the National Guard.”
”It was kind of a showdown on the part of the locals and the state
police,” the official said. “It it was not too long after that Jeb
Bush was on TV saying that, evidently, he doesn’t have as much
authority as people think.”
State officials on Friday vigorously denied the notion that any ‘’showdown” occurred.
”DCF directed no such action,” said agency spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez.
Said Bush spokesman Jacob DiPietre: “There was no showdown. We
were ready to go. We didn’t want to break the law. There was a process
in place and we were following the process. The judge had an order and
we were following the order.”
Tim Caddell, a spokesman for the city of Pinellas Park, declined to discuss Thursday’s events.
SHELTER FOR SCHIAVO
The developments that set Thursday morning’s events in motion began
the previous afternoon, when the governor and DCF chief Lucy Hadi held
an impromptu news conference to announce they were considering
sheltering Schiavo under the state’s adult protection law. DCF has been
besieged, officials say, by thousands of calls alleging Schiavo is the
victim of abuse or neglect.
Alerted by the Bush administration that Schiavo might be on her way
to their facility, officials at Morton Plant Hospital went to court
themselves Wednesday, asking Circuit Judge George Greer, who ordered
the removal of Schiavo’s feeding tube last week, what to do.
”It’s an extraordinary situation,” said Beth Hardy, a hospital
spokeswoman. “I don’t think any of us has seen anything like it.
Ever.”
Greer signed an order Wednesday afternoon forbidding DCF from
”taking possession of Theresa Marie Schiavo or removing her” from the
hospice. He directed ”each and every and singular sheriff of the state
of Florida” to enforce his order.
But Thursday, at 8:15 a.m., DCF lawyers appealed Greer’s order to judges at the Second District Court of Appeal in Lakeland.
That created the window of time to seize Schiavo. When DCF filed
its appeal, it effectively froze the judge’s Wednesday order. It took
nearly three hours before the judge found out and canceled the
automatic stay, shortly before 11 a.m.
Administrators of the 72-bed hospice, who have endured a withering
siege of their facility by protesters since Greer ordered Schiavo’s
feeding tube removed on March 18, declined to discuss Thursday
morning’s events in any detail.
”I don’t really know, or pretend to know, the specifics of what is
going on behind the scenes,” said Mike Bell, a spokesman for Hospice
of the Florida Suncoast, which operates Woodside.
DCF INTENTIONS
According to sources, DCF intended to take Schiavo to Morton Plant
Hospital, where her feeding tube had been reinserted in 2003 following
a previous judicial order allowing its removal. But hospice officials
were aware that the hospital was not likely to perform surgery to
reinsert the tube without an order from Greer.
”People knew that taking [Schiavo] did not equate with immediate
reinsertion of the feeding tube,” a source said. “Hospital officials
were working with their legal counsel and their advisors, trying to
figure out which order superseded which, and what action they should
take.”
Hardy, the hospital spokeswoman, said she does not believe the
hospital was made aware Thursday morning that DCF and state police
planned to bring Schiavo in. ”We were not aware of that three-hour
period,” she said. “It’s not a discussion we even had, really.”
George Felos, Michael Schiavo’s attorney, said he does not think
DCF officials knew of the window of opportunity they had created until
well after they filed their appeal.
”Frankly, I don’t believe when they filed their notice of appeal
they realized that that gave them an automatic stay,” Felos said.
“When we filed our motion to vacate the automatic stay . . . they
realized they had a short window of opportunity and they wanted to
extend that as long as they could.
“I believe that as soon as DCF knew they had an opportunity, they were mobilizing to take advantage of it, without a doubt.”
Herald staff writers Phil Long and Marc Caputo contributed to this story.
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment