Pinellas- Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer, who was thrust into the national spotlight and scrutinized by pro-life advocates during the Terri Schiavo case, was a consistent judge who followed the law, colleagues say.
His professionalism and integrity was punctuated by the way he handled the Schiavo case, said Alan Scott Miller, a New Port Richey lawyer and member of the West Pasco Bar Association. As part of Law Week, which kicks off today, the association will award Greer, 63, its Special Justice Award.
For years, Greer presided over the politically and emotionally charged Schiavo case, which ended when the 41- year-old woman died March 31, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed a third time on a court order.
When the association voted this month on this year's recipient of the Special Justice Award, the result was almost unanimous for Greer.
UPDATE:
Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, responded today to the announcement that Judge George Greer will receive the "Special Justice Award" tomorrow in Florida.
"On the night before Terri Schiavo died, I said to the national media that Judge Greer was a murderer. I repeat that today. I use the word not in its legal meaning but in its moral meaning, that is, a deliberate action or series of actions that intentionally kill an innocent person. Terri was not dying until she stopped receiving food and water. Once deprived of that sustenance, she died. 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."Whatever judgment, furthermore, is made on Judge Greer's legal authority to do what he did, no Court has the moral authority to directly and deliberately take innocent life, and those ordered to carry out such decisions are morally obliged to resist them by conscientious objection. Pope John Paul II made that teaching clear in his encyclical letter 'The Gospel of Life.'"
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