Schiavo Alma Mater Honors Judge In Death Case
Posted on Thursday, 14 of June , 2007 at 5:06 pm
COMMENTARY
By June Maxam
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA—Florida honors judges who advocate killing the disabled, elderly and vulnerable.
The alma mater of Michael Schiavo, the estranged husband who battled in the courts for years in order to secure a court order to kill his wife, is honoring retired Circuit Court Judge Susan F. Schaeffer, the judge who assigned Probate Court Judge George W. Greer to be the executioner in the Terri Schiavo case.
Schaeffer is also the judge who allowed Schiavo and his concubine, Jodi Centonze, to duck depositions in the 2001 civil suit brought by the Schindlers, Terri’s parents against Michael Schiavo accusing him of fraud, perjury, breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy. She then dismissed the civil proceedings against Schiavo.
Judge Schaeffer and Circuit Judge Walter L. Schafer Jr. were among the three 2007 inductees into the St. Petersburg College Hall of Distinction which recognizes friends and alumni who “have brought honor to themselves, the community and SPC”.
Schaeffer has also been named the college’s Outstanding Alumna for 2007.
Michael Schiavo received his nursing degree from St. Petersburg College in December 1998.
The Hall of Distinction was established by the St. Petersburg College Foundation. Evelyn Bilirakis, wife of former Congressman Mike Bilirakis and mother of Florida Rep. Gus Bilirakis, is chairman of the college’s board of trustees, appointed to the board in 1999 by Gov. Jeb Bush.
Appointed to the college board at the same time by Bush was Kenneth P. Burke, currently the clerk of the court for Pinellas County, elected to the position in 2004.
Before embarking on her law career, Judge Schaeffer, was an agent with the Internal Revenue Service for three years and studied music at St. Petersburg College. After graduating from SPC and Stetson Law School , she enjoyed a successful career as a public defender and private practice attorney. Prior to her retirement in 2004, she served as a circuit judge for 22 years, six of them as chief judge. She also chaired the state’s Trial Court Budget Commission, a committee charged with restructuring the formula used to fund the state’s courts.
Schaeffer, 65, a native of Ohio who moved to St. Petersburg in 1955, was appointed to the circuit bench in 1982 by then-Gov. Bob Graham. In 1997, she was a finalist for the Florida Supreme Court and served six years as the circuit’s chief judge and she currently serves as a senior judge around the state. She is known across the country as an expert on death penalty law and taught that subject for 15 years at the National Judicial College.
Michael Schiavo is an alumnus of St. Petersburg College. In testimony Schiavo gave under oath at a deposition in November, 1993, in a challenge to his guardianship, he testified that he had been attending St. Petersburg Junior College for “almost two and half years now” and had “just graduated EMT school”.
According to college records, Schiavo didn’t start “nursing school” at St. Petersburg Junior College, a nursing school named for Evelyn Jerger, the wife of his concubine’s insurance partner, until August, 1996, receiving his nursing degree in December, 1998.
On his employment application filed with Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department in July, 2004, when he applied for the position of jail nurse when Everett Rice was still sheriff, Schiavo said under penalties of perjury that he had attended the college from August, 1992 to August, 1993 and obtained his EMT certificate in 1993.
According to the college’s director of Institutional Advancement, Michael Schiavo was not awarded any college credit certificates and thus did not “graduate from EMT school” as he testified under oath. There is no “EMT School” at St. Petersburg.
The facts expose yet more of the Michael Schiavo lies, aka the “bad memory defense”.
The North Country Gazette interviewed a spokesman for St. Petersburg College who said that due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law that protects student education records from public review, she could not comment on degrees or certificates that someone may have pursued but for which no degree or certificate was awarded.
Records on file with the Florida Department of Health indicate that Schiavo was licensed as an EMT on Nov. 18, 1993 but that the certificate expired on Dec. 1, 1994 and was not renewed. It is listed as null and void with DOH.
According to the college, he attended the facility from Aug. 19, 1991 until Dec. 19, 1998 and received two degrees, an associates in science degree in respiratory care on July 19, 1996, and an associates in science in nursing on Dec. 18, 1998.
DOH records indicate that Schiavo became licensed as a certified respirator on April 2, 1997 and that the license expired on Jan. 31, 2001. He was licensed as a regular respirator on May 25, 1999. That license expired May 31 and he is listed as retired which means he is not practicing in the state of Florida, but maintains a retired license status.
Schiavo was issued a license as a registered nurse on Jan. 18, 2000 after he flunked his first attempt in taking the nursing exam. That license was just renewed and expires on April 30, 2009. According to the Department of Health, he has not completed any continuing education requirements.
Then there’s the matter of Schiavo testifying at a medical malpractice trial on Nov. 5, 1992, that he had started to go to nursing school approximately a year previous and hoped to finish in “something like 1994”.
Jodi Centonze, the woman with whom he lived in adultery from at least 1994 while he claimed he was in “in love” with his disabled wife and was seeking court order to kill her after several failed attempts to withhold medical treatment, was business partners with Richard Jerger in Jerger and Centonze Insurance Company. The principal mailing address for the company was listed as 2807 Marrie Court, Clearwater, the property where Michael Schiavo and Centonze live. Michael Schiavo was a director in the now defunct company.
When Schiavo’s attorney, George Felos, wrote a letter to Terri’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler in August, 1997, informing them of Michael’s plan to kill Terri, Florida law at the time was not enough to allow Judge George Greer, appointed to the case by Schaeffer as chief judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, to order the removal of Terri’s feeding tube under Terri’s circumstances so the law had to be changed in favor of Schiavo.
At the time that Felos sought to amend the state law with House Bill 2131 to change the legal definition of life prolonging procedures to add “including artificially provided sustenance and hydration which sustains, restores or supplants a spontaneous vital function”, bill co-sponsor, Rep. Gus Bilirakis was a member of the board of directors of the Hospice of Florida Suncoast, the board which Felos chaired. Although Felos was no longer hospice chairman in 1999, during the time that the revisions were being formulated, he was still on the board of the Hospice of Florida Suncoast. The subsequent revisions to the law were applied retroactively to Terri’s case.
At the time that Felos and Schiavo moved Terri to Woodside House Hospice in Pinellas Park in 2000, a hospice owned and operated by Florida Suncoast, Felos was still on the board although he hadn’t disclosed his position to the Schindlers.
The bill also included a definition of “persistent vegetative state” as a permanent and irreversible condition of unconsciousness in which there is: (a) the absence of voluntary action or cognitive behavior of any kind and (b) an inability to communicate or interact purposefully with the environment.
On April 6, 1999, the bill was introduced in the Florida Legislature by Florida Elder Affairs and Long Term Care Committee, co-sponsored by Bilirakis.
On May, 1999, Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Bilirakis’ mother, Evelyn, to the St. Petersburg College Board of Trustees.
On Oct. 1, 1999, the Florida Legislature followed the bidding of Felos and his fellow Hospice board member Bilirakis and changed the law to make feeding tubes artificial life support.
In April, 2003, Gov. Bush attended the dedication of the Bilirakis College of Education on the Tarpon Springs campus of St. Petersburg College with acknowledgements made that the college is named in honor of the Bilirakis family “who are loyal and longtime supporters of St. Petersburg College.
Gus’ father, Michael, a member of Congress, was recognized as a promoter of St. Petersburg College’s efforts to grant four year degrees and Gus is a St. Petersburg College alumnus.
More importantly, Gus Bilirakis was recognized as being a member of AHEPA.
AHEPA is a Greek fraternal organization of which Felos is a member as was his father, James Felos who Felos’ mother ran over with a car in 1995, killing him.
In 2002 when Dr. Peter Bambakidis of Schaeffer’s native state of Ohio was assigned by Judge Greer to be an “independent” examining physician in the Schiavo case, charged with providing an independent medical review, Terri’s parents and supporters charged that Bambakidis had a personal relationship with Felos, an allegation which Felos refused to address.
The supporters based their accusation on marketing materials distributed by Felos in which he listed some of the professional and social organizations in which he holds membership. The materials stated that “A member of the Florida Bar and Clearwater Bar Association, Felos served as a member of the Clearwater Bar Appellate Law Committee, as governor of the American Hellenic Education Progressive Association (AHEPA), and as chair of numerous National Association of Securities Dealers arbitration panels”.
In his position, not only is it likely that he was familiar with the Bambakidis family, but that fellow board member Bilirakis was familiar with the Bambakidis family. It is yet unexplained how George Greer came to choose a doctor from Ohio as the court appointed physician as part of the five-doctor panel to make a decision as to whether or not Terri Schiavo was PVS.
It was learned that the Ohio chapter of the AHEPA was managed by Gust Bambakidis.
http://www.ahepa.org/chapters/ohio.html
Gust Bambakidis, chairman of the physics department at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and the elder brother of Peter Bambakidis, is also a member of AHEPA. He maintained that his younger brother who testified at the Schiavo trial was not a member of AHEPA. Schindler supporters maintained that Felos should have disclosed his membership in the same organization as that of Bambakidis’s brother and relationship with the Bambakidis family.
Five doctors testified regarding the cognitive state of Terri Schiavo. The doctors split 2-2 with Bambakidis, the court-appointed attorney, testifying that he knew of no treatments that would improve Terri’s condition leading Greer to rule that the brain damaged woman was in a persistent vegetative state with no hope for recovery, a finding that has been disputed by numerous medical professionals.
However, it appears that the adage hide in plain sight may have applied in this situation and that Bilirakis and his affiliation with AHEPA, Felos and most likely Bambakidis may have been the influencing factor.The impartiality of Bambakidis has long been challenged. A review of his testimony at the October 2002 evidentiary hearing reveals improper ex parte communications between Greer and Felos.
It also reveals that “they” had sought a doctor to testify from the Cleveland Clinic although Bambakdis failed to reveal under oath who “they” were. Greer specifically telephoned Bambakidis, not the clinic, and asked him to be an independent expert witness. How Greer chose Bambakidis is yet unknown. What is further suspect is that although Cleveland Clinic maintains a Florida facility where there are several neurologists on staff, instead Greer placed a telephone call to Bambakidis in Cleveland. Bambakidis had no experience as an expert witness in such cases as Terri Schiavo’s.
Bambakidis received all of his information about Terri from Greer, Felos and Michael Schiavo. He did not interview the Schindler family or the Schindler’s attorney, Patricia Anderson nor did he, by his own admission, make any effort to do so.http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/2007/011807SchiavoTriangle.html
During testimony in 2002, Bambakidis was asked repeatedly by Schindler attorney Patricia Anderson if he had any personal relationship with Felos. Bambakidis insisted that he did not know of Felos prior to being appointed by Judge Greer but he could not provide sufficient explanation how he came to be appointed, especially considering he had never testified in any similar court case prior to the 2002 trial of Terri Schindler-Schiavo. He was not an established expert witness.
Despite repeated pleas for an investigation of Michael Schiavo, the alleged abuse and exploitation of Terri Schiavo, and alleged Medicaid fraud, all within the statutory duties of Charlie Crist as Attorney General, Crist refused to become involved. Crist simply turned his head to all allegations and even proof of wrongdoing. Was he enticed to look the other way because he was protecting his fraternal brothers, did promised political contributions play a role, critics ask.Crist ignored complaints from the public and pleas from her parents, Mary and Robert Schindler Sr., to investigate allegations of domestic abuse of Terri Schiavo. The seriously disabled woman was condemned to die by order of Greer on petition and demand of her alleged abuser, her estranged husband, Michael Schiavo—-as Crist stood silent.
The Hellenic organization embraced Crist and held fundraisers for him during his gubernatorial campaign. http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/101605EditorialCrist.html
St. Petersburg College played a large role in the Schiavo case as Felos’ first wife, Kimberly Felos is and was a faculty member at St. Petersburg, teaching humanities/fire arts. They divorced in May, 1993 after 15 years of marriage.
According to the curriculum required for a nursing degree at St. Peterburg, Schiavo would have been required to complete at least one three-credit humanities class.
Due to FERPA, it could not be confirmed if Kim Felos was an instructor for Michael Schiavo.
Anthony J. Battaglia, founder and shareholder of one of the oldest law firms in West Central Florida, former member of the Republican National Committee, was a big contributor to the reelection campaign of Greer. The Battaglia and Crist team are part of the good ole boy Republican network of Pinellas County where Crist has his roots and where Republicans Judge George Greer, state attorney Bernie McCabe and public defender Bob Dillinger hold the reins of “justice”.
Several members of the Battaglia firm have connections back to the Schiavo case as does Crist. Kelli Hanley Crabb, a shareholder and attorney with Battaglia, Ross, Dicus and Wein law firm of St. Petersburg, is the past chair of the Board of Directors for the Hospice Foundation of the Florida Suncoast, past member of the Executive Committee and currently serves on the Foundation Board. She has been with the Battaglia firm since 1984 and currently serves as the secretary of the firm and a member of the firm’s executive committee.
In the fall of 2005, former Battaglia law partner, Edwin Jagger, was appointed by Bush along with former assistant attorney general John Carassas of Crist’s office, also involved in the Schiavo case, to a judgeship in the Sixth Judicial Circuit. http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/101806BattagliaWeb.html
Carassas had been involved with Sheriff Rice in alleged ex parte discussions of the Schiavo case with Greer and was the subject of recusal motion brought in the case by Schindler’s attorney Patricia Fields Anderson. Greer refused to recuse himself.
Crist was a participant in the investiture ceremony of Carassas and Jagger as judges in the Sixth Judicial Circuit. Among the invited guests was Andreas Psycharis, Greek consulate general assigned to Greece’s consulate in Tampa. He was seated next to Crist at the investiture ceremony along with Ken Burke, clerk of the Pinellas County Court; state attorney Bernie McCabe and Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coats, Rice’s successor. See Photo
Battaglia, Robert Jagger who is the father of Edwin Jagger and a long-time Pinellas County public defender, and Abry Dicus, another Battaglia law associate, were members of the committee to elect Everett Rice Attorney General, a failed effort. Also on the Rice committee were Barry Cohen, the attorney who represented Greer in the Schiavo case at the time he defied a federal subpoena issued for Terri to testify before a Congressional committee; McCabe, Scientology attorney Wally Pope, Louis Kwall, whose wife represented Rice and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s office.
Jagger, 40, of Seminole, has worked for firm principal Battaglia, a member of the Republican hierarchy, since his graduation from Stetson Law School in 1991, reportedly starting out as Battaglia’s personal law clerk. He chaired Battaglia’s tax, probate, estate and trust department prior to being tapped by Bush to wear a black robe. Jagger began his legal career as a summer intern in college for none other than Pinellas County chief judge Susan Schaeffer.Schaeffer, who was replaced by chief judge by David Demers in 2001, is the judge responsible for having assigned George Greer to the Schiavo guardianship case.
In 2005, Greer had opposed Demers who was seeking a third term as chief judge. The chief judge of a judicial circuit is responsible for assigning judges to criminal, civil, probate or other courts and for managing the circuit. Schaeffer had been the first three term chief judge in the circuit’s history and had run unopposed for her third term.
In April, 2001, just prior to Schaeffer stepping down as chief judge, Anderson had filed a complaint in Pinellas civil court accusing Michael Schiavo of fraud and perjury. On May 6, 2001, she amended the complaint to include breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy in addition to other charges. In June, Felos gave notice that his client wouldn’t be available for his scheduled deposition. On two separate occasions, subpoena servers couldn’t locate Schiavo or Centonze. Although their depositions were scheduled four or five times, they never appeared for any of the depositions and Schaeffer declined to find him in contempt or take action against them. She then dismissed the lawsuit. When Demers became chief judge, he ruled that all matters having to do with Teri’s life or death would be settled by Greer. 6-14-07 This article may not be reprinted.
Category: Courts, Education, Florida, Health, Ohio, Opinion, Schiavo
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