Parents insist “Wait! It’s not dead yet!”
Funny thing: Jeb! cut short his Maine vacation to return to Florida in order to deal with Hurricane Dennis. He should have been out of town this weekend, but once he came back and saw the news dominated by hurricanes and terrorist bombs, he decided to quietly release a June 30 letter from Bernie McCabe in which the Pinellas Prosecutor recommended that the latest Schiavo investigation cynically ordered by the governor be ended.
Jeb! milked this case for everything he could, and this last bit of investigating was simply a bone he threw to his rabid base. See, he couldn’t possibly let Michael Schiavo get on with his life without taking one more cheap shot at him, but like all the other baseless accusations that were hurled Michael’s way, the idea that he let his wife lay on the floor for an hour before calling 911 when she first collapsed was laid to rest.
Jeb! put the responsibility for ending the inquiry directly in the lap of McCabe, writing a two sentence letter that Jeb! is hoping will help cover his ass with the wingnuts: “Based on your conclusions, I will follow your recommendation that the inquiry by the state be closed.”
See, it’s all McCabe’s fault that Michael Schiavo was not arrested and tried for something, because we all know how evil Michael is. I mean anyone who would stand by their brain dead spouse for 15 years, battling religious crackpots, in laws, and the state to see to it that the spouse’s end of life wishes were carried out must have something to hide , right?!?
Included with McCabe’s letter to Bush was a lengthy report by (investigators) Crow and Lewis, in which the prosecutors wrote that this was not the first time McCabe’s office had been asked to consider accusations agains (sic) Michael Schiavo. But each time, they wrote, they had “found insufficient evidence of any prosecutable offense to justify a criminal investigation.”
The prosecutors stated that the ‘past decade of increasingly venomous litigation and the family members’ disparate and irreconcilable beliefs as to Terri’s wishes” made it ”unrealistic to expect” that their office could resolve the dispute.
They added that ”despite extended litigation and a detailed autopsy, we have no proof to suggest that a crime has occurred.” They also noted that Michael Schiavo was not the only witness who has given conflicting testimony as to when events occurred the night Terri Schiavo collapsed.
Governor to close Schiavo inquiry
In a June 30 letter to Gov. Jeb Bush, McCabe suggested ending the state’s inquiry into the case.
Bush responded Thursday in a two-sentence letter to McCabe: “Based on your conclusions, I will follow your recommendation that the inquiry by the state be closed.”
Bush asked McCabe last month to investigate Schiavo’s collapse on the morning of Feb. 25, 1990. He cited questions left unanswered by an autopsy and inconsistent statements from Michael Schiavo about the time he found his wife on the floor of their apartment.
McCabe appointed two of his most seasoned prosecutors to review the evidence. They found nothing to indicate Michael Schiavo hurt his wife.
“I hope this will be the final page in a very, very sad chapter for Florida government,” said George Felos, Michael Schiavo’s attorney.
The report, though, will not end the controversy over Schiavo’s collapse and the court order to remove her feeding tube, causing her death in March.
David Gibbs III, an attorney for Schiavo’s parents, questioned how prosecutors were able to take a new look at the case after only 10 days of work.
“It seems surprisingly quick to us,” Gibbs said.
Prosecutors did not speak to Terri Schiavo’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, during that time. Gibbs said he didn’t think that was what Bush expected when he asked for a “fresh look” into the case.
“We were probably expecting a more elaborate investigation into some of these questions,” Gibbs said.
Also see: BlogWood Schiavo coverage and Result of the State Attorney’s inquiry
Posted by Norwood in Civil Liberties, Culture war, Florida