CLEARWATER - A judge agreed on Wednesday to postpone an initial hearing on the constitutionality of a law keeping a severely brain-damaged woman alive, even as the attorney for the woman's husband accused Gov. Jeb Bush of needlessly delaying the case.
George Felos, an attorney for Michael Schiavo, has asked Circuit Judge W. Douglas Baird to declare unconstitutional the new law that allowed Bush to order Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted in October six days after her husband had it removed.
A Friday hearing had been scheduled on Michael Schiavo's request that Baird issue a final order striking down the law without further delay. But Baird agreed to move the hearing to Tuesday because Bush's lead attorney in the matter, Kenneth L. Connor, is tied up in another court proceeding in Greenwood, Miss.
Baird rejected an argument by Bush attorney Camille Godwin to delay the hearing even further so Connor could interview witnesses and conduct an investigation. Baird agreed with Felos that the facts of the case have already been determined by the court.
Felos, who contends the hastily passed law violated Terri Schiavo's right to privacy and separation-of-power provisions of the Florida Constitution, again accused Bush of causing needless delays.
"He seems to be doing everything he can to avoid the day of reckoning in this case," Felos said.
Bush's attorneys have denied causing unnecessary delays. They say they need more time to gather their own facts and have asked for another trial to determine Terri Schiavo's end-of-life wishes.
The 40-year-old woman is at the center of a long legal battle between her husband and her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. Michael Schiavo wants to pull her feeding tube so she can die, saying she had made statements that she would not want to be kept alive artificially. Florida courts have repeatedly affirmed his efforts.
The Schindlers dispute doctors' assertions that Terri is in a persistent vegetative state and believe her condition could improve with therapy.
On Tuesday, Terri Schiavo was moved temporarily to a retirement home in Clearwater while renovation work is done at the Pinellas Park hospice where she lives, her family said. Her father and brother, Bobby, said they visited her Wednesday afternoon and she seemed more active and responsive than she's been since her feeding tube was removed and then reinserted six days later in October.
