Lawyer: Client too ill for prison

He is out of a coma but needs 24-hour care, a judge is told.

By KEVIN GRAHAM, Times Staff Writer
Published September 17, 2007

TAMPA - Real estate investor Steven Green has finally come out of his coma but still has not improved enough to serve a federal prison sentence, his New York attorney says in court papers.

Louis E. Cherico, Green's attorney, filed a motion Friday to ask for a second delay to the start of Green's 33-month prison term because he needs 24-hour nursing assistance.

Green "has made only the most modest of gains," Cherico tells U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew in his request. "He still has no ability to communicate effectively, no mobility on his left side, only reactive mobility on his right side, and is bound to a wheelchair when not in bed."

Cherico wants the judge to give Green until Jan. 3 to turn himself in - if his condition has improved by then.

Bucklew originally sentenced Green in February, giving him time to get his business affairs in order and liquidate his holdings to pay $4.1-million in restitution. Green pleaded guilty to using a fake Social Security number in an apartment loan application and to failing to file income tax returns from 1999 to 2001. Green had built a $200-million apartment empire in Tampa and then racked up record code violations.

A day before he was hit by a car May 9, the judge gave him a few more days of freedom, pushing his surrender date from June 28 to July 7. After the accident, the judge pushed the date again to Oct. 5.

Dr. Steven R. Flanagan, a physician treating Green at New York's Mount Sinai Medical Center, tells the judge in a letter that Green has problems with concentrating, memory, processing speed and executive skills.

"He is incapable of making medical or financial decisions for himself at this time and likely will not be able to for at least another six months, noting that his disabilities will most likely be permanent," Flanagan said.

Cherico said that Green spent about 40 days in a coma. He's now in a rehabilitation section at Mount Sinai, where Cherico said Green receives physical therapy several times a day.

Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 16, 2007, 20:39:25]