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Judge Known to "not follow judicial rules" Declares Terri's Law Unconstitutional

Says law designed to prevent Terri from being killed contravenes her "right to privacy"

MIAMI, May 6, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The law passed by the Florida legislature last October to allow Governor Jeb Bush to order a feeding tube reinserted into disabled patient Terri Schiavo to prevent her death by starvation has been declared unconstitutional. Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge Douglas Baird ruled yesterday that the law violated the state constitution since it overrode earlier court judgments and contravened the right to privacy.

The ruling from Baird came as no surprise since lawyers for Governor Bush had unsuccessfully requested a replacement judge in the case noting that Baird was biased. In fact, in February a higher court ruled that Baird "did not follow judicial rules" in denying Gov. Bush and Terri Schiavo's parents the right to intervene in the constitutional challenge to Terri's law.

While she cannot move, speak or eat on her own Terri Schiavo interacts with blinks and groans to her parents who have paid constant visits to her during her over 10 years with the disability. The parents have been battling the efforts of Schiavo's estranged husband Michael Schiavo who has sought through the courts to have her nutrition and hydration removed which will cause her to starve to death. Michael has recently forbidden her parents to visit Terri and they have not been able to visit her for nearly 40 days.

Terri's feeding tube was twice removed. Once the courts intervened to have the tube reinserted and the second time the Florida legislature passed Terri's law, a measure allowing the Governor to intervene to have the tube reinserted.

The case is expected to reach the Florida Supreme Court. However, with Terri's law revoked by Baird, Michael Schiavo is free to order Terri's feeding tube removed once again.

See the full ruling by Judge Baird online at:
http://zimp.org/documents/BairdOrderonMotSJProt%20Order050504.pdf

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