ATTN: SHERIFF JAMES COATS

RE: Court order to kill Terri Schiavo by denial of water (food
irrelevant)

Sheriff Coats:

This is to remind you that you are the senior law enforcement officer in your jurisdiction. The office of Sheriff was established that way so as to act on behalf of the PEOPLE, as opposed to government.

In the matter of the court ordered execution of Terri Schiavo on Friday, March 18, 2005, you have the solemn duty to be certain that is a LEGAL order.

In Terri's case, under Florida statutes, witholding water (and food) from a conscious, non-vegetative disabled person is a FELONY.
Here are the words of Governor Jeb Bush from his amicus brief on behalf of Terri in October, 2003:

"The Governor submits this memorandum to ensure that the Court consider the critical distinction between removing artificial life support and the deliberate killing of a human being by starvation and dehydration.

"These are two different actions. The first is performed according to state law and is allowed under Florida's constitutional right to privacy.

"The second is prohibited by the right to life enshrined in the Florida and federal Constitutions. . ."

"As Terri's death may be proximately caused not by the removal of
life-prolonging procedures, but the denial of oral sustenance, forbidding the provision of oral sustenance would create an unnecessary conflict with Florida statutory law..."

". . . natural oral feeding is not a life-prolonging procedure under Florida law.

"An incapacitated person retains certain enumerated rights under Section 744.3215, Florida Statutes (2003).

"That section clearly and separately delineates which rights are retained by the ward [Terri] (Section 744.3215(1));

"which rights may be removed by the court (Section 744.3215(4));

"which rights may be delegated to the guardian (Section 744.3215(3)); and "which rights the guardian may not exercise without first obtaining specific authority from the court (Section 744.325(4))."

That text and more from the amicus brief may be quickly viewed at this web site:

Since Terri is NOT in a "permanent vegetative state", CLEARLY the law is about to be broken regardless of what a judge or appeals board says. They cannot nullify the law.

Sheriff Coats, THE WHOLE WORLD is watching, and the whole world has seen the video clips of a very responsive Terri Schiavo. If Judge Greer's court order makes it impossible for you to view those clips locally, you can see them here:

It is obvious that you and the Florida Department of Children and Families have more than enough justification to act to put Terri under their custody while the many allegations of wrongdoing by Terri's husband Michael Schiavo are investigated. DCF has asked for a very reasonable period of 60 days to delay Terri's execution, and Judge Greer turned them down.

YOU **CAN** INTERVENE, and in fact, being a Sheriff, you are REQUIRED to intervene.

Don't allow your jurisdiction to be known best for torturing the disabled to death, Sheriff Coats. Think about how this will play out in your conscience for the rest of your life. You are in the unique position of exercising your duty and becoming a hero, or turning away and taking part in a murderer.