Mistakes that cost lives
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2005over on Patterico’s blog, they are discussing how a mistake by judge Greer may have played a large part in his “finding” that Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state. Apparently, he chose to disregard testimony by a witness based on the verb tense the witness used (”is” instead of “was”), saying it was incorrect for the time period. In actuality, the judge was mistaken about the date, and “is” was correct. The judge refused to admit the gravity of his error when it was pointed out at a later time - saying it didn’t make a difference in his opinion of the witness, when in fact, it was the single most important point his opinion of the witness was based upon.
A witness [Meyer] called by Respondents testified to similar conversations with Terri Schiavo but stated that they occurred during the summer of 1982. While that witness appeared believable at the offset [sic], the court noted two quotes from the discussion between she [sic] and Terri Schiavo which raise serious questions about the time frame. Both quotes are in the present tense and upon cross-examination, the witness did not alter them. The first quote involved a bad joke and used the verb “is”. [Patterico notes: the joke in question was: “What is the state vegetable of New Jersey?” Answer: Karen Ann Quinlan.] The second quote involved the response from Terri Schiavo which used the word “are”. The court is mystified as to how those present tense verbs would have been used some six years after the death of Karen Ann Quinlin [sic].