Judge Greer has ignored spousal abuse before.

From the Empire Journal.

When Helene Ball McGee if Dunedin, Fla., turned to Greer for protection against her abusive husband, Bobby Lane McGee in March, 1998, Greer rebuked her plea for help, saying that he wasn’t “convinced that her life was in imminent danger”

In asking for the court order, she told Greer that her husband forced himself on her sexually, burned her belongings and said she was possessed by the devil. Greer ruled that she didn’t have “enough proof” that her husband was violent because she said he had not been physically violent—-yet.

Two weeks later, Helene McGee was dead, stabbed to death.

Her husband had left a message telling her he was leaving town, leading her to believe that it would be safe to return to their home because he wouldn’t be there. Upon entering her home, he stabbed her to death.

Deputies found her husband hiding, submerged in a drainage ditch behind their house, wearing camouflage and a black mask. He was charged with first degree murder.

Helene McGee was a nurse at the Pinellas County Jail operated by Everett Rice, Pinellas County Sheriff, one of Greer’s best friends. Her co-workers say she was scared to death of her husband.

After her death, they protested in front of Greer’s Pinellas County Courthouse. They said they were aware of the marital problems existing in the McGee household. One co-worker said that Helene had told her after Greer had denied the order of protection that “maybe he’s going to have to kill me before I can get a restraining order”.

Florida Statutes, Section 741.2902 addressing domestic violence and the legislative intent with respect to judiciary’s role states it is the intent of the Legislature, with respect to domestic violence cases, that at the first appearance the court shall consider the safety of the victim, the victim’s children, and any other person who may be in danger if the defendant is released, and exercise caution in releasing defendants,

But Greer didn’t in the case of Helene Ball McGee.

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