MIAMI, 21 (AP) - The judge in the Elian Gonzalez case suffered a mild stroke, delaying Tuesday's hearing on whether the court has jurisdiction in the boy's case until a new judge is assigned.
U.S. District Judge William M. Hoeveler, 77, was taken to the hospital by ambulance with slurred speech Sunday, unable to move his right leg and arm, said Dr. James Stewart, a neurologist at HealthSouth Doctors' Hospital of Coral Gables.
Hoeveler, who suffered a mild stroke, ``has continued to show improvement today and we expect his progress to continue,'' a hospital news release said. He was in serious but stable condition Monday night.
Elian is at the center of a custody battle involving his relatives in Miami and his father in Cuba. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has ordered the 6-year-old boy returned to his father.
Hoeveler had planned to hear arguments Tuesday on whether the federal court can intervene in the case. Chief U.S. District Judge Edward B. Davis said Monday said he will preside over the hearing, but only for the purpose of informing lawyers in the case about the assignment of a new judge, and
to schedule future hearings.
Davis said the new judge will be selected randomly by a computer.
Last week, Hoeveler had complained of ``heart racing,'' his wife, Griffin Hoeveler, told The Miami Herald. A doctor had suggested he go to the hospital for tests, but Hoeveler declined.
Hoeveler, a veteran federal judge who presided over the trial of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, was assigned the Elian case after another judge withdrew last month because of a possible conflict of interest.
AP-NY-02-21-00 1937EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press |