By Alex Veiga. .c The Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) - A new judge was assigned to the Elian Gonzalez case Tuesday after the previous one was hospitalized with a stroke.
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore was randomly picked by computer and will meet the schedule set by his predecessor, U.S. District Judge William M. Hoeveler, to begin hearing the case the week of March 6.
Hoeveler had planned to hold a hearing Tuesday on whether the court has jurisdiction in the case, but the arguments were postponed after he suffered a mild stroke over the weekend. A new date for Moore to hear those arguments was not immediately set.
Elian is at the center of a custody battle involving some of his relatives in Miami and his father in Cuba, who wants him returned. At immediate issue is whether the federal court can intervene in the decision by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to send the 6-year-old back.
The case has now become even more complex: Manuel ``Manolo'' Gonzalez, one of Elian's great-uncles in Miami, backs the boy's father and filed a request in court Friday for temporary custody of the boy.
Moore was director of the U.S. Marshals Service in Washington when he was appointed to the federal bench by President Bush in 1992.
``He is very fair,'' said Kendall Coffey, an attorney for Elian's great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez. ``I think the court is well-served by him taking the case.''
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 because of a possible conflict of interest.
Hoeveler, 77, was taken to the hospital by ambulance with slurred speech Sunday, unable to move his right leg and arm. He was reported in serious but stable condition Tuesday.
Manuel Gonzalez, who was briefly admitted to a hospital Monday after complaining of heart palpitations and numbness in his left arm, was chased by about two dozen protesters outside the federal building Tuesday.
Some of those chasing him carried Cuban flags and yelled, ``Communist! Communist!'' Courthouse guards and attorneys escorted him into the building.
Also Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed a brief urging the court to appoint an independent attorney to determine whether a ``reasonable, coherent asylum claim can be made on Elian's behalf,'' said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.
The ACLU of Florida argues Elian should have the right to challenge in court the INS decision to send him back to his father. Government lawyers contend a judge cannot interfere in immigration matters.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down the appeal of an Arizona man who asked the justices to ``cut short'' legal and political maneuvering and order the boy immediately returned to his father.
AP-NY-02-22-00 2248EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. |