The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 97

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13. 1997 THE TAMPA TRIBUNE POLK 9 juDGEGreen welcomes new opportunity on appellate court 1950, in a foxhole dug in the frozen grounds of Korea, the 18-year-old soldier earned the Silver Star for killing six enemy soldiers trying to infiltrate a command post "Private Green remained at his post in the face of heavy enemy mortar fire, and materially aided in the defeat of the enemy attack," the citation reads. Green also picked up a Bronze Star before being wounded in February of 1951 and being awarded the Purple Heart Following the war, Green graduated from the University of Alabama before receiving his law degree at Stetson College of Law. Bill Heery covers Polk County courts and can be reached at (941) 683-6538. ments with prosecutors in exchange for their testimony.

In the third death penalty case, Green in 1986 sentenced Charles Pridgen of Lake Alfred to die in the electric chair for the strangulation death of a 79-year-old woman. Pridgen, who had asked for the death penalty, later committed suicide by jumping head-first out of a tree at a state mental hospital. Sentence overturned Those who know Green best say he is a very compassionate man. "He's compassionate, but he has to go according to the law and sometimes that's hard for him," said Joy Smith, his judicial assistant for the past six years. The man, whom some criminal defendants fear, was active with the Campfire Girls when his daughters were young and loves children.

He was recently seen driving his tractor pulling a trailer loaded with his wife, Mona, and two young girls and their mothers through the drive-through at a Hardee's restaurant near his Lakeland home. "He's crazy about kids," said Smith. "The children come first in any situation. When we were in family law, he considered their needs first." In 1979, Green received na- weapon and robbery with a deadly weapon. A prosecutor asked Green to go outside the guidelines because of aggravating circumstances and give Drake a 30-year sentence.

But in a written order, Green found the conduct of the defendant "fully justifies the maximum sentence provided by law." The order said the crime was committed for financial gain and for the purpose of enhancing Drake's extra-marital relationship with a younger woman, who moved into Drake's home after the attack while his wife was still hospitalized. Defense attorney Shearer, who represented Drake, called the sentence a "mockery" of the guidelines system. But Green's sentencing order withstood appeals, and Drake is still serving a life sentence, plus 30 years. "The reasons I gave then for exceeding the guidelines probably would hold up now," Green said recently. He has handed down three death penalties during his time on the bench.

Two were converted to life sentences after the Florida Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was inconsistent with lesser sentences received by co-defendants in the two cases. The co-defendants had made plea agree tional publicity when he ordered a 28-year-old woman to not get pregnant during 10 years probation for aggravated child abuse. The woman had severely beaten her 8-year-old daughter. The appellate court on which he will sit overturned Green's pregnancy ban, saying the woman's life could not be controlled to that extent Green grinned when asked about the case recently. "They appellate court were probably legally correct.

As a practical matter, I was right." Green said he takes civil rights very seriously. "The problem is we deal with unsavory folks, and we have to bear in mind that what applies to the goose has got to apply to the gander. "I enjoy the same rights as everybody else does. I don't want people stopping me on the highway and searching my vehicle for no reason." Practical view Whether it's because of his trademark haircut or his low-key demeanor in the courtroom, Green has not been labeled an "intellectual" judge. That doesn't bother him.

"I probably stay up with the law as much if not more than most. I read opinions. I talk as little as possible in the courtroom. I'm not a preacher." In lawyer polls taken periodically by a newspaper, Green has ranked at or near the top among the 18 circuit judges in the 10th Judicial Circuit, which encompasses Polk, Hardee and Highlands counties. "I think Judge Green through his study and experience is probably as knowledgeable about criminal law as any judge in the state of Florida," said former circuit judge Thomas "Buddy" Clarke of Lake- land.

Green, Clarke said, also carries something else into the courtroom with him "a substantial amount of practical experience. He's been around. He sees it from a practical angle, and I think that's why he's such a popular judge, because the people can identify with him. "He certainly has dedicated his life to being a judge and doing the right thing." Green's practical experience in life begin early. The morning after his senior prom at Huntsville, High School, where he played football for three years, the son of a career soldier boarded a train for Fort Knox and Army basic training.

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The crew-cut father of three grown daughters said recently that his basic attitude has not changed. "The sentencing guidelines have tempered my approach. It's a different ballgame now than in the 70s. Drugs have overwhelmed us." The sentencing guidelines require a judge to give reasons in writing for exceeding the guidelines. Those departures often are overturned at the appellate level.

Even though he Oliver Green Jr. in 1972 served on a statewide 15-member commission appointed by the Florida Supreme Court in 1982 to write the guidelines, Green readily admits, "It's common knowledge that I don't like sentencing guidelines. I prefer more discretion." If Green had remained on the trial court, his wish would come true next October when new legislation gives judges that discretion. Judges will no longer have to give reasons for exceeding the guidelines and can hand out sentences up to the maximum statutory limits for different crimes. In 1984, Green went well beyond sentencing guidelines and a prosecutor's recommendation when he sentenced Thomas Eugene Drake of Winter Haven to fife in prison plus 30 years for the attempted murder of Drake's wife.

Drake's wife was beaten in the head with a claw hammer at a church where she worked as a secretary. About $3,800 was stolen from the church. Because of a quirk in sentencing procedures, state guidelines called for Drake to receive only a five-year prison term for attempted second-degree murder with a 1 .1 mi iiiiiiiiinni iii ilium iii iiiiiiinniiiiii iMmm imnniii limn, I Circuit Judge Oliver Green will be sworn in Jan. 15 to his new job as a member of the 2nd District Court of Appeal. The ceremony will be at 2:30 p.m.

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