Ted Williams Judge Told To Butt Out

But Oldest Daughter Still Wants Court To Issue A Ruling

(AP)  The legal battle over Ted Williams' body took yet another turn Thursday when his estate's executor withdrew a request for a judge to decide if the baseball star's remains should be frozen or cremated.

Al Cassidy said in court papers filed in Citrus County that he is convinced the Red Sox slugger wanted to be cryonically frozen and that he didn't need a judge's guidance anymore.

The decision could be a victory for Williams' youngest children, John Henry and Claudia Williams, who claim they and their father signed a handwritten pact in November 2000 agreeing that they would be put in deep freeze after death.

"This puts an end to the proceeding that was pending," said Robert Goldman, the attorney for John Henry and Claudia Williams.

But Williams' eldest daughter, Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, is not giving up her fight to have the baseball great cremated and his ashes scattered off the Florida coast, as he requested in his will. She plans to petition the judge to tell Cassidy to obey the will.

"I'm really disappointed that Mr. Cassidy would have withdrawn the petition when there are so many unanswered questions," said Richard Fitzpatrick, her attorney. "Bobby-Jo Ferrell will not let it end this way."

Williams' body was moved to a Scottsdale, Ariz., cryogenics lab shortly after his July 5 death at age 83. Cryogenic supporters say frozen bodies might one day be thawed and brought back to life, although most experts say that is highly unlikely.

Cassidy said he withdrew his petition because of the handwritten pact, a report by a handwriting expert attesting to the authenticity of Williams' signature on the pact and an affidavit from Claudia Williams saying Ted Williams knew what he was doing when he signed. Williams was hospitalized to be fitted for a pacemaker when he signed the pact, John Henry and Claudia Williams say.

"The personal representative is no longer in doubt as to his duties with respect to the disposition of the decedent's body," Cassidy said in the court papers. "He has no further duties in that regard."

But Fitzpatrick said the handwritten pact raised more questions than it answered. The pact was signed on a piece of scrap paper that had several small dark stains. John Henry Williams said he had folded the note and left it for an extended period of time in some files in the trunk of his car, where it was stained by oil or grease.

"Why does it appear the paper was torn in half? Why was it in someone's trunk? What were those stains?" Fitzpatrick said. "All those questions about the authenticity need to be answered by the court."

The Miami-based handwriting expert, Linda J. Hart, said in a report that Williams' signature on the pact matched a signature on a hospital authorization form that was witnessed by a hospital employee at about the same time.

In addition, Claudia Williams said in her affidavit that her father knew what he was doing.

"Although I am not a doctor, it is my opinion that when my father verbally expressed his desire to be cryonically preserved in bio-statis, he understand the concept that there was no guarantee of being resuscitated in the future," Claudia Williams said. "When he executed the separate writing just moments later, he knew what he was doing."