[SOUTH PINELLAS Edition]
J. NEALY-BROWN. St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Fla.: May 10, 2001. pg. 3.B
The 2nd District Court of Appeal, which ruled Terri Schiavo's feeding be stopped, will hear new arguments June 25.
The debate about whether Terri Schiavo should be kept alive on a feeding tube will return to the same court that ruled recently the feeding should stop.
The 2nd District Court of Appeal on Wednesday said it would hear arguments from attorneys on both sides of the case on June 25.
The court had ruled last month that the feeding could stop, a decision applauded by Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, who has maintained that his wife would not want to kept alive in such a way.
Days later, Cyndi Shook, a former girlfriend of Michael Schiavo, said on a radio talk show that Schiavo told her in 1992 he didn't know about his wife's wishes.
Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, then returned to a lower court and were granted their request to resume her feeding.
The appeal of that decision is what the appeals court will hear next month.
George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, wants the appellate court to stand by its original ruling, especially since Shook said nothing different from what Schiavo testified during the trial. He said the couple had not talked about anything specific.
Shook has maintained that her remarks have been taken out of context and that she never heard Michael Schiavo say anything about how his wife would want to be cared for in the event of a coma.
As the appeals court agreed to hear more arguments in the Schiavo case, a second woman came forward to claim that Michael Schiavo never knew what his wife wanted and that he was interested only in money.
"All I can do is tell you the truth," Trudy Capone said in an affidavit filed Wednesday in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court. "But again I will tell you Michael had no idea what Terri wanted. If it's one thing I do know it is that he never knew."
Capone said Michael Schiavo frequently confided in her about Mrs. Schiavo and often said he did not know what to do with her.
If Schiavo said anything different, he was a liar, Capone told an investigator working for the Schindlers' attorneys.
Michael Schiavo previously testified that his wife told him before her 1990 heart attack that she would not want to be kept on life support if something were to happen to her. Terri Schiavo collapsed in her St. Petersburg home from a lack of potassium and is now in a persistent vegetative state.
The Schiavos won a malpractice lawsuit, $300,000 of which went to Michael Schiavo and $700,000 to his wife.
Soon after the money was awarded, Capone, 46, of Belleair, said that Michael Schiavo bought a new car and offered to buy her expensive gifts.
"As soon as he received his settlement, he went out and purchased a gold Acura (I think that was the make) and drove it to my workplace just to show it to me. All he could talk about was his new car," said Capone, a nurse who denies the two ever had a romantic relationship.
Felos, Schiavo's attorney, questioned Capone's statements.
As to whether Michael Schiavo knew what his wife might have wanted, he said Capone's statements lacked any context.
"What were they talking about? Whether Terri wanted to be cremated or buried? Is that what they were talking about? Are they talking about a nursing home or being cared for at home? Is that what they were talking about?" Felos said during a telephone interview.
On Schiavo's purchase of a new car, Felos responded: "Does that make him a criminal?"
Felos also emphatically denied Capone's claims that Schiavo and his fiancee are expecting their second child. "I don't know what fantasy that is," he said. "He doesn't have any children."
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/
Now THAT is interesting!