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No PR Battle? Hmmm.

You havent been reading the emerging saga about the "money trail", have you?
The jury malpractice award to Terri for her rehabiliation, placed in a trust for her needs, has been raided extensively by George Felos to manage a massive PR campaign on behalf of his client (Mike Schiavo's) methodical legal process of euthanizing Terri.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43510

Excerpt

Felos didn't bill for services until after the trial that was held in Jan. 2000; then he presented a bill for nearly $75,000.

Although Bushnell billed for the initial phone call in 1995, Felos himself did not charge for advice he might have provided prior to Mar. 5, 1997, when Schiavo actually met with him and they signed a contract. To cover a few pre-trial costs, Bushnell obtained court approval for an advance to Felos of $7,500. By the time the trial was completed the sum total of fees and costs was $81,760.17 for the period from Mar. 5, 1997 to Jan. 28, 2000.

This included payments to paralegals, researchers, and expert witnesses. Dr. Victor Gambone, Terri's physician, who certified her as being PVS, a condition from which he said she could never recover, received $1,250 as an expert witness; while Dr. James Barnhill, a Florida neurologist, received $4,200 for testifying her brain was gone and had been replaced with spinal fluid.

Despite later testimony and statements from dozens of other doctors, including neurologists, the label PVS has stuck, as has the depiction of Terri not having a brain.

When the $7,500 advance was deducted, the firm of Felos and Felos received $74,230. Some of the work done by the firm was done by Felos' wife and law partner, Constance Felos. The couple has since divorced.

And what did Felos do to earn that money? ........................................................... Every minute, every hour the clock was ticking on Terri and the tab was growing exponentially. The principle of her estate was being depleted quicker than it could generate revenue. But with the financial report closed to the parents, the Schindlers had no idea how much was being spent.

After the trial, Felos billed on a more regular basis every few months, with a particularly large invoice for the two months following the trial, much of it for "dealing with the media."

... on Feb. 11, 2000, Greer signed an eight-page order directing the removal of Terri's feeding tube.

The Schindlers, stunned, wondered how they could continue the fight lacking the necessary financial resources. Then, in a sudden groundswell of support, a small group of dedicated pro-life activists cobbled together a grassroots campaign. Doctors, too, came forward to testify that Terri was not PVS, but they spoke too late. The order had been signed. Lawyers appeared, who agreed to carry the case to the appeal court.

A computer guru volunteered his services, and at his own expense developed a website, serving as webmaster until mid-2003, at no cost to the Schindlers.

Public opinion ran high in favor of the parents, against a husband who wanted her out of the way. Schiavo may have won in the trial court, but he was losing in the court of public opinion. Felos began a counter-campaign of his own, but not for free.

Massaging the media

In June 2000, Felos billed $11,700 for attorney time for the two-month period from Jan. 28 to Mar. 28, with many of the items being essentially damage control measures. These include hours spent with Schiavo doing media interviews, "calls to and from client regarding how to obtain balanced media coverage, media interviews," "numerous calls to and from media representatives and interviews", a call from Schiavo regarding radio talk show and libel issues," and so on.

One of the overseers in the County Clerk's office, Ms. Story, balked at approving the invoice because of its many media related items. Story said the court wanted to know why the expenditure of attorney time dealing with the media was of any benefit to Terri.

Felos explained in a letter to Judge Greer that the Schindlers had initiated a "broad-based media campaign," and it was necessary to "correct inaccuracies and falsehoods in respondents' media portrayal of the case." Attacks against Schiavo were "strident," and "he has directly been called a 'murderer' on television and radio."

He said Schiavo did not feel qualified to answer the charges, and counted on him to present his cause to the media. "A client may be concerned about misspeaking in front of the media or even, through a misstatement, making statements which could be construed as an admission against interest in the case, thus damaging the cause of action of the Ward."

Felos was particularly chagrined at a letter of Schindler's, posted on the website, that included some "extremely inflammatory language, such as 'Terri has been sentenced to death. We do not understand how in a civilized society, Terri's life was even put on trial.'"

Schiavo was being "unfairly maligned and held up to public ridicule," and as guardian should have "the reasonable right, through counsel, to counter such an attack. Otherwise, persons may be reluctant to act as guardians, and may be very reluctant to undertake legal action to enforce the Ward's rights if the guardian concludes that his or her reputation or livelihood cannot be defended in the proceeding."

As with every request Felos made during the six years he presided over the case, Greer agreed and approved the billing, including the charges for "dealing with the media."

For Schiavo and Felos it was money well spent. From that time onward, the mainstream media local and national got the message and have walked lockstep with Felos and Schiavo, in particular the Associated Press, the St. Petersburg Times, and the New York Times.

Terri continues to be described as being in a persistent vegetative state, when dozens of doctors and therapists say otherwise; the case is characterized as a "right to die" case, when a more accurate appellation is "right to live"; and the reason given for removal of her feeding tube is "so she can die."

Michael Schiavo's long-term adulterous relationship with another woman, with whom he has had two children, is downplayed or ignored. Also ignored is the once-sizable inheritance he stood to gain from his legal wife's death. Instead, he is portrayed as a loving husband desperately trying to carry out Terri’s wishes despite her parents, who stubbornly refuse to "let her go."

Bobby Schindler, one of Terri’s two siblings, told WND he is amazed at the strength and determination of the opposition against his parents and Terri by the courts, media, and government.

"I don’t get it," he said. “An awful lot of people want my sister dead, and they’ve spent a lot of money killing her. What I can’t figure out is why."