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Well, well, well! What have we here?! Wendy Murphy -- whom we have met more recently as Haleigh Poutre's lawyer! -- was on this very program. I am an unabashed Wendy Murphy admirer. Her take here is fascinating, that Michael was a fraud on the court, and known to be a fraud on the court, back in 1993. That is, he wheedled a huge settlement out of the malpractice jury by promising to care for Terri the rest of his life. Then he went to a different court for permission to kill her and, not incidentally, keep the money for himself.

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GRACE: Let me go to Wendy Murphy, former federal prosecutor, at this juncture, to look back and say, "You`re the reason she collapsed and died," but, Wendy, you know, a lot of people are waving this autopsy around saying, "See, nanny-boo-boo, she was brain dead all along."

You know, Wendy, I want to put on the record right now: Don`t pull my plug, all right? Put me in front of the TV, feed me chocolate, comb my hair, pay me attention. I don`t want hindsight. I want a chance to live, all right?

Because what if, Wendy, the autopsy had shown otherwise, then what are we supposed to do?

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: You can`t fix this result now, can you? I mean, I think that is one of the most important arguments here is that this is not a mistake you can repair after the autopsy is done.

Nancy, you know, I`ll honor your wishes. I`ll feed you chocolate if that`s what you want. I may choose a different path. But the thing that bothers me the most about this case, aside from the vile statements this man is making about this family that loved their daughter so much...

GRACE: Horrific!

MURPHY: ... aside from his vile statements and the fact he was on "Larry KING" last night, and at the very end said something like, "I`ll never forget her."

He didn`t say, "I loved her dearly." At the very end, he said, "I`ll never forget her." Well, I won`t either. You know, that doesn`t tell us very much about his feelings, does it?

But here`s the thing: This guy was a fraud on the court, before anybody gave him the power to make the decision about this woman`s life. Forget the abuse. Forget the lies. Forget all that stuff for a minute.

The reason I`m offended by my legal system is that he is a fraud on the court and was known as a fraud on the court before anybody let him make the choice and have the power to tell anybody what she wanted.

And this is what I mean. After the dollars started flowing from the malpractice lawsuit, after the dollars started flowing, within weeks, this guy decides to go to a different courthouse and pull the plug. Now, why is that important? Because he had just told all the jurors in the medical malpractice case that he needed lots of zeros in that settlement amount, you know, in the jury award...

GRACE: To keep her alive.

MURPHY: ... to keep her alive forever and ever...

Here's what Wendy Murphy was talking about in saying Michael Schiavo was a fraud on the court. Below are a few bits of his testimony to the malpractice trial jury. He was laying it on with a trowel, wasn't he? He was pitching for a big settlement, and he got it... around $800,000. The fraud on the court is that, when the money was safely in the bank, he STOPPED any therapy for Terri (which is what the money was for) and started trying to kill her.* As Ms. Murphy notes, he went to a different court to petition to put her down. A clever lad, he is. The following is from the malpractice suit transcript. Gag-me-with-a-spoon warning.

Question (from Jury): You're a young man. Your life is ahead of you. When you look up the road, what do you see for yourself?
Michael Schiavo: I see myself hopefully finishing school and taking care of my wife.

Q. Where do you want to take care of your wife?
M.S. I want to bring her home.

Q. If you had the resources available to you, if you had the equipment and the people, would you do that?
M.S. Yes, I would, in a heartbeat.

Q. How do you feel about being married to Terri now?
M.S. I feel wonderful. She's my life and I wouldn't trade her for the world. I believe in my marriage vows.

Q. You believe in your wedding vows, what do you mean by that?
M.S. I believe in the vows I took with my wife, through sickness, in health, for richer or poor. I married my wife because I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I'm going to do that.

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* The malpractice lawsuit itself turned out to be a fraud. He sued two doctors for not diagnosing Terri's bulimia. But she never had bulimia (as Michael knew). At her autopsy years later, the medical examiner ruled out bulimia as a cause for her collapse. In doing so, he showed that the malpractice claims were fraudulent.