As I recall it, he didn't call 911 until he was told to. (Wasn't that in the testimony?) By some accounts the Schindlers made the call, but I'm not sure which version is true. In any case, the whole timeline is in doubt. Only Michael knows how long Terri lay there untended, aggravating her anoxic injury.
What we do know from the first witness on the scene, Bobby, is that Michael was unglued. He was sitting on the couch in the living room (or something like that), completely out of it. Hysterical. To me, that suggests that it was not premeditated murder. He meant to punish her, not kill her. But there she was, apparently dead, and he's panicked and thinking, "Oh, my God, what have I done?"
By Michael's account, he did not attempt to administer CPR, which we can believe. He said he flipped her onto her back and cradled her, which is ridiculous. The two sober witnesses, Bobby and the EMS medic, both said she was on her stomach. I don't figure why Michael tried to lie about such a simple point, unless it was denial that he'd been on her back. All three said she was not breathing and all three said she was making gurgling noises.
Getting back to your first point -- I'd say it's obvious that Michael was afraid to call 911.
Your further thoughts?
Sometime before dawn on February 25, 1990, Terri's father, Bob Schindler, Sr. was awakened by a desperate phone call. It was Michael. He stated that he had, ".....gotten out of bed and found Terri lying on the bathroom floor and he thought she was dying." Bob Sr. was surprised when he asked Michael if he had called 911 and he said no. He told him to hang up immediately and call 911. He hung up himself and immediately called his son, Bobby, who lived in the same complex as Terri and Michael, told him of Michael's phone call and told him to go over to her apartment.
And on page 21,
Most troubling is discerning at what point Michael felt a need for having his attorney present. Did he call the attorney before or after he called Bob, Sr.? Did he call the attorney before or after he called 911? Did he call the attorney from the ER? At what point in this emotionally charged and anxiety-filled situation does one stop and decide, "Maybe I should have an attorney present"? Regardless of when Mr. Grieco decided to appear at the hospital, his motivation was presumptious, at best, and Michael's explanation appears contrived.
And on page 22,
To this day, Terri's case remains, according to calls made to the St. Petersburg Police Department, an unsolved, uninvestigated, OPEN, COLD-CASE file in the HOMICIDE division of the St. Petersburg Police Department. They claim to have been ordered not to investigate it, or any other complaints involving Michael Schiavo, "...at the direction of the State Attorney's office and Judge Greer."
8mm