Exactly. Michael Schiavo is probably one of the most clever criminal minds to come down the road in a long time. Nonsense. He's made many mistakes which he's only gotten away with because corrupt officials were helping him. And even there he hasn't totally gotten away with them.
Felos and Greer are somewhat clever. Michael can't even handle a softball interview without messing up.
Initially, he was brilliant, if murder was his intent;
In the carotid sleeper hold, symmetrical force is applied by the forearm and upper arm to the sides of the neck such that there is compression of only the carotid arteries and jugular veins and not the trachea. The arm is placed about the neck with the antecubital fossa or crook of the arm centered at the midline of the neck. The free hand grips the wrist of the other arm and pulls it backward, creating a pincher effect. This produces transient cerebral ischemia. The carotid sleeper hold impedes blood flow of the carotid arteries by pressure exerted on both sides of the neck by pincher effect of the arm and forearm. If properly applied, the compression of the carotid arteries will cause loss of consciousness in approximately 10-15 s. On relaxation of the hold, cerebral blood flow will be restored and consciousness will return in approximately 10-20 s, without any serious side effects. Maintenance of the pressure is essentially manual strangulation, and if continued long enough will, of course, cause death.
(...)
In theory, the carotid sleeper hold will cause rapid unconsciousness without injury to the individual. Unfortunately, in violently struggling individuals, a carotid sleeper hold can easily and unintentionally be converted into a choke hold as the individual twists and turns to break the hold.
A properly applied carotid sleeper can also cause death. One would not expect any trauma to the structures of the neck, however. The compression of the carotid arteries, with resultant decreased cerebral blood flow, can theoretically precipitate a stroke in an individual with atherosclerotic disease of the carotid and/or cerebral vasculature. The pressure may cause dislodgement of atherosclerotic material with a stroke due to an embolus. Blood flow to the brain is from both the carotid and the vertebral arteries. If the vertebral arteries have impaired blood flow due to atherosclerosis then occlusion of the carotid arteries may compromise an already compromised circulation with resultant thrombosis and/or stroke.
Compression of the neck by a carotid sleeper hold may also cause stimulation of the carotid sinus with bradycardia. Application of the hold to an individual who is agitated and struggling may increase the struggling, with increased release of catecholamines. The catecholamines working with the carotid sinus stimulation may produce a cardiac arrest. In addition, if the individual has intrinsic heart disease, he may be even more sensitive to bradycardia and the arrhythmogenic activity of the catecholamines
But if that's what happened, then things didn't go "perfectly" and he's been "cleaning up the mess" for 15 years.