Really, who else made that statement besides Michael? And why were parents' statements to the contrary ignored?
Which of them is lying? And how do you know?
PM: Really, who else made that statement besides Michael? And why were parents' statements to the contrary ignored? Which of them is lying? And how do you know?
Because you pose a civil question, I will give you the detail you seek. At the trial, 5 witnesses testified as to statements by Terri: her mother, an unnamed witness (discussed below), Michael, Scott Schiavo (Michael's brother), and Joan Schiavo (Scott's wife and Michael's and Terri's sister-in-law). (Her father did not report any statements from Terri.)
The mother said that Terri said, during news reports of the Karen Anne Quinlan matter, that they should just leave her (Karen Anne Quinlan) alone. She said Terri was 17 to 20 years of age at the time. However, when shown the dates of Karen Anne Quinlan's ordeal by newspapers, she admitted under cross-examination, that Terri would have been only 11 or perhaps 12 years of age.
Then the parents' lawyer produced a witness which the decision does not name. This woman said that Terri told her a bad joke in 1982 (when Terri was 19) about the Karen Anne Quinlan case evidencing her view that Karen should have been left alone. Unfortunately, for this unnamed witness, she said that the joke was in the present tense, when Karen had already been dead for several years. Her testimony was obviously contrived.
Michael gave explicit testimony of several conversations with Terri (which I am sure you would discount).
However, most persuasive to Judge Greer was the testimony of Scott and Joan. The judge noted that neither appeared to try to shade their testimony and included unfavorable points within their testimony. Neither were impeached during cross-examination. Terri's statements to Scott and Joan reflected values of independence, quality of life, not wanting to be a burden and not wanting to be 'hooked to a machine'.
In short, the mother's accounts at the time of the Karen Anne Quinlan situation were discounted because Terri was only 11 years old, whereas her comments to Michael, Scott and Joan were made when she was an adult.
So, one can see why Judge Greer would give greater weight to the testimony of Scott and Joan than to that of the mother.
By the way, one need not assume that the mother was 'lying', the statements of Terri she recounted would be consistent with the immature statements of an 11-year old and could be true. But the important point is that, as an adult, Terri did not want to be kept alive artificially (as she is now). That is why Judge Greer could make that finding by clear and convincing evidence.