Originally Posted - December 27, 2006

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Just when you think you've heard it all, along comes Constance d'Angelis.

Or McCaughey.

Or Felos.

Or whatever name she's using at the moment.

The one thing that remains constant is her attempted exploitation of Terri Schindler Schiavo.

Constance Felos (left) was the law partner of her then husband, George Felos (right), when they teamed up to represent Michael Schiavo in his efforts to secure a judicial order to end the life of his ward, Terri Schindler Schiavo.

Although she has no medical degrees and is only a massage therapist, unbelievably the by then ex-Mrs. Felos issued a press release in April 2005, less than two weeks after the death of the 41-year-old disabled woman, offering her services to interpret the autopsy report of the Pinellas County medical examiner's office. She claimed that she could "analyze the results and weigh in on the important matters of how---by reason, not emotion-the "persistent vegetative state" diagnosis of Terri Schiavo was arrived at, and why".

In that those efforts to capitalize on untimely death of the disabled woman apparently weren't financially fruitful, on Christmas Day, now operating under the name of Constance d'Angelis, she issued yet another press release again attempting to capitalize on the death of Terri Schindler Schiavo, this time offering her services for "alternative dispute resolution".

"How can we resolve family matters without dragging everyone through painful court battles? How can we change the rules to avoid family feuds faced in the Terri Schiavo case for 15 years? Let Constance d'Angelis, former attorney for Michael Schiavo, share her first-hand insights and alternative solutions to families keep the peace", her news release proclaims.

Constance McCaughey, 62, eight years older than her euthanasia advocate ex-husband, claims that after Terri's feeding tube was first removed on April 24, 2001, she made the statement that "The Schiavo case does not belong in an adversarial, combative and war-like forum. These people are the core of our fabric as a society. They are a family. What have we done".

Is this woman for real?

It's not known in what forum she supposedly made that comment as there are no previous reports of it. She had filed for divorce from George Felos on March 15, 2001, about five weeks previous to the feeding tube being removed and after she had had presumably shared in the more than $150,000 that had been paid to Felos & Felos from Terri's trust fund for legal fees, as approved by Pinellas County Court Judge George W. Greer, and more than $20,000 in costs.

According to court records which remained open until sealed after January 2002 by Greer on Felos' request, Felos & Felos had received over $300,000 in fees and costs from 1998 until the end of 2001. The Felos divorce was final on June 19, 2001.

Constance McCaughey and George Felos had been married on July 27, 1996. She had entered the Schiavo case in May, 1996 when Sixth Circuit Court Judge Mark Shames allowed Michael Schiavo to use the proceeds of Terri's trust fund to hire an attorney to end her life; not just any attorney, but George Felos who it was later learned had been involved in the case since at least 1995 along with Deborah Bushnell, Michael Schiavo's "guardianship" attorney, a position she apparently inherited from Daniel Grieco who had represented Schiavo at the time he submitted his falsified guardianship application to the court with his falsified academic credentials.

Judge Mark Shames had intimate knowledge of the case, having reviewed it at length with potential clients Mary and Bob Schindler who had sought to retain him as an attorney to save their daughter's life. The Schindlers couldn't raise the $15,000 retainer fee that Shames had demanded. When Shames became a judge and was assigned to the Schiavo guardianship case, instead of immediately disqualifying himself as required, Shames instead tried to order Terri's feeding tube removed without the knowledge of her parents. He then authorized Michael Schiavo to use the money in Terri's trust fund earmarked by a jury for her rehabilitation and therapy to instead pay Felos & Felos, Deborah Bushnell and other lawyers to end Terri's life.

There is no record of Constance Felos trying to exercise her " alternative dispute resolution practices" or "family collaborative council" in the Schiavo case as she is now trying to advocate for capital gain.

George's track record with marriage has been rocky with his first wife, Kim Felos, wishing him dead, according to him, and apparently instilling thoughts of murder in him, perhaps something in common that Felos shared with Michael Schiavo.

It has been speculated that Schiavo may have met Felos through his first wife who was on the faculty at St. Petersburg College where Schiavo was enrolled during the 1990s.

In his book, "Litigation as Spiritual Practice", published by Blue Dolphin in 2002, Felos described the period that he was separated from his first wife, writing "that weekend I experienced rage, savage, unadulterated and murderous rage". (pg.6)

He wrote about his ex-wife, "To her, I seemed unattractive, sexually unexciting, balding, boring and just not enough fun to be with….she didn't need me anymore. For her, marriage to me inflicted a fate worse than death. She admitted that for the past year or so she had wished for death and whenever I flew, hoped the plane would crash" (pg. 7)

In his book, Felos expressed his anger towards his first ex-wife, saying "I was on fire, fueled by thoughts of bludgeoning and tearing her apart". (pg. 23). In describing the period after his first divorce, Felos wrote that "it consisted mostly of dreams of being tormented in some inferno". (pg. 27)

Felos had earlier claimed that his wife was "enamored" with him. "I suppose power and success really are potent aphrodisiacs ---as my spouse had made particularly evident our previous night at the Governor's Inn".

In her new effort to exploit Terri Schiavo, Constance says that court systems don't work for family disputes, although she made her living from the Schiavo case until 2001.

" Why should it be up to a Judge to decide your family's future? Because a jury is not allowed, it boils down to two sides feuding in a family court in front of a judge. Look what happened to Michael Shiavo (sic) versus Terry's (sic) family - what a horrible mess for everyone involved! Let Constance tell you more about her experience viewing the first CT Scans in 2000 with Judge Greer. Will the autopsy tell us anything different? Did anyone really win this case?"

Constance couldn't even spell Schiavo or Terri correctly in her release.

If one is to subscribe to Constance's hype, if Michael Schiavo had hired her and followed her "team approach to keep the family peace" by forming a family collaborative council, "this new approach could have saved the Schiavo's (sic) and Terri's family from years of agony from the start". Of course, she probably wouldn't have benefited financially from the court battle had Schiavo chosen to mediate with the Schindlers.

D'Angelis claims to be an "expert on the current legal, judicial procedure and law" and says her claim to fame is that she "conducted the medical testimony and neurological examination including CT scans of Terri Schiavo's brain that established that Terri existed in a persistent vegetative state".

Some feat considering she has no medical degrees and no medical background.

She claims that Greer's February 2000 death order has been sustained throughout the numerous appeals in both the state and federal courts.

However, Ms. d'Angelis fails to make clear that no federal court has ever reviewed either Terri's case or the medical evidence presented to the lower court. Instead, they declined jurisdiction. Although Congress and the President of the United States had intended that Terri's feeding tube be reinserted while the federal court conducted a de novo review of the case, U.S. District Court Judges James E. Whittemore of Tampa in essence denied that new review with only a cursory review of the massive court file.

When the case was assigned to him, Whittemore refused to get involved but forget to mention that he had a huge conflict of interest which should have resulted in his immediate recusal from the case.

In denying the request March 22, 2005, for a temporary restraining order to restore Terri's feeding tube and thus save her life, the intent of Congress and the President, Whittemore wrote that her parents, Mary and Bob Schindler Sr., didn't have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of their arguments, effectively denying any de novo review as was the intent of Congress and the President.

However, they would have more of a likelihood of success had Whittemore disclosed his overwhelming conflict of interest in the matter involving a Michael Schiavo attorney that ethically prohibited him from sitting on the case on the case at all.

Whittemore, who had served in the 13th Circuit Court of Hillsborough County from 1990 to 1999, ruled that "the court concludes that Terri Schiavo's life and liberty interests were adequately protected by extensive process provided in the state courts".

Whittemore failed to disclose that Constance McCaughey Felos d'Angelis had been a member of the judicial nominating commission which had recommended him for his judicial position on the 13th Judicial Circuit Court of Hillsborough County where he served until he was nominated by President Clinton for the Middle District of Florida in 1999 and confirmed.

Immediately following Whittemore's purported "de novo review" of the Schiavo court case in a little more than 24 hours following a two hour court hearing, George Felos appeared on Fox News, stating that he was "impressed" with Whittemore, saying that the judge would not succumb to public pressure and that he was confident the Constitution would be preserved. In other words, he was satisfied and confident he had the judge in his pocket.

Whittemore, as well as Felos, failed to disclose that the ex-Mrs. Felos who had financially profited from the Schiavo case had been a member of the 13th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission which had recommended his judicial appointment as circuit court judge, the springboard for Whittemore's federal judgeship.

According to the Florida Bar Association, McCaughey served on the judicial nominating commission from 1988 to 1992. She was named commission chairman in 1991.

It has been estimated that more than half of Florida's 900+ judges owe their seats to governors. And that includes Whittemore---who owed his 10-year tenure in the Hillsborough circuit court to the Governor----and Constance McCaughey.

Felos, McCaughey, D'Angelis---whatever alias she travels under, was not qualified to interpret or analyze a medical examiner's report in the Schiavo autopsy.

As far as "keeping the family peace with alternative dispute resolutions", considering her own track record with "keeping the family peace", one would seemingly do well to look elsewhere for dispute resolution.

The Felos name has capitalized relentlessly on exploiting the Schiavo case and now Constance wants producers to "call today to schedule an interview to discuss how Constance's experience in the Terri Schiavo case is pushing her to promote a new Family Collaborative Council".

In our view, it's a yet another attempt by the ex-Mrs. Felos to exploit the late Terri Schindler Schiavo case. Maybe she should team up with her former client as he seems to have cornered the market on exploitation. 12-27-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette