Lawless

In the aftermath of Terri’s death, the Schindlers and Schiavos try to move on and find healing…even as Terri’s legacy continues to play out in the public square.Lawless is listener supported. Find out more at wng.org/donateThis episode was updated/remastered May 2025.

After Terri’s feeding tube is removed once again, the Schindlers’ allies scramble for any last-ditch rescue plans. Some are lawful. Others, less so. Police arrest nearly 50 people who try to bring Terri water. Meanwhile, protesters around the hospice mark the deadly advance of time: Starvation, Day 1…Starvation, Day 2…This episode was updated/remastered May 2025.

Raquel “Rocky” Rodriguez was Jeb Bush’s right-hand advisor during the Schiavo case. In this special episode, Rocky unpacks the governor’s backstage strategies and explains the unwritten decision that tied his hands once and for all.This episode was updated/remastered May 2025.

After Terri's feeding tube finally comes out, Republicans and Democrats come to together in Congress in a new bid to save her. And the fight over Terri's life divides Michael and Jodi—and spills over into Judge Greer's spiritual life.This episode was updated/remastered May 2025.

As international furor over the Schiavo case builds, the Pope issues a statement on the ethics of “life-sustaining treatments.” The Schindlers take it as a sign that the church hasn’t abandoned them. And their lawyers see it as new grounds to keep Terri alive. This episode was updated/remastered May 2025.

The Schindlers have run out of options in the courts. Now, they’re calling up everyone they can think of in every position of power in the state. Soon, governor Jeb Bush is involved. Then the Florida state legislature. Politicians start debating a bill tailor made to keep Terri alive…but critics say it makes a mockery of the Constitution.This episode was updated/remastered May 2025.

Five doctors are lined up to testify in court, deciding once and for all: Is Terri aware…or is she in a vegetative state? But before Judge Greer can hand down his ruling, new evidence surfaces: A bone scan that seems to prove all the Schindlers’ worst fears about Michael.This episode was updated/remastered May 2025.

In April 2001, a call to a local radio show snatched Terri Schiavo back from the brink of death. Now, everybody wants to hear what that caller has to say. The Schindlers hope the new testimony could tip the case in their favor. Somewhere in the flurry of legal maneuvering, one man decides to slow down and talk to the person at the heart of the case: Terri herself.This episode was updated/remastered May 2025.

In Season 2 of Lawless, some of the world's most powerful people join the Schindlers in their fight to save their daughter, Terri: Congress, the President, the U.S. Supreme Court, and even the Vatican weigh in. What had been a private legal battle explodes into a national obsession that sharply divides America...but time is running out.

For a week, both sides present witnesses, evidence, and expert testimony in the trial over Terri’s feeding tube. Michael and the Schindlers are exhausted, but the fight isn’t over yet. Judge Greer’s ruling kicks off a new era of legal moves and countermoves, and sets the Schiavo case on a path to the highest levels of American government.This episode was updated/remastered April 2025.

In January of 2000, Michael and the Schindlers head to court. At the center of the fight: Terri’s wishes. Did she want to live or did she want to die? And before her 1990 brain injury, had she made those wishes known?This episode was updated/remastered April 2025.

After Palm Garden nursing home blocks Michael's attempt to end Terri's life, a judge declines to remove him as guardian. Michael seems to move on with his life and for the Schindlers, the legal battle seems to be over. Then they get a letter in the mail that changes everything: Michael is asking a judge to let him remove Terri's feeding tube, to dehydrate her to death. Eight years after her brain injury, Michael says Terri told him that's what she would have wanted.This episode was updated/remastered April 2025.

After dizzy spells and ambulance ride, Lawless producer and host Lynn Vincent was diagnosed as having suffered a tiny stroke. A week later, she was back in the hospital—but not before asking God for...well, the impossible.

In the midst of reporting on the Schiavo case, Lynn gets up close and personal with the inside of an ambulance, and the team lays out some of the most pressing questions of the case so far.This episode was updated/remastered April 2025.

Just weeks ago, Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers stood arm in arm, united in their desire to care for Terri. But after the Valentine’s Day fight, their relationship is in pieces. And Terri’s meticulous care—the manicures, the walks, the therapy—it all vanishes.This episode was updated/remastered April 2025.

Strapped for cash, Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers are desperately looking for a way to fund Terri's rehab. They set their sights on winning a malpractice lawsuit against Terri's former doctor, hoping the settlement will take care of all their money problems. But you know what they say about money: it changes everything.This episode was updated/remastered April 2025.

Dan Grieco was at Michael Schiavo’s side from the beginning: Employer, attorney, and friend. In this special episode of Lawless, Grieco remembers the early days of the Schiavo case, and the opening legal moves that would set off a decade of bitter litigation.

Terri Schiavo survived her traumatic brain injury. But when she wakes from her coma, she isn’t the same. Michael Schiavo now faces a bewildering future as caregiver for for his disabled wife. Doctors recommend a bevy of treatment options. Rehabilitation. Therapy. The emotional and financial toll is steep. As Michael and the Schindler family work together to care for Terri, tensions rise, tempers flare, and secrets begin to surface that might destroy the family. This episode was updated/remastered March 2025.

Terri Schiavo was 26 years old when she suffered a brain injury in her apartment just before dawn. She had no significant medical history. No known health concerns.But when the sun rose that day in 1990, doctors weren’t sure if Terri would live another 24 hours. And no one knew what had happened.Everyone was looking for answers. Terri’s husband, Michael. Her family. The doctors. Even the police. Because something didn’t add up. After all, a perfectly healthy 26 year old doesn’t collapse for no reason.This episode was updated/remastered March 2025.

In 2005, the Terri Schiavo story riveted the world. New York Times bestselling author Lynn Vincent reinvestigates the case that changed the way we think about life, death, and what it means to be human.

By the spring of 2005, a severely disabled Florida woman named Terri Schiavo had lived in a dark, tiny hospice room for four years. On the morning of March 18, Terri was sitting up in a chair, unhooked to machines of any kind. Her aunt and sister were visiting. As Terri listened to them talk, she was smiling. She had no idea that the State of Florida was about to dehydrate her to death. Lawless is a true crime podcast that examines a frightening fact of American life: That not every crime is against the law. Season 1 investigates a story that in 2005 riveted the world: the case of Terri Schiavo, a brain-injured woman whose husband and parents fought a bitter legal war over Terri’s right to die, or…. right to live.