709 Lawyer was surprised

She was expecting a "vegetable," but instead Terri was sitting in her wheelchair, without tubes, making eye contact, showing understanding and expression. The lawyer, who'd never seen her before was surprised, having thought her family had perhaps been exaggerating her level of ability.

After a 45-minute visit Christmas Eve, attorney Barbara Weller concluded Schiavo was so alert that she "should have been gathered around the Christmas dinner table enjoying the holiday with her family."

Weller, along with attorney David Gibbs, took over the lead counsel role in September for Terri's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, who are in a protracted legal battle with her husband, Michael Schiavo, to keep their daughter alive.

Full story here.