"Previously on The Practice:" "Know anything about this?" " "Single white female, attorney, 30ish...?"" " Where did you get this?" "Podiatrist, 40ish, loves movies and Maine." "Spoke for an hour on the phone last night!" "Dr. Braun, I am both mindful of your presence in the courtroom every day and of your loss." "Why don't you die?" "We've heard doctor after doctor talk about Ronald Martin." "How he was temporarily insane, how he wasn't responsible." "Ronald Martin, the man who strangled Donna Braun for seven minutes." "On the charge of first-degree murder we find the defendant not guilty by reason of temporary insanity." "You're filth!" "You should die!" "You should die!" "I shot him and I watched his neck explode." "And it was joyous." "If Gerald Braun came to you before and said:" ""Oh, by the way, I'm going to kill Ronald Martin..."" "...I hardly think you'd give your blessing." " Well, you would be wrong, Mr. Goode." "Because Dr. Braun did come to me and I did give him my blessing." " I don't believe this." " That's not in the Torah." "Page Jimmy as soon as they go off the air, tell him to drag Danny's ass in here!" "You encouraged Dr. Braun to commit a homicide." "This is not an appropriate thing rabbis should do with their congregates." " Mr. Warner?" " Yes?" "Detective Robert Belle, Boston Police." " Place your hands behind your back, please." " What?" "Why?" "He's basically been arrested for exercising his right to free speech." "All speech isn't protected, counsel." "Especially the kind that facilitates murder." "He gave an opinion." "A congregate came to him seeking spiritual counsel and he gave his learned opinion." "Your motion is denied." "Rabbi Warner will stand trial for accessory to a homicide to commence immediately following the Gerald Braun murder trial." "Busy month for you." " Rabbi Warner, can I get you to comment?" " No comment." "People have dubbed you "the Killer Rabbi." Any reaction?" "I'd like to respond to it." " This Killer Rabbi crap is disgusting." " Jimmy." "If he was black, you'd just call him "killer."" "If he were a regular white guy, you'd say "the accused."" "But give the guy a yarmulke and you all push the ethnic buttons." "It's shameful." " Jimmy." " No further comment." "You can go on in." "Okay, Steven." "Trial is set for tomorrow." "Should be quick." "They're putting up the victim and the arresting cop." "That's it." "Maybe two days, unless you think of anyone who could testify for you." "Questions?" "Just one." "Who are you?" "Aren't you Steven Frenauld?" "Okay, Steven?" " Yeah." " The trial's set for tomorrow." "It should be fast." "They're putting up the victim and the officer." "Figure one to two days." "Questions?" "Make me an offer." " You're married." " Steven Frenauld case." "You got one witness, Renee." "It was night." "I get reasonable doubt just thinking about it." "And your Steven Frenauld has three priors the parking lot was well-lit, and I have eyewitness testimony." "I'll play the race card." "That's why they put me on this case, to take away your race card." "Three years, two suspended, we plead guilty." " So he serves just one?" " Lf you lose, he walks." "Look, I tell you what." "You know, I shouldn't do this." "I mean, I could lose my job, but a hundred bucks." " Sorry?" " Hundred bucks says you lose." " You want to bet on it?" " You took this court-appointed?" "That means your fee tops at 700?" "Now, I am just giving you the chance to make eight." "If you don't think that you can win this case, I understand." "I'm in." "With a rider." "It's double if the jury takes less than an hour to deliberate." "You got it." "I don't understand." "You're meeting him for both lunch and dinner?" "No." "The lunch is to get the meeting part over with." "The date is in the evening, assuming, you know?" " Are you all right?" " Not really." "The truth is I'd prefer to just keep the phone relationship going for another month." "Or, you know, year." "Becca, will you help me with my makeup?" " Of course." " Thanks." "They'll drop to murder two, but no-go on manslaughter." "Which means what?" "Trial." "No point in copping to second-degree." "My advice?" "Temporary insanity." "I think the jury will jump at it." "Temporary insanity." "The Ronald Martin defense." "Your daughter was murdered." "The pressure of the trial topped off with an acquittal." "You snapped." " No." " Excuse me?" "No." "I will not use the Ronald Martin defense." "I knew what I was doing." "I won't pretend otherwise." " Gerald?" " No." "Dr. Braun, you have no other choice." "Look at you." "You're advising me to lie." "And you sit there, poleaxed at my hesitation." "Is dishonesty so organic to this system that you're actually thrown by a client who opts for the truth?" "Let's fix the system next week." "For now, you have a temporary-insanity defense or an extended prison term." "If I seem thrown, maybe it's I'm surprised a person who shot somebody in the head could be such a stickler for principle." " That's not fair." "How dare you?" "Mrs. Braun, it is not my function as a lawyer to coddle either one of you." "This is a murder trial." "It'll get rough." "If you want comfort, go to your rabbi." "Though I suspect that's partly what got you into this trouble to begin with." " We should go with the rabbi on this one." " What does that mean?" "Well, stand right up in court and say what Daniel said on the TV show:" ""It's more right for Ronald Martin to be dead than free."" " We can't do that." " Of course we can." "Just wink to the jury and say, "You know, he did it." "Let him go anyway."" " There's a name for it." " Yeah, it's called "jury nullification."" "And ethically, a lawyer can't argue it." "Our client shot off a guy's head, we're gonna get caught up on ethics?" "Put it right to that jury." "Ronald Martin got what was coming to him." "What if it was your daughter?" "Who wouldn't pull that trigger?" "This is America." "Not guilty." "Cancel whatever I got tomorrow, Bec." "I'm going to trial." " On Frenauld?" " DA won't deal." "She'll bet though." "I got 100 bucks saying I'll win." "Podiatrist?" "Excuse me." "You made a bet on Frenauld, the armed robber?" " The very one." " They have an eyewitness." "Have you seen me cross-examine an eyewitness?" "Tell her, Bobby." " He's good." " This eyewitness is perfect." "When I hear they're perfect, I just smile." "You want in on the action?" "Hundred bucks to you." "Don't do it." "I handled the arraignment." "I read the incident report." "He can't win this." "Lindsay, don't bet him." "A hundred bucks." "You cannot win this case." "If you do, I'll be watching." "The education will be worth the money I lose." " Come on, Jimmy." " You cannot win this case." "You won't." "The defense reasserts his plea of not guilty, Your Honor." "And we would be seeking an immediate trial date." " Not guilty by reason of insanity?" " No, Your Honor." "A straight not guilty." "Do you plan to challenge the constitutionality of the confession?" "No, Your Honor." "The plea of not guilty is so entered." "I'll see counsel in chambers." " Well?" " My client insists on not guilty." " He refuses to argue insanity." " You're going jury nullification?" " I don't know what I'm doing yet." " And you're asking for an immediate trial?" " Do I look like an idiot?" " Do I?" "I will hammer that jury with the strongest instruction I have ever crafted." "Know that." " I've got a job to do, Your Honor." " As do I!" "You'd better come up with something else." "I will not let you argue to the jury that they ignore the law." "I'll just go not guilty on the elements, Your Honor." "That's it." "Right." " Working late?" " Trial starts first-up." "I'm curious, Eugene." "Why didn't you ask for a probable-cause hearing?" "On this?" "Well, if nothing else, it would've been good for discovery." "They only would've put up the cop, and there's no discovery with him." "The whole case is the victim's eyewitness testimony." "Then why didn't you try to get it kicked on constitutional grounds?" "You going to law school on the sly, Rebecca?" "You don't need to be a lawyer to know there's something wrong with an ID made while the suspect is in handcuffs." " The suspect was made three times." "Once before, once after the arrest." "Okay." "Guess I'm wrong, then." "Say what you have to say, Rebecca." "Since you ask." "This case is court-appointed." "You get paid the same, which isn't saying much, no matter how much time you put in." "Seems to me you could've brought probable cause or motions to suppress." "But you're happy just to jump through the court-appointed required hoops." " Done?" " That's all." " First off, the guy did it." "We all..." " Almost all our clients did it." " I thought you were done." " I had no idea you'd say that." "Second, a probable-cause hearing or constitutional challenge would be so futile..." "Yeah, but you could've preserved the grounds for appeal." "Third, how I choose to defend a case is none of your business." "No, no, wait!" "Firm business is my business." "If I see malpractice, it's my responsibility..." "Malpractice?" "Rebecca, you know nothing about the practice of law." "And you seem to be overlooking the fact that I'm going to win." "Winning rarely amounts to malpractice." "Good thing for Mr. Frenauld you got money on it." "Let me ask you a question." "All that stuff you were saying earlier:" ""Who wouldn't pull the trigger," all that stuff?" "Yeah." "Level with me, Jimmy." "When you first heard Jerry Braun killed Ronald Martin, how did you feel in your gut?" " My gut?" " In your gut." "I said to myself, "Good for him."" "I mean, I don't support it or nothing." "But if I had a daughter and somebody killed her, I'd want him dead." "You think the jury will think like that?" "I do." "So, what we need is some legal angle that allows them to go with how they feel." "Well, you mean some legal angle that allows them to ignore the law." "Yeah." "Man, what's taking so long?" "The judge will be in any second." "The jury will follow." "Let me see the face again." "Good." "Now sit up straight." "Don't scowl, no matter what the witness says." "Yo, when do I get to testify?" "We'll cross that bridge when we're drowning." "For now..." "All rise." "I got it." "We got a defense." "Moral justification." "It's a duress theory, little used." " Moral justification?" " Not an absolute defense." "But it can get murder chopped down to manslaughter which is as good as an acquittal." " Why is it as good as an acquittal?" "The DA is only charging murder, not manslaughter in the alternative." "He's afraid if the jury has that option, they'll jump at it." "No, I'm confused." "If he gives the jury the choice between murder and manslaughter he's figuring the jury will pick manslaughter, you being sympathetic." "He takes away that choice by not charging anything but murder one or murder two." "He's going all or nothing." "If we convince the jury you're only guilty of manslaughter, you get a straight acquittal." "Could they then charge him with manslaughter?" "No, double jeopardy applies to lesser-included defenses." "They have to charge manslaughter now or forever lose it." "Good going, Jimmy." "See, now we got something to go in there with." "You were acting in the heat of passion." "Passion was your sense of moral right." "It's different from straight jury nullification." "And we can argue that." "Good going, Jimmy." "I was loading groceries into my car when he appeared." " "He" being?" " The defendant." "He suddenly had a knife at my chest demanding my watch and wallet and saying that he would kill me." "And then he lowered the knife to my groin area." " What happened then?" " I gave him my watch and wallet." " And then what happened, sir?" " He just ran off." " And this all happened about what time?" " Oh, it was exactly 9:03 p.m." "I looked at my watch, probably because I knew I'd never see it again." "How was the lighting in this area, Mr. Agusta?" "It was very good." "There were lampposts every four parking spaces." "And five of the eight cars near to mine were white which I'm sure added to the brightness." "I got a perfect look at him." "Now, Mr. Agusta, did you have an occasion to see the defendant again?" "Yes, I did." "The police responding to my call said that a man fitting the general description had been picked up about a mile away and we drove to the area." "And police had that man in detention." "And I identified him as the man who robbed me." "Now, Mr. Agusta, can you state with absolute certainty that this man sitting here at the defense table is the same man that you saw on two occasions on the night of February 12th and then again in the police lineup on February 13th?" "I'm absolutely certain, yes." "That's the man." "Thank you." "I have nothing else." "Your witness." "Mr. Agusta, you seem to have a pretty good grasp of the detail." "Well, I'm a photographer by trade, so, yeah." " I have a pretty good eye." " I'd say outstanding." "You not only remember that five of the eight cars were white you identified the little trees the suspect hopped through when he ran away." "Well, yeah." "Like I say, I have a photographer's eye." "Yes." "But when it came time to describe the suspect himself you said only that it was a black man with a big head." "Well, it was him." "You sit here today remembering the placement of lampposts the color of the surrounding cars, and the exact time, to the minute but as for what the suspect looked like:" "Black, big head." "Yes, sir." "As I said, I'm certain that it was your client." "Mr. Agusta, were you a little scared this knife all of a sudden being put to your chest?" "I was scared, yeah." "But if you're asking did it compromise my powers of observation I would honestly say no." "You were looking at the knife, weren't you?" "I was looking at both the man and the knife." "Well, for the knife, you remembered:" ""Stainless steel, serrated, wooden handle, nine inches."" "For the man, "black, big head."" "Look, I'm not gonna say that I wasn't frightened." "Would you say you were very frightened?" " Very frightened." " Why?" "You know you get along." "You've been laughing and talking on the phone." "Yeah, but he hasn't seen me yet, Rebecca." "Today, he sees me." "Ellenor, you are a very beautiful woman." "Yeah, well, maybe I'm just nervous about the whole you know, eyes-of-the-beholder thing." "Moral justification for a homicide?" " It's different than jury nullification." " It's not different." " He'll argue to the jury to ignore..." " I don't have to draw you a road map." "I'm bringing this to your attention now so we don't waste time going to chambers once the trial starts." "I'm arguing heat of passion." "Passion can be driven by a man's moral state of mind." " That's ridiculous." " You make your arguments, I'll make mine." "Is this why the rabbi is on the witness list?" "Will he testify that God is on your side?" "Whatever he testifies, you cross-examine." "Mr. Wilke, I seriously suggest that you charge manslaughter in the alternative." "Not a chance." "If you don't make murder two, he walks free." "They're flaunting this." "He planned his crime." "He went home, he went to discuss it with his rabbi first." "This wasn't heat of passion." "This was cold, calculated execution." "Then these people go on television and exalt it." "This is murder in the first degree, all the way." " The jury might reject that." " We're not offering manslaughter." "This is exciting." "You gotta admit." "Okay." "Somebody is gonna be real disappointed." " Are you still ready to try this next week?" " Ready." " Ready." " Ready." "I am." "Mr. Agusta, when the police told you they might have the guy and you got into the squad car to identify the person they had truthfully, you wanted it to be the man who robbed you, didn't you?" "Of course, I did." "I wanted him off the street and I wanted my watch and wallet back." "That's right." "Do you know if they found your wallet and watch with my client?" "I'm told they didn't." "What about the steel, serrated knife with the wooden handle?" " Did that turn up?" " I'm told it did not." "When you pulled up to the scene, where did you see my client?" "He was standing between two uniformed police officers about 20 feet away." " He was handcuffed?" " Yes." "And you said, "That's the man." "That's the man who robbed me," right off." "No." "No, I got out of the car and took a close look first." " You didn't identify him from the car?" " Nope." "As you looked at him from the car, standing 20 feet away, he didn't look familiar?" "Well, it looked like it might be him." " How so, sir?" " Well size- and build-wise, it could've been him." "Size and build?" "Ten minutes earlier, you couldn't give a size and build description." "Well, look, I was still in shock, a little bit." "I'd just been assaulted." "You were in shock?" "Your powers of observation might have been affected?" " Objection." "He's badgering the witness." " Overruled." "As you saw this man standing 20 feet away what about him made you think this is the man who robbed you, sir?" "I don't know." "I just remember thinking that it might be him." "And so that's why I got out of the car to take a closer look." "And when I saw him up close, I knew it was him." "But you couldn't recognize him 20 feet away?" " That's right." " Asked and answered." "You couldn't identify my client from 20 feet away." " Yeah, that's right." " Asked and answered." "But yet, the next day, in a police lineup standing 20 feet away you did recognize him." "How is that possible?" " Objection." " Overruled." "Twenty feet away the night before, you can't tell." "Twenty feet away the following morning, you pick him out in an instant." "After I saw him the second time, there were other characteristics that registered." "Build, stance, posture..." "So the next day, when you picked my client out of a lineup you were going off what you saw when he was in custody?" "Well, yes." "Not the things you remembered in the parking lot?" " Well..." " By the way would you call that a big head?" "Well, it seems smaller today." "You told the police you were absolutely certain the suspect had a big head." " Maybe I was wrong about that." " Or maybe you were right." "A photographer by trade with a gift for the detail maybe it was somebody with a big head." " It was him!" " Then you were wrong about the head?" " I said that." "Wrong about something so general?" "I don't know, sir!" "As I said before, I was in some shock." "Oh, yes!" "You were in some shock." "What's up?" " What's up is I gotta know something." " What?" "When Gerald Braun came to you, when he left your office did you know what he was about to do?" "Think I wouldn't have stopped him?" "Danny, did you know?" "Of course, I didn't know." "I knew he wanted to kill him." "I never thought he would actual..." "Of course, I didn't know." "Then why didn't you stay with him?" "You knew he needed you." "Exactly what's the accusation, here?" "Danny, help me out here a little, please." "Don't you think you gave him the moral empowerment?" "Don't you think you gave him the righteousness he needed to see it through?" "Let's not kid ourselves." "Ronald Martin is dead, in large part, because of you." "I'll ask again." "What's the accusation?" "I am walking uphill into a murder trial that will be very difficult to win." "I need to know exactly what I'm dealing with." "Friend to friend." "I don't grieve for Ronald Martin." "But I never thought Jerry was about to go off and actually kill him." "He appeared to react nervously to our presence." "Fitting the general description of the suspect we detained him until the victim arrived, making a positive ID." "Thank you, officer." "No further questions." "He reacted nervously to your presence." "You shined your searchlight right in his face, didn't you?" " We shined it on his person." " You think it's unreasonable for a black man in South Boston to be nervous about two policemen pulling up and illuminating him, like a deer caught in their headlights?" "I don't think he had any reason to be nervous if he were innocent." "Silly me." "The general description you were talking about that would be "black, big head"?" " Yes." "Did you or your partner approximate the circumference of my client's cranium?" "We detained him because he was black, in the area, acting suspiciously." "Acting suspiciously before you lit him up?" "No, after." "Thank you." "That's all." "The prosecution rests, Your Honor." "Thank you, Officer Guthrie." "You can step down." "Mr. Young, we can break, or you can call your first witness." "We rest, Your Honor." "Concluding arguments at 3." "We'll adjourn till then." " What's going on?" " Trust me." "Shouldn't I say I didn't do it?" "You take the stand, your priors are gonna be put into evidence." "This way, it stays out." "Yeah, I know." "But if I say nothing, how is that gonna look?" "What are you gonna say, Steven?" "You were out taking a stroll on the streets of South Boston?" "Nature walk?" "You got three felony priors." "How would that look?" "They didn't make their case." "That's our defense." "Come on." "Sorry I'm late." "Excuse me." "I'm supposed to meet someone here." " George?" " Ellenor?" " Hi." "Finally." " Hi." "What a pleasure." "And what a relief to be getting this part over with." "Absolutely." "Oh, sit." "Please, sit." "You lied to me." "You said you weren't beautiful." "Oh, well, you know lawyers." "We're taught to conceal the facts." "Well, you're just as funny in person." "Well, I am not gonna lie." "I was so nervous about meeting you." "Jimmy, come on." "I spoke with Sackman, Kent, the jury consultants." "They gave me a list of questions we should be looking to get "yes" answers to." "Good." "I'm gonna go back in and try to kick venue to Charlestown." " Why?" " People grow up with an eye-for-an-eye code in Charlestown." "Our kind of folks." " Listen..." " What?" "Bobby, I feel a good connection to the Braun case." "I kind of came up with the game plan." "And I was wondering whether, maybe, I could run with it." "Jimmy, you've been doing great work, but this is a jury trial." "I was losing with jury trials because I sweat." "And sweat on the forehead makes you come off distrustful." "But I've corrected the problem." "You saw me on TV." "I didn't sweat." "Under hot lights, even." "Not a bead." "Jimmy, I don't know." "I'm right for this one." "You gave the tobacco case to Lindsay even though she'd never done a jury trial." "You had a feeling and you went with it." "Yeah." "Well, I don't have that feeling here." "Oh, okay." "I want you as second chair." "You're important to this case, definitely." "Okay, sure." "Okay." "Let me know what you need." "I will." "It was him." "It was him." "It was him." "It was him." "Now, how many times did we hear Mr. Agusta say this?" "Now, he was standing nose-to-nose." "The lighting was clear." "And he told us in this courtroom that that is the man that stuck a knife to him threatened to kill him, and then robbed him." "Now, the defense counsel did a lovely job of trying to confuse the witness rattle him, see how much water he could make him drink." "But he could not shake him on the one and only issue in question here." "Who did it?" "He did." "He did." "No, he didn't." "But that's what we all want to believe." "Let's be honest." "Because if it's him, we can be relieved that the bad guy's off the street." "We can feel safe." "That's what Mr. Agusta wanted to believe as he was driven to see the man in custody." "Let it be him." "Let it be him." "Damn it, it must be him." "And when he saw Steven Frenauld there, with handcuffs on it became just a little bit easier to conclude it was him, didn't it?" "Let me tell you what I think you may already know." "A man puts a knife to this person." "And as he says in his testimony, he went into shock." "And nothing really registers." "Just "black, big head." That's all." "Then the suspect runs away and Mr. Agusta gathers himself." "He settles." "While waiting for the police to show up, he takes stock of the lampposts the white cars, the fern trees." "That's why he remembers that stuff." "He processed it in a relative state of calm." "But in the heat of the crisis, black, big head." "That's all." "And if you are to believe that description, you must acquit." "Because Steven Frenauld doesn't have a big head." "My head's bigger than his." "So's Your Honor's." " No offense." " Just proceed, counsel." "The reason the law demands a police lineup, ladies and gentlemen is because it is an accepted truth that when a victim identifies a lone suspect in police custody he is more likely to automatically conclude it's the guy." "As a matter of law, those identifications are deemed unreliable, untrustworthy, tainted." "That's why the police had to bring Mr. Agusta back the next day for him to pick a suspect out of a lineup." "Because the ID he made the night before was unreliable, untrustworthy, tainted." "Now, you might say, he did pick Steven Frenauld out of a lineup." "Of course." "But he wasn't identifying the guy who put the knife to his groin." "He was recognizing the man he saw in police custody." "But the man in custody is not the man with the knife, not the big-headed man." "This man is only who Mr. Agusta wants to believe is the bad guy." "And he admits his confusion." "Big head, then no big head." "It's a normal-sized head now." "Imagine that." "So all we're left with is black." "Steven Frenauld sits here, black!" "Just black." "They found no knife, no wallet, no watch." "There's no physical evidence." "Just an eyewitness who, in shock, said that he could only give a general description." "Half of which, the "big head" part, he retracted." "Do I really have to stand here and argue there's some reasonable doubt?" "This was great." "Listen, can I give you a ride or walk you to your car?" " Oh, no." "Actually..." " Excuse me." "I'm gonna go to the Clerk's Office." "It's just across the street." "What about tonight?" "Did we decide, dinner or movie?" " I meant to bring the listings, but I forgot." " You know, George I'm gonna need to take a rain check on that." "Sorry." "Well, okay." "I'm working on this big 10b5 case which I thought was gonna be continued." "And then the judge, suddenly, is just trying to jam us." "I think he wants to force a settlement." "I have to be in federal court first thing in the morning." " Sure." "Well, maybe Friday or Saturday night." " I would love to, really." "I would." "I just, I have some house guests coming." "Otherwise, it would be great." "Listen, why don't I call you tomorrow?" "I can get my calendar out." "I think I'm really, very clear next week." "I'm out of town next week." "Okay." "What about the week after, then?" " Fine." "Week after sounds good." " Great." "I just got this fax from the Clerk's Office." "A notice of appearance of a new DA in the Braun trial." " Asher Silverman?" " What, you know this guy?" "Asher Silverman is a legend." "He has never lost a murder trial." "So this'll be a first, then." " He's also an orthodox rabbi." " What are they up to?" "This must be a response to our moral-duress strategy." "He's a DA and a rabbi?" "Maybe this makes him more compassionate." " He could be willing to deal." " I don't know how he is as a rabbi." "But as a DA, this guy is ruthless." "They're not bringing him in here to make a deal, for sure." "This is obviously to offset any argument we make on Jewish law." " Which is why I gotta know." " We're on solid ground." "Ellenor, I need you." "You're third-chairing the Braun case." "We need some..." " I'm really sorry, Bobby." "I just can't do that." " Why?" "I'm just not comfortable working on this case." "Please don't ask me to participate." "I'd really ask that you respect me on this." " Okay." " Forgive me." "Could I be so intrusive as to ask why?" "You wore your yarmulke on that television program." "When a rabbi speaks as a rabbi, he represents Judaism." "You represented it as vengeful and, as a Jewish person, I was offended." "L..." "I'd just rather not work on the case." "Fine." "I don't know why you didn't tell my side of the story." "You told me you were out for an innocent walk." "That's all I needed to know." "You didn't ask hard questions, almost like you didn't want to know." "Well, defense lawyers gotta play by certain rules." "And one of them is I'm stuck with whatever you tell me." "And I can't argue something I know to be a lie." "So sometimes, the less I know, the more free I can be with our defense." " Now, you follow any of that?" " Yeah." "All of it." "They have a verdict." " Thirty-six minutes." " I can tell time." "Will the defendant please rise?" "Members of the jury, have you reached a verdict?" "We have." ""On the matter of Commonwealth v. Steven Frenauld on the charge of first-degree armed robbery we find the defendant not guilty." "All right, Steven." "You're a free bird." " Eat right and exercise." " Thanks." "The defendant will see probation." "Then he will be released forthwith." "Adjourned." "Small bills only." "Buy yourself a new tie." "Oh, Mr. Young?" " I'm free no matter what now, right?" " Correct." "So no matter what they say, they can't retry me or nothing?" "Also correct." "Double jeopardy." "But I wouldn't be holding any press conferences." "No, man." "I only want to say this to you." "I didn't do it." "Man, I didn't stick that guy up." "I was just out taking a walk." "So thanks for believing in me." "What'd he say?" "You know." "Just thanking me." " Change venue to where?" " Charlestown, Your Honor." "You could still keep jurisdiction, if you want." "You think there might be less media attention in Charlestown?" "Could it be possible that you want a Charlestown jury, counsel?" "I'm just looking for a fair trial, Your Honor." "Yes." "Or you might be looking for a jury to come back and pronounce your client mayor." "Motion to change venue is denied." "Gerald Braun will stand trial here." "I postponed it, that's all." " So now what happens?" " You know, the usual." "You know, I'll call him at home, during the day, when I know he's at work." "I'll leave him a few polite messages on his machine." "He'll eventually get the message." "And then, I don't know, I'll meet up with him sometime around never." " You got it all figured out?" " Yeah." "I know how it works." "Trust me on this one." "Ellenor, you had no right to do that." "Right?" "I need a right?" "For the kind of treatment you expect from other people..." "The chemistry wasn't there, Rebecca." "It's got nothing to do with rights." " But you rejected him because of his looks." " Yeah, and?" "And?" "And you can live with that?" " Can I live with it?" " Yeah." "I've been living with it my entire adulthood." "I'll survive." "And, I'm sure, so will George." "Could've at least been honest with him." "Playing that stupid game?" "I mean, come on." "Let me explain something to you, Rebecca." "You're grateful for the game." "You appreciate some excuse like house guests or there's just too much work piling up." "It's a lot easier to take than the truth." "And it's a lot easier to believe, even..." "And as for my right, if I have ever earned an entitlement to anything..." "Never mind." "First up, Jewish law." "Between now and next week, you are gonna make me an expert on the Talmud." "Hey, how did lunch go?" " Oh, fine." " Good." "Jimmy, where were you?" "Venue motion?" "Somehow, I thought you'd be okay without me." "A minute, please, now." "I want and need your help on this case." "But make no mistake, you are not a good trial attorney." "I'm sorry to be brutal, Jimmy, but this is a homicide case." "For you even to ask for it is selfish and totally unfair to the client." "I consider you an asset to this firm." "But for now, your job is primarily motion practice and trench work." "Let's not have any illusions." "Now, come on." "We have to meet with our client." " Hey." " Hey." "I'm buying." "Came into some cash." "Another one?" "Yeah, I heard." "Usually, when you win, you come back with a strut." "My client did not commit the crime with which he was charged and it never even dawned on me that he was anything but guilty." " Well, they almost always are guilty." " That's not the point." "The point is the one you were trying to make yesterday." "I'm convicting them before they even get to the judge, and I'm the defense lawyer." "Yeah." "Well, you got an acquittal." "Yup." "Probably why I feel so good." "To the winners?" "Am I the only one that sees the utter perversity of this?" "Ronald Martin commits a murder, they assign a junior varsity DA." " For me, they bring in the heavyweight." " Pam Borge is not junior varsity." "But they're pushing harder on this than they did on Ronald Martin." "That's because you went on TV, Danny, and you embarrassed them." " They're making an example because of you." " I was trying to protect him!" "Well, you didn't protect him!" "If you hadn't shot off your big mouth, we'd be getting manslaughter right now." " It's still not too late to switch to insanity." " No." "It's not too late to hire a new lawyer, either." "That was the sanest moment of my life." "I'll get right on that stand and say so." "Say it like that and wave bye-bye to your wife and world." " Who the hell's side are you on, here?" " Listen to me, both of you!" "The whole world may be cheering." "Publishers may be bidding to tell your story." "All I care about is what 12 people in a box are gonna think." "This DA isn't good." "He is great!" "He has never lost a murder trial!" "And if he can convince those jurors to ignore the cheering and the sympathy and concentrate on the law, like they should be doing, you both go away." "Because you committed premeditated murder and you were an accessory." "I'm on your side, but I am telling you, we are in trouble." "Next, on The Practice:" " There." " Rabbi Silverman, what is your position?" "Let me tell you about Silverman." "He stays still, almost motionless sometimes." "He'll slowly move towards you." "He won't shout or thump his chest." "He just moves in very slowly, trying to intimidate you." "Last chance." "We'll still take manslaughter." "He could walk." " I think not." " Why not just argue temporary insanity?" " The jury..." "They'll let you go." " No!" "I wasn't insane." "I won't say that I was, damn it." "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" " So help you, God?" " So help me God." "Previously on The Practice:" "I shot him and I watched his neck explode." "And it was joyous." "If I had a daughter and somebody killed her, I'd want him dead." " You think the jury will think like that?" " I do." "My advice?" "Temporary insanity." "Your daughter was murdered the pressure of the trial, topped off with an acquittal?" " You snapped." " I knew what I was doing." "I won't pretend otherwise." " Gerald." " No." "If Gerald Braun came to you before and said, "Oh, by the way I'm going to kill Ronald Martin," I hardly think you'd give him your blessing." "Well, you would be wrong, Mr. Goode." "Because Dr. Braun did come to me, and I did give him my blessing." "You encouraged Dr. Braun to commit a homicide." "This is not a thing rabbis should do with their congregate." " Mr. Warner?" " Yes?" "Detective Robert Belle, Boston Police." "Would you place your hands behind your back?" "Don't you think you gave him the righteousness to see it through?" "Let's not kid ourselves." "Ronald Martin is dead in large part because of you." "Notice of appearance of a new DA in the Braun trial." ""Asher Silverman"?" " What, you know this guy?" " Asher Silverman is a legend." "He has never lost a murder trial." "That was the sanest moment of my life." "I'll get right on that stand and say so." "Say it like that, and wave bye-bye to your wife and world." "Who the hell's side are you on?" "This DA isn't good, he is great!" "If he can convince those jurors to ignore the cheering and the sympathy, you both go away!" "Commonwealth v. David Piper, sexual intercourse with a minor." "Eugene Young for the defendant." "We'll waive reading." "Plead not guilty." "As for personal recognizance, no priors." "Are you asking bail?" " No." " How old is the girl?" "Thirteen, Your Honor." "Trial date, June the 20th." "See Probation." " Where's Mr. Donnell?" " He's in trial this week." "Can you come by the office?" "This report is sketchy and I need more information." " What's gonna happen?" "Well, I won't say nothing, David." "A 13-year-old girl, I mean..." "Well, she's 14 now, and she consented." "That doesn't matter when it's statutory rape." "Statutory rape." "She was 13." "That sink in at all with you?" "I fell in love with her, man." "And what, did she report you?" "Was it her parents?" "I think it was her doctor." "Her doctor?" "Did she get hurt?" "No, man." "She got pregnant." " How are you gonna plead?" " What can you tell us?" " We expect to show he didn't do it." " He said he did." "No, he admitted to shooting the guy, causing his death forthwith." "That isn't necessarily murder when there are mitigating circumstances." " Mr. Berluti?" " But like what?" " The guy had it coming!" " Mr. Donnell?" " Mr. Donnell?" " No comment." "Goodbye." " Were you talking to them?" " Sound bites." "Nothing of substance." " Rabbi?" " Rabbi?" " Rabbi Silverman, what is your position?" " There." "Rabbi Silverman, what is your position?" "He looks like a corpse." "Is the judge gonna let him wear the little cap?" "Jury nullification basically means telling the jury to acquit, even though the defendant is guilty." "Lawyers aren't technically allowed to make this argument but they invariably find a way to do it anyway." "Watch it." "And Bobby Donnell is expected to do it here." "He'll be saying, "Hey, whatever the law says you can't put Gerald Braun in jail."" "It can be effective with sympathetic defendants and the prosecution knows this." "It's why they brought in Asher Silverman." "If the defense takes a holier-than-thou position you can bet Rabbi Silverman will have something to say about it." " How old are you, David?" " I'm 19." "Nineteen." "Okay." "And the victim, Melanie White?" "Are you two still on good terms?" " Yeah." " What about her parents?" "Any chance they don't hate you?" "Well, she's only got her mother, and I don't think she's too happy but she ain't threatening to kill me or nothing." "Is there any chance that Melanie or her mother would speak on your behalf?" "Hey, this is all gonna come down to sentencing." " So whatever help we can get..." " I don't know about Mrs. White but I know Melanie would come." "She's with me now." " What?" " Yeah, she's out there waiting." "Well, she can come in." "Come on in, baby." "Mr. Young, this is Melanie." "Melanie, Mr. Young." " Hi." " Hi." "So you two are on good terms?" "Didn't you tell him?" "Look, Mr. Young we love each other, all right?" "And we both wanna have this baby." "The judge is due back shortly." " Let's get some seats in the back." " All right." "Okay." "Last chance." "We'll still take manslaughter." " Voluntary." " I think not." "He could walk." " I think not." " It's an honor to be up against you." " Jimmy." " But we're not afraid." "All rise." "The state of Massachusetts v. Gerald Braun." "Sources say the prosecution will be putting up an eyewitness by the name of Chris Varley who was out walking his dog that day and saw Dr. Braun shoot Mr. Martin." " The medical examiner is scheduled..." " You believe this?" "Every station is covering it." " This will put us on the map." " Dr. Braun was compelled..." " Yeah, nice map." "...by an overwhelming moral force that made him pull the trigger." "A stretch?" "Maybe." "He just walked up, real calm, raised the gun and shot him." " What did you do, sir?" " Well, I just kind of froze up." "There was blood coming out of the guy's neck." "Then he took, like, two steps pointed the gun again and shot him in the head, and that was it." "Did you have opportunity to observe the demeanor of the defendant, sir?" "He seemed as calm as he could be." " What happened after the shooting?" " Well he looked up." "Said to me:" ""I suggest you notify the police."" "Just like that, real calm:" ""I suggest you notify the police."" "Like it wasn't even a 911." "The first shot wasn't fatal." "You can see it only nicked the carotid sinus at the bifurcation." "What about the second shot?" "Your Honor, I renew my objections to these photos." "Overruled." " Any value they might have..." " Mr. Donnell..." " will stipulate the injuries were bloody and fatal." "Mr. Donnell, the court advises you to take your seat." "Now." "Thank you." "Mr. Silverman?" "You may proceed." "What about the second shot?" "The bullet entered the temporal lobe just above the eye socket causing a pressure explosion of the upper brain and skull." "Do you have a medical opinion as to how long it took Ronald Martin to die?" "From the time of the first wound, probably about 30 to 40 seconds." "Do you have an opinion as to whether the victim suffered?" "Well, for 20 seconds or so, he was drowning in his own blood." "I would consider that suffering." " I thought it went very well." " Well?" "That was well?" "Dr. Braun, you gotta expect..." "The prosecution's gonna try to make you look like Charles Manson or something." "I think, so far, you're coming off a normal killer." "And now we put on our case." "Which is just the three of us." "No." "It'll just be you." "I thought I was first." "If I put you on that stand, Mrs. Braun they can get it out on cross how calm Gerald seemed before he left." "Your being in the courtroom is enough." "I think it shows you support him." " What about me?" " Too dangerous." "But the whole point is to show Gerald had some moral empowerment." " Lf I don't take the stand..." " lf I put you in Asher Silverman can blast away at our moral-justification theory with no risk to alienating the jury." "With Jerry, he has to tiptoe." "The jury feels sorry for Jerry." "He's a victim." "You're not." "Even so, I can support Gerald's state of mind." "I don't want our case depending on the jury accepting you, because they won't." "Why don't we just argue temporary insanity?" "The jury..." " No." " They'll let you go." "Look, I wasn't insane." "I won't say that I was, damn it." "Are you ready with your testimony?" "Yeah." "I'm ready." "Mr. Donnell, you may call your witness." "Thank you, Your Honor." "The defense calls Dr. Gerald Braun." "I'll remind the gallery to stay silent." "Raise your right hand, please." "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" "So help me God." "All right, no comment but this was not new information they put on." " I can't..." " What about the witness?" "We know Dr. Braun pulled the trigger, so what's the point?" " Well..." " No comment, sorry." "There's no secret that the guy's head and neck exploded." "This was stipulated." "They were just trying to be inflammatory with those photos." " Yeah." " Okay, is this it?" "How many times do I gotta say "no comment"?" "What is your comment?" "Mr. Donnell?" "Sound bites." "Nothing more." " Mr. Donnell, what is your comment?" " We need to find out..." "You must say something." "The defense wants to prove heat of passion but this is where it gets tricky." "Normally, heat of passion means a flash of rage or that the defendant somehow lost control." "But here, we have eyewitness accounts as to how calm Dr. Braun was." "The defense is basically arguing that the passion here is moral passion." "That Dr. Braun was compelled by an overwhelming moral force that made him pull the trigger." "A stretch?" "Maybe." "But remember, if the defense can prove heat of any passion Dr. Braun will walk completely free." "Because manslaughter is not an option for the jury here." "Prosecution is gambling and they are going all or nothing." "Why did you want off this case?" "Any lawyer would want in on this." "Heat of passion?" "Please." "I'm all for representing a client zealously but arguing the morality of murder really isn't my niche." "A defense is a defense, Ellenor." "If memory serves me correctly, you had a client who said the devil made him do it." "You had no problem arguing that." " What's your point?" " My point is I think you're taking offense here as a Jew and not as a lawyer." "And I'm not allowed to do that?" "Well, there is that separation of church and state thing, remember?" "Yeah, but what I do as a lawyer isn't state action, Lindsay." "Oh, please." "I think we should change the subject." "Exactly why did you go to Rabbi Warner that night?" "Well, because I was in tremendous I guess, rage." "And because I could think only of killing Ronald Martin." "Did you expect to change your mind?" " No." "No." "That's not what it was about." "What was it about?" "I wanted to know if I was evil for wanting to kill Ronald Martin." "L..." "I wanted to know if God would understand." "And how did Rabbi Warner respond?" "He said that God would understand." "Did he say anything else?" "He said that between Ronald Martin going free and Ronald Martin being dead it was more moral for him to be dead." "Mrs. White, thanks for coming." "What's this all about?" "This is gonna sound a little bit out there, but just the same, we..." "You know, David and Melanie, maybe it would be best for you two to wait outside at first and I'll call you back in later, okay?" "Okay." " It's gonna hit the fan in there now." " Yeah, I know." " How you feeling?" " I'm good as long as I sleep on my side and he doesn't start kicking at night." "I hate the heartburn." "Some people say that means he's gonna be born with hair." "You hope it's just hair." "We should have done that amnio thing." "So do you have kids?" "No." "I got out of the car." "I started walking toward him with the gun in my hand." "So you went there to kill him?" "Yeah, and I hoped I would." "But I also knew the reality of going through with it." "And as I approached him, I became less and less sure that I would." ""Less sure"?" "How?" "I kept expecting this impulse to suddenly..." "To suddenly tell me that I was about to do evil." "I half expected something in my brain to say:" ""Stop, this is wrong."" "Did that impulse come?" "No." "And as I got to him the sensation that I felt was that this was right." "Ronald Martin should be dead." "And as I raised the gun and pointed it I knew it more." "My hand didn't shake." "It was steady." "When I pulled the trigger I saw the blood shoot out from his neck." "I..." "I aimed for his head, but I shot him in the neck." "In the throat." "And I heard him choking." "And I remember thinking this is godly." "Because this man had strangled my daughter." "How fitting that he should choke." "That seemed to be the most godly thing in all of this." "And..." "Then I pulled the trigger again." "I fired the gun and he was gone." "Do you regret killing Ronald Martin?" "I..." "I regret the pain I brought his family." "I know their pain." "But I believe it is just for him to be dead." "L..." "I do." "I..." "I believe I owed it to my daughter to kill him." "And I pray to God that she knows." "Did you actually expect me to go along with this?" "Mrs. White, I don't know you, and I have no expectations whatsoever." "I'm just saying that they say they love each other." "They say they plan to be married one day." "I'm saying he has a better chance of staying out of jail if they get married now." "Do you even see how despicable this is?" "This may be in your daughter's best interest." "I've spoken to a social worker, and all I ask is that you meet with her so that we can..." "Mrs. White?" "I have a son who's a few years younger than your daughter." "I know." "Now, meet with the social worker." "If you're still against it, I'll respect that and back off." "But your daughter wants to keep her baby." "And this is more complicated than you know." "I just ask you to meet with the social worker." "Please?" "You did great." "But now is where it gets tough." "Let me tell a few you things about Silverman:" "He stays still, almost motionless sometimes." "He'll slowly move towards you." "He won't shout, or thump his chest." "He just moves in very slowly trying to intimidate you." " They call him "The Picker-off."" "Because he stands still, then he strikes." "You just speak from what's in there." "Don't fall for word games." "Don't try to make the jury think you're smarter than him." "You don't have to be careful here." "Everybody knows what you did and we're not hiding anything." " We're back." " All right." " Thanks, Bobby." " Let's go." "I don't mean to be harsh with you, Danny." "Understand." " I got a defense here..." " I understand you perfectly." "She'll be here any second." "I called their office again." "Okay." "Thank you." "There he goes again." "Feel." " He's a little rascal, isn't he?" " Yeah." "That one kind of hurt." "Mama?" "I really wanna keep my baby." "I know that I can take care of him." "I know I can." "We talked about this before, Melanie." "You're 14 years old, you have school, and you have your life ahead of you." "Mommy." "This is my baby." "Hi, are you Melanie?" "Mr. Silverman, you can begin." "You were aware of what you were doing when you killed Martin?" "Acutely." "And you felt God would understand your doing this?" "I wasn't sure." "That's why I went to my rabbi." "Is it your thinking that one may commit a premeditated murder so long as he gets a note from his rabbi?" "The jury heard my thinking, Mr. Silverman." "Is it your belief sitting here today in this courtroom that God would embrace your bloodletting?" " It is." " Would you care to offer authority for this position?" "Exodus:" ""He who fatally strikes a man shall be put to death."" "Genesis: "Whoever sheds the blood of a man by man shall his blood be shed."" "Then according to Exodus and Genesis should you now be put to death?" "I didn't take an innocent life." "According to the Torah, Ronald Martin had forfeited his right to live by murdering an innocent person." "I had a Jewish right to do what I did." " "Jewish right"?" " A Jewish right." "I'll assume you're aware of the Talmud's view on capital punishment?" "I'll assume you're aware that when Eichmann directed the murder of 6 million people we kidnapped him, brought him to Jerusalem and hanged him." " And then we cheered." " Eichmann was responsible for mass murder." "Are you comparing Ronald Martin to Eichmann?" "I'm suggesting that sometimes vengeance is right." "And I won't let you stand up there, as a rabbi..." " Move to strike." " This is my day in court, Rabbi!" "Not yours!" "All right!" "Silence!" "Be quiet." "The witness may finish." "You come into this room wearing your yarmulke to send a message to that jury that you condemn me as a Jew." "No, Dr. Braun." "I condemn you as a murderer." "But, Rabbi, you're in here as a Jew." "And you're testifying as a Jew that you had the right to commit a religious murder?" "Because to forgive a murderer is not the Jewish way." " You mean, it's not your way." "When God confronted Cain after the murder of Abel he didn't forgive him." "He shouted out to him, "Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground."" "God shouted that." "And God shouted out to you?" "No." "My daughter did!" "Her blood cried out to me." "Her blood." "And that's the real truth, isn't it, Dr. Braun?" "When you raised that gun you didn't hear Exodus or Genesis." "You didn't hear the Talmud or the Torah." "You didn't see God." "You only saw your daughter's blood." "And that's the real truth." "This isn't just changing diapers or taking care of a baby." "This is raising a child." "Do you think you really know what that entails?" "Probably not, but we're ready to learn." "Forget the "takes a village" crap." "The village is out of order." "The child needs parents." "Look, we'll do whatever we have to." "How long have you two been together?" "Will they arrest me again if I tell?" " No." " Almost two years." " Do you have a place of dwelling?" " Yes." "I have a two-bedroom in Brighton." "We plan to turn the extra room into a nursery." " How much money do you make?" " $660 a week." "But I'm supposed to be promoted to foreman in October which takes me to $ 725." "Plus, I get insurance for Melanie and the baby." "And I'm not covered right now." "Do you work, ma'am?" " I work for a courier service." " And how much do you make?" "$490 a week." "Danny." "It's 10:30." "Couldn't sleep." "Closing arguments?" "Yeah." "Look, Bobby..." "You and I go back to high school together." "I understand Gerald doing what he did." "But you..." "Say what you have to say." "You know Gerald Braun like you know me." "You had to know he was considering to go out and shoot Ronald Martin." "You may not have thought he was going to, but you knew there was a possibility, Danny." "You think I wanted him to execute Ronald Martin?" "I think that you could have stopped him, and you didn't." "Guilty by commission or omission, it doesn't matter." "But invoking God to excuse you, Danny?" "It just, it..." " It makes me ill." " This from a man who routinely defends murderers." "We both chose our professions." "I'm a criminal defense attorney." "They see me coming." "You're a rabbi." "When Donna Braun was murdered, Jerry..." "Jerry, he became lost." "And so did you." "There's an ancient custom in Jewish law." "Translated, it means if a Jew is found murdered let him be buried in his bloody clothes." "We bury him as we found him, to provoke in people fury and the desire to avenge." "Donna Braun was buried in the clothes she was strangled in." "Does this make vengeance right?" "Of course not." "But it does help explain the mindset of Gerald Braun." "Filled with the rage over his daughter's murder instilled with the religious doctrine that anyone who takes an innocent life must forfeit his life." "It becomes easy to see why Gerald Braun was so impassioned to believe he was right." "He went to his own rabbi who compounded this passion by saying it was more moral for Ronald Martin to be dead than free." "And the mixture of this religious influence and his own rage and religious pain, he marched toward Ronald Martin with a loaded gun in his hand." "And with each step, as he got closer and closer to the man who choked the life out of his only daughter he waited for the impulse to tell him, "Stop!"" "Instead he saw Donna's face." "He heard the passages from Exodus and Leviticus." ""Eye for an eye." "He who sheds the blood of man, vengeance is mine."" "God said that. "Vengeance is mine!"" "And suddenly that night, vengeance was Gerald Braun's." "In the heat of moral and religious passion in the heat of horrible grief, vengeance became his." "Was he right?" "No." "Does this man belong in prison?" "Of course not." "For whatever reason, Gerald Braun felt he was in God's hands that night." "But there's no doubt, ladies and gentlemen of the jury today he's now in yours." "I ask not that you abandon your compassion for this man." "I ask simply that you not be blinded by it." "We could pass a law permitting parents to avenge the deaths of their murdered children." "We choose not to." "We could pass a law permitting religion to be an excuse for certain types of homicides." "We choose not to." "We could live in a society that considers revenge murder to be moral." "We choose not to." "Now, this man, by his own admission knowingly and reflectively executed another human being." "You heard that defendant accuse me of being here, both as a rabbi and a district attorney." "In truth, I am here three-fold:" "A lawyer, a rabbi and a man." "And when he suggests to this jury that you ignore the clear intent of law he offends my sensibilities as a district attorney." "And when he champions revenge murder as being in keeping with Judaism he offends me as a rabbi." "And when he claims that what he did was moral he offends morality itself." "And I take it personally as a man." "It would be a great insult to human nature not to understand why he did this but it is an even greater outrage to mankind to tolerate it." "Any and every trial, ultimately becomes about the truth." "And the truth which each and every one of you swore to was to uphold the law." "You are proposing, instead of Mr. Piper going to jail for statutory rape he should be allowed to go free so he can marry the victim?" "Your Honor, I would ask you to consider the following." "I won't consider anything that escapes your mouth." "You're here representing him." "I'm more concerned about her." "She's 14 years old, for God's sake." "Which is why I've brought Cindy McGuire from Child Welfare." " You're recommending this?" " The idea makes me nauseous." "But my concern is for the girl and for the baby." " And?" " This man seems able to provide a home." "If he goes to jail, we're likely looking at a foster home for the child." " What about the grandmother?" " Then we're looking at welfare." " She can't afford to take care of a baby." " With all due respect to my bias this isn't unprecedented." "These kinds of marriages have been recommended before with minors when the sex is consensual, both partners are committed to marriage and the father is the only real means of financial support." "That's what we've got here." "That doesn't make it any less putrid." "What the hell kind of message does this send?" "You can commit statutory rape so long as you marry the child after?" "Okay, look." "There are a hundred reasons to condemn the idea." "But the fact is, I'm not here to send a message to society." "I've got a pregnant 14-year-old girl." "I'm trying to figure out what's best for her." "What's best for this one particular baby." "My recommendation is that you give them a chance." "Mrs. White?" "My daughter wants to raise her child, Your Honor." "She wants her baby to have a father." "And they love each other." "So..." "I'm not a judge, I..." "I don't know." "Something tells me I'm gonna wake up tomorrow feeling sick about this." "But for now, I'm going to accept Ms. McGuire's recommendation conditioned on marriage counseling to begin immediately." "You may not like it, but believe it or not, 14-year-olds still have things to learn." "I'm not groaning about that, Your Honor." " I think my water just broke." " What?" " Adjourned." "Go." "Go, go, go." " Call 911, somebody call 911." " It's gonna be okay." " Bailiff?" "The jury has come back with a question." "They want to know if manslaughter is an option." "Which means that they don't want to find him guilty of murder." "But nor do they want to see him walk free." "Now, which prospect they dislike more, that's anybody's guess." "So who's gonna blink?" "I would be open to a plea bargain for manslaughter." " No." " Lf they come back guilty you are going away for a long time, Jerry." "Manslaughter, I can get most or all of it suspended." "If Silverman's offering it, he probably thinks he's losing." "Dr. Braun, listen to me." "There's no possible way to tell on this." "I think that you should take it." "No." " Gerald, please." " I said no." "Damn it." "This isn't just about you." "What am I going to do if you go away?" "I don't know how we're going to get through any of this." "But if we're not together, we don't have a chance." "Damn it." "Jerry." "I could survive being found guilty." "I could survive being exonerated." "But in-between?" "I don't think I could survive that." "I know that's hard to understand." "But I can't accept manslaughter." " Hey." " Hey." " Fully dilated." "Any minute." " All right." "How'd it go in court?" "Great." "Judge is gonna let them marry." "What the hell am I doing, Beck?" "She's 14, I'm asking a judge..." "What the hell am I doing?" "She's trying to keep her family together." "She's 14." "What does she know?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "I got pregnant when I was 15." "And?" "For me, it was the right decision." "I mean, I was 15, what was I gonna do with a baby?" "But not a day goes by that I don't think about it." "Yeah, Beck." "But she's 14 having a baby and planning to get married." "Yeah, but she's a girl who's listening to some voice inside telling her what she thinks is right." "And I don't know, Eugene." "Maybe she is right." "I hope she is." "Will the defendant please rise?" "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?" " We have." " Please proceed." "On the charge of murder in the first degree we find the defendant, Gerald Braun not guilty." "On the charge of murder in the second degree we find the defendant, Gerald Braun not guilty." "Yes." "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you are dismissed." "Thank you." "Danny." "I want to ask a few questions." "Is there cause to celebrate a situation like this?" "It's a great, great day." "One at a time." "Counselor, what do you do?" "You did it." "Actually, you did it, Danny." "Credit should go to you." "We went with your theory and the jury agreed." "The execution was moral." "The accessory charge against me, it still stands?" "That would be tough to make now." "I wouldn't worry about it." "I was..." "I was thinking about maybe getting another lawyer to handle it." "I figured you gotta be fried now." "Maybe somebody else should handle it." "That..." "That's probably best." "Well again, great job." "Thanks." "Danny?" "Go with God." "Yeah." "You too." "Isn't he beautiful?" "Oh, yeah." "So much hair." "How about that, huh?" "Yeah." "How about that?"