"Reckless endangerment, suspend time." "Let's all go home." " Funny." " Excuse me?" " "Funny."" " Come back with something." " I did." " With funny?" " Funny." " Helen." " Bobby." " This man is a respected doctor." " He's beloved in the medical community." " Which makes his crime more offensive." "If he's a role model, I have to worry about the example he sets, as well as the crime." " Which is murder." " You'll never get a murder conviction." "The Supreme Court considered legalizing doctor-assisted suicides." "Not for long, 9-zip." "You're in the ladies' room." " I'll win this." " Bobby." " Helen." " It would be inappropriate for me to hike up my skirt and bend over." "But if I did, you'd see a huge bug up my..." " Helen." " Bobby." "What your guy committed was murder." "It's pay-the-piper time." " Pack, we're going to trial." " She wouldn't take the plea?" " Bug up her ass." "Lindsay?" " With Mr. Malzone." "Notify the witness." "Call the client." " One o'clock?" "I can't believe it." " She turned down manslaughter?" "I can't go to jail." "My wife don't work." "I got grandkids." "I can't go to jail." "Mr. Malzone, if we don't take the deal and we lose which we will, you're gonna go away for a lot longer." "I don't understand." "He hasn't hurt anybody." " Why do they wanna put him in jail?" " They don't." "They're going after some of the higher-ups, and they want Carl to help them." " Lindsay." " But my husband never hurt nobody." " Unfortunately, they don't care about that." " I got grandkids." " Helen, how well do you know her?" " Why?" "Because she's taking a hard line on Dr. Richards." "Any other DA would plead this out, but she's pressing for Murder 2." "She's a conservative DA, pretty much." "But I don't know." "Maybe she's mad over losing the last one." "That's what I'm afraid of." "I gotta steal Ellenor." " Okay." " Well, I can jump in." "My desk is clear." "Yeah, thanks, Jimmy, but Ellenor's more up to speed on this." "How'd you like to do the Malzone case with me?" " The bookie?" " We lost the entrapment hearing." "Best we can chip it down to is 18 months, unless he agrees to turn state." " I can jump in." " This is more Eugene." "Ellenor and I were thinking United States of America." " For a bookie?" " It's all we got." "Come on." " I'll cover your child molester." " He jumped bail." "You start tomorrow?" "Facts are simple:" "Completely guilty." "We have no defense." " It's right up your alley." " Meaning?" "Come on, Eugene." "For your country?" "And I repeated that I thought the dosage would be fatal." "What did the defendant say then, Ms. MacKenzie?" "He said, "Nurse, when I give you an instruction it's not your function to question it."" " What happened then?" "Well, I did question it, and I refused to do it." "I don't kill my patients." " Objection." " Sustained." "What happened next?" "He stepped in, and he turned up the morphine drip himself." "Two thousand milligrams." "Three hours later, she was dead." "Did Dr. Richards say anything when he turned up the drip?" "He said, "She's suffered enough and it's time for God to take her."" "Thank you, Ms. MacKenzie." "Mr. Donnell?" "The patient suffered from ovarian cancer." "Isn't that right, Ms. MacKenzie?" "It was morphine that killed her, not cancer." "Ma'am, I think we all understand that you're taking a position in this." "I would like you to answer my questions without trying to be an advocate." " Is that fair?" " Yes." " Fine." " Except one thing." "I know what you lawyers do." "You're gonna try to beat up on me." "And I'm telling you now, I won't take it." "So proceed against me at your own risk." "Ms. MacKenzie I have a bladder the size of a small cashew." "Let's cut down the nonsense." "Just answer his questions." "Jane Crewson's cancer was terminal, wasn't it?" " Yes." " And she was in considerable pain." " That's true too, isn't it?" " We don't go around killing everyone in pain, counsel." "There was a man screaming over a kidney stone." "Should we put him out of his misery?" "Ma'am, that's Jane Crewson's family sitting right there." "That's her husband, her son and her two daughters." "Are you telling them that you equate her cancer with a kidney stone?" " I didn't say that." " Yeah, you did, Ms. MacKenzie!" "That's exactly what you just did!" "If that's the sensitivity you lend to your patients then let's add to this tragedy that on top of cancer Mrs. Crewson had a nurse with zero compassion!" " Objection!" " This man did see her pain!" " Objection!" "This man did see the difference between cancer and a kidney stone!" " Objection!" " Objection!" " All right." "Quiet!" "Ms. MacKenzie if you wanna fight the dog, I have no choice but to unleash him." "I suggest you answer the questions and that's it." "Fine." "Jane Crewson wanted to die." " Did she not?" " She suffered from dementia." "Now, hold on." "Do you feel that you really answered the question he just asked?" " No, Your Honor, you hold on." " I beg your pardon?" "The question assumed Jane Crewson's capacity to make a competent decision." "The witness correctly took issue with that assumption." "Ms. Gamble, take your seat." " Mr. Donnell, take yours." " I'm not finished yet." "Indulge me." "At the risk of both parties moving for a mistrial which I won't grant let me save us all a lot of time." "The prosecution put this delightful personality up here to establish that the victim died as a result of the defendant turning up the morphine drip." "The defense doesn't dispute any of this." "There really was no point in Nurse MacKenzie even testifying other than to get in her condemnation." "To counter that condemnation the defense wants to establish that the victim was terminal in severe pain, and that her family sitting there requested that she be allowed to die." "The prosecution doesn't dispute any of that." "You see, the facts being offered by this witness are a given." "This is all about presentation." "I just saved you a full day." "She got to make her presentation, I didn't get to make mine." " As if I care." " I don't know what you're complaining about." "I'm the one that got hurt." " What?" " How?" "You were hostile to my chief witness." "You basically discredited her." " She was hostile." " Give me a break." " Could I speak?" " Your witness got her story." " I didn't get my cross." " We could just miss all the witnesses." " Make the whole trial about you." " Hey!" "See what I'm talking about?" "Here are my rules." "We're gonna try this case with no crap." "No argumentative grandstanding." "None of that stuff you typically pull that makes people call you what they call you." " What do they call us?" " Lawyers." "We're gonna march into that room, and we're gonna try something new." "We are going to limit this case to this case." " He's a blowhard." " Big one." " Look, how could you not plead this?" " Because I can't." " So you'd rather lose?" " Yep." " Fine, you will." " Fine." " Fine." " Fine." " You're prosecuting?" " Lucky me." " Chris and I used to date." " Then lucky us." " That's grounds for dismissal." " Right." "Chris, come on." "He's a smalltime bookie." "And if he gives up the bigtime bookie, he goes free." " You know that's not an option for him." " Mr. Kelton, this isn't the guy you want." "He can't give you the guy you want." "That sticks us all between a rock and a hard place with a case none of us want to try." "Kick this one and we'll owe you." " You'll owe me?" " Yes." " Owe me what?" " A favor." "Everything goes around here." "One day you'll need a favor from us." "And when the time comes, think how relieved you'll be that we owe you." "It's not the way I operate, Mr. Young." "One day you will." "I think I'll try the case." "That didn't work, Eugene." "I didn't ask you to intimidate him." "I didn't." "Obviously." "You think he's ever gonna give me a case?" " Excuse me?" " Bobby." "I sit around here counting paper clips." "It's not like we ain't busy, Rebecca." "We got about 100 cases." "I mean, that's like 15 per lawyer." "And how many per paper clip?" " Why won't he give me a case to run with?" " Bobby knows you're a good lawyer." "Right." "Why won't he give me a case?" "Why don't you think about it?" "She didn't want her body and her mind to go on disintegrating." "She didn't want her children to see." "This was a very vibrant woman." "A proud..." "Was it her decision to die?" "Yes." "And as her legal guardian, you concurred?" "She was in pain." "There was no quality to her life anymore." "She was slipping in and out of comas." "It was too hard on her." "It was too hard on my children." "And when you approached Dr. Richards about..." "What...?" "What did he tell you?" "He said that, legally speaking that he couldn't euthanize her." "That all he was permitted to do was to increase her medication but that the consequence of that would be that she would die." "And what did you say to that, sir?" "Sir?" "I said do it." "It was a blessing." " She did suffer from dementia, right?" " Off and on." "Some days, she'd be remarkably coherent." "She wanted to die." "Three months prior to her death you petitioned the court for guardianship, right?" " Yes." " You cited as a reason:" ""She was no longer mentally competent to make decisions in her life."" "She was of clear mind in her wish to die." "I was married to her for 22 years." "I would know!" "I would know." "The court did find her mentally incompetent." " Isn't that correct, sir?" " That was a legal ruling." "Yes, and legally, since she was, in fact, judged incompetent this had to be your decision to let her die." " Isn't that right, sir?" " Yes." "You spoke of your pain." "Having to watch your wife deteriorate this way." "Would it be fair to say this pain was immense for you?" "It would be fair." "Have you ever been through anything more painful?" " No." " I hate to ask this, sir." "But can we really be sure you were of sound mind through all this?" "Let's make it quick." "I'm a busy man." "Twenty times on the Patriots, times two on the Steelers Cowboys and Dolphins each." "Ten times on the Raiders." "Detective, does that videotape accurately reflect the events of December 19, 1996?" "It does." "You placed bets with Mr. Malzone on National League football games?" " I did." " Thank you." "Yours." "You actually put money on the Raiders?" "It wasn't about trying to win the bet, counsel." "Clearly." "Did Mr. Malzone solicit you in any way to make these wagers?" " Or did you go to him?" " I went to him." "Part of a big sting to get big fish in a big organized gambling mob." " Wasn't that it?" " Basically." "And is this the fish you were looking to get?" "Or were you looking to trade up?" "The latter." " No point to putting the daughter..." " You don't know what I'll ask." " You'll be putting the law on trial." " Her testimony will go to the facts." "It'll be a tear-jerk fest, we all know that, with nothing relevant." "Say that to the jury." "Nothing relevant to the daughter whose mother died." " That's the type of pandering..." " Great idea." "Quiet, now." "I have a question." "Do you ever talk?" "Do I need to?" "Look, the witness has no relevant testimony which goes to the issue." "I'd ask you to rule not from your heart, but your head." " I'd even settle for your bladder." " Cute." "Look, she's right." "This is a reach." "This is a criminal case." "I should get some rope." "Don't hang yourself with it." "I won't." "Short leash." "The daughter can testify." "The bladder crack cost you." "What?" "You seem a little crisp." "You know what?" "All these murder trials we're getting?" "They started pouring in after we got Gerald Braun off." "That made Bobby the hot lawyer in town for getting people off." "It all started with the Braun trial." " So?" " So it was my strategy." "I had the idea for jury nullification." "Same strategy he's using on this doctor trial." " So?" "So I shouldn't be treated like I'm some second-class lawyer." "You came here after getting fired from a bank for falsifying loan documents." "For this office!" "To help people here!" "Last week, you were arrested for picking up a hooker." " For which I was cleared." "I was innocent." " Yeah." "Details." "Jimmy, this is Boston." "Half of what you are as a lawyer is what the judge and other lawyers think of you." "Jimmy, right now they think you're a hack." "Bobby knows you're a good lawyer." "You have to lay low a little longer." "I run some numbers." "Small time." "Football, boxing." "I usually do good." "Mr. Malzone, let's cut to it." "Do you work for a larger gaming organization?" "Not really." "I'm kind of retired." "They allow me to work to pick up some money." "Most of my clients are long-time friends." "So who are the people you work for?" "I can't tell you that." "Why not, sir?" "Because there's a code of loyalty." "These people have been loyal to me." "I stay loyal to them..." "We're family." "And that's why you won't reveal their identity?" "Because of loyalty?" "That, and they'd kill me." "He's so cute." "Why can't you kick him?" "Oh, because it sends the wrong message to all the other cute bookies out there." "You bet on football, Chris." "Come on." "Okay, tell you what." "This is unorthodox, but if you're willing to go for it..." "What?" " One kiss." " Excuse me?" "Yeah, for old times' sake." "One kiss, a good kiss the case melts away." " Grow up." " I'm serious." "Lips and deal have to stay sealed, though." "You're serious?" "You'd actually kick this if I kissed you?" "No, I'm not serious." "You considered it for a second." "I saw it in your eyes." "Why don't you just kiss me for free and then you don't have to think of yourself as for sale." "You just think you're too cool, don't you?" "I can't drop the case." "I've got marching orders." "What's with your office?" "You're after a smalltime guy prosecuting a doctor for turning up a morphine drip." "That's Gamble, not the office." "In fact, they suggested she pull back on that, and she refused." " Really?" "Why?" " You know her better than I do." " Blow!" " It is my birthday." "Blow!" "That was four years ago?" "Yes, her 45th." "Happy birthday, Mommy." "I love you." "That was about a week before she died." "Julie, can you tell us a little bit about the day your mother passed away?" "Well, she knew it was probably one of her last." "She wasn't completely alert but she could recognize all of us." "Can you talk about the last few hours?" "Well..." "We had put up pictures." "Large, blown-up photographs all around the room." "Pictures of when we were little, and so forth." "The..." "The doctor came in around noon, and we all had to..." "He wanted to make sure that we were all sure." "We can take a break any time you want." "No, I'm okay." "After he turned up the morphine we knew she had about an hour left of consciousness." "We all held hands." "My sister and I sang." "She used to love it when we would..." "We all held hands." "We told her how much we loved her." "She told us how much she loved us." "And then she faded off into sleep." "Julie the prosecution is trying to convict Dr. Richards of murder." "Yeah, which to me, is sick." "My mother had a good death." "It was peaceful." "I mean, she could have gone out with pain and bed sores and instead she died without hurt." "She died with her family there loving her." "And with her knowing that." "It was a good death." "And I am so grateful, and so was my mother." "We put Richards up and that should be it." "Where are we on Malzone?" "Dead." "Got it on tape and Carl won't plead out." "Well, you better make him plead." "Jimmy?" "Everything okay?" "Sure." "I'm just sitting here doing nothing." "It's my niche." " Well, maybe we could talk about it later." " Sure." "I can pencil "later" into my schedule." "Okay, Ellie, let's go." "Make him take the plea." "The term we use for it is "managed death."" " Does that mean you cause the death?" " No." "It means that faced with an inevitable death managing it to relieve suffering." "In the case of Jane Crewson, that meant turning up the morphine drip?" " Yes." " To a potentially lethal dosage?" "Yes." " And the patient consented?" " That's correct." " As did her family?" " Yes." "Now, did you clear this decision with the hospital authorities?" "No, I did not." "Really?" "Isn't this kind of a big thing?" "Hastening a patient's death?" "Of course, it is." "It is also a privacy issue." "Even so, you'd think the hospital might have something to say on this." "Well, I hate to be blunt to the point of sounding cold but if hospitals took time out to review every decision that was made to let a patient die the system would choke." "So you mean this goes on a lot?" "Seventy percent of all deaths in hospitals are due to decisions to let the patient die." " Seventy percent." " Most deaths aren't that dramatic." "It's doctor and patient and family deciding it's time." "And in your medical opinion, sir, it was time for Jane Crewson?" "No, the medical opinion was that all we could do was prolong her life with various treatments." "Prolong her suffering." "Her personal decision, supported by her family was that it was time." "Now, given the law against euthanasia, doctor weren't you tempted to deny their request?" "Again, the morphine drip was not meant to euthanize her." "It was meant to relieve pain." " But you did know that..." " The likely result." "Yes." "But legally, I believe I stayed within bounds." "And morally." "When a terminal patient in severe pain asks that she be allowed to die with a modicum of decency I listen." "And I listened to Jane Crewson." "Thank you." "I got it down to a year." "That's pretty good, Carl." "A year in jail at my age?" " That could be a death sentence." " It won't be a death sentence." " What will I do?" " Mrs. Malzone we have to consider the lesser of two evils." "What do you think, Eugene?" "Well, it's tough." "If you lose, you're looking at three to four." "This isn't even a close call." "They had you on videotape." "It's your third time." "The jury knows that." "Take the plea." "I wanna hear you say it." "Let's roll the dice." "Eugene, could I speak to you in private a second?" "Excuse us." " Hey!" " Are you nuts?" "!" " We got a shot." " With United States of America?" "How?" " It was your idea." " We're desperate." "So desperate it's malpractice not to take the plea!" " I can win." " You can't." " I can." "You know what?" "This is..." "This..." "You're all goosed over the challenge." "This is fun for you." "You're not thinking of him." "This is about how deep a hole you can jump out of!" " Hey!" " No, you "hey."" "No, you "hey." You brought me in on this to try it." "I think I can win it." "In fact, I know I can." "Funny, I had planned to cross-examine you with:" ""Hey, if we let you do it what's to stop all the other doctors from doing it?"" "But you said, "They're already doing it."" "Seventy percent of all hospital deaths." "That's not my statistic." "It comes from The Journal of the American Medical Association." "Yes, and you use that statistic to say you're right." "Where I'd use it to say I'm right." "This is what happens when you let doctors start killing their patients." " Objection!" " Sustained." "Tell me, doctor." "I have a shooting homicide next week." "If the defendant correctly points out that the leading cause of death in teenage boys is gunshots should that excuse his pulling the trigger?" " Objection!" " Sustained." "No, I'd like to respond." "For you to equate what I did to a shooting homicide sickens me." "If you're sick, please don't go to a doctor who's quick with the morphine." " Objection!" " Sustained." "Please take your seat, Dr. Richards." "You seem impulsive." "You make decisions at impulse?" " Objection!" " Objection!" "The cashew beckons." "I'll see lawyers in chambers, please." " What's going on?" " What?" " Attack dog isn't your style, Helen." " You've looked for a fight since we started." " I don't know what you're talking about." " Don't feed me that." "Both of you are too loaded for bear." " What am I missing?" " Nothing from me." " Nothing from me." " It must be me." "Or not." "Aside from the fact that you're hostility is borderline contempt, it's bad lawyering." "Tough to convince a jury of anything when they don't like you." "Whatever's going on, dial it back." "More than words, seeing is believing." "Thanks to that videotape, you're all eyewitnesses." "You saw the defendant engage in illegal-gaming activities." "Usually, I stand before the jury at the end and I say, "Trust what I tell you."" "And today, I'll only ask you to trust yourselves." "You saw it." "You better be good." "Most criminal trials, the key testimony comes from the victim." "But they didn't put a victim on the stand here, did they?" "Because there is no victim." "Nobody to come forward to complain, "I've been hurt," because nobody got hurt." "Oh, they'll say society suffered." "It's against public policy." "Gambling is against who and what we are." "But that's a lie, isn't it?" "I mean, we love gambling." "I could run down the street now and buy a lottery ticket." "Take a cab to Suffolk Downs, lay some money on a horse hop on a plane to Las Vegas, Atlantic City." "Maybe take one of those cruises with the big casinos on it." "Kathie Lee might even hug me." "Gambling is in the fabric of this country." "Even the word itself:" ""The man gambled." "He went for it." "He defied the odds." "He rolled the dice."" "These are terms we use to describe heroes in this country." "Heroes." "This is America and gambling is in our blood." "Now, what bothers me most about this trial is the blatant hypocrisy of it all because we don't just tolerate gamblers in this country, we breed them." "Flip open the sports page, you'll see the morning line." "Turn on the tube to watch the NFL." "You got special commentators to give you the point spread, their picks." "They'll help you make that bet, and that's on a Sunday." "We spend millions of dollars..." "No, no, no." "Make that a billion dollars advertising lottos." "The government encourages you to bet." "Massachusetts is in the business of gambling." "They use the lottery to raise money to lower your taxes." "And they're coming after him because he helped somebody put a nickel down on the Patriots." "The hypocrisy." "Now, they're only going after Carl Malzone because they're trying to extort him to fork over somebody bigger." "And the gaming charge is the only card they have to play." "It stinks." "This man is a grandfather who has never hurt anybody." "And they're trying to put him in prison." "It stinks terrible." "And not just because of what they're trying to do to him but because they're trying to do it here in this very room." "A courtroom." "A courtroom in the United States of America." "This is forum for justice." "It is not a prosecutorial tool to extort people." "And if you let them do this here if you let them use our justice system as a weapon to oppress then what's next?" "What is next?" "That's not what a courtroom is for." "Not in the United States of America." "How many patients would you say you have on the average, Dr. Richards?" "On average?" " Well, maybe 100." " A hundred." "Did you know Jane Crewson more or less than the other 100?" "Maybe a little more, but my relationship with her was fairly typical." " You weren't her primary physician." " No, I'm an oncologist." "Did you know what Jane Crewson did for a living?" " Objection." "I don't see the relevance in this." " I have to admit, I don't either." "I'm trying to get a sense of how well the doctor knew his patient." "He made a judgment that Jane Crewson was competent to make a pretty big decision here." "The decision was made by Mr. Crewson since legally, he was the appointed guardian." "Okay, fine." "How well did you know Mr. Crewson?" " Objection." " No, no, no." "Go ahead." "Did you know Mr. Crewson more or less than you knew Jane?" "Less, obviously." "About how many hours in total did you spend with him?" " I don't know." " Less than 10?" " Yes." " Less than five?" "I would say over the various meetings about five hours." " Did you know he was in therapy?" "It doesn't surprise me considering what he was going through." " You mean the pain and all?" " Yes." "His wife was dying." "Yes." "I'm sure that could cause some emotional havoc." " Couldn't it?" " Of course." "And if a person were making serious decisions while in the middle of emotional instability..." " Objection." " Overruled." "It was my belief that Mr. Crewson was of completely sound mind." " Did you ever speak with his therapist?" " No." " So you made this determination yourself?" " Yes." "Based on your history with him going back five hours." " Objection." " She's doing nothing here but trying to ridicule the witness." " This is the man that flipped the switch." "He's saying it was Jane Crewson's decision and her husband." "How well he knows these people is certainly relevant to his ability to judge their capacity for competence." "I'm going to allow it." "What did you know of Mr. Crewson's insurance situation?" " Nothing." " Nothing?" "Would it surprise you to know had Jane Crewson continued to live it would have worked a severe financial hardship on her husband?" " Objection." " Overruled." " Your Honor?" " I've ruled." "Did you ever make any attempt to examine Mr. Crewson's motives for wanting his wife to die?" " I didn't have to." " You didn't?" "He says, "Time's up," and you just take his word for it?" " Move to strike that." " Overruled." "It's a nasty question, but it's a fair one." "I weighed this man's capacity for competence as I did with Jane." "And I determined that they were able to make the decision." "Yes." "And I suppose if a hospital were to stop and ask questions every time one family member wanted to kill another the system would choke." " Ms. Gamble!" " No comment." " Ms. Gamble, how...?" " Do you understand English?" " I said, no comment." " Haven't you said enough, Helen?" "Please excuse me." " I won't excuse you." " Bobby?" "You went over the line." "What are you running for?" " Get that mike out of my face!" " What?" " It's basic decency, you know!" " You could show some." "They lost a person they love, and you go after them!" " Let's go!" " They are!" "They murdered a woman!" "Why don't you go to hell!" " Mr. Donnell!" " Ms. Gamble?" "Just a comment." "Just give us a comment, Ms. Gamble." "What is going on?" " I wasn't gonna let her get away with that." " You made a giant ass of yourself with cameras clicking." " Shut up!" "Just shut up, Ellenor." "I'm sorry." "This may be an emotional case, Bobby." "But there is nothing, nothing, to excuse what just happened out there." "And nothing to excuse you talking to me like that." "I apologize." "My God, Bobby." "You'd think it was you on trial here." " Oh, hey." "Verdict?" " Jury's coming in at 10." " They deliberated 40 minutes." " What do you think?" "We have a chance." " Eugene broke out the golden shovel." " I heard that." " How are you doing?" " He's about to get up." "What he'll say, who knows?" "He's just gone totally into orbit on this one." "Technically, I could argue he only acted to relieve pain." "It was just coincidental that she died." "But nobody's kidding anybody here about what's going on." "We are putting a law on trial here more than a man." "This is just as much about you and me as it is about him." "I don't think the district attorney will think me too out of bounds if I tell you I knew a woman who was dying of cancer." "And when this cancer seeped into her brain she couldn't even recognize her husband." "Her son." "She was only 61." "She was dying." "In pain." "The doctor..." "It was agreed that the respirator would be turned off." "Should be turned off." "And he wouldn't do it." "It fell to the husband." "And the husband..." "You see, he..." "He just couldn't bring himself to do it." "So he asked his son." "And the son, to spare both his dad and his mom reached out to end their suffering." "And his hand started to shake to the point where he couldn't even feel that it was connected to his arm." "And he remembers thinking God has his hand now." "The hand..." "It finally did turn off the respirator." "And shortly after, his mother was at peace." "And the son..." "The son was just..." "He was just glad that the suffering was over." "And till this day, he knows he did the right thing." "But..." "Also to this day he wishes that he had a doctor like that one." "My mother said sometimes..." "Sometimes the hardest thing to do is an act of kindness." "My client, ladies and gentlemen is a very kind man." "The closing argument you just heard was wholly, totally objectionable." "The reason I didn't object is because I agree with the defense counsel." "That this trial is not just about Dr. Richards." "It's about all of us." "Mr. Donnell had a story." "I'm sure we all do." "Sarah Washington Gamble." "My grandmother." "Cause of death:" "Respiration failure brought on by the morphine drip." "She had Alzheimer's and she was suffering from both pain and dementia." "And according to her, the doctors and most of her family she wanted to die." "But she didn't." "See, I was the granddaughter that spent every summer with her." "The one who lived with her when I was in law school." "And though she said she wanted to die, what she really felt was it was her duty." "She didn't wanna be a burden on her family anymore." "Sure, she said she wanted death." "As sure as I stand before you now she still wanted to live." "I know it." "See, the problem with going down this slope is you make suicide permissible." "Then acceptable." "Then possibly, in some people's minds, the right thing to do." "You plant the idea with the elderly:" ""It's selfish to hang on, to cling to life, exhausting financial resources having to make the children look at a sick person having to empty a bedpan."" "It's selfish to impose that on someone you love." "I'm sure someday I'll meet someone I love as much as I loved my grandmother." "But for now I wish I could be emptying her bedpans." "She didn't have long in the end, I know." "But she had another day." "And probably another day after that one." "And after that one." "The doctor, he had no way of really knowing her." "He had possibly 100 patients." "He was a very kind man." "But his act of kindness, it wasn't a blessing." "It hastened the death of a person I know wanted to cling just a little longer." "This trial is going to send a message." "I hope the message you send is there is a sanctity to life." "Let's not send the message that suicide or assisted suicide is noble." "That message may cost you dearly." "You can trust me on that." "Will the defendant please rise?" "The jury has reached a unanimous verdict?" " We have, Your Honor." " Let's have it." ""In the matter of The Commonwealth v. Carl Malzone on the charge of gaming, prohibited under Chapter 269, Section 14 we find the defendant not guilty."" "The jury is dismissed with the thanks of the court." " Thank you very much." " You're welcome." " You owe me." " I owe you." "I'd like to thank you too." "As an American citizen." "No problem." "And just to show you I'm a good sport..." "You're lucky you didn't touch lip." "I would have brought you up." "Your Honor?" "Counsel." "Going down?" "Well, you tell me." "Can I ask you a question at the risk of ex parte?" "Sure." "Worst-case scenario:" "I jail you." "You know, you let a lot in that had nothing to do with this case." "That depends on what you thought this case was about." "It was suppose to be about whether or not a defendant committed a crime." " Nothing more." " Yeah, well..." "You really think I should leave legislative policy up to the legislature?" "The book on you is that you study up a little on your lawyers before they appear in your courtroom." " Yeah?" "The book have pictures?" "You knew, didn't you?" "Bobby's mother." "Gamble's grandmother." " You knew." " All I knew was we'd have an exciting trial." "But I certainly never knew we'd have a verdict today." "Is this good?" "I don't know." " Have you reached a verdict?" " We have, Your Honor." "Will the defendant please rise?" "Read it to the court, please." ""Commonwealth v. Dr. Henry Richards on the charge of murder in the second degree we find the defendant guilty."" "I don't believe it." "We've got a lot of grounds." "Quick deliberation is another one." "The jury's work is completed." "You're done." "You can go." "We thank you." "Ask personal recognizance pending appeal, Your Honor." "Granted." "We're adjourned." " Doctor, right here." "Dr. Richards?" " Sir, the charges will affect your practice." "Doctor, could we interview you?" "Ten hours' community service." "No time." "She just told me no jail." "No jail." " Over here!" " Dr. Richards?" "Dr. Richards?" "Finally, a victory against jury nullification." " Way to go, Helen." " Thanks." "Good win, Helen." "Great job." "Oh, yeah." "Get out of here." "Previously on The Practice:" " Restrain his..." " Permission to smack him." "Hey, don't intimidate me." "What are you doing?" "Cowards make me crazy." "Your Honor, he vowed that he knew where I lived and he said it with vicious malice." " I used to be a lawyer, remember?" " Terrible lawyer." "Jimmy, you never won a case." "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." " I don't have that feeling here." "Oh, okay." " Hundred bucks says you lose." " You wanna bet on it?" "You took this court appointed, right?" "Well, that means your fee tops at 700." "Now, I am just giving you the chance to make 8." "You sit here today remembering the placement of lampposts the color of the surrounding cars, the exact time to the minute but as for what the suspect looked like, black, big head." "Small bills only." "There is no case, ladies and gentlemen." "They bring up two officers from the Vice Squad who say they saw a woman they believe to be a prostitute give money to my client." "And then they automatically leap to the conclusion that Kenny Tripp is a pimp." "What kind of evidence is that?" "Now, what kind of story was his?" ""She was paying off on a football bet." That's what Kenny Tripp says." "A woman is observed orally copulating a man." "The man is then seen remunerating the woman." "The woman is then seen giving money to the defendant:" "A man with two previous convictions for running a prostitution ring." "And he says she was paying him because the Dolphins didn't cover against the Patriots." "No offense, but I liked his closing better than yours." "This case is circumstantial." "We have a very good shot." "Plus, we have grounds for an appeal." "Let's not forget that." "Yeah, but if we put in I got a girlfriend, it would have made me look caring." "We were limited by the fact that you don't have a girlfriend." "Yeah, but if you had put it in, I would have got one." " How did it go?" " Great for the DA." "I gotta pee." "They're not gonna follow me and give me a urine test, are they?" " I think you're safe." " Okay." " Oh, Eugene." " Don't tell me." "Oh, yes, me." "Look, I got that file." " You asked for the file?" " Oh, damn right I did." "The thought of beating you in court is just too hard for me to resist." " Hey, Ellie." " How you doing, Renee?" "But you won't beat me." "All you got again is one eyewitness." "Well, we could bet again, couldn't we?" "Same rider?" " You got it." " You're on." "Pardon me." "One second." " Did you make a bet on the Maynard trial?" " I did indeed." "I know you're excellent defending armed robbers and you love cross-examining eyewitnesses, but..." " Don't bet him, Lindsay." " No, no, no." "The woman was held up by a one-legged man." "She ID'd our client, who happens to have one leg who was also picked up hopping three blocks from the scene with the victim's wallet." " Don't bet him." " Don't bet him?" "Don't bet him?" " I'd just be taking your money." "Another hundred." "Same rider." "Accepted." "As we speak." "Am I late?" "Cutting it close, Teddy." "Huge line downstairs." "Some guy was sneaking in a staple gun." "Said it was because he had thick pleadings." "Thick pleadings." "Man, you believe that?" "The judge is coming in, Eugene." "Let's go." "Teddy Maynard." "Hello." "She's the DA, Teddy." "I'm single and innocent and allowed to date on bail." "A dog bite." "I ask for my first real assignment and you give me a dog bite?" " A lot of our cases are small, Jimmy." " Right." "It may not go to the Supreme Court, but I take it seriously." "Bobby, my sinuses are acting up from all the dust on this file." "It hasn't been touched in a year." "Just cover the depositions." "Can you do that, please?" "Fine." "Dog bite." "Excuse me." "This is completely out of line, but you're a very beautiful woman." "Do I know you?" "No." "That came from nowhere." "I'm sorry." "Oh, well, thank you." "Hey, listen, you guys have nothing to worry about." "There's no way they're gonna convict your client." " Oh, you were in the courtroom?" " So much for you noticing me, I guess." "I'm on the jury." "I'm sorry, I can't talk to you." "What exactly did he say?" "Exactly what I said he said." "There's no way he'll be convicted." "All right." "And what exactly did you say?" "Nothing." "I told him I couldn't talk to him, but it's still communication." "I had a communication with a juror." "I gotta go to the judge." "But you didn't communicate with him." "But even so, technically, under the rules, we have a mistrial." "But this isn't fair." "Not to Kenny." "He's not..." "He's gonna forfeit an acquittal because some horny juror tries to hit on you?" "The case is closed." "All the evidence is in." "What are you suggesting?" "That we don't tell?" "It's not like the process has been tainted." "It's not like we were trading on inside information." "I mean, okay." "Did you try to influence him in any way?" " Of course not." " Did you discuss the case or did you try to get...?" " Nothing." "As soon as I learned he was a juror, I shut him down." "I don't see how it has any effect." "I say we don't tell." "Ellenor?" "I had just left the ATM machine." "I was putting the money into my wallet when he hopped up." " He being?" " That man." "The defendant." "Had you ever seen this man before, Miss Bancock?" "Yes, about two minutes before." "I passed him on the sidewalk." "He asked for change." " Did you give him any money?" " No, it's not my practice." "I just kept walking." "Then, like I said, after I left the ATM, there he was again." "And what happened then?" "He told me, if I didn't give him my wallet he'd knock me down and hop up and down on my head, ball to heel." "Then he just snatched it out of my hand and went bounding down the street." " And did you see him again after that?" " The next morning." "I came down to the police station." "They had him in custody." "Where in custody did you see him?" "In a lineup." "He was just standing there, like a flamingo." "Miss Bancock, are you absolutely sure that that is the man that robbed you?" "Of course I'm sure." "I'd recognize him anywhere." "That's the man." "If anybody threatens to assault me or my client there will be repercussions." "I will not be intimidated." "I will assert myself at all times, possibly to the detriment of others." "I'm here on the dog-bite matter." "Oh, that's me." "James Berluti." "Nice to meet you." "I was here when Eugene mugged your client." " I don't do that." " I'm heartened." "Look, I think that you would agree that this case is hardly worth our time." "And I was hoping we could settle this amicably without having to conduct the depositions." "Of course, I do reserve the right to remain assertive." "Eighty-two thousand." "I deeply beg your pardon?" "I did the jury-verdict research." "A bite on the lip, residual scarring..." " Eleven stitches and she provoked the dog." " She went to pet him." "Mr. Berluti, my time is valuable." "Your time is valuable." "My client is an oncologist." "His time is exceptionally valuable." "Do you think we should proceed with two time-consuming depositions over 11 stitches and a dog bite?" "It would seem so." "The insurance company has authorized 24,000." "Well, let's split the difference and go 75." "Then I will see you and your client this afternoon." " Have you booked a court reporter?" " Three o'clock?" "Until then." "Miss Bancock, as I read the police report you described the area of the assault, the conditions, you knew the exact time." "You provide a lot of detail." "Well, there's nothing routine about being mugged, Mr. Young." " Things tend to stick." " Yes, I see." "But when it came time to describing the suspect you just said, "Black, one leg."" " That's it." " I think that description limits the field." "Yes." "But you don't describe anything about his face, except the color." "Just black." "And one leg." "When a man hops out at you in the dark on one foot you don't tend to notice how long his sideburns are." "I can appreciate that, Miss Bancock." "More than you know." "We do nothing and we say nothing." "What that guy said has absolutely no effect." " Technically..." " Technically." "Technically, it's a mistrial." "If we were using the information in any way, that would be one thing." "But we're not." "We are doing nothing but waiting for a verdict." "Ellenor." " Frank, how's it going?" " Weak-kneed." "Look, if you plead guilty, I'll offer six months." " What?" " On Tripp." "What?" "You look as if you'd seen a ghost." "This is like a gift." "Six months." "You should be jumping on that." "Yeah, well, I'm not." "We're all feeling really good about the trial, aren't we?" " Oh, great." " Yeah." "Yeah, well, take it to your client." "Something tells me he'll dance." "Great." "Mr. Donnell said that this would settle." "It will." "There's no way they'll bother over small potatoes like this." "They'll settle." "And why isn't Mr. Donnell bothering to do these depositions?" "Well, he's got a big murder trial starting up next week and he didn't want you short-changed, so he put me on full-time." "Susan?" "Honey?" "Hi." "My name is Jim." "I'm just gonna ask you some questions about what happened, that's all." "Nothing too hard." " This should be pretty easy, okay?" " Okay." " I'll be right beside you the whole time." " Okay." "Ellenor..." " Hey, Ellie, they still out?" " Yup." "Still." "Look, can you just give us a few seconds?" "And then we need to talk." " How can we not tell him?" " No, we just present the DA's offer." " Ellenor, he's the client." " Yes, I know." "But if we tell him, then the information comes into play and then we have to go to the judge." "So, what are we gonna say?" "All right, we are going to convey the DA's offer." "If he turns it down, what that juror said is meaningless." "If he accepts the deal, then it's an entirely different story." "We should just go to the judge now." "All right." "In which case, Kenny loses his acquittal because of some stupid rule that doesn't..." "What's going on?" " Nothing." " Nothing." "What's going on?" "Just a girl thing." "Can you send Kenny in?" "Sure." " Why can't we tell Bobby?" " Lf he knows, then he's incriminated." " Lawyers have a duty to report, remember?" " I know." " Kenny, why don't you have a seat." " Something's wrong." "I've got this gland thing." "It works like radar when something's wrong." "Sit." "Well, were they like big, loping hops?" "Or just little hops?" "They were hops, for God's sake." "How many ways could there be to hop?" "Well, forgive me for being a nuisance." "But your description was only "black, one leg."" " Is your testimony that all hops look alike?" " Objection, Your Honor." "Here he goes again, making this about race when he knows..." " I'm not doing that." "I'm just..." " Counsel." "Please." " Is this for real?" " Oh, I assure you, Your Honor this is very real and very serious." "He robbed her." "And I object as much as you do to what Mr. Young here is doing." "Your Honor, I'm going somewhere with this." "Hurry up and get there." "Step back." " Double or nothing?" " Absolutely." "And I just went up to pet him." "And he growled real fast and bit me." "All right, Susan." "Now, do you remember what direction you approached him from?" "Was it from the front?" "Was it from the back?" "Was it from the side?" " From the front." " Do you think you scared him a little?" "He was practically bigger than me." "Well, maybe scared isn't the right word." "Do you think maybe you surprised him a little?" "I just put my hand up to pet him." "Well, was it possible that you put it too close?" "He's making it out my fault." "Susan, he's just asking questions to find out what happened." " I just went up to pet him." " I understand." "It's okay." "Susan, how many inches did you put your hand up to his mouth?" " I don't know." " Let's pretend you're the dog." "Did you put your hand up about this close?" " I don't know." " Was it possibly this close?" " I said, I don't know." " Was it maybe this close?" " Susan." " Move to strike." "Was that your fault?" "Let's break." "Look, we really need an answer, Kenny." "The jury could come back any second now." "Six months." "Six months." "I'm gonna take the offer." "You are." "What the hell's going on?" "What's going on is this case just became a mistrial." "I beg your pardon?" "A juror told me in the elevator there's no way you'd be convicted." " A juror." "On my trial?" " Yes." " Told you that?" " Yes." "Am I missing something here?" "I mean, shouldn't we all be celebrating?" "Kenny, communication with a juror is pretty much an automatic mistrial." "Why we didn't tell you is because if you didn't know, you couldn't trade on it." "And what that juror said was kind of irrelevant." "The bottom line is we gotta go to the judge." "She's gonna throw the case out and we're gonna have to try over again." "Are you saying that if we keep our mouths shut I'm looking at the big N. G?" "And you're planning to go back to the judge and get this case kicked?" "And I have to stand trial all over again?" " That's the rules." " That's the rules." " I'm looking at an acquittal here." " We don't know that for sure." "The guy was hitting on me." "He was trying to make an impression." "He might have had no clue as to what the other jurors were thinking." "Fine." "We chalk it up to flirtatious banter." "You ain't gotta go to the judge." "You don't understand, Kenny." "We have a certain ethical..." "Ellie, please." "I'm a free man." "I'm your client." "You're asking me to risk jail on a technicality?" "I can't even believe you're thinking about this." " Our hands are tied, Kenny." " Ellie, your hands are not tied, okay?" "They're not tied." "It's not as if you bribed a jury." "Okay, we're waiting..." "We're waiting for them to come back with a verdict." "Are you saying that I should be punished because one of them let the cat out of the bag early?" "That's ridiculous." "You can't do this to me, Ellie." "You can't." " Lf this were to ever get out..." " It won't." "I promise it won't." "You tell them just like you told me." "I'll ask the questions and you just tell the truth." "And don't get rattled." "It was good?" "What I told you, huh?" "Because I mean, I can change it if you think I need something better." "What do you mean you can change it?" "You didn't tell me the truth?" "Well, of course not." "I mean, you practically warned me not to." " You said you'd get stuck with it." " I didn't mean I wanted you to lie to me." " Your story, it's a lie?" " Certainly." " You did rob that woman?" " Of course." "But I mean, she was rude." "She didn't just not give me the change, all right?" "She gave me one of them looks like:" ""How dare you be in my eye line?" "How dare you belittle my day?"" " Oh, God." " I'm a very good liar, Mr. Young." "Look, I can't put you on the stand if I know you're gonna lie." " Why not?" " Well, it's against the law for me to do that." "If a lawyer knows his client's gonna lie he has an ethical obligation to talk him out of testifying." "Well, it's the truth, then." "I was lying about it being a lie." "Look, Mr. Young if I don't testify, I'm gonna get convicted." "Would I be wrong on that?" " No." " So I'm testifying." "Okay." "Just so you know the rules I gotta play by." "I can't suborn perjury which means you'll have to testify on the narrative." "What's that mean?" "It means I can't ask you questions." "Just get up there and tell your story." "That's all right." "Because I do better when I get a flow anyway." " It just comes." " Great." "Mr. Young." "You don't have to worry." "I'm very good at this." "Maybe we should just take the 24,000." "We can do better, Mrs. Stevenson." "I really believe that." "Honey, can you go see Rebecca for a sec?" " Yes." " Okay." "I'm sorry I bit the man." "He knows that, honey." "Go ahead, sweetie." "I really don't wanna put her through this." "She doesn't have to be here for the doctor's deposition." "If I can make a dent here, then maybe we can push this settlement up some." " I think we should keep going." " May I ask you a question?" "When did you take over this case?" "I don't mean to criticize, I'm just curious." " When was this passed on to you?" " This morning." "Mrs. Stevenson, this is just the discovery part of the case." "It's standard fact-finding." " I told you I didn't wanna go to trial." " I know." "But your case is in very capable hands with Jimmy here." "Yeah, and I've been reading up on animal behavior and stuff." "I think we'll be able to up the settlement." "I do." "Okay." "Okay." "Yeah." "Thank you." "And thank you." " Lf this ever gets out, we're disbarred." " It won't get out." "Suppose the juror talks." "Suppose he tells somebody he did me?" "Well, then he's in as much trouble as us." ""On the matter of The Commonwealth v. Kenny Tripp on the charge of 3213, operating prostitution services for fee we find the defendant guilty."" "Sentencing next Tuesday, 9:00." "Please take the defendant into custody." "I thought you said it was coming back N. G?" "Kenny, whatever you do, just stay tight." "Tight?" "You wanna see tight?" ""Look surprised."" " Do I look surprised enough?" " Don't say anything." "I'm coming right back to talk to you, okay?" "Just don't say anything." "I got a plan." "Let's go." "Now, what?" "What's the plan?" "You wanna repeat that?" "It won't sound any better." "No, but at least I can be reassured I didn't hear wrong." "A juror told us they were acquitting." "We told the client." "The client turned down a plea bargain because of this information." "Please tell me why the two of you shouldn't be thrown in jail?" "Your Honor, we didn't come in here to defend ourselves." "We came in here to say that Kenny should not be penalized for our misconduct." "Throw us in jail if you want, but not Kenny." "Just for my own education, why on earth would you take such a risk for this client?" "Is he related by blood?" "No, we just thought it seemed unfair for him to forfeit an acquittal because of some juror's big mouth and..." "Obviously, we made a considerable misjudgment." " For which we feel the client..." " I'm not overturning the conviction." "Your client participated in this dishonesty." "And I'm certainly not going to reward him for it." "The guilty verdict stands." "So as not to punish him unduly for the blatant and illegal action of his attorneys I'll sentence him to six months." " The same term that the DA was offering." " Thank you." "As for the two of you I'll be referring you to the Board of Bar Overseers." "And I'll be recommending immediate disbarment." "Don't you...?" "Don't you think that's a little severe?" "Not a bit." "That's all." "The defense calls Theodore Maynard." "Your Honor, may I approach?" "Your Honor, as an officer of the court I have to let my client testify in the narrative." "Did you try to dissuade him from testifying, counsel?" " I did." " Yeah, right." "I did." "He insisted." "Step back." "Members of the jury, a little departure from the norm." "Mr. Maynard, instead of testifying in the usual q  a form is simply going to state his version of the events in the narrative form." "Now, this is done sometimes." "It's just a different style." "Okay, sir." "Please state your name for the record." "And then you may begin." "My name's Theodore Maynard though everybody that knows me just calls me Teddy." "Shall I tell them how I lost my leg or stick to this case?" " The case." " All right." "It was a cold, dark night, kind of a clammy night." "The kind of night where you just knew something bad was gonna happen." "Just a couple questions, Dr. Manheim." "I appreciate you taking the time." "Certainly." " Your dog, his name is Ross?" " Yes." "I had an Uncle Ross once." "Dead." "Got the gout." "It isn't relevant to this here." " He's a Rottweiler?" " Yes, he is." "Beautiful dogs, if you like the big kind." "Now, when your Rottweiler bit Susan Stevenson did you actually see what happened, sir?" "I was talking to somebody else in the park so my eyes were going back and forth." "Who would this other person be, sir?" "It was a woman." "Someone I just met, actually." "She was walking her dog as well." "Both animals were on a leash, by the way." "I see." "You say you just met?" "You wouldn't have gotten her name, would you?" "Maybe a phone number?" " Actually, yes, I did." " Oh, good." "That makes things easier." "I'll get that later." "Her dog, what kind was that?" " I think it was a Shar-Pei." " Shar-Pei?" "An old girlfriend told me I looked like a Shar-Pei." "Personally, I didn't see it." "It isn't relevant to this here." "Perhaps, since we're all busy people, you could stick to what is relevant here?" "Of course." "You said you were looking back and forth." "What did you see, if you remember?" "Well, I noticed a young girl looking at Ross." "I think she then made a sudden movement, as if to pet him." "And I think she startled him." "That's when he nipped her." "Is your dog fixed or, you know, are you planning puppies?" "Neither." "When did you get this dog, doctor?" "Three years ago." "That's in the interrogatory as are all the answers to these questions." "I know." "Sorry." "I was doing some checking and I noticed your condo on the north end got robbed a week before you got this Rottweiler." "Would that be a coincidence?" "Not exactly." "You got this dog for a kind of security thing." "In part." "Also as a pet." "Ever take it to any dog obedience school?" "No, I trained him myself." "So you would be aware on the behavior of these animals?" " Come on, counsel." " No, I don't mean like you're an expert." "Just some basic things." "Are you aware that Rottweilers are an aggressive breed?" "More aggressive than average, yes." "And you'd know that males, especially unneutered males are most aggressive." "I don't think I knew that, but I believe you if you say it's so." "Now, you said you saw the little girl looking at the dog." "Did you know that looking into a dog's eyes is likely to be interpreted by the animal as an aggressive challenge?" " No, I didn't know that." " Okay." "What kind of food do you give him, generally?" "Dog food." "Scraps from the table sometimes." " High on protein?" " I haven't any idea." "Do you know that a high-protein diet for these kinds of animals can make them more aggressive?" "No, I didn't know that, counsel." "This is a dangerous animal you got, doctor." "I'd think you'd check up on some of these things." "Could we just please ask questions?" "The woman you met at the park..." "By the way, did you ever see her again?" "Yes, we had dinner a few times." "I think I'll take her name and number now." "Hey." "How did it go?" "How did it go?" "What?" "Kenny got six months." "He's..." "He's out, pending appeal on the probable cause issue." "With any luck, we'll get him out altogether." " Cool." " We, on the other hand..." "What?" "Things didn't go so good for us." "What happened?" "We're getting disbarred and it's her fault." " What?" " I should have never listened to you." " What?" " "Don't tell." "Don't tell."" " We were both in on this, Lindsay." " You kept saying, "Don't tell."" "Hey!" "There's a deposition going on here." " What's going on?" " You tell him." "No, you tell him, that way you can allocate blame." "You could have recused yourself..." "Hey." "Let's go to my office." "Now." "It's not that she wouldn't give me the change I get rejection every day but the way she wouldn't even look at me." "Like it would bring her down to acknowledge I was there." "Now, I joke about things all the time." "In fact, that's how I get by, I make jokes." "See, usually I can make everything a joke." "But this one kind of stuck with me." "Anyway I went around the corner on Tremont, where we all kind of hang out." "You know, panhandle central." "And Joey Free, the guy I told you about earlier he's also got one leg." "He starts yelling at me for being a victim." "Saying feeling sorry for myself was my worst problem." "And I just snapped back, "Easy for you to say, Mr. Crutch." "I can't even afford crutches."" "And Joey, he just jumps up throws his crutches to the ground and hops off." "About a minute later, he comes back, throws a wallet at me and says:" ""See?" "I'm no victim."" "The man had jumped up and snatched that woman's wallet." "Now, I had it when the police came, I certainly did, but I didn't take it." "It was Joey Free." "Except Free is not his real last name." "I kind of don't wanna turn him in." "There's certain codes we gotta live by." "But I'll be honest about this..." "Though I'm sure my lawyer will probably berate me for it later." " I wish it was me." "I wish I was the guy that jumped up and took that woman's money." "I'd be sitting prouder today if I hopped up to that woman and said, "I exist!"" "Now, I don't believe in stealing." "But if she was keeping in her wallet the idea that some people are less worthy than her then I'm glad she lost it." "Now, I didn't take it." "But I'd be proud to sit here and say that I did." "And that's the truth." "Why didn't you come to me?" "You would have gone along and you'd be in the same trouble." "I wouldn't have gone along." "I would have told the judge." " Oh, please, Bobby." "You never would..." " It was jury tampering." "We didn't tamper." "We only withheld..." "Ellenor, for God's sake, communication with a juror you go straight to the judge." "No question." " Even if we're gonna...?" " No question." "This is beyond stupid." "You risked your careers you completely jeopardized the reputation of this entire firm." " What could you've been thinking?" " The reputation of this firm." "What?" " Nothing." " Hey." "Reputation of this firm doesn't matter to you?" "Bobby, all we did was live up to your example." "You just sold out a client." "Lyle Roberts." "Let's not forget that." "You just finished arguing jury nullification." "You got a murderer off on the moral integrity of his cold-blooded execution." "What exactly do you think our reputation is here, Bobby?" "I mean, who are you kidding?" "We are reasonable doubt for a reasonable fee." "We are a bottom-feeding do-whatever-you-can- to-get-your-client-off law firm." "That is exactly what we are." "And what Lindsay and I did may not have been ethical." "It was completely in the spirit and the tradition of Bobby Donnell." "You wanna fire me?" "Go right ahead." "But please, please, Bobby." "Do not lecture me." "Were you here all night?" " Yup." " Why?" "I don't know, Beck." "You heard what Ellenor said?" "It escaped a little through the walls." "Bobby, I think the problem is this place isn't just you anymore." "There's also them." "And I think they got a good leader in you." "For not great leadership, you know?" " Maybe it's time for a meeting." " There's the door." "Nobody's stopping you." " Is he in there with somebody?" " I didn't see anybody else." "You walk out of here, I'll see you in court." " Hi." " What are you doing?" "I got a settlement conference in half an hour on the dog-bite case." "I'm not a good closer." "I come off too nice." "I gotta be strong, you know?" "I'm gonna come on strong, and since I don't shift gears good I'm getting ready." "I gotta be tough." "Got it." "Sorry to bother you." "You're gonna regret it." "You're definitely gonna regret it." "You walk out of here..." "She's not ID'ing the man who held her up." "She's identifying the man she saw in police custody." "She sees a one-legged man in the lineup, she figures it must be him." "She wants it to be the guy." "We all do." "So that we can feel safe." "That the bad guy is off the street." "What are the chances there could have been somebody else there that night with just one leg?" "Of course she was going to conclude that the man they had must be the guy." "But remember, she really couldn't identify the man's face." "She didn't give the police any description other than black, one leg, that was it." " Objection." "This is too much." " Counsel, get up here." "I'm sorry, Your Honor, but this goes way over the line." "I mean, to recruit black amputees to walk into the room in the middle of his closing argument?" " That's unbelievable, even for him." " I'm shocked." "Did you enlist those one-legged black people?" "Your Honor, my client is in an amputee support group." " His friends came to his trial." " Oh, right." " What do you think of me?" " Counsel." "They could have used crutches." "Or, I don't know, maybe a wheelchair?" "He deliberately had them hop." "I'm not sure this is something you can appeal." "Now, let him finish his closing." "Please." "Step back." "Two hundred thousand?" "Yesterday, you said 75." " Today, I got more facts." " You've got more facts?" " I've got more facts." " Let's hear your facts." "The facts are your guy bought a security dog." "A dangerous instrument he took no steps to train or even learn about." "He didn't know the risks of this animal, which makes him negligent or he did which makes him reckless, your pick." " So 200,000..." " I'm not finished with my facts." "Well, go ahead." " You want me to go ahead?" " I said, go ahead." "This was preventable." "Dogs like this need to be socialized." "This one wasn't." "Dogs like this need to be taught submissive behavior." "This one wasn't." "Dogs like this should be fed low-protein." "This one wasn't." "If he chooses to dispense with these precautions, fine." "It's his choice." "He takes the risk." "But if he's gonna go to a park a children's park and hit up on women and not even pay attention when he knows a child is 2 feet from his security Rottweiler he puts the child at risk too." "She lost her face." "He got a phone number and couple of dinner dates." "That's what the jury's gonna hear." "Is that right?" "That's right." "Two hundred thousand, nothing less." "I'll see you in court." "I doubt it." "What is this?" " Hi." " Yes." "One alternative offer." "What?" "What?" "What?" "One-fifty and whatever it takes to fix her face." " Excuse me?" " Your client's a doctor at Mass General." "I'm sure he's got lots of colleagues." "And I'm not talking about one operation." "It's whatever it takes to make her the pretty girl she was pre-Rottweiler." "That could turn out to be cheaper than 200 if he gets the right doctors." "One-fifty and her smile." "Final offer." " Tell Eugene he can wait here." " He expects the jury back any minute." " This doesn't even involve Eugene." " This does involve Eugene." "This is a meeting about this firm." "Eugene is a member of this firm." " Fine." " Ellenor?" "Look, let's just start." "He gets here when he gets here, okay?" "Okay, first, the disbarment proceeding." "I will represent both of you." " We shouldn't get independent counsel?" " We should." "But on this, I think I can be more persuasive." "Okay, now, let's clear the air about all this being in the spirit of my tradition." "Ellenor?" "I cleared my air yesterday, Bobby." "We bend, we fold, we mutilate all the rules around here." "It's like our motto." "Would you agree with that, Lindsay?" "Well, pretty much." " Jimmy?" " I don't know." "The truth is, I don't know what we are." "I think what we are and what we could be are different things." " Meaning?" " We've been a firm that will represent anybody." "Financially, we've had to." "The clientele we have, let's face it, the reputation that we're honorable that we play by the rules, that would cost us our clients." "The Kenny Tripps, which make up this practice, they rely on us to cheat a little." "To stick up for them first, the rules second." "You know, they might love us but to the legal community we're the lawyers who give lawyers a bad name." "The bread and butter that's kept us afloat it's mainly been the drug dealers, the Kenny Tripps." "How do we just abandon them?" "We abandon them because there are plenty of other lawyers who are desperate to do that work." "We're not that desperate anymore." "Or maybe you're more desperate than you could ever know." "What's that supposed to mean?" "It means maybe you like it here in the trenches." "You know, maybe you don't wanna climb out." "But if so, be honest about it so we can get out while we still have the chance." ""In the matter of Commonwealth v. Theodore Maynard on charge 62434, we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty."" "Thank you, Mr. Young." "You are awesome, man." "I'm even gonna pay you." "Oh, that's nice." "But, Teddy..." "Look, I know, all right?" "I'm gonna stay clear from this kind of crap." "I need to grow up." "I'm gonna." "Does it ever bother you?" "You know, getting all these guys off on acquittals when you know they did it?" "Sometimes." "But am I all torn up over the idea of Teddy Maynard out there?" "Hopping free?" "Come on, let me pay off some of this debt by taking you to dinner." "I'm married, Renee." "You're separated, Eugene." "Yeah, well, I got a kid who's not ready for his dad to be out with a DA just yet." " Otherwise, I..." " It's..." "Hey." "Anyway, congratulations again on your wonderful victory." "Thanks." "So..." "I'll see you in court?" "Yeah." "I don't believe it." "I'm still in a little shock myself." "A hundred and forty thousand dollars?" "Plus as many operations as it takes to fix her smile." "I don't know what to say." " Well, you gotta say yes before I go..." " Oh, well, yes." "My God, yes." "I'd like to go tell her." "And they know that I don't have medical insurance..." "No hospital costs, period." "I'll get it in writing." "We can make appointments for her to meet with the plastic surgeons as soon as we close." "Well, I owe you all a big apology because you don't know what I was thinking of y'all." " This is really true?" " All true." "Thank you." "Am I to understand that instead of accepting 200,000 you settled on 140, plus hospital care?" " Yeah." "You realize we can't take a contingency on a girl's smile?" "If you had settled for 2 on a straight cash deal this firm would have made an extra $ 16,000." "You do know that?" "It crossed my mind." "Jimmy, you said you don't know what this place is." "What you just did I'd like to think that's exactly what this place is." "Good job." "Thank you."