THIS TRANSCRIPT WAS DONE BY LINDA.
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We do not own the characters in this story, nor do we own any rights to the television show `The Practice'. They were created by David E. Kelley and belong to him and David E. Kelley Productions.
This is a cut and dry transcript of "Death Penalties."
The show opens with Bobby and a client talking in Bobby's office.
Bobby: We have to make a decision.
Mr. Simpson: What do you think ?
Bobby: I think if we can get manslaughter we should take it.
Mr. Simpson: How much time would I serve?
Bobby: It could be as little as three years. I would think at the most six.
Mr. Simpson: God, my kids are 13 and 11... six years!
Bobby: Here is the problem jury nullification is risky. Technically I'm not even allowed to argue it.
Mr. Simpson: What about insanity?
Bobby: The problem there is your demeanor was calm and deliberate at the time. Now look, Helen Gamble is a very good DA, also on this issue, she is on a mission with it. Her grandmother, I don't know all the details, was euthanized somehow. All I know is she goes tough on mercy killings.
Mr. Simpson: This was an act of compassion for God's sake.
Bobby: You know that, I know that, but if we can get manslaughter I think we should do it.
Mr. Simpson: I can't believe they are pushing this. This is politics.
Bobby: You did shoot her in the head.
The Theme Song and opening credits.
Coming out of the elevator in the courthouse are Helen, Bobby and Lindsay. They are heading to the courtroom.
Helen: I'm not offering manslaughter.
Bobby: It's a mercy killing.
Helen: It's a homicide.
Bobby: I'm agreeing to plead homicide
Helen: Not enough you are not
Bobby: What are you looking for a life sentence? This man is no criminal.
Helen: I'm looking for more than five years, which is what he would probably do with manslaughter. And he is a criminal Bobby, he committed premeditated murder what I'm suppose to go light because it came from love. A lot of homicides do.
Bobby: Listen to how angry you are getting.
Helen: I'll see you in there.
Bobby: Hey, (grabbing her arm) get some therapy.
Helen: Take your hand off me, please.
Helen walks away, leaving Lindsay and Bobby behind.
Lindsay: I tried talking to her last night.
Bobby: So what do we do?
Lindsay: I still wouldn't go insanity, she'll pick us apart plus it's pretty obvious he knew what he was doing.
Bobby: So what are we left with?
Next scene is at the judge's chambers. Helen, Bobby and Lindsay are standing before a female judge:
Judge: Self-defense?
Bobby: It's viable.
Judge: You want to argue he defended his wife by shooting her in the head?
Bobby: I should at least be allowed to argue it!
Judge: Well you won't be. I have to prevent the law from being tortured here.
Bobby: If you consider the strict elements here--
Judge: You will not argue that he acted in self-defense that is ridiculous. What else?
Bobby: We'd ask the prosecution to include manslaughter as a lesser included charge
Helen: It wasn't manslaughter it was premeditated and...
Bobby: Question for the jury.
Helen: The jury doesn't get to decide what defendants are charged with.
Bobby: The reason she won't charge manslaughter is she's afraid that is what the jury will come back with.
Judge: I can't tell the prosecution what to charge counsel.
Bobby: Your honor-(he's interrupted by Lindsay)
Lindsay: Bobby (giving him a look to stop)
Judge: Let's go in. Ms. Gamble one second please. (Bobby and Lindsay walk out of the room, Helen stays behind.)
Judge: As I've said, I can't tell you how to prosecute your case, but it seems manslaughter is a good result here.
Helen: I don't agree.
Judge: A jury could let him go free.
Helen: I'm aware of that possibility your honor. (Helen leaves the room)
Back in the office, someone opens the door and a woman walks in.
Lucy: (holding a cup) May I help you?
I'm Mary Donovon. I'm looking for Bobby Donnell, Eugene Young or Eleanor Frutt.
Eleanor: I'm Eleanor Frutt
Donovon: Oh, hello. It's very nice to meet you. You come highly recommended. I have $500, I would like to buy a day of your time.
Lucy: $500 will get you to lunch.
Eleanor: Is there something specific...
Donovon: My son, he's in jail for a crime he didn't commit.
Eleanor: Well...
Donovon: Yes, every mother thinks her son is innocent. The distinction here mine is. If I could just have one day. If it's more than $500 I can pay overtime
Eleanor: Can you tell me the crime your son has been convicted of?
Donovon: Murder. He's on death row in Pennsylvania. The governor just signed his warrant. He's to be executed in five weeks, so time is of the essence. I'm told of your work on the Randall Jefferson case, what you accomplished in just 24 hours.
Eleanor: Mrs. Donovon, we were unable to save Randall Jefferson.
Donovon: Please, I'm only asking for one day.
Back in the courtroom. Helen is interviewing a witness.
Helen: What do you do as a hospice worker?
Witness: It's much like that of nurse, though I work primarily with dying
patients. Usually at their own homes.
Helen: You worked for Scott Simpson, the defendant.
Witness: Yes, I looked after his wife. She was suffering from ovarian cancer.
Helen: Mrs. Raymonds, calling your attention to the evening of Dec. 5 of last year, do you recall what happened.
Witness: She was in a lot of pain.
Helen: Mrs. Simpson?
Witness: Yes, we were giving her increased dosages of morphine, but she was still in agony. She was begging that we let her die. Finally, Mr. Simpson he um he asked that I leave the room, which I did.
Helen: Then what happened?
Witness: After about two minutes or so I heard a gun shot Mr. Simpson then opened the door and he said his wife was gone.
Bobby: You spoke of morphine. Actually on the day in question you were using morphine in conjunction with a benzyl diasapine, isn't that right?
Witness: Yes.
Bobby: This drug is the equivalent of valium.
Witness: It's very close yes.
Bobby: The purpose of the morphine valium cocktail is to hasten the patient's death. Isn't that right, Mrs. Raymond?
Witness: It's primarily to relieve pain.
Bobby: Mrs. Raymonds, I remind you, you are under oath. The morphine valium combination that is used to cause the patient's death. True?
Witness: Yes.
Bobby: So on the day in question you were already acting to hasten Mrs. Simpson's death , weren't you?
Witness: In conjunction with the family's wishes, I was employing a method of pain management that would most likely result in the patient's death, yes.
Bobby: And no one charged you with attempted murder I assume ?
Helen: Objection.
Judge: Sustained.
Bobby: When Mr. Simpson ended his wife's life he did something in seconds that you were basically trying to do in a day or so?
Witness: I can't disagree with that.
Bobby: Thank you.
Back in the office, Eleanor and Mrs. Donovan are sitting in the conference room.
Donovon: He was only 19 at the time. He's convicted of raping and killing his girlfriend, Alyssa Kearns, then killing her mother. This is them. (Showing Eleanor a picture of two women)
Eleanor: And this happened when?
Donovon: In 1988, he's been in prison 12 years. The evidence was one eyewitness who placed him at the scene, plus a lying jail house informant who made up a story about Stuart confessing. He never did.
Eleanor: And what is your son's story?
Donovon: That he was out hunting. And it's not a story. He was with my husband, who the police just thought was trying to cover for him. My husband has since passed away.
Eleanor: Any DNA?
Donovon: Stuart's blood type matched whoever did it. That's a problem. They didn't do full DNA analysis back then.
Eleanor: Never?
Donovan: In 1992 we finally had it done, unfortunately the tests proved inconclusive. We went to try again in 95, but by then the rape kit had either been lost or destroyed.
Eleanor: What is his appellate lawyer telling you?
Donovon: That he's done all he can do. He's giving up. (Eleanor looks surprised and confused)
Helen and Eleanor in their apartment, getting ready to sit down to dinner.
Helen: You took it? Eleanor: I agreed to meet with her son and the DA if I can.
Helen: In Pennsylvania.
Eleanor: It's a hour and a half flight. I'm there and back in a day. And you know, who knows, if he really is innocent….
Helen: God bless you Eleanor. If I had your heart.
Eleanor: You'd have a heart.
Helen: Oh, funny
Eleanor: Ok, look Can I ask you something and I'm not trying to pick a fight here , I promise. Why not plead out on manslaughter. Grieving husband and I don't believe you really believe this guy is a danger to society. He does time….
Helen: He shot her in the head.
Eleanor: Is it the method then - the fact that he used a gun?
Helen: Partly, yes.
Eleanor: So if he used a needle and injected her with something to put her to sleep then you would agree to manslaughter.
Helen: No, seems even less like manslaughter. You put dogs to sleep not people.
Eleanor: Ok, so agreed it's a crime. But my question goes to why murder two, why not manslaughter?
Helen: Let me ask you a question. You are against the death penalty you say it's barbaric. It's okay to put sick people to death but not convicted murderers?
Eleanor: No, those are two very different things
Helen: No they are not. Lethal injections in both cases.
Eleanor: Look, there is a very big difference between executing a healthy person and allowing a terminal one in pain to die.
Helen: Mrs. Simpson wasn't allowed to die she had a bullet pumped into her head.
Eleanor: She wanted to die.
Helen: Oh, is that the test, whether she wants to die. Cause a lot of inmates on death row they want to die. You support killing them? (raising her voice)
Eleanor: I'm talking about a dying woman (shaking her fork at Helen)in extreme -
Helen: Please don't shake your fork at me. What about the guy with a brain tumor whose got four to six months to live? He's not suffering, but he doesn't want it to ever get to that point so he'd rather die now. Is it okay to kill him if he wants?
Eleanor: Well I think we need to re-evaluate...
Helen: How about the ones with six months to live?
Eleanor: I'm not saying it's okay to kill anybody I'm only say...
Helen: Okay, well fine. You make a list of who it's okay to kill and who its not, all right?
Eleanor: Oh, Helen, Stop it. This woman was in extreme agony her husband was trying to spare her some suffering and you go after him like he's some monster.
Helen: I'm suppose to listen to you on who's a sympathetic defendant and who's not? Forgive me if I don't trust your damn judgement and thank you for allowing me to enjoy my supper.
(Helen gets up from the table and goes to her room. You hear the door slam)
Eleanor: I was just making conversation. (she picks up her wine glass and downs the entire thing)
COMMERCIAL
Back in the courtroom. First you see the jurors and then the camera focuses on Mr. Simpson, who is testifying.
Mr. Simpson: Last week she had been in unbearable pain. She was tough, Sally, she had endured a year of massive chemotherapy treatments.
Bobby: Lets talk about the very last day.
Mr. Simpson: She just couldn't take it anymore. We then started the morphine with the valium, Mrs. Raymonds said she would probably go into a coma and die in a day or two. The pain wouldn't go away. (shows shots of Mr. Simpson's two children, sitting in the court room)
Bobby: What did you do?
Mr. Simpson: I asked Mrs. Raymonds to increase the morphine. She said she didn't want to throw her into seizures because that would be more pain. So I asked her to leave the room.
Bobby: Then what happened
Mr. Simpson: I went to my closet, retrieved my revolver from the safe and…I ended it.
Bobby: She would have likely been dead in a day, why?
Mr. Simpson: I wasn't going to let her suffer for another second. For two years, they cut out half her insides filled her with chemicals. And the pain. (started crying and pounding his fist on the stand). Not another minute, not another second, not another second….
Next scene is a plane arriving in Pennsylvania and then Eleanor and Mrs. Donovan are shown entering a jail.
Next scene, Eleanor and Mrs. Donovon are speaking to Stuart:
Mrs. Donovon: Baby.
Stuart: Hey Mom.
Mrs. Donovon: This is Eleanor Frutt. My son, Stuart.
Eleanor: Hello.
Stuart: She says you can do something. Can you really?
Eleanor: I don't know Stuart. I have a few meetings set up and then maybe I will have a better idea.
Stuart: How about this Bobby Donnell guy, is he coming too?
Eleanor: He's in trial now, so he couldn't make it
Mrs. Donovon: She's very good Stuart. I checked her out plenty.
Eleanor: Um actually I have a meeting with the District Attorney in a little over an hour, so I read your statements but I'd like to hear in person your account of things.
Stuart: Okay, it's pretty simple. I was there that day because I needed to see her.
Eleanor: Why?
Stuart: We argued earlier that week. She wasn't returning my calls. She said we needed to take a break so I left. That night I went hunting with my dad, the next day the police showed up.
Eleanor: Did you make love to Alyssa that afternoon?
Stuart: No.
Eleanor: And did you see her mother?
Stuart: No, not that day. (long silence) Do we have a chance? (Eleanor looks unsure)
Back in the courtroom in Boston, Bobby is questioning Mrs. Simpson's oncologist.
Bobby: When a patient reaches stage four of ovarian cancer it's pretty bleak.
Doctor: The odds of survival are tougher, yes
Bobby: But you were generally encouraging to Mrs. Simpson, weren't you doctor?
Doctor: I don't know if I was optimistic
Bobby: But you certainly held out the hope that the chemo treatments, her pushing fluids plus the two surgeries to debalk the cancer, it could maybe save her.
Doctor: That was the best chance
Bobby: But there never was any real chance of saving Mrs. Simpson's life, was there Dr. Sheehans?
Helen: Objection, Mrs. Simpson's oncologist has nothing to do with what transpired.
Bobby: It is my contention that this doctor contributed to Mrs. Simpson's suffering. That goes to my client's state of mind.
Judge: Hold on here...
Bobby: Scott Simpson was the only one to help his wife. The doctors weren't there in the end.
Judge: This witness is not relevant to the issue before this court.
Bobby: I will show relevance.
Judge. You are shut down here. (Looks toward the witness) Step down doctor. Call your next witness.
Bobby: The defense calls Dr. Alan Price.
Helen: Objection.
Judge: Step up.
Bobby, Helen and Lindsay walk up to the judge's bench:
Judge: Offer of proof.
Bobby: Dr. Price is the surgeon who did the debulking procedures.
Judge: Denied. This witness is not relevant.
Bobby: Your honor.
Judge: I would remind counsel that it is your client that is on trial here, not the doctors who treated his wife
Bobby: My client should be allowed to put on a defense
Judge: You are not putting on this one. Who else have you got?
Lindsay: Defense rests your honor. (Bobby looks at Lindsay annoyed and she looks at him back with a stern look) Defense rests. (Helen looks at Lindsay in surprise)
Back in Pennsylvania, Eleanor and Mrs. Donovan are speaking to the District Attorney.
DA: As I told Mrs. Donovan, we don't know what became of the rape kit.
Mrs. Donovan: Oh please.
Eleanor: Do you know where it could have become loss?
DA: It should be in the police's evidence room if not there, I'd try the lab, barring that….(interrupted by Donavan)
Donovan: Why aren't you trying? Why are you so blasé about this?
DA: Mrs. Donovan, I was kind enough to grant you this meeting.
Donovan: You were kind enough to prosecute and convict my son of a crime he didn't commit.
DA: I'm not going to entertain this.
Eleanor: All right, all right, all right! Would you support me in my efforts in trying to determine where the rape kit could have gone.
D.A. Of course, we are not trying to hide anything here.
Eleanor: Thank you.
DA: But Ms. Frutt, lets be clear, while I support your efforts to retrieve lost evidence I totally oppose the idea of this case being reopened. Mr. Donovan was rightly convicted of a double homicide. (interrupted)
Mrs. Donovan: He did not commit that crime!!
Eleanor: All right...(looking at DA) I appreciate you making the call. (Gets up with Mrs. Donovan)
Next scene is outside the DA's office, near a parking lot. Mrs. Donovan and Eleanor are walking toward the car.
Eleanor: Look, Mary, here is the deal. If we are going to make any progress on this, we are going to need a modicum of cooperation from the police and that is not going to happen with you antagonizing them. Donovan: That man is never going to help and I'll tell you why. His boss is running on a death penalty platform. Stuart's execution is the first one scheduled in a year. Politics-wise they need this to happen They very well could have knowingly destroyed that rape kit. And forgive my French, but that man is an ass who is capable of concealing evidence.
Eleanor: Mary, I don't want you to antagonize them.
(Mrs. Donovan shakes her head and gets in the car. Eleanor looks frustrated.)
Back in Boston, Lindsay and Bobby head back to the office. As they open the door, Bobby looks upset, followed by a quiet Lindsay. Lucy, Eugene and Rebecca are in the office.
Rebecca: How's it going?
Bobby passes right by Rebecca and Eugene straight to his office and doesn't say anything. He closes his door.
Eugene: That well.
Lindsay: He tried calling the woman's doctors.
Eugene: Why?
Lindsay: Good question. (She heads into Bobby's office)
Inside the office:
Lindsay: Since I'm second chair, I thought maybe you'd let me in on the strategy.
Bobby: That strategy is simple. Scott Simpson endured two years of watching his wife suffer.
Lindsay: What does that have to do with the doctors that treated her.
Bobby: I was bringing them in to establish the suffering.
Lindsay: No, you weren't Bobby, you put Dr. Shields up their to attack him. Helen isn't the only one personalizing this. What is going on with you?
Bobby: Lindsay, we have no defense, okay. I have to convey whatever Scott Simpson went through, what his wife went through. It's all about building up enough sympathy so that the jury feel compelled to ignore the law.
Lindsay: If that is what you were trying to do then you went way off course. (Bobby looks down at his briefcase). Look at me. (Bobby looks up). You were saying how the doctor's weren't there at the end. (Bobby looks down again and she sighs). Now, I know that you had to turn the respirator off on your mother.
Bobby: It isn't about that.
Lindsay: Why did it happen like that? How was it that you had to turn it off?
Bobby: The hospitals wouldn't do it back then. At least the hospital that she was in, it was a Catholic hospital. And they just left the family alone with the patient. They showed us the button and the doctors, nurses they all left the room, leaving just me and my dad with...
Lindsay: Why didn't your dad do it?
Bobby: He couldn't. My father couldn't bring himself to hit that button, even though he knew. So, he asked me if I would do it, while those doctors were outside comparing notes on how well the patient tolerated this chemical versus that one, a fifteen year old kid was left inside to turn off his mother's respirator…(tears roll down his face)
Lindsay: (almost in tears) Now, you hate them.
Bobby: Yeah, yeah I do.
Lindsay: Okay, but we have a murder trial here and our client he needs you to try this case and this case alone.
Bobby: I'm doing that
Lindsay: No, you are not Bobby. Maybe, I should close.
Bobby: I'll close.
COMMERCIAL:
Back in Boston.
Lindsay (opening Helen's office door). Hey.
Helen: Oh, Don't you start.
Lindsay: Saying "hey'' is starting?
Helen: Well it depends. Have you come to pick out bridesmaid dresses? What, have you come to distract me from working on my closing?
Lindsay: Helen, this case can't be a situation where your office is pressuring you to get a murder two. Why not take the manslaughter?
Helen: I don't know.
Lindsay: What do you mean 'you don't know? That's not really an answer. You could just plead out if you want. Why not do it, really?
Helen: I don't know.
Back in Pennsylvania at an evidence warehouse.
Eleanor: This is where you keep the rape kits?
Police Worker: yes, ma'am. Some of the old ones.
Eleanor: Going back how far?
Police Worker: That I couldn't tell you. (Worker climbs a ladder) Donovan, Stuart, this should be it. (Looking inside a box) It's not in there.
Eleanor: Well, we figured it wouldn't be in there. That would have been a little too easy. So if it's not here, where else might it possibly be? How many different people handle these things?
Police worker: This is just storage. Chained up custody is all documented went to the lab in 92 and there is no documentation that it ever came back.
Eleanor: Well, could it still be at the lab?
Police worker: They really don't have storage capacity, plus we called and they say they don't have it, that means it is most likely destroyed
Eleanor: Where is this lab?
Police worker: The address is on the paper
Eleanor: Thank you very much officer.
Back in the Boston courtroom: Bobby starts his closing argument.
Bobby: It's the hypocrisy of it all that gets me. We are already helping patients die. We make these morphine-valium cocktails and in the end it causes them to go into a coma and die. Forget the crap about pain management that is just a politically correct euphemism. It's to hasten the patient's death. So, what are we talking about. The so-called victim in this crime was going to die within 48 hours. The so-called victim's death was already being hastened medically and my client hastened it further and he's on trial for murder, that's a joke. We can't give them a quick acting drug, because that would seem to much like we are killing them, so we give them a slow acting drug, let it take a day or so and we call it pain management. That is a joke. It would be funny, if it weren't for the fact that the patient often suffers excruciating agony in the meantime, which is exactly what was happening in this case. Everybody in this room knows if the doctor's could have ended Sally Simpson's pain quickly and mercifully, Scott Simpson would have never picked up that gun. But here we are trying to take away his life, trying to take him from his children, trying to brand him a murderer. More than anything the law is suppose to protect the weakest members of our society. The law wasn't there in the end for Sally Simpson, the doctors weren't there in the end after they cut out half her insides, pumping her full of drugs, prolonging her pain, causing it, they weren't there in the end - only I - (realizing he made a mistake and Lindsay looks at him in surprise he quickly says) - only my client, Scott Simpson, only he was there in the end and he ended his wife's suffering. He didn't stop a life, he stopped pain and they are asking you to call him a murderer.
Helen: First, there is a difference ladies and gentlemen between controlling pain with a dosage of medicine that could forseeably cause death and simply killing someone. Maybe in the end it amounts to a small distinction, but it is one. Doctors do not kill to kill. Even if they did, as Mr. Donnell contends, it is still illegal. Second, patient was already dying, Mr. Simpson just hastened it further. Please, where do we draw the line? When do we say death is so close it becomes okay to kill? Certainly if a prisoner on death row was murdered the day before his scheduled execution, we would hold the killer accountable. Third, Mrs. Simpson was suffering, I certainly don't dispute that, but I definitely take issue with the suggestion that when a person is in enough misery it becomes permissible to take out a gun and shoot her in the head. Fourth, the law: When a person intentionally takes the life of another human being it's murder. He can be loving, sympathetic, even heroic if you are so inclined to find him that way, but if he intentionally takes the life of another human being acts in self defense, or diminished mental capacity, it is murder. That is what we have here. Now the arguments about the extenuating circumstances, take that up at sentencing when it is time for leniency. But here, the question is did he commit a crime. I suppose you can choose to ignore your duty. You can do here exactly what Mr. Simpson did and take the law into your hands. Would I understand, yes. Would it make you popular in the public's eye, I bet it would. Would it make you right? You know the answer to that. This isn't a forum for policy, but since Mr. Donnell argued it, I agree. The law is designed to protect its weakest member, that would include the sick, the aged, the dying. Just consider the potential for abuse if we let ourselves become open to the idea that sometimes its okay to take out a gun and put somebody down. (walks back to her seat)
Bobby: (stands up) Your honor, chambers.
Judge's chambers:
Judge: What's up?
Bobby: I want you to instruct the jury that a conviction means a life sentence.
Judge: What?
Bobby: She argued sentencing in her closing.
Helen: I did not
Bobby: You said leniency. That implied to the jury that you could be lenient, when that is not the case. A conviction on murder two means life.
Judge: What do you want me to do?
Bobby: Tell them that. He would be looking at life.
Helen: Forget it.
Bobby: You have no discretion to be lenient and right now the jury thinks you do.
Judge: I think you are overreacting
.
Bobby: She knew what she was doing.
Helen: Don't be accusing me.
Bobby: It bordered on prosecutorial misconduct!
Helen: Hey, I stuck to the law. You argued jury nullification.
Bobby: You cannot let that jury deliberate under the false impression that my client might get a lighter sentence.
Judge: There will be no further talk on sentencing. I'm certainly not going to give instruction on it.
Bobby: It was a deliberate act of deception!
Helen: It was not. How could you --!
Bobby: You're a liar! (Helen slaps him)
Judge: Hey!
Lindsay: (shocked) Helen!
Judge: I'll hold you both in contempt!
Helen: (To Bobby) You want to fight the fight in the courtroom fine. I will not accept that kind of personal attack.
(She walks out of chambers)
Separate room in the courthouse:
Lindsay: You were totally out of line.
Bobby: She said leniency, you heard it!
Lindsay: I'm talking about calling her a liar. Bobby the law is totally on Helen's side here. Who's kidding who? Yes, she could have gone manslaughter, but the facts easily support murder two.
Bobby: So, I would be a murderer then. Is that what you are saying?
Lindsay: Of course I'm not saying that. (She realizes) Is that what is going on here, you're defending yourself? My God, have you been carrying that around? You killed your mother?
Bobby: I don't think that. You said it.
Lindsay: I didn't say it. It came out of you. Bobby? Bobby?
Back in Pennsylvania, in the justice center:
Lab worker: Look, I understand your problem, but we send all samples back to the evidence locker. There is very limited storage capacity here. We don't hang on to rape kits.
Eleanor: But the police don't have any records of you returning the rape kit on Donovan.
Lab worker: Well we have a record of sending it back to them I could show it to you, it's right here.
Mrs. Donovan: Well, if you wrote it down.
Eleanor: Can you tell me who you used as a messenger service?
Lab worker: We don't use services it presents chain of custody problems.
Eleanor: So people here would've delivered it directly to the police?
Lab worker: Yes.
Eleanor: So basically you are saying it got lost there; they are saying it got lost here.
Lab worker: Well, if I were a betting man I'd say it got lost there.
Eleanor: Okay, does Jack Semler still work here?
Lab worker: Who?
Eleanor: Jack Semler he was the technician who did the testing back in 92.
Lab worker: Can I see your paperwork?
Eleanor: Yeah, sure.
Lab worker: Yeah, there's been a mistake here.
Eleanor: What kind of mistake?
Lab worker: We didn't do this testing.
Eleanor: What?
Lab worker: Jack Semler works for a private lab we sometimes hire out when we are swamped here. I think our records they indicate that we sent it back to the police when we may have sent it to Kendall laboratories.
Eleanor, Mrs. Donovan and a female lab worker at Kendall laboratories:
Female lab worker: well, if we have it this is the only place it could be
Eleanor: How long do you keep samples for?
Female lab worker: It varies... let's see (looking in a storage area)Donovan, Donavan, Donavan First name?
Mrs. Donavan: Stuart.
Female lab worker: 1992?
Eleanor: Yes.
Female lab worker: Nope, nothing.
Eleanor: Well, if you don't have it and it didn't make its way back to the police, do you have any idea where it could be?
Female lab worker: Sorry. Unless, what was the victim's name?
Eleanor: Kearns.
Female lab worker: Sometimes they screw up and store it under the victim's name. Let's see, Kearns (looking through bagged lab samples) John, no, Steven, Alyssa?
Mrs. Donovan: Yes.
Female lab worker: 32665?
Eleanor : Yes, that is the file number.
Female lab worker: Huh.
Eleanor: What do you mean huh?
Female lab worker: We have it.
Eleanor : You have it?
Female lab worker: Here it is (handing over the bag to Eleanor).
Commercial.
Back in the DYDF office. Jimmy, Rebecca and Eugene walk into the office.
Rebecca: Is she still there?
Lucy: They tracked down the rape kit.
Jimmy: She still in Philadelphia?
Lucy: She's meeting with the DA asking for another DNA test.
Eugene: What if this one is conclusive? Did she think about that?
Rebecca: What's to lose. He's due to be executed in five weeks.
Bobby: We're getting paid for this?
Lucy: $500 cash. Hey, now we should expand.
Rebecca: (to Bobby) What's up with your case?
Bobby: The jury is still out. Anybody seen Lindsay?
Lindsay goes to visit Bobby's father at his job. Scene takes place in the bathroom.
Bobby's father: Lindsay, hey.
Lindsey: Hi.
Bobby's father: You know, you are in a men's room.
Lindsay: Well, I hear unisex is the new rage.
Bobby's father: (he laughs) How is Bobby?
Lindsay: Well, he's a little unsettled at the moment.
Bobby's father: Something wrong? You two aren't fighting, are you?
Lindsay: No, no, we are not fighting. (She pauses) He think he killed his mother. You two really need to talk more.
Bobby's father: (shocked) He thinks what?
Lindsay: (She's struggling to get the words out) He killed his mother. The last day of her life, you two have never talked about it?
Bobby's father: It's not something... It's not something I can talk about.
Lindsay: Well, your son needs to.
Back in Pennsylvania:
DA: I'm afraid I can't agree
Eleanor: You can't agree to a DNA test?
DA: No,
Eleanor: Why?
DA: Ms. Frutt, this case is over. It's been over for 12 years.
Eleanor: He's about to be put to death
DA: Are you saying that we should go back and reopen an investigation simply because a sentence is about to be carried out?
Mrs. Donovan: You bastard!
Eleanor: Mary! The DNA technology has improved it is possible that a new test can exonerate…
DA: I couldn't reopen if I wanted to
Eleanor: This is new evidence , of course you can.
DA: It isn't new evidence, we had the rape kit at trial.
Eleanor: Look, I understand there might be political gain in seeing this execution through.
DA: It isn't that and I'm offended at the accusation Eleanor: You are offended at the accusation? How about, I might have an innocent kid…
DA: He isn't
Eleanor: set to be put to death and all we are asking is for a simple test to confirm that you got the right guy.
DA: It isn't that simple. You are in here asking that we reopen an investigation . If we did that for you, every defense attorney in town would be lining up outside my office asking for the very same thing…
Eleanor: I'm the only defense attorney with a client slated for execution.
DA: The answer is no.
Eleanor: Then we will go to court.
DA: Do what you think you must.
Back in Boston in the judge's chambers: Judge meets with Bobby and Helen.
Judge: The jury has asked whether they can come back with manslaughter
Bobby: What did you say?
Judge: I told them no. It's murder one, murder two, or straight acquittal. It's poker time folks. Obviously they don't want to convict on murder two, but they might be more reluctant to set him free. Whose going to blink?
Bobby: I'm still willing to take manslaughter.
Helen: No.
Bobby: (agitated) Helen.
Helen: No.
Outside chambers:
Bobby: Helen (grabbing her arm)
Helen: You are grabbing me again.
Bobby: Sorry, I called you a liar
Helen: Okay
Bobby: You don't think we can deal this?
Helen: You know Eleanor has been asking why I push this, Lindsay asked, truth is I don't know. I've been asking myself .
Bobby: What is the answer?
Helen: We live in a country where people kill each other a lot, mostly with guns and whether I feel for your client or not, and I do, the thought of expanding the boundaries, even microscopically, where it becomes excusable to shoot somebody I can't do it. It has to stay repugnant, excusable is to short of a leap to acceptable. I can't do it.
Back in Pennsylvania courtroom.
Eleanor: All we are asking to do is a simple DNA test to confirm whether Stuart Donovan, was in fact the man who raped Alyssa Kearns.
Judge: My understanding is we had a match.
Eleanor: A blood type match, but that is hardly conclusive.
Judge: We also had an eyewitness , plus his finger prints.
Eleanor: This isn't about that.
Judge: Young lady, I was the trial judge in this case . If you are suggesting that Mr. Donovan didn't get a fair trial -
Eleanor: That is not my suggestion, to repeat I'm only asking that you authorize a DNA test.
Judge: Mr. Platt.
DA: Under Pennsylvania law, new evidence must be introduced within 60 days of its discovery. The rape kit is 12 years old. Defense had opportunity to analyze it before trial.
Eleanor: Technology is different. The new evidence is not the rape kit, it wold be the results of the testing. So the 60 day statute of limitations has not even begun to toll.
DA: Analysis of evidence is not new evidence
Eleanor: This is suppose to be about the truth. One lousy test brings us to the truth.
Judge: A judicial system is a process, Ms. Frutt. We have rules of procedures, new evidence is one thing but three evaluations of all evidence is quite another.
Eleanor; Your honor -
Judge: The petition is denied.
Eleanor: He is facing a death penalty.
Judge: We are adjourned. (He walks out)
In Jail:
Stuart: Where's my mother
Eleanor: She um... She's going to come by a little later.
Stuart: She's some place crying, huh?
Eleanor: No, she's upset, Stuart.
Stuart: She just doesn't know when to quit, that's all.
Eleanor: Well, I guess she and I have something in common then, because I'm not quitting.
Stuart: What are you going to do?
Eleanor: I don't know, but I'm not going to go back to Boston. I can tell you that.
Back in the Boston courtroom:
Judge: The jury has reached its verdict?
Juror: We have.
Judge: Defendant, please rise . What say you?
Juror: On Commonwealth versus Scott Simpson, on the charge of murder in the first degree, we find the defendant Scott Simpson not guilty. On the charge of murder in the second degree, we find the defendant Scott Simpson guilty.
(Simpson is shocked, so are Bobby and Lindsay)
Judge: Members of the jury this completes your service, the court thanks you. This matter is adjourned. Security will take the defendant into custody.
Mr. Simpson looks at Bobby and turns to his children.
Mr. Simpson: (to his children)Aunt Lori is going to take you guys home and you will stay with her for a little while like we talked about. Everything is going to be okay.
Aunt Lori: They'll be okay, Scott.
Mr. Simpson: I'll call you tomorrow guys, okay?
Son: Goodnight, dad. I love you.
Lindsay: (to Bobby) I'll go with the boys, I'll take them home.
Bobby: Okay.
Lindsay: Are you okay?
Bobby: Yeah. (he nods, still looking shocked over the verdict)
Lindsay leaves, and Bobby sits back down, putting his head in his hands and looking as if he is about to cry. In the background, sitting on a bench, is Bobby's father, watching Bobby.
End of Episode