Original subtitles

Last season on The Practice.

We need to talk, Clarice.

There's a restraining order.

You just screwed up.

I promise I'm not here to cause anybody any harm. I just need to talk to her.

Get out before I throw you out. You're in danger, Clarice.

He is coming for you.

Only I can save you.

Why don't you go on ahead without me?

Lindsay!

She just shot him dead in cold blood.

This was first -degree homicide.

We've heard testimony of another client who terrorized your wife. What happened

to him?

He was killed.

He was murdered.

And you were arrested for conspiracy to commit murder.

I was acquitted. I smell a pattern.

Threaten Lindsay Dole, you get killed.

Objection! Lindsay killed an unarmed man. The burden of an excuse is on you.

None of us think of you as a murderer.

Because you're not. I was there.

I saw it. You snapped.

Okay.

When he came, I knew it was probably him.

But I opened my door anyway. I wasn't going to be a victim.

It was my house.

And after you opened the door? I killed him.

Madam Foreperson, the jury has reached a unanimous verdict.

We have, Your Honor.

What say you? We find the defendant, Lindsay Dole, guilty.

They're bringing her in.

Commonwealth versus Lindsay Dole, sentencing.

Mr. Walsh?

I have nothing, Your Honor, other than to remind the court that the crime for

which Ms. Dole was convicted is murder. The taking of human life is not only an

act against that life, but a crime against law, humanity, the Commonwealth,

we feel that the statutory sentence is appropriate.

Mr. Young?

Your Honor, we would ask the court at this time to convert Ms. Dole's

from first -degree murder...

to voluntary manslaughter. The Commonwealth opposes.

You have before you the psychological examinations done by both the

and the defense, which all conclude that Ms. Dole's state of mind was severely

compromised at the time she committed this crime.

The court can also take judicial notice of the facts.

Ms. Dole did not act with any forethought. There was no premeditation.

Her own husband was in the line of fire.

Now, while the jury was certainly free to reject the defense of legal insanity,

Miss Dole's actions just as certainly fall within the scope of heat of

A killer came to her door, threatened her, and she reacted.

Your Honor can and should find that Miss Dole committed her act while under the

influence of extreme mental and emotional disturbance, for which there

reasonable excuse.

This fits the classic definition of manslaughter. Not murder one, not murder

two, but voluntary manslaughter.

Accordingly, this verdict is contrary to the evidence.

It is contrary to the law. And I would respectfully request that you adjust the

verdict to the appropriate degree.

The jury heard testimony of how Ms. Dole threatened to kill the victim the very

day of the shooting.

Those were her words.

The jury heard Ms. Dole's voice on the phone, evidencing a calm demeanor. No

passion whatsoever.

Seconds before the shooting.

Personally, I've never even seen a manslaughter with a gun.

Manslaughter is usually a fist, a vehicle, a fight, sometimes a stabbing.

when a woman walks from her door, retrieves her purse, retrieves a handgun

within that purse, shoots the man who is still standing by the door.

That's not manslaughter.

And I will remind the court of something you already know.

You are not entitled to simply substitute your judgment for that of the

You can only override the first -degree conviction if you find there was no

reasonable basis for it.

Here, you cannot make such a finding.

As such, I respectfully request that you allow the jury's verdict to stand.

Ms. Dole, do you have anything you'd like to say?

I would like to express my condolences to the family of Lawrence O'Malley.

I would also like to assure the court the lack of remorse I seemingly

demonstrated in my phone call to the police that night was more a product of

shock.

than the person I think and hope I am.

I took a human life.

I had the opportunity to retreat. I didn't do so.

I accept responsibility for a homicide conviction.

I committed a homicide.

But given my shock and my fear and the underlying trauma I was experiencing

past assaults against me, I feel my judgment and state of mind were

and that the crime I'm guilty of is more consistent with voluntary manslaughter.

Thank you.

Day 10, 9 central on ABC.

Did he say when he would rule?

No.

It's good that he took it under advisement. But bad he wouldn't let us

witnesses.

What is with the heat?

You said it was being fixed.

It is. It should. What the hell is wrong with it? Do I look like a plumber? A

plumber fixes water, Rebecca. Tell me you didn't know that. You want to get

my back? What happens when your toilet clogs? You call an electrician? My

never clogged, Eleanor. Do you have that problem?

What's that supposed to mean? Not a thing. Not a thing?

Only you seem a little edgy.

Eleanor, you do seem a little on edge.

I'm hot.

Fine. It'll all be fixed today.

We gotta walk up.

Anybody? Jimmy.

I took the last one. No, I did.

Well, how about you, Eleanor?

I have Jamie Stringer at 10 o 'clock, who, by the way, you called back.

Not just me. Eugene liked her. Jimmy, just take the walk -ups.

It's always me.

James Berluti, Melissa Halpern. Hi. Hello.

This is my daughter, Joey.

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

How can I be of help?

Is there someplace you and I could speak privately?

Of course.

I told my daughter that this was just about insurance and so forth, but that

isn't it.

First, I need to know that what I tell you will remain confidential.

Absolutely.

Please.

I wanted you to meet my daughter to, um... Well, I guess for some

perspective.

16 years ago, I kidnapped her.

I was into drugs, and I got this inane notion that having to take care of a

child would be a kind of a lifeline to... I just grabbed her out of a

when she was a newborn, and I've been raising her ever since.

Does your daughter know?

No, and it's imperative that she never find out. It would destroy her.

I also have two small children, a family. I mean, if this ever got out,

lives would be destroyed.

So, why are you here?

Um, I recently read a magazine article about two lives that

have been destroyed, the birth mother and the woman they accused of stealing

Joey. Another woman was convicted?

No, they never pressed charges due to lack of evidence, but evidently the

of suspicion followed her and...

Well, the irony is that she went on to get into some of the same drug problems

that I was looking to escape.

I don't want to turn myself in.

It isn't an option. But two things in this article.

The birth mother, she said the horror lives on every day of not knowing what

happened, whether her daughter is dead or... She said that if she could just

know... that her daughter has a good life somewhere and is happy.

And for the woman who was accused, she said if even one person could know she

was innocent, even one, I would like you to go to the birth mother and

tell her how happy and safe her daughter is.

And then I would like you to go to the woman who was accused and tell her you

know she's innocent.

I have a...

Two money orders, each in the amount of $70 ,000. If I had more, I would pay

them more.

Can you do this for me, Mr. Berluti?

Obviously, your academic credentials are superb.

Thank you.

But I have to say, I'm curious what the offers you're getting.

Why here?

Those offers are all civil.

The only thing I've ever wanted to do is criminal, and this firm for criminal.

I've been court -buffing you guys for two years.

Really? I was at the Lindsay Dole trial every day.

I almost cut a final.

Any tips? We could use some pointers on that one.

Are you serious?

Well, sure.

Well, I'm sure I couldn't say anything that you haven't already thought about.

Just for fun.

Why don't you throw it out?

Feels like a test.

Um, I thought it was a mistake to go with battered woman.

It may be a viable theory, technically, but juries pretty much reject the abuse

excuse. It seems desperate.

I felt you cut your legs off at the top.

What else were we supposed to argue?

Straight self -defense.

Wink, wink. It really would have amounted to jury nullification, but...

here's where I feel like you really dropped the ball.

I'm sorry. I don't mean to... No, go ahead.

What you did was characterize Lindsay as a crazy.

You know, she snapped. She was outside of herself. She lost control.

But the problem is, juries don't like to free nutsos.

Instead of depicting her as aberrant, you should have portrayed her as every

woman. You know, who wouldn't pull the trigger? The guy comes to her house. We

sort of did that.

Not enough. You didn't.

You basically argued, we can't know what it's like to be her. She was in a

different place. But I would have put the jury right in her shoes, right in

place.

At least one of them would have pulled the trigger. The worst you get is a hung

jury.

Hindsight's always 20 -20.

I know.

I'm looking for Sally Burns.

I'm Sally. My name is James Berluti.

I... I represent the individual who kidnapped your daughter 16 years ago.

I'm not at liberty to divulge this individual's name, but this person hired

to communicate to you that your daughter is safe and happy.

The individual continues to parent your daughter.

The individual feels great remorse for all the pain caused to you and sends to

you this money order in the amount of $70 ,000.

The individual wants you to know that he or she is very sorry for hurting you.

That's all I'm at liberty to say.

Wednesday on ABC.

What didn't you like about her? I don't know.

I just didn't.

You see her transcript?

Yeah, her grades were great. That's why we interviewed her. But the purpose of

the interview is to see if we like her.

And I didn't.

Beck, I want you to interview her. Why?

Hiring is supposed to be unanimous. If I didn't like her... We're also supposed

to have a group discussion. Rebecca is part of the group. She needs to

her. I thought she was great.

Yes, all the men think she's swell.

Why are you so testy?

Hey.

What's wrong?

What, I can't just pop in to say hi?

What's wrong?

Jimmy, police got a visit from a woman named Sally Burns last night.

You had to know she'd go to the police.

So what?

It's attorney -client. Not necessarily. A crime is ongoing.

What crime?

The kidnapping. The individual still has her. The crime is ongoing, Jimmy.

Which means you can reveal.

Helen, I'm not going to tell.

You know I'm not going to tell.

What?

I'm going to get a judge to force you to tell. No judge is ever... I think

you're wrong.

We already know who she is.

Bernice White, 56 years old, works as a waitress at the King Street Cafe. We'll

get her one way or another.

If she comes forward and cooperates, I'll give her three years.

You have 24 hours.

You can't tell?

You gave me your word. Melissa. I didn't even want you to tell him. He's a

lawyer here. The privilege extends to war. And now you're breaking the

privilege. Nobody's revealing your secret.

What are you telling me? We're telling you the DA is trying to force us to

reveal your identity. If she is successful... Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Melissa, you need to calm down here. I just wanted to help those people. I did

not want to risk jail. I can leave the room and come back later.

Or you can calm down and listen to me now.

We are not going to give you up. You need to be aware.

Melissa.

Melissa, I need your full attention now.

You asked Mr. Belluti to contact the woman accused of the kidnapping.

Which I've been trying to do, but I haven't got her yet. It is our opinion

we should no longer try to contact her, and here's why.

They still think she's it.

If we contact her, we'd effectively be telling the police it's not her. Could

anybody.

For your protection, it's best that she remains a suspect.

I know you wanted to help, but there's too much risk in it.

Okay.

I also wanted to open up a bogus file for you.

On the chance the police are watching this building to see who goes in and

And the chances are good they are.

I want a file explaining your presence here. We can create something under

estate planning.

I have small children. I cannot go to jail. Melissa, we are not going to let

that happen.

Hi.

Hey. Rebecca will be right with you. Great.

I can't believe I even got called back again after.

What happened?

Well, my mouth tends to disclose what I think sometimes.

Well, I may have offended Miss Frett.

Don't worry about it. I offended them when I walked in the door. I didn't

I'd last a week.

That was four years ago.

Hi, Jamie?

Yes. Rebecca Washington.

Very nice to meet you. You too. We can go in here.

Miss Frett, hello.

Hi.

Oh, Jimmy, this is Bernice White. She says that you've been calling her.

Yes, yes.

James Berluti.

Thanks for coming.

What's this about? Did I inherit something?

Actually, we thought you did.

But it was another Bernice White.

I'm very sorry.

What'd she get?

Sorry? This other Bernice White. What'd she inherit?

Oh, only a few hundred dollars, actually.

Nothing. Sure made it sound a lot more important than a few hundred dollars.

Again, I apologize.

What's wrong?

Nothing.

What's wrong with you?

So here we are then.

Two people with nothing wrong.

Did I blow it?

Blow what?

Lindsay's trial.

I don't know. That hinkled up with you.

Never should have come in. You objected. I objected once. For the record, I

should have shut it down. Look. Abuse defenses statistically are losers.

We had to have something.

Battered woman syndrome is desperate.

Even a third -year law student knows that. This was a team defense.

But I tried it. I was the one up there. Come on. A serial killer with a

restraining order? How could I not win?

We have all won with much, much less.

Where is this coming from?

That little slut Rebecca is interviewing.

She picked me to pieces.

And she was right.

We focused the jury on Lindsay being crazy when we should have argued how

reasonable she was.

How can I not have seen it? None of us saw it.

Why? How could we all... I think Lindsay was desperate to believe she snapped.

She was desperate to believe she was crazy, Eleanor.

So we became desperate to help her believe it.

You didn't pull the trigger, Eleanor.

It's good talking to you, Bobby.

You remember years ago we used to come in here at the end of the day and we'd

just talk.

What happened?

I don't know.

You have become a bit of an island, Bobby.

You don't turn to others, even in your times.

I've tried to be there.

For her.

For all of you.

That isn't exactly it.

You're there when we need you, Poppy.

But we all get a little desperate from time to time.

For you to need us.

Attorney -client privilege. He knows where she is.

She's alive, Ms. Gamble, and this lawyer knows. He knows.

You have to understand.

Legal ethics and morality are two different things.

Sometimes they fly in the absolute face of each other.

Helen.

I'm sorry.

Can I talk to you for a second?

I'm kind of in the middle of something.

Please.

Could you give me a minute?

Look, I'm not going to fight you on the merits of what you're trying to do here.

Good.

But I'm asking you to hold off.

If it gets out, our firm is helping a kidnapper to... Helen, you know the

fallout. It might not necessarily affect Lindsay's disposition, but we do not

need Judge West getting angry at us about something else. I doubt this would

have any bearing on Lindsay's fate.

But with the possibility, it could.

Please.

When's he supposed to rule?

Eleven o 'clock.

I'll push my motion to this afternoon.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bobby likes her, as do I and Rebecca and Jimmy.

What exactly bothered you about her?

I don't know.

She seemed perky, suck -uppy, arrogant.

Perky, suck -uppy, arrogant.

Maybe it's that Harvard thing. Look.

Given our current state of things, the Harvard grads aren't exactly flooding us

with their resumes.

This is a real prospect, Eleanor. You didn't find her a little slutty?

Slutty? Yeah, she's got that giggly, flirty thing.

So now she's a giggly, flirty, suck -upy, arrogant slut? Look, I'm sure

great person. She's obviously very smart. I just didn't get a great hit,

all. Seeing as the rest of us did, and we need to hire.

I vote we extend an offer. Me too.

Me too.

Okay.

It's quarter to eleven.

I'll let you know.

All rise.

This court is in session. The Honorable Judge West presides.

Be seated.

First, let me state for the record my disfavor for the legal gamesmanship, for

the defense to argue.

diminished capacity, then to lose, only then to march into sentencing claiming

it was manslaughter, it strikes me as a disingenuous attempt to have two bites

at the legal apple.

That having been said, I am required to consider the second bite.

And as I view the evidence, this case wants a finding of voluntary

more than murder one.

Had I been sitting on the jury, I most definitely would have voted that way.

But I wasn't a juror in this case.

I am the judge.

And as the prosecutor correctly points out, a judge should only overturn a

verdict if he finds no reasonable basis for it.

I can't make that leap.

I therefore uphold the verdict.

Ms. Dole, you have been convicted of murder in the first degree.

I am bound by the statute to sentence you to the Framingham Correction

for the remainder of your natural life.

We are adjourned.

We have strong appeal. We have solid issues.

We've got strong grounds.

We go before the days of Frankfurt next week.

We are going to get you out.

She's holding up.

She's going to be transferred tomorrow afternoon.

I'm going to go back and be with her until then.

Eleanor and I were talking last night.

And she thought it would be a good idea for me.

For me to lean on all of you.

A little more.

I

think

I'll probably be doing that.

We will survive this.

You'll survive it.

And Lindsay will.

I know.

Bobby, I know you know.

Factuals and legals aside, the emotional undercurrents of a case play a part

with juries, with judges.

Even Supreme Court justices. You know that better than anybody, right?

Bobby, look at me.

Give me this appeal.

I'll bring your wife home.

The identity of a client has never been privileged, Your Honor. It has when the

disclosure of the identity would incriminate a person criminally. Hold on

second, Mr. Berluti.

Assuming your client enjoys privilege, so what? We've got a crime here.

Person has been kidnapped. She could be in severe physical danger. She's not in

danger. Says who? The kidnapper?

I've seen her.

She's healthy. Careful, counsel.

You're about to make yourself a witness.

Your Honor, as you correctly imply, this is an ongoing crime.

Mr. Berluti has knowledge as to who has the victim.

This is a past crime. It happened 16 years ago. It happens every day. The

is still being held. She's not being held. She doesn't even know she's

kidnapped. My client has been her parent. Oh, come on. If a kidnapper went

lawyer for the purpose of eluding capture, there's no doubt we would

that an ongoing case. That's not what's going on here. Are you sure?

She says she wants to help the victim. Maybe she's clever.

Maybe she is using you to check the status of the investigation.

She's not doing that. You say so. We don't know.

The point is, it shouldn't matter.

Sally Burns' daughter is still out there, in the hands of the person who

her. That's present tense, Your Honor. This is an ongoing case.

Attorney -client privilege... Even if she's right?

That would give me the choice to break privilege.

It would not incur an obligation on my part to do so. If a person is in

danger... I have no knowledge or belief that any bodily harm would ensue. I

don't have to break privilege, and I won't.

And I submit to this court, in close cases, and this would be one, that doubt

has to be resolved in favor of the client.

If not, what are we left with? We can't have clients thinking privilege is

vulnerable.

When a person goes to a lawyer, he or she has to know this confidentiality

be upheld.

Murderers get that privilege.

Rapists, hijackers, they all get that privilege.

Kidnappers do, too. Your Honor, I'd prefer to focus on the rights of the

kidnapped victim here, who is still suffering. She's not suffering.

All right.

Ms. Gamble, from a moral standpoint, I'm with you.

Ms. Burns, speaking as a mother...

I can certainly feel for you.

But as a judge, I have to side with Mr. Berluti.

Attorney -client privilege is sacrosanct. It is paramount to our

justice.

The Commonwealth's petition is denied.

We're adjourned.

How can you do this?

Ma 'am? She stole my daughter!

She had my daughter. How can you do this? Miss Burns. You have no

Okay, Sally.

I want my daughter back.

Sally. I want my daughter.

Great save, Mike. Hey, can you do that on skates?

I would have thought they'd be open by 9 o 'clock.

Are you a client?

No.

Are you?

Oh, no.

I'm a lawyer.

Actually, hoping to get a job here.

They keep bringing me in for all these callbacks. I'm about to pull my hair

Is this considered a good place to work? Oh, excellent.

It's one of the top three criminal practices in the state.

It's a place to come if you're a criminal, huh?

Well, that's one way to look at it, I guess.

I'm a pretty good judge of character, Mr. Berluti.

You strike me as a decent man.

I can't have this conversation.

Do you believe in God, Mr. Berluti?

Ms. Burns, I represent a person with interests contrary to yours.

It would be unethical for me to have any dialogue with you.

Can you tell me?

What my daughter looks like No

Can you tell me Whether or not she's

a good person I Don't really know her but she struck me as an excellent person

Rebecca? Eugene and I talked about it. We both agree.

She probably exudes the most moral integrity, I think passion, too.

Our grounds are good, but we're not going to win unless the justices, for

reason, want us to. So Beck's passion, I think, is our best strength.

Okay.

Listen, I thought about bringing Bobby here to say...

Goodbye, because, you know, I don't want him to see you all shackled.

Yeah.

When?

Two.

After his nap.

Okay.

I'm never going to get out, am I, Bobby?

I got the job?

Congratulations. Oh, I don't believe it. I was so sure I offended you. Me?

Get out of town.

When do I start? When can you start?

Hello, how about yesterday? Does yesterday work for you?

I think she's excited.

Oh, God.

I need to call my parents.

What's going on? Miss White. No, never mind that.

What's wrong? What's wrong?

First you're calling me saying it's really important that we meet.

And then I see you on television concerning a crime that I have been

of for 16 years.

So I'm asking you again, Mr. Berluti. What the hell is going on?

Bernice White, please place your hands behind your back. What?

You're under arrest for kidnapping.

Hold on a second. Jimmy, I just want to know what's going on. We're arresting

your client, Jimmy. No, I'm not his client.

Tell them I'm not your client. We neither confirm nor deny that she is our

client. What?

Tell them. We neither confirm nor deny she is our client.

Take her. No, I didn't do anything.

I didn't do anything. These people called me. Tell them.

Eugene,

we can't. Jimmy, my office.

By denying she's our client, we betray Melissa Halper. Eugene, they basically

just arrested that woman for entering our offices.

I was the one who called her down here. That is an unfortunate result, but we

can't change it. We continue to honor the privilege. We say nothing.

That woman will be on the news tonight, pegged for the crime again.

Jimmy, she's not our client.

Okay, what about that?

Kind of hard to tell, but what is that one?

Silly. No, blue.

What if we put blue and yellow together?

What?

Silly. Blue.

That's right.

You've got it.

Rainbow.

I want purple.

Okay, Mommy's got to go now.

I'm going to go live in a different place for a while.

But you're going to visit me all the time.

Just like we talked about.

Okay?

Get me out.

Please, get me out.

I will.

Please, Mommy.

Please.

It's a circumstantial case, no doubt.

But we have the eyewitness from 16 years ago whose description matched Bernice

White. We know the kidnapper hired Mr.

Berluti. We know Miss White has gone into Mr. Berluti's office twice in the

two days.

Proving her guilty isn't my concern.

Locating the girl, that may prove to be more difficult.

The mother has been missing her child for 16 years.

If Miss White has any sense of decency or humanity, she'll help us here.

If she's got a conscience, we feel we have a real chance.