All language subtitles for The Practice s07e03 Of Thee I Sing

How are you,

Joan? I'm good.

And you?

I'm fine.

Everyone agrees.

I would laugh to hold out, but I was
finally won over.

We should try to plead.

Voluntary manslaughter.

There's just too much evidence.

Your threat that you'd shoot him hours
before.

He was unarmed, stationary.

Your testimony from the first trial.
It's too much.

We'll lose.

It'll likely be eight years.

Good behavior.

You'll be out in three.

The alternative is life.

We just can't risk that.

Has the prosecution agreed to it?

We plan to take it to them in the
morning.

They should go home.

Three years in prison?

It's the best result.

It's going to be a good transplant.

He has something to live for. I love
you, Gina.

MDs, After The Bachelor, Wednesday on
ABC.

What do you mean trial?

Today? If you can't plead it, which I
highly recommend.

The guy's got two priors.

Lewd and lascivious.

What did he do?

Flash some teenagers.

It's a door. Look, if you don't want
it... Oh, no, no, no, I do, I do.

It's just, it's not my time to prepare.

Just dump it best you can.

It's a court appointment.

Six months suspended is how it should
go.

Right. Have you got the pleadings? Any
pre -trial motions, suppression

Bobby met the guy at arraignment. A
trial date was set.

You're up to speed.

Got it.

He's making us wait on purpose.

He's having his fun.

How long has it been?

Fifty minutes.

I'm giving him ten more.

We can't leave.

I'm not sitting here all day, Bobby.

He'll be here.

Gentlemen.

Sorry to keep you.

I've reviewed your plea offer.

It's rejected.

What?

Why?

Why?

Because your wife committed first
-degree murder.

The only thing that would impel me to
plead down to manslaughter would be a

perceived difficulty of prevailing a
trial.

I don't have such a perception.

I feel confident the jury will reach the
right result, as they did the first

time.

Accordingly, your offer is rejected.

Anything else to discuss?

This was a manslaughter.

You know it was a manslaughter, and
you're an officer of the court.

Thank you, Eugene. I always value
outside input.

Would you like to know the particular
value I place on yours?

Are you cocky, Kenneth?

Maybe you need to review your track
record against us. Haven't got the time.

But I'll tell you what, I'll go over the
last matchup.

You gonna take the stand again, Bobby?

That went real well, didn't it?

By the way, who's gonna try it this
time?

Jimmy?

Eugene?

Eleanor was a good choice, wasn't she?

Have a good day, boys.

What do we do now? We prepare to try it.
Jimmy, you and Beck, I want research.

See if there's any grounds to suppress
Lindsay's testimony.

How? I don't know. Go through the
transcripts. See if Walsh made any

front to Lindsay not talking to the
police. Maybe we can argue she was

into testifying by the DA.

Bobby. It's worth a shot.

Eleanor, the victim was seeing a shrink.
Maybe he told the shrink he planned to

kill Lindsay. Privilege doesn't survive
the patient. I interviewed a therapist.

It was a dead end. Well, subpoena his
records. Maybe there's something in his

notes. Bobby, the victim's state of mind
isn't relevant. You're thinking like a

loser.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean that.

Look, obviously, whatever we come up
with is going to be desperate.

Eugene.

I'm interviewing potential experts on
post -traumatic stress.

Hopefully, we can find somebody to label
her insane.

Good. Okay, we all have work to do.
Let's go at it.

Eleanor, can I talk to you a second?

Actually, I think I better get going on
this research.

I was pissing.

Pardon my Frenchiness, but that's what I
was doing. I had a bladder infection.

And you didn't use the restroom
because...

I couldn't get there fast enough. I
swear, I was not flashing those girls.

Though they totally wanted it.

Jamie Stringer. Yes, hello.

I wasn't wanking.

Yes.

Can we talk? Sure.

Three months, we're happy. How about six
months, but we suspend it?

Can't. Third offense.

With a conviction he could get a year.

Does he know that? He claims he's
innocent.

Yeah. I just heard. And his eloquence
gives me pause.

But I'm still holding out for time.

Then I think we have a trial.

You were supposed to dump it.

What could I do? The client wanted his
day in court. He's gonna get his day in

prison, Jamie.

Lots of them. He says he's innocent.

They all say they're innocent.

Bobby's expecting you to be freed up to
work on Lindsay's case.

It should be a one -day trial.

You're supposed to dump it.

Buy a girl a drink?

Come on, Helen, they're your friends.

Okay.

Let's discount my friendship, your
hatred, and just objectively look at

Lindsay did.

It's manslaughter.

Your opinion, not mine. Come on.

Woman vows to kill somebody.

Shoots an unarmed man after saying, see
you in heaven.

That's not a murder.

I'm supposed to let her get away with
this because she has a friend in her

office. Nobody's saying she should get
away with it.

Did you read their brief to the SJC,
Helen?

It wasn't about the law or the merits as
much as it was an attack on me.

In open court, they attacked me. Because
prosecutorial misconduct was their best

legal strategy, and you know that.

You know what I know?

25 years ago, There could have been a
defense attorney on that stool drinking

with me.

End of the day, we were friends.

And you know why?

We were all in it for the same thing.

We were players in a justice system.

Fair representation.

Somewhere along the line, it changed.

The goal for defense attorneys became to
beat it.

Beat the rap. We can beat it.

Let me tell you something, Helen.

Lawyers like Bobby Donald, They've
destroyed the criminal justice system.

They hide the truth. They intimidate
witnesses. They offer lies in court.

And in the process, they've destroyed
people like me.

And that's why I hate them.

In order to have half a chance at
getting a conviction, I have to compete

the same dirty tactics.

They've sapped us of any dignity, along
with the courts, and I hate them for it.

We no longer go to work at an honorable
place, Helen.

And you should hate them, too.

Okay, well, without disagreeing with all
that, and I don't, my point is the

facts of this case suggest manslaughter,
not murder one.

You didn't hear a thing I just said.
Yes, I did, but... You know why Lindsay

pumped that guy with three bullets?

For the same reason my dog licks his
balls. Because he can.

She's gotten so many guys off for crimes
she knows they did, she figured she'd

easily get herself off.

She'd be able to beat it.

And I saw the same cocksure look on
their faces in the courtroom, Helen.

They can beat it.

Well, they're not going to beat it.

They may have the resources to swing
seven SOBs on the Supreme Court, but

eventually it comes back to the jury,
comes back to me, and I'm telling you,

they're not going to beat it.

How did you get like this?

Last week, you lied to a suspect in
order to trick her into a confession.

A false confession.

There's a reason I'm hard to look at,
Helen.

You see yourself.

The love story continues this Wednesday
at 9, 8 central on ABC.

After midnight.

I'm just about to go home.

What I said about you thinking like a
loser, that

just came out of frustration.

You have to know I don't blame you.

I blame myself, Bobby.

Come on. We win trials, we lose trials,
we excel, we don't excel. Sometimes

this...

Wasn't Lindsay.

We were waiting for our bus, and then
we, like, saw him.

Him being?

Perv man.

Objection. Sustained.

You saw the defendant?

Yes. And what was he doing?

First we saw him stare at us.

Then we all kind of commented on it
because we thought he was like a total

creepo. Am I allowed to say that?

Then what?

Then about 30 seconds later, I turn
around and he's got his fly down and

holding out his big unit, offering it to
us like it's a Krispy Kreme. It was

totally gross.

And could you see what he was doing with
his...

He was just kind of wagging it for us,
like we were dogs or something and we

wanted to play fetch.

It was totally foul.

Thank you, Dina.

It must have been kind of shocking to
see what you refer to as the big unit.

Yeah, it freaked us all out.

And how far away from you was Mr. Pender
standing?

He was on the other side of the street.

Was it a busy street, do you remember?

Fairly busy. It was around rush hour.

Lots of cars and so forth?

I guess.

And were you and the girls interested in
looking at him?

Hello? No.

Well, how long did you look at him?

A few seconds at most, I'm so sure.

Okay. Thanks, Dina.

Donald Young, Dole Threat, and Hatcher?

Didn't you hear?

Oh, no, I'm sorry, sir. We can't do that
today. Uh, perhaps another time?

Okay, yeah, great. Thanks for your call.

Who was that?

Another wacko angry over the reversal.

He asked if we could all shrivel up and
die.

We've been getting a lot of hate mail,
too.

People who think the conviction
shouldn't have been overturned.

Eleanor. What?

They just gave you the facts.

Who sent this?

I don't know.

Likely moving forward at the time of
impact.

Their witness testified the victim was
likely stationary. Look, I've got the

transcript. I underlined it. This isn't
the same analyst who testified.

I called the lab. It was a junior guy.

It's obviously a preliminary report, and
probably Walsh had them redo it. The

point is, we never got it, and it's
exculpatory.

Eugene, talk to this Mr. Hallbrenner.
Eleanor, I want you to start preparing a

Rule 30.

Who sent us this? I don't know. Lucy
found it in the fax.

Mr. Hallburn?

Hi,

I'm Eugene Young. I represent Lindsay
Dole. I believe you investigated the

murder for which she was charged.

Who told you that?

I'm not sure why. Is it supposed to be a
secret?

Mr. Young, I'm quite busy. If you'd like
to make an appointment, I'd be happy to

give you whatever information I can.

I'm looking more for you to give me the
information you can't.

Are we being cryptic now?

I'm sorry.

Let me be more clear.

Is this your report?

Where'd you get this?

The point is, I have it. Did you write
it?

Yes. Who'd you give it to?

I'm afraid you'll have to make an
appointment, Mr. Young. Did Kenneth

this report?

I don't know. I'm very busy. You'll have
to excuse me.

I direct the court's attention to Rule
30 of the Massachusetts Criminal Law

Code, which calls for a dismissal with
prejudice of the indictment where there

is egregious... Prosecutorial
misconduct. There's been no misconduct.

Ms. Frutt is simply... I direct the
court's attention to Exhibit 1 attached

our motion.

It's kitchen sink time. This isn't a
kitchen sink, Mr. Walsh. It is an

memorandum which says the victim was
likely moving towards Lindsay Dole.

of all, that memorandum is incorrect.

Second, it's work product. It's
exculpatory. It's part of our internal

investigation. It's work product. We
have many lab analysts. The report

The victim was likely moving forward.

But that was not the final conclusion of
our analysts.

This is not a fifth grade math test. We
don't have to show you our work.

We have to give you our findings. That's
our obligation under the rules, and

that's what we did. Your Honor, we would
like to conduct an evidentiary hearing.

Of course you would. You'd like to drag
this out into perpetuity, but the law

does not allow... This was exculpatory
evidence. I object to his smugness. He

had a duty to turn it over to us. Not if
it's work product. At a minimum, we are

entitled to a hearing.

Who do you want to question?

The analyst who authored the report.

You will be stunned to learn he isn't
volunteering his candor. Of course not.

He's probably worried you'll plan B him
and accuse him of murder. All right.

I'm going to let you question this
analyst, but turn it into a circus and

shut it down.

We're going to have a hearing?

Yes, we are, Mr. Walsh. Would that be
all right?

Your Honor, since evidence will be
presented, we'd like Ms. Dole to be

Ten o 'clock tomorrow morning.

You gave them that report.

Why didn't you at least have the
integrity to be up front about it?

Is that your style?

To be up front?

The reason I did it anonymously... I'm
one of your lieutenants.

Notwithstanding a few skirmishes, a
pretty loyal lieutenant.

What would become of your reputation,
not to mention your credibility in the

courtroom, if one of your minions
betrayed you?

This wasn't about attacking you.

It was about giving defense a document
they're entitled to have.

It's about following the rules, Ken.

That's where I locate my integrity in
all of this.

Look, before you add me to a list of
people that are out to get you, When I

started here I wanted to be you.

That's how much I admired you.

I have never seen a person demolish a
hamburger at 9 .30 in the morning. Once

you do time, you'll understand.

Hey. Hey.

How are you?

I'm good.

Pardon the onions.

Hi, back.

Hi. Thanks for coming, Eugene.

You old enough?

Yeah.

Getting out even for a day.

We ready?

All set.

Eugene's taking the witness. I'll argue
after.

You ready?

Yes.

I saw them standing there waiting for a
bus or something.

And what were you doing at the time?

I was looking for a bookstore.

I'm a voracious reader.

You were looking for a bookstore?

Yes, yes. And then...

I noticed them.

They were all smoking cigarettes.

It was disgusting.

Cigarettes are a leading cause of cancer
and death.

To see young people killing themselves,
I couldn't stand it.

Did you have to go to the bathroom?

No, no. No, I exposed my swordsman
because I had written on it, smoking

death.

You had that written on...

Well, it's no secret. Sex sells.

I mean, advertisers use it all the time.

I just figured the best way to put my
message across was to put it on my

Thank you, Mr. Pender.

You told the police you were urinating.

Well, I didn't want to tip my defense.

I see.

You were arrested twice before for
exposing yourself, were you not, Mr.

Yes, yes, both examples of blaming the
messenger.

Oh, you had things written on your penis
on those occasions?

Yes, I did.

The first time I was protesting world
hunger, and the second one was during

election. It said gore.

I think the police mistook it for a
verb.

You humiliated me. Hey, it's my life.
I'm the one looking at jail here.

Well, why didn't you tell me what you
planned to say? I didn't know.

I just decided to call an audible on the
line. You know, the thought of you

arguing that it was a bad traffic day
didn't make me squiggle with confidence.

You listen to me.

I graduated high school in three years.
I graduated Yale with honors. I made law

review at Harvard. I excel at everything
I do.

I'm even pretty.

I will not have you wreck my law career
by making me look bad in court. I'm

supposed to get up in court now and
blame it on big tobacco? You suck!

I'm not bringing you any more of my
business.

We disagree internally all the time.
It's called debate.

Yes, but your expert opinion was that
Lawrence O'Malley was likely moving

forward. That was my initial conclusion.

Upon consultation with other analysts, I
changed my position.

He was likely stationary.

Did you issue another report?

No. In fact, this letter is your only
recorded finding, isn't it, Mr.

Hallburner? Yes.

So when you change your position...

You didn't issue a new report.

No, the case was taken over by my
supervisor.

Your supervisor? That would be Joshua
Illich?

Correct. So he took over the case,
issued another report saying that the

was likely stationary?

Correct. And it was Mr. Illich who
testified at trial?

Correct. Well, they kept you in the back
room out of sight.

Objection sustained.

Mr. Hallbrunner, after you issued your
report, did anybody ask you to change

your mind?

People argue their points of view in
order to get people to change their

That happened here.

Nobody forced me.

People argued their points of view. You
mean other analysts?

Correct. Did Mr. Walsh ever argue his
point of view to you?

Yes. So he read your report?

Yes. And he disagreed with it?

Yes. Did he ask you to alter your
findings?

He disagreed with my report.

That wasn't my question, Mr.
Hallbrunner. Did he ask you to alter

Yes.

And your response?

I refused.

And at that point, your supervisor took
over the case, and a subsequent report

was issued contradicting your findings.

Is that what happened, Mr. Hallbrunner?

Something like that.

Thank you, Mr. Hallbrunner.

You said I asked you to reissue a
report.

Did I force you to?

No. And was I the only one who disagreed
with your findings?

No. Other analysts looked at the same
evidence you did and reached a different

conclusion. Am I right?

You are.

In fact, three analysts senior to you.

Isn't that right?

It is.

More experienced analysts?

Yes. In fact, the consensus of your
department?

was that Mr. O'Malley was likely
standing in a stationary position at the

Lindsay Dole shot him three times.

Wasn't that the consensus?

Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Hallbrenner.

That's all I have.

The witness may step down.

Mr. Walsh, if you have anything to say,
I'll hear it now. Then I'll give defense

an opportunity to sum up as well.

Thank you, Your Honor.

As I said earlier, this was a
preliminary internal memorandum.

which clearly falls within the
definition of work product.

It wasn't evidence.

Certainly, we are required to share with
defense our findings, but not our

thinking or consultations, which lead to
those findings.

Mr. Hallbrenner's report represents a
minority point of view, which we deem

neither accurate nor relevant to our
prosecution.

It was not relied on. It was not a
factor.

Moreover, Your Honor, even should you
find that we should have turned this

preliminary report over, what's the
harm?

This case never turned on whether or not
the victim was moving forward.

Lindsay Dole never maintained the victim
was coming towards her. In their

testimony, in their statements to the
police, Lindsay and Bobby Donald never

even suggested that the victim was
coming towards her.

They didn't argue self -defense.

They alleged battered woman syndrome.

The victim's position or forward
movement has nothing to do with that

nor did they ever suggest it did.

What we have here is a desperate ploy
from a convicted murderer who finds

herself all out of appeals.

It's nonsense.

It's an insult to this court, to our
system of criminal justice, and your

shouldn't indulge it further.

Thank you.

He had in his hands a report that was
exculpatory.

He had a duty to give it to us. He
didn't.

That is black and white prosecutorial
misconduct.

We were forced to defend our entire case
without knowing the crime lab findings

were in dispute as to whether the victim
was standing still.

That dispute was kept from us.

Nobody, nobody can make an argument that
that wasn't.

Now, Mr. Walsh has the temerity to
actually argue that the victim's forward

movement or lack of it was a non -issue.
When all through the trial, he hammered

it. He put up witnesses to say that Mr.

O'Malley was stationary.

In its closing, he said it over and over
and over again. Look at the transcript.

He was not moving towards her, never
made a movement, standing still. He

repeated it.

He drove it home as the linchpin of his
case, and he stands before you today as

a bald -faced liar saying that it was a
non -issue. Well, it wouldn't have been

a non -issue to the jury.

This man...

has systematically committed prejudicial
misconduct in this case during

discovery, during the trial, and it
constitutes a gross and egregious

of Rule 30, and we ask the court to
dismiss this indictment with prejudice,

in the alternative, to strike the record
of the first trial, the entire record,

including all...

There's no authority for that. Our
argument to the jury would have changed

we known the existence of this report.

Lindsay Dole was prejudiced by Mr.

Walsh's nondisclosure. That prejudice
can only be cured by the court's

of the first trial in its entirety. Your
Honor. I am not finished. You're both

finished.

It's in my yard now.

I'll take this under advisement. I'll
call you this afternoon when I reach my

decision. We're adjourned.

How did it even get this far? Because he
wanted his day in court. He told me he

was urinating. He never said it was an
anti -smoking campaign.

What do I do?

What do you do?

You argue it. Argue it? Yes. He says
he's a political activist. You have no

proof he isn't. You argue it. You play
the hand you're dealt, Jamie.

Now get in there and close.

Right.

Right.

Hey, I told you to dump it.

What, are you stalking me?

Kind of early, isn't it?

It's after lunch.

How'd I do?

Well, I thought you did a good job.

But so did Eleanor.

If he expunges the first trial, you have
to plea.

I'll drive off that bridge when I come
to it.

It wasn't my paranoia, Helen. You heard
her. She attacked me.

She called me a liar. It was an attack.

And the papers will print what she said,
and my kids will have to read it.

Again, it's legal strategy.

But when this is over, you really need
to

take a long walk.

And ask yourself what you did to incur
the attack.

Hey, some of the stuff I've been doing,
I'll take the walk with you.

I don't think we need to waste any more
of your time here.

Three witnesses saw the defendant expose
and grope his genitalia in a lewd and

lascivious manner.

Their testimony stands uncontroverted,
unblemished for that matter.

Mr. Pender has twice before been
arrested and convicted for this very

behavior. To the police, he says he was
urinating. Then on the stand, he

suddenly claims that he was trying to
dissuade these three women from smoking.

Obviously, he doesn't take this
seriously.

I think we need to impress upon him that
we do.

Free speech is something that we hold
dear in the United States of America.

We don't punish somebody for exercising
their First Amendment right simply

because we don't like the way the
message was delivered.

Political protest in this country has
often been shocking, provocative, even

offensive. It's to get attention.

Whether it's nudity or burning draft
cards, the American flag, dissidents.

have historically chosen antagonistic
methods to convey political beliefs that

they consider precious and... Oh!

Your Honor!

Bailiff, get that man's pants on.

Get his pants on now.

Save the rainforest? It was written
right across... So what happened?

Well... The judge called a mistrial,
then set the retrial for next July, then

held him with no bail, which means
effectively he got ten months of time.

I offered to plead out at six months.

The DA said okay.

That was good.

Good decision.

But the client won't sign off.

What? He wants to appeal.

Jamie, you make him sign off.

You go back there right now, you get
tough with him, and you make him sign

Now go.

Nothing from the clerk's office?

He's still in chambers.

It's almost 3 .30. Which means he's
really considerate. We have a chance.

Eleanor?

I thought you nailed it in there.

Seriously.

I want to appeal. You need to appeal to
a shrink.

You ruined my first closing argument.

I was trying for a mistrial, which I
got.

Yes, but you weren't counting on no
bail, were you, Mr. Free Speech?

Six months is the deal. He can't deny
bail. I haven't been proven guilty. He

can. He did.

You want to write your congressman?
Fine. But since you can't deliver the

message personally, you might want to
consider stationary.

Take the six months and be done with it.

He's coming in.

Judges always hate it when they're asked
to consider the big picture.

It usually means that justice in the
short run has to take a beating.

Here, the big picture is the integrity
of the judicial process.

It's a truism that any system can only
be as dignified as its players, which

means for criminal justice, the truth is
indeed ugly.

Defense attorneys long ago began
slithering under the bar.

Prosecutors soon followed. By now, we've
come to expect it.

But Mr. Walsh, that doesn't mean we must
always bring ourselves to accept it.

The Supreme Judicial Court has found
that you willfully violated Ms. Dole's

Fifth Amendment rights, that you
willfully violated her Sixth Amendment

and now we learn that you had an
exculpatory report in your hand which

duty -bound to reveal, and you squashed
it.

That other prosecutors might do this
only further persuades me that the big

picture needs adjusting.

I find your misconduct to be deliberate,
egregious, and outrageous.

I am granting defense counsel's Rule 30
motion for post -conviction relief. I am

dismissing the indictment with
prejudice.

The defendant is to be released
immediately.

We're adjourned.

What happened?

It's over.

I want to go home.

Take me home.

It's a sad but all too familiar comment
on our society where in the end money

talks.

Money.

Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, the corruption of
greed.

People use our courts today.

The Lord is my shepherd. I won't walk in
the shadow of the valley of

money.

I stand tall today.

I'll sleep tonight.

People can kill, murder, get off on a
technicality, but God forbid the

murderer's civil rights.

The Lord will be my truth.

If Lindsay Dole had been a black welfare
prostitute from Roxbury, you'd think

we'd be here?

Sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

But justice didn't sing today.

Justice doesn't sing in these halls
anymore.

Justice has gone mute.