Original subtitles

High school in his senior year. A drinking problem.

Yeah. Then in college, he got into the frat scene. He died of alcohol

And you're blaming Portis Brewery. I'm certainly aware that there were other

beers, but for the most part, it was Portis. Do you take any responsibility,

Barry? Your son was underage, drinking illegally.

No matter what parents say, it is hard to compete with the images of fun and

social acceptance that is being marketed by the alcohol industry.

We make it our business to curtail underage drinkers. Really?

Besides those sex and alcohol commercials, what else?

Objection. This kid couldn't so much as watch a baseball game without hearing

your jingle, Mr. Carroll, and he's dead. He's dead.

Your Honor, could I have a two -minute recess? We have an offer we'd like to

propose to the plaintiff.

1 .6 million. Should we take it?

Let's take our chances.

What? The offer is rejected, Your Honor.

Mr. Foreman.

What say you? We, the jury, find in favor of the plaintiff and order the

defendant to pay punitive damages in the amount of $125 million.

We appeal.

One of my inmates is Denise Freeman.

She shot two young boys playing in the park.

She's scheduled to be executed next week.

How can I help?

I'd like you to stop it. Are you against the death penalty?

No, not at all. In fact, I think we should employ it more often. But we

shouldn't be killing Denise Freeman.

She's not the same person who committed those crimes.

I heard voices. I thought they were a mandate from God. You know, there's

somebody like me on Dateline once a week. Any actual diagnosis?

Paranoid schizophrenia.

Do you have a memory of the killings? They haven't found the medication yet to

erase memory.

You want to take her off the meds? And stop the execution on the grounds that

she's insane. The Supreme Court has expressly held Eighth Amendment

executing the insane.

Go off my medication?

It's our last, best shot.

I will go crazy, Eleanor.

You do realize that.

It's just that they would laugh, you know.

Not really laugh.

Ha ha ha.

Because then they would get into trouble.

They would get sent to the principal's office.

And they all knew better.

Denise, who talked?

The kids.

All the kids.

Kids. The kids you shot?

Denise, the kids you shot? Every time I entered a room, except they would

disguise it because they knew they would get into trouble, they'd cough.

That was their plan.

Sometimes they would sneeze, but usually they would cough.

That one's a laugh at me.

Denise, which kids?

All the kids.

At school.

The kids at school.

They'd always cough.

The boys in the park, did they cough?

I'm not supposed to talk about that. That's a secret.

A secret between... Me and him.

Who's him?

He doesn't cough.

You don't know who him is.

But you and he entered into a secret. He talks to me from the inside.

The inside of... Me!

We have no way of knowing this isn't an act.

She certainly has motive.

She was examined by six different doctors, including two from the state.

all came to the same conclusion.

If she's legally insane, and I make no such confession, her state of mind is

self -inflicted here.

That's not an issue before this court.

This is a hearing to determine her mental state only. The consequence of

determination is up to another court.

This, to me, is a perversity of our legal system. It may very well be, Mr.

Parker.

But this hearing, like Ms. Frutt says, is only about the petitioner's current

mental health.

Ms. Freeman, I have wonderful news.

The court hereby finds you insane.

You must be pleased.

So, what now?

The next step is we go to the federal district court to stop the execution on

the grounds that you're insane.

And that's a matter of course, right? I mean, it's perfunctory. The Supreme

Court has already ruled on this, right?

Nothing is perfunctory.

And as the Attorney General said before, the fact that your insanity is somewhat

self -inflicted... When can I get back on my medication?

Well, the date will try to force you back on. And under the current law, they

might be able to do that.

For our purposes, it's too loud.

It's too loud.

Hey!

Denise.

Remember, that's your illness.

When people cough, they're not really laughing at you.

That's your illness.

Then why is she looking back at me like she's sorry?

You're sorry, aren't you? Yes. Me?

No, I'm not.

To answer your question, for our purposes, first, let's stop the

Then, we'll try to get you back on your medication.

You need to hurry, Ellen.

It's getting too loud.

2 .5.

And you're advising us to take it?

I'm advising you to consider it. The verdict was $125 million.

They have a motion for remitting their schedule for Wednesday.

The judge will likely knock it down anyway. To 2 .5? I don't know. He could

throw it out altogether. It could happen. I don't believe this. We won.

Joshua, after more than 300 lawsuits and many adverse verdicts, The tobacco

companies have yet to pay out a cent in individual smoker cases.

It'll be the same here. If we're to get anything, it could be years.

2 .5 in the head is so much... No.

Now I am angry.

I stuck it out through a trial. I got a verdict.

And now you are advising me to settle because the defendant won't honor that

verdict.

It's outrageous. I don't disagree, but... I don't need the money. I live a

comfortable life.

If I have to wait another 10 years, I'll do it.

Joshua. I said no.

If they had offered me something at the beginning, before the trial, but they

offered nothing.

And now, after they lose, of all the arrogance, we

beat them.

I will not settle for this. No, I will not.

I direct the court's attention to Ford v.

Wainwright, where the Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits the

state from executing an insane inmate.

Denise Freeman has been adjudicated to be insane, and therefore... First of

Your Honor, that ruling is suspect.

Suspect with whom?

How about the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who scoffed at the

It's nevertheless the majority opinion.

The court also held the defendant waived his right if he voluntarily went off

medication. That was for competency.

They never talked about waiver when it comes to punishment.

Look, Wainwright makes clear.

To kill an insane person has little retributive value.

It presents no example to others, it is not a deterrent, and it offends

humanity. And I would ask the court, as Justice Rehnquist does, where does it

all stop?

There has to be some finality to the law.

Ms. Freeman was judged sane at her trial. She was found guilty.

She basically had another trial on the issue of punishment. Now here she comes

again saying she's insane, can't kill her.

Suppose she loses this one.

What's to stop her from coming back tomorrow saying, now I'm really insane,

the day after?

We could be conducting insanity trials in perpetuity.

Every death row inmate would be jumping up and down screaming, look at me, I'm

nuts, and here.

For a sane inmate to deliberately go off her medication for the express purpose

of making herself crazy so she can escape execution, that's a mockery.

It may be a mockery, Mr. Parker, but as I interpret the Supreme Court, with all

due respect to Justice Rehnquist, we cannot execute the insane.

I therefore stay the execution.

I petition a court to allow the state to medicate Miss Freeman.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court has previously held that a mentally ill

defendant can be medicated against his or her will if... Once again, that was

for trial. It was not for punishment, certainly not the death penalty. The

rationale would support forced medication for punishment purposes.

Your Honor, this is a separate issue, a very complicated one. I would request

additional time to prepare. She's stalling. I am not stalling. It's called

process. All right.

We'll reconvene tomorrow at 9 a .m. on the issue of forced medication.

Until then, we're adjourned.

Now for the tough part.

They want to force -medicate you to make you sane so they can then carry out the

execution. As I said before, under the current law, they may be able to do

It's unclear.

You need to stop it.

I can't.

I can't.

It's getting worse.

Explain to me what's happening. I know, I know.

I wrote myself a letter before I went off the medication.

I told myself that what's happening is not really happening. So I know, I know.

I'm not feeling very well, Amy.

We can't put you back on the medication now.

Because it would mean sanity and death.

So, I need you to hang in there just a little longer.

What do you mean he won't take it? He said no. If it means waiting ten years

see a nickel, then so be it.

The guy's dug in. He was adamant.

Get him in here.

Why? What do you want? I want to talk to the client.

Bobby, we can't force him to accept an offer if he doesn't... It's not about

forcing. It's about making him understand.

We did that.

He understood.

Please have him come in for one more meeting.

The idea of treating somebody, healing her, making her well.

so that you can then kill her, that itself is insane.

The court has done this many times.

It's one thing to force Medicaid so a defendant can help herself at trial.

quite another to facilitate killing her. Hold on.

Mr. Parker, I don't mean to be picking on you, but I agree with Ms. Frutt here.

The idea of medicating a person against his or her will is in and of itself

suspect. To do so to make her fit for execution offends common sense as it

common decency. How decent is it to let these people manipulate the system,

distort the spirit of the law? Your motion is denied.

Thank you.

Your Honor, at this time, we would like a declaratory judgment that should my

client go back on medication, making herself sane...

she will not be executed.

Say that again?

To force my client to live out her life mentally ill, to be denied medication,

that certainly constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth

Amendment. Counsel, what are you trying to pull?

Your client is choosing to be off the medication.

I would argue that she really doesn't have such a choice, Your Honor, if the

consequence of being medicated is death.

You've got to be kidding. You can't say to a thick inmate, we're willing to

treat you, but if you get well, you die.

If that's her option, she's basically being denied treatment. It's cruel and

unusual.

That is so ingenious. I'm surprised no lawyer has thought of it before.

But I'm not going to let you have it both ways.

As long as she's insane, she lives.

If she becomes sane again, she dies.

The choice is hers.

Or, since you're the guardian ad litem, I guess it's yours.

We're adjourned.

The news is good.

And bad.

The judge ruled that they can't force medicate you.

What about my pills? When can I take my pills?

That's the bad news.

If you go back on the medication, they'll execute you. Well, I can't stay

this. It's too loud.

Denise, I'd like to work on an appeal. It's too loud. You said that you would

make it stop. I will. Eleanor, it needs to be now. I can't. No!

No! Then let me die.

I'm choosing to be executed. It's actually not your choice.

You have no capacity. Yeah, you said that you would make it stop.

It's loud.

We can at least get her to a hospital now, right? I mean, she's... Shut up!

shut up! You shut up!

You bitch is against me.

Mr. and Mrs. Berry, Bobby Donald, thanks for coming in. I'm not sure what the

purpose is.

Eugene tells me you want us to settle, but I've made our feelings quite clear.

You're not going to get any money, Mr. Berry.

Not by pursuing this.

The alcohol industry... Can't afford to set a precedent of losing, yes.

Eugene has already told me that.

But as I told him, I don't care if I never see any money. Yes, but we do.

I'm sorry? We took this case on a contingency, Mr. Berry.

There's an implied contract of good faith. Good faith requires you to accept

reasonable settlement.

Failure to do so may give us a cause of action against you.

Bobby. 825 ,000 of 2 .5 belongs to us, Mr. Berry.

And I'm not going to let you give that away because you're too emotional.

Excuse me, Eugene.

Lawsuits are about money.

You hired us to get you money. We prosecuted this claim for free on a

contingency. We took a chance on a back end, and now we want our payoff.

What are you talking about?

The choice to settle or not to settle legally belongs to you. But if you

not to and you end up getting nothing, if we end up getting nothing, this firm

will file a claim against you for $825 ,000.

And please keep in mind, Mr. Berry, when you are the defendant, lawyers won't

represent you on a contingency.

Turning this settlement down will cost you.

You need to be aware of that.

Thank you for your time.

You could lose your bar card over that one. I don't think so.

Eugene, we need cash.

Threatening a lawsuit against a client to get cash? The client needed a dose of

reality. Well, why didn't you tell me or Jimmy that's what you were planning?

Because I was taking you off the hook. The fact that you didn't know what the

meeting was about makes me the only bad guy.

Well, your threat to Sue is completely frivolous.

I told the client as much, and he maintains his refusal to settle.

We go in tomorrow on the defendant's motion to knock the verdict down.

Bobby, you and I have been estranged lately.

A lot of it's been over the Catholic Church.

But at least we've managed to be honest with one another. So I'm going to be

honest now.

What you just did, it wasn't in keeping with being an ethical person.

It wasn't in keeping with being an honorable lawyer. And from what I know

your faith, it wasn't in keeping with being a good Catholic.

You humiliated this firm with that little performance.

And more than that...

You embarrassed yourself.

She started banging her head against the bars and looked like she was trying to

gouge your eyes.

Is she sedated?

Not yet.

She's in restraints. She wanted to talk to you first.

Jeanine?

I want the drugs. I can't live like this, Eleanor.

Try to calm down. Don't tell me this.

I can't live like this. Denise, if you go back on the medicine. I know.

I know. I need you to listen to me. If you go back on the drugs, they will put

you to death.

I can't listen.

It's too loud.

I want the medicine. Let me say that it's your decision.

Helena, give it to me! I would be signing your death warrant.

Give her the drugs.

Helena, are you sure? Of course I'm not sure. Give her the drugs.

Now!

Great.

I just helped kill my client.

Hey.

Hey.

Great news from the hospital.

Denise is feeling well enough to be executed.

You come up with anything?

Well, only thing left is to argue it's unconstitutional to kill her on Eighth

Amendment grounds.

That's sort of been tried, Jamie. Well, instead of arguing the death penalty is

per se unconstitutional, you could argue it's cruel and unusual as applied to

Denise Freeman.

It's our only shot, Eleanor.

Hey. Hey.

The clients had a change of heart.

They agreed to settle.

We chipped the number up to 3 .2.

We're closed.

Really?

What changed their minds? I guess you did.

Congratulations.

It's a good settlement, Jimmy.

For you, maybe.

For the client.

Well, that would be a lucky coincidence then, wouldn't it?

Don't pretend you had the client's interest in mind, Bobby.

Maybe I had yours.

And Rebecca's. And Eleanor's.

You think it's easy running this place, Jimmy?

You like taking home a salary?

You want to see the books?

I don't doubt in your heart you were serving the firm.

But I guess... I just wish...

when serving us, you'd consider what at heart this firm is.

Anyway, congratulations again on the settlement.

I'm sorry. You now want to challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty?

As it applies to my client, yes. And the show goes on. I object to that. This is

not a show.

My client is scheduled to be injected with lethal poison the day after

Your client murdered two young boys and has since been on a mission to

manipulate the system. She is entitled to be heard, Mr. Parker.

All right.

Ms. Frutt, I must admit I share Mr.

Parker's exasperation.

Your Honor.

You represent Denise Freeman's last chance at life.

It is certainly within your discretion to let her die.

But it would be an abuse of that discretion to do so without at least

from her attorney. I've done nothing but hear from you. Damn it!

Say no if you want, but I would like to be heard however much it exasperates the

court's patience.

Speak to me like that again.

You'll get a jail cell of your very own.

All right.

Let's go back in. I'll hear you. I need time to prepare.

Nine o 'clock tomorrow.

Last call, Counsel.

I need you to pull up Furman. Check the concurring opinions. See if there's any

language we can make use of.

Then pull up Greg, look for any dissenting opinions.

Are you holding up?

I'm fine.

I'm going to go see Denise. You get the cases. I'll meet you back at the hotel.

Okay.

Is the ACLU coming in with you?

Well... No.

So you're going to try to overturn the death penalty all by yourself?

You could go back off the medication, though I'm not even sure... I won't do

that again.

I either live on the meds or I die.

So, Eleanor, exactly how good are you?

I'm not this good.

Obviously, Denise, this is the ultimate Hail Mary.

I will do my very best, but we're at the end.

I'm afraid so.

Well, I don't know how to begin thanking you for it.

We don't have to get into that.

I've arranged for you to be present in court.

So, one last doubting.

Should I try to escape?

Well, I should probably get to work on whatever it is I'm going

to say.

I'll see you tomorrow, okay?

Be seated.

Okay, Ms. Frutt, I'm listening.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with the death penalty. One does.

It is reserved as punishment.

for the worst of criminals, the most terrible.

Denise Freeman doesn't fall into that category.

Of course, her acts of murder were heinous, against God and especially

two innocent young children.

But Denise Freeman was mentally ill.

Though judged legally sane by a jury, she clearly wasn't.

She was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia shortly after the trial.

Medication not only successfully treated this disease, but she developed into a

role model offering such profound public service to others that Stephen

Marshall, the warden at the Goffstown Correctional Facility, has petitioned

to save her life.

Had Miss Freeman received an adequate defense, she likely... Counsel.

This is neither a retrial of the facts nor your client's defense.

I understand that, Your Honor.

But you are permitted to consider that the finding of sanity was made by 12

laypeople with almost no psychiatric testimony introduced on my client's

You are allowed to consider that Denise Freeman was poor, that her murder trial

lasted a total of three days, her defense taking up one day.

you are allowed to consider that the overwhelming medical evidence found her

be insane.

And as such, I would submit you are certainly allowed to conclude that

Freeman does not fall into the most terrible of criminals, the ones for

we reserve the penalty of death.

And I would also remind the court that as horrible as these murders were,

They did not involve rape or torture.

There was no evidence of any physical suffering. The deaths were

She did not act out of hatred or evil.

If you are to execute a mentally ill person who kills painlessly, without

judgment, without premeditation, then we are to say all murderers should be

executed.

And we don't say that, Your Honor. Instead, we reserve the penalty of death

the most evil, the most dastardly.

Denise Freeman simply does not fall into that category.

And her punishment should accordingly be reduced to life imprisonment.

We judge the criminal act, not the criminal actor.

When a young child is murdered, that's the most terrible of crimes.

When two are murdered.

This murderer was judged sane, Your Honor.

Ms. Frutt knows this.

She's here mostly because she's against the death penalty.

Objection? I say this only to put her eloquent pleas in a proper context.

The commitment that she feigns towards Denise Freeman's life is inextricably

bound up with her opposition to the death penalty.

Mr. Parker, I'll ask you to confine your remarks to this case only.

All right, Your Honor.

Ms. Frutt said that these crimes didn't involve much suffering.

Here sit Arnold and Cindy Graham, the boys' parents.

This woman was at the park that day.

She saw the heads of her only two children explode.

They've had to go through trials and tribulations for eight long years,

for this day for closure, only to have to come to this room to listen to a

defense attorney claim that the murders weren't terrible enough.

Not enough suffering.

No evil at work.

They've had to witness a last -minute gross distortion of our legal system

the killer goes off medication for the purpose of becoming too insane to

execute.

I asked before. I'll ask you again.

Where does it stop?

When I grow up, I want to be vice president.

Vice presidents get to have girlfriends, and people don't make a big deal.

You're going to have a girlfriend?

Lots of them. I got that saying.

Girls like it. What thang?

That thang I got.

Timothy Graham for VP.

Candidate with thang.

Tim Graham won't get to run for vice president.

In the last eight years, Denise Freeman got to laugh.

Timothy and Ryan Graham didn't.

Denise Freeman experienced joy on occasion.

Timothy and Ryan didn't.

Denise Freeman got to live.

Timothy and Ryan didn't.

Society can only express its feelings for crime by the punishment it meets

To let her live now is to ignore and prolong the misery of these parents.

And to say that the life of Denise Freeman matters more than those two

children.

Ms. Frutt, I'll give you the final word.

I have a two -year -old daughter.

If somebody were to shoot her dead on a jungle gym, I would not only want that

person killed, I would like the satisfaction of doing it myself.

I would even want that killer to suffer.

It's human.

But it isn't right.

One of the reasons I'm here today is because my daughter is still alive.

And I worry about the world we pass on to her.

I plan to teach my little girl that it is never okay to commit murder, though

the state says otherwise.

I plan to teach my daughter...

that we do not respond to violence with more violence or vengeance, though the

state says otherwise.

I plan to teach her that life, every life, is sacred, though the state

says otherwise.

In truth, the murder being advocated by the government today is far more

premeditated than the ones committed by Denise Freeman. The murder being

advocated by the government today is with clarity of mind, with reason, and

much more hatred in the heart than was true of Denise Freeman. The murder being

advocated by the government today is one of ceremony.

Killing Denise Freeman might bring closure for the victim's family.

It will no doubt bring cheers from much of the community.

But it isn't right.

When I was a kid, I memorized Clarence Darrow's closing argument on Leopold and

Logue.

It's what made me want to become a lawyer.

I often wondered if I'd ever have a case like that.

where I would stand before a judge and ask him to spare another human being's

life.

I can't improve on Clarence Darrow, so I will finish with what he said.

I am pleading for the future.

I am pleading for a time when hatred and cruelty will not control the hearts of

men, when we can learn by reason and judgment And understanding and

faith that all life is worth saving.

And that mercy is the highest attribute of man.

If I killed your daughter, do you think you could find it in your heart to

argue for my life?

Absolutely not.

So all that talk about kindness overcoming cruelty,

I believe in it.

Totally.

Except if anyone harmed my daughter.

You didn't quote my favorite part.

I'm sorry.

Darrow's closing.

He talked about how we used to hang and behead and

torture and cut into pieces.

All these inconceivable punishments.

But then we began to evolve as a nation.

to a point where now we look back on those things with horror.

He said the future was on his side, because one day we too would look back

at capital punishment with embarrassment and shame.

We need the future to be today.

Judge is coming in.

Be seated.

Stand up, Ms. Freeman.

Ms. Frutt, as much as you'd like me to overturn the death penalty, I'm not

to do that.

Anybody who murders two innocent children, I have a difficult time having

person's attorney preach to me on morality.

But I have to acknowledge the evidence is overwhelming.

If not insane, Ms. Freeman was at least mentally infirm at the time she

committed those heinous acts.

I therefore find that the death penalty is not appropriate here.

And the execution is hereby stayed.

That's all.