All language subtitles for The Practice s07e12 Final Judgement

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.