Original subtitles

Previously on The Practice.

Why are you so angry?

For pretending day after day after day that my husband's in love with me when I

know he's not.

For God's sake.

Of course I love you. I know you love me, but... I miss being adored.

Look, the idea of splitting up is unmentionable.

But Bobby, other than our son...

It is so dead in this home.

It has been for a while.

I know this isn't what you want to hear.

No, it isn't.

I'm not saying we can't win on the elements, but the blood on your shoe and

fact that you were seen coming and going, not to mention the threat.

With insanity, even in victory, she's going to be locked up.

No, she only goes away until she gets better, which, from what the doctors are

telling us, could be soon.

This is a circumstantial case.

What she did and what they can prove are two very different things.

You said so yourself.

Look, we'll do what you want us to do.

But we're telling you, Nancy, your best chance at seeing freedom again, your

best chance by far, is insanity.

And Kevin, I may be stepping over the line here, but the reason I think you're

resisting the idea of your wife being insane is because you feel responsible

it.

My sons didn't get along.

They were pretty much estranged ever since the accident.

Which accident was that, Mrs. Healy?

Derek's son, Justin, was 16.

He had his learner's permit.

He was driving.

Kevin was with him. To clarify, Kevin is the defendant's husband.

Yes, and Derek's younger brother.

Anyway, Justin was driving. Kevin was in the car when the accident occurred.

Justin was killed.

Kevin was paralyzed.

Derek blamed Kevin, claiming his lack of supervision.

They became estranged and remained so.

To your knowledge, what was Derek's relationship with the defendant?

That had also deteriorated.

Nancy became Kevin's primary caregiver, and as you can imagine, it's been

extremely burdensome. There were insurance problems, money issues.

And Nancy couldn't understand why Kevin's own brother wouldn't help out.

You say money issues.

Actually, the financial situation was desperate, wasn't it? The problem with

insurance, there's a lifetime cap.

In this case, $750 ,000.

They exhausted that in three years.

Basically, Derek was well off but wouldn't help with his brother's care.

Yes. And this, in fact, enraged the defendant, didn't it?

Objection. Leading.

Withdrawn, did you have an opportunity to witness an argument between Nancy

Healy and the victim the day before his death?

Yes. What did you observe, ma 'am? Well, I was visiting Derek and she came over.

They got into it again.

Did you hear the defendant make any threats?

Yes. It escalated to a point where Derek said something like, gee, if he's

so bad off.

Maybe he should be put out of his misery.

And Nancy responded,

no, Derek, somebody should put you out of your misery.

And then she said, maybe that's the solution.

When Nancy said this, did you believe she was forming the intent to kill

Obviously not.

And when you talked to the police, you described Nancy's psychological state of

mind, didn't you?

Yes. Could you please tell the jury what you told the police?

For several months preceding the killing, she seemed to be increasingly

The insurance thing.

She felt very deceived.

It made her incensed.

And erratic?

Yes.

In my opinion, she was having some kind of nervous breakdown.

What do you mean you can't get hired? I can't.

Andrea, you made law review. You clerked. What?

You have a criminal record or something?

Close.

When I was 14, I was raped.

It comes up in my interviews and my prospects hit the floor with a thud.

It comes up in your interviews?

How many have you had?

Including callbacks? Over 30. And it always comes up?

Pretty much.

I took some time off for treatment, so the little gap in my resume, I explain

it.

Do you think it's wise to bring it up?

I mean, law firms aren't exactly looking to hire rape victims.

This is what I'm assuming.

Who would you sue? The law firms.

She already has sued, and... All 30 of them? Yes. She's claiming industry bias.

Against rape victims.

Here's the complaint and supporting memoranda. It's pretty good.

Thing is, they brought a motion to dismiss yesterday, and now there's an

evidentiary hearing. Slow down.

Andrea has to testify, so she basically needs co -counsel. That's why she asked

for our help.

Well, have any of these firms said that her status as a rape victim was why they

didn't hire her? Of course not.

But zero for 30? Come on. Jamie. It's a solid test case, Eugene.

What? Rate victims as a class?

I know, it's tough.

Which means... It would be a lot of help if there were a senior litigator there

with me.

They might be more inclined to settle.

Please?

It's you.

Me. The problems as you describe them, it all goes by your own admission to

your, uh...

inability to share your life, your unwillingness to.

I didn't exactly say that, Doctor.

Yes, you did.

Look, here's the deal.

You like being alone.

She doesn't.

So, what do we do about it?

Well, we go to work on it. That is, if you want to.

Of course I do.

Well, I'm not so sure about that.

You're here because your marriage feels like it's failing.

You're here because, for the sake of your son, you want to repair the

But that's different from actually desiring a partnership.

From where I sit, I think you crave isolation.

She called me just past 3 o 'clock, asking if I could come over. The

called you?

Which wasn't unusual.

I filled in a lot caring for Kevin.

It gave her a chance to get out of the house.

And lately it seemed like she needed it. So even though your husband was

estranged from his brother, you weren't? No.

In fact, it was an issue between Derek and me.

I thought he should contribute.

The reality is our son caused the accident which paralyzed Kevin.

Okay.

Going back to the day Derek was killed, you got a phone call from Nancy?

Yes.

She asked if I could watch Kevin while she did a few errands.

I agreed.

I went over there around four.

Nancy returned a little after six. I then went home, where I found Derek.

Dead? Yeah.

He was bleeding from the head.

And you called the police?

Yeah. And what did you say?

That I thought Nancy killed him.

When Nancy returned home, how did she appear?

Very disoriented.

And you mentioned that lately you had actually been increasing your role as

nurse for Kevin.

Yes. I was doing night shift twice a week. The last month I was there a lot.

Why? Well, Nancy was becoming less competent. She'd forget things.

One time, Kevin was in bed for almost a whole day while she slept on the floor.

She'd taken some pills or something.

Did you talk to her about this? Yes.

I tried to get her to get help of her own, counseling, but she'd just go off

how she couldn't afford it.

Going back to the day your husband died, when you got the call from Nancy

asking you to come over, how did she sound to you?

Not good.

She sounded like she was going to snap.

Your husband received money as part of a family trust.

Isn't that right?

Yes. And upon his death, that money would then go to Kevin.

Also correct?

Yes. Would Nancy Healy have known this?

Yes, she would.

I don't even think I called her.

I don't even think I called her.

Honey, they have the phone records.

Maybe she wants me convicted. Anybody think about that?

Lori is your friend. She's not going to lie.

Why didn't you cross her better?

You were mush.

Look, we need to stay united and focus on our defense.

Tomorrow's going to be a long day.

She thinks I'm insane.

Radar.

It's our legal defense.

If I go away, who takes care of you?

Who takes care of you?

Overall, of the 30 initial interviews, I talked about being raped all but seven

times.

I got seven callbacks.

I'll let you guess which ones.

Why bring it up at all?

Certainly, rape does not make for a fun conversation.

No, it doesn't.

The truth is, I never talked about it.

Not even to my closest friends.

I always thought that I could outrun the memory and that one morning I would

finally wake up unraped.

But during my clerkship, I began to suffer from some...

emotional problems, anxiety.

I got therapy and discovered much of it was brought on by my own feelings of

shame and guilt.

So your therapist encouraged you to talk about it?

Yes.

Unfortunately, people don't want to hear it.

During all these interviews, did anyone make any inappropriate remarks

concerning your being raped?

No. Do you have any evidence, testimonial, paper?

Where you can show but for your being raped you would have been hired at a

particular firm?

At a particular firm?

No. I have no hard evidence.

Thank you, Andrea.

That's all.

You may step down.

Your Honor, clearly there's no prima facie case here.

And even if you could show a smoking gun, Massachusetts is an at -will

employment state, which means legally they can hire whoever they want without

any... I'd like to call Jason McNeil.

Mr. Stringer.

He's sitting right there. He's one of the defendants. I'd like to ask him a

questions.

We'll take a 20 -minute break and resume with Mr. McNeil.

Excuse us.

Why did you do that? I didn't think Andrea held up too well on cross, so I

figure, what's to lose? Maybe the guy will say something to help us.

Jamie, if you don't know what a witness will say, you don't call them. That's

cross -examination 101.

The case is a long shot, Eugene, so... Exactly.

So the last thing we need is for the defense to get to button the motion with

their side. The judge was about to rule.

This witness isn't going to admit to anything.

Odds are he'll have you for lunch, and then the judge will rule, all right?

Jamie, think.

If that fails...

At least check with me.

So she had come home at about five, and she looked, well, like Laurie said, in a

daze.

This was when she got back from your brother's? Yes, and she lay down for

an hour, and then when she woke up, she said that she had no memory of even

going to my brother's house.

Did you believe her?

I did, because this sort of thing had happened before.

She'd had blackouts for extended periods of time.

It was brought on by a syndrome called caregiver's burnout.

Caregiver's burnout?

It's basically a state of emotional and mental exhaustion.

Mrs. Healy demonstrated many of the symptoms.

Inability to sleep, thoughts of suicide, feelings of hopelessness.

The syndrome can be especially pronounced when the caregiver is also

She had to wash me?

dress me, feed me,

assist me in going to the bathroom, and then clean me up after I'd been to the

bathroom.

It was full -time, around the clock.

It became her life.

And the problem is, they start to see themselves exclusively as caregivers.

Now, when this happens with patients whose condition isn't improving... She

plunging into depression and hopelessness.

And someday she would just amble around the house, feeling completely

disoriented. Add to that the rage against the brother for not helping.

My opinion is it triggered a psychotic break.

But wouldn't she at least remember it? No, because she suffered from a form of

traumatic amnesia. What she did was so shocking, she basically blocked it out.

How can you prove she's not faking amnesia?

We obviously can't prove it, but in my professional opinion, she has no memory

of committing this act.

Yes, well, in my professional experience, the killer usually denies

and then once you catch them, it's, oh, gee, amnesia.

Objection. Withdrawn.

When did this traumatic shock kick in, Doctor?

Probably as soon as she committed the act and realized it.

After she had taken the time to wipe the fire poker clean of her prints?

Possibly. I can't say for sure.

And all these symptoms of burnout you spoke of, thoughts of suicide,

sleeplessness, hopelessness.

Did you actually witness those symptoms, doctor?

They were corroborated by her husband.

Yes, her husband.

He had the same financial motive to kill as his wife, didn't he?

Objection!

That went as well as we could have hoped. You held up extremely well,

what happens now?

You.

You happen.

You just need to tell your story, Nancy.

Expect for Walsh to come at you with everything he's got.

But do not dodge, do not hide.

Simply tell the truth.

Our main mission here is to let the jury see you as a human being.

Okay.

We're doing very well.

We just need to hang in there a little bit longer.

I remember her mentioning she'd been raped, but it certainly didn't factor

my decision.

Why didn't you hire her?

Counsel, we see so many applicants, all with excellent transcripts from top

-rate law schools.

In the end, many of the final calls come from the gut.

And your gut said don't hire Andrea Cote.

I didn't form any negative conclusions toward her.

I guess I just had more positive reactions to others.

Because they hadn't been raped?

Of course not.

She made law review.

She was a finalist in the New England Moot Court Competition. She's very

qualified, but if you look at our hires over the last year, you'll see that

they, too, are extremely talented.

Mr. McNeil, I have no doubt that you are an honorable man.

Reminding you that you are under oath, are you telling this court that Andrea

Coates' status as a rape victim didn't inform a little on your decision not to

hire her?

Miss Stringer, I indeed like to think of myself as an honorable man.

I'm a proud member of the bar and an officer of this court.

And I will tell you categorically, her status as a rape victim played no part

whatsoever in my determination.

My head would get, um, I don't know.

Loopy sometimes, like I was drugged or something.

The doctor said it was from stress.

Sometimes I would get this incredible fatigue and I would go to sleep.

And I guess I would wake up, but I wouldn't wake up really.

I have no memory of even going to Derek's house that day. And this kind of

blackout, had it happened before?

Two other times, like half a day would be a blank.

But your anger toward the victim, that you remember?

Definitely.

I think he was a vile person.

I'm not defending my killing him, but I very much hated him. I won't pretend

otherwise. Do you remember saying to him that he should be put out of his

misery? That was a figure of speech.

I promise you.

I never formed an intent to kill him or to become violent.

Whatever happened in that house happened.

But I had to be acting outside of myself.

If you don't remember, how can you be sure you didn't form a plan that day to

kill him? Because I'm not a murderer, Mr. Walsh.

Are you a liar?

No.

An honest person.

Yeah, I am. I see.

So the hatred you felt for your brother -in -law was because he wouldn't

contribute money to your husband's care.

That was the main thing, but he was a bad human being in many other ways.

So you could never see yourself loving him, I guess.

Could you see yourself making love to him?

You see...

Derek once confided something to his mother. I had planned to ask her on the

stand, but then I thought, how much more exciting it would be to ask you.

Did you ever have an affair with the victim, Mrs. Healy?

Blackout? No memory of it?

Did you ever have sexual intercourse with Derek Healy?

It happened.

You just told the jury you were an honest person. Is that your idea of

behavior? Sleeping with your husband's brother?

Objection. Did he scorn you? Your honor.

Mr. Walsh. Love or money? Money or love? What was the motive for murder? Move to

strike. Mr.

Walsh.

Look, technically, this doesn't affect our defense.

With a psychotic break, motive isn't in play.

What other... Let's not kid ourselves.

It matters.

I'm so sorry.

Three years ago, I did.

Sometimes I would get so lonely, Kevin.

Well, I never deluded myself into thinking that I

was always afraid that you'd turn to someone

else for what you couldn't get from me.

To go to him?

Any word?

No. I persuaded the judge to let me give a summation, so we go back in tomorrow

morning.

Summation? I can't give up on this Eugene.

Well, how did you persuade the judge?

Did you go in next party?

Yes.

Jeremy, you can't do that. Please don't start with me. What start? It's just

that you can't do it. I really appreciate you not leaning on me right

just letting me finish this closing. Could you do that?

Are you okay?

Oh, I'm sorry.

Bobby. Oh, my God, Sarah.

How are you?

I'm great.

You?

Fine, fine.

I thought you left Boston. Well, I'm back.

D .C. summers were too hot. I'm at Wickham now, private practice.

Wickham? Oh, that's a good find. It is, it is.

Oh, great.

Married? No, no. One day, I hope.

Boy, you look fabulous.

Thank you. You do, too.

I'm actually running late.

I would love to catch up sometime.

That'd be great.

Good to see you. You too.

No prior history

of any violence.

She came home days that day with no memory of what had happened.

She had had prior blackout.

And as the medical expert told you, she suffered from a syndrome known as

caregiver's burnout.

It broke her.

The daily, overwhelming burden of having to care for a quadriplegic with almost

no help, no money, coupled with a rage against a man who refused to help her,

broke her.

Even Derek Healy's own wife told you that when she spoke to Nancy on the

that day, She sounded like she was going to snap.

Well, she did snap.

And the trauma of taking a human life suppressed her memory.

How convenient.

She kills, forgets she kills, then lines up for her inheritance.

Oh, and by the way, she just happened to have slept with the guy that she took

the fire poker to.

Come on.

The only person that can support these memory lapses, this dazed condition, is

her husband.

The man who also has a strong motive to defend his wife.

The man who also profits from the killing.

Here's what we have.

The defendant and her ex -lover argue the day before.

She tells him he should be put out of his misery.

She says...

That's the solution.

The next day, she kills him, knowing she'll inherit.

Exactly how long is this formation?

Jamie, it's understandable for a lawyer to be anxious, especially a young one,

but this is a motion. It's not a trial, so... It's a motion to dismiss, and the

client is a friend, and...

I asked before.

I'll ask you again.

Are you okay?

You can talk to me. It might even help.

I'm fine.

I am anxious, but... I'm fine.

I was date -raped once, four years ago.

I didn't report it.

I was too afraid of the stigma, so maybe this case has stirred things

up a bit.

You didn't report it?

I couldn't even remember what I said yes to.

So, what, he drugged you?

Yes.

So, I don't know. Maybe I'm not being exactly objective about this case, and

so...

I'm sorry.

Did you go to counseling for this or... You're the first person I've even told.

Don't ask me why I'm telling you.

Jamie, Lucy works for Red Crisis. Maybe she can... I'm past it now, but thank

you.

Jamie, this is something you need to deal with. I did deal with it. I moved

Clearly, you haven't.

I need to get to work on my clothing.

I told you this in confidence, Eugene, and I'm going to ask you to respect it.

There's going to be some media floating around, so why don't you go wait in that

witness room and we'll find out what's going on. Okay.

Eleanor.

Jimmy.

How'd you like my little bombshell?

You're quite pleased with yourself.

Anyway, we have a verdict.

Excuse me? Eleven o 'clock last night.

Jury's coming back in about an hour.

See you then, I guess.

This isn't good.

No, it isn't.

What's up?

The jury has a verdict.

We'll be called in about an hour.

Look, it means nothing.

They spend so much time together.

It... It probably has no relevance to anything.

I still love the Justice Department, but I guess I want to buy a house one day.

Private practice it was.

Well, it certainly looks good on you.

Yeah, thank you.

Bobby, what's going on?

What do you mean?

Why are we having coffee?

Well, like you said, to...

Catch up and... I see.

Let's catch up then. How's your marriage?

If you have to think about it, maybe you shouldn't be having coffee with a woman

you believe with.

I didn't mean anything other than... I'm very faithful to my

wife.

And are you being faithful to her at this moment?

Yes.

I'm just having coffee.

Not with someone who I used to sleep with, but... Someone who... Who

what?

Who doesn't seem to mind my company.

I don't always get that.

So I take it your marriage is important to you?

Very.

Then maybe you should make use of this free time and spend it with your wife.

There's no record of anybody saying anything.

Or anybody even considering her status as a rape victim.

No evidence that it was a factor in any decision not to hire her.

All we have is the paper -thin allegation, supported by nothing, that

have been because she was raped.

And even if she's right, Even if they could show she wasn't hired because she

was raped, and they can't, the law does not recognize crime victims as a

protected class for the purpose of bringing a lawsuit.

Accordingly, Your Honor, you have no legal choice but to dismiss this

Of course there's going to be no record of it.

No lawyer is ever going to write down or say aloud, gee, I really liked her, but

that rape thing, it's just easier to say, I didn't get a good feel.

I agree.

But that's your problem, counsel.

Interviews are just that, getting a feel for a person. They're not scientific.

And prospective employers can reject a candidate for a whole host of reasons.

But being raped is not one of them. Says who?

As Mr.

Hall points out, there's no special protection for crime victims.

But if she was perceived as being sexually damaged... Where's the showing

that? If allowed to conduct discovery, I could make a showing.

Mrs. Stringer, it's tough enough to fire a person in this country without being

subjected to a lawsuit.

Now you're asking me to create a brand new cause of action for those people not

even hired yet.

And it's hard enough to be raped without then having to endure a stigma.

Rape victims are still perceived of as angry, damaged, less than.

As a result, women are encouraged by society to keep it to themselves. And

God's sakes, don't talk about it.

Andrea Coate is a rape survivor.

And one of the ways she survived is by talking about it. She shouldn't have to

stay in a closet.

A woman is forcibly raped every six minutes in this country. Let me say it

again. Every six.

You're getting off track. No, I'm not.

Jamie.

There are a lot of rape survivors out there.

They're beginning to constitute a significant portion of our society.

And... We're

out there.

We're all around you But we stay quiet and things stay a secret

because there's an implied pressure

Don't talk about it well

We're out there you seem to be getting emotional

If you can make a legal argument

My legal argument would be public policy.

This country spends millions of tax dollars on rape prevention, medical

facilities, rape crisis units.

We pass rape shield laws.

We have rape victims funds.

We have a public policy to integrate rape survivors into society, to

make them whole.

Not hiring someone because she was raped violates that public policy and

accordingly affords my client a cause of action.

Two things.

First, you argued an excellent case.

Your legal analysis was strong. Who knows?

You may even get the judge to recognize rape victims as a status class.

Second, Jamie,

you need to recognize yourself as a rape victim.

Like the judge said, your emotion was all over that room.

This thing... Talk to Luffy.

Time to go?

No, we still have a few minutes.

I figured it out.

Nancy, her feeling of being drugged.

She was drugged.

She slept through the day.

You made the phone call to Lori.

Lori drove over, drove Nancy's car back, pulled into the garage.

She kills her husband, dabs Nancy's shoe in the blood, and drives back.

Nancy wakes, has no memory of what happened. You tell her she's been out

somewhere. Nancy eventually believes it.

Because she knows she's had blackouts before on other occasions where you've

drugged her.

And when Nancy made the threat about putting him out of his misery, the

was perfect.

Do it the next day.

And how would you propose that I drugged her when I can't even move my hands?

Sedatives on my lips?

Laurie took care of that when she made the coffee the night before.

Well?

If this fantastic tale were true, why would I then participate in my wife's

defense and testify on her behalf at trial?

Because either you felt a need to play your part to the fullest, or you really

don't want Nancy in jail.

The only goal was to kill your brother and get away with it.

You make me sound villainous.

Wheelchair -bound people are victims.

We're weak. You know that.

Here's the problem, Kevin.

If Nancy gets convicted, which is a real possibility, she's going away for life

and I won't be able to undo it.

So the question is, how villainous are you?

Gonna let your wife go away, Kevin?

After all she's done for you?

All she's done, she cheated on me.

Anyway, she's not going to go away.

Because you're a wonderful attorney, owner.

And you've just tried a splendid case.

Don't sell yourself short.

Jury's coming in.

Madam foreperson, the jury has reached a verdict.

We have, Your Honor.

Will the defendant please rise?

What say you? In the matter of the Commonwealth v.

Nancy Healy on the charge of murder in the second degree, we find the

Nancy Healy, guilty.

The jury is dismissed with the thanks of the court.

We're adjourned.

I'm sorry.

We'll start pursuing appeals.

Okay.

I'm so sorry, honey.

Who's going to take care of you?

I'll be okay.

This way, ma 'am.

Nancy is my client.

I can go to the police with my theory.

Please do.

I'm sure they'll be as entertained by it as I was.

Where is everyone?

Lunch.

Well, then I guess I'll go eat.

You want me to pick you up something?

No, thanks.

Want to go to lunch?

Oh, I would love to.

But if someone isn't here to watch the phones, Eugene gives birth.

Lucy, could I talk to you for a second?

Yeah, sure.

Well... One second.

Donnie Young and Fred.

Uh -huh.

Thank you.

That was the clerk's office.

You won your motion.

What?

Motion to dismiss was denied.

Oh.

Wow, wow.

Congratulations.

What do you want to talk about?

Well...

Are you okay?

What's wrong?

Nothing.

It was a...