Original subtitles

on the practice.

I've reviewed your plea offer.

It's rejected.

Why? Because your wife committed first -degree murder.

This just can't be the facts.

It is an internal memorandum which says the victim was likely moving towards

Lindsay Dole. It's work product. It's exculpatory. It's part of our internal

investigation. It's work product. You gave them that report.

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

Why didn't you at least have the integrity to be upfront about it? Before

add me to a list of people that are out to get you, when I started here, I

wanted to be you.

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

I am dismissing the indictment with prejudice. The defendant is to be

immediately.

Take me home.

Am I wrong?

Tell me if I'm wrong. You're not wrong. I certainly don't want to force their

hand, but... Let's go.

Sorry to keep you... Listen.

For many reasons, we feel, and we feel strongly, we should plead guilty to

manslaughter.

What? Roland, they have a strong case.

Our defense, our entire defense, is predicated on religious freedom, which,

this moment in time, has become one of our less precious civil liberties.

If you read the newspapers, you... We don't. Well, if you would, you'd get a

pretty good gauge on the public's reaction.

We don't care what the public thinks. To the extent it reflects the attitude of

your peers, you need to care.

Twelve members of the public will be sitting in that jury box.

The layperson is outraged that you didn't take your son to a hospital.

John Q has no use for Christian science other than to train his dog with your

newspaper.

Roland, you picked a bad time to let somebody die in the name of a God.

And it is our united view that if we push this to trial, both of you, Could

to prison for life.

You're both decent people.

We don't question you. We know you did what you believed would save Peter.

But you will lose at trial.

We need to take the deal.

The public's not going to be happy with the plea, I tell you that. It's pound of

flesh time.

You think the public's going to be disappointed? Try Helen. She's been

the furniture getting ready for this one.

Hello.

Hi. Hey.

I thought you were coming back.

So soon?

Well...

Hi. Hi.

Jamie Stringer.

I'm a big fan of yours.

I'm so totally at your desk. Let me move.

Congratulations on being cleared. It was so overdue.

Actually, I wasn't cleared. I got out on a technicality. But thank you.

I am so totally at your desk.

What the?

Pat, are you all right? If you want something, go around.

First of all, what's going on?

Are you leaving?

I'm done.

Retiring. You're retiring?

I can't make the rent.

I'm being evicted.

Did you throw this?

That's mine.

Yeah, it came through our window.

I must have overshot the box.

Or shot it. It sailed halfway into our office.

Sorry.

And the plea of manslaughter is acceptable to the Commonwealth?

Yes, Your Honor, with a joint recommendation for a six -year sentence

immediately upon the entering of the verdict.

Mr. and Mrs. Hubert, please rise.

Mr. Hubert, do you understand that you are pleading guilty to the charge of

voluntary manslaughter?

Yes, Your Honor. And by doing so, you are acknowledging guilt and criminal

responsibility for the death of your son.

Mr. Hubert, I asked you a question.

Do you acknowledge your guilt and responsibility in the death of your son?

God. took my son, Your Honor. We did everything we could to save him.

If that's how you feel, why, sir, are you pleading guilty?

Because counsel has advised us to.

Mrs. Hubert, do you also maintain you are innocent?

Yes, Your Honor.

The plea bargain is rejected.

Trial will begin tomorrow morning, 9 a .m. We are adjourned.

Chambers, Your Honor.

Do you dare?

Chambers.

Are you okay?

I'm fine.

A client can choose to plead guilty even while maintaining innocence.

Not with me, he can't. Come on, 90 % of all pleas are based on an analysis of

winning percentages. They have nothing to do with actual marriage. I don't

accept guilty pleas from people claiming innocence. To do so would be a farce.

Our clients have a right to negotiate down from a murder to conviction.

Every defendant has that right. Eugene, I realize.

that nine out of ten judges would go along, but I don't. If somebody says

they're innocent, I don't let them come stand in my courtroom and declare guilt

for the purpose of improving disposition.

It's a mockery.

The trial starts tomorrow.

Try to get over your disappointment, Helen.

Of course you're happy. Plea bargains suck.

It's like a tie game. Nobody wins.

The Japanese, they don't believe in compromise.

No such thing as win -win for the Japs. There can be no victory unless the other

guy loses.

You know, that sounds racist.

Oh, come on. Isn't that some hypocrisy? It's okay to call Jewish women Japs, but

we can't call Japs Japs? Well, it's not okay to refer to Jewish women as Japs.

And I'm becoming increasingly concerned about you.

Is that why you're here?

To tell me that you're worried?

Actually, no.

I'm worried about Mrs. Hubert's unborn child.

She had a contraction in the courtroom today. She's almost eight months.

Her first child was born a month early. There were complications.

They didn't go to the hospital.

Little boy almost died of asphyxiation.

You know this how?

Well, I learned it during my investigation. Is there a way we can

fetus? We have no jurisdiction over an unborn.

What about social services?

They don't have it either. It's been tried.

You can thank your women's rights groups for that. We've prosecuted women for

killing their unborn fetuses, so can't we make the argument if a fetus is a

person for the purpose of charging murder... It won't fly.

I need you to think of something. That baby could be in danger.

Try section 12.

You put a hold on the mother on psychiatric grounds.

You put an end around the Constitution, the courts are much more predisposed to

say yes there, especially if you have the right judge.

I'll do it.

What do you mean you'll do it? I mean I'll do it. It's a bit of a sell.

It'll mean more if the divisional chief himself appears in court. I don't think

that's a good idea.

Why? Well, I... I think you might be leaping at the chance to take on this

again. After losing Lindsay Dole... Nonsense.

I'm driven by the merits of the case.

It's time we start protecting the unborn children.

This is a person. Eight months.

It's viable.

It's a life.

And to say it doesn't have any vested rights because it hasn't been delivered,

all the while the delivery itself is being jeopardized. It's insane.

This case is ripe.

It's important.

It needs to be made forcefully and publicly.

I'll do it.

This is not a stunt. Come on, Helen, you take her into custody. How does that

not prejudice the jury? The jury has sequestered Buttnuts. They won't have to

know. Mr. Walsh. Did he call me butt nuts?

Look, we have a viable baby in potential danger. The law is clear.

They cannot assert their religious rights. Where's the danger? Premature

delivery like her last child who almost died from having an umbilical cord. That

hardly gives you ground. These wackos won't go to doctors. Mr. Walsh, that is

quite enough.

Your Honor, it makes the most sense to simply delay the criminal trial until

after she gives birth. That way... It makes no sense to do that, given there's

no basis to take Wendy Hubert into custody. Section 12, Chapter 123.

Read the law. Are you against that on principle? You're going to lecture me on

rules? Both of you, shut up.

There will be no further delay of this trial.

We start this morning.

Mr. Walsh, if you think you can make a Section 12 showing, you're going to have

to take it before another judge. I want the proceedings sealed.

If you get your order, come back to me and I'll figure out a way to impose it

without prejudicing the trial.

Do any public yapping and I will declare a mistrial and hold you in contempt.

It would be a mistake to regard that as judicial bluster.

This is ridiculous.

Eugene, a child's life is in danger. That child's not in danger, Helen. This

nothing to do with that child. What are you, a doctor now? I've heard enough.

Into court.

Let's go.

All right, I'm on my way.

Walsh is going to a separate court to get Wendy held on a Section 12.

What? How? It's a ploy to get her in custody until the baby's born. Jamie, I

need some research. You're coming with me. Excellent. Bring your computer. Make

sure it's charged. We'll get on Westwall in the cab. Right.

Come on.

Start with Section 12, Chapter 123, Emergency Restraint of Dangerous

Lindsay, what are you doing?

Just sitting.

I got good at it in prison.

Is everything okay?

Fine. I'm fine.

Okay.

Come on.

There's a huge adjustment to being on the outside again.

She's been in jail a month, Jamie. I'm just saying, get on the computer.

Right.

The official cause of death was adult respiratory distress syndrome, ARDS for

short. Although this was a child, the diagnosis is the same. It was brought on

by the hantavirus.

Doctor, could you explain the hantavirus to the jury?

Basically, it's a virus found in rodents, which when exposed to humans

attack the lungs.

How are humans exposed?

Most of the time.

Through the saliva, urine, or feces of the rodent. If Peter touched a dead

or a dead rat, that could have done it. Or he could have simply inhaled dust

that contained dried rodent urine or feces.

We don't know exactly how he was exposed.

But you're sure he was?

Absolutely. The autopsy concluded that was the cause of death.

Doctor, would he have had any symptoms?

Acute. They would have started flu -like.

Fever, coughing, headaches, then progressively gotten worse.

Muscle aches, breathing problems, lungs filling with fluid.

This boy was in a lot of distress and died a very painful death.

Objection, speculation.

Sustained. Doctor, is there medical treatment that could have saved Peter?

Oxygen therapy, antiviral drugs, fluids. If he'd been taken to a doctor

immediately, he wouldn't be dead.

Objection. In my opinion.

I'll allow it.

Thank you.

That's all.

So medical care could have saved this boy's life. You can state that to a

medical certainty?

Probability. Probability.

How probable, doctor?

I can state it to a substantial likelihood.

Really? You must be quite a doctor.

Do you mean if Peter Hubert had come to you personally? This is badgering. I

apologize.

How many diagnosed cases have there been of the hantavirus in the last 10 years,

doctor? Since 1993, we've had 326 diagnosed. Of those cases, how many

have died?

122.

122. Of those 122 cases, how many have sought medical help?

Most. Most. And yet 122 people have died.

Doctor, isn't it possible Peter Hubert also might have died, even if he had

gotten medical attention?

Possible, but with early... Thank you, Doctor.

You answered my question.

There is ample authority for the Commonwealth to hold a pregnant mother.

I didn't ask you for authority.

I said, tell me why she's a nutcase.

I would submit, Your Honor, any woman who exposes her child to danger,

potentially fatal danger, the benign assessment would be nutcase. No, he's

saying there's a presumption of psychiatric infirmity for any Christian

scientist. I am not saying that. You most certainly are. Don't be putting

statements into my mouth. I certainly am capable of spewing my own nonsense.

Your Honor, this woman is currently on trial for murder. I don't think it's

presumptive of me to have doubts. Yes, it is, Counsel.

She hasn't been convicted.

The presumption, then, is one of innocence.

Remember that one? That would be per constitutional right. I am before you

on the rights of the child.

There is no burden on the court when weighing the best interest of the child

constitutionally safeguard the mother. Are we supposed to let this baby die and

then say, hey, but at least we didn't trample the civil liberties of mommy

dearest? That's crap.

And I'll say so.

Nobody is saying forget about the child.

We are just asking, how is it in danger? By being in the womb of a woman who

won't get medical help. Her last delivery almost resulted in death.

He survived only to die three years later from the fumes of a dead rat,

this mother didn't do a damn thing about. She has a history of

birth. She's having contractions. She has a history of doing nothing when her

kids are facing life -threatening dangers.

You guys, could you come with me a second?

Lindsay, what's going on?

Oh, I just got this table out of storage.

I just thought I'd sit here while I get used to being back.

I'm kind of enjoying the quiet.

Oh.

Okay.

He looked terrible.

He would get dizzy.

He would vomit.

He had excruciating headaches.

How often did you have occasion to see Peter Hubert?

At first, I saw him a lot. I was an invited guest.

Wendy and I were good friends.

Your next -door neighbors?

Yes. But the more I implored her to take the child to the hospital, the more

estranged we became, to the point where I wasn't invited.

At what point during his illness did this estrangement take place?

It was building.

But when I called the ambulance myself, that was pretty much it. I wasn't

invited into the house anymore.

You called an ambulance?

Yes. I couldn't take it.

He looked like he was going to die.

Did an ambulance come?

Yes. And they sent him away saying that it was a false alarm.

About two weeks after that, Peter did die.

During the course of Peter's illness, did you witness his parents doing

about it? They would pray.

Lots and lots of praying.

Just the two of them?

No, sometimes people would come over, group prayings. And during the illness,

did it ever appear Peter's condition was improving?

A couple of times. The symptoms seemed to subside, but then they would return.

So they prayed and things at least temporarily got better.

That happened, what, once or twice?

Well, I don't think they really did get better. It just seems so.

Yes. You were good friends with Wendy Hubert?

Yes. Was she a loving mother?

I thought so, yes.

At any time, did you ever question her love for Peter?

No. Did you ever have occasion to question Roland's love for his son?

No. As you observed them praying and praying and praying for their son's

recovery, you regarded these prayers as heartfelt?

Of course.

After Peter's passing, did you ever have occasion to meet with the Hubrids?

Yes, I went to them with my sympathy.

So you had an opportunity to observe their reaction to Peter's death.

I saw them after, like I said.

How would you describe their reaction to Peter's death?

They were devastated.

What parent wouldn't be?

Thank you, Miss Esten.

I've never seen Swackheim deliberate this long over a decision.

Truth is...

I never figured he gave any thought at all to his rulings.

I thought he just flipped a coin, the lazy hack.

Why did you come after me with all the personal attacks in the Dole case,

Eleanor?

I want to know.

Part of it was strategy.

Part of it was your antics truly offended me.

Don't you regard your behavior toward me as slightly vicious?

Maybe.

I went to see a shrink.

You know what he told me? I could be sexually frustrated.

Why is it shrinks are all Freudian, sex -obsessed, depraved perverts?

They think everything is sex.

How often you get laid?

Big bone girl.

Can't be too often.

You, on the other hand, probably rent rooms by the hour. Little tramps coming

out of law school these days.

Look at you.

Cherubic little sperm magnet.

Did you just call me Cherubic, Jamie?

He had a fever, but he'd had fevers in the past.

Our course of treatment had always been prayer, cold compacts.

These treatments had proved to be successful in the past. When you say

five, six, over three years, you also had strep before, conjunctivitis, many

illnesses, which we treated successfully with prayer.

We thought we would be successful here.

But, Mr. Hubert, when Peter started having trouble breathing... We responded

with more intensive treatment.

Which was?

Prayer. This is our faith, Mr. Donald.

I understand, but, Mr. Hubert, a lot of people are wondering how a father could

just let his son die.

I didn't just let him die.

My wife and I did everything we could to help him heal. We did what we believed

would help him get better.

We did not sit idly. We did not let my son die.

Why not pray in the waiting room while a doctor treated your son? Because taking

him for medical treatment would not, in our view, heal him, and we wanted him to

recover. I'm asking hard questions, sir, because this jury would like to know

how any loving father could just turn his back on medical assistance which has

been proven to work.

Every one of us draws the line somewhere.

Most people think artificial life -saving devices go too far, and they

living wills to prohibit them.

Sixty years ago, people considered transplanting organs to be ungodly and

perverse. Now the line has moved.

People are okay with it today. Today, stem cell research is considered

totally against God and humanity. But as the arguments are made how it can save

lives, well, the line of acceptability is about to move again.

Likelihood is people will eventually embrace some form of human cloning

as long as there is a life to be saved, how can you say no to it?

Well, Christian scientists are simply unwilling to move the line, unwilling to

adjust our faith to keep up with the times. There will always be new

new technologies, new devices and inventions.

That doesn't change the fact that we consider this world to be a spiritual

and that both sin and illness can only be overcome by spiritual power.

And since I believe divine healing to be my son's best chance at survival, I

felt the most reasonable thing that I could do was turn to it.

So while many of us draw the line at stem cell research and cloning,

You draw it at 106 temperature.

Mr. Schubert, did you go to an ophthalmologist to get your glasses?

We don't consider that medicine.

According to my records, you also visited a dentist last summer.

Again, we consider that aid, not medicine. In fact, you went during your

illness. My faith allows for aid from a dentist. It doesn't medical treatment. I

explain that, and I object to the ridicule.

Do you think I came here today to ridicule you?

You think there's a judge up there, a jury over here, all gathered to ridicule

you, sir?

This is a murder trial, Mr. Hubert. A boy is dead. My boy.

You say that as if you were his parent. I was his parent. And you think it's

prejudice to hold parenting up to the standards of reasonableness.

Because that's what this is about, Mr. Hubert. I don't care what God you

in. You were vested with the care of a very sick three -year -old little boy,

and you let him die. I did not. Yes, you did.

Objection! Withdrawn. Who gave you the right to exalt religion here at the

expense... You find that in the Constitution, Counsel. And does one have

the Constitution in order to be protected by it? What about the three

-olds who cannot sound out the words yet?

Did Peter have any rights, Mr. Huber? Peter understood the basic principles of

our faith. Is it your testimony that your son... made an informed, competent

decision not to go to the hospital as he lay dying in agony.

Obviously, I made the choice. Yes, you made it. And what part of the

Constitution were you... I was his guardian.

Yes, you were his guardian, Mr. Hubert. For God's sakes, you were his guardian,

and you simply let him die. I did not.

Oh, right.

You prayed.

Here's a flash, Mr. Hubert.

We all pray.

I haven't seen any evidence that Mrs. Hubert is a dangerous person, other than

Mr. Walsh's assumption that she's guilty of the charges for which she hasn't yet

been convicted.

The Commonwealth's petition is denied.

Just like that?

What do you want, a preamble?

Could I be heard, Your Honor?

Every day on my job, I battle civil rights activists who bemoan

the erosion of the Fourth Amendment, who fight for the murderer's right to

counsel. You know what I'm talking about. All those liberal puffer fish who

protesting the death penalty while they cling to a woman's right to have an

abortion like it's an inalienable American right, and I'm sick of it. Who

hell is sticking up for this unborn person? He's eight months old. He's

And yet we say he doesn't exist for the purpose of being protected because he

hasn't passed through the great vaginal gateway like it's the Holland Tunnel.

Where in God's name are all the pro -lifers today sticking up for this

life?

Why is this room empty, I ask?

Because the proceeding is sealed.

Anything else?

We fight for the rights of the accused, the right to abort, the right to

exercise religion and free speech, but we don't fight for human life?

We're like little bugs, ants, cockroaches. We're no better than the

vermin running around on our kitchen floor.

We should just wipe the earth clean of mankind.

Motion to rid mankind denied.

We're adjourned.

Kenneth, clearly I don't like you.

But I have always, always considered you a legal talent and an extremely

formidable foe.

But now... Kenneth, you need to get some help.

You're rambling on like an evangelist on coke.

Whether it's a vacation... Are you sexually attracted to me?

No. I'm not.

I didn't think so.

But the shrink threw it out, so I thought I'd ask.

Women never are, you know, attracted to me.

See sperm magnet over there?

Not in my wildest dreams.

Kenneth, you need to take a break.

Maybe.

I am tired.

I seem to be tired a lot.

I'm tired.

All set?

Bobby, I want to start my own practice.

Excuse me?

I can rent this office, take little cases.

Lindsay... I'm not ready to just jump back in, Bobby. I don't know when I will

be. And this is a way for me to take baby steps.

Start a new practice in this room? I can take little collection cases, contract

disputes, buy parking tickets. I can even be my own secretary.

I can use your library.

Lucy can help me with pleadings from time to time.

I like the quiet here.

Let's not think for a second this isn't about freedom of religion.

There's not even a suggestion that Roland and Wendy Hubert didn't believe

was capable of healing their son.

It had in the past.

It had cured... Peter in the past, and they believed it would do so here.

They are on trial because the prosecution considers that belief, that

belief, to be unreasonable.

And you know what?

So do I.

My kid, he goes to the hospital, but that's me. My right. Mr. and Mrs. Hubert

have their rights.

Problem is, they picked the wrong time in the world to exercise them.

See, the American people have no tolerance right now for somebody dying

name of a god from an unpopular religion.

And that's exactly why this case is important.

But not just to the Huberts.

To all of us.

Every legal scholar across this country today is united in one common sentiment.

We are one terrorist attack away from kissing the Constitution goodbye.

Now, this case isn't about terrorism. Of course not.

But it is one affected by it. Because our civil rights, including and

freedom of religion, are becoming endangered species.

This trial would have never happened before September 11th. Never.

They can't even show how medical help would have saved Peter Hubert. He caught

deadly virus that is fatal much of the time, medical care or not. How?

Huh?

How? Can you charge a couple with murder for not calling a doctor when the

strong possibility is calling that doctor would have made no difference?

They have no case.

But here we are, just the same. Why?

Because the public is angry.

Somebody died, seemingly for somebody else's God, and we sure as hell don't go

for that, do we?

Don't you dare think this isn't a referendum on Christian science.

Don't you dare believe freedom of religion isn't in play here. These

aren't murderers.

They're loving parents. Even the prosecution's own witness told you that.

And Mr. Huber's testimony about the medical perversity such as transplants,

cell research, cloning, it's all true.

Doctors playing God.

Well, as human beings, we all implore, let God be God.

Well, that's what Wendy and Roland were trying to do here.

They were attempting to save their child by letting God be God.

If they succeed in making this about freedom of religion, they win.

Because we're all for the First Amendment, aren't we? One person's faith

more right than the next guy's.

If I have the burden of condemning Christian science, then the prosecution

loses, as it should.

But this case has nothing to do with religion.

This case is about parenting, something we very much hold up to the standards of

reasonableness, not to mention decency.

This case is about a little boy who got sick, first with a burning fever, then

muscle pain.

Nausea, perhaps delirium. This is about a child whose lungs filled up with fluid

to the point where he could no longer breathe.

To the point of death.

All under the watch of those two people, his parents.

A neighbor heard the screams, called an ambulance.

They sent the paramedics away.

The expert evidence here which stands uncontradicted, is that Peter Hubert

likely would have been saved had he gotten medical attention.

So we don't need to dignify defense counsel's ridiculous claim that what

did, what they didn't do, made no difference.

You can believe in whatever God you want, worship the way you like,

but when you have a child,

When you bring a child into this world, you have a duty.

You owe that child. When you see him dying, dying a painful death

in front of you, you have a duty to get that child medical attention.

You cannot ignore that obligation by cloaking yourself in some religious

freedom.

I'm offended.

By Mr.

Young's trading on terrorism, on our fears over our changing world.

I assure you, I prosecuted murderers before September 11th, and I continue to

so after. If you're looking to draw any connection, what happened September

11th? What happened to Peter Hubert?

Both were crimes against the very core of humanity.

A little boy died.

He suffered because his parents wouldn't call a doctor.

That's why we're here.

That is the only reason we are here.

So now we wait.

They'll deliberate to 5 o 'clock. If they haven't reached a verdict, they'll

suspend until tomorrow.

Oh. Wendy?

Oh.

Remember I said this baby wasn't going to wait?

Now?

Not this second, but today.

Okay, okay.

Maybe we should get the paramedics.

Is that okay?

Yeah, to take her home. Yes. We have a midwife. I'll call her. She can meet us

there. Oh.

Don't you like it?

Well, yes, but the personal stuff is usually left off the door.

I'll take it off eventually.

But I want the people who hire me to get the idea. I'm not going to be here late

or on call at home.

They see Mother, it makes a point.

Yes, it does.

How'd it go?

Almost soon. How about you?

I lost.

Well, you know Swackheim.

Lazy, fat... Listen, uh... I'm taking some

time.

Go away, get some rest.

I'm just gonna take some time.

How much?

Oh, I don't know.

Until I, uh... I get better.

You will get better. You've just been overworked, overtired.

Yeah.

Helen, I...

I'm sorry.

Just get yourself well.

Whatever it takes.

I'll be fine.

I'll be fine.

I'll be fine.

Well,

the verdict is still out on me, but yours just came in.

You're doing fine. You're doing great.

Can they read the verdict without them present?

They'll have to.

Madam foreperson, has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?

We have, Your Honor.

Almost. Keep going.

There's a couple more, honey.

Okay, okay.

In the matter of Commonwealth v.

Roland Hubert and Wendy Hubert, on count one, murder in the second degree

against Roland Hubert, we find the defendant, Roland Hubert, guilty.

On count two, murder in the second degree against Wendy Hubert,

we find the defendant, Wendy Hubert, guilty.

Oh, he's beautiful.

Here he is.

Arrest warrants are issued for Mr. and Mrs. Hubert.

Your Honor, can we be allowed to surrender them? I'm sorry. Post

can't give you that courtesy.

Members of the jury, thank you for your service.

This matter is adjourned.

A 15 -minute head start.

Okay.

She had a boy.

Let's go.

They'll take Wendy to a medical facility.

By law, they have to at least for a day.

What about my son?

Social services is on their way. They take custody initially till we figure

things out.

Why can't he come with us?

I'll make sure he's okay, Wendy.

Don't you worry.

Let's go.

I'll wait for social services.

What really happened?

He goes into foster homes?

I'm not really sure.

He's beautiful, isn't he?

Yeah. Would you like to hold him?

Sure.

I

need

to clean up. I'll just be a second.

What? I'm not adopting if that's where you're going. I wasn't. I was just

looking at an odd sight under the circumstances.

He is beautiful.