Original subtitles

- In the criminal justice system,

the people are represented

by two separate, yet equally important groups:

the police, who investigate crime,

and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders.

These are their stories.

- No, I'm not nervous.

It's hard to explain.

Exactly, and I just...

OK.

Thank you.

Bye.

♪ Hate that I made you love me ♪

♪ 'Cause I barely tried ♪

♪ Yeah, I, I, I hate that I ♪

- Miss. - Oh, my God.

You scared me. - Sorry.

Would you like an escort?

It's not safe to be walking alone here at night.

I'm fine. I'm not going far.

- Are you sure?

It's no trouble.

- Thank you, but I'm good.

In fact, I've never been better.

- ♪ 'Cause I barely tried ♪

♪ Yeah, I, I, I ♪

- Hey, man.

- Hey.

Not a morning person, huh?

- Right. Who's the vic?

- Grace Zhou, 24 years old.

Roommate found the body. She called 911.

- Any signs of a break-in? - Nope.

Jewelry, purse, fancy headphones

all accounted for.

We're missing the phone, though.

We got a trace on it.

- We got a cause of death?

Looks like asphyxiation via pillow.

But she looks peaceful, like she was asleep.

Yeah, but the body was posed postmortem.

And based on body temperature and lividity,

I'm estimating time of death

between 2:00 and 4:00 this morning.

Find any signs of sexual assault?

- Marvel at the light, gentlemen.

It reveals all.

♪ ♪

Looks like our guy's a dribbler.

- Let's bag that for testing.

- She was a med student?

Primum non nocere.

Hippocratic oath.

First, do no harm.

♪ ♪

I got home around 7:00 this morning.

Grace's bedroom door was open.

That's why I knew something was wrong.

Grace never left her door open.

- And how long did you two live together?

- A little more than a year.

She answered my roommate ad

on the med school housing board.

I didn't want a roommate,

but even a fifth floor walk-up costs a fortune in the city.

- And was she in the habit of having, you know,

like, late-night visitors? - No.

Honestly, I kind of got loner vibes from her.

She was always shut up in her room by herself.

The walls are paper-thin.

If she had anybody over, I would've heard.

- So no friends?

Boyfriend? Girlfriend?

Can you think of anybody who might want to hurt her?

- I really... I couldn't say.

What?

- You lived with her for a year,

and yet you know nothing about her.

- Look, med school's intense, OK?

The less time you waste on small talk, the better.

- You know, most people would be pretty shook up.

You come home, you find your roommate dead.

- Well, I just finished my surgery rotation,

so I've seen my share of dead bodies.

- Where were you last night?

- At St. Vincent's.

I'm in my ER rotation now.

Do you need some names?

- Yeah, actually.

And numbers.

Hold on. Hold on. One last thing.

Have you noticed anything unusual about Grace recently?

Anything? - Lately, she just...

she seemed to be in a good mood.

And she left the apartment a lot more too.

- You know where she was going?

- Not really.

I mean, at least some of the time,

I know she was visiting her parents

out in Flushing.

- Grace never hurt anyone.

She never caused any problems.

I don't understand how this could happen to her.

- Could you tell us more about your daughter's life...

the people she knew, her friends, social groups?

- Grace was shy.

Like, making friends was never easy for her.

She was smart.

She worked so hard to get into med school.

- We were so proud.

- When was the last time you saw your daughter?

- A few days ago.

She came home for dinner.

We hadn't seen much of her because of school,

but she was visiting a lot more recently.

- Grace struggled with med school at first.

But then she learned to adjust, like we knew she would.

- Did she seem upset or scared when you saw her?

Mention anything unusual?

- No, she was... she was really happy,

like everything was going well.

- I'm sorry to have to ask this question,

but do you know of anyone who might have wanted to hurt her?

-

- Her parents said she'd been dating

fellow grad student Curtis Foster.

She ended it last month.

- OK, let me guess. He didn't take it so well.

- Excellent guess.

They said he'd been hounding her,

calling her day and night,

begging her to take him back.

- OK, bad breakup, ex-boyfriend.

Unfortunately, this one's a classic.

Where are we with her missing phone?

- Yeah, we tried pinging it. Nothing so far.

The killer must've turned it off.

- You get any text messages from the cloud?

- Still waiting for the carrier to get back to us,

but we did get the call log back, though.

Guess who her last phone call was to.

- The ex-boyfriend.

- Oh, you're good at this, huh?

- Occam's razor. It's always the ex-boyfriend.

- Mm-hmm.

Vic made the call a few hours before the murder.

Lasted two minutes.

- I can't believe Grace is dead.

Grace was considering a psych rotation

in her third year.

Came in with some questions.

- How long were you together?

- It depends on what you consider a first date.

Grace was really shy.

She was, um...

an introvert.

Do you mind if we...

- No, not at all.

- Thanks.

- So you had to make the first move?

- And second, third, and fourth.

- Wow, you sound persistent.

- I really liked her.

She was smart, sensitive.

And we were together for about six months after that.

- What led to the breakup?

- She said she didn't see a future for us.

- That's it? No explanation?

- Once Grace made up her mind about something,

there was no debate. - OK.

That would have made me pretty upset.

- I wallowed in self-pity for a week.

- We heard you remained, uh...

what's the word you said?

Uh... - Persistent.

- Very persistent.

- I still cared about her.

That's all. - Mm-hmm.

- But I eventually got the memo.

I left her alone.

- She called you last night.

- Yeah, I was surprised to hear from her.

We hadn't really spoken since the breakup.

She suggested we meet up, um, but I couldn't.

- Why not?

- I was at a concert.

Gooseberry at the Sonic Room.

- Hey, Curtis Foster's alibi checks out.

Picked up his ticket at will call, had to show ID.

- OK, so much for Occam's razor.

Forensics came back.

They managed to extract DNA

from the stain on the mattress.

Male, not in the system.

But get this... it's not semen.

- What was it?

- Sodium and potassium chloride

with other significant protein indicators...

human tears.

- That's extra creepy.

Wouldn't be the first time someone cried

after committing murder.

- ME just called.

Something she wants us to see.

Cause of death was asphyxiation.

I found cotton fibers in her nasal passageway,

mouth, and lungs.

Traces of her saliva on the pillow confirm

it was the murder weapon. - Right.

We got all this from the crime scene.

Well, I haven't gotten to the weird part yet.

Look here.

Two small puncture wounds on her left arm.

One on her right.

- Was that needle drugs?

- Yes, but not the fun ones.

The tox report shows significant quantities

of sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide,

and potassium chloride in her system.

They're the drugs that prisons use for lethal injections.

♪ ♪

- Wasn't just a murder.

It was an execution.

♪ ♪

Seems like overkill to smother someone with a pillow

after you've shot them up with lethal injection drugs.

These drugs don't always work the way they're supposed to.

Wrong dosage, interacts poorly

with something already in the system...

a lot of things can go wrong.

That's why they botch executions all the time.

Look what happened to that woman in Tennessee.

So our murderer subdues the victim,

injects the drugs.

Something goes sideways,

so he smothers her instead?

- I think it's possible.

- Well, in any case,

we're dealing with a very disturbed human being

who has access to these drugs and knows how to use them.

- So the vic's messages

from the phone company finally landed.

She received a threatening text

a couple of days before she died

from a fellow med student named Todd Long.

"Keep your mouth shut.

If you tell anyone, we'll both be in huge trouble."

- Go talk to him.

- It wasn't a threat.

I was trying to protect Grace.

- "Keep your mouth shut"?

OK, I probably could've said that better,

but it wasn't like that.

- Enlighten us then.

Our professor assigned a take-home exam.

Grace saw I was a mess and offered to do it for me.

The problem was, the professor could tell

I didn't write the answers. - OK.

So why were you texting her to keep her mouth shut?

Because Grace still wanted to come clean.

She thought that if she took the fall for it,

that it would get me reinstated.

I... I tried to tell her it wouldn't work,

but it's like she didn't care if she got kicked out.

All right. Where were you two nights ago?

- At urgent care.

I had food poisoning.

- Do you know of anyone

who had any kind of issue with Grace?

- I... um, Dr. Reddy.

Yeah, he's a faculty advisor.

A few days ago, I saw the two of them arguing.

Lieu, Long's alibi checks out.

He was in the infirmary all night,

hooked up to a banana bag.

- His DNA was clear.

OK, what about this faculty advisor?

- Dr. Aekansh Reddy...

we tracked down the security cam footage

of the fight that Long witnessed.

Looks like they're really going at it.

OK, not your average student-teacher conference.

Do we know what they're arguing about?

Turns out, Reddy's a controversial figure,

and our vic actually led a student protest against him.

Tried to get his tenure revoked.

Our quiet med student tried to get her advisor fired?

Why?

She went crazy when she found out that

he was a consultant for federal penitentiaries.

He advised on lethal injections.

So you're a doctor who specializes in killing people.

That's a gross oversimplification

of my work, Detective.

- Seems pretty simple.

You help people die.

- Die humanely.

Grace Zhou didn't see it that way.

Sometimes med students have a very naive understanding

of how the real world works.

My job is to help execute people

society has already condemned to death.

I'm just ensuring that medical protocols are up to date

in order to minimize their pain and suffering.

And Grace eventually began to see it that way.

She saw the value in what I'm doing.

This look like a kumbaya moment to you?

- You've got it wrong.

I... that wasn't about the petition.

Like I said, she and I had patched things up.

Didn't look very patched up to me.

I was yelling about something else.

She had just informed me that she was dropping out.

Grace was quitting medical school?

- Yes.

And I thought that was a mistake.

I didn't want her to throw her life away.

Obviously, I... I got worked up,

but out of frustration, not anger.

Where were you the night of her murder?

In Florida, consulting on an execution.

I flew back yesterday.

Would you submit to a DNA test?

- Of course. - OK.

Did Grace tell you why she was dropping out?

- No...

but I have my suspicions.

She was interning at a research lab.

Lead researcher is a man named Anton Visser.

She really admired him,

but something happened recently.

I mentioned his name last week,

and she said she didn't want anything to do with him.

And then out of nowhere, she decides to drop out?

She was sleeping with him, and he dumped her?

Is that what you're saying?

- What was your relationship with Grace Zhou?

- She worked here at the lab.

Were you two romantically involved?

- Excuse me? - No, don't get offended, Doc.

We heard you guys were spending a lot of late nights together.

Our relationship was completely professional.

Grace was helping me review some recent clinical data

for a new drug.

You don't have more qualified staff for that?

She asked to be part of the review.

She was very invested in this particular project.

Do you keep a stock of sodium thiopental

here in the lab?

- Yes. Why?

What about pancuronium bromide?

You got that?

Potassium chloride?

♪ ♪

Yeah, we're gonna need to see an inventory list.

♪ ♪

- I want a lawyer.

♪ ♪

- That was quick.

Looks like you got another late night ahead of you.

- So...

we searched your lab, Mr. Visser.

- Dr. Visser.

- Sure, whatever.

And do you know what we found?

Missing vials of sodium thiopental,

pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride,

all in the exact amounts that were found

in the body of Grace Zhou at the time of the murder.

My client had nothing to do with that.

- Well, I think he did.

I think you had an inappropriate relationship

with her, and she threatened to expose you.

There was nothing sexual or romantic between us.

I've done nothing wrong.

- Then why is he here?

- I'm just being careful. - Why?

Because I didn't report the drugs missing.

- Why is that?

I was hoping they were just mislabeled or misplaced.

I was trying to track them down before anyone noticed.

I was trying to avoid a scandal.

Grant money's hard to come by these days.

- But you and Grace did have

a falling out recently, correct?

We did, but it wasn't personal.

It was about the clinical trial we were working on.

- Can you be more specific?

- We were developing a drug

to treat medication-resistant depression.

We were trying to access a different neural pathway

than other drugs currently on the market.

But it failed.

And Grace blamed you for that?

- No.

I decided to declare the trial inconclusive

rather than publish the results.

OK, well, that sounds pretty shady.

- Yeah, well, like I said,

grants are hard to come by these days.

To be clear, he did nothing illegal.

But this decision upset Grace.

- It did, yeah.

I appreciated how invested she was, but...

listen, I didn't kill Grace.

- Well, do you have an alibi

for 2:00 a.m. on the night she was murdered?

- I was at home, asleep.

- Alone?

Yeah, well, that's not a great alibi, Dr. Visser.

- Visser's DNA doesn't match.

Yeah, CCTV footage from the apartment lobby

shows him arriving at 10:30 p.m. that night

and not leaving again till the next morning.

I don't think he's our guy.

But the drugs found in Zhou's system

were from that lab,

so whoever murdered her had to have access to it.

- OK.

The lab requires all employees

to sign in and out.

I pulled the log.

- OK, so...

this is the day that Visser says

he noticed the drugs missing... - Mm-hmm.

And that's the date of the last inventory

prior to that.

So whoever our murderer is

had to have stolen them in that window.

All right. Let me narrow the search.

This is everyone who came and went in that time period.

- Whoa, whoa. Wait a minute.

Go back... right there.

See that?

- Curtis Foster.

♪ ♪

Um, just...

Hey. Sorry... could this wait?

I'm about to see a student. - This won't take long.

We just need to clear up a couple things,

if you don't mind. - About what?

- You lied to us.

You told us you hadn't seen Grace since you guys broke up,

but that's not exactly true, now, is it?

You visited Grace in her lab last week,

right around the time

the drugs that were found in her system went missing.

You're gonna want to watch this.

♪ ♪

- After you hung up with Grace,

you never went back in to the concert,

'cause you headed uptown,

same direction as her apartment.

- I didn't do anything wrong.

- OK. You want to prove it?

Submit to a DNA test.

- Please, I...

- Look at this, Theo.

He's crying,

just like he did the night he killed Grace.

- Hey.

Curtis Foster's DNA was a match

to the fluid found at the crime scene.

- Tears?

A killer with remorse is better than one without.

Marginal, but still.

Pregnancy is making you soft already.

- Huh. - What else do we have?

Oh, a few threatening emails after the breakup.

"If you don't reconsider, you're gonna end up dead,

and I will have blood on my hands."

Well, he really spelled it out, didn't he?

Yeah. We can also prove that

he had opportunity to steal drugs

from the lab where Grace worked.

He lied to police about his alibi,

left the concert right after she called him,

and headed in the direction of her apartment.

Do you know why she called him?

- No.

The evidence against him is strong.

Curtis Foster's just lucky

that New York State doesn't have the death penalty.

Otherwise, there's a decent chance

we would be injecting him with the same damn drugs

he used to help kill Grace.

The combination of drugs found in Grace Zhou's body

is very specifically used for one thing...

executions.

On the night of September 12th,

the defendant showed up to her apartment,

subdued her,

and injected her with sodium thiopental,

knocking her unconscious.

He then injected her with pancuronium bromide,

a paralytic agent, rendering her immobile,

so completely helpless to defend herself,

even if she had regained consciousness.

Finally, he placed a third needle into her vein,

and he shot her full of potassium chloride,

a powerful drug that is meant to cause cardiac arrest,

but as you may know,

when a lethal injection isn't administered properly,

it fails to lead to death, and instead,

the victim suffers immense and unrelenting pain.

When she didn't die,

the defendant picked up a pillow

and smothered her to death...

all of this to punish her for breaking up with him.

Grace Zhou was 24 years old.

She had her whole life ahead of her.

And Curtis Foster stole it from her.

No, no. Let's leave the photo.

A lot of what the prosecution just said is true.

Curtis Foster was in Ms. Zhou's apartment that night,

and he ultimately did end her life.

But there was nothing cold or calculated about it.

In fact, it was an act of love,

because Grace Zhou had asked him

to help her end her life.

This was an assisted suicide.

- Objection, Your Honor.

- Sustained.

Counselors, in my chambers.

♪ ♪

This is my suicide note... or video.

Whatever.

I've decided to end my life.

- It is clear

the defense intentionally sat on this information.

They had plenty of opportunity to raise it prior to now,

and it should be precluded

as a textbook example of unfair surprise.

We have no obligation to present information

that's readily available to the prosecution

through other means.

The police did a thorough investigation,

including reviewing all of Grace's communications

by phone, by her computer, by the cloud.

There was no trace of this video.

That's because Curtis stopped it

from uploading to the cloud.

But plenty of other evidence

of Grace Zhou's condition existed.

She had suffered severe depression for years.

And that's why she wanted to end her life.

She was in chronic, excruciating pain

with no available cure.

She begged for my client's help.

He reluctantly agreed.

She recorded the video on her phone

with the intent of leaving it for authorities to find.

But when things went south

and he ended up using the pillow,

he took her phone with him when he left the apartment.

- No, no, no.

He didn't... he didn't leave the apartment.

He fled the crime scene, because he committed murder.

New York's Medical Aid in Dying Act

went into effect in August of this year,

making assisted suicide legal

for people with incurable diseases.

Depression doesn't qualify under that law.

There's no language specifically

excluding mental illness.

The law requires that the diagnosis be terminal with

a reasonable life expectancy of six months or less.

We have a medical expert who will testify that

her condition meets this definition.

- Under what theory?

Doesn't the law also require the patient

to be of sound mind?

Exactly. Thank you, Your Honor.

A mental health diagnosis is de facto disqualified

because depression, by definition,

impacts capacity in this situation.

Your Honor, all we're asking is that

we be allowed to present our case.

- You OK? - Yeah.

Just a little heartburn.

Nobody warned me, but that's apparently

a thing that happens a lot when you're pregnant.

How'd it go in there?

The judge is allowing them to present

an assisted suicide defense.

Well, did Zhou have a terminal disease?

No, but she apparently suffered

from severe depression.

No. What? That's not allowed.

I know, but the judge doesn't seem to care.

- So what are they gonna claim?

That her mental illness was so severe,

it was tantamount to a terminal diagnosis?

- Yeah, it sounds like it.

The good news is, we have the law on our side.

Well, bad news is, they got emotions on theirs.

They're gonna argue that Grace was in severe pain,

that she wanted to die.

Therefore, Curtis is a saint, not a killer.

So we need to provide some emotion of our own.

We knew that Grace had struggled at times, but...

- Um, what kind of struggles, exactly?

- She could be sad.

She had very negative thoughts.

She would say terrible things.

- That was just teenager stuff.

You know how they are at that age.

- What age is that?

It started when she was 13 or 14.

- It wasn't anything serious.

Nothing bad happened to her.

She was just moody.

It was hormones.

- And she got through it.

It had passed.

- So you didn't know

that your daughter was suicidal?

- No.

We saw her a few days before, and she was very happy.

Do you think there's a chance the depression came back?

- Maybe.

But if she told that boy that she wanted to do that,

he should've told someone.

He should've told us, not help her do it.

♪ ♪

Does this mean he's going to get away with

killing our daughter?

♪ ♪

We're gonna do everything in our power

to make sure that doesn't happen.

We will make it clear to the jury

he didn't have the right to do what he did.

♪ ♪

- Dr. Murano, on top of limiting its scope

to terminal illnesses

with a life expectancy of six months or less,

the new assisted suicide law only allows for

self-administered life-ending medication,

but that is not what Grace Zhou died of,

is it? - No.

- How long does it take

to suffocate someone with a pillow?

Because of the porous nature of fabrics and cushions,

it can take as much as 10 minutes, sometimes 15.

And what happens during that time?

The brain is deprived of oxygen.

The lungs fill with fluids.

Organs slowly shut down.

- That sounds excruciating.

- In this case,

she still would've been paralyzed from the drugs...

awake enough to know it was happening,

but unable to stop him.

I imagine it was very painful.

And what would have happened if, uh,

instead of suffocating her when the drugs didn't work,

the defendant had called 911?

Objection. Calls for speculation.

There's no way for the witness to know the answer to that.

- Sustained.

But you can tell us that Grace Zhou died

a long and agonizing death?

- Almost certainly, yes.

- By his hand.

Thank you.

Nothing further.

- Dr. Murano, to say that

the drugs in Grace Zhou's system didn't work

isn't entirely accurate, is it?

They may not have caused her death,

but they still would have had an effect.

Yes. Uh, we've seen it before

when state executions have failed.

As her body fought off the drugs,

her nervous system would've gone into overdrive.

She likely went into uncontrollable seizures.

So it would have been painful and excruciating

in its own right, just not enough to kill her.

- Yes.

- Is it fair to say, then,

that my client was easing her pain

when he did what he did?

Mm, there are other ways to do that.

Well, speaking of pain, Dr. Murano,

are you aware of the pain experienced by people

with chronic, severe, drug-resistant depression?

I am aware of the clinical diagnosis and its symptoms.

So you know excruciating pain was

Grace Zhou's constant state of being, then?

Objection. Counsel is testifying.

- Sustained.

- No further questions.

♪ ♪

My wife and I, we loved our daughter,

and when her...

difficulties started,

we were so confused.

And then we figured it out, and we got help.

- Professional help?

- Yes. - Yeah.

- It worked. She got better.

So were you surprised to learn

that she wanted to kill herself?

- Of course.

The...

She came to our house a lot in the weeks before she died,

and she seemed...

I... I thought it was finally behind us.

- So she seemed happy?

- Yes.

And if she had fallen into one of her darker moods,

it was very recent.

And it would have passed.

The defense is claiming that her depression was so severe

that suicide was inevitable. - No.

If we had known about it, we could've saved her.

But he took away that chance.

Thank you. No further questions.

- Mr. Zhou, let me start

by saying how sorry I am for your loss.

- Just ask your questions.

- Fair enough.

You stated that you were surprised to learn

your daughter wanted to end her life.

- Yes.

Well, forgive me, but that's a bit surprising,

given that she had attempted suicide twice before...

once five years ago, then again two years ago.

Your Honor, the defense would like this

marked as exhibit D.

♪ ♪

Mr. Zhou, do you recognize these documents?

- Yes.

These are hospital admission forms.

- Objection.

Defense should've shared these

as part of pre-trial reciprocal discovery.

These records were readily available

for the prosecution to find.

They had equal access.

Well, we didn't know to look for them, Your Honor.

Overruled.

Continue, Ms. Fuller.

Mr. Zhou, these forms were signed by you.

Both times your daughter tried to end her life,

you were the one to take her in.

She accidentally took too many pills.

It... it was a mistake.

- Both times?

She had wanted this for years, hadn't she?

- She'd gotten better.

Obviously, that's not true, is it?

No further questions.

- Mr. Price.

The prosecution rests, Your Honor.

♪ ♪

Hey.

Why didn't you tell us she had tried before?

It's a family matter... private.

Well, it's very public now.

We were trying to protect our daughter.

And we are trying to get justice for her.

Lying to us only makes that harder.

- Come on.

♪ ♪

- Nolan, they're parents

grieving the loss of their only child.

- Yeah, I know, I know.

But if we lose

and mental illness becomes a basis for legal suicide,

there will be a lot of other parents

in this exact same situation.

♪ ♪

I'm the Kagan chair of neurological

and psychiatric science at Princeton University.

I've spent my career studying chronic severe depression,

and for the past year,

I was also Grace Zhou's psychiatrist.

What made Grace's situation unique?

- Grace suffered from

treatment-resistant chronic depression.

She had tried every pharmaceutical

and psychotherapeutical treatment currently available...

SSRIs, SNRIs, tricyclic antidepressants,

ketamine therapy.

None of it had an effect.

So, essentially, Grace's disease was incurable.

- And debilitating.

What Grace experienced was just as severe and unrelenting

as any terminal physical illness.

Dr. Woll, in your medical opinion,

was Grace Zhou's depression a terminal disease?

- Yes.

She had already attempted suicide twice.

- And you were her doctor.

Do you believe she was of sound mind

to make the decision to end her life?

In my professional estimation,

she was fully capable of making the decision she made.

- Thank you, Doctor.

No further questions.

- Dr. Woll, isn't it true that

the American Medical Association

as well as the American Psychiatric Association

have taken policy positions opposing euthanasia

in mental health-related situations?

Yes, people have very strong opinions

on both sides of this issue, but things are changing,

and there's a growing recognition that

if a condition is untreatable...

You mentioned ketamine therapy.

That is relatively new.

That has helped people who were previously diagnosed

as treatment-resistant, correct?

Yes, but it's also not helped people

who are treatment-resistant.

And yet, several acquaintances described Grace

as being quite happy in the days prior to her death.

Well, that's a common phenomenon.

Quite often, people in her position

experience euphoria

after making the decision to end their life.

It's not that their pain is gone.

It's that their suffering will soon be over.

You are legally obligated to report

if a patient tells you that she's going to kill herself,

but you didn't do that with Grace.

Because she didn't tell me about it.

You say that her decision was of sound mind?

- She didn't tell me about it

because she knew I was a mandatory reporter.

If anything, I... I think that's evidence

of how rational her choice was.

- Rational? OK.

Grace was 24,

her prefrontal cortex wasn't fully developed,

and you want us to believe that

she was capable of making a rational choice?

Grace was determined to end her life,

regardless of your or my opinion on the matter.

- But she didn't take her life.

The defendant did.

- Objection. - Sustained.

- Nothing further.

Ms. Fuller, call your next witness.

The defense calls Curtis Foster.

I met Grace when she was considering a psych rotation.

I... I didn't know it at the time,

but all of her academic pursuits were an attempt

to understand what was happening to her.

- How did you react

when she told you she wanted to end her life?

- I freaked out.

I argued with her.

I begged her to talk to a counselor.

Were you the one who stole the lethal injection drugs?

- No.

That was all Grace.

I went with her.

I tried to talk her out of it,

but there was no stopping her.

Can you tell us about the night Grace died?

- Uh, she called me.

Said it was time.

She asked me to be there.

She said she didn't want to die alone,

and I couldn't say no.

But, um, something went wrong.

She was shaking, and it was, like, spasms,

and she was moaning,

and the sounds... it was...

Um, she was in pain,

so I did what I thought...

what I know she wanted me to do.

Well, up until that point, you hadn't done anything wrong.

You could've just left her there,

walked away, or called 911.

I knew she'd be institutionalized,

and her suffering would be prolonged.

And then down the line, she'd do it again.

She wouldn't stop trying until it was done.

This way spared her more pain.

I could give her that.

- You risked your own freedom,

your whole life to give her that.

- I loved her.

- Before the injections,

you helped her to film a video, correct?

- Yes.

- I want to be very clear.

I am the one making this choice.

Every day for over 10 years,

it has taken every ounce of strength I have

to even get out of bed.

♪ ♪

I'm so tired of feeling like this.

I hurt.

I can't do it anymore.

♪ ♪

Papa, Mama, I'm sorry.

I tried to be strong for you.

I tried to tell you before.

♪ ♪

You couldn't hear me.

So now I just want to say goodbye.

♪ ♪

I'm sorry.

I love you so much.

♪ ♪

- No further questions.

♪ ♪

Mr. Foster, the new assisted suicide law

allows a physician to legally prescribe

life-ending medication for a terminally ill patient

for them to self-administer.

Are you a physician? - No.

Did you use a pillow to suffocate Grace Zhou?

- Yes, but...

- Nothing further.

The defense rests, Your Honor.

♪ ♪

- Ms. Maroun?

- Mrs. Zhou, hi.

How are you holding up?

- Do you have a moment?

- Yes.

Yes, of course.

- How far along are you?

- About 20 weeks.

- Get ready.

For the rest of your life,

your heart is gonna live outside your body

and inside someone else's.

It's terrifying and exciting

and scary and incredible.

When Grace was born,

I had this overwhelming reaction.

I just needed her to be near me at all times.

She was just so fragile.

I wanted to protect her, to keep her safe.

We're doing everything we can to get her justice.

We didn't realize Grace was in so much pain.

In our culture, there are just certain things

we don't talk about.

♪ ♪

My little girl was hurting,

and I couldn't help her.

- Hey...

you did the best you could.

She knew that.

♪ ♪

I'm not saying I could've done

what Curtis did...

but I understand why he did it,

and I don't think he should be punished for it.

♪ ♪

- Thank you.

- Hey.

So Grace's parents want us to drop the charges.

- What? Now? - Yeah.

I think they finally accepted

that this is what Grace really wanted.

- I understand,

but that has no legal bearing on this.

- Yeah, I know.

If I'm being honest, when I look at Curtis,

I don't see a killer.

He's not a threat to society.

He's not gonna kill someone else.

And if that's what Grace's parents want,

if they don't want him to be punished, then...

No, there's more at stake here

than our placating Grace's family.

No, I'm not saying we drop the charges,

but maybe we can offer a manslaughter plea.

This case is too important, Sam, and it's too dangerous.

If we cut Curtis a break, God knows

more young people will start asking their boyfriends

and their girlfriends to end their lives.

No, we have to see this through.

- Jury's back.

♪ ♪

In the charge murder in the second degree,

we find the defendant, Curtis Foster, guilty.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,

the court thanks you for your time.

You are now dismissed.

♪ ♪

- I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

♪ ♪

- It's the right result, Sam.

- Wish it felt that way.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪