THIS TRANSCRIPT WAS DONE BY LINDA.
-------------------- Disclaimer --------------------
We do not own the characters in this story, nor do we own any rights to the television show `The Practice'. They were created by David E. Kelley and belong to him and David E. Kelley Productions.
This is a cut and dry transcript of "Death Penalties."
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The show opens with Bobby and a client talking in Bobby’s office.
Bobby: We have to make a decision.
Mr. Simpson: What do you think ?
Bobby: I think if we can get manslaughter we should take it.
Mr. Simpson: How much time would I serve?
Bobby: It could be as little as three years. I would think at the most six.
Mr. Simpson: God, my kids are 13 and 11…… six years!
Bobby: Here is the problem jury nullification is risky. Technically I’m not even allowed to argue it.
Mr. Simpson: What about insanity?
Bobby: The problem there is your demeanor was calm and deliberate at the time. Now look, Helen Gamble is a very good DA, also on this issue, she is on a mission with it. Her grandmother, I don’t know all the details, was euthanized somehow. All I know is she goes tough on mercy killings.
Mr. Simpson: This was an act of compassion for God’s sake.
Bobby: You know that, I know that, but if we can get manslaughter I think we should do it.
Mr. Simpson: I can’t believe they are pushing this. This is politics.
Bobby: You did shoot her in the head.
The Theme Song and opening credits.
Coming out of the elevator in the courthouse are Helen, Bobby and Lindsay. They are heading to the courtroom.
Helen: I’m not offering manslaughter.
Bobby: It’s a mercy killing.
Helen: It’s a homicide.
Bobby: I’m agreeing to plead homicide
Helen: Not enough you are not
Bobby: What are you looking for a life sentence? This man is no criminal.
Helen: I’m looking for more than five years, which is what he would probably do with manslaughter. And he is a criminal Bobby, he committed premeditated murder what I’m suppose to go light because it came from love. A lot of homicides do.
Bobby: Listen to how angry you are getting.
Helen: I’ll see you in there.
Bobby: Hey, (grabbing her arm) get some therapy.
Helen: Take your hand off me, please.
Helen walks away, leaving Lindsay and Bobby behind.
Lindsay: I tried talking to her last night.
Bobby: So what do we do?
Lindsay: I still wouldn’t go insanity, she’ll pick us apart plus it’s pretty obvious he knew what he was doing.
Bobby: So what are we left with?
Next scene is at the judge’s chambers. Helen, Bobby and Lindsay are standing before a female judge:
Judge: Self-defense?
Bobby: It’s viable/
Judge: You want to argue he defended his wife by shooting her in the head?
Bobby: I should at least be allowed to argue it!
Judge: Well you won’t be. I have to prevent the law from being tortured here.
Bobby: If you consider the strict elements here….
Judge: You will not argue that he acted in self-defense that is ridiculous. What else?
Bobby: We’d ask the prosecution to include manslaughter as a lesser included charge
Helen: It wasn’t manslaughter it was premeditated and...
Bobby: Question for the jury.
Helen: The jury doesn’t get to decide what defendants are charged with.
Bobby: The reason she won’t charge manslaughter is she’s afraid that is what the jury will come back with.
Judge: I can’t tell the prosecution what to charge counsel.
Bobby: Your honor…(he’s interrupted by Lindsey)
Lindsey: Bobby (giving him a look to stop)
Judge: Let’s go in……Ms. Gamble one second please. (Bobby and Lindsay walk out of the room, Helen stays behind.)
Judge: As I’ve said, I can’t tell you how to prosecute your case, but it seems manslaughter is a good result here.
Helen: I don’t agree.
Judge: A jury could let him go free.
Helen: I’m aware of that possibility your honor. (Helen leaves the room)
Back in the office, someone opens the door and a woman walks in.
Lucy: (holding a cup) May I help you?
I’m Mary Donovon. I’m looking for Bobby Donnell, Eugene Young or Eleanor Frutt.
Eleanor: I’m Eleanor Frutt
Donovon: Oh, hello. It’s very nice to meet you. You come highly recommended. I have $500, I would like to buy a day of your time.
Lucy: $500 will get you to lunch.
Eleanor: Is there something specific….
Donovon: My son, he’s in jail for a crime he didn’t commit.
Eleanor: Well…
Donovon: Yes, every mother thinks her son is innocent. The distinction here mine is. If I could just have one day. If it’s more than $500 I can pay overtime
Eleanor: Can you tell me the crime your son has been convicted of?
Donovon: Murder. He’s on death row in Pennsylvania. The governor just signed his warrant. He’s to be executed in five weeks, so time is of the essence. I’m told of your work on the Randall Jefferson case, what you accomplished in just 24 hours.
Eleanor: Mrs. Donovon, we were unable to save Randall Jefferson.
Donovon: Please, I’m only asking for one day.
Back in the courtroom. Helen is interviewing a witness.
Helen: What do you do as a hospice worker?
Witness: It’s much like that of nurse, though I work primarily with dying
patients. Usually at their own homes.
Helen: You worked for Scott Simpson, the defendant.
Witness: Yes, I looked after his wife. She was suffering from ovarian cancer.
Helen: Mrs. Raymonds, calling your attention to the evening of Dec. 5 of last year, do you recall what happened.
Witness: She was in a lot of pain.
Helen: Mrs. Simpson?
Witness: Yes, we were giving her increased dosages of morphine, but she was still in agony. She was begging that we let her die. Finally, Mr. Simpson he um he asked that I leave the room, which I did.
Helen: Then what happened?
Witness: After about two minutes or so I heard a gun shot Mr. Simpson then opened the door and he said his wife was gone.
Bobby: You spoke of morphine. Actually on the day in question you were using morphine in conjunction with a benzyl diasapine, isn’t that right?
Witness: Yes.
Bobby: This drug is the equivalent of valium. Witness: It’s very close yes.
Bobby: The purpose of the morphine valium cocktail is to hasten the patient’s death. Isn’t that right, Mrs. Raymond?
Witness: It’s primarily to relieve pain.
Bobby: Mrs. Raymonds, I remind you, you are under oath. The morphine valium combination that is used to cause the patient’s death. True?
Witness: Yes.
Bobby: So on the day in question you were already acting to hasten Mrs. Simpson’s death , weren’t you?
Witness: In conjunction with the family’s wishes, I was employing a method of pain management that would most likely result in the patient’s death, yes.
Bobby: And no one charged you with attempted murder I assume ?
Helen: Objection.
Judge: Sustained.
Bobby: When Mr. Simpson ended his wife’s life he did something in seconds that you were basically trying to do in a day or so?
Witness: I can’t disagree with that.
Bobby: Thank you.
Back in the office, Eleanor and Mrs. Donovan are sitting in the conference room.
Donovon: He was only 19 at the time. He’s convicted of raping and killing his girlfriend, Alyssa Kearns, then killing her mother. This is them. (Showing Eleanor a picture of two women)
Eleanor: And this happened when?
Donovon: In 1988, he’s been in prison 12 years. The evidence was one eyewitness who placed him at the scene, plus a lying jail house informant who made up a story about Stuart confessing. He never did.
Eleanor: And what is your son’s story?
Donovon: That he was out hunting. And it’s not a story. He was with my husband, who the police just thought was trying to cover for him. My husband has since passed away.
Eleanor: Any DNA?
Donovon: Stuart’s blood type matched whoever did it. That’s a problem. They didn’t do full DNA analysis back then.
Eleanor: Never?
Donovan: In 1992 we finally had it done, unfortunately the tests proved inconclusive. We went to try again in 95, but by then the rape kit had either been lost or destroyed.
Eleanor: What is his appellate lawyer telling you?
Donovon: That he’s done all he can do. He’s giving up. (Eleanor looks surprised and confused)
Helen and Eleanor in their apartment, getting ready to sit down to dinner.
Helen: You took it? Eleanor: I agreed to meet with her son and the DA if I can.
Helen: In Pennsylvania.
Eleanor: It’s a hour and a half flight. I’m there and back in a day. And you know, who knows, if he really is innocent….
Helen: God bless you Eleanor. If I had your heart.
Eleanor: You’d have a heart.
Helen: Oh, funny
Eleanor: Ok, look Can I ask you something and I’m not trying to pick a fight here , I promise. Why not plead out on manslaughter. Grieving husband and I don’t believe you really believe this guy is a danger to society. He does time….
Helen: He shot her in the head.
Eleanor: Is it the method then - the fact that he used a gun?
Helen: Partly, yes.
Eleanor: So if he used a needle and injected her with something to put her to sleep then you would agree to manslaughter.
Helen: No, seems even less like manslaughter. You put dogs to sleep not people.
Eleanor: Ok, so agreed it’s a crime. But my question goes to why murder two, why not manslaughter?
Helen: Let me ask you a question. You are against the death penalty you say it’s barbaric. It’s okay to put sick people to death but not convicted murderers?
Eleanor: No, those are two very different things
Helen: No they are not. Lethal injections in both cases.
Eleanor: Look, there is a very big difference between executing a healthy person and allowing a terminal one in pain to die.
Helen: Mrs. Simpson wasn’t allowed to die she had a bullet pumped into her head.
Eleanor: She wanted to die.
Helen: Oh, is that the test, whether she wants to die. Cause a lot of inmates on death row they want to die. You support killing them? (raising her voice)
Eleanor: I’m talking about a dying woman (shaking her fork at Helen)in extreme -
Helen: Please don’t shake your fork at me. What about the guy with a brain tumor whose got four to six months to live? He’s not suffering, but he doesn’t want it to ever get to that point so he’d rather die now. Is it okay to kill him if he wants?
Eleanor: Well I think we need to reevaluate…..
Helen: How about the ones with six months to live?
Eleanor: I’m not saying it’s okay to kill anybody I’m only say….
Helen: Okay, well fine. You make a list of who it’s okay to kill and who its not, all right??
Eleanor: Oh, Helen, Stop it. This woman was in extreme agony her husband was trying to spare her some suffering and you go after him like he’s some monster.
Helen: I’m suppose to listen to you on who’s a sympathetic defendant and who's not? Forgive me if I don’t trust your damn judgement and thank you for allowing me to enjoy my supper.
(Helen gets up from the table and goes to her room. You hear the door slam): Eleanor: I was just making conversation. (she picks up her wine glass and downs the entire thing)
COMMERCIAL
Back in the courtroom. First you see the jurors and then the camera focuses on Mr. Simpson, who is testifying.
Mr. Simpson: Last week she had been in unbearable pain. She was tough, Sally, she had endured a year of massive chemotherapy treatments.
Bobby: Lets talk about the very last day.
Mr. Simpson: She just couldn’t take it anymore. We then started the morphine with the valium, Mrs. Raymonds said she would probably go into a coma and die in a day or two. The pain wouldn’t go away. (shows shots of Mr. Simpson’s two children, sitting in the court room) Bobby: What did you do?
Mr. Simpson: I asked Mrs. Raymonds to increase the morphine. She said she didn’t want to throw her into seizures because that would be more pain. So I asked her to leave the room.
Bobby: Then what happened
Mr. Simpson: I went to my closet, retrieved my revolver from the safe and…I ended it.
Bobby: She would have likely been dead in a day, why?
Mr. Simpson: I wasn’t going to let her suffer for another second. For two years, they cut out half her insides filled her with chemicals. And the pain. (started crying and pounding his fist on the stand). Not another minute, not another second, not another second….
Next scene is a plane arriving in Pennsylvania and then Eleanor and Mrs. Donovan are shown entering a jail. Next scene, Eleanor and Mrs. Donovon are speaking to Stuart:
Mrs. Donovon: Baby.
Stuart: Hey Mom.
Mrs. Donovon: This is Eleanor Frutt. My son, Stuart.
Eleanor: Hello.
Stuart: She says you can do something. Can you really?
Eleanor: I don’t know Stuart. I have a few meetings set up and then maybe I will have a better idea.
Stuart: How about this Bobby Donnell guy, is he coming too?
Eleanor: He’s in trial now, so he couldn’t make it
Mrs. Donovon: She’s very good Stuart. I checked her out plenty.
Eleanor: Um actually I have a meeting with the District Attorney in a little over an hour, so I read your statements but I’d like to hear in person your account of things.
Stuart: Okay, it’s pretty simple. I was there that day because I needed to see her.
Eleanor: Why?
Stuart: We argued earlier that week. She wasn’t returning my calls. She said we needed to take a break so I left. That night I went hunting with my dad, the next day the police showed up.
Eleanor: Did you make love to Alyssa that afternoon?
Stuart: No.
Eleanor: And did you see her mother?
Stuart: No, not that day. (long silence) Do we have a chance? (Eleanor looks unsure)
Back in the courtroom in Boston, Bobby is questioning Mrs. Simpson’s oncologist.
Bobby: When a patient reaches stage four of ovarian cancer it’s pretty bleak.
Doctor: The odds of survival are tougher, yes
Bobby: But you were generally encouraging to Mrs. Simpson, weren’t you doctor?
Doctor: I don’t know if I was optimistic
Bobby: But you certainly held out the hope that the chemo treatments, her pushing fluids plus the two surgeries to debalk the cancer, it could maybe save her.
Doctor: That was the best chance
Bobby: But there never was any real chance of saving Mrs. Simpson’s life, was there Dr. Sheehans?
Helen: Objection, Mrs. Simpson’s oncologist has nothing to do with what transpired.
Bobby: It is my contention that this doctor contributed to Mrs. Simpson’s suffering. That goes to my client’s state of mind.