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| "Committed" - Transcript Done by Lucy |
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Written by: Todd Ellis Kessler & David E. Kelley
Directed by: Arvin Brown
-------------------- Disclaimer --------------------
I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I 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 transcript was written by Lucy
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Extra Characters:
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Committed
Donnell, Young, Dole & Frutt
(Bobby comes out of his office holding a file, there’s laughing in the
background)
Bobby: Okay Lucy, break out the straws.
(You can hear Rebecca, Eugene, Lindsay, Jimmy & Ellenor make protesting
noises)
Bobby: I don’t like it either.
Ellenor: What’s the case?
Bobby: Some Dunsmere patient. Petitioning for release.
Ellenor: Rebecca! Good experience.
Rebecca: I have moved beyond experience thank you very much!
Jimmy: And I gotta recuse myself, some of my relations are mental.
Eugene: Oh forget it.
Ellenor (at same time as Eugene): We already knew that!
Bobby: Lucy!
Lucy: (holding the straws) Alright guys pick ‘em
(They pick a straw one by one)
(A phone rings)
Lindsay: Oh, damn it!
Ellenor: Oh look, mine’s long!
Lindsay: Why do I always get the wacko’s?
Ellenor: You don’t get them. I get them
Lindsay: No, you date them!
Ellenor: Oh, that’s amusing.
Lucy: Eugene, it’s your ex-wife.
(Eugene picks up the phone)
Eugene: Hello?
(Cut to street, there is a lot of police activity. Ellenor & Eugene arrive
by car)
Inside Eugene’s (ex) house
Mike: Eugene!
Eugene: Are they questioning her?
Mike: Take it easy.
Eugene: Are they asking her questions?
Sharon walks out of a room towards Eugene.
Sharon: Eugene … Eugene
(Eugene & Sharon hug)
Eugene: Where’s Kendall?
Sharon: He’s in his bedroom, he’s okay.
Eugene: Ellenor?
Ellenor: I’m going.
Sharon: I came out of the shower…. I just… I just came out of the shower.
(Sharon & Eugene hug again)
Eugene: I’m gonna go check on Kendall. Can you wait right here?
Sharon: Yeah, come back okay?
Eugene: I will, you wait right here.
Cut to Kendall’s room
Eugene: Little man!
Kendall: Dad!
(Kendall & Eugene hug)
Eugene: You okay?
Kendall: I’m okay. Is mom okay?
Eugene: She’s fine
Eugene: (to Mike who’s standing in the door opening) Show me.
Mike: You don’t need to.
Eugene: I said, show me.
(Mike leads Eugene & Ellenor downstairs to the crime scene which happens
to be Sharon’s bedroom. In the bedroom cops are taking pictures of the guy
lying on the bed)
Mike: Murder weapon appears to be a baseball bat. Your ex-wife said she
got out to take a shower. When she came out of the bathroom, this is what
she found.
(Close up of man on bed, he has a huge wound on forehead)
Credits
Eugene is talking with Sharon & Kendall in the kitchen
Eugene: I’m gonna take care of everything. We’re gonna stick with each
other and we’re gonna get through it.
(Ellenor walks into the kitchen)
Ellenor: Eugene?
(Eugene gets up and walks out of the kitchen with Ellenor)
Ellenor: The police wanna take them down, get some statements. I don’t
think it’s smart
Eugene: Why?
Ellenor: Mike’s giving me short answers, I think they’re both suspects.
Eugene: What?
Ellenor: They’re not finding any signs of forced entry. The bat, I guess
belongs to Kendall.
Eugene: You gotta be kidding!
Ellenor: I don’t think we should let them talk.
Eugene: In which case they’ll definitely be suspects. If they cooperate
then that will be that.
Ellenor: I don’t think we should let them talk
Cut to Donnell, Young, Dole & Frutt
Bobby: (on phone with Ellenor) Are they taking them into custody? Ellenor,
don’t let them say anything until you interviewed them first. Do you want
me to come down there? Okay. Call me. I’ll wait here.
Jimmy: The guy was dead?
Bobby: Sharon’s boyfriend, Ellenor’s gonna stay with them. I may need you
to go down to the police station.
(Lindsay who is standing next to Bobby, opens the file she was holding)
Lindsay: Oh my God!
Lucy: What?
Lindsay: My mental patient, he killed five people
Bobby: Excuse me?
Lindsay: Twenty years ago. He’s been at Dunsmere ever since, Walter Arens.
Great, just what I needed
Jimmy: What did you say? Walter Arens?
Lindsay: You know him?
Jimmy: Do I know him? Lindsay, that’s the Hummer
Rebecca: The hummer?
Jimmy: (to Bobby) Don’t you remember? We were probably in junior high. He
didn’t just kill people. He tortured five girls and supposedly he would
hum while he did it.
Bobby: I remember that guy!
Lindsay: The hummer?
Jimmy: You can’t be springing’ him
Cut to the police station where Eugene walks into an interrogation room.
Sharon’s sitting behind a table.
Sharon: Where’s Kendall?
Eugene: They wanna keep you two in different rooms. Ellenor’s with him
Sharon: Why? Why would they want us separated?
Eugene: Sharon, tell me exactly what happened.
Sharon: I went into the shower. I came out and he was… like you saw him.
Eugene: This man spent the night in your bed?
Sharon: Yes.
Eugene: What’s his name?
Sharon: Scott Turnbull.
Eugene: He was a boyfriend?.
Sharon: Somebody I was dating.
Eugene: Somebody you were dating.
Sharon: Eugene, don’t go there.
Eugene: You had a son and this is …
Sharon: (interrupting) I said don’t!
Eugene: Well the police are gonna be going there Sharon, you’re a suspect
Sharon: I’m a suspect?
Eugene: You didn’t hear anybody come into your bedroom?
Sharon: No (pause) no.
Eugene: Okay let me see if I can find out what’s going on.
Eugene gets up, ready to leave the room
Sharon: Eugene? We overslept. I planned on having him gone before you
dropped Kendall off.
(Eugene looks at Sharon for a second before actually leaving the room)
In a different room Ellenor is talking with Kendall
Kendall: … all of a sudden I heard my mother screaming and I ran into her
room and then I saw it.
Ellenor: What about before she was screaming?
Kendall: I didn’t hear much.
Eugene: When I dropped you off, what did you do then?
Kendall: I went into my room, put on a cd and started getting ready for
school.
Eugene: You didn’t check on your mother?
Kendall: No.
Eugene: Call out to tell her you were home?
Kendall: I figured she might still be asleep.
Eugene: You know she was in there with a man?
Kendall: I figured she might be.
Eugene: How did you figure that?
Kendall: I know some guy comes over when I’m not there. Weekends when I’m
with you. I come home mondays, I see stuff in the refrigerator, that I
know she doesn’t even eat. (pause) She’s cheap.
(Eugene jumps up angrily and grabs Kendall at his collar. Ellenor jumps up
as well)
Ellenor: EUGENE!
Eugene: (yelling while still holding Kendall) Don’t you ever talk about
your mother like that!
(Knock on door, Mike opens the door)
Mike: How we’re doing? Ready?
Ellenor: No. We’re not giving you any statement
(Mike leaves the room again)
Dunsmere, psychiatric hospital
(Lindsay walks through a long hollow sounding hall until she reaches a
guard)
Guard #1: Bag on the belt. All jewelry and metal objects in the bin. Then
through there
(Guard #1 points to a metal detector)
(Lindsay does as being told, walks through a detector and picks up her
bag. Then she walks through a caged door where she is stopped by another
guard)
Guard #2: Just a minute ma’am
(Guard holds a metal detector all over her, screens between her legs)
Lindsay (muttering): Oh give me a break
(When guard #2 is done, another caged door is opened)
Guard #2: Welcome to Dunsmere. Please don’t feed the animals
(Lindsay walks through door)
Dr. Hernandez (from behind Lindsay): Don’t mind him. They all like to flex
their muscles, it’s a prison thing.
Lindsay: But this is a psychiatric hospital
Dr. Hernandez: Oh right! I forgot (she chuckles)
(She extends her hand to Lindsay)
Dr. Hernandez: Maria Hernandez, supervising psychiatrist
Lindsay: Lindsay Dole
(Doctor shows the way)
Dr. Hernandez: (while walking) I certainly give you credit for taking this
one
Lindsay: Court ordered assignment
Dr. Hernandez: Well, I’m gonna give you credit anyway
Lindsay: I was going over Mr. Arens’ file. Is he still on the
anti-psychotic medication?
Dr. Hernandez: Clozapine
(Lindsay watches a nurse shoving a tray of food through a mailbox like
hole in a door)
Lindsay: No recent history of violence?
Dr. Hernandez: Not in the ten years I’ve been here. He’s been very
cooperative. He’s actually a model patient. And sweet
Lindsay: So you support his release to a group home in the community
Dr. Hernandez: I will and have, the last three petitions. But it’s
probably an exercising futility Ms. Dole
Lindsay: Twenty years. If this were a real prison he’d be out for parole
by now
Dr. Hernandez: Yes, but let’s not forget who he is
Lindsay: The hummer
(They reach a locked door which a guard opens)
Dr. Hernandez (while holding the door’s handle): Ready?
Lindsay: (takes deep breath) Let’s go
(Dr. Hernandez opens the door and Lindsay finds herself in a space that
seems a lot like cages. Mental people are being treated by nurses/ guards
in several cages. The doctor leads her to another locked room)
Dr. Hernandez: (To Walter who’s waiting in the room) Walter? This is
Lindsay Dole, your court appointed attorney. She’ll be handling your
petition
Walter (to Lindsay): Hello
Lindsay: Hi
Walter: Thank you for taking my case
Lindsay: Sure. I just need to ask you a few questions
Walter: Certainly. (pause) Ah.. I understand that you’ve been stabbed
yourself. Is that gonna be a problem?
(Lindsay looks at him for a moment, doesn’t answer)
Dr. Hernandez (to Lindsay): Would you like me to stay?
(Lindsay still doesn’t say a word. She then takes a file out of her bag
while Walter stares at her)
Helen’s office
(Richard, Helen & Mike are talking)
Richard: Three sets of prints on the murderweapon. The mother’s, the son’s
and the father’s
Helen: Eugene’s
Richard: Baseball bat. It was kept in the front hall closet. I’m sure they
all had opportunity to pick it up
Helen: What else?
Richard: Physical evidence, none. No sign of entry, forced or otherwise.
(To Mike) Am I right?
Mike: Coroner cited (can’t understand what he said) time of death between
six and nine. That’s consistent with the woman’s statement
Richard: I see the boy has a drug history: he comes home, finds his mom in
bed with a man, not his father. Wouldn’t give a statement
Mike: On the advice of counsel
Richard: My money, he’s the killer
Helen: Look, I know these people they’re my friends
Richard: Which makes you biased
Helen: Don’t be your little Napoleonic self on this one. (To Mike) I’m
calling in a favor, put your best team on it.
Mike: I already have
Helen: I don’t wanna be leaving things to his conclusions
Richard: That’s nice. From a co-worker
Dunsmere
Visiting room
Lindsay: This proceding as I’m sure you know will be in front of a jury.
This is good
Walter: (smiles a bit) Since no judge wants to be the one accused of
letting the hummer back out in public. (pause) I never really hummed you
know, that was just silly folklore
Lindsay: I’ll be calling dr. Hernandez first and then I’ll be calling you
Walter: Okay
Lindsay: This is an open proceeding, we can expect some family members of
the victims to show up, though they’re not allowed to testify. The only
issue that we really need to…
Dr. Hernandez: (interrupting) He knows Lindsay, this is our third petition
Walter (suddenly leans forward): What I don’t….
(Lindsay flinches, Walter looks shocked and uncomfortable)
Lindsay: (bit ashamed) I’m sorry…I’m… I guess…. I’m a little jumpy
Walter: I understand Ms. Dole. (pause) I’m really not the person who did
those horrible things.
(Lindsay recovers herself)
Lindsay: Okay, tell me. What do you think of that person?
Walter: I’m glad he doesn’t exist anymore
Dole, Young, Dole & Frutt
Eugene’s office
Helen: Mr. Turnbull was going through an ugly separation with a business
partner so they’re checking
Sharon: Michael Kasner. He claims Scott stole from him. He did threaten
him once, he came to his house
Helen: Have you ever seen him near your house?
Sharon: (sighs) No
Helen: Well, the police are running him down. But I have to tell you,
right now the investigation is focusing on Kendall
Sharon: What?
Helen: And his not making a statement, it only fuels the suspicion
Bobby’s office
Bobby: Absolutely not! I agree with Ellenor
Eugene: If we can put this to rest…
Ellenor: Eugene!
Eugene: The fact that he’s not talking, is only making him a suspect
Ellenor (agitated): He was there! Prints on the bat. That’s what’s making
him a suspect
Eugene (while Ellenor is talking): By not cooperating we’re only fueling
that suspicion
Ellenor: Have you even talked to him, Eugene?
Eugene: What?
Ellenor: Have you really talked to Kendall?
Eugene: What the hell do you mean by that?
Bobby: You know what she means. Have you really talked to him?
Eugene: I don’t need to talk to my son
Bobby: You sure as hell do! Certainly before we can ever.. ever let him
give a statement to the police
Ellenor: Look, Helen tells me that they’re checking into somebody who had
some bad history with the victim. But Eugene, come on! The chances of
somebody else going into your house, committing murder with a baseball bat
and neither Sharon or Kendall hearing anything?
Eugene: I’m not gonna listen to this
Bobby: You may not want to hear this Eugene, but you need to hear it. Talk
to Kendall and then we’ll make some decisions
(Eugene walks out of Bobby’s office, slamming the door on his way out)
Bobby: Do you want me to jump in on this?
Ellenor: No, I’ll handle it. I think too many lawyers will just make it
worse
Bobby: What do you think Ellie?
Ellenor: I don’t know
Conference room
Rebecca: So you basically have a jury trial to determine whether he’s sane
Lindsay: Pretty much
Rebecca: Is he sane?
Lindsay: The medical opinion is yes. Since he’s been on the medication…
Rebecca: (interrupting) Well, what’s he like?
Lindsay: He actually (Thinks) He seems kinda gentle
(Knock on door, Lucy enters)
Lucy: Hey Lindsay, a Mr. and Mrs. Rapson are here to see you
Lindsay: Who are they?
(Lindsay looks out to see what the people look like)
Lucy: They wouldn’t tell what it’s in regard to. They just said it was
important
(Lindsay goes out to meet them)
Lindsay: I’m Lindsay Dole, can I help you?
Mr. Rapson: My name is George Rapson, this is my wife Ellen. We understand
you’re representing Walter Arens at the hearing tomorrow. My daughter was
murdered by your client. (Lindsay looks a bit startled) It’s been 20 years
ago…
Lindsay: (interrupting): I’m sorry we really shouldn’t be having this
conversation
Mr. Rapson: We’re not allowed to speak at the hearing but I thought …
Lindsay: Mr. Rapson, this conversation is inappropiate. I’m sorry, I’m
afraid I have to ask you to leave
Mrs. Rapson: How can you fight to put that monster back out on the street?
Bobby: Mrs. Rapson, we’re all very sorry for your loss, but like Ms. Dole
said this … this is an inappropriate discussion
(Mrs. Rapson gasps)
Mr. Rapson: Come on Ellen, we wouldn’t want to be inappropiate
(Mr. & Mrs. Rapson leave the office)
Jimmy: You ask me, I don’t blame them
Lindsay: I didn’t ask
Jimmy: So what the guy is on medication? That just makes him a murderer on
drugs. Invent a pill that brings those teenagers back, then we can talk
about getting him out
Lindsay: Hey Jimmy, how is it last week you developed a crush on a client
after she emptied her gun into somebody…
(Jimmy & Lindsay start yelling at each other)
Jimmy: …. circumstances
Lindsay: And there are here! He was mentally ill …
Bobby (interrupting): Alright!!
Rebecca (at same time as Bobby): That’s enough!
Bobby: Lindsay are you sure you are okay to do this one?
Lindsay (walking off to conference room): Why wouldn’t I be?
Eugene’s office
Sharon: You want to ask our son if he committed murder?
Eugene: I have to find out what his answers will be to certain questions
before I let him speak to the police
(uncomfortable silence)
Eugene: What was he doing in your bed?
Sharon: I said don’t
Eugene: School day Sharon, school day
Sharon: I told you I overslept
Eugene: Oh, I’m sure you were up half the night, you were tired
Sharon: (yelling) Eugene!
Eugene: (yelling) What do you think it’s like for him to come home and
discover his momma…
Sharon: (yelling) Don’t you start judging me!
Eugene (yelling): He’s judging you! He’s calling you cheap! That’s what he
said Sharon. He was angry about that…. Man being there. I pray to God that
he didn’t (Eugene’s unable to finish the sentence)
(Sharon starts crying)
Eugene’s house
Kitchen
(Eugene, Sharon & Kendall are sitting at the kitchen table)
Kendall: Are you serious?
Eugene: Kendall, we’re your parents. The main thing here is that we have
to be totally honest with each other
Kendall: You think I did it?
Sharon: No, we don’t!
Kendall: Then why are you even asking me. Man, I don’t believe this (he
gets up)
Eugene: Kendall, sit!
(Kendall sits down again)
Eugene: The police are focusing on you and I’m gonna help you. I promise
you that. But for me …. You have to come clean with me, you understand?
Sharon: Kendall, your father asked you a question. Do you understand?
Kendall: I understand. (pause) I understand my parents are sitting here,
asking me if I’m a murderer! The answer to your question is no.
(Slow motion images of Lindsay sitting at the office. She gets ready to
leave, she turns off her desk light and walks to the door. In the doorway
is a faceless nun with a knife who starts slashing)
(Lindsay wakes up screaming in her bed)
Bobby (startled): What? Lindsay what?
Lindsay: I had a bad dream
Bobby: What is it?
Lindsay: A nun with a knife
Bobby: Lindsay, I really think you should get off this case
Lindsay: It doesn’t affect …
Bobby: You’re representing a guy who stabbed girls
Lindsay: I can do the case
Bobby: I can take over … Rebecca …
Lindsay: (more determined) I can do it
Bobby: No, you’re determined to do it. What are you trying to prove?
You’re the one who accused me of pretending you didn’t get stabbed
Lindsay (annoyed): Bobby, I can do the damn case alright
(Lindsay lies down again, Bobby sighs)
Courthouse hallway
(Lindsay & Helen are walking)
Helen: I’m not sure you can
Lindsay: Why? I suddenly can’t be a lawyer anymore?
Helen: Nobody’s saying …
Lindsay: Yes, that’s what being said
(They stop walking)
Helen: Listen, why did you take this one?
Lindsay: I was assigned it
Helen: I think under the circumstances, you could’ve declined it
Lindsay: I’m not gonna let those circumstances control the rest of my life
Helen: How about just a year?
(Lindsay sighs, then walks off. Leaving Helen alone)
Donnell, Young, Dole & Frutt
(Ellenor & Eugene sitting on a couch in Bobby’s office)
Ellenor: I talked to Bay this morning, I tried to get him to submit
written questions to us. He wouldn’t go for it. I didn’t expect he would,
so Kendall basically has to feel …
Eugene: I want to be in the room
Ellenor: Well, that’s a given Eugene. We’ll both be in the room. If we
don’t like the way it’s going, we’ll cut it off right there. (pause) There
is one possible piece of good news. They found a blonde hair. A single
strand in the bedroom and this Michael Kasner, the guy who had the run-in
with the victim, he’s got blonde hair.
Eugene: So does Sharon’s housekeeper
Ellenor: Yeah, but Sharon said she hadn’t been there since monday
Eugene: The hair was on the bed?
Ellenor: Floor
Eugene: So? It could’ve come off Sharon’s clothes unless someone she
brushed off with at work…
Ellenor: Maybe Eugene, but it’s something. You know maybe we can prove
that somebody came into that room.
Courtroom
(The Walter Arens hearing, Dr Hernandez is on the stand)
Dr. Hernandez: Mr. Arens had suffered from chronic paranoid schizophrenia.
In his case it was characterised by auditory hallucinations if you will
Lindsay: Auditory hallucinations?
Dr. Hernandez: Basically, he heard voices
Lindsay: And these voices, they were connected to his crimes?
Dr. Hernandez: Yes. He felt he was instructed to commit the killings
Lindsay: Does he still hear these voices today?
Dr. Hernandez: No. Since going on Clozapine eleven years ago, he’s had no
symptoms of psychosis.
Lindsay: The paranoid disorder?
Dr. Hernandez: Is under control
Lindsay: He is now mentally healthy in your medical opinion
Dr. Hernandez: Well, I would certainly recommend ongoing therapy. Twenty
years of institutional life can release some emotional and psychological
scars. But I would most certainly recommend his release from Dunsmere and
I have been recommending this for three years.
(The D.A. is questioning Dr. Hernandez now)
D.A.: This man tortured and murdered five teenage girls
Dr. Hernandez: While suffering from a mental disorder he no longer suffers
from
D.A.: That isn’t really true doctor is it? If he were to go off these
pills he could once again fall victim to the paranoid schizophrenia, isn’t
that true?
Dr. Hernandez: It’s possible
D.A.: He could become psychotic all over again
Dr. Hernandez: Also possible
D.A.: Possible? Well if Mr. Arens were to tell you he was going to stop
taking his medication would you recommend his release ?
Dr. Hernandez: No
D.A.: So we would have to trust him to take his pills, wouldn’t we?
Dr. Hernandez: Yes
D.A.: And you can’t guarantee us that he wouldn’t forget
Dr. Hernandez: I don’t think…
D.A.: (interrupting her) You can’t guarantee that he won’t forget to take
his pills, can you doctor?
Dr. Hernandez: In my opinion, if he has not …
D.A.: (interrupting her again) Can you guarantee this court that he will
not forget to take his pills?
Dr. Hernandez: Of course not
D.A.: And you can’t guarantee us that he might not simply choose one day
to stop taking his medication
Dr. Hernandez: No
D.A.: And since the failure to take this medication can cause the
psychosis to return, you cannot sit in that chair and guarantee us he will
not kill again, can you doctor?
Dr. Hernandez: I can not guarantee you won’t kill anybody either
D.A.: Except I’m not psychotic. (Points at Walter Arens) He is.
Interrogation room
(Richard is interrogating Kendall. Helen is present as are Ellenor &
Eugene)
Richard: Now, you said a minute ago you suspected she was in her room with
a man?
Kendall: Yeah, I heard talking. That’s kinda why I went upstairs to put
music on. I didn’t wanna hear anything
Richard: And when you heard your mother screaming?
Kendall: I went downstairs, I came to her room and there was a dead guy on
her bed
Richard: Did you see anybody else in the house?
Kendall: No, I already told you! There was nobody else around at all
Richard: Okay. (pause) Now, when your father dropped you off, you said he
stayed in the car?
Kendall: Yeah
Richard: Did you actually see him drive off?
Kendall: I don’t know. He usually waits for me
Richard: But after you got inside the door, he would’ve then left
Kendall: Yeah
(Richard thinks for a moment)
Richard: How did it make you feel Kendall, knowing that your mother was in
her room with another man?
Kendall: I didn’t like it
Richard: Did it make you angry?
Eugene: (interrupting): Alright, I don’t think …
Richard: Excuse me?
Eugene: We’re here to collect information
Richard: We’re here so I can ask him some questions
Ellenor: Okay look, I think we need to set some ground rules
Richard: What ground rules? This is a homicide, we don’t set groundrules
for interviews with suspects
Helen: Richard
Eugene: This is over!
(Eugene gets up)
(Eugene & Richard start yelling at each other)
Helen: (through all the shouting, yells) …. lawyers in a room for a second
Eugene: If I’m in a room with him, he might get hurt!
Helen: Quiet! We’re all gonna take a minute, then the lawyers will meet
Eugene: I’m not meeting anyone
Helen: Eugene, we don’t owe you this. Let’s just do it!
Courtroom
(Walter Arens on the stand)
Lindsay: Mr. Arens, you’ve been listening to the doctors discuss your
current condition. What do you think, are you mentally ill?
Walter: Yes, I am
Lindsay: Do you suffer from the same disease today you did in 1979?
Walter: Yes, but I’m not sick anymore. I used to have hallucinations. I
was afraid that people who tried to help me, were… be nice to me, were
actually out to hurt me. Women mostly and that I had to hurt them first
Lindsay: Is that what happened to those girls?
Walter: Yes. There was so much noise in my head then, I couldn’t think
clearly. (pause) But I can now. I know that what I did was horrible and
unforgivable, I know that and I don’t ever wanna be ill like that again.
Lindsay: But why should this jury have any sympathy for you at all?
Walter: They shouldn’t. I don’t deserve sympathy. I’m not the victim.
Those people (points at Mr. & Mrs. Rapson in the audience), they’re the
victims
Lindsay: Mr. Arens tell us about this condition from your perspective
Walter: Well, as the doctors explained, there’s a part of my brain called
the emigdula (?), that was over stimulated with brain chemicals, making me
hear and see things that didn’t exist
D.A.: Objection! Foundation, he’s giving a medical opinion
Judge: Sustained
Lindsay: Just tell us what you felt Mr. Arens, in your words
Walter: (sighs) I would get these impulses, these overriding urges to hurt
people. I can’t explain it any better then that, I wish I could. All I can
say is, I couldn’t control them but with the medication I can. And I have.
Helen’s office
Eugene: You say you want to cooperate then you ask him questions designed
to elicit an incriminating response
Richard: That was not what I was doing
Eugene: Oh don’t give me that!
Ellenor: Hey, look we don’t have to continue this
Richard: In which case …
(Helen: Richard!)
Ellenor: In which case nothing. Go ahead and arrest him, that will only
guarantee his silence
Eugene: Look, here’s the problem here. You need to make an arrest, you
need to get a conviction, going after Kendall is the easiest way to
accomplish that. So that’s how he becomes the focus
Richard: Is that right?
Eugene: Damn right! Pick the easy target. It was his bat, he was there
Richard: (angry) How dare you
Eugene: I know you
Richard: If I were picking easy targets Eugene, I would’ve gone after you!
Eugene: What?
Ellenor: Come on!
Richard: Your prints were on that bat. You were there too. Come on,
jealous husband, ex-wife in bed with another man. Hey, let’s not forget
about that temper, you’ve beaten up your own clients, you just threatened
to hurt me three minutes ago.
Helen: (yelling) Richard!
Richard: You talk about easy targets. I can try this thing in dead and put
the big black jealous husband on trial and I would probably get my
conviction. Don’t be accusing me of easy targets Eugene. You’d be it!
Opportunity, motive, black, prints on the weapon. I would get you (slams
hand on desk) I’d get you!
Eugene (stares calmly at Richard): Then come and get me, but leave my boy
out of it
(Helen stares at Eugene, who leaves. Ellenor follows him, giving Richard a
disgusted look)
Courtroom
D.A.: Mr. Arens, you once said to a fellow patient: I hope they never let
me out because I’ll probably kill again
Walter: That was before I started with the medication
D.A.: Before you murdered Laurie Rapson, you first cut off both her hands
…
Lindsay: (interrupting) Objection! My client plead insanity and was found
insane at the time …
D.A.: Move to strike that
Lindsay: I object …
(Lindsay & the D.A. start yelling protests at the same time)
Judge: Alright, quiet! Mr. Bullock, the purpose of this hearing is to
determine the defendant’s current mental state
D.A.: And actions speak to that your honor, even if they’re past act
Lindsay: You’re talking about twenty years ago
Judge: Ms. Dole, your objection is sustained. Mr. Bullock, do not revisit
the horrors of Mr. Arens’ crimes
D.A.: Mr. Arens, do these pills you take your medication, do they affect
your conscience?
Walter: My conscience?
D.A.: Yes, does this clozapine affect it?
Walter: I can’t say that it does. I don’t think it would
D.A.: And the psychosis that you had, was this a permanent thing or would
it hit you in stages?
Walter: The latter. Most of the time I was fine and then suddenly I would
get the paranoid impulses
D.A.: So in between these killings you would go back to your normal self.
The self that you resemble today, is that right?
Walter: I don’t know, I guess so
D.A.: Then why, during these periods of normalcy, after you had killed
somebody, cut off hands, committed torture. Why didn’t you turn yourself
in to the police before the next bout of paranoia hit you?
Lindsay: He’s asking medical questions!
D.A.: I am not!
Judge: I’ll allow it
D.A.: You said yourself that these pills probably don’t affect conscience.
We’re dealing with the same conscience now as we were then and then in
between these stages of psychosis you didn’t turn yourself in Mr. Arens,
knowing there might be another victim
(Walter is looking really uncomfortable in the stand)
Helen’s office
(Helen & Richard are arguing.)
Helen: It was racist!
Richard: It was not racist. I was just telling him …
Helen: You’re talking about going after him because he’s a big black man.
That’s not racist?
Richard: I was speaking statistically
Helen: (raising voice) Come on!
Richard: He accused me of going after the easy targets, I was telling him
statistically he would be the easiest target
Helen: (still with raised voice) Yes! Because he’s big and black!
Richard: Yes, but that makes me a pragmatic Helen. Not a racist
Helen: Well then you’re a dangerous, twisted pragmatist!
Richard: By the way, are you sure he didn’t do it? I mean did you even
take one half of one half of a second to ask yourself
Helen: (determined) No!
Richard: Why? Because he’s your friend or because you’re just afraid of
being called a racist
Helen: (glaring at Richard) If you weren’t so little, I’d beat the crap
out of you right now
Richard: Get out!
Helen: It’s my office!
(Richard glares at Helen, grabs his coat and walks towards the door. Just
as he’s about to open it, the door is being opened by Detective McGuire
causing the door to crash into Richard’s face)
Richard: (grabbing his nose) Ow! Son of a bitch!
Mike: (Looks at Richard) Sorry. (To Helen) We just got preliminary results
back from the lab. We’re ready to make an arrest
Courtroom
Lindsay: A few months ago, I was stabbed. I almost died and for a while
the person who did it was out there at large. And I can’t even begin to
tell you the (stops, then sighs) I can’t even begin to tell you. The man
who stabbed me, he’s dead now and I’m glad. Those people (points at Mr. &
Mrs. Rapson) perhaps they wish for my client’s death, it’s natural. But
today’s trial, it’s not about vengeance and it’s not about retributions
and it’s not about forgiveness either. Like every trial, it’s about the
rule of law. Walter Arens was found not guilty by reason of insanity and
accordingly institutionalized for the duration of his mental illness. The
un-contraverted medical opinion before you today is that the insanity is
over. Through medication Mr. Arens is well again and under the rule of law
that means he must be released. You don’t have to like that, you don’t
have to agree with the law. But you did assume an obligation when you were
sworn in as jurors that you would uphold it.
D.A.: He’s not cured. He is just not symptomatic as long as he takes his
pills. Just like an alcoholic isn’t drunk so long as he doesn’t drink. But
who’s to say, what if he falls of that wagon? What if he doesn’t take his
pills or what if after years and years of use he builds up an immunity to
the medication and it’s no longer effective? There are questions here and
in answering them, who do you give the benefit of the doubt to? Him, the
man who gutted five teenage girls? Oh yes, in the controlled environment
of Dunsmere he is behaved, gentle, civil. Does that guarantee us that when
we put him back out there with changed stimuli, with the pressures of
having to work for a living, does any of us really know what will happen?
Lindsay: Oh yes, let’s trade on fear. Let’s be safe. Let’s give the
benefit of the doubt to the people. That makes sense, doesn’t it? But
following that, we shouldn’t let epileptics drive cars should we? So what
medication can control seizures. Let’s play it safe, better safe then
sorry. While we’re at it, why don’t we round up all of the HIV positive
kids and get them out of the schools. Once we start going down the better
safe then sorry road. But that’s not the issue and you’re not congress men
deciding what should be the law. You’re jurors obligated to uphold it and
the law once again says: if he is now sane, he should be released.
D.A.: And I maintain, anybody who can torture, who murders. He’s not sane.
Whatever thing inside him that made him do those things, it’s still in
there however controlled by drugs. (Walter looks nervously) We are talking
about a depraved killer and when you go back into that room you had better
ask yourselves. How are you gonna feel if he kills again?
Donnell, Young, Dole & Frutt
(Ellenor excitedly walks in)
Ellenor: (to Eugene) Where’s Kendall?
Eugene: In my office with Sharon. What?
Ellenor: The blonde hair. DNA drew consistent match with the guy
Eugene: What guy?
Ellenor: Kasner! The one who’s been having beef with Turnbull, the victim?
He was in the bedroom Eugene. Kasner went into that bedroom!
Eugene: Wait a minute, if he was in the bedroom …
Ellenor: (interrupting): They also found splatterings of Turnbull’s blood
in Kasner’s car. The police just arrested him
(Bobby sighs with relief)
Rebecca: He went in while Sharon was in the shower?
Ellenor: That’s what they think. (Eugene walks off to his office) He went
into the front door, he saw the bat, grabbed it and went right into the
room
Eugene’s office
(Kendall is sitting, Sharon is pacing when Eugene walks in)
Eugene: It was Kasner! It was his hair in the bedroom! They found blood in
his car. The police just arrested him and … it’s over!
Sharon: Oh my God!
(Sharon & Kendall hug each other)
Kendall: (still in hug): I told you. I told you
Sharon: Yes you did. Yes you did
Eugene: It’s over
Kendall: I told you (keeps repeating it)
(Eugene, Sharon & Kendall hug)
Courthouse
Waiting room
(Walter is biting his nail, a door opens)
Dr. Hernandez: Already? They weren’t out five minutes
Lindsay: Three minutes and fifty five seconds
Dr. Hernandez: Can we even call that a deliberation?
Lindsay: Well … (To Walter): I’m sorry. Hey maybe they’ll surprise us
Walter: Yeah
(Walter walks past Lindsay out of the room)
Courtroom
Judge: Members of the jury, have you reached a verdict?
Foreperson: Yes, your honor
Judge: How say you?
Foreperson: In Ray Arens, we the jury find in favor of the petitioner
(Walter looks stunned. D.A. looks disappointed. Mrs. Rapson starts crying)
Lindsay: We won. You’ll be released
(Walter looks stunned and nervous at the same time)
Lindsay: You’re gonna be free
Outside of Eugene’s house
(Eugene knocks on door, Sharon opens it)
Eugene: (while walking in) How you’re doing?
Sharon: I’m okay
Eugene: Where’s Kendall?
Sharon: He’s upstairs. I think he’s okay
Eugene: I thought maybe you guys oughta get out of the house for a few
days. Stay with me or friends whatever
Sharon: I think we’re okay here
Eugene: Okay
Sharon: Thank you. We never would’ve gone through this without …
Eugene: Yeah (makes final gesture). Call me if you need anything okay
Sharon: I will. I will
(Eugene gets up gets ready to leave, then turns to face Sharon again)
Sharon: You okay?
Eugene: No. I had to look my son in the eye and ask him if (stops) Sharon
I couldn’t know he didn’t do it. I (pause) I’m just not as connected to
him as much as I used to be
Sharon: Eugene, we both had to ask. Not because we doubted him so much as
the circumstances. We both had to at least ask.
Eugene: I just wish I was here more for him
Sharon: I do too
(As Eugene starts to walk away, Sharon grabs his hand. They stare at each
other then Eugene gives Sharon a kiss)
Donnell, Young, Dole & Frutt
Jimmy: So he’s on the street. Free to hum again
Lindsay: He gets transferred to a non secured facility
Rebecca: Non secured, that means he’s free
Lindsay: Hey don’t attack me!
Rebecca: Why not? You put him out there
Lindsay: Are you serious?
Bobby: Rebecca!
Rebecca: If somebody brutally kills, they should go to prison. If they’re
nuts, they go to a mental hospital. Either way they should stay there
(phone rings)
Lindsay: You should be a D.A.
Rebecca: Don’t think I haven’t thought of that
Lucy: Why do I always get all the terrible phone calls? Lindsay
(Lindsay picks up phone at own desk)
Lindsay: Hello
Parking lot somewhere in Boston
(Police is there. A car arrives, Bobby & Lindsay get out)
Cop: He’s over there
Bobby: (to cop) What happened?
Cop: Held up a gas station attendant at knife point
(Lindsay walks over to Walter)
Lindsay: Walter?
Walter: I wanna go back
Lindsay: What do you mean you wanna go back?
Walter: The things the D.A. said, they just keep ringing in my head
Lindsay: You mean like voices?
Walter: No not voices Lindsay. The things he said. What if changed
circumstances do make a difference? What if I build up an immunity to
clozapine or what if God forbid, what if a pharmacist should screw up and
not give me the right medication or dosage? And what he said about my
conscience, why didn’t I turn myself in between my bouts of paranoia?
Lindsay: Slow down
Walter: They won’t take me back unless I do something. Now I have
Lindsay: (stunned Did you commit this crime so you’d be returned to
Dunsmere?
Walter: What if the chemicals change in my brain again Lindsay? I
shouldn’t be out here
Lindsay: Walter, one of the reasons I took this case, I wanted to prove to
myself that I was stronger than my fear. Now you have to prove it to
yourself
Walter: I murdered five people. Send me back!
(fade out of Walter & Lindsay staring at each other)
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