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| "Eat and Run" - Transcript Done by Ryan |
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Eat and Run
WRITTEN BY: David E. Kelley
DIRECTED BY
***********************************************
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 Ryan
***********************************************
In judges chambers. Eugene and Bobby are sitting on chairs, dressed
casually, waiting.
Bobby: (takes a deep breath) Why wouldn't she tell us what's it all about?
Eugene: I have no idea.
Bobby: (looks worried) Have we broken any rules lately?
Eugene: Not that I am aware of. I've never even appeared before
this judge.
Bobby: Neither have I.
The judge comes in and Bobby and Eugene get up.
Judge: Sorry to keep you waiting gentlemen. (she closes the door
and walks over to her desk). Thank you for coming. (She is now in
front of her desk and she looks Bobby and Eugene) I'll skip the
pleasantries and get right to it. Lawrence O'Malley. You heard of
him?
Bobby and Eugene look confused.
Bobby: We read the papers.
Judge: (she sits down) Excellent! Then you are half way up to
speed. You obviously know he thinks he is Hannibal Lecter.
Tomorrows papers will be covering his need for new council which is where you
come in. You are it!
Bobby: A beg you pardon?
Judge: His lawyer fell out. There will be no continuance for Mr.
O'Malley. The trial will start the day after tomorrow, which means I need
seasoned criminal defense attorneys who can jump in...
Bobby: (Interrupting) Hold on a second!
Judge: The files are being delivered to your office as we speak...
Bobby (argumentative): You can't just assign us...
Judge: (cutting of) What you need to know about the judge Mr. Donnell
is that she doesn't like to be interrupted. (Bobby sighs and leans back
into his chair) The trial starts Tuesday. You will be his lawyer.
In fact I am assigning your entire firm to it to ensure that bustard doesn't
have any inadequate council appeal.
Eugene: What about all our other cases. We have...
Judge: I'll give you a note. Sorry to do this boys, but your
reputation speaks for itself. I need good lawyers who can jump in on a
dime.
Eugene: What happened to his other lawyer?
Judge: There was a conflict. (she leans back into her chair)
Your client bid of his nose.
Bobby and Eugene exchange glances.
Opening credits.
***********************************
Note: I have a frequent habit of not starting my tapes until the show has
already started. I missed the whole conversation until the theme song and
commercial. The same was kindly provided by Melly.
***********************************
Scene: Office Conference Room. Everyone present.
Ellenor: The whole firm?
Rebecca: Who is this judge?
Bobby: Look, let's not waste time talking about the judge. It is what it is. We
have to get ready for the trial.
Lindsay: Starting Tuesday.
Bobby: Helen Gamble is the DA, so we at least don't need scouting reports on the
prosecution. Eugene and I will meet with the client tonight; Ellenor, I need you
and Beck to meet with the psychiatrist first thing in the morning.
Ellenor: So we're going insanity?
Bobby: Yes. Lindsay, I'd like you and Jimmy to meet with his former lawyer. He's
at Mass General in good condition.
Jimmy: The guy really thinks he's Hannibal Lector?
Bobby: That seems to be the question. The prosecution thinks he's faking.
Eugene, we should go.
Scene: Prison.
Guard: He's shackled, straightjacket and muzzled. You should be O.K.
Eugene: Has he been fed?
Guard: Is that a joke? We don't find your guy too funny, council. Do you want a
guard in there? Up to you.
[Bobby looks into the cell]
Bobby: No, we'll be O.K.
[They walk into the cell]
Bobby: I'm Bobby Donnell, this is Eugene Young. I'm appointed by the court to
represent you. The judge refused to continue the case- she evidently didn't want
to reward you for biting off body parts. That means we go day after tomorrow, so
we have a lot to do. We're going to need your full cooperation. [Sits down] What
is your name?
[Hannibal looks at Bobby, silent]
Bobby: Did you miss the part about full cooperation? What's your name?
Hannibal: My name is listed in the indictment. I assume the question is designed
to elicit what I think my name is, to give you some sense of whether I'm sane? I
suggest you take it up with the doctors.
Bobby: All right, look, let's not waste time, with you trying to prove you're
smarter than me. You're in prison, I'm not. You're sitting there shackled,
wearing a muzzle, I'm not. You're the one who could be spending the rest of his
life in prison. Do you know your name?
Hannibal: Lean in closer.
Bobby: Just tell me.
Hannibal: My name is Hannibal Lector. Do you plan to argue insanity?
Bobby: You murdered and ate three people, Mr. Lector. Insanity seems to be our
best bet.
Hannibal: I didn't kill them. The other man killed them.
Bobby: What other man?
[Hannibal is silent]
Bobby: What other man!?
[Hannibal leans toward Bobby, shackles jingling. Bobby cringes]
Scene: Mass General Hospital. Lindsay and Jimmy present, with Hannibal's former
lawyer. Lawyer is wearing bandage on nose.
Lawyer: The doctors think basically he created this man in his head, for the
murders themselves. He's never denied consuming the victims. But it's always the
other persona who stabbed the girls.
Lindsay: What's the diagnosis?
Lawyer: It's all over the map. One of our doctors says paranoid-schizophrenia,
another says psychotic disorder. Prosecution experts say he's faking it, that he
stabbed the girls and he ate them, to give himself an insanity defense, should
he ever get caught.
Jimmy: It would convince me.
Lindsay: What do you think?
Lawyer: Look, to do what he's done, obviously there's some severe mental deficit
here. Is he criminally insane? Did he not understand that what he was doing was
wrong? I don't know. All I am sure of is as crazy he may be, he is not stupid.
Don't ever think you're in charge of him, Miss Dole. I promise you, he'll be in
control of you.
Scene: Conference room, all present.
Ellenor: One of the psychiatrists had him take a polygraph. He passed. Said he
was Hannibal Lector, said another guy killed the girls. He passed the lie
detector with flying colors.
Rebecca: He could also describe the killings. It was basically like he stepped
outside of himself, and was watching somebody else do it, then he would step
back inside of himself to…
Ellenor: Eat them.
Lindsay: And the police think he's faking because?
Eugene: He has a 9-to-5 job, he punches in every day as Lawrence O'Malley, pays
his bills on
time.
Jimmy: Are they offering anything?
Bobby: Life in prison. Client turned it down. I guess he's not that crazy.
Ellenor: So what, are we all going to try this?
Bobby: Lindsay, I'd like you to open. Women victims; let's put a woman on the
face of our defense. Jimmy, you take the lawyer.
Jimmy: We're going to call him?
Bobby: Probably first. Ellenor, Beck, you've got the doctors. Eugene and I will
take the prosecution witnesses…
Lucy: Bobby, a Mr. and Mrs. O'Malley are here.
Bobby: Who?
Lucy: Hannibal's parents.
Scene: Bobby's office.
Mrs. O'Malley: He would make up fictitious characters and assume their
identities. I think it made him feel stronger. He started pretending he was
Hannibal Lector about 10 years ago; shortly after the movie came out, probably
so that he could feel dangerous. And, at some point, he really thought he was.
Mr. O'Malley: Mr. Donnell, Lawrence would never do these things. We want you to
hear that from his parents. This is some sort of insanity, but Lawrence, he is
not a killer.
Scene: Conference Room, all present. Watching a video of O'Malley talking to the
police.
Lawrence: He took his knife, and he gutted her, like he was cleaning a fish.
Interviewer: Who did?
Lawrence: The other man. She didn't die right away.
[Bobby shuts off TV]
Bobby: OK, look. We have to make a decision here on the restraints. He's going
to look like a monster if he's shackled and muzzled.
Ellenor: I'm not sitting next to him.
Lindsay: He attacked his last lawyer, Bobby.
Bobby: We could petition the court to keep him out of the room.
Rebecca: I say let him look like a monster. Our strategy here isn't to make him
feel relateable.
Jimmy: Juries don't acquit monsters, Rebecca. First thing they teach us in law
school, monsters lose.
[Firm walks into court, reporters swarm him]
Scene: In court, Opening Statements.
Helen: Anybody who would take the lives of three young women, then cannibalize
them, has to have a little insanity going on. But, did Mr. O'Malley understand
the nature and quality of his acts? Did he know what he was doing was wrong? Of
course he did! Ladies and gentlemen, the evidence will show he tried to conceal
his crimes. He tried to avoid getting caught. Why? Because he knew it was wrong.
This man acted knowingly, reflectively, and methodically. He'd go to the same
bar, select a victim, hit on her, then when rebuffed, follow her, abduct her,
stab her to death, then eat her.
Lindsay: None of us can fathom what must be happening in Lawrence O'Malley's
brain. To fillet three women with a knife, to consume them, this is not how sane
people behave. As this trial goes forward, you're going to look at this man
sitting over there, and probably wonder to yourselves whether he's even human.
You might look at me and the other lawyers defending him, and have questions
about our humanity. How can we defend such a monster? Well, our judicial system
is about many things. What it his first and foremost about is protecting
society's weakest and most vulnerable members. Lawrence O'Malley is severely,
severely mentally ill. The evidence we present to you will establish this
convincingly. You'll want to ignore it, because you're human. Your sympathy for
the victims, your hatred for our client will make you want to ignore or deny
what the doctors tell you. But as jurors, you have an obligation to weigh the
evidence. That's your duty. That's why you're here. And the evidence will tell
you, Lawrence O'Malley is insane.
[Lawrence looks at Lindsay through his muzzle]
[Commercials]
Scene: Courtroom.
Detective: We'd had so many complaints about how bad the house smelled, we
finally sent an officer up there. He took one step inside the door, and
recognized the odor to be decomposing remains. We obtained a search warrant and
went to the premises, and quickly found three bodies in the basement, in
different stages of decomposition.
Helen: Was anybody else there, detective?
Detective: The defendant. He kept saying 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry.' That's pretty
much all he said at the house. 'I'm sorry.'
Helen: Now, you said the bodies were in different stages.
Detective: One was basically skeletal. The other two were carcasses. It was
extremely… gruesome.
Helen: Detective, did you find anything else?
Detective: There was a freezer, which contained frozen meat- Human meat.
Helen: Now, you later interrogated Mr. O'Malley at the police station, did you
not?
Detective: Yes, where he described each of the killings in detail. According to
the coroner, the descriptions were accurate.
Helen: Thank you, detective.
Eugene: You ask my client his name?
Detective: Yes.
Eugene: What did he tell you?
Detective: He said his name was Hannibal Lector.
Eugene: Did he say he killed the women?
Detective: No. He claimed he witnessed "The Other Man" do it. He just called him
"The Other
Man".
Eugene: The same other man for all three murders?
Detective: Yes.
Eugene: Did he describe the other man?
Detective: Yes. The description he gave pretty much matched himself.
Bartender: He would be at the bar three nights a week, easy.
Helen: Do you specifically remember the defendant?
Bartender: Oh, yes. He was too weird not to remember. I served him many nights,
and I never
heard him speak.
Helen: Did you ever see him speak?
Bartender: To women, I did. He was always trying to talk up women. I never saw
him have success.
Helen: Did you ever see Mr. O'Malley talk to any of these women?
Bartender: I know I saw him talking to the first girl, and I remember the look
on her face. It was like, 'Get this kook away from me.'
Bobby: You used the words 'strange', 'weird', 'kook', based on your observations
of my client, Mr. Williams. He seem nuts?
Helen: Objection.
Bobby: Lay opinion.
Judge: I'll allow it. You may answer.
Bartender: He seemed very nuts.
Bobby: And he would come in 3 nights a week, on average?
Bartender: Yes. He would try to talk to women sometimes, other nights he'd just
sit at the bar, sometimes motionless, like he was in this trance, just staring
straight ahead. The guy wasn't right.
[Lawrence stands up, chains jingling. Security forces him down]
Scene: Private Room in Courthouse. Bobby, Eugene and Lawrence present.
Bobby: We don't need that. Scaring the jury doesn't help us here, Lawrence! Just
sit there and
be a passive monster, can you do that, please? All right, look. The facts are
pretty much in. The rest of the trial goes to the insanity issue. The big
decision for us is whether or not to let you testify
Eugene: We'd like to put you up there, but we can't if we think you'll strike
terror in people.
[Lindsay enters]
Lindsay: Forbes is here. Jimmy's prepping him.
Bobby: OK. We'll lead with him, then go to the doctors.
Lawrence: I'd like to talk to her please.
Bobby: Who?
Lawrence: Her, my attorney, the one who delivered the eloquent opening about me
being one of 'society's most vulnerable members'. Please, sit.
[Lindsay sits down]
Lawrence: Hello, Clarissa.
Bobby: Oh, brother.
Lawrence: Could you leave, Bobby? I'd like to speak with Clarissa alone.
Lindsay: I'm not Clarissa, Lawrence. Jodie Foster wasn't even Clarissa. She was
Clarice. And even she's not Clarice anymore.
Lawrence: Does they know? Does- Bobby- know?
Lindsay: Does he know what?
Lawrence: That you're in love with me!
Scene: Conference Room. All present.
Bobby: I think he might be faking. Hannibal Lector- isn't that a little too pat?
Eugene: We'll let the prosecution argue that. Experts ready?
Rebecca: Oh, they're ready, and convincing. They don't think he's faking at all.
Eugene: Jimmy?
Jimmy: Forbes is set. What about the muzzle? I think it should come off.
Bobby: We'll the muzzle off when he testifies. We need to get back.
Scene: Court.
Forbes: He kept talking about the other man, how he watched the other man stab
them. I would gently remind him, Lawrence, there was no other man. The other man
is you. He never liked that. He would ask me to please not to say he was the
killer.
Jimmy: Mr. Forbes, why did you remind him?
Forbes: Well, we were about to start trial. I had to prepare him for things he
was going to hear from his own doctors, even. But he just didn't like hearing
that, that he was the killer. Friday night, I reminded him again, and that was
it.
Jimmy: What happened?
Forbes: He just lunged, like a Rottweiler, he had me by the nose.
Jimmy: In the course of your representation of Mr. O'Malley, what can you tell
us about his mental-
Helen: Objection, he is trying to admit medical opinions again.
Jimmy: No, a lay opinion-
Helen: Your honor, I will stipulate, the lay opinion of Mr. O'Malley is he is
crazy, but this witness has no foundation to present testimony on the issue of
legal insanity as it relates to this trial.
Judge: I'm going to agree. The witness may speak to the defendant's behavior,
but leave the psychiatric opinions to the doctors.
[O'Malley stands up again]
Judge: Mr. O'Malley, please take your seat.
[Stays standing]
Judge: Mr. O'Malley!
Lawrence: Your honor, at this time, I'd ask that the district attorney be
disqualified.
Judge: Why?
Lawrence: She and I have had relations.
[Murmurs throughout the courtroom]
Scene: Helen and Ellenor's apartment. Both are watching television.
Reporter: It was one of those moments where time just seemed to freeze. Even
Helen Gamble
herself seemed momentarily paralyzed.
Helen: Such crap. Well, what did they expect me to do, jump up and react? Stupid
media.
Ellenor: Helen, I know we agreed to never talk shop at home, but you really
should put something on the table.
Helen: It was a stunt, Ellenor, and you know it. 'Hey, everybody, look how
insane I am.'
Ellenor: Could be, but not many people eat flesh; the jury's gotta think he's
nuts.
Helen: Jurors are human. At their core, they're vengeful.
Ellenor: I think you're projecting there.
Helen: And when they go back to deliberate about what he did to those women,
compassion won't be winning out.
Reporter: Tomorrow, the case turns to the doctors, where both sides have their
experts lined up.
Scene: Courtroom.
Doctor: The base illness is paranoid schizophrenia. The fixed false belief is
that he's Hannibal Lector.
Ellenor: And doctor, does paranoid schizophrenia make a person homicidal?
Doctor: Well, there are no norms. It doesn't necessarily make a person
dangerous. It seems with Mr. O'Malley that when he kills, he experiences a
psychotic break from his other reality.
Ellenor: You lost me there.
Doctor: He becomes somebody else altogether when he kills- the other person.
Then he goes back to being Mr. Lector. Basically, he suffers from paranoid
schizophrenia always, and he suffers from periodic psychosis on top of that.
Helen: Or, he's faking.
Doctor: I don't believe he could feign these type of symptoms, Ms. Gamble.
Helen: Well, doctor, have you ever known a person to feign schizophrenia or
psychosis?
Doctor: Successfully, it would be extremely rare.
Doctor #2: But it can be done, and in my medical opinion, Mr. O'Malley is doing
it here.
Helen: Why do you think so?
Doctor #2: Well, for starters, he's completely functional as Lawrence O'Malley.
He goes to work, performs competently there. None of his co-workers have ever
seen a sign of Hannibal Lector.
Helen: Well, could he just be covering it up?
Doctor #2: Sure, but why? If he has no compunction about being Lawrence O'Malley
with the police, why would he cover it up with others.
[Hannibal stares at Lindsay; she gasps loudly.]
Lindsay: I'm sorry.
Scene: Conference Room.
Lindsay: I'm sorry, how many times do I have to say it? The guy was looking
right at me.
Jimmy: Look, it didn't hurt us. It's not like we're pretending he's nice.
Bobby: No, but it doesn't help if it seems even we're afraid of him.
Rebecca: Oh, come on, he's tied up like a rabid dog. Everyone in that room is
afraid of him.
Ellenor: The problem is, if they think of him as a dog, crazy or not, they're
going to want to put him to sleep. He has to be a little sympathetic.
Rebecca: Does he understand that?
Bobby: I've told him over and over.
Eugene: I think Lindsay should take his direct.
Lindsay: Me? You take him.
Eugene: Look, in a way, you represent the victims.
Lindsay: Exactly.
Eugene: He also seems to be softer with you than he is with Bobby or me.
Lindsay: Have Jimmy take him. He's good at bringing out soft sides.
Eugene: Look, any one of us could do it. You'll be the most effective. His best
chance to be sympathetic is you.
[Lindsay stares ahead, Commercials]
Scene: Bobby and Lindsay's bedroom
Bobby: Hey. You OK?
Lindsay: Yeah.
Bobby: I can take the direct.
Lindsay: I'm fine.
Bobby: He really scared you, didn't he?
Lindsay: The way he looked at me…I'll tell you this, Bobby, he's not faking. I
looked into those eyes. They were the eyes of insanity. I may not be a doctor,
but I saw it. That man is truly crazy.
Scene: Courtroom. Lawrence's direct.
[Shot of Lawrence's eyes]
Lindsay: Did you not here my question? Did you know these women?
Lawrence: I'd met them. I can't lay claim to knowing them.
Lindsay: You met them at Hannigan's?
Lawrence: Yes. They weren't particularly kind to me.
Lindsay: Can you tell the court how you happened to see them get killed?
Lawrence: Well, on each occasion, I followed them, and in the parking lot, I saw
them get abducted by the other man.
Lindsay: Could you describe this "other man"?
Lawrence: I never got a very good look at his face. He was about 6 foot tall,
lanky.
Lindsay: And he abducted these women in the parking lot?
Lawrence: Yes, he dragged them into his car. I think they liked him, but for
some reason, they didn't want to go.
Lindsay: OK. And what did you do?
Lawrence: I followed. He drove them to an abandoned pier on the harbor, and he
would stab them there, and drive off. I tried to help each of them, but I was
always too late, they were dead. There was nothing to be done. So, I ate them.
Lindsay: How did these women end up in your basement, Mr. O'Malley?
Lawrence: I- I drove them there from the pier.
Lindsay: And sir, can you tell the court why you would eat these women?
Lawrence: Because, they were so beautiful, like you. The Book of Genesis tells
us that woman came from man. When man consumes the woman, he makes him one with
her. And by eating them, I know they will go to heaven, because I am going to
heaven, and they will go with me. You'll be going to heaven, Clarice.
[Bobby stares at O'Malley]
Lindsay: You think my name is Clarice?
[Lawrence doesn't speak, but flashes a big grin]
Lindsay: That's all I have.
Helen: What did the other man do with the knife?
Lawrence: I don't know.
Helen: Funny how it never turned up, like it was hidden, or disposed of
carefully. The other man really knew what he was doing, I guess.
Lawrence: You sucked my fluids to make me one with you.
Helen: How come you never told your co-workers your real name? You went to work
every day as Lawrence O'Malley, you did your job as Lawrence O'Malley, collected
your paychecks, paid your income taxes- you did everything as Lawrence O'Malley.
Why didn't you tell people you were really Hannibal Lector?
Lawrence: It makes it difficult to invite someone over for dinner.
Helen: That's clever.
Lawrence: Would you have sexually engaged with me had you known my true
identity?
Helen: When you saw these women murdered by this "other man", why not go to the
police?
Lawrence: I was afraid of being a suspect, since I was there.
Helen: You could have prevented other women from being killed. Surely you have a
conscience, or do you?
Lawrence: By the time I realized he was a serial killer, bodies were in my
basement. I- I didn't know what to do.
Helen: So, you just let women continue to be murdered?
Lawrence: I am trying to help now.
Helen: Oh, you're helping now?
Lawrence: Yes, I gave the police a partial description, I told them where he
kills. Instead of persecuting me, you should be looking for him, especially
since-
Helen: Since what?
Lawrence: He's planning to kill Clarice.
[Bobby, Lindsay, and Helen all stare at him, he stares back.]
[Walking out of court, reporters asking questions, firm ignores them.
Scene: In elevator, leaving courthouse.
Bobby: You OK?
Lindsay: I'm fine.
Jimmy: I thought your direct went great.
Lindsay: Good to here.
Scene: In office.
Lindsay: I don't want to win this case. I don't want him going to some state
mental facility that he'll be able to break out of in a week.
Bobby: OK.
Lindsay: No! I went through this with Hinks. I don't want to go through this
again! I don't want to win this case.
[She storms into an office, slams door shut]
Rebecca: You should go in there.
[Bobby walks into office]
Lucy: Eugene, could I see you for a second?
Scene: Eugene's office.
Lucy: This could be nothing.
Eugene: What?
Lucy: Jeannie Tanner is a friend of mine; she works at the coroner's office in
Suffolk. There's an unsolved murder, it happened seven weeks ago. 28-year-old
woman, stabbed to death, found behind the Marriott. Last seen alive at
Hannigan's Bar.
Eugene: Seven weeks ago?
Lucy: Lawrence O'Malley was in custody.
Scene: Chambers. Helen, Eugene, Ellenor and the Judge.
Eugene: It's exculpatory evidence, and they held it.
Helen: This is not exculpatory, it has nothing to do with the case.
Eugene: A woman stabbed, seen at Hannigan's Bar. Come on!
Helen: This was a robbery victim. The woman was stabbed once.
Ellenor: We should have been told about it, Helen.
Helen: The state has no obligation to inform the defense of every other
homicide.
Ellenor: Oh, please! This one either fits the pattern, or comes damn close.
Helen: I don't agree.
Judge: Come on, Ms. Gamble, it's close enough. But counsel, explain to me the
harm.
Eugene: We may have had another defense available.
Helen: Which is?
Eugene: Somebody else is killing these women.
Helen: Oh, come on.
Eugene: My client has always maintained the other man killed these women. We now
have knowledge of the other man.
Helen: You've got to be kidding.
Eugene: Your honor, we should at least be allowed to change our plea and argue
the elements. In addition-
Helen: First of all, this is absurd. Second, you can't just change a plea-
Eugene: We got stuck with this case on Sunday. Sunday! Now we find out the
prosecution knew of another murder that fits the pattern. At the very least, we
should be able to change our plea. It means one extra witness on this other
killing, it doesn't inconvenience the court, and to deny us this, you just
guaranteed my client an appeal.
Judge: OK. I'll let you plead in the alternative-
Helen: I don't believe this.
Judge: Ms. Gamble, you should have revealed that other murder. Be glad I don't
find misconduct.
[Helen straightens up, the way she always does when she's caught doing something
wrong]
Scene: Office.
[Bobby enters office, Lindsay just behind]
Rebecca: How is she doing?
Bobby: She's OK. She's a little- She's OK.
Lindsay: I am NOT OK.
Bobby: Lindsay-
Lindsay: What's wrong with you? I am not OK.
[Rebecca, Lucy and Jimmy all look up]
Lindsay: Somebody can beat you half to death and you can go back to being OK the
next day. You're always OK. Bobby's OK. That's how you handle things. You're OK.
[Bobby ushers Lindsay into his office]
Bobby: Please don't embarrass me like that in front of the office.
Lindsay: Please don't embarrass you? I got stabbed two years ago. I got stabbed,
Bobby. A man stuck a knife into me three times. I almost died. Then, Hinks
stalked me. I'm not OK. I have never gone back to being OK, no matter HOW MUCH
YOU INSIST THAT I HAVE! I'm just- I'm not OK! I just- I'm not-
[Lindsay gets caught up in tears, Bobby tries to console her]
[Commercials]
Scene: Courtroom. Detective McGuire is on the stand.
Eugene: The cause of death was stabbing?
Detective: That's correct.
Eugene: And the victim, Jill Hanover, was at Hannigan's Bar the night she was
killed?
Detective: Yes.
Eugene: Found in an alley off of Commercial Street by the Harbor, is that right,
Detective?
Detective: Yes.
Eugene: And Ms. Hanover was killed on March 26?
Detective: Yes.
Eugene: And do you have any leads or suspects at this time, Detective, relating
to this murder?
Detective: No, we do not.
Helen: Is this killing related to the three murders which are the subject of
this trial?
Detective: We don't believe so.
Helen: Why not?
Detective: Well, Ms. Hanover was stabbed once in the neck. The other girls were
stabbed multiple times in the abdomen and the sternum. A different knife was
used for Ms. Hanover. The body was also dumped in an alley, as opposed to being
transported to a basement and consumed. Ms. Hanover was African-American and
overweight. These other three victims were white with conventionally attractive
figures. We determined that she was simply a robbery victim, and her death was
unrelated to the other three.
Eugene: Can you prove that, Detective?
Detective: Well, obviously we can't prove anything if we don't catch this other
suspect.
Eugene: The other suspect?
[Detective McGuire gives an angry look at Eugene]
[Walking out of courtroom, reporters again swarming them]
Scene: Room outside courtroom.
Eugene: OK, just argue in the alternative, insanity, and the possibility there
is another man.
[Lawrence is let in]
Bobby: All right, look. We have two theories. They're mutually exclusive, but
the law permits us to present alternative defenses. It's risky, but it's in our
interest to do so here.
Lawrence: Where is Clarice?
Bobby: Never mind.
Lawrence: Is she all right?
[Lindsay walks out from behind Ellenor]
Lindsay: I'm right here.
Lawrence: I'm sorry I frightened you. If anything ever happened to you, you know
I'd make sure you go to heaven.
Bobby: HEY, SHUT YOUR MOUTH! I don't want you talking to her anymore, you got
that?
[Bobby and Lawrence stare at each other]
Scene: Courtroom. Closing Statements.
Helen: The fact that they have thrown in this eleventh-hour theory, 'Maybe
somebody else did it', that evidence shows the desperation of the defense,
ladies and gentlemen. First, he's Hannibal Lector, then zip, throw in a
psychotic break, then, what the hell, why not let's say it was another man after
all? Lawrence O'Malley brutally stabbed three women who rejected his advances at
a bar, it is that simple. Maybe he really is crazy enough to eat human flesh,
but we don't let murderers go because they consume their victims. This is a
competent, highly functional man who went to work every day, lived a rather
normal life, never flashed Hannibal or insanity to anybody. And here, we see him
flashing it at every turn. Suddenly, he's standing up, saying he and I had sex,
he's calling his attorney Clarice, he bites off a lawyer's nose. So many sudden
acts of insanity after 40 years without a sign. It's a little convenient, don't
you think? He's trying to feign legal insanity to get away with his murders.
Three doctors who examined him testified he's faking. And he's hoping you'll
fall for it. But just in case you don't, maybe another man did it after all.
Worth a shot! He's been laughing at us all during this trial. Please, don't let
him get the last laugh.
Bobby: We put up three doctors who said he wasn't faking. They believe he's
insane- a base illness of paranoid schizophrenia, coupled with psychotic breaks-
you've heard the experts' testimony. And now, we learn another woman was killed
leaving Hannigan's Bar- killed while Lawrence O'Malley was in custody. The
police believe it's unrelated, but can they prove it? You heard Detective
McGuire- they can't. The state hasn't met its burden here. And as a matter of
law, you must acquit.
Judge: Ms. Gamble, rebuttal?
Eugene: Hold on, your honor. We're doing our closing in tandem. Mr. Donnell took
the first part.
Judge: Very well…
Eugene: The most outstanding question concerns the 12 of you. We have a man
sitting here, clearly psychotic. We know he eats people. He quite possibly kills
them. Nobody-
[Eugene looks at Bobby, who looks back at him, pissed]
Eugene: Nobody likes the idea of him being anywhere except a maximum-security
prison. But, we all have our duties here. They prosecute, we defend, and you-
you determine whether guilt was proven beyond all reasonable doubt. The 12 of
you have the nastiest job of all, because to execute your duty, you have to find
this man,
[Eugene has Lawrence stand up]
Eugene: Not guilty. Which, of course, you don't want to do, but you must.
[Eugene has Lawrence sit down]
Eugene: The expert testimony was a wash, at best. They put up doctors to say
he's faking, we put up just as many to say the schizophrenia was real, as was
the psychosis. On the insanity, there's no escaping doubt with all the
conflicting opinions. And as for the other man, well. There was another man who
stabbed a girl leaving Hannigan's Bar. It happened while Lawrence O'Malley was
in custody. That means it's possible- possible things happened just as Mr.
O'Malley claimed. He followed these girls out of the bar. He saw another man
abduct them. He saw another man stab them, drive off before Mr. O'Malley took
the bodies back to his basement. And this isn't some eleventh-hour theory we're
throwing out in desperation, by the way. The police knew about this other
murder, and they never told us. And we must ask ourselves, why? Why didn't they
tell us? You've got reasonable doubt on the insanity. You've got reasonable
doubt on the killings themselves- two very big questions. The third question-
the biggest: are the 12 of you going to stay true to your oath and uphold the
law?
Scene: Walking into DYD&F offices.
Lucy: How'd it go?
Rebecca: Jury's got it.
Eugene: If you didn't want to close, why didn't you say so, Bobby?
Bobby: My closing-
Eugene: Your closing- you stood up there, and-
Bobby: Back up there, Eugene.
Eugene: Nobody closes like you can, and that was half-assed by the numbers.
Bobby: I said back up.
Rebecca: All right, cut it out, we don't need this.
Eugene: Look, I don't want that guy on the street either. That's not what this
is about. We have a job to do. Everyone in this room did their job, even
Lindsay. It was your job to deliver your best, Bobby, and you were up and down
in 30 seconds. What are we? Huh? Some clients we try our hardest for, others we
pull back? Who in the hell are we?
[Eugene goes into his office, slams door. Rebecca follows]
Rebecca: I don't disagree, but it's his wife, Eugene. Maybe you don't have to
excuse him because of that, but I would think you could understand.
[Bobby enters]
Bobby: Clerk's office just called. They have a verdict.
Scene: Courtroom.
[Judge reads verdict, closes it, gives it back to bailiff]
Judge: The defendant will please rise. Mr. Foreman, the jury has a unanimous
verdict?
Foreman: Yes, your honor.
Judge: What say you?
Foreman: On three counts of murder in the first degree, we find the defendant,
Lawrence O'Malley, not guilty. On three counts of murder in the second degree,
we find the defendant, Lawrence O'Malley, not guilty.
Eugene, quietly: Straight not guilty!
Helen: Your honor, the Commonwealth seeks to place the defendant under arrest
for concealing and consuming human bodies, crimes which-
Eugene: Hold on. My client was only charged with murder. These crimes would be
lesser-included crimes. Double-jeopardy would attach.
Judge: I agree. You can't now arrest him for lesser-includeds, Ms. Gamble. The
defendant has been found guilty. He is free to go. Please release him from the
restraints.
Helen: Your honor! This man is clearly dangerous! He-
Judge: Ms. Gamble, he has been acquitted. He is free to go. We're adjourned.
Lawrence: Thank you, Bobby. Eugene, you were sensational. Clarice.
[Lawrence smirks, then turns around to face media]
Scene: Bobby and Lindsay's apartment. TV is on, coverage of the verdict.
Juror: …I mean, it was a bit intimidating, I'm glad it's over. It wasn't that we
thought he was innocent- in fact, we all figured him to be guilty, we just
couldn't get there beyond reasonable doubt, not with that other murder.
[Bobby turns off TV]
Bobby: I'm sorry. I think it's the way I handle things. If I can pretend I'm OK,
then- so it- Lindsay, it's not just me. You never talk about how you feel. You
just keep it in 'til you just explode. It's not just me.
Lindsay: I know. We both need to do better, Bobby, or you and I, we won't make
it. We won't.
The End
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