For the People (2018) s01e03 Episode Script
18 Miles Outside of Roanoke
1 Previously on For the People.
This is your home.
Your kitchen.
- Food.
- Not that, that Zack's.
[POUNDING ON DOOR.]
Your listing said "One-bedroom apartment," nothing about sharing.
[AIR BLASTING.]
My mother came by for lunch and wanted to say hi.
I hope my son is doing an adequate job for you, but if he's not, promise you'll never show him any special favor just because of me.
Deal.
If anything, I'll make it even harder on him.
How about that? Prison isn't the answer for everything.
Have some compassion.
I have compassion for people who follow the rules.
Did you ever break a rule? For which you didn't pay the appropriate price? Has that ever happened? You could be a good lawyer.
What did I get? You said, on the first day, "Get something.
" You got beat.
And now you got to get up.
[ALEX GOOSE & HEMLOCK ERNST'S "NO LABEL" PLAYS.]
Wanna be respected as a man, not a label Wanna be a legend, not a fable Just trying to put food on my family's table And I'm ready, willing, and able To lay all the cash on this blacktop The bar slinger, Harriet with the hair trigger finger Signed, sealed, delivered, heavy ball swinger Cash and card clinger Remember the kiss behind the gym? She stepped up at grade six - Now it's caked fish in the lobby - [ELEVATOR BELL DINGS.]
A diamond hobby, Lexington Grand Handle hard and stick to the plan Handle hard and then we're in it for life No passion out the dog in this fight Just too bright in this limelight Dimes pop up in low places, give me your name She likes the way I move platelets Heaven and earth in one millisecond Cursed to move heaven from birth in one vivisection And I'm up for it Crowd's applause all worth the problems Seeming a gladiator in the coliseum Problems find me when I'm hardly breathing Head heavy with my lady screaming She love and hate me, and she love to hate me Wanna be respected as a man, not a label Wanna be a legend, not a fable Just trying to put food on my family's table And I'm ready, willing, and able To lay all the cash on this blacktop Wanna be respected as a man, not a label Wanna be a legend, not a fable Just trying to put food on my family's table And I'm ready, willing, and able To lay all the cash on this blacktop Dani Rios.
Dani Rios.
26, ex-military, now a government contractor working for the NSA in intelligence analysis.
You see where this is going? - She's a whistle-blower - She's a thief who allegedly leaked documents revealing that the NSA has been illegally accessing confidential medical databases in order to identify undocumented Americans.
who stole highly-classified government files jeopardizing an important national security initiative.
She sent the documents to a fringe left-wing website.
The mainstream media.
- The documents haven't been published.
- yet.
But there are rumors of the programs existence.
If I were to guess I am certain - Dani is an idealist - a punk - well-intentioned - sanctimonious - misguided - entitled - in over her - swollen head.
I'm giving this case to you, Sandra, because I think you can connect with her I'm giving this case to you, Littlejohn, because I know you'll want to crush her because you understand the rule breakers.
because you believe in the rule of law.
- Do your best.
- Win.
Taj Mahal? No.
Do you know how long it took me to get here on the train? [CHUCKLES.]
You took the train? 45 minutes.
It takes 45 minutes.
You're nervous, aren't you? It's my first sentencing.
Oh, well, you're gonna do great.
- Is this your new case? - Mm-hmm.
Okay, now I'm nervous.
I've read your sentencing brief.
It's superb.
Y-You always do this.
Not that.
This.
You're up against Kate Littlejohn.
- So what? - Not so what.
Talk to Jay.
Definitely not "so what.
" Hey.
- I'm busy.
- I thought you'd like to know that things are getting better with me and Ezra.
My Airbnb roommate.
We worked out this, uh shower schedule.
As long as I'm in by 5:00, I can stay in there as long as I want literally as long as I want.
I negotiated that.
So that's pretty cool.
Do you need something? Just wanted to say "hi," good morning.
I'm glad you showered.
I just have this new case, and it's a lot.
This partner in my old law firm once told me the first thing you do when you get a case is find out who opposing counsel is.
Most of the time, it's some deadbeat, and then you feel better about yourself.
Opposing counsel is Sandra Bell.
So that partner's advice was pretty bad all around.
You're gonna tell the judge my uncle gave me that gun after our apartment got broken into twice? Yes.
Everything is in our papers.
And those kids who stopped me and little brother that day are in a gang.
I bought the gun just to get them to back off.
I would never hurt anyone, but I got to protect Donovan.
We've only got each other.
I know, Keenan.
I know.
But you did plead guilty to possession of a firearm.
We have to be prepared for some jail time.
If I go away for too long, I don't know what'll happen to my mom and Donovan.
- I take care of them.
- Judge Barish will factor all of this into her sentencing determination.
She's reasonable.
[ELEVATOR BELL DINGS IN DISTANCE.]
I've reviewed the pre-sentence report, and I have both of your briefs.
I'm prepared to impose my sentence.
I do want to inform you that I'll be utilizing the Greene-Haot risk-assessment software, EVALUATE, to assist in determining the appropriate sentence.
Software? An algorithm that makes a determination about the defendant's potential recidivism.
Many courts across the country are already utilizing this tool.
I'm sorry, Your Honor.
Can the court educate counsel on what factors go into this algorithm? There are a lot of factors, but the exact formula is proprietary.
What we do know is that this technology promises to bring uniformity and fairness and scientific discipline to an area of law that has always been arbitrary and capricious.
This is a good thing, Ms.
Adams.
You're asking my client to simply have faith that this program is fair? I am not asking you or your client anything.
I am telling you how I plan on determining this sentence.
If you need faith in something, have faith that I've been a federal judge for 17 years and I know what I'm doing.
Respectfully, Your Honor, I'd like the opportunity to address the court on the software before sentencing.
I'll give you one week to prepare an argument.
We're in recess.
[KNOCKS ON DOOR.]
You went up against Kate Littlejohn, right? Why would you say that name in this office? This is a safe space.
What's the problem with her? You ever go to a movie and there are, like, two people talking right behind you and they're ruining your movie and you're like, "Mm! I really want to say something, but I'm scared they're gonna dog-pile me"? And then some other person just says, "Hey, shut up!" And the people talking shut up, and you're really grateful for that person and wondering why you were so wimpy, but then you start worrying that person who told them to shut up is now gonna yell at you about something, and you realize that person is the person that really scares you? That's Kate Littlejohn.
She's intense and uncompromising, and she instills in you an incalculable fear and dread.
I think you might not have the same issues I did, though.
You went up against Sandra Bell, right? And won.
Why? She's opposing counsel on my next case.
Did you get the leaker case? Don't tell me you got the leaker case.
O kay.
Did you get the leaker case? Yes.
If it was anybody but you, I'd be annoyed.
- You're annoyed.
- Super-annoyed.
Roger's punishing me for bringing my mom here.
Tell me about Sandra.
She's self-righteous, passionate, in your face.
I don't like her.
I don't like what she represents.
I don't like who she represents, and if I ever got arrested, she'd probably be the first person I'd call.
I can cancel my date tonight and work on this with you.
I don't want you to cancel your date.
You sure? - Yes.
- Oh.
I'll be thinking about you the whole time.
High-profile case, Kate Littlejohn.
The press is gonna have a field day with this.
It's important.
It's not high profile.
[BUZZER BLARES.]
You know what they're doing, right? They're accessing hospital databases without patients' permission.
They say it is an anti-terror program, a-a way to find people who are off the grid, but they're not using it to find terrorists.
They're using it to deport people, regular people, people who were brave enough and hopeful enough to leave everything they knew and come here.
I was trying to do the right thing.
I know you were.
But it may have been the right thing at the wrong time.
The government is aggressively prosecuting leakers right now.
They're gonna try to punish you.
I believe our best chance is gonna be to try to negotiate with the government for a deal.
You face decades in prison if you get convicted at trial.
A deal, I might be able to get it down to five years.
I never thought I'd end up in here.
In jail? Me? Two tours in Iraq, and now I'm an enemy of the state, all over the news.
You're not all over the news.
KATE: We never sent out a press release.
'Cause we didn't want any press.
Isn't the point of prosecuting a leaker to send a message? No, the point of prosecuting a leaker is to stop the leaking of classified information.
The more we talk about it, the greater the risk that information gets out.
Well, I think it was a mistake.
Burying this makes it look like we're hiding something.
We are.
[CHUCKLING.]
Well, if I was on the other side, I'd do something with that.
They never issued a press release.
Because they didn't want any press.
- Why? - My guess? Dani's a highly sympathetic defendant.
If her story gets out, people will be mad, and then they'll be more interested in the very thing the government was trying to protect.
That puts pressure on the government to reveal more about what happened.
To drop or at least reduce the charges against Dani.
You're gonna do this, aren't you? Unless you tell me not to.
24 hours ago, the FBI arrested a young woman for telling the truth, that in the false name of anti-terrorism, the United States government has been illegally accessing the confidential medical records of millions of Americans in order to identify and deport undocumented immigrants.
The government tried to keep this program a secret, and now it's trying to keep this arrest a secret, but this is America.
My client's name is Dani Rios.
She's a hero.
Not a criminal.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
- I don't know how to say no - [BOTH BREATHING HEAVILY.]
Don't hold me accountable [SIGHS.]
Damn.
Damn! You broke my brain.
You literally broke my brain.
[CELLPHONE CHIMES.]
Gotta go.
Find my clothes.
- Everything okay? - [SIGHS.]
Work stuff.
I have to be in Brooklyn.
- Why? - Because it's where I work, Brooklyn.
- Yeah, what's the case? - Can't say.
I'm Southern District, you're Eastern.
- We're family.
- [CHUCKLING.]
That's messed up.
You broke my brain.
[SIGHS.]
Bart McKenna.
The Bart McKenna? $100 million Ponzi-scheme Bart McKenna? Saw the story broke yesterday.
Yeah, we were scrambling to make a case, and then he ran.
Slipped town last night on a cruise ship, except his ship stalled in the middle of the Hudson River.
And as soon as we can get it towed to Brooklyn, I'll be waiting there with the FBI.
Which is why I have to go to Brooklyn.
Congratulations.
That's huge.
This is our secret.
Mm-hmm.
Which part? All of it.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
Bart McKenna's on a boat.
Is this that game where I add a sentence to yours - and we make a story? - The Ponzi guy He's stuck on a cruise ship in the middle of the Hudson.
Eastern is trying to make that case.
Yes, but they haven't yet.
And he's incorporated in Manhattan.
Several of his victims are here, so if I get that boat to dock in Manhattan, we can claim venue as much as they can.
You're trying to steal this case? Trying to get off the bench, get you a win, get myself a game ball.
I hate sports metaphors.
But I like what you're saying.
You want me to go after this? - Yes.
- Great.
If you steal a case for the Southern, that's good for me, and if you blow this, then I can feel less guilty about making you pay for parading your mom through my office.
Win-win.
You wanted to see me.
You need to respond to that press conference.
I thought we didn't want press.
We didn't want press, but now there's press, and it's not the press we want, so you need to respond.
I think that's a mistake.
Didn't you think it was a mistake not to go to the press? Before she made a move, yes.
But now she's a made a move, a big one outside the lines.
When you go outside the lines, there can be unintended consequences, so let's see what they are before we respond.
I didn't ask to see you.
I know.
I just knew you'd want to.
This algorithm Barish wants to use is so far from objective I can't even find a word to describe it.
Subjective? It's called EVALUATE? I evaluated EVALUATE, and Keenan is now twice as likely to get a max sentence just because he's black, from Mott Haven, and dropped out of high school at 15.
I've heard of these programs.
They're intended to remove bias.
The data is biased.
A computer doesn't know that Mott Haven is policed at a significantly higher rate than Riverdale.
Maybe it does know.
But it can't possibly know why.
This software has no historical context.
It can't account for slavery, Jim Crow, Reaganomics, the war on drugs, a crumbling education system - 10 more seconds.
- What? 10 more seconds of preaching to the choir, and then you have to decide what to do.
You have to defend Keenan as vigorously as you can, of course, but you also have to consider whether Judge Barish is going to listen to you, whether she's dug in, whether your digging in is gonna make it worse for Keenan.
You have to be realistic.
[TELEPHONE RINGS IN DISTANCE.]
Keenan didn't finish high school because his mom's MS went into hyperdrive.
He ha to work so his brother could keep playing travel football.
Keenan thinks his brother can get a college scholarship, and if he lived one block over, he'd be in a better zip code, according to that stupid machine.
Then you've decided.
Good.
Fight the machine.
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACH.]
Has she called to make a deal? She will.
Did you know Kate was Secretary General of the U.
N.
? Uh, in high school, model U.
N.
, but still Uh what happened at sentencing? [TELEPHONE RINGS.]
Yes.
Okay.
I'll be right there.
- Kate? - No.
I saw you on the news.
They let us watch some TV.
I'm trying to put some pressure on the government to bring them to the table.
And? And I haven't heard from them yet.
Good.
I don't want a deal.
What are you talking about, Dani? You called me a hero.
I wasn't trying to be.
I mean, it wasn't like I wanted to get caught, but I was.
And now I'm hearing from people people who need someone to listen, and I want to stand up for them like you stood up for me.
Standing up for people is my job.
It's not your job.
It's who you are.
A job is what I was doing on the 14th floor of the Vetracom Building, working for the NSA, but it's not who I am.
It's crazy I served in Iraq, but this feels like the real test for me.
- It's time to be brave.
- You are brave, but that doesn't mean staying in jail.
It does mean that if that's what it takes to send a message.
If I take a deal and plead guilty, what message does that send? That I didn't believe in what I did? That I was wrong? Our government is targeting people who are sick and hurt and brought to emergency rooms by relatives who are terrified of going to the hospital, but they risk it because they're even more terrified of losing a loved one.
And now They'll lose them anyway.
All my life, I've been around people like this, who were afraid to stand up because they felt like they couldn't.
But now I have a choice.
You showed me that.
I can sit at the table and negotiate away my soul, or I can stand up like you.
I don't want to take a deal.
You know what that means? It means I can make a difference.
- She doesn't want a deal.
- Because? Because of me, my press conference.
- So try again.
- It's not gonna happen.
Dani doesn't want a deal because there isn't a deal.
It's always easier to say "no" to something in the abstract.
People say, "I don't want to get married.
" Then some handsome man stands there, telling you he loves you, and before you know it, you're married.
I don't want to get married.
I really wouldn't recommend it.
Talk to Kate, see what she's offering.
Looking at 15 years in prison versus a deal in hand, you'd be surprised how quickly minds change.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
[TELEPHONE RINGS IN DISTANCE.]
[GASPS.]
That's a Classic Italian from Zeno's.
With extra peperoncinis.
The greatest sandwich in the world.
I'm gonna eat this until you to tell me to stop.
Okay, what's up? Judge Barish is using a sentencing algorithm that was basically built to screw my client and everyone who looks like him, and I'm pretty sure I need the help of an expert to discredit it namely, a mathematician.
Okay.
Okay.
So you go.
Be nice.
Your brother will be flattered.
[CHUCKLES.]
You don't know Eddie.
Not as much as I'd like to.
I'm the odd one out in this family.
You know that.
They're all science and data "great minds," and I'm an idealistic public defender.
It's squishy to them.
I might as well be in a mime troupe.
- [LAUGHS.]
- They don't get me.
You probably don't get them.
Whose side are you on? Oh, my God, this sandwich is so good.
I'm sorry.
[CHUCKLES.]
You have a client who needs you.
You share blood with someone who can help.
Do what you have to do.
[SIGHS.]
Give me that.
I'm saying, a ship that size dead in the water, we'd have to mobilize a lot of tugboats to haul it in.
McKenna sees that, he might freak out and take hostages.
We don't need to do this on the water.
If the captain makes a routine announcement, like "help is on the way," you can send in tugboats without raising suspicion and tow the ship to Manhattan, which we can all agree is closer to where the boat is than Brooklyn.
It's not gonna happen.
What's not gonna happen? A storm's coming in, a big one.
I'm not putting a bunch of little boats - on the water in a storm.
- He's right.
Let the storm pass and tow it somewhere then.
Manhattan.
Has to be here.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
Excuse me.
- You'd have done the same thing.
- Never.
And now you can send all of these people home because I'm gonna get my boss to call your boss and put a stop to this.
And when he asks how I knew Bart McKenna was on that ship? Meanwhile, I go to my boss, who calls his boss, and on up it goes until it's settled by whichever guy owes some other guy dinner, and everyone up the chain thinks we're idiots for not figuring this out on our own.
There's one crucial part of this you're not getting.
- This is my case.
- Was.
Now it's nobody's.
I snaked you.
I did.
So as an act of kindness, I'm gonna leave this up to the weather.
- The weather? - Storm.
Ship will blow one way or the other.
Whichever side it's closest to, they get the case.
- That's stupid.
- It's fair.
- I don't trust you.
- I don't trust you.
Deal? You're the worst.
I would have done the same thing.
But you're coming to my place in Red Hook tonight and making this up to me in the filthiest way possible.
[KNOCKS ON DOOR.]
[DOOR CLOSES.]
Sister.
Brother.
Anywhere you like.
- First time you've been to my office.
- It's nice.
I'm not in the basement anymore.
That's good.
How's work? That's kind of why I'm here.
I need your help.
Have you heard of the sentencing software EVALUATE? It's amazing.
Amazing? "Groundbreaking" and "revolutionary" also apply.
- The algorithm is biased.
- An algorithm isn't biased.
That's definitively the point, why it's a good thing.
It sentences blacks and Latinos disproportionately to whites - for the same crimes.
- So do judges, right? This algorithm is an improvement.
It's a check on an already-flawed system.
My client's looking at more time than he should because of this software.
More time than you think he should.
You see? There.
That's bias.
I didn't come here to debate this with you.
Then why did you come here for the first time ever? To ask a favor.
I need you to look at that software, look at the coding, tell me how it works.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY.]
So you can discredit it? So I can do what's right by my client.
Interesting tact when asking a favor, to insult what I do? But that's what you do, whatever you want answer to no one, and everyone is at your service, - except I'm not Mom and Dad.
- I don't think you understand my relationship with Mom and Dad.
I understand they let you live in their gorgeous apartment.
I live in Washington Heights.
You said you wanted to be close to work.
They never asked if I wanted it.
They gave it to me out of pity because they think that I can't take care of myself.
[SCOFFS.]
I'm not surprised you believe that.
I have to go.
You've never been to my office.
What? Your snarky comment about me not visiting you? But you've never been to my office either.
That's fair.
You want to know what that algorithm can't do? Feel.
Understand nuance.
Empathize.
No wonder you respect it so much.
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACH.]
Ms.
Bell.
Please, call me Sandra.
Let's get started.
There are two counts against Ms.
Rios under the Espionage Act, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years.
If Ms.
Rios pleads to one count, we will recommend 78 to 97 months, taking into consideration the severity of the leak and prior criminal history.
She has no prior criminal history.
She has a juvenile adjudication for disorderly conduct.
When she was a juvenile.
Juvenile adjudications can be applied in sentencing, Ms.
Bell.
Don't lecture me about sentencing, and my name is Sandra.
If you call me Ms.
Bell again, I'm leaving.
The offer is 78 to 97 months.
- That's too high.
- This isn't a negotiation.
Then what is it? 63 months.
[CHUCKLES.]
Why don't you tell me what you have the authority to go to? Oh.
Oh, I see.
You don't have any authority.
You came here to see what you could get and then try to sell it to your client.
- Is that it? - 63 months is not good enough.
There is no offer of 63 months.
You're withdrawing your offer? If you can't accept, I can't offer.
Why doesn't she want a deal? Because she wants to take the stand so she can tell the world how evil the government is.
Dani loves her country.
Odd way of showing it.
I'm sorry, how long did you serve in the military? Same amount of time you did.
Why don't you be reasonable here? Why don't I be reasonable? Your client decides one day, "You know what? I'm gonna decide public policy for the United States government me, by myself.
Forget the laws passed by the elected representatives of the people, the deliberations of the professionals charged with protecting our national security and enforcing our immigration laws.
I, Dani Rios, have decided I know better than all that.
I'm gonna do what I want.
And my lawyer is gonna do what she wants and enter a plea negotiation in total bad faith because we do what we want.
Because everything works out in the end, as long as I'm reasonable.
" Is this what you wanted to be when you were growing up, really? I genuinely do not understand it.
You're a glorified hall monitor walking around with your clipboard, taking names, checking lockers, wrapping knuckles.
Don't you care about what was in those documents Dani leaked, what they mean, that our government is accessing confidential medical information to deport people? Why are the rules more important than the people they are designed to protect? I think we're done here Ms.
Bell.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
[SIGHS DEEPLY.]
JILL: Come in, Sandra.
SECRETARY: You can go in, Ms.
Littlejohn.
I understand if you're upset I'm not upset.
I'm disappointed.
I picked you for this case because I thought you would identify with Dani - identify with her, not be her.
- Dani isn't the problem.
You let this woman get inside your head, and then you went into that meeting without the tools you needed to get the job done.
Dani is too young and naive to understand what's at stake here, but you're not.
Kate Littlejohn is unreasonable.
She's a prosecutor.
I think it's more than that.
Don't let it be more than that.
- I understand if you're upset.
- I'm very upset.
- We're going to trial.
- Oh, no, you're not.
- She rejected the deal.
- Well, try again.
Sandra Bell is unreasonable.
- She's a public defender.
- She's an unreasonable public defender.
Now you're just getting redundant.
This isn't about her.
It's about what's good for your client, and your client is the United States, and a trial is not good for the United States.
I picked you for this case because you are stone cold.
I do have feelings.
They're in the way.
NEWSCASTER: Jim, while the residents of New York's five boroughs still need to prepare themselves for the brunt of the storm, we now see indications that it might veer to the south.
No, no! Not south! - North! Go north! - Hey.
What's going on in here? - Storm's getting bigger.
- That's not good.
Not if it blows that boat to Brooklyn, it's not.
Plus the possible loss of life and property, but okay.
You know why I became a prosecutor? So you could steal cases from other prosecutors? - 'Cause we hold all the cards.
- Mm.
We choose when to charge, if to charge, how much to charge, what evidence to use.
We're in control.
Today my whole job depends on something as random as the weather.
Oh, yeah, but fortunately for you, it's not 1875.
What? For most of human existence, we didn't imagine weather could be predicted or even should be because that was God's area.
But with the rise of technology in the late 19th As a teenager, I was a bit of an amateur meteorologist.
You were into magic, too, I bet.
Nah.
I may have done a mentalist act.
Anyway, point is, by the turn of the century, the more information we had, the less that chance played a role in predicting the weather.
Sit, predict.
Well, first, you need to understand the Coriolis effect.
No, I mean tell me where my ship is gonna land.
Oh, I don't know why I'm so upset.
- Jill's right.
- He's so wrong.
- I'm being emotional.
- How can he have no emotions? But I've got this idealistic girl in front of me.
He's like talking to a robot.
I do need to be the adult.
All he cares about are facts and data.
No one's interested in context.
Dani can't see what's right for her.
Soon we're all going to be reduced to data points, numbers.
Oh, my God.
Thank you.
[FOOTSTEPS DEPART.]
[BUZZER BLARES.]
[DOOR OPENS.]
I literally had to wade through a crowd of your supporters to get in here.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
You did? At least 300 people.
[SIGHS.]
This is all so strange.
Tomorrow, there will be more people, even more when the trial starts.
The reading of the verdict will be an absolute spectacle.
And if you're convicted, your supporters will be outraged.
They'll march to stop the lying and spying you exposed.
They'll organize to stop these deportations.
They'll get brave, just like you.
They'll stand up.
But you You won't get to be a part of it, this community you helped to create, because you will be here, just another number in the federal prison system.
45278-054.
That will be you.
I want to make a difference.
Then let me get you out of here.
Let me go to the table.
Let me do the job I was meant to do so you can do what you were meant to do.
Stand up and fight.
I know you like to eat at 12:30 on the dot, [SINGSONG VOICE.]
so I brought you something.
[NORMAL VOICE.]
Classic Italian from Zeno's.
You don't like peperoncinis, but you prefer to pull them off yourself.
You introduced me to this place.
I've had this sandwich a thousand times, and there's always exactly 24 peperoncinis inside.
You don't want to know the odds on that.
I don't.
I'm grateful for the sandwich, but I'm not helping you.
I'm sorry about what I said before.
I'm sorry about how you feel about Mom and Dad and about me growing up.
It's just crazy because I always looked up to you.
I was jealous that you wanted to follow in their footsteps.
I was jealous of how much they seemed to love it.
I felt like they didn't care as much about the things I was into.
I felt like I never had a chance.
Huh? Look, I'm the oldest.
They were into math and science, so I wanted to be.
I didn't have anything to rebel against.
It was me and them.
You felt like they didn't understand you.
I felt like they let you be you.
Free.
They're controlling.
You never saw that.
You think living in that apartment doesn't come with strings? You don't think it gets thrown in my face anytime I don't call for a week or blow off dinner with them? [SIGHS.]
This kid, Keenan, is about to get lost in the federal prison system.
Every extra day he spends in there is one less day he gets to spend with the brother he adores.
It's 12:30.
You got to eat.
Two people can see the same factual events differently.
You and I are an example of that.
It's why humans are imperfect machines.
That's why we need these algorithms.
You're trying to fight the algorithm.
You want to discredit the data That's the wrong approach.
Okay.
Use the data.
Play the human, the judge.
Machines don't have ego.
People do.
How are things with the AUSA who shall not be named? [CHUCKLES.]
Off to see her now.
Ugh.
I'm sorry.
But that also means you convinced Dani to let you negotiate a deal for her.
I know.
Small victories.
Big victories.
Congratulations.
Well, at the very least, I'm not gonna fill up our office with hundreds of boxes of discovery.
Hundreds of boxes of discovery? The government would never produce documents in a case like this.
[TELEPHONE RINGING.]
- KATE: You're late.
- I'm not late.
I'm pretty good with time.
I'm not late because I'm not coming, but I'll be in court in an hour.
You should be there, too.
[RECEIVER SLAMS.]
[RECEIVER CLACKS.]
As you're aware, the statute under which Ms.
Rios is being charged, 18 USC 793d, requires that the government prove Ms.
Rios' leak caused injury to the United States or advantage to a foreign government.
As long as the government refuses to even acknowledge the existence of the surveillance program Ms.
Rios leaked, it is impossible to determine whether it could cause injury or advantage.
What exactly are you saying? I'm saying that, in order to prepare our defense, we need the government to produce all the documents related to this surveillance program.
Those are highly-classified documents, Your Honor.
That are essential to our defense.
This is an unusual request.
We're in an unusual situation.
Your Honor, if you grant this request, the government will be forced to choose between revealing classified information and continuing with this prosecution.
I understand the government's predicament.
But the basis for this request is valid, and I'll grant it.
As the production of these documents is obviously problematic for the government, I assume We'll produce the documents.
- What? - Ms.
Littlejohn We'll produce the documents.
Do you need to check with your supervisor, Ms.
Littlejohn? - No.
- You sure? Yes, however, the documents will need to undergo a full national-security review and then be redacted prior to production.
Based on the volume and sensitivity of this material, I'd estimate a delay of at least 18 months, during which time, the government would strongly advocate for Ms.
Rios' continued detention.
- Your Honor - I'd like to see the two of you in my chambers now.
Listen, I'm not gonna get involved on one side of this, but I know neither of you wants this case to go to trial.
Figure this out.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
[SIGHS.]
His name was Richard Prince.
You asked me why I wanted to do this? Richard Prince He sat behind me in Ms.
Diller's history class.
He talked a lot.
He cheated.
At the end of the first semester, he had the highest grade in the class because he cheated.
I liked school.
Richard didn't like school.
Maybe he didn't need it.
I don't know, I don't care.
I needed it.
I looked forward to Mondays, school.
The weekends, when I was at home [INHALES DEEPLY.]
We had two field trips every year in my middle school.
The big one in seventh grade was across the state to the U.
S.
Capitol.
I had been looking forward to the Capitol trip since I was 5 years old.
I'd memorized every Speaker of the House since Frederick Muhlenberg.
I knew that the prize for designing the Capitol building was $500.
I knew that the Dome was made of 8,999,200 pounds of cast iron.
I knew this, and I wrote all these things down in a little notebook, and I pasted pictures into the notebook so I could bring it with me when we went our trip and make sure I saw everything I'd ever read about.
I was more excited about this trip than I've ever been about anything in my life.
We were 18 miles outside of Roanoke when Richard Prince pulled out his phone on the bus.
There was one strict rule on this trip no electronic devices, none.
But Richard Prince had brought his phone.
Ms.
Diller told him to put it away.
He refused.
His friends started to defend him.
It got loud.
I sat in the back of the bus with my hands over my ears, looking through my notebook, staring at pictures of the Dome, the crypt, the Old Senate Chamber.
But it just got louder, louder, more out of control, and then I felt the wheels of the bus turn.
I didn't look up, but I felt it.
We were going home.
I was looking forward to that Capitol trip for six years six years and I did not get to go, because Richard Prince decided the rules didn't apply to him.
49 kids didn't get to go because of 1 person.
Is this what I wanted to be when I was growing up? Yes.
Injustice isn't only felt by the loudest person complaining about it.
The government withdraws the espionage charges and Dani pleads guilty to theft of government property.
Time served plus three years of supervised release.
[BUTTONS CLICKING.]
- Roger.
- Hey, sorry about that ship.
Why sorry? Oh, I heard it didn't end up in Brooklyn or Manhattan.
- New Jersey, ugh.
- That's a kick in the ass, huh? Mm.
Actually, because of some weather-predicting calculations I won't bore you with, I knew where that ship was going.
So I arranged to thank some NYPD officers that have been assisting me by sending them to a fine dinner at a great restaurant, which happened to be near New Jersey's Cape Liberty Cruise Ship port.
So they were in perfect position to nab McKenna when he stepped off that ship, and before the sun came up, he was safely back here, in the arms of the Southern District of New York.
- [BELL DINGS.]
- Win-win.
I'm off here.
Your Honor, I understand the appeal of using this sentencing software, EVALUATE.
I do.
It appears to be efficient, precise, immune to emotion and lapses in logic.
It seems fair and unbiased, so shouldn't we attempt to be fair and unbiased in evaluating whether it actually works? 32, 19, 34.
Are you picking lotto numbers for me, Ms.
Adams? 32% is the federal recidivism rate.
19%? 19% is the recidivism rate of defendants tried and sentenced in your court, Judge Barish.
It's one of the lowest in the Southern District.
34%? That's the recidivism rate of EVALUATE, higher than the national average, 15 points behind you.
I'm sure you have a theory as to why that is.
I think you know I do, but you asked me to have faith in you, in your experience, your judgment, and I do.
And these numbers back that up.
You're not arbitrary or capricious.
[SIGHS.]
When you were in elementary school, IBM built a computer that it claimed could beat a world champion in chess.
It couldn't.
Lost to Garry Kasparov.
IBM made some tweaks, and Deep Blue the rematch.
Today, every one of us can download free chess software on our phones that would demolish Kasparov.
Technology isn't perfect, but it's always improving.
I may have been premature in relying on EVALUATE, but this is the future, Ms.
Adams.
I appreciate your arguments here today.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER, CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING.]
[SIGHS.]
This is it.
Own it.
[HORN HONKING IN DISTANCE.]
My name is Dani Rios.
I stand here today as a veteran, a patriot, and the proud daughter of immigrants.
Well, how does it feel to be free? WOMAN: What is it like to be a folk hero? I am not a hero.
I am just a regular American citizen who wanted to shine light on injustice.
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING.]
Thank you.
That's all for now.
Thank you.
I like it.
How long you been working on that? Long time.
Ever been? No.
[MOLLY KATE KESTNER'S "COMPROMISE" PLAYS.]
People tell me, sell me potions Notions, all success and fortune Who are they to tell me? [SINGSONG VOICE.]
Come home with me.
Barish only gave Keenan six months.
The government wanted two years.
We're celebrating.
I know you prefer wine out of the box, but this is amazing.
I've got work to do.
If you don't come home with me, I'll drink this entire bottle.
You know what happens when I drink an entire bottle of wine.
You do all the Schuyler sister parts from "Hamilton" and our neighbor calls the cops.
Don't do that to me.
Please.
- I won't - I won't say goodbye [KNOCKS ON DOOR.]
Hey, you got to come out for drinks.
No date tonight? She might need a little cooling-off time.
Well, I can't, thanks.
I have to work.
I don't care.
I told Seth I owe him a drink sometime for his help with the cruise ship.
He said tonight's good.
I'm not drinking alone with him.
Don't make me do that.
Try to shut me, cut me down to size But trust me, they don't even know me They don't even know me I don't need to justify the way I live my life, It's mine, so who are you to tell me? - [KNOCK ON DOOR.]
Guest of honor.
Who are you to tell me? I owe you the part of me, heart of me Just enough to start something Reach in my pocket.
Don't.
No way my card's in there.
[SIGHS.]
Dude That's incredible.
Would've been cooler if it was a rabbit.
- [CELLPHONE CHIMES.]
- I won't say goodbye - Dreams I had since I was five - - You can never break me - - Can you feel that? - One more.
Nice.
Won't apologize I don't care if you're satisfied [CHUCKLES.]
Hi.
- Long time.
- Too long.
Never gonna change me Never gonna change me No, no, no, no, no Oh, you're never gonna change me Never gonna change me I won't compromise I won't Won't apologize I don't care if you're satisfied Never gonna change me Never gonna change me Never gonna change me Never gonna change me I won't compromise, no
This is your home.
Your kitchen.
- Food.
- Not that, that Zack's.
[POUNDING ON DOOR.]
Your listing said "One-bedroom apartment," nothing about sharing.
[AIR BLASTING.]
My mother came by for lunch and wanted to say hi.
I hope my son is doing an adequate job for you, but if he's not, promise you'll never show him any special favor just because of me.
Deal.
If anything, I'll make it even harder on him.
How about that? Prison isn't the answer for everything.
Have some compassion.
I have compassion for people who follow the rules.
Did you ever break a rule? For which you didn't pay the appropriate price? Has that ever happened? You could be a good lawyer.
What did I get? You said, on the first day, "Get something.
" You got beat.
And now you got to get up.
[ALEX GOOSE & HEMLOCK ERNST'S "NO LABEL" PLAYS.]
Wanna be respected as a man, not a label Wanna be a legend, not a fable Just trying to put food on my family's table And I'm ready, willing, and able To lay all the cash on this blacktop The bar slinger, Harriet with the hair trigger finger Signed, sealed, delivered, heavy ball swinger Cash and card clinger Remember the kiss behind the gym? She stepped up at grade six - Now it's caked fish in the lobby - [ELEVATOR BELL DINGS.]
A diamond hobby, Lexington Grand Handle hard and stick to the plan Handle hard and then we're in it for life No passion out the dog in this fight Just too bright in this limelight Dimes pop up in low places, give me your name She likes the way I move platelets Heaven and earth in one millisecond Cursed to move heaven from birth in one vivisection And I'm up for it Crowd's applause all worth the problems Seeming a gladiator in the coliseum Problems find me when I'm hardly breathing Head heavy with my lady screaming She love and hate me, and she love to hate me Wanna be respected as a man, not a label Wanna be a legend, not a fable Just trying to put food on my family's table And I'm ready, willing, and able To lay all the cash on this blacktop Wanna be respected as a man, not a label Wanna be a legend, not a fable Just trying to put food on my family's table And I'm ready, willing, and able To lay all the cash on this blacktop Dani Rios.
Dani Rios.
26, ex-military, now a government contractor working for the NSA in intelligence analysis.
You see where this is going? - She's a whistle-blower - She's a thief who allegedly leaked documents revealing that the NSA has been illegally accessing confidential medical databases in order to identify undocumented Americans.
who stole highly-classified government files jeopardizing an important national security initiative.
She sent the documents to a fringe left-wing website.
The mainstream media.
- The documents haven't been published.
- yet.
But there are rumors of the programs existence.
If I were to guess I am certain - Dani is an idealist - a punk - well-intentioned - sanctimonious - misguided - entitled - in over her - swollen head.
I'm giving this case to you, Sandra, because I think you can connect with her I'm giving this case to you, Littlejohn, because I know you'll want to crush her because you understand the rule breakers.
because you believe in the rule of law.
- Do your best.
- Win.
Taj Mahal? No.
Do you know how long it took me to get here on the train? [CHUCKLES.]
You took the train? 45 minutes.
It takes 45 minutes.
You're nervous, aren't you? It's my first sentencing.
Oh, well, you're gonna do great.
- Is this your new case? - Mm-hmm.
Okay, now I'm nervous.
I've read your sentencing brief.
It's superb.
Y-You always do this.
Not that.
This.
You're up against Kate Littlejohn.
- So what? - Not so what.
Talk to Jay.
Definitely not "so what.
" Hey.
- I'm busy.
- I thought you'd like to know that things are getting better with me and Ezra.
My Airbnb roommate.
We worked out this, uh shower schedule.
As long as I'm in by 5:00, I can stay in there as long as I want literally as long as I want.
I negotiated that.
So that's pretty cool.
Do you need something? Just wanted to say "hi," good morning.
I'm glad you showered.
I just have this new case, and it's a lot.
This partner in my old law firm once told me the first thing you do when you get a case is find out who opposing counsel is.
Most of the time, it's some deadbeat, and then you feel better about yourself.
Opposing counsel is Sandra Bell.
So that partner's advice was pretty bad all around.
You're gonna tell the judge my uncle gave me that gun after our apartment got broken into twice? Yes.
Everything is in our papers.
And those kids who stopped me and little brother that day are in a gang.
I bought the gun just to get them to back off.
I would never hurt anyone, but I got to protect Donovan.
We've only got each other.
I know, Keenan.
I know.
But you did plead guilty to possession of a firearm.
We have to be prepared for some jail time.
If I go away for too long, I don't know what'll happen to my mom and Donovan.
- I take care of them.
- Judge Barish will factor all of this into her sentencing determination.
She's reasonable.
[ELEVATOR BELL DINGS IN DISTANCE.]
I've reviewed the pre-sentence report, and I have both of your briefs.
I'm prepared to impose my sentence.
I do want to inform you that I'll be utilizing the Greene-Haot risk-assessment software, EVALUATE, to assist in determining the appropriate sentence.
Software? An algorithm that makes a determination about the defendant's potential recidivism.
Many courts across the country are already utilizing this tool.
I'm sorry, Your Honor.
Can the court educate counsel on what factors go into this algorithm? There are a lot of factors, but the exact formula is proprietary.
What we do know is that this technology promises to bring uniformity and fairness and scientific discipline to an area of law that has always been arbitrary and capricious.
This is a good thing, Ms.
Adams.
You're asking my client to simply have faith that this program is fair? I am not asking you or your client anything.
I am telling you how I plan on determining this sentence.
If you need faith in something, have faith that I've been a federal judge for 17 years and I know what I'm doing.
Respectfully, Your Honor, I'd like the opportunity to address the court on the software before sentencing.
I'll give you one week to prepare an argument.
We're in recess.
[KNOCKS ON DOOR.]
You went up against Kate Littlejohn, right? Why would you say that name in this office? This is a safe space.
What's the problem with her? You ever go to a movie and there are, like, two people talking right behind you and they're ruining your movie and you're like, "Mm! I really want to say something, but I'm scared they're gonna dog-pile me"? And then some other person just says, "Hey, shut up!" And the people talking shut up, and you're really grateful for that person and wondering why you were so wimpy, but then you start worrying that person who told them to shut up is now gonna yell at you about something, and you realize that person is the person that really scares you? That's Kate Littlejohn.
She's intense and uncompromising, and she instills in you an incalculable fear and dread.
I think you might not have the same issues I did, though.
You went up against Sandra Bell, right? And won.
Why? She's opposing counsel on my next case.
Did you get the leaker case? Don't tell me you got the leaker case.
O kay.
Did you get the leaker case? Yes.
If it was anybody but you, I'd be annoyed.
- You're annoyed.
- Super-annoyed.
Roger's punishing me for bringing my mom here.
Tell me about Sandra.
She's self-righteous, passionate, in your face.
I don't like her.
I don't like what she represents.
I don't like who she represents, and if I ever got arrested, she'd probably be the first person I'd call.
I can cancel my date tonight and work on this with you.
I don't want you to cancel your date.
You sure? - Yes.
- Oh.
I'll be thinking about you the whole time.
High-profile case, Kate Littlejohn.
The press is gonna have a field day with this.
It's important.
It's not high profile.
[BUZZER BLARES.]
You know what they're doing, right? They're accessing hospital databases without patients' permission.
They say it is an anti-terror program, a-a way to find people who are off the grid, but they're not using it to find terrorists.
They're using it to deport people, regular people, people who were brave enough and hopeful enough to leave everything they knew and come here.
I was trying to do the right thing.
I know you were.
But it may have been the right thing at the wrong time.
The government is aggressively prosecuting leakers right now.
They're gonna try to punish you.
I believe our best chance is gonna be to try to negotiate with the government for a deal.
You face decades in prison if you get convicted at trial.
A deal, I might be able to get it down to five years.
I never thought I'd end up in here.
In jail? Me? Two tours in Iraq, and now I'm an enemy of the state, all over the news.
You're not all over the news.
KATE: We never sent out a press release.
'Cause we didn't want any press.
Isn't the point of prosecuting a leaker to send a message? No, the point of prosecuting a leaker is to stop the leaking of classified information.
The more we talk about it, the greater the risk that information gets out.
Well, I think it was a mistake.
Burying this makes it look like we're hiding something.
We are.
[CHUCKLING.]
Well, if I was on the other side, I'd do something with that.
They never issued a press release.
Because they didn't want any press.
- Why? - My guess? Dani's a highly sympathetic defendant.
If her story gets out, people will be mad, and then they'll be more interested in the very thing the government was trying to protect.
That puts pressure on the government to reveal more about what happened.
To drop or at least reduce the charges against Dani.
You're gonna do this, aren't you? Unless you tell me not to.
24 hours ago, the FBI arrested a young woman for telling the truth, that in the false name of anti-terrorism, the United States government has been illegally accessing the confidential medical records of millions of Americans in order to identify and deport undocumented immigrants.
The government tried to keep this program a secret, and now it's trying to keep this arrest a secret, but this is America.
My client's name is Dani Rios.
She's a hero.
Not a criminal.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
- I don't know how to say no - [BOTH BREATHING HEAVILY.]
Don't hold me accountable [SIGHS.]
Damn.
Damn! You broke my brain.
You literally broke my brain.
[CELLPHONE CHIMES.]
Gotta go.
Find my clothes.
- Everything okay? - [SIGHS.]
Work stuff.
I have to be in Brooklyn.
- Why? - Because it's where I work, Brooklyn.
- Yeah, what's the case? - Can't say.
I'm Southern District, you're Eastern.
- We're family.
- [CHUCKLING.]
That's messed up.
You broke my brain.
[SIGHS.]
Bart McKenna.
The Bart McKenna? $100 million Ponzi-scheme Bart McKenna? Saw the story broke yesterday.
Yeah, we were scrambling to make a case, and then he ran.
Slipped town last night on a cruise ship, except his ship stalled in the middle of the Hudson River.
And as soon as we can get it towed to Brooklyn, I'll be waiting there with the FBI.
Which is why I have to go to Brooklyn.
Congratulations.
That's huge.
This is our secret.
Mm-hmm.
Which part? All of it.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
Bart McKenna's on a boat.
Is this that game where I add a sentence to yours - and we make a story? - The Ponzi guy He's stuck on a cruise ship in the middle of the Hudson.
Eastern is trying to make that case.
Yes, but they haven't yet.
And he's incorporated in Manhattan.
Several of his victims are here, so if I get that boat to dock in Manhattan, we can claim venue as much as they can.
You're trying to steal this case? Trying to get off the bench, get you a win, get myself a game ball.
I hate sports metaphors.
But I like what you're saying.
You want me to go after this? - Yes.
- Great.
If you steal a case for the Southern, that's good for me, and if you blow this, then I can feel less guilty about making you pay for parading your mom through my office.
Win-win.
You wanted to see me.
You need to respond to that press conference.
I thought we didn't want press.
We didn't want press, but now there's press, and it's not the press we want, so you need to respond.
I think that's a mistake.
Didn't you think it was a mistake not to go to the press? Before she made a move, yes.
But now she's a made a move, a big one outside the lines.
When you go outside the lines, there can be unintended consequences, so let's see what they are before we respond.
I didn't ask to see you.
I know.
I just knew you'd want to.
This algorithm Barish wants to use is so far from objective I can't even find a word to describe it.
Subjective? It's called EVALUATE? I evaluated EVALUATE, and Keenan is now twice as likely to get a max sentence just because he's black, from Mott Haven, and dropped out of high school at 15.
I've heard of these programs.
They're intended to remove bias.
The data is biased.
A computer doesn't know that Mott Haven is policed at a significantly higher rate than Riverdale.
Maybe it does know.
But it can't possibly know why.
This software has no historical context.
It can't account for slavery, Jim Crow, Reaganomics, the war on drugs, a crumbling education system - 10 more seconds.
- What? 10 more seconds of preaching to the choir, and then you have to decide what to do.
You have to defend Keenan as vigorously as you can, of course, but you also have to consider whether Judge Barish is going to listen to you, whether she's dug in, whether your digging in is gonna make it worse for Keenan.
You have to be realistic.
[TELEPHONE RINGS IN DISTANCE.]
Keenan didn't finish high school because his mom's MS went into hyperdrive.
He ha to work so his brother could keep playing travel football.
Keenan thinks his brother can get a college scholarship, and if he lived one block over, he'd be in a better zip code, according to that stupid machine.
Then you've decided.
Good.
Fight the machine.
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACH.]
Has she called to make a deal? She will.
Did you know Kate was Secretary General of the U.
N.
? Uh, in high school, model U.
N.
, but still Uh what happened at sentencing? [TELEPHONE RINGS.]
Yes.
Okay.
I'll be right there.
- Kate? - No.
I saw you on the news.
They let us watch some TV.
I'm trying to put some pressure on the government to bring them to the table.
And? And I haven't heard from them yet.
Good.
I don't want a deal.
What are you talking about, Dani? You called me a hero.
I wasn't trying to be.
I mean, it wasn't like I wanted to get caught, but I was.
And now I'm hearing from people people who need someone to listen, and I want to stand up for them like you stood up for me.
Standing up for people is my job.
It's not your job.
It's who you are.
A job is what I was doing on the 14th floor of the Vetracom Building, working for the NSA, but it's not who I am.
It's crazy I served in Iraq, but this feels like the real test for me.
- It's time to be brave.
- You are brave, but that doesn't mean staying in jail.
It does mean that if that's what it takes to send a message.
If I take a deal and plead guilty, what message does that send? That I didn't believe in what I did? That I was wrong? Our government is targeting people who are sick and hurt and brought to emergency rooms by relatives who are terrified of going to the hospital, but they risk it because they're even more terrified of losing a loved one.
And now They'll lose them anyway.
All my life, I've been around people like this, who were afraid to stand up because they felt like they couldn't.
But now I have a choice.
You showed me that.
I can sit at the table and negotiate away my soul, or I can stand up like you.
I don't want to take a deal.
You know what that means? It means I can make a difference.
- She doesn't want a deal.
- Because? Because of me, my press conference.
- So try again.
- It's not gonna happen.
Dani doesn't want a deal because there isn't a deal.
It's always easier to say "no" to something in the abstract.
People say, "I don't want to get married.
" Then some handsome man stands there, telling you he loves you, and before you know it, you're married.
I don't want to get married.
I really wouldn't recommend it.
Talk to Kate, see what she's offering.
Looking at 15 years in prison versus a deal in hand, you'd be surprised how quickly minds change.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER.]
[TELEPHONE RINGS IN DISTANCE.]
[GASPS.]
That's a Classic Italian from Zeno's.
With extra peperoncinis.
The greatest sandwich in the world.
I'm gonna eat this until you to tell me to stop.
Okay, what's up? Judge Barish is using a sentencing algorithm that was basically built to screw my client and everyone who looks like him, and I'm pretty sure I need the help of an expert to discredit it namely, a mathematician.
Okay.
Okay.
So you go.
Be nice.
Your brother will be flattered.
[CHUCKLES.]
You don't know Eddie.
Not as much as I'd like to.
I'm the odd one out in this family.
You know that.
They're all science and data "great minds," and I'm an idealistic public defender.
It's squishy to them.
I might as well be in a mime troupe.
- [LAUGHS.]
- They don't get me.
You probably don't get them.
Whose side are you on? Oh, my God, this sandwich is so good.
I'm sorry.
[CHUCKLES.]
You have a client who needs you.
You share blood with someone who can help.
Do what you have to do.
[SIGHS.]
Give me that.
I'm saying, a ship that size dead in the water, we'd have to mobilize a lot of tugboats to haul it in.
McKenna sees that, he might freak out and take hostages.
We don't need to do this on the water.
If the captain makes a routine announcement, like "help is on the way," you can send in tugboats without raising suspicion and tow the ship to Manhattan, which we can all agree is closer to where the boat is than Brooklyn.
It's not gonna happen.
What's not gonna happen? A storm's coming in, a big one.
I'm not putting a bunch of little boats - on the water in a storm.
- He's right.
Let the storm pass and tow it somewhere then.
Manhattan.
Has to be here.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
Excuse me.
- You'd have done the same thing.
- Never.
And now you can send all of these people home because I'm gonna get my boss to call your boss and put a stop to this.
And when he asks how I knew Bart McKenna was on that ship? Meanwhile, I go to my boss, who calls his boss, and on up it goes until it's settled by whichever guy owes some other guy dinner, and everyone up the chain thinks we're idiots for not figuring this out on our own.
There's one crucial part of this you're not getting.
- This is my case.
- Was.
Now it's nobody's.
I snaked you.
I did.
So as an act of kindness, I'm gonna leave this up to the weather.
- The weather? - Storm.
Ship will blow one way or the other.
Whichever side it's closest to, they get the case.
- That's stupid.
- It's fair.
- I don't trust you.
- I don't trust you.
Deal? You're the worst.
I would have done the same thing.
But you're coming to my place in Red Hook tonight and making this up to me in the filthiest way possible.
[KNOCKS ON DOOR.]
[DOOR CLOSES.]
Sister.
Brother.
Anywhere you like.
- First time you've been to my office.
- It's nice.
I'm not in the basement anymore.
That's good.
How's work? That's kind of why I'm here.
I need your help.
Have you heard of the sentencing software EVALUATE? It's amazing.
Amazing? "Groundbreaking" and "revolutionary" also apply.
- The algorithm is biased.
- An algorithm isn't biased.
That's definitively the point, why it's a good thing.
It sentences blacks and Latinos disproportionately to whites - for the same crimes.
- So do judges, right? This algorithm is an improvement.
It's a check on an already-flawed system.
My client's looking at more time than he should because of this software.
More time than you think he should.
You see? There.
That's bias.
I didn't come here to debate this with you.
Then why did you come here for the first time ever? To ask a favor.
I need you to look at that software, look at the coding, tell me how it works.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY.]
So you can discredit it? So I can do what's right by my client.
Interesting tact when asking a favor, to insult what I do? But that's what you do, whatever you want answer to no one, and everyone is at your service, - except I'm not Mom and Dad.
- I don't think you understand my relationship with Mom and Dad.
I understand they let you live in their gorgeous apartment.
I live in Washington Heights.
You said you wanted to be close to work.
They never asked if I wanted it.
They gave it to me out of pity because they think that I can't take care of myself.
[SCOFFS.]
I'm not surprised you believe that.
I have to go.
You've never been to my office.
What? Your snarky comment about me not visiting you? But you've never been to my office either.
That's fair.
You want to know what that algorithm can't do? Feel.
Understand nuance.
Empathize.
No wonder you respect it so much.
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACH.]
Ms.
Bell.
Please, call me Sandra.
Let's get started.
There are two counts against Ms.
Rios under the Espionage Act, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years.
If Ms.
Rios pleads to one count, we will recommend 78 to 97 months, taking into consideration the severity of the leak and prior criminal history.
She has no prior criminal history.
She has a juvenile adjudication for disorderly conduct.
When she was a juvenile.
Juvenile adjudications can be applied in sentencing, Ms.
Bell.
Don't lecture me about sentencing, and my name is Sandra.
If you call me Ms.
Bell again, I'm leaving.
The offer is 78 to 97 months.
- That's too high.
- This isn't a negotiation.
Then what is it? 63 months.
[CHUCKLES.]
Why don't you tell me what you have the authority to go to? Oh.
Oh, I see.
You don't have any authority.
You came here to see what you could get and then try to sell it to your client.
- Is that it? - 63 months is not good enough.
There is no offer of 63 months.
You're withdrawing your offer? If you can't accept, I can't offer.
Why doesn't she want a deal? Because she wants to take the stand so she can tell the world how evil the government is.
Dani loves her country.
Odd way of showing it.
I'm sorry, how long did you serve in the military? Same amount of time you did.
Why don't you be reasonable here? Why don't I be reasonable? Your client decides one day, "You know what? I'm gonna decide public policy for the United States government me, by myself.
Forget the laws passed by the elected representatives of the people, the deliberations of the professionals charged with protecting our national security and enforcing our immigration laws.
I, Dani Rios, have decided I know better than all that.
I'm gonna do what I want.
And my lawyer is gonna do what she wants and enter a plea negotiation in total bad faith because we do what we want.
Because everything works out in the end, as long as I'm reasonable.
" Is this what you wanted to be when you were growing up, really? I genuinely do not understand it.
You're a glorified hall monitor walking around with your clipboard, taking names, checking lockers, wrapping knuckles.
Don't you care about what was in those documents Dani leaked, what they mean, that our government is accessing confidential medical information to deport people? Why are the rules more important than the people they are designed to protect? I think we're done here Ms.
Bell.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
[SIGHS DEEPLY.]
JILL: Come in, Sandra.
SECRETARY: You can go in, Ms.
Littlejohn.
I understand if you're upset I'm not upset.
I'm disappointed.
I picked you for this case because I thought you would identify with Dani - identify with her, not be her.
- Dani isn't the problem.
You let this woman get inside your head, and then you went into that meeting without the tools you needed to get the job done.
Dani is too young and naive to understand what's at stake here, but you're not.
Kate Littlejohn is unreasonable.
She's a prosecutor.
I think it's more than that.
Don't let it be more than that.
- I understand if you're upset.
- I'm very upset.
- We're going to trial.
- Oh, no, you're not.
- She rejected the deal.
- Well, try again.
Sandra Bell is unreasonable.
- She's a public defender.
- She's an unreasonable public defender.
Now you're just getting redundant.
This isn't about her.
It's about what's good for your client, and your client is the United States, and a trial is not good for the United States.
I picked you for this case because you are stone cold.
I do have feelings.
They're in the way.
NEWSCASTER: Jim, while the residents of New York's five boroughs still need to prepare themselves for the brunt of the storm, we now see indications that it might veer to the south.
No, no! Not south! - North! Go north! - Hey.
What's going on in here? - Storm's getting bigger.
- That's not good.
Not if it blows that boat to Brooklyn, it's not.
Plus the possible loss of life and property, but okay.
You know why I became a prosecutor? So you could steal cases from other prosecutors? - 'Cause we hold all the cards.
- Mm.
We choose when to charge, if to charge, how much to charge, what evidence to use.
We're in control.
Today my whole job depends on something as random as the weather.
Oh, yeah, but fortunately for you, it's not 1875.
What? For most of human existence, we didn't imagine weather could be predicted or even should be because that was God's area.
But with the rise of technology in the late 19th As a teenager, I was a bit of an amateur meteorologist.
You were into magic, too, I bet.
Nah.
I may have done a mentalist act.
Anyway, point is, by the turn of the century, the more information we had, the less that chance played a role in predicting the weather.
Sit, predict.
Well, first, you need to understand the Coriolis effect.
No, I mean tell me where my ship is gonna land.
Oh, I don't know why I'm so upset.
- Jill's right.
- He's so wrong.
- I'm being emotional.
- How can he have no emotions? But I've got this idealistic girl in front of me.
He's like talking to a robot.
I do need to be the adult.
All he cares about are facts and data.
No one's interested in context.
Dani can't see what's right for her.
Soon we're all going to be reduced to data points, numbers.
Oh, my God.
Thank you.
[FOOTSTEPS DEPART.]
[BUZZER BLARES.]
[DOOR OPENS.]
I literally had to wade through a crowd of your supporters to get in here.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
You did? At least 300 people.
[SIGHS.]
This is all so strange.
Tomorrow, there will be more people, even more when the trial starts.
The reading of the verdict will be an absolute spectacle.
And if you're convicted, your supporters will be outraged.
They'll march to stop the lying and spying you exposed.
They'll organize to stop these deportations.
They'll get brave, just like you.
They'll stand up.
But you You won't get to be a part of it, this community you helped to create, because you will be here, just another number in the federal prison system.
45278-054.
That will be you.
I want to make a difference.
Then let me get you out of here.
Let me go to the table.
Let me do the job I was meant to do so you can do what you were meant to do.
Stand up and fight.
I know you like to eat at 12:30 on the dot, [SINGSONG VOICE.]
so I brought you something.
[NORMAL VOICE.]
Classic Italian from Zeno's.
You don't like peperoncinis, but you prefer to pull them off yourself.
You introduced me to this place.
I've had this sandwich a thousand times, and there's always exactly 24 peperoncinis inside.
You don't want to know the odds on that.
I don't.
I'm grateful for the sandwich, but I'm not helping you.
I'm sorry about what I said before.
I'm sorry about how you feel about Mom and Dad and about me growing up.
It's just crazy because I always looked up to you.
I was jealous that you wanted to follow in their footsteps.
I was jealous of how much they seemed to love it.
I felt like they didn't care as much about the things I was into.
I felt like I never had a chance.
Huh? Look, I'm the oldest.
They were into math and science, so I wanted to be.
I didn't have anything to rebel against.
It was me and them.
You felt like they didn't understand you.
I felt like they let you be you.
Free.
They're controlling.
You never saw that.
You think living in that apartment doesn't come with strings? You don't think it gets thrown in my face anytime I don't call for a week or blow off dinner with them? [SIGHS.]
This kid, Keenan, is about to get lost in the federal prison system.
Every extra day he spends in there is one less day he gets to spend with the brother he adores.
It's 12:30.
You got to eat.
Two people can see the same factual events differently.
You and I are an example of that.
It's why humans are imperfect machines.
That's why we need these algorithms.
You're trying to fight the algorithm.
You want to discredit the data That's the wrong approach.
Okay.
Use the data.
Play the human, the judge.
Machines don't have ego.
People do.
How are things with the AUSA who shall not be named? [CHUCKLES.]
Off to see her now.
Ugh.
I'm sorry.
But that also means you convinced Dani to let you negotiate a deal for her.
I know.
Small victories.
Big victories.
Congratulations.
Well, at the very least, I'm not gonna fill up our office with hundreds of boxes of discovery.
Hundreds of boxes of discovery? The government would never produce documents in a case like this.
[TELEPHONE RINGING.]
- KATE: You're late.
- I'm not late.
I'm pretty good with time.
I'm not late because I'm not coming, but I'll be in court in an hour.
You should be there, too.
[RECEIVER SLAMS.]
[RECEIVER CLACKS.]
As you're aware, the statute under which Ms.
Rios is being charged, 18 USC 793d, requires that the government prove Ms.
Rios' leak caused injury to the United States or advantage to a foreign government.
As long as the government refuses to even acknowledge the existence of the surveillance program Ms.
Rios leaked, it is impossible to determine whether it could cause injury or advantage.
What exactly are you saying? I'm saying that, in order to prepare our defense, we need the government to produce all the documents related to this surveillance program.
Those are highly-classified documents, Your Honor.
That are essential to our defense.
This is an unusual request.
We're in an unusual situation.
Your Honor, if you grant this request, the government will be forced to choose between revealing classified information and continuing with this prosecution.
I understand the government's predicament.
But the basis for this request is valid, and I'll grant it.
As the production of these documents is obviously problematic for the government, I assume We'll produce the documents.
- What? - Ms.
Littlejohn We'll produce the documents.
Do you need to check with your supervisor, Ms.
Littlejohn? - No.
- You sure? Yes, however, the documents will need to undergo a full national-security review and then be redacted prior to production.
Based on the volume and sensitivity of this material, I'd estimate a delay of at least 18 months, during which time, the government would strongly advocate for Ms.
Rios' continued detention.
- Your Honor - I'd like to see the two of you in my chambers now.
Listen, I'm not gonna get involved on one side of this, but I know neither of you wants this case to go to trial.
Figure this out.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
[SIGHS.]
His name was Richard Prince.
You asked me why I wanted to do this? Richard Prince He sat behind me in Ms.
Diller's history class.
He talked a lot.
He cheated.
At the end of the first semester, he had the highest grade in the class because he cheated.
I liked school.
Richard didn't like school.
Maybe he didn't need it.
I don't know, I don't care.
I needed it.
I looked forward to Mondays, school.
The weekends, when I was at home [INHALES DEEPLY.]
We had two field trips every year in my middle school.
The big one in seventh grade was across the state to the U.
S.
Capitol.
I had been looking forward to the Capitol trip since I was 5 years old.
I'd memorized every Speaker of the House since Frederick Muhlenberg.
I knew that the prize for designing the Capitol building was $500.
I knew that the Dome was made of 8,999,200 pounds of cast iron.
I knew this, and I wrote all these things down in a little notebook, and I pasted pictures into the notebook so I could bring it with me when we went our trip and make sure I saw everything I'd ever read about.
I was more excited about this trip than I've ever been about anything in my life.
We were 18 miles outside of Roanoke when Richard Prince pulled out his phone on the bus.
There was one strict rule on this trip no electronic devices, none.
But Richard Prince had brought his phone.
Ms.
Diller told him to put it away.
He refused.
His friends started to defend him.
It got loud.
I sat in the back of the bus with my hands over my ears, looking through my notebook, staring at pictures of the Dome, the crypt, the Old Senate Chamber.
But it just got louder, louder, more out of control, and then I felt the wheels of the bus turn.
I didn't look up, but I felt it.
We were going home.
I was looking forward to that Capitol trip for six years six years and I did not get to go, because Richard Prince decided the rules didn't apply to him.
49 kids didn't get to go because of 1 person.
Is this what I wanted to be when I was growing up? Yes.
Injustice isn't only felt by the loudest person complaining about it.
The government withdraws the espionage charges and Dani pleads guilty to theft of government property.
Time served plus three years of supervised release.
[BUTTONS CLICKING.]
- Roger.
- Hey, sorry about that ship.
Why sorry? Oh, I heard it didn't end up in Brooklyn or Manhattan.
- New Jersey, ugh.
- That's a kick in the ass, huh? Mm.
Actually, because of some weather-predicting calculations I won't bore you with, I knew where that ship was going.
So I arranged to thank some NYPD officers that have been assisting me by sending them to a fine dinner at a great restaurant, which happened to be near New Jersey's Cape Liberty Cruise Ship port.
So they were in perfect position to nab McKenna when he stepped off that ship, and before the sun came up, he was safely back here, in the arms of the Southern District of New York.
- [BELL DINGS.]
- Win-win.
I'm off here.
Your Honor, I understand the appeal of using this sentencing software, EVALUATE.
I do.
It appears to be efficient, precise, immune to emotion and lapses in logic.
It seems fair and unbiased, so shouldn't we attempt to be fair and unbiased in evaluating whether it actually works? 32, 19, 34.
Are you picking lotto numbers for me, Ms.
Adams? 32% is the federal recidivism rate.
19%? 19% is the recidivism rate of defendants tried and sentenced in your court, Judge Barish.
It's one of the lowest in the Southern District.
34%? That's the recidivism rate of EVALUATE, higher than the national average, 15 points behind you.
I'm sure you have a theory as to why that is.
I think you know I do, but you asked me to have faith in you, in your experience, your judgment, and I do.
And these numbers back that up.
You're not arbitrary or capricious.
[SIGHS.]
When you were in elementary school, IBM built a computer that it claimed could beat a world champion in chess.
It couldn't.
Lost to Garry Kasparov.
IBM made some tweaks, and Deep Blue the rematch.
Today, every one of us can download free chess software on our phones that would demolish Kasparov.
Technology isn't perfect, but it's always improving.
I may have been premature in relying on EVALUATE, but this is the future, Ms.
Adams.
I appreciate your arguments here today.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER, CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING.]
[SIGHS.]
This is it.
Own it.
[HORN HONKING IN DISTANCE.]
My name is Dani Rios.
I stand here today as a veteran, a patriot, and the proud daughter of immigrants.
Well, how does it feel to be free? WOMAN: What is it like to be a folk hero? I am not a hero.
I am just a regular American citizen who wanted to shine light on injustice.
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING.]
Thank you.
That's all for now.
Thank you.
I like it.
How long you been working on that? Long time.
Ever been? No.
[MOLLY KATE KESTNER'S "COMPROMISE" PLAYS.]
People tell me, sell me potions Notions, all success and fortune Who are they to tell me? [SINGSONG VOICE.]
Come home with me.
Barish only gave Keenan six months.
The government wanted two years.
We're celebrating.
I know you prefer wine out of the box, but this is amazing.
I've got work to do.
If you don't come home with me, I'll drink this entire bottle.
You know what happens when I drink an entire bottle of wine.
You do all the Schuyler sister parts from "Hamilton" and our neighbor calls the cops.
Don't do that to me.
Please.
- I won't - I won't say goodbye [KNOCKS ON DOOR.]
Hey, you got to come out for drinks.
No date tonight? She might need a little cooling-off time.
Well, I can't, thanks.
I have to work.
I don't care.
I told Seth I owe him a drink sometime for his help with the cruise ship.
He said tonight's good.
I'm not drinking alone with him.
Don't make me do that.
Try to shut me, cut me down to size But trust me, they don't even know me They don't even know me I don't need to justify the way I live my life, It's mine, so who are you to tell me? - [KNOCK ON DOOR.]
Guest of honor.
Who are you to tell me? I owe you the part of me, heart of me Just enough to start something Reach in my pocket.
Don't.
No way my card's in there.
[SIGHS.]
Dude That's incredible.
Would've been cooler if it was a rabbit.
- [CELLPHONE CHIMES.]
- I won't say goodbye - Dreams I had since I was five - - You can never break me - - Can you feel that? - One more.
Nice.
Won't apologize I don't care if you're satisfied [CHUCKLES.]
Hi.
- Long time.
- Too long.
Never gonna change me Never gonna change me No, no, no, no, no Oh, you're never gonna change me Never gonna change me I won't compromise I won't Won't apologize I don't care if you're satisfied Never gonna change me Never gonna change me Never gonna change me Never gonna change me I won't compromise, no