Boston Legal s01e04 Episode Script

Previously on Boston Legal.
You disapprove of me.
You know, I'd stake out a little distance from that Shore guy, Sally.
He tends to leave people's minds a little worse off than he finds them.
Why are you counseling Sally to distance herself from me? There are "happily ever after" guys, and there are those who leave girls in a heap.
- And I can tell the difference.
- Sorry I'm late, good people.
Edwin, everything all right? - Hunky-dory.
- Denny, guess what? I'm due in court with Tara.
We're on it.
Don't you worry.
You just get better.
- Okay.
- Demagnetize his parking pass.
- I beg your pardon? - I know when a man is gone.
- Helen.
- He's gone.
- Denny, Edwin's gone! - I know.
Shame.
No.
I mean, he's missing.
He left the hospital.
Did he come here? Not that I'm aware of.
Anyone see Edwin Poole? Your Honor, at this time, I would like to discharge counsel.
Can you tell me why you want new counsel? On the grounds of "intolerabilitude.
" Not a real word, Mr.
Litch.
It should be, Your Honor because it describes my deteriorating relationship with the man vested with the responsibility of provin' my innocence.
- Sir, you confessed to the crime.
- I changed my position on that.
Mr.
Litch, this is the seventh attorney you've sought to discharge on the eve of trial.
Your Honor, I am anxious for my day in court.
I'm lookin'forward to seein' 12 open minds in that box 'cause I don't see one where you're sittin' and I don't have one sittin' here with me.
Well, here's my problem, Mr.
Litch.
I'm all out of public defenders.
Every available one, you fired.
I'll do it.
Attorney Edwin Poole, Your Honor, of Crane, Poole & Schmidt.
- I'll represent Mr.
Litch.
- You're the Edwin Poole? - Indeed.
- From Crane, Poole & Schmidt? - Indeed.
- And you're offering to defend this man? Yes.
Mr.
Litch, I will give you a new attorney.
What I will not give you is additional time.
- This trial will begin tomorrow - May I be heard on bail, Judge? No, you may not.
10:00 tomorrow.
Defendant stays in custody.
We are adjourned.
Hello, Mr.
Criminal.
We can talk back in custody.
- Incidentally, what are you charged with? - Murder.
You got yourself a top-of-the-line criminal.
- He did what? - He took a case.
Left the hospital, went into criminal session and took a case.
- We need you to get down there.
- Whoa.
- No, never mind "whoa.
" - I do not do criminal law.
- I can't go.
I'm in trial.
- We have lots of other lawyers.
- You used to be a D.
A.
You can do it.
- What about Alan Shore? Lewiston needs him for something else.
I need you to get down there, please.
- He is sitting in a jail cell.
- What do you mean, he's sitting in a jail cell? He walked back into custody, went into the cell there.
He sits with the client, happily so.
Please get down there.
- So what's it about? - I have no idea.
If you need a second chair, it would be nice for Paul Lewiston to know that I exist.
- Denny Crane.
- You got it.
What can I do for you? Thank you.
Please have a seat.
We represent a company the C.
E.
O.
Of which is in need of immediate legal assistance.
Lee Tyler.
Brilliant woman.
Kind woman.
Also, a kleptomaniac.
She's about to go on trial tomorrow for stealing a $200 scarf.
It's ordinarily a small matter.
Here's why it's not.
If she gets convicted of this crime she violates a morals clause in her contract.
She's out as C.
E.
O.
And since she's the one who hired us, we stand to lose our biggest client.
We have exhausted all conventional means to make this go away.
We have failed.
We now need an attorney with experience in perhaps unconventional means.
- I don't care.
- You don't care? - He basically escaped from a mental facility.
- Objection.
You're talking as if I'm not even in the room.
It's inappropriate.
No offense, Edwin, but you shouldn't be in the room.
- You should still be in the hospital.
- Look, Miss Colson.
Your firm took this case.
If Edwin Poole lacks capacity to try it, then it falls to you.
- Me? I don't practice criminal law.
- Counsel, I have had it.
This case has been perversely delayed.
I've had a widow and her two children show up for trial four times only to have it put off.
I won't delay it another day.
If he can't do it, then you will.
Now, I suggest you get back there and meet your client.
He pulls me over for running a stop sign.
I got this dime bag of coke, you know? So I stuff it under my seat so he can't see it.
- I also got my gun under there.
- He's a drug dealer.
Continue.
So he comes to the window and gives me this and that about road safety and all that.
And then he tells me to step out of the car.
And suddenly, I'm thinkin', "Damn! He's gonna search it!" And two priors for intent, I'm a dead man.
That's strike three.
It's life sentence.
So I panicked.
I reached under the seat, I grabbed the gun and shot him.
Boom! Sorry.
Continue.
Well, I panicked.
I don't even remember it.
I'm tellin' you the truth.
I mean, one second I'm thinkin'life sentence.
And the next thing, I'm squeezin' the trigger.
- And then what happened? - Well, I drove off.
And I'm seein'on the news how they had this big manhunt.
And they had a partial license plate, so I figured it was only a matter of time.
One week later, my door is busted in.
I try and go out the window.
And that's when I got shot.
Finally, I just confessed to it all in the hospital.
- And they don't have the gun? - No gun.
No witnesses.
They ain't got nothin'.
- Except your confession.
- Well, yeah.
Mr.
Criminal, I don't ever like to make predictions.
But I think we can get you off.
I asked her if I could look in her bag.
She said to me, "What right do you have?" I said, "Well, ma'am, I'm a security officer for the store.
" - And then what happened, sir? - She let me look in her bag.
- And there was the scarf.
- Did she say anything? Said she had no idea how it got there.
Tell me, Mr.
Lyne, from what distance did you see the accused put the scarf in her bag? - I didn't actually see it myself.
- Oh, you didn't see it? No.
A store clerk said she took it.
Ah.
There we go.
Do you see the store clerk here today, sir? Yes, I do.
Miles Tibbet, sitting right over there.
This man? He told you the defendant took the scarf? Yes, he did.
How do you feel about working undercover? - I'm sorry? - Their entire case is a store clerk.
I want to put a private investigator on him.
Follow him.
We pick the opportunity for you to meet him.
Lunch, perhaps.
- And then what? - Denny Crane.
Then you order appetizers, elicit some disparaging information allowing him to believe you're anyone at all other than the defendant's lawyer.
- Is that fair? - I don't understand the question.
He says he grew up watching Perry Mason and he promised himself he would one day do a criminal trial.
Certainly you are not going to let him.
He seems to have his wits about him.
The truth is is he's probably more equipped than me.
I think the best thing would be for me to supervise and let him first chair.
- Edwin.
- Paul.
You really think you're up to this? I did clinical work in law school.
The rules of evidence are the same as civil.
There's no great mystery to it.
Also, he came to me in a dream last night and he told me to try this case.
- God? - Perry.
I'll first chair.
Can I help you? - Whatever's on tap.
- You got it.
How's it goin'? Fine, thank you.
Sally.
You're very beautiful but I don't do that sort of thing.
What sort of thing? What? You think I'm a hooker? - Here you go.
- Excuse me.
Can you throw that in this man's face? I'm sorry, but but beautiful women don't usually come up to me and say hi unless Well, excuse me for thinking you look like a decent guy.
Do you know how hard it is for a girl to just go out for a quiet beer by herself without being attacked by wolves? I thought you looked safe and nice.
And you called me a hooker.
Learn anything? Only his whole life story.
And no one is bidding for the movie rights.
Trust me.
He collects autographs.
Has almost 1,200 of them including the entire cast of Mamma Mia, national tour.
Oh, yes, and he's allergic to shellfish.
- Want more? - Yes.
This is very helpful.
Hello? It's him.
Hi, Miles.
How's it going? We would like to be able to offer you witnesses.
Unfortunately, there were only two.
One's dead.
The other's on trial.
The good news is he confessed, though he now wants to recant.
You will hear from the officer who listened to that confession and you will find it reliable.
You will find it consistent with the truth the truth that on July 17 the defendant, Warren Litch, shot dead Officer Michael Devereaux.
Good morning.
My name is Lori Colson, and Your Honor, at this time, I would like to discharge counsel.
- Denied.
- In that case, it should be known that this woman didn't even bother to meet me until yesterday.
My own lawyer.
I mean, she didn't even know my name.
She is unprofessional, she is unprepared, and, on top of that, she's fleshy.
I want me a thin, wiry attorney.
Somebody hungry forjustice! Motion for new counsel denied.
May I have a moment with my client, Your Honor? Please.
What the hell was that? I didn't like the look of the jury.
I was goin' for a mistrial.
You didn't get one, did you? All you did was alienate them and undermine me in the process.
Do you wanna go to prison? Lady, I'm goin' to prison.
I shot a cop.
Ain't no doubt I'm goin' to prison.
The only real livin'I got left is in this trial business and I'm happy to stretch it out forever.
You think this is some game for you to have your last joyride? I killed a man, Miss Colson.
And I see his widow sittin' in there, and I see his kids.
I know this ain't no game.
Son, if I might ask why did you call her fleshy? I was just tryin'to humanize her.
Juries don't like beautiful women.
You think I'm fleshy? Is there any deal to be made here? A plea? They don't need to deal, Warren.
You confessed.
Another curious strategic move.
I only confessed 'cause they tricked me.
What do you mean, they tricked you? They got the doctor to tell me I was about to die.
And then they sent in this cop undercover pretendin' to be the hospital chaplain.
And he laid it on thick with the whole "confess thy sins," or there's no heaven for me.
They told you you were dying to get you to confess? Yeah.
- And then he pointed to me right in open court.
- What'd you do? I just tried to sit straight and undaunted.
- The chief witness for the prosecution, you know? - Isn't it exciting? - It is.
- Mmm.
L I even invited a few of my friends to, you know, come watch.
- You did? - It's silly, I know.
But this is the first time I've been at the center of of anything.
- I'm sure you'll do fine.
- Really? Yeah.
And I don't think I'll get too nervous.
I take beta-blockers for anxiety.
- Retail must be very stressful.
- Yes.
But I love it.
Listen, um, you're probably wondering why I asked you to lunch.
I just I don't meet too many women.
It's not what you think.
I swear.
I'm not about to ask you out on a date or anything.
But I did wanna tell you how much last night meant to me.
What did it mean? We drank beer.
Sally, for a beautiful woman to talk to me for three hours as if I were an interesting person as if my life were interesting that meant something to me.
That's really all I wanted to say.
L I'm grateful.
Cheers.
Denny.
I need you at 12:30.
It'll take five minutes tops.
I need to trade a little on your prominence your heft.
- What do you want me to do? - I don't want you to do anything or say anything.
I just want you to be.
Be all that you can be.
One of the few, the proud.
You don't want me to say anything? Just those two little words that tend to shock and awe.
Denny Crane.
Feel free to mock me all you want, but don't you dare ridicule our troops.
Just so I'm clear, I should feel free to mock you.
He basically said that he panicked.
His next conviction was strike three.
He'd be looking at a life sentence, and he just panicked.
And by panicked, you mean He reached under the seat, retrieved the weapon, and shot the officer.
He told you he shot Officer Devereaux? Yes, sir.
He asked me to forgive him, and he asked God to forgive him.
Thank you, Officer.
- Your Honor, at this time, I would - Sit! Just to remind the jury, at the time my client said all of this to you, he thought he was dying? - Yes, ma'am.
- And he thought you were the hospital chaplain? Yes, ma'am.
Thank you, Officer.
That's it? Two questions? That was your cross? I didn't have much to cross him with, Warren.
Then what was the point of your questions? Tell me that.
I was trying to establish that you were coerced.
- The judge doesn't shock easily, but maybe the jury does.
- Oh, I see.
You were goin' for shock value.
Maybe you could've really gone for it and asked three questions.
- Hey, Warren, if you're unhappy with me - Then what? The judge isn't gonna let me hire anybody else.
You're all I got, lady.
You're all I got.
Miles.
Thank you so much for coming.
Alan Shore.
The D.
A.
Said I didn't have to talk to you.
Which only compounds my gratitude for your choosing to do so.
- Let's go to my office.
- What's this about? Well, believe it or not, it's about your best interest, Miles.
Gosh, my office seems so far away.
Let's go to this one over here instead.
Sally Heep, Miles Tibbet.
Perhaps you've met.
Sally gets around.
She works with me.
And certainly you've heard of this gentleman.
- He needs no introduction.
- Denny Crane.
- Please, have a seat.
- Alan Thank you, Sally.
I'll take it from here.
You've done more than your share.
Let's make this brief, Miles.
We represent a woman who is charged with stealing a scarffrom the store where you work which is precisely what she did.
You saw the whole thing.
So we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place, Miles.
The rock being our client, C.
E.
O.
Of a Fortune 500 company who has made it abundantly clear the only acceptable verdict is not guilty and the hard place being you, Miles, the eyewitness.
But maybe you aren't so hard after all.
Am I right? I'm not sure what you're Sally has given me some information which regrettably I'm ethically required to attack you with in court.
For example, since I know you take beta-blockers for your anxiety some possible side effects being dizziness, confusion I am duty-bound to raise it.
Also, the idea that you invited a few friends down to the courthouse to hear you testify it would be malpractice for me not to make a small snack of that.
Of course, I'll have to get into your inferiority complex stuff about if a girl smiles at you, she must be a hooker.
- But I never said - I'm talking, Miles.
- Alan I'm talking, Sally.
You collect autographs, Miles.
That must be fun.
Standing around on cold, drizzly nights waiting for famous people to give you a cursory glance a moment of their time, perhaps, if they take pity on you.
Do people often take pity on you, Miles? Wouldn't surprise me.
I'm seeing a pattern here.
Pity, anxiety, inferiority.
- All those "ity" words.
- This isn't fair.
You're right.
It's not.
But you have a job to do, and so do I.
Yours is to sell socks and suspenders.
Mine is to cross-examine people like you and crush them.
- This man here would fire me if I didn't.
- Denny Crane.
He would fire me, Miles, if I didn't explore every nuance and shadow of your personality.
Every secret place and insufficiency in the hours that you will spend in that witness chair, Miles in front of all those friends you invited.
And when I'm finished with you, even they will believe you are a vindictive pathetic little sycophant who has falsely accused and probably framed a fine woman for something she never did and never would do only so that you could get at long last your moment of attention.
By the time I'm done I'll have you believing you put that scarf in her handbag.
Lee Tyler can afford to hire any attorney in the world.
She's chosen me.
Do you wonder if I'm any good, Miles? Do you really wonder? - May I speak with you a moment? - I don't wanna speak with you, Alan.
- If I told you Miles was coming - I do not want to speak with you.
Can you please walk away? Sally, that was not a pleasant meeting.
Typically, when associates are unhappy, I give them a hug.
- I don't want a hug, Mr.
Crane.
- Okay.
May I have one? They told me that he was religious.
That maybe if he thought he was about to die his conscience would get the better of him.
So you told Mr.
Litch he was dying? Yeah.
I'm not proud of it.
But I probably should've And, Doctor, did you also hear Mr.
Litch confess to killing Officer Devereaux? - Yes.
- You're sure? I'm very positive.
Thank you, Doctor.
Okay.
How long had he treated you before you In fact, you told him he had less than an hour to live? - Yes.
- You lied to your own patient? They told me that he had murdered a police officer, and As a result of this despicable conduct, were you disciplined by the hospital? My privileges were suspended for three months.
- And you're back in the E.
R.
Now? - No.
No.
I've started my residency in the neurology department.
- Your specialty is the brain? - Yes.
Doctor, as a neurologist, how does trauma and extensive blood loss affect the brain? Uh, sometimes it can compromise mental functioning.
Can it cause a person to become delusional? I don't believe he was delusional that night.
Did he suffer trauma and extensive blood loss? Yes.
Yes, he did.
But Can you state to a medical certainty that he was not delusional? No.
One last question, and this one I ask you as a layperson, a human being.
Is it conceivable to you that if you had a loved one who had panicked and committed a horrible crime, say murder somebody you cared deeply for perhaps a brother, a best friend maybe your son had done this horrible thing and you lay in a hospital bed dying is it conceivable that knowing you were dying, you might take the blame for something you didn't do just to spare your loved one a life sentence? - Objection.
- Sustained.
Did it ever occur to you that night, Doctor, Warren Litch said he committed the crime simply to protect somebody else? No.
No, it didn't.
I bet it never occurred to the police either.
Nothing further.
Mr.
Preston? The prosecution rests, Your Honor.
Miss Colson? The defense rests, Your Honor.
- How do I not get in that chair? - Edwin did a good job.
- If I don't say I didn't do it, then - I can't put you in that chair.
- Why? - Because you did do it and I cannot put a witness in the chair to lie.
- I have a right to testify.
- But it would have to be in the narrative.
Best case scenario, you'll trip all over yourself.
Worst case, one of the jurors will know why it's in the narrative.
- Then why can't you ask me questions that would allow - Because I can't.
We have rules, Warren.
One is I cannot put you up there to knowingly lie.
Our best strategy here would be to argue the prosecution didn't satisfy its burden.
This is my life on the line here.
And you keep talking about a system of rules and regulations? I'm in this for my life here and you're supposed to be in this for my life too.
Well, I'm not.
Don't get me wrong.
I will give you the very best defense I know how but I will not allow myself to be in this for you.
I will play my part in a system that I have an enormous allegiance to but I will never be in this for you.
Hey.
That was pretty awesome today, Edwin.
People forget I'm a brilliant trial attorney.
I can be nuts and still brilliant.
How do you feel about closing? If you can close like you crossed, then That was Perry's strength, you know the closing.
What do you think? I told the man I'd get him a "not guilty.
" I might as well see it through.
It's hard, isn't it? What is? Coming to care for a person who committed such a heinous act.
It's hard to reconcile what we do and who we are sometimes.
I don't care about him.
I'm just doing a job.
You know, in Perry's closings, he would point to the real killer.
I don't suppose I should do that, should I? Tibbet's a good man, Alan.
Decent.
He was just doing his job.
Yes, he was.
And so were you, and so was I.
And after ambushing him, you can just shake it off? I'm not shaking anything off.
Miles Tibbet had a very bad day.
I had a bad day too, Alan.
I was taken advantage of.
Or don't you consider sending me to go hit on some guy at a bar taking advantage? It has nothing to do with what I consider.
Whatever.
It's not the kind of thing you ask of someone that you care about.
Do you care about me, Alan? I care a great deal for you.
That's why I'm gonna give you some very sound advice.
Run.
- What? - This is a bad business.
It is an often filthy, dehumanizing, mean-spirited job.
I assure you, I take no pleasure in it.
It just comes easily to me.
But you are not that way.
So I suggest you think long and hard about whether you really wanna wake up every morning with all the promise that morning conveys and come here.
Which I say to you only because I care.
You are such a liar pretending that this stuff doesn't affect you.
That you can just brush it off.
I'm afraid I can.
You heard from witness Frank Simmons who saw an S.
U.
V.
Speed by him a mile from the scene around the time of the murder with a license plate beginning with 3-L-6.
Mr.
Litch's S.
U.
V.
Has a license plate beginning with 3-L-6.
And when the police entered the defendant's apartment, what did he do? He didn't ask, "What's this about?" He didn't say, "Hey, what's going on?" He knew exactly why they were there, and he immediately began his escape.
And then in the hospital, he confessed.
It wasn't a delusional confession.
He described a fact pattern which was completely consistent with the crime.
The defendant admitted that he was afraid of yet another drug conviction that would land him a life sentence.
He panicked, pulled out a gun and fired.
Now, his lawyer suggests he was perhaps delusional when he confessed or that he simply lied to protect the real killer, a friend or loved one.
Desperate suggestions for a desperate client.
It's insulting to this court, to you and especially to that woman and her two children.
Warren Litch murdered her husband.
Warren Litch killed their father.
He admitted to the police that he did so.
Let's not waste any more time.
Edwin? It's your turn.
I fell asleep last night and forgot to prepare a closing.
- I meant to tell you.
- You don't have a closing? No.
Do you? - Counsel? - Edwin, you've got nothing? When I was a little boy, my father said to me I can still hear his voice I believe he said, "Ladies first.
" I don't know about you, but if I hear that someone confessed to a crime, then I just assume he's guilty.
But if I hear the confession is coerced, then For example, you could have a man bleeding out with a stomach wound put him in a room with the police and clergy who keep insisting to him that he did something and he might actually come to believe it.
And, gee, what if it was a friend or a loved one who was driving Warren's car that night? That would explain why Warren was trying to flee, wouldn't it? He likely knew the police were coming to mistakenly arrest him.
Did the police investigate any of this? My God, we all assume Warren Litch is guilty.
But what if he isn't? Now, let's turn to the other evidence.
Wait.
There is no other evidence.
No gun, no witnesses, no fibers, no forensics.
All they have is that coerced confession.
Now, you might think he did it.
And if you're determined, you can even still assume it, I suppose.
But if you're to uphold the law and demand proofbeyond all reasonable doubt and if we don't demand that do we really want to send a message to the police? "Hey, forget the evidence.
Just bring us that confession.
" They really should give you your own office.
Evidently, the store clerk has recanted.
He's suddenly not sure he saw Lee Tyler take the scarf.
- The case might even be dropped.
- It's a great country.
The district attorney has lodged a complaint against you for witness tampering intimidation, obstruction ofjustice, extortion.
He should make up his mind.
This firm does not engage in that kind of conduct, counsel.
We do not intimidate or blackmail.
The attorneys at Crane, Poole & Schmidt conduct themselves with integrity always.
Do I make myself clear? More than clear.
Transparent.
Go.
Mr.
Shore.
Thank you.
Madame Foreperson, the jury has reached a unanimous verdict? - We have, Your Honor.
- Mr.
Litch, please rise.
Madame Foreperson, what say you? We thejury in the matter of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts versus Warren Litch on the charge of first-degree murder we find the defendant, Warren Litch, guilty.
Members of thejury, I would like to thank you for your service in this matter.
You are hereby excused.
Please be sure to sign out with the courtroom deputy so you are credited for your time here.
The defendant is to be retained in county until sentencing which shall be scheduled within 60 days time.
If that is all, then we are adjourned.
Listen.
I'll review any grounds for appeal.
The confession There are grounds.
Okay.
Okay.
- I'll be in touch.
I'll order up the transcript - Listen.
Um, I thought for somebody who felt the way you felt it was honorable for you to try your hardest.
And I know that you did.
Thank you.
Unprofessional for me not to be prepared with my closing.
I think I'll perhaps go back to the hospital, get a little tune-up.
Surely you're feeling better about things.
I've plied you with alcohol.
I'm sorry.
It suddenly occurred to me, Alan, you weren't using me at all.
You were using Miles.
How so? I think he was some sort of device for you to look despicable in my eyes.
It's your pattern with women, I think, to get them to You know, when you psychoanalyze me I find you much less sexually attractive.
Yes.
Nice deflection.
But Don't try and get in my head, Sally.
You won't like the mess.
You weren't telling me to run from the law the other night.
You were telling me to run from you.
Maybe you think it's my relationship with you that's ultimately dehumanizing.
So being an incredibly decent man which you are underneath all your stuff you decided to warn me.
- I'm not trying to push you away.
- Are you trying to keep me? We either go forward or go in opposite directions because I don't like where we are now.
By forward, you mean You know what? I think I'll just move forward.