Law & Order (1990) s17e13 Episode Script
Talking Points
NARRATOR: In the criminal justice system the People are represented by two separate yet equally important groups, the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
CROWD: One, two, three, four! Barlow is a great, big bore! One, two, three, four! Barlow is a great, big bore! One, two, three, four! Barlow is a great, big bore! One, two, three, four! H' you're asking me about the swing voters, who, by the way, I prefer to call them the "cretin block.
" (PEOPLE LAUGHING) I think anyone who has managed to live has, by definition, waived his right to have a voice in the management of the country.
(PEOPLE APPLAUDING) So you're suggesting all citizens shouldn't have the right to vote? I'm saying that for the process to have any legitimate meaning, a modicum of intelligence in the electorate is necessary.
In other words, some people are more equal than others.
MAN: True that! When Mr.
Sperm says hello to Miss Egg, everybodys equal.
After that, things change.
People become less equal, mostly due to the choices that they make.
Sounds like a hypocrite's justification for racism.
(PEOPLE CHEERING) Hypocrisy is fighting to keep religion out of politics, except when the Reverend Sharp ton is running for office.
Hypocrisy is treating those who believe in a higher being as being mentally deficient.
Except when Bill Maher is kissing the Reverend Jesse Jackson's butt on national television.
Hypocrisy is the utter moral indignation displayed at the taking of human life while dismissing it as irrelevant.
WOMAN: You're irrelevant! When it comes to partial birth abortions, and embryonic stem cell research.
Bitch! (CROWD CHEERING) Which brings us to the feminist problem.
You're the problem! You know you're just making my point (ALL CLAMORING) We have a feminist problem.
People, please! (CROWD SHOUTING) (GUNSHOT) (SCREAMING) Well, your guy had good aim, or the victim had bad luck.
One shot, boom, punctured the heart.
Looks like a large caliber.
What was he, like, 19? JIM: Next month.
His name's Jason Miles.
He just started his sophomore year.
Jimmy Morgan.
So, how's life out of the bag? It's all right.
You know, I've been meaning to call you at your new precinct.
Oh, well, maybe I'll answer.
What do you know? It was a mob scene.
Everybody ran when they heard the shot.
Is that who I think it is? Judith Barlow? Up close, personal, and a lot hotter than on the tube.
And them? Barlow's bodyguards.
Their weapons have been checked, both magazines are fully loaded.
No signs of recent discharge.
Voucher them for me and get 'em over to ballistics, will ya? And by the way I have a cell phone too, you know.
Your lecture tour takes you to other venues like this? Colleges, the last bastion of free speech and thought, as long as you say and think the party line.
You know, I think they threw a tea party for Hugo Chéwez here last month.
And a parade for Cindy Sheehan.
It's funny how those preaching tolerance turn out to be the least tolerant of all.
Right.
Can you tell us what happened? I've got a 10-year-old niece who can't even tell you who the vice president is.
But she sure as hell can put a condom on a banana in two seconds flat.
Yeah, the whole world's going to hell.
It's a damn shame.
You know what else is a damn shame? There's a dead kid 10 feet away from you and you're Well, that wouldn't have happened if Rudy still ran the city.
Officer, take those two in.
Take her too.
No wonder they call her the most hated bitch in America.
You mean woman, right? No, I mean bitch.
I mean, give a liberal a gun, he'll shoot himself.
(LAUGHS) There's a reason for gun control.
Oh, boy, lthought I'd at least get a Cheneyjoke.
Call me crazy, but if someone tried to kill me, I think I'd take it a bit more seriously.
Look, I'm sure you're very good at what you do, but I really don't think this had anything to do with me.
The Left's been castrated by the church of Phil Donahue, they don't carry weapons.
Hell, they won't even play dodge ball, for God's sakes.
So, why the bodyguards? To protect my clothes.
Ever since the Harvard scholars decided to conduct political debate with their dessert.
I've got drinks with Rush.
Detective, I I wanted to apologize if I came off rude before.
That's my cell.
Looks like someone's a little sweet on Eddie.
I would rather have root canal.
What do we have on the body? Crime Scene is still searching the auditorium and the surrounding grounds for a gun.
The bullet was a .
45.
Both bodyguards carry .
38s.
Well, that leaves us with 500 or so members of the audience.
You know, maybe we're looking at this wrong.
Maybe the shooter was after Jason Miles and he was using the mob scene as a distraction.
I've got news for you, Ed.
You agree with Judith Barlow more than you think.
Why don't we see if Jason Miles had any enemies? I met Jason on the first day of freshman week.
And we were together ever since.
(SOBS) I can't believe this is happening.
What about you? Jason never mentioned any problems with anyone.
CASSADY: No offense, but you seem a little old to be hanging out with sophomores.
What's your story? I'm Malcolm Yates.
I'm a PhD candidate.
Jason used to volunteer in the bio lab where I work.
He thought it would help with med school.
Mal was like his mentor.
Did Jason have words with anybody at the Barlow talk? Well, we weren't there.
None of this would have happened if he didn't take that damn course.
That professor's a fraud.
What professor? Uh, Kevin Gray.
He teaches Modern Political Thought.
He gets the kids all riled up.
Jason became obsessed with how the Right Wing is screwing up the country.
And that's why he went to see Barlow? Well, yeah.
Gray organized the protest.
I mean, the whole class was expected to go.
He swore he'd meet us up at Mal's apartment afterwards, for pizza and the Knicks game.
"Panopticon.
" Sorry, I don't speak French.
It's from the Greek.
A prison where a single guard can see all the prisoners all the time from a single spot.
And that's what we've become.
This entire country is one big prison.
Only the guards are using wiretaps, warrantless searches and torture.
That's really interesting but Big Brother is watching, man.
And his name is George.
So, what does the porcine patrol want from me? That I understand.
You just became a real pain in the ass.
And proud of it.
But this is America, where even a pain in the ass has the unfettered right to speak his mind, Frau Barlow and the Reich notwithstanding.
Okay.
What do you know about the shooting? I know the wrong person died.
Meaning Judith Barlow.
Tokyo Rose in a designer dress.
Her bosses preach war and hate and she sells it with a smile and a little cleavage.
I'll make this very simple for you, my students are morally opposed to violence.
Let me make this simple for you.
We need a list of the students that were at the lecture.
No problem.
I'll have my secretary get that for you.
If there's nothing else Listen, Professor, any other groups on campus that may not agree with your little point of view? You mean you think someone was deliberately aiming at Jason? Well, we're porcine, remember? We have to sniff all around the pen.
Well, there was some trouble at our pro-Palestinian march last month.
Things got a little out of hand.
Pro-Palestinian, my ass! It was an anti-Israel march! You wanna know the worst? That Professor was born Kevin Gray Lefkowitz.
Well, he actually struck me as more of a blame America kind of guy.
The only reason that they blame America is because they think it's run by a cabal of Jewish capitalists, whose only loyalty is to the vast Zionist conspiracy.
Here, let me show you something.
(CROWD YELLING ON COMPUTER) NATHAN: Some of the Jewish kids took exception to Gray's little demonstration.
Wait, stop.
Go back.
(REWINDING) That's Jason Miles beating on that kid.
NATHAN: His name's Danny O'Toole.
Maybe the shooting was payback.
O'Toole's not a Jewish name.
Danny's an Evangelical Christian.
The funny thing is, they actually care more about Israel than most of the Jews on this campus.
Go figure.
God gave Israel to the Jewish people and Christians have a Biblical duty to protect it.
Even if you get your ass kicked in the process.
A small price to pay.
The prophets predict that enemy armies will invade the Holy Land.
And at the final confrontation CASSADY: At Armageddon.
Very good.
Six years of Sunday School.
Then you know the final battle will precipitate the second coming of Christ.
Wait, hold on a second.
That's like a fancy way of saying your personal battle started with Professor Gray's march and ended Friday night at the Barlow talk with a bullet in Jason Miles' back.
Vengeance belongeth to me saith the Lord.
That sounds great on paper but I wasn't at Barlow's speech, Detective.
I was with Pastor Stevens.
Working the soup kitchen.
That's right, Danny was with me.
No offense, Pastor, but if you're covering for him, I know it's not a sin, but it's definitely a crime.
We're just a little curious.
Jason Miles beats the hell out of Danny O'Toole and a month later Jason ends up with a bullet in his back.
You might not be able to comprehend this but we actually believe in turning the other cheek.
Does that include not pressing charges for the attack? Danny and I debated whether to go to the police, but we decided against it.
I don't think my cheek would turn that far.
Well, mine didn't either, until Jason's girlfriend Kirsten convinced me otherwise.
She said a criminal record would ruin his chances of getting into medical school.
Nothing like forgiveness.
The deal was Jason had to work every Tuesday and Friday night, for the rest of the semester.
The Barlow talk was on Friday night.
That's right.
Kirsten showed up at the kitchen alone.
She said Jason wasn't feeling well.
Kirsten told us that she was with that grad student Yates, watching the Knicks, eating pizza and waiting for Jason to show up.
Yeah, why would she lie about being at a soup kitchen? To protect Yates.
We've re-interviewed Kirsten, she's sticking to her story.
There ain't no chance in France she's telling the truth.
We figure it's a love triangle and Yates got tired of sharing.
What did he say? We're hoping a little leverage will loosen his lips.
As in a warrant? Well, if we can get into his apartment, we might be able to find something.
She lied and you want to search his place? It's a shame.
What is? That we have a damn Constitution.
(PHONE RINGING) I'll tell you what, Jimmy.
I'll call you, okay? Let's hope Yates is as aggressive as your boy, there.
He's not my boy.
Yet.
Look, when you get lucky, your buddies usually hear all the dark and dirties, am I right? Oh, please! All I'm saying is, even a science geek has gotta have a couple of buds.
(sums) ED: So you two are pretty close? If you mean drinking the same rotten coffee at 2 a.
m.
out of the same unwashed pot, yeah.
We're peas in a pod.
Thing is, I'm Neurology, Mal's Cytology and never the twain shall meet.
He ever talk to you about Kirsten? Who? Kirsten, his girlfriend.
Cute blond, about this tall, she probably came around a lot.
I might be a science geek but that I would have noticed.
What about phone calls? You ever take a message from a girl? Yeah, his mom called once.
Something about grandma's birthday.
Look, I don't know who's been giving you your information but Malcolm Yates is not what you would call a ladies' man.
I mean, first off, he couldn't afford it.
He had to borrow rent money.
Second, the meeting of boy and girl he ever thinks about occurs in a Petri dish.
Like cloning? He's not trying to duplicate his dead Dalmatian Dolly, if that's what you're thinking.
He's creating human embryos to harvest their stem cells, to change the world.
I've heard Barlow rail against stem cells.
That would give Yates a reason to be at the scene.
It's all a little spooky if you ask me.
We're not exactly talking about Boys From Brazil here.
Yeah, I know.
I'm just saying I can see how reasonable people might disagree.
Reasonable morons.
I really wish you'd learn to speak your mind, Ed.
Well you try explaining to your dad every Sunday that you're not the neighbor's kid Frankie the accountant, then you can talk to me.
Your dad has Alzheimer's? Yeah.
Listen, Friday, before we got the call, I was watching the Knicks game.
How'd they do? How do you think? My point is it was only on cable sports package.
Now how does a starving college student who has to beg for rent money afford that? Thank you very much.
Ed! Hey, you want a hot cup of black disappointment? I don't think so.
That was the cable company.
They just confirmed they shut off Yates' cable two months ago after he missed three months of payments.
Two friends of the deceased lying to us? That ought to convince Judge "I'll sign anything" Barsky.
I guess the maid forgot to come this week.
He's in what, like the 17th grade? I figure he knows enough to toss the weapon.
I can't get in.
Well, let's just take it.
We've got our own geeks.
Detectives.
Look at this.
In the medicine chest, right behind the bottle of Scope.
Oh! .
45s.
Just like the one that killed Jason.
Looks like they hold off on ammo tossing till the 18th grade.
Why would I kill Jason? CASSADY: One girl.
Two guys.
It must have been a real pain in the ass, sneaking around behind Jason's back all the time.
You wanted her all to yourself.
You think Kirsten and me No way.
Jason was my friend.
What about Kirsten? She was Jason's friend.
Then Why'd she lie about being with you? It's the truth.
Oh, so it's Pastor Stevens who's the big liar.
Wow, we're going to be here for awhile.
Can I get you something? A soda? A cup of coffee? So what happens next, Detective Panty Line gives him a mani-pedi and a massage? What's your problem with female police officers? Nothing personal but last year, down in Atlanta that animal wrestles a firearm from a female guard and shoots both her and the judge.
I doubt that would have happened if the guard shaved every morning before work and I don't mean under his pits.
Do you talk like this in public? Ilike you.
This is me being polite.
Let's go.
I don't want to talk to her.
VAN BUREN: Oh, but she wants to talk to you.
Go ahead, Miss Barlow.
Tell Mr.
Yates your feelings on embryonic stem cell research.
You mean how if it had any validity whatsoever, the corporate world would be all over it quicker than pigs on crap? Or how when rats are treated with embryonic stem cells they end up with brain cancer.
That's a lie.
Your work's just a con job to extort money from the public, exceeded in its mendacity only by the three-card monte game played by the global warming crowd.
ED: Hey! Hey! Once again, words have failed the intellectual Left.
Should have been you and not Jason.
Arrest him.
CASSADY: Get down! "Docket number 0674561 âPeople v.
Yates, Malcolm P.
"Charge is murder in the second degree.
" Thank you.
Bernie Adler for the defense, Your Honor.
JUDGE: Yes, I know who you are.
A sawbuck says there's no need to ask for a plea.
Not guilty.
I should get on a bus to Atlantic City.
Your Honor.
Oh, lighten up, Counselor.
People request bail in the amount of one million dollars.
Mr.
Yates is a student who can barely afford his rent.
Let's cut that in half.
That's fine by me, Your Honor.
So, what do you say, Mr.
Adler? Deal or no deal? (LAUGHING) I'm sorry, I just can't resist.
Do I have a choice? Not really.
I'd think you'd be too busy closing down the Boy Scouts to find time for anything as prosaic as a garden-variety murder.
When the intended victim is Judith Barlow, it don't grow in my garden.
O kay, Jack, new that we've both got the Hemâ; Y oungman or should I say Sean Hannity, out of our systems, you called, we came.
You came because you know our case.
I thought there'd at least be some Danish and coffee.
It appears your client can afford to buy you breakfast.
If you're talking about bail, my mom mortgaged her house.
The bullets found in Mr.
Yates' apartment were the same type, caliber and make as those used to kill Jason Miles.
And his prints were on the box.
I had no reason to shoot Jason.
I agree.
You intended to shoot Judith Barlow Oh, God bless you.
JACK: but missed.
And as Mr.
Adler will tell you, in criminal law, intent follows the bullet.
I was framed.
Really? Then why did you lie to the cops? Because they were cops.
I was scared.
Like this wouldn't be the first time the government created a perpetrator out of whole cloth.
Are you suggesting the cops planted the bullets? Can you think of a better way to quell future incidents of civil disobedience? Unfortunately, Mr.
Adler, Judith Barlow is a private individual.
Who happens to be a shill for an illegal government's unconstitutional policies.
And you can call me Bernie.
I guess dealing down to man one is out of the question.
No Danish, no deal.
You think they're gonna come back with an offer? Bernie Adler? Not a chance.
The man tilts at windmills.
I'd feel better if we had more motive evidence.
Did you ever hear Barlow speak? Well, it's murder two.
I don't think that "I hate her politics" is gonna cut it.
Now I know you've never heard her speak.
You've got to admit, Barlow's a hoot.
I heard her say once that Mexico's lucky we let them be our neighbor.
How obnoxious is that? Yeah, but it's funny, in a sick sort of way.
Sorry, it doesn't look like Yates has sent her any hate-mail.
Most recently, all his e-mails have been to someone named Fogarty.
CONNIE: Go ahead and open that up.
Dr.
Keith Fogarty, Head of Research at Russell Laboratories.
Looks like Yates is looking for some new work.
Yeah, we hate to lose Malcolm.
'Cause when you're talking PGD, Malcolm Yates is your go to guy.
PG D? Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis.
It's a method of deriving stem cells from human blastocysts.
Wow! Sounds like somebody you'd want to keep around? I'd want to clone him, excuse the pun.
But this is a university and what's fair isn't always right.
So, you're letting Malcolm Yates go? Outside funding is our lifeblood.
The Marbury Foundation has decided that our yearly transfusion is going elsewhere next year.
So someone's gotta go.
Malcolm, unfortunately, is the junior member of our team.
Last in, first out, as they say in the economics department.
We simply decided to go in a different direction.
One far from public controversy.
Such as embryonic stem cell research.
Look, for the Far Right, embryonic stem cell research labs are the abortion clinics of the 21st century.
Now, sure, we can live with religious Zealots carrying signs out in our parking lot.
But wild-eyed pundits vilifying us to millions on cable TV and talk radio, well, that does damage that we can't readily heal.
Pundits like Judith Barlow.
She makes Ann Coulter look like Mary Poppins.
The final straw was when she went on Bill O'Reilly and she listed our Board of Directors by name, calling each one of them a murderer and a baby killer.
The last thing that we need is for the public to think the Marbury Foundation can be bullied by ideologues.
And the last thing I want is for this to turn into another Scopes Trial.
This case is about nothing more than Malcolm Yates blaming Judith Barlow for the loss of his job.
Because of her position on Put the guy from the charity on the stand to say that he cut off the funding because of Barlow's big mouth.
And how are we supposed to keep that big mouth from spouting off to the jury? You don't let her anywhere near the stand, that's how.
She's the intended victim.
She's also one of the most polarizing people on the planet.
I mean, 10 minutes of her bloviating and the jury will forget why they're there and convict the S.
O.
B.
of bad aim.
So that's it? Politics has infected every aspect of our culture to the point where I can't prosecute a murder the way it should be prosecuted without worrying about offending someone.
Welcome to the world.
You do politics, Arthur.
Not me.
I do the law.
Well, three cheers for you.
Buy yourself a drink.
You can curse the politicians all you want.
But the fact is, that the country has managed to choose up sides all by itself.
That's good.
Pass the buck to the people.
They're the ones who step into the voting booth.
I'm sorry, but the problem is not the people and it's not the politicians.
It's the pundits from both sides of the aisle who lie every evening on the cable news.
That's not politics.
That's chickens chattering in a churchyard.
You go ahead and prove your point.
Put Barlow on the stand.
No, you're right, Arthur.
I may not be political.
But I'm not an idealist either.
Good.
For a while I was afraid you chose the wrong profession.
Adler is moving to exclude all representatives of the Marbury Foundation from testifying.
ADLER: My point is simple, Your Honor.
Unless the State can prove that my client had knowledge that Barlow was responsible for his anticipated loss of employment, it would be highly prejudicial to allow such testimony into evidence.
The head of grants for the Foundation told me Barlow was the only reason for its decision.
Oh, I'm sure he did.
But did he tell Mr.
Yates? Do you have any evidence of the defendant's prior knowledge? It's obvious from his actions.
Not to me it isn't.
I'm going to grant Mr.
Adler's motion to exclude.
You're going to prevent me from presenting any motive evidence, in other words.
No.
Those would be the exact words, unless you come up with something a bit less speculative.
Please, please! Challenge anyone to show me where in the Constitution it says we can tum a living human into an organic chop shop.
This This so-called research is merely one step removed from abortion.
Some would argue a woman's right to determine what happens to her own body JUDITH: You mean the unfettered right to hop into the sack with men they don't consider Daddy material, don't you? Nobody has the right to do what he wants with his own body.
Can you sell a kidney? Not unless you want to spend h' you wanted to sell your eyeballs You've got to admit she's smart.
I do? Alright, provocative then.
She's a huckster.
Her books are flying off the shelves as we speak.
Anyway, I spoke with everyone who works at Yates' lab.
No one has ever even heard him mention Barlow's name.
So I went back to his laptop hoping I would find some political meetings in his calendar.
Tell me you found the annual "I hate Barlow" convention.
Sorry.
But I did notice a monthly appointment with a Dr.
Rooker.
His shrink? His neurologist.
Specializes in Parkinson's disease.
Yates has Parkinson's? It certainly would give him strong motive to shoot the woman leading the charge against the only thing that might offer him a cure.
Imagine if you felt your life accelerating into utter misery due to a debilitating disease.
And then imagine that a potential cure is in sight but Someone, in this case, Judith Barlow, is doing everything that she can to prevent that cure from becoming a reality.
What would you do? Your Honor Mr.
Yates has Parkinson's disease.
That's tragic.
But when he fired a gun at Judith Barlow, and mistakenly killed Jason Miles, he committed murder in the second degree.
Can we talk in chambers? He's mocking the proceedings.
Nothing like State sanctioned sympathy, Jack.
YourHonon believe me, my client is sick.
There is nothing he would like better than to stop shaking.
Too bad that's not an option.
Funny how he managed to sit still in my office.
That was my client on drugs.
This is my client au naturel.
It's a distraction meant to pull at the jury's heartstrings.
I want a mistrial and a retrial with the defendant on his medication.
Nothing I can do, Mr.
McCoy.
The right to confront witnesses doesn't come with a prescription.
I can't Force him to self-medicate.
Your motion is denied.
Judge, I know this is a bit unusual, but if it's okay with you, I would prefer to reserve my opening statement until the end of the State's case-in-chief.
Sure, why not? Thank you.
I'd been treating Malcolm Yates for nearly two years.
Although Parkinson's typically affects people over 50, there are a few reported cases of much younger sufferers, most notably the actor Michael J.
Fox.
Can you please describe the symptoms briefly, Dr.
Rooker? Basically PD is a motor system disorder resulting from the loss of dopamine producing brain cells.
The primary symptoms are tremors, or trembling, in the arms, legs, jaw and face.
Is there any cure? No.
But surgery or avariety of medications, levodopa combined with carbidopa, for instance, can provide dramatic relief.
JACK: But ultimately offer no cure? Unfortunately, that's true.
JACK: But there is a chance that a cure may be found using embryonic stem cells, isn't that right? Yes.
You see, the usefulness of embryonic stem cells is their ability to develop into any kind of cell in the body.
And researchers are currently attempting to use them to develop dopamine-producing cells.
Which would more or less put an end to Parkinson's disease.
That would be correct.
So, it seems perfectly reasonable that a Parkinson's sufferer like Mr.
Yates would do whatever it took to muzzle opponents of such research.
ADLER: Objection! Sustained.
As far as you know, is there any tangible evidence that embryonic stem cell research will lead to a cure for Parkinson's disease? At this time? No.
Is the possibility of a cure even close? Not really.
So it's all very speculative? I suppose.
So, it's a distinct possibility that Mr.
Yates would not see a cure in his lifetime if there is one to be found at all? Yes.
Now, being a scientist himself, would you expect Mr.
Yates to be aware of that? I'm sure he is.
So, practically speaking, muzzling an outspoken critic of stem cell research really wouldn't benefit Mr.
Yates at all, would it? Withdrawn.
Can't get good help these days, can you, Arthur? And you'd be referring to? Your Mr.
McCoy.
A week's worth of witnesses and the intended victim hasn't even testified yet.
For the record, that was my idea, Judith.
Giving you the opportunity to display your wit and wisdom to the jury would put us on the express train to an acquittal.
Oh, come on, Arthur.
People love me.
I'm sure some people love spiders too.
They eat flies, don't they? And we know what flies eat.
Very good.
I just love the old joust.
And I just came here to enjoy my scotch and newspaper Alone.
Oh, Arthur, let's not pretend we're not on the same side of the ideological fence.
Ideology's one thing.
Hyperbole is another.
Please.
All I do is make boring conservative talking points entertaining, so hopefully someone actually listens to them.
No, all you do is make people madder than a hound dog with a head cold so that along the way they miss the message completely.
I've got four number one bestsellers, Arthur.
How many does Antonio Scalia have? And you also look better in a cocktail dress.
I'd better go.
I wouldn't want your voting public to actually think we're friends.
Okay! Show of hands.
Are there any kikes here? How about spics? Objection! ADLER: Okay Now I know there are a couple of coons.
YourHonofl JUDGE: Enough, Mr.
Adler.
Pisses you off, doesn't it? Mr.
Adler! Actually I'll bet it pisses you off so bad you just threw your reason out the window and all you're thinking about is smacking me upside the head.
Objection! Counselor! Now, I tell you, if I were black and some honkie called me a coon JUDGE: Mr.
Adler! I'd actually think about killing the son a bitch.
In my chambers.
Now! What the hell do you think you're doing in there, Counselor? I was just trying I'm not done! This is a murder trial, Counselor.
And playing the race card is not only irrelevant, it's unethical! I'm the one talking now, Mr.
McCoy.
Okay, Mr.
Adler, you've got two seconds.
And it better be good or you're looking at a mistrial.
Not to mention a slew of contempt citations.
With all due respect, Judge, this case is essentially about hate speech.
Oh, give me a break.
That night when Barlow spoke about disabled Americans, she used language just as disgusting as the racial pejoratives I just tossed at the jury.
I was simply demonstrating the effect of such speech.
To what end? Such extreme emotional distress negates the intent required for charge of murder.
Even if that's true, we have made a case for manslaughter.
ADLER: Only nobody's charged him with that.
I can call a couple of hundred people to testify to Miss Barlow's odious comments.
They're not on defense counsel's witness list, YourHonoL I can't be expected to pose a few hundred witnesses in the middle of a trial.
Fine.
Then I'll just call one, Judith Barlow.
She's not on your witness list either.
Right.
That's why I move to amend.
You can't claim you haven't talked to her.
Let's not pretend we don't know what's going on.
Counsel plans to attack the victim.
That's right.
With her own words.
This I've gotta see.
Motion granted.
She's been in the gallery throughout the trial, YourHonoL She's heard all testimony.
I'll instruct the jury to consider that when weighing her credibility.
In that case, I insist you add all lesser included offenses when you charge the jury.
Specifically manslaughter.
You insist? You know that's premature, Counselor.
I'll decide on the jury charge when all evidence is presented.
Actually, it's the latest team sport on college campuses.
Physically attacking me, I mean Why do you suppose that is? Um When one is frustrated intellectually, one resorts to violence.
And you think today's college students are intellectually frustrated? Yes.
I don't really blame them, I mean they've come to realize viscerally that everything they've been taught is wrong.
Communism kills more people than Capitalism.
Affirmative action infantilizes minorities.
Welfare destroys ambition and self reliance.
What about science? No, no, they're okay with science as long as its purpose is to destroy human embryos, that is.
Oh, I think you'd better explain that, Miss Barlow.
I'm okay with "Miss.
" It's really very simple The abortion crusaders have always struggled to find a moral justification for the willful taking of unborn life.
So what they do is They parade out sympathetic faces like Christopher Reeve and Ronald Reagan to rationalize the destruction of a human embryo in a test tube.
I mean, please.
To help people like that.
Who is going to argue? But then, with a stroke of sophistry that would make even John Kerry blush, they extrapolate one cell, in a dish in a lab, in the one hand.
A fetus in the belly of a lady on the table of a doctor's office in the other.
If okay to take the life of the former, there shouldn't be any problem with the latter.
It's a bogus conflation.
A bait and switch.
Murder is murder! Whether it involves tweezers poking around a test tube or forceps piercing the brain of an 8-month-old fetus, euphemistically called a late-term abortion.
If it's okay to murder one little guy, why not whack one just a smidge bigger? So even if stem cell research could save millions of people.
I've got nothing against using adult stem cells.
It's cloning embryos to kill them that strains morality.
And you're appointed the judge of what is and what is not moral? Hey, God Or if you prefer Darwin, gave me a conscience.
I figure at least one of them expects me to use it.
And artificially creating.
Let's not play word games, Counselor.
It's cloning.
And considering where that might lead, yes, it's immoral.
Oh, I see, the old, slippery slope argument? Why is it when we're discussing the NSA wiretapping terrorists, the Left thinks the old, slippery slope argument trumps all others, but When the talk turns to intentionally destroying human life, that same slope suddenly isn't so slippery? Is it true that in your lecture, you referred to a commercial, starring the actor Michael J.
Fox, as "A ploy by the liberals, trotting out another spaz to spew their lies"? Hmm.
I was trying to make Yes or no.
Did you say it? Yes.
Why did you use the word "spaz," Miss Barlow? I was trying to make the point that the Left promotes its lies by using un-attackable victims.
Please, who is going to argue with a tragically ill Alex P.
Keaton? You pity him.
You don't contradict him.
Of course I don't like what she stands for.
I'm a scientist.
But I certainly didn't go there to kill her.
But you brought a gun.
I started carrying it for protection when I had to walk home from the lab late at night.
That night, I just got caught up in the excitement.
When people started rushing the stage, I just followed the crowd.
That doesn't explain why the gun was in your hands, Mr.
Yates.
I wasn't going to shoot her.
I just I wanted to scare her like she scares the public with her vicious and hateful lies.
The gun must have fired because of the way my hand was twitching.
Twitching uncontrollably because of the Parkinson's? That's right.
I would never intentionally hurt anyone.
Thank you, Mr.
Yates.
You knew that Miss Barlow would Strike that.
When exactly did Don't you think it was risky to hold a loaded gun in a hand that shakes uncontrollably? Yes, I do.
But my attorney tells me that's still not murder.
JACK: I see.
Did you work in the lab the day of the murder, Mr.
Yates? Yes.
Must be difficult working with microscopic cells when you're shaking like that.
Oh, that's right! You took your medication that day! The medication that stops the shaking.
So, there shouldn't have been any twitching, uncontrollable or otherwise, in the auditorium that night.
Isn't that right? Of course it is.
You went there, you drew your weapon, you intentionally pulled the trigger trying to kill Judith Barlow.
Isn't that true? She said that the lives of the embryos we use to harvest stem cells were just as valuable as the lives of people like me.
I am better than cells in a Petri dish! So was your dead friend Jason.
And so, like it or not, is Miss Barlow.
Have you reached a verdict? On the sole count of the indictment, murder in the second degree, we find the defendant, Malcolm Yates, guilty.
(GAVEL BANGING) I thought we were DOA when the Judge refused to instruct on manslaughter.
I guess the jury didn't find Barlow as despicable as we figured.
Or Yates as sympathetic.
What's that say about You know, you never did say which side of the stem cell fence you come down on.
I don't talk politics, Connie.
You are crazy if you think I'm gonna let you get off that easy.
You'll keep pushing? Yeah, I'm famous for it.
Fine.
I think if God created Man in his image Maybe we've all just degenerated from whatever is floating around in that Petri dish.
Come on, I'll buy you a drink.
These are their stories.
CROWD: One, two, three, four! Barlow is a great, big bore! One, two, three, four! Barlow is a great, big bore! One, two, three, four! Barlow is a great, big bore! One, two, three, four! H' you're asking me about the swing voters, who, by the way, I prefer to call them the "cretin block.
" (PEOPLE LAUGHING) I think anyone who has managed to live has, by definition, waived his right to have a voice in the management of the country.
(PEOPLE APPLAUDING) So you're suggesting all citizens shouldn't have the right to vote? I'm saying that for the process to have any legitimate meaning, a modicum of intelligence in the electorate is necessary.
In other words, some people are more equal than others.
MAN: True that! When Mr.
Sperm says hello to Miss Egg, everybodys equal.
After that, things change.
People become less equal, mostly due to the choices that they make.
Sounds like a hypocrite's justification for racism.
(PEOPLE CHEERING) Hypocrisy is fighting to keep religion out of politics, except when the Reverend Sharp ton is running for office.
Hypocrisy is treating those who believe in a higher being as being mentally deficient.
Except when Bill Maher is kissing the Reverend Jesse Jackson's butt on national television.
Hypocrisy is the utter moral indignation displayed at the taking of human life while dismissing it as irrelevant.
WOMAN: You're irrelevant! When it comes to partial birth abortions, and embryonic stem cell research.
Bitch! (CROWD CHEERING) Which brings us to the feminist problem.
You're the problem! You know you're just making my point (ALL CLAMORING) We have a feminist problem.
People, please! (CROWD SHOUTING) (GUNSHOT) (SCREAMING) Well, your guy had good aim, or the victim had bad luck.
One shot, boom, punctured the heart.
Looks like a large caliber.
What was he, like, 19? JIM: Next month.
His name's Jason Miles.
He just started his sophomore year.
Jimmy Morgan.
So, how's life out of the bag? It's all right.
You know, I've been meaning to call you at your new precinct.
Oh, well, maybe I'll answer.
What do you know? It was a mob scene.
Everybody ran when they heard the shot.
Is that who I think it is? Judith Barlow? Up close, personal, and a lot hotter than on the tube.
And them? Barlow's bodyguards.
Their weapons have been checked, both magazines are fully loaded.
No signs of recent discharge.
Voucher them for me and get 'em over to ballistics, will ya? And by the way I have a cell phone too, you know.
Your lecture tour takes you to other venues like this? Colleges, the last bastion of free speech and thought, as long as you say and think the party line.
You know, I think they threw a tea party for Hugo Chéwez here last month.
And a parade for Cindy Sheehan.
It's funny how those preaching tolerance turn out to be the least tolerant of all.
Right.
Can you tell us what happened? I've got a 10-year-old niece who can't even tell you who the vice president is.
But she sure as hell can put a condom on a banana in two seconds flat.
Yeah, the whole world's going to hell.
It's a damn shame.
You know what else is a damn shame? There's a dead kid 10 feet away from you and you're Well, that wouldn't have happened if Rudy still ran the city.
Officer, take those two in.
Take her too.
No wonder they call her the most hated bitch in America.
You mean woman, right? No, I mean bitch.
I mean, give a liberal a gun, he'll shoot himself.
(LAUGHS) There's a reason for gun control.
Oh, boy, lthought I'd at least get a Cheneyjoke.
Call me crazy, but if someone tried to kill me, I think I'd take it a bit more seriously.
Look, I'm sure you're very good at what you do, but I really don't think this had anything to do with me.
The Left's been castrated by the church of Phil Donahue, they don't carry weapons.
Hell, they won't even play dodge ball, for God's sakes.
So, why the bodyguards? To protect my clothes.
Ever since the Harvard scholars decided to conduct political debate with their dessert.
I've got drinks with Rush.
Detective, I I wanted to apologize if I came off rude before.
That's my cell.
Looks like someone's a little sweet on Eddie.
I would rather have root canal.
What do we have on the body? Crime Scene is still searching the auditorium and the surrounding grounds for a gun.
The bullet was a .
45.
Both bodyguards carry .
38s.
Well, that leaves us with 500 or so members of the audience.
You know, maybe we're looking at this wrong.
Maybe the shooter was after Jason Miles and he was using the mob scene as a distraction.
I've got news for you, Ed.
You agree with Judith Barlow more than you think.
Why don't we see if Jason Miles had any enemies? I met Jason on the first day of freshman week.
And we were together ever since.
(SOBS) I can't believe this is happening.
What about you? Jason never mentioned any problems with anyone.
CASSADY: No offense, but you seem a little old to be hanging out with sophomores.
What's your story? I'm Malcolm Yates.
I'm a PhD candidate.
Jason used to volunteer in the bio lab where I work.
He thought it would help with med school.
Mal was like his mentor.
Did Jason have words with anybody at the Barlow talk? Well, we weren't there.
None of this would have happened if he didn't take that damn course.
That professor's a fraud.
What professor? Uh, Kevin Gray.
He teaches Modern Political Thought.
He gets the kids all riled up.
Jason became obsessed with how the Right Wing is screwing up the country.
And that's why he went to see Barlow? Well, yeah.
Gray organized the protest.
I mean, the whole class was expected to go.
He swore he'd meet us up at Mal's apartment afterwards, for pizza and the Knicks game.
"Panopticon.
" Sorry, I don't speak French.
It's from the Greek.
A prison where a single guard can see all the prisoners all the time from a single spot.
And that's what we've become.
This entire country is one big prison.
Only the guards are using wiretaps, warrantless searches and torture.
That's really interesting but Big Brother is watching, man.
And his name is George.
So, what does the porcine patrol want from me? That I understand.
You just became a real pain in the ass.
And proud of it.
But this is America, where even a pain in the ass has the unfettered right to speak his mind, Frau Barlow and the Reich notwithstanding.
Okay.
What do you know about the shooting? I know the wrong person died.
Meaning Judith Barlow.
Tokyo Rose in a designer dress.
Her bosses preach war and hate and she sells it with a smile and a little cleavage.
I'll make this very simple for you, my students are morally opposed to violence.
Let me make this simple for you.
We need a list of the students that were at the lecture.
No problem.
I'll have my secretary get that for you.
If there's nothing else Listen, Professor, any other groups on campus that may not agree with your little point of view? You mean you think someone was deliberately aiming at Jason? Well, we're porcine, remember? We have to sniff all around the pen.
Well, there was some trouble at our pro-Palestinian march last month.
Things got a little out of hand.
Pro-Palestinian, my ass! It was an anti-Israel march! You wanna know the worst? That Professor was born Kevin Gray Lefkowitz.
Well, he actually struck me as more of a blame America kind of guy.
The only reason that they blame America is because they think it's run by a cabal of Jewish capitalists, whose only loyalty is to the vast Zionist conspiracy.
Here, let me show you something.
(CROWD YELLING ON COMPUTER) NATHAN: Some of the Jewish kids took exception to Gray's little demonstration.
Wait, stop.
Go back.
(REWINDING) That's Jason Miles beating on that kid.
NATHAN: His name's Danny O'Toole.
Maybe the shooting was payback.
O'Toole's not a Jewish name.
Danny's an Evangelical Christian.
The funny thing is, they actually care more about Israel than most of the Jews on this campus.
Go figure.
God gave Israel to the Jewish people and Christians have a Biblical duty to protect it.
Even if you get your ass kicked in the process.
A small price to pay.
The prophets predict that enemy armies will invade the Holy Land.
And at the final confrontation CASSADY: At Armageddon.
Very good.
Six years of Sunday School.
Then you know the final battle will precipitate the second coming of Christ.
Wait, hold on a second.
That's like a fancy way of saying your personal battle started with Professor Gray's march and ended Friday night at the Barlow talk with a bullet in Jason Miles' back.
Vengeance belongeth to me saith the Lord.
That sounds great on paper but I wasn't at Barlow's speech, Detective.
I was with Pastor Stevens.
Working the soup kitchen.
That's right, Danny was with me.
No offense, Pastor, but if you're covering for him, I know it's not a sin, but it's definitely a crime.
We're just a little curious.
Jason Miles beats the hell out of Danny O'Toole and a month later Jason ends up with a bullet in his back.
You might not be able to comprehend this but we actually believe in turning the other cheek.
Does that include not pressing charges for the attack? Danny and I debated whether to go to the police, but we decided against it.
I don't think my cheek would turn that far.
Well, mine didn't either, until Jason's girlfriend Kirsten convinced me otherwise.
She said a criminal record would ruin his chances of getting into medical school.
Nothing like forgiveness.
The deal was Jason had to work every Tuesday and Friday night, for the rest of the semester.
The Barlow talk was on Friday night.
That's right.
Kirsten showed up at the kitchen alone.
She said Jason wasn't feeling well.
Kirsten told us that she was with that grad student Yates, watching the Knicks, eating pizza and waiting for Jason to show up.
Yeah, why would she lie about being at a soup kitchen? To protect Yates.
We've re-interviewed Kirsten, she's sticking to her story.
There ain't no chance in France she's telling the truth.
We figure it's a love triangle and Yates got tired of sharing.
What did he say? We're hoping a little leverage will loosen his lips.
As in a warrant? Well, if we can get into his apartment, we might be able to find something.
She lied and you want to search his place? It's a shame.
What is? That we have a damn Constitution.
(PHONE RINGING) I'll tell you what, Jimmy.
I'll call you, okay? Let's hope Yates is as aggressive as your boy, there.
He's not my boy.
Yet.
Look, when you get lucky, your buddies usually hear all the dark and dirties, am I right? Oh, please! All I'm saying is, even a science geek has gotta have a couple of buds.
(sums) ED: So you two are pretty close? If you mean drinking the same rotten coffee at 2 a.
m.
out of the same unwashed pot, yeah.
We're peas in a pod.
Thing is, I'm Neurology, Mal's Cytology and never the twain shall meet.
He ever talk to you about Kirsten? Who? Kirsten, his girlfriend.
Cute blond, about this tall, she probably came around a lot.
I might be a science geek but that I would have noticed.
What about phone calls? You ever take a message from a girl? Yeah, his mom called once.
Something about grandma's birthday.
Look, I don't know who's been giving you your information but Malcolm Yates is not what you would call a ladies' man.
I mean, first off, he couldn't afford it.
He had to borrow rent money.
Second, the meeting of boy and girl he ever thinks about occurs in a Petri dish.
Like cloning? He's not trying to duplicate his dead Dalmatian Dolly, if that's what you're thinking.
He's creating human embryos to harvest their stem cells, to change the world.
I've heard Barlow rail against stem cells.
That would give Yates a reason to be at the scene.
It's all a little spooky if you ask me.
We're not exactly talking about Boys From Brazil here.
Yeah, I know.
I'm just saying I can see how reasonable people might disagree.
Reasonable morons.
I really wish you'd learn to speak your mind, Ed.
Well you try explaining to your dad every Sunday that you're not the neighbor's kid Frankie the accountant, then you can talk to me.
Your dad has Alzheimer's? Yeah.
Listen, Friday, before we got the call, I was watching the Knicks game.
How'd they do? How do you think? My point is it was only on cable sports package.
Now how does a starving college student who has to beg for rent money afford that? Thank you very much.
Ed! Hey, you want a hot cup of black disappointment? I don't think so.
That was the cable company.
They just confirmed they shut off Yates' cable two months ago after he missed three months of payments.
Two friends of the deceased lying to us? That ought to convince Judge "I'll sign anything" Barsky.
I guess the maid forgot to come this week.
He's in what, like the 17th grade? I figure he knows enough to toss the weapon.
I can't get in.
Well, let's just take it.
We've got our own geeks.
Detectives.
Look at this.
In the medicine chest, right behind the bottle of Scope.
Oh! .
45s.
Just like the one that killed Jason.
Looks like they hold off on ammo tossing till the 18th grade.
Why would I kill Jason? CASSADY: One girl.
Two guys.
It must have been a real pain in the ass, sneaking around behind Jason's back all the time.
You wanted her all to yourself.
You think Kirsten and me No way.
Jason was my friend.
What about Kirsten? She was Jason's friend.
Then Why'd she lie about being with you? It's the truth.
Oh, so it's Pastor Stevens who's the big liar.
Wow, we're going to be here for awhile.
Can I get you something? A soda? A cup of coffee? So what happens next, Detective Panty Line gives him a mani-pedi and a massage? What's your problem with female police officers? Nothing personal but last year, down in Atlanta that animal wrestles a firearm from a female guard and shoots both her and the judge.
I doubt that would have happened if the guard shaved every morning before work and I don't mean under his pits.
Do you talk like this in public? Ilike you.
This is me being polite.
Let's go.
I don't want to talk to her.
VAN BUREN: Oh, but she wants to talk to you.
Go ahead, Miss Barlow.
Tell Mr.
Yates your feelings on embryonic stem cell research.
You mean how if it had any validity whatsoever, the corporate world would be all over it quicker than pigs on crap? Or how when rats are treated with embryonic stem cells they end up with brain cancer.
That's a lie.
Your work's just a con job to extort money from the public, exceeded in its mendacity only by the three-card monte game played by the global warming crowd.
ED: Hey! Hey! Once again, words have failed the intellectual Left.
Should have been you and not Jason.
Arrest him.
CASSADY: Get down! "Docket number 0674561 âPeople v.
Yates, Malcolm P.
"Charge is murder in the second degree.
" Thank you.
Bernie Adler for the defense, Your Honor.
JUDGE: Yes, I know who you are.
A sawbuck says there's no need to ask for a plea.
Not guilty.
I should get on a bus to Atlantic City.
Your Honor.
Oh, lighten up, Counselor.
People request bail in the amount of one million dollars.
Mr.
Yates is a student who can barely afford his rent.
Let's cut that in half.
That's fine by me, Your Honor.
So, what do you say, Mr.
Adler? Deal or no deal? (LAUGHING) I'm sorry, I just can't resist.
Do I have a choice? Not really.
I'd think you'd be too busy closing down the Boy Scouts to find time for anything as prosaic as a garden-variety murder.
When the intended victim is Judith Barlow, it don't grow in my garden.
O kay, Jack, new that we've both got the Hemâ; Y oungman or should I say Sean Hannity, out of our systems, you called, we came.
You came because you know our case.
I thought there'd at least be some Danish and coffee.
It appears your client can afford to buy you breakfast.
If you're talking about bail, my mom mortgaged her house.
The bullets found in Mr.
Yates' apartment were the same type, caliber and make as those used to kill Jason Miles.
And his prints were on the box.
I had no reason to shoot Jason.
I agree.
You intended to shoot Judith Barlow Oh, God bless you.
JACK: but missed.
And as Mr.
Adler will tell you, in criminal law, intent follows the bullet.
I was framed.
Really? Then why did you lie to the cops? Because they were cops.
I was scared.
Like this wouldn't be the first time the government created a perpetrator out of whole cloth.
Are you suggesting the cops planted the bullets? Can you think of a better way to quell future incidents of civil disobedience? Unfortunately, Mr.
Adler, Judith Barlow is a private individual.
Who happens to be a shill for an illegal government's unconstitutional policies.
And you can call me Bernie.
I guess dealing down to man one is out of the question.
No Danish, no deal.
You think they're gonna come back with an offer? Bernie Adler? Not a chance.
The man tilts at windmills.
I'd feel better if we had more motive evidence.
Did you ever hear Barlow speak? Well, it's murder two.
I don't think that "I hate her politics" is gonna cut it.
Now I know you've never heard her speak.
You've got to admit, Barlow's a hoot.
I heard her say once that Mexico's lucky we let them be our neighbor.
How obnoxious is that? Yeah, but it's funny, in a sick sort of way.
Sorry, it doesn't look like Yates has sent her any hate-mail.
Most recently, all his e-mails have been to someone named Fogarty.
CONNIE: Go ahead and open that up.
Dr.
Keith Fogarty, Head of Research at Russell Laboratories.
Looks like Yates is looking for some new work.
Yeah, we hate to lose Malcolm.
'Cause when you're talking PGD, Malcolm Yates is your go to guy.
PG D? Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis.
It's a method of deriving stem cells from human blastocysts.
Wow! Sounds like somebody you'd want to keep around? I'd want to clone him, excuse the pun.
But this is a university and what's fair isn't always right.
So, you're letting Malcolm Yates go? Outside funding is our lifeblood.
The Marbury Foundation has decided that our yearly transfusion is going elsewhere next year.
So someone's gotta go.
Malcolm, unfortunately, is the junior member of our team.
Last in, first out, as they say in the economics department.
We simply decided to go in a different direction.
One far from public controversy.
Such as embryonic stem cell research.
Look, for the Far Right, embryonic stem cell research labs are the abortion clinics of the 21st century.
Now, sure, we can live with religious Zealots carrying signs out in our parking lot.
But wild-eyed pundits vilifying us to millions on cable TV and talk radio, well, that does damage that we can't readily heal.
Pundits like Judith Barlow.
She makes Ann Coulter look like Mary Poppins.
The final straw was when she went on Bill O'Reilly and she listed our Board of Directors by name, calling each one of them a murderer and a baby killer.
The last thing that we need is for the public to think the Marbury Foundation can be bullied by ideologues.
And the last thing I want is for this to turn into another Scopes Trial.
This case is about nothing more than Malcolm Yates blaming Judith Barlow for the loss of his job.
Because of her position on Put the guy from the charity on the stand to say that he cut off the funding because of Barlow's big mouth.
And how are we supposed to keep that big mouth from spouting off to the jury? You don't let her anywhere near the stand, that's how.
She's the intended victim.
She's also one of the most polarizing people on the planet.
I mean, 10 minutes of her bloviating and the jury will forget why they're there and convict the S.
O.
B.
of bad aim.
So that's it? Politics has infected every aspect of our culture to the point where I can't prosecute a murder the way it should be prosecuted without worrying about offending someone.
Welcome to the world.
You do politics, Arthur.
Not me.
I do the law.
Well, three cheers for you.
Buy yourself a drink.
You can curse the politicians all you want.
But the fact is, that the country has managed to choose up sides all by itself.
That's good.
Pass the buck to the people.
They're the ones who step into the voting booth.
I'm sorry, but the problem is not the people and it's not the politicians.
It's the pundits from both sides of the aisle who lie every evening on the cable news.
That's not politics.
That's chickens chattering in a churchyard.
You go ahead and prove your point.
Put Barlow on the stand.
No, you're right, Arthur.
I may not be political.
But I'm not an idealist either.
Good.
For a while I was afraid you chose the wrong profession.
Adler is moving to exclude all representatives of the Marbury Foundation from testifying.
ADLER: My point is simple, Your Honor.
Unless the State can prove that my client had knowledge that Barlow was responsible for his anticipated loss of employment, it would be highly prejudicial to allow such testimony into evidence.
The head of grants for the Foundation told me Barlow was the only reason for its decision.
Oh, I'm sure he did.
But did he tell Mr.
Yates? Do you have any evidence of the defendant's prior knowledge? It's obvious from his actions.
Not to me it isn't.
I'm going to grant Mr.
Adler's motion to exclude.
You're going to prevent me from presenting any motive evidence, in other words.
No.
Those would be the exact words, unless you come up with something a bit less speculative.
Please, please! Challenge anyone to show me where in the Constitution it says we can tum a living human into an organic chop shop.
This This so-called research is merely one step removed from abortion.
Some would argue a woman's right to determine what happens to her own body JUDITH: You mean the unfettered right to hop into the sack with men they don't consider Daddy material, don't you? Nobody has the right to do what he wants with his own body.
Can you sell a kidney? Not unless you want to spend h' you wanted to sell your eyeballs You've got to admit she's smart.
I do? Alright, provocative then.
She's a huckster.
Her books are flying off the shelves as we speak.
Anyway, I spoke with everyone who works at Yates' lab.
No one has ever even heard him mention Barlow's name.
So I went back to his laptop hoping I would find some political meetings in his calendar.
Tell me you found the annual "I hate Barlow" convention.
Sorry.
But I did notice a monthly appointment with a Dr.
Rooker.
His shrink? His neurologist.
Specializes in Parkinson's disease.
Yates has Parkinson's? It certainly would give him strong motive to shoot the woman leading the charge against the only thing that might offer him a cure.
Imagine if you felt your life accelerating into utter misery due to a debilitating disease.
And then imagine that a potential cure is in sight but Someone, in this case, Judith Barlow, is doing everything that she can to prevent that cure from becoming a reality.
What would you do? Your Honor Mr.
Yates has Parkinson's disease.
That's tragic.
But when he fired a gun at Judith Barlow, and mistakenly killed Jason Miles, he committed murder in the second degree.
Can we talk in chambers? He's mocking the proceedings.
Nothing like State sanctioned sympathy, Jack.
YourHonon believe me, my client is sick.
There is nothing he would like better than to stop shaking.
Too bad that's not an option.
Funny how he managed to sit still in my office.
That was my client on drugs.
This is my client au naturel.
It's a distraction meant to pull at the jury's heartstrings.
I want a mistrial and a retrial with the defendant on his medication.
Nothing I can do, Mr.
McCoy.
The right to confront witnesses doesn't come with a prescription.
I can't Force him to self-medicate.
Your motion is denied.
Judge, I know this is a bit unusual, but if it's okay with you, I would prefer to reserve my opening statement until the end of the State's case-in-chief.
Sure, why not? Thank you.
I'd been treating Malcolm Yates for nearly two years.
Although Parkinson's typically affects people over 50, there are a few reported cases of much younger sufferers, most notably the actor Michael J.
Fox.
Can you please describe the symptoms briefly, Dr.
Rooker? Basically PD is a motor system disorder resulting from the loss of dopamine producing brain cells.
The primary symptoms are tremors, or trembling, in the arms, legs, jaw and face.
Is there any cure? No.
But surgery or avariety of medications, levodopa combined with carbidopa, for instance, can provide dramatic relief.
JACK: But ultimately offer no cure? Unfortunately, that's true.
JACK: But there is a chance that a cure may be found using embryonic stem cells, isn't that right? Yes.
You see, the usefulness of embryonic stem cells is their ability to develop into any kind of cell in the body.
And researchers are currently attempting to use them to develop dopamine-producing cells.
Which would more or less put an end to Parkinson's disease.
That would be correct.
So, it seems perfectly reasonable that a Parkinson's sufferer like Mr.
Yates would do whatever it took to muzzle opponents of such research.
ADLER: Objection! Sustained.
As far as you know, is there any tangible evidence that embryonic stem cell research will lead to a cure for Parkinson's disease? At this time? No.
Is the possibility of a cure even close? Not really.
So it's all very speculative? I suppose.
So, it's a distinct possibility that Mr.
Yates would not see a cure in his lifetime if there is one to be found at all? Yes.
Now, being a scientist himself, would you expect Mr.
Yates to be aware of that? I'm sure he is.
So, practically speaking, muzzling an outspoken critic of stem cell research really wouldn't benefit Mr.
Yates at all, would it? Withdrawn.
Can't get good help these days, can you, Arthur? And you'd be referring to? Your Mr.
McCoy.
A week's worth of witnesses and the intended victim hasn't even testified yet.
For the record, that was my idea, Judith.
Giving you the opportunity to display your wit and wisdom to the jury would put us on the express train to an acquittal.
Oh, come on, Arthur.
People love me.
I'm sure some people love spiders too.
They eat flies, don't they? And we know what flies eat.
Very good.
I just love the old joust.
And I just came here to enjoy my scotch and newspaper Alone.
Oh, Arthur, let's not pretend we're not on the same side of the ideological fence.
Ideology's one thing.
Hyperbole is another.
Please.
All I do is make boring conservative talking points entertaining, so hopefully someone actually listens to them.
No, all you do is make people madder than a hound dog with a head cold so that along the way they miss the message completely.
I've got four number one bestsellers, Arthur.
How many does Antonio Scalia have? And you also look better in a cocktail dress.
I'd better go.
I wouldn't want your voting public to actually think we're friends.
Okay! Show of hands.
Are there any kikes here? How about spics? Objection! ADLER: Okay Now I know there are a couple of coons.
YourHonofl JUDGE: Enough, Mr.
Adler.
Pisses you off, doesn't it? Mr.
Adler! Actually I'll bet it pisses you off so bad you just threw your reason out the window and all you're thinking about is smacking me upside the head.
Objection! Counselor! Now, I tell you, if I were black and some honkie called me a coon JUDGE: Mr.
Adler! I'd actually think about killing the son a bitch.
In my chambers.
Now! What the hell do you think you're doing in there, Counselor? I was just trying I'm not done! This is a murder trial, Counselor.
And playing the race card is not only irrelevant, it's unethical! I'm the one talking now, Mr.
McCoy.
Okay, Mr.
Adler, you've got two seconds.
And it better be good or you're looking at a mistrial.
Not to mention a slew of contempt citations.
With all due respect, Judge, this case is essentially about hate speech.
Oh, give me a break.
That night when Barlow spoke about disabled Americans, she used language just as disgusting as the racial pejoratives I just tossed at the jury.
I was simply demonstrating the effect of such speech.
To what end? Such extreme emotional distress negates the intent required for charge of murder.
Even if that's true, we have made a case for manslaughter.
ADLER: Only nobody's charged him with that.
I can call a couple of hundred people to testify to Miss Barlow's odious comments.
They're not on defense counsel's witness list, YourHonoL I can't be expected to pose a few hundred witnesses in the middle of a trial.
Fine.
Then I'll just call one, Judith Barlow.
She's not on your witness list either.
Right.
That's why I move to amend.
You can't claim you haven't talked to her.
Let's not pretend we don't know what's going on.
Counsel plans to attack the victim.
That's right.
With her own words.
This I've gotta see.
Motion granted.
She's been in the gallery throughout the trial, YourHonoL She's heard all testimony.
I'll instruct the jury to consider that when weighing her credibility.
In that case, I insist you add all lesser included offenses when you charge the jury.
Specifically manslaughter.
You insist? You know that's premature, Counselor.
I'll decide on the jury charge when all evidence is presented.
Actually, it's the latest team sport on college campuses.
Physically attacking me, I mean Why do you suppose that is? Um When one is frustrated intellectually, one resorts to violence.
And you think today's college students are intellectually frustrated? Yes.
I don't really blame them, I mean they've come to realize viscerally that everything they've been taught is wrong.
Communism kills more people than Capitalism.
Affirmative action infantilizes minorities.
Welfare destroys ambition and self reliance.
What about science? No, no, they're okay with science as long as its purpose is to destroy human embryos, that is.
Oh, I think you'd better explain that, Miss Barlow.
I'm okay with "Miss.
" It's really very simple The abortion crusaders have always struggled to find a moral justification for the willful taking of unborn life.
So what they do is They parade out sympathetic faces like Christopher Reeve and Ronald Reagan to rationalize the destruction of a human embryo in a test tube.
I mean, please.
To help people like that.
Who is going to argue? But then, with a stroke of sophistry that would make even John Kerry blush, they extrapolate one cell, in a dish in a lab, in the one hand.
A fetus in the belly of a lady on the table of a doctor's office in the other.
If okay to take the life of the former, there shouldn't be any problem with the latter.
It's a bogus conflation.
A bait and switch.
Murder is murder! Whether it involves tweezers poking around a test tube or forceps piercing the brain of an 8-month-old fetus, euphemistically called a late-term abortion.
If it's okay to murder one little guy, why not whack one just a smidge bigger? So even if stem cell research could save millions of people.
I've got nothing against using adult stem cells.
It's cloning embryos to kill them that strains morality.
And you're appointed the judge of what is and what is not moral? Hey, God Or if you prefer Darwin, gave me a conscience.
I figure at least one of them expects me to use it.
And artificially creating.
Let's not play word games, Counselor.
It's cloning.
And considering where that might lead, yes, it's immoral.
Oh, I see, the old, slippery slope argument? Why is it when we're discussing the NSA wiretapping terrorists, the Left thinks the old, slippery slope argument trumps all others, but When the talk turns to intentionally destroying human life, that same slope suddenly isn't so slippery? Is it true that in your lecture, you referred to a commercial, starring the actor Michael J.
Fox, as "A ploy by the liberals, trotting out another spaz to spew their lies"? Hmm.
I was trying to make Yes or no.
Did you say it? Yes.
Why did you use the word "spaz," Miss Barlow? I was trying to make the point that the Left promotes its lies by using un-attackable victims.
Please, who is going to argue with a tragically ill Alex P.
Keaton? You pity him.
You don't contradict him.
Of course I don't like what she stands for.
I'm a scientist.
But I certainly didn't go there to kill her.
But you brought a gun.
I started carrying it for protection when I had to walk home from the lab late at night.
That night, I just got caught up in the excitement.
When people started rushing the stage, I just followed the crowd.
That doesn't explain why the gun was in your hands, Mr.
Yates.
I wasn't going to shoot her.
I just I wanted to scare her like she scares the public with her vicious and hateful lies.
The gun must have fired because of the way my hand was twitching.
Twitching uncontrollably because of the Parkinson's? That's right.
I would never intentionally hurt anyone.
Thank you, Mr.
Yates.
You knew that Miss Barlow would Strike that.
When exactly did Don't you think it was risky to hold a loaded gun in a hand that shakes uncontrollably? Yes, I do.
But my attorney tells me that's still not murder.
JACK: I see.
Did you work in the lab the day of the murder, Mr.
Yates? Yes.
Must be difficult working with microscopic cells when you're shaking like that.
Oh, that's right! You took your medication that day! The medication that stops the shaking.
So, there shouldn't have been any twitching, uncontrollable or otherwise, in the auditorium that night.
Isn't that right? Of course it is.
You went there, you drew your weapon, you intentionally pulled the trigger trying to kill Judith Barlow.
Isn't that true? She said that the lives of the embryos we use to harvest stem cells were just as valuable as the lives of people like me.
I am better than cells in a Petri dish! So was your dead friend Jason.
And so, like it or not, is Miss Barlow.
Have you reached a verdict? On the sole count of the indictment, murder in the second degree, we find the defendant, Malcolm Yates, guilty.
(GAVEL BANGING) I thought we were DOA when the Judge refused to instruct on manslaughter.
I guess the jury didn't find Barlow as despicable as we figured.
Or Yates as sympathetic.
What's that say about You know, you never did say which side of the stem cell fence you come down on.
I don't talk politics, Connie.
You are crazy if you think I'm gonna let you get off that easy.
You'll keep pushing? Yeah, I'm famous for it.
Fine.
I think if God created Man in his image Maybe we've all just degenerated from whatever is floating around in that Petri dish.
Come on, I'll buy you a drink.