Harry's Law (2011) s02e09 Episode Script
Head Games
I really appreciate you seeing me.
- Kim.
- Tommy.
My dear, dear Kim.
- Okay.
- I've got a sympathetic client.
Many, in fact, see her as a hero.
I've got a compassionate D.
A.
who I would call one of my heroes.
At least sexually.
I think we can work something out that reflects both the heroic quality of my sympathetic client, and the compassion that runneth so deeply within the bowels of the D.
A.
Perhaps something that runneth a little deeper.
Kim For God's sake, this is a woman trying to feed her kids.
Single mother desperate to provide for her family.
Can you not see that? Yeah, I'm not sure what the picture of sympathy looks like.
But I do know a bank robber when I see one.
Five years.
Better.
Twenty.
No record, no priors, no previous criminal offense.
Good point.
Times three.
Twenty.
And who takes care of her kids have you thought about that? Why don't you ask whoever she had in mind to look after them for five years, and then see if they can extend it for an additional 15.
Final offer.
Okay, it's think tank time.
I need everyone in the conference room ASAP.
- Whoa! - Harry, I have a crisis.
Kim Mendelsohn won't budge on my bank robbery.
Not even by a little.
I need to come up with something creative and I need it fast.
You smart one give me something.
What about necessity? That would apply if she had no other choice, but holding up a bank, I doubt it.
Self-help? Works for civil, not criminal.
- Jury null? - Smart one, come on.
- What do you got? - Well I like it.
You said that she lost all of her money in the mortgage crisis.
She did, yeah.
Keep going.
What? There's a theory it's out there, but it's used in drug cases.
Perfect! We'll go with that one.
I haven't told you what it is.
Doesn't matter, I got nothing else what is it? It's called don't laugh Outrageous Government Conduct Defense.
Come again? Basically, you argue that the government's conduct is so outrageous that it violates fundamental principles of fairness to prosecute the defendant.
- This is real.
- It's an affirmative defense.
You have to plead it, but yes, it's real.
It's used in drug cases.
Usually, police stings that have gone awry.
Outrageous Government Conduct.
You could argue that the government played a role in the whole mortgage meltdown, which lead to your client's desperation, which lead Can I borrow her? Please? Okay, Adam, we're up.
We can go right in my office.
The school refuses to offer a dime.
Or an apology.
They're afraid any acknowledgment of guilt will expose them to too much liability.
So we keep going, then.
Susan you're not gonna be successful suing a high school for having a football program.
Why did you take our case, if you I took the case because what you seemed to be after was some accountability by the high school, which, frankly, I thought I could get, but it seems I cannot.
Well, we'd rather try this case and lose than just walk away.
We could at least help put the word out.
Odds are, it won't make it to trial.
After Susan's deposition, they'll most likely move for some rejudgment, which basically means they want the judge to toss it before it even gets to a jury.
My biggest concern is that the deposition could dredge up a lot of pain that Our son is dead.
There is no pain we don't already know.
We want to keep going.
Harry's Law 2x09 - Head Games Original air date November 30, 2011 This is her when she first stepped up and you can see, right there, she's passing me a note.
And do you remember what the note said? That this was a robbery.
That she was armed.
And that I should empty my drawer, and give her all the cash inside.
And what did you do? Well, I didn't take her seriously at first.
I recognized this woman.
She had been in the bank before, and she was a regular customer.
And she wasn't wearing a mask, or I thought this must be some kind of joke and then it got very unfunny.
I think we all recognize what this is, but would you please tell us.
It's a revolver.
And did she say anything as she pointed it at you? Again, that the gun was loaded, and that she was prepared to use it if I failed to cede to her demands.
- And then? - I gave her all the money in the drawer, - and she left.
- And do you see the woman who robbed you in the courtroom today? It's the defendant.
Are you sure? No doubt.
Thank you.
You said you recognized my client? Yes.
She was a regular customer.
In fact, two years ago, she was in that bank almost every day, was she not? We saw her a lot.
Yes.
Meeting with managers and loan officers and so forth.
And do you know what those meetings were about? I understood that that the bank was foreclosing on her home and she was trying to work something out.
And did she work something out, to your knowledge? To my knowledge, no.
- The bank foreclosed? - Yes.
Took her home.
Yes.
And during this incident, you said she didn't wear a mask.
Well, we could all see she didn't wear a mask.
You could see her face, plain as day.
It seemed as if she didn't even intend to get away with this, did she? She got away with almost $60,000.
But it seemed like she was almost more intent on making a point than stealing.
Objection! The witness has no foundation as to the defendant's state of mind.
Sustained.
Ms.
Russert, as you handed this money over to my client, you said something, didn't you? Well, I was a little in shock.
What did you say? Do you remember what you said? Well, I might've whispered something like, um "Good for you.
" Adam, you got a call from Dr.
Ira Gold, - from Boston University.
- Really.
He left some times for you to call back.
Good.
Thanks.
You getting settled okay? All good.
That's my son the quarterback.
He's about to take the snap.
He goes back to pass, there's a blitz and he's tackled.
You can see he's slow to get up.
He looks unsteady, even.
But he did get up? Yes.
And was he able to walk to the sideline? Yes.
But, five minutes later, he fell unconscious.
He was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Mrs.
Duggin, again, I am very, very sorry.
Once your son was injured here, did the coach and school respond appropriately? Did they respond appropriately? I guess what I'm asking is, once it was clear he was hurt, they took him out of the game, and acted responsibly.
My feeling is that it's irresponsible of them to have a football program.
He was never directed to continue playing, once it was ascertained that he was hurt.
Not to my knowledge, no.
You don't allege that the football program offered by McKinley High is any more dangerous than those programs offered by other high schools.
Well, it might be.
Okay.
Do you have any evidence of that? My son is dead.
Okay.
Your son Phillip and the two of you you all understood football to be a violent sport.
We understood that football was a contact sport.
That it involved collisions.
You signed waivers at the beginning of the season.
Phillip came home with a lot of forms.
We signed them.
We were not aware that playing football was life-threatening.
Mrs.
Duggin football has been around for a very long time.
So has smoking.
But once it was learned that smoking causes cancer and death, the dangers were front-loaded for the American public.
That should be done, and hasn't been done, with football.
So, if you had felt properly warned here, on the dangers of football, you'd have no problem with it.
I didn't say that.
But nice try.
Okay, just so I'm clear your issue isn't so much with McKinley High as with the sport of football itself.
My son was killed participating in a football program at McKinley High.
He was participating as directed by the coach at McKinley High.
He's dead.
So, yes, sir, I take issue with McKinley High.
She was, of course, very upset that we were foreclosing, as were we.
She was a valued customer, and we all sympathized.
Mr.
Gray, can you tell us why you chose to foreclose? Well, quite simply, she couldn't pay her mortgage.
We'd given her several extensions, and, as I said, we valued her business, but, at some point And when you finally did foreclose She became distraught, and she vowed this would not be the end of it.
Several months later, she came back, brandishing the weapon and, well, you saw the tape.
Thank you, sir.
The tape doesn't tell the whole story, does it, Mr.
Gray? I'm not sure what you mean.
I bet you have a pretty good idea.
You were the loan officer who negotiated the mortgage package which enabled my client to buy her house, were you not? - I was.
- A house she couldn't afford.
That isn't true.
She's a single mother, part-time job, supplemented by modest alimony subject to modification by the court.
She's a terrible risk, and yet, you gave her the deal of a lifetime.
- Objection.
- Overruled.
A no-money-down, interest-only, adjustable rate mortgage at three percent fantastic! One could say that deal was just too good to be true.
Which it was.
Objection! The terms of the loan are not an issue.
Your Honor? Short leash.
You knew she wouldn't be able to hold onto this house; in fact, that was the plan, was it not? It certainly was not.
She makes the payments, you get the interest, she doesn't, you get the house.
Do you have any idea how much the banks lost Because your plan backfired when real estate crashed! We didn't set out to screw your client! You raised the rate from three to 13 percent, strapped on a big balloon payment Our rates floated with the prime.
It was an adjustable rate mortgage! Did you advise her of that? She had a lawyer, for God's sake! You were her banker she had an ongoing relationship with you.
You saw the trends.
Did you tell her, "Hey, wait, you might" "want to consider that the rates will go up"? No, that wasn't your business plan, was it? It was more like, take her money, then take her house.
- Objection! - Sustained.
Your bank, Heritage Union, is a subsidiary of J.
P.
Morgan, am I right? - Yes.
- Which received billions and billions of dollars in bailout money.
When you were in trouble, the government bailed you out in part so you could bail your customers out.
But when Elaine Lister came to you, instead of helping her you took her house.
It was great don't get me wrong but our defense is the government's conduct, not the bank's.
I'll get there, but I needed to lay some pipe.
At some point, I want to take another shot with Kim, which I'll need your help with.
She's not going to cut me any favors, so when the time's right, I'd like you to speak to her, D.
A.
to D.
A.
Who are you kidding? That woman was caught on tape.
Stay out of it, if you don't mind.
And even if you do.
I'd also like you to handle Elaine's direct.
Really? I want the jury to be laser-locked on her story.
When she testifies, I want her to be the only one in the room.
I tend to pull focus.
The jury won't notice you.
Got it.
Thanks.
Uh, Chunhua.
Ollie Richard.
We haven't officially met.
- Hello.
- You finding everything okay? You getting set up? Yes.
Everyone's been so nice.
- Thank you.
- Yeah.
Yeah, they're a great group.
Listen, let's get coffee sometime.
I can give you a quick primer on the litigation department.
That'd be great.
Thank you.
What? Ms.
Korn, come on.
I was just as skeptical as you, Your Honor.
And then I started to review the data.
Virtually every high school in America offers football.
Which makes the problem more pervasive.
And you think you're about to get a court to legislate it away? Not really.
My hope here is that you see my clients have been victimized and you recognize that a court of law is their only means of finding a remedy.
And I would hope, Your Honor, that the court tempers its compassion with pragmatism and the controlling body of law.
The body of law is about to shift.
Ms.
Korn, I I have a lot of cases on my docket.
Your Honor, if I could just get you to hear from the treating physician.
If you're inclined to dismiss this claim, then fine.
All I'll ask is that you let your decision be an informed one.
One witness 2:00.
And, Ms.
Korn, one witness means one witness.
Yes, Your Honor.
Thank you.
Okay, so let's put the treating physician up first.
And then we'll call the expert from BU, assuming he can get here.
Harry, the judge said one witness only.
You heard him.
Really? I heard "one at a time.
" Get the treating physician ready to go first, and then the doc from BU to follow.
Judge Gillot is very no-nonsense.
The last thing we need is for you to be held in contempt.
Adam, how long you been doing this? The treating physician first.
The guy from BU to follow.
Thank you.
We appreciate it very much.
Thank you again.
Okay.
Bye.
Okay, the guy from BU is getting on the airplane now.
All this assumes the judge will even let him testify, which I'm just saying, the judge said one witness.
Where's Chunhua? I need to arrange his pickup.
She went for coffee.
With Oliver.
Excuse me? He took some time to show her the ropes, what have you.
Good egg, that Ollie.
- Team player.
- She's my assistant.
I'm sure they'll be back.
What's going on? - We're just going over Elaine's testimony.
- No, you don't.
Out you go, Elaine.
We'll see you at the courthouse.
Tommy! Out you go, Elaine.
We'll see you at the courthouse.
We hadn't even started.
Good to know.
Out you go.
I'm not well-versed on what her story is.
- I certainly have to prepare.
- You want to know her story? Her story is emotion.
It's pain.
It's anger.
If you squeeze it all out of her now, she'll have nothing left when she gets up to testify.
We want her corked, bottled up.
We pull that cork in the courtroom, not here.
But we still need to prepare.
Cassie, if I thought it was hard, I wouldn't let you do it.
Got it.
Just keep it simple.
Ask her what happened.
Let her tell that jury what they did to her.
And don't pull focus.
By the time he was wheeled into the E.
R.
, he was comatose.
He died about 40 minutes later.
I saw footage of that tackle.
It didn't seem that bad.
And it's unlikely that blow by itself would have killed him.
An autopsy on his brain revealed some scar tissue caused by a prior trauma.
Phillip died most likely by what we call second-impact syndrome, which can be fatal.
Once you get one concussion, every one after that is exponentially more dangerous.
Had he been treated before for any concussions? No, but what we're realizing now is players' brains are suffering trauma by what we call subconcussive injuries.
Subconcussive? Uh, the kinds of blows players typically just shake off.
And you think this is what happened to Phillip? When we autopsied his brain, we found evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Brain damage.
Where we used to think CTE was caused by these big, dramatic collisions, we're now realizing that players' brains are being damaged by cumulative exposure as well these repetitive subconcussive injuries.
You're talking about I'm talking about playing football, Ms.
Korn.
Everyday football.
You can state to a medical certainty that Phillip Duggin died from a football-related injury? I can say to a certainty that we found a protein called tau on his brain a protein caused by trauma.
Is it possible he suffered from a genetic defect? It's possible, but Thank you.
And not everyone who plays football ends up with dementia or CTE or In every football player whose brain has been autopsied, we've found evidence of tau or But these studies are skewed.
They're typically done on players who did suffer dementia, but not every player does.
- Am I right? - But that doesn't mean they're not a little less smart for having played.
Again, if you look at the data Thank you, but your testimony goes to your findings, sir what you found in your examination of Phillip Duggin and while you can opine this second-impact syndrome, that's just an educated guess, right? It's my medical opinion.
Based on the fact that he had tau on his brain and that he showed up in the E.
R.
wearing a football uniform, but you can't state to a medical certainty that he died as a direct result of an injury sustained while playing football, - can you? - To a medical certainty, no, but Thank you.
Your Honor, I would like to call one more witness.
Excuse me? Well, it's just that, during the doctor's testimony, repeated references were made concerning current studies being done on the impact of football on the brain.
I could redirect this witness on those studies, but wouldn't it be better to hear from one of the doctors who actually conducted them? In the interest of accuracy? Get him straight from the airport to the courthouse I can brief him there.
There's a driver waiting.
All taken care of.
Ollie, excuse me.
- Got a second? - Sure.
Hey.
What was that? What? Oh.
You wanted a second now? Sorry.
I didn't - You want it now? - Chunhua is my assistant.
I needed her earlier, and she was not here because you had taken her out of the office.
I would appreciate it if you clear something like that with me first.
Oh.
Okay.
I thought you just went for coffee.
Hmm? Oh, right.
Sorry.
Yeah, we went for coffee.
Guess I drink a lot of coffee.
Something else? Why were you having coffee with Chunhua? Just wanted to give her the, uh, rundown on how things work around here.
Office politics, that kind of nonsense.
Pecking order big guys, little guys that sort of thing.
I don't want you ever taking my assistant to coffee again.
You hear me? That's not okay with me.
Got it? Got it.
Sorry.
Whoa.
Lunch? Okay if I take her to lunch? My God.
- All set.
We should get going.
- Have you read these studies? Not all of them, but pretty bad I know.
Ready? Uh, let me just get my bag.
Dr.
Gold is at the courthouse now.
I told him you were on your way.
Good.
Thanks.
Chunhua, I don't want you going out for coffee or lunch or anything else with Oliver Richard.
Okay? I'm not comfortable with that.
Oh.
Okay.
Why? Excuse me? Why don't you want me going for coffee with Oliver Richard? I just don't think it's a good idea.
We'll leave it at that.
- All set? - Let's do it.
Well, first, my husband lost his job, which it put a lot of strain on the marriage.
Ultimately, it contributed to Well, after the divorce, with the settlement, I was able to buy a small house.
- In Richmond? - Yes.
Um, the school systems were good there, so I I have three children.
I wanted them to get a good education, so I moved to Richmond.
And then 2008 happened.
I lost my part-time job, and my husband couldn't make his alimony payments, and so, suddenly You couldn't make your mortgage payment.
Yeah, so I went to my bank.
And they claimed they were in distress, too.
So what happened? Well I found God in a hurry.
And a friend of mine in the banking industry said, "Forget God.
" "Just pray for that bailout package to go through.
" He said that if the government bails out the banks, that they could then rescue us.
And and when it did go through, and when I saw that headline "Congress approves bailout package" I I did thank God then.
I did.
So I called Mr.
Gray, looking for my lifeline, and he said, true, they were receiving federal help, but they wouldn't be passing any of that help onto us.
And how did that make you feel? You have no idea.
For 20 years, I'd been a loyal customer, and then, when I needed their help, I just got, "Sorry.
" "Now we'll take the keys to your house.
" And then I called my congressman, and I got the same response: "Sorry," "but no bailout money for you.
" Only the big people get their help.
Only Wall Street.
And then what? Well, I tried to move on I did but I couldn't.
The more I thought about it, the angrier I They created this mess with their giant Ponzi scheme, and they get bailed out, and they're supposed to use that bailout money to help people like us, but what did they do? They just stuck it deeper in their own coffers, and started taking million-dollar bonuses.
So then I just decided that I'd take things into my own hands.
You know, I'd I'd be damned before I let my children go homeless or let them starve.
So what did you do? I got my gun, went to my bank.
I looked that teller straight in the eye and I said, "I need money to feed my children.
" "You're gonna give it to me.
" And she did.
Then I left.
Okay, but, Elaine, I understand why you blamed the banks, but why the government? The government enabled all of this.
First by deregulating the banks giving them carte blanche.
And then they gave them $700 billion to do whatever they want with.
And they kept it.
The government let this happen, and now all these rich bankers are buying bigger houses while people like me are losing ours? The government is complicit in all of this.
Damn right I blame them! Damn right! Thank you.
I have nothing more.
I have nothing, Your Honor.
The public knows the toll that professional football takes on its players, and that's great.
But what is still not understood - is what the game is doing to the kids.
- And by kids, you mean? The squirts elementary school, high school.
Children should not be allowed to play tackle football, it's that simple.
That's a pretty aggressive statement, Doctor.
If anything, the game is more dangerous the younger you go.
Why? Because a young brain is still just that young.
In the developmental stages, when a neurological injury can be profoundly more damaging and enduring.
And you've done tests on this? Yes.
In my most recent, I studied the brains of 21 high school football players.
We did MRI neuro-imaging.
We specifically studied the cognitive impairment - and every one of them declined.
- All of them? Mm.
And here's what was truly disturbing: fully half of them were nonconcussed.
By that, I mean no clinical symptoms, no apparent injuries.
Even with this group, their cognitive skills were negatively affected.
And we're sure all these boys had proper protection? Helmets protect against outside traumas.
Concussions happen inside the head the brain crashes against the skull.
As equipment gets better, the players have only become more fearless.
They play with more abandon.
If anything, injuries have gone up.
Let's turn to Phillip Duggin specifically.
Did you study his autopsy results? I did.
There was an abnormal collection of a protein called tau.
This is something we find in Alzheimer's patients.
We don't expect to see it in a 16-year-old boy.
And you think this was caused by football? Absolutely.
The concussion was all frontal, and it was insular, which suggests head trauma, most of which was probably sub-concussive.
Which means what? A lot of repetitive little whacks to the head.
The sport is not safe.
Suppose a little-league kid takes a fastball on the noggin, could that cause tau on the brain? Possibly, but in baseball, you don't have the repetitive traumas.
But getting beaned with a fastball, - could that be concussive? - Of course.
Hockey? Checked into the boards? Wrestling, dumped on to your head? High-risk sports for head trauma? Not as bad as football, but yes.
- Skiing? - There are a lot of sports where - Soccer, heading the ball? - Heading the ball in soccer should be banned.
How do you feel about competitive cheerleading? - I'm not a fan.
- Boxing? Should be banned.
Bobsledding, luge, car racing? Forget racing, how about simply driving a car? Statistically, what's more dangerous, getting into your car to drive to the market, or playing in a game of football? Driving a car is statistically more dangerous.
But you're not suggesting we ban automobiles.
Obviously, we're not going to ban driving cars.
So you're open to tempering your opinion with common sense.
Failing that, a little pragmatism.
Objection.
Withdrawn.
Nothing further.
How we doing? So, Tommy sent you in for the kill.
Come on, Kim.
Five years in prison is pretty significant.
For sticking up a bank? When you consider all the circumstances Have you? I have.
- You really want 20? - I do.
Huh.
Isn't like you to go all "Hosanna" on this.
The thing is, Cassie, you don't regard your client as a high risk to society.
I do.
She's a mother with no prior criminal record.
Exactly.
You see the way that they're looking at Elaine Lister.
They find her sympathetic.
Mm-hmm.
Exactly.
And what am I missing? Think about it.
Sports especially contact sports, are fraught with all kinds of dangers.
Hockey, cheerleading, skiing, skateboarding, boxing, wrestling you can die, become paralyzed or suffer brain trauma doing any one of them.
Even heading a soccer ball.
And there are worse.
Today we have cliff jumping, hang gliding, the extreme sports.
We've all watched the X-Games.
Which are insane.
I suppose we could ban it all.
Be safer.
But sport is in our culture.
Football especially so.
Like you said, virtually every high school in America offers it.
Colleges schedule homecoming games.
Last week was Thanksgiving.
Almost all of America was tuned in to football on television.
It is deeply, deeply embedded in our culture.
In fact, it is the most American of all our sports.
And the idea that it should be banned, or that a court would seek to punish a school for offering it Of course our hearts go out to Phillip Duggin's family.
They suffered an unimaginable tragedy.
But Phillip died doing what he loved.
Blaming McKinley High for having a football program that's just not the way to go.
I love the game.
I do.
And true, I can't imagine a Thanksgiving without seeing the Detroit Lions or falling asleep in the La-Z-Boy while the cameraman zooms in for the turkey-day crotch-shot of a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader.
And let's face it, to actually know God is to see the Ohio State Buckeyes kick the *&%$ out of Michigan.
Mr.
Kildare is right, football is ingrained in the American culture.
But it comes at a dangerous, and as we're now learning, deadly cost.
Chronic traumatic brain injuries are much more common than we ever imagined.
Even routine little practice hits over time can cause CTE.
And younger players are especially vulnerable.
Phillip died of Second Impact Syndrome, something that occurs mainly in athletes under the age of 23.
Brains that are still forming.
Malcolm Gladwell, the brilliant author, recently wrote an article in the New Yorker comparing football to dog-fighting blood sports, where we throw the innocent into a ring to do deadly battle for our entertainment.
Sure, other sports are dangerous.
Hockey, skiing, heading the ball in soccer.
But these sports, and others, they can all be made safer.
Whereas football, by its very nature the game calls for high-performance athletes to squat in a crouch and then collide, helmet-to-helmet, on every single play.
We ask these kids to take thousands of hits over time, to their heads.
It is an inherently and innately unsafe sport.
In product liability, we call it a design defect.
As more and more players die, and we autopsy the brains, we're finding brain decay, even in teenage athletes, that's usually reserved for old people with Alzheimer's.
Today's news stinks.
Tomorrow's figures to be worse.
With every ensuing study, the picture gets a little more clear and a lot more shocking.
The human head is not meant to endure football.
Especially the heads of younger players.
I love the game, Judge I do but as ingrained as it is in our culture, if it's hurting our kids, really hurting them, maybe it's time to ingrain it out.
At a minimum, you can't tell me I don't have a case here.
And even if you could how do you tell them? What do you think? Well, honestly, we might have a chance at least as far as beating summary judgment goes.
Your closing was strong.
Adam, can I talk to you a second? Sure.
Give me a break.
Listen, I'm not comfortable with you telling me who I can or can't have coffee with.
I understand I have a job to do, I need to do it, and if you want me at my desk at all times during business hours, I will respect that.
But to put some blanket prohibition I'm beginning to wonder if this is a good idea, me working here.
Chunhua, look, I do not intend to legislate your personal life, that's not my right.
The reason I I just don't want you around dangerous snakes, okay? And Ollie Richard is a dangerous snake.
Don't get me wrong, I actually like the guy.
I just think, on certain levels he's a disgusting human being.
Sort of.
Well, if I want to have coffee with him on my personal time that should be my call.
Okay, never mind; I'll never mention it again.
If you want to see Ollie on your personal time and I do want you at your desk during business hours, by the way that's your right.
He'll just try to bed you, but hey, whatever.
I don't care.
Look, I don't need to convince you that she's guilty.
You saw the tape.
What I might need to persuade you of is that you should care.
I mean, single mom under distress, financial duress, a good person.
Well, it's because she's a good person that we really need to be concerned.
Because more and more good people are just saying, "You know, the law just doesn't work for me.
" And with all the social unrest going on in this country, we are on the cusp of lawlessness getting just a little out of hand.
We've all seen the mob violence in London.
We're seeing some right here at home.
Recently, protesters took over the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.
Kids on college campuses are resorting to violence to protest tuition hikes.
People in tough economic times are saying, "The hell with it!" And as the civil unrest grows, much of which is generated by good people, other good people are watching them get away with it.
That lady that really nice lady walked into a bank, stuck a loaded gun in an innocent woman's face, threatened to use it, and walked out with $60,000.
With no outrage.
Not from the public.
Not from the press.
And probably not from you.
Even her victim, her own victim, whispered, "Good for you.
" That's how fed up people are, and that's how dangerously close we are to anarchy.
And history will tell us that when anarchy threatens, society's best defense, in fact its only defense, is to alarm the lawbreakers to vanish.
And when the good people are knocking over banks, it is time to sound the alarm.
Millions of people are suffering in this economy.
God forbid they should get the idea to arm themselves and commit armed robbery.
Today, with your verdict, you can either defend against anarchy or you can join in.
It's really that simple.
Elaine Lister took $60,000.
For that, she faces prison.
There are bankers, investors, who essentially stole billions.
Brought this country to near economic collapse.
You know how many have gone to jail? Zero.
None.
All those perpetrators of the mortgage fraud that crippled our economy, caused financial ruin for so many not one has even been prosecuted.
But hey, let's get Elaine Lister.
Consider the atrocities committed by the banking industry and the government.
First the deregulation of derivatives, which paved the way for those credit default swaps leading to the great mortgage Ponzi scheme.
Then, after those Wall Street thieves *#$% us all up the ass Can I say that? Those criminally incompetent hacks in Washington spent over a trillion dollars in taxpayer money to bail them out.
With no quid pro quo.
No system put in place to track how the banks were to use that money.
There were no requirements that they increase lending to consumers.
Instead, they just stuck it in their own pockets, took more big bonuses, and as for the rest of us right up the ass again.
Throw 'em all in jail? How about the ten worst offenders? How about one? No, not one.
Not one.
But, hey, let's get Elaine Lister.
Goldman Sachs deliberately duped clients, sold them lousy deals that their firm then profited from by betting against.
That's criminal fraud.
Jail? For anybody? Nope.
But let's get Elaine Lister.
Ms.
Mendelsohn says watch out, we've got social unrest.
Is it any wonder? These lugnuts in Washington nearly shut down the government because they can't pass a budget, millions of Americans are going belly-up, what the hell do they expect? When a government acts to betray the interests of its constituents, civil disobedience isn't just a right, but a duty.
Elaine Lister was making a point that day.
She didn't wear a mask.
She knew she'd get caught.
She was in that bank to make a point.
She is not a criminal.
She is a hero.
The Outrageous Government Conduct defense is pretty simple: it applies when the government conduct is so outrageous that it violates fundamental principles of fairness to prosecute a defendant.
If not now, when? Government.
Hero.
Government Hero.
Government.
Hero.
That's your choice.
Okay.
As novel as the plaintiffs' lawsuit is, in actuality, I suppose it's nothing terribly new.
The President of the United States once called a White House Summit to address the brutality of football.
A professor from the University of Chicago once called football, and I quote: "A boy-killing, man-mutilating," "money-making, education-prostituting," "gladiatorial sport.
" The time was 1905, the president was Theodore Roosevelt.
Since then, the sport has only gotten exponentially more violent.
What is new, however, is the science.
The discovery of Second Impact Syndrome, and the revelation that even little hits, in the aggregate, are causing cognitive decline in the short run, possibly dementia in the long run.
Players who aren't even diagnosed with concussions are being impacted.
It isn't good, folks.
Isn't good.
Ms.
Korn, you know full well the idea that America will ban football is preposterous.
Even Harvard, Princeton, and Yale are still playing it.
But I do agree sometimes even our most cherished traditions have to be re-examined.
Especially when they're killing our kids.
Mr.
and Mrs.
Duggin, do not get your hopes up with any jury, trust me.
But your cause of action will not end with me.
The defendant's motion for summary judgment is denied.
We are adjourned.
Well, how about that? So we move forward.
I think that maybe now, at least, we can squeeze a settlement, which I would strongly encourage.
This seems very fast.
Too fast.
They deliberated less than an hour.
It's either very good or very bad.
Still time to plea.
You could get nothing.
The defendant will please rise.
Okay, Mr.
Foreman, the jury has reached a unanimous verdict.
What say you? In the matter of the State of Ohio vs.
Elaine Lister, on the matter of Aggravated Armed Robbery, we the jury find the defendant, Elaine Lister guilty.
The defendant is remanded into custody.
Sentencing will be set for next Thursday.
Members of the jury, the court thanks you.
You are dismissed.
This case is adjourned.
- I'm very sorry.
- You did your best, Tommy.
Thank you.
Both of you.
We'll look for ways to appeal.
Hopefully, we do okay in sentencing.
Thank you.
So much.
You took your best shot, Tommy.
It was all you could do.
Oh, come on, Tommy.
You didn't expect to really win, did you? You always seem to.
You had a dead-bang loser.
I mean, how do you sue football? It's right up there with apple pie and guns.
Well, the law may evolve some on football, but it's going to stay pretty fixed with bank robbers.
So that sexy voice work for you in court? Oh, this cold I can't shake it.
Think it's sexy? So what now? You take this to a jury? I'm hoping to squeeze some settlement now.
Maybe even an apology.
Come on.
I played football; I got hit in the head many times.
Yeah, very funny.
Seriously, though, a judge is one thing.
How do you sell a jury? Probably don't.
After all, it's football.
Like you say, right up there with apple pie and guns.
It's football.
- Kim.
- Tommy.
My dear, dear Kim.
- Okay.
- I've got a sympathetic client.
Many, in fact, see her as a hero.
I've got a compassionate D.
A.
who I would call one of my heroes.
At least sexually.
I think we can work something out that reflects both the heroic quality of my sympathetic client, and the compassion that runneth so deeply within the bowels of the D.
A.
Perhaps something that runneth a little deeper.
Kim For God's sake, this is a woman trying to feed her kids.
Single mother desperate to provide for her family.
Can you not see that? Yeah, I'm not sure what the picture of sympathy looks like.
But I do know a bank robber when I see one.
Five years.
Better.
Twenty.
No record, no priors, no previous criminal offense.
Good point.
Times three.
Twenty.
And who takes care of her kids have you thought about that? Why don't you ask whoever she had in mind to look after them for five years, and then see if they can extend it for an additional 15.
Final offer.
Okay, it's think tank time.
I need everyone in the conference room ASAP.
- Whoa! - Harry, I have a crisis.
Kim Mendelsohn won't budge on my bank robbery.
Not even by a little.
I need to come up with something creative and I need it fast.
You smart one give me something.
What about necessity? That would apply if she had no other choice, but holding up a bank, I doubt it.
Self-help? Works for civil, not criminal.
- Jury null? - Smart one, come on.
- What do you got? - Well I like it.
You said that she lost all of her money in the mortgage crisis.
She did, yeah.
Keep going.
What? There's a theory it's out there, but it's used in drug cases.
Perfect! We'll go with that one.
I haven't told you what it is.
Doesn't matter, I got nothing else what is it? It's called don't laugh Outrageous Government Conduct Defense.
Come again? Basically, you argue that the government's conduct is so outrageous that it violates fundamental principles of fairness to prosecute the defendant.
- This is real.
- It's an affirmative defense.
You have to plead it, but yes, it's real.
It's used in drug cases.
Usually, police stings that have gone awry.
Outrageous Government Conduct.
You could argue that the government played a role in the whole mortgage meltdown, which lead to your client's desperation, which lead Can I borrow her? Please? Okay, Adam, we're up.
We can go right in my office.
The school refuses to offer a dime.
Or an apology.
They're afraid any acknowledgment of guilt will expose them to too much liability.
So we keep going, then.
Susan you're not gonna be successful suing a high school for having a football program.
Why did you take our case, if you I took the case because what you seemed to be after was some accountability by the high school, which, frankly, I thought I could get, but it seems I cannot.
Well, we'd rather try this case and lose than just walk away.
We could at least help put the word out.
Odds are, it won't make it to trial.
After Susan's deposition, they'll most likely move for some rejudgment, which basically means they want the judge to toss it before it even gets to a jury.
My biggest concern is that the deposition could dredge up a lot of pain that Our son is dead.
There is no pain we don't already know.
We want to keep going.
Harry's Law 2x09 - Head Games Original air date November 30, 2011 This is her when she first stepped up and you can see, right there, she's passing me a note.
And do you remember what the note said? That this was a robbery.
That she was armed.
And that I should empty my drawer, and give her all the cash inside.
And what did you do? Well, I didn't take her seriously at first.
I recognized this woman.
She had been in the bank before, and she was a regular customer.
And she wasn't wearing a mask, or I thought this must be some kind of joke and then it got very unfunny.
I think we all recognize what this is, but would you please tell us.
It's a revolver.
And did she say anything as she pointed it at you? Again, that the gun was loaded, and that she was prepared to use it if I failed to cede to her demands.
- And then? - I gave her all the money in the drawer, - and she left.
- And do you see the woman who robbed you in the courtroom today? It's the defendant.
Are you sure? No doubt.
Thank you.
You said you recognized my client? Yes.
She was a regular customer.
In fact, two years ago, she was in that bank almost every day, was she not? We saw her a lot.
Yes.
Meeting with managers and loan officers and so forth.
And do you know what those meetings were about? I understood that that the bank was foreclosing on her home and she was trying to work something out.
And did she work something out, to your knowledge? To my knowledge, no.
- The bank foreclosed? - Yes.
Took her home.
Yes.
And during this incident, you said she didn't wear a mask.
Well, we could all see she didn't wear a mask.
You could see her face, plain as day.
It seemed as if she didn't even intend to get away with this, did she? She got away with almost $60,000.
But it seemed like she was almost more intent on making a point than stealing.
Objection! The witness has no foundation as to the defendant's state of mind.
Sustained.
Ms.
Russert, as you handed this money over to my client, you said something, didn't you? Well, I was a little in shock.
What did you say? Do you remember what you said? Well, I might've whispered something like, um "Good for you.
" Adam, you got a call from Dr.
Ira Gold, - from Boston University.
- Really.
He left some times for you to call back.
Good.
Thanks.
You getting settled okay? All good.
That's my son the quarterback.
He's about to take the snap.
He goes back to pass, there's a blitz and he's tackled.
You can see he's slow to get up.
He looks unsteady, even.
But he did get up? Yes.
And was he able to walk to the sideline? Yes.
But, five minutes later, he fell unconscious.
He was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Mrs.
Duggin, again, I am very, very sorry.
Once your son was injured here, did the coach and school respond appropriately? Did they respond appropriately? I guess what I'm asking is, once it was clear he was hurt, they took him out of the game, and acted responsibly.
My feeling is that it's irresponsible of them to have a football program.
He was never directed to continue playing, once it was ascertained that he was hurt.
Not to my knowledge, no.
You don't allege that the football program offered by McKinley High is any more dangerous than those programs offered by other high schools.
Well, it might be.
Okay.
Do you have any evidence of that? My son is dead.
Okay.
Your son Phillip and the two of you you all understood football to be a violent sport.
We understood that football was a contact sport.
That it involved collisions.
You signed waivers at the beginning of the season.
Phillip came home with a lot of forms.
We signed them.
We were not aware that playing football was life-threatening.
Mrs.
Duggin football has been around for a very long time.
So has smoking.
But once it was learned that smoking causes cancer and death, the dangers were front-loaded for the American public.
That should be done, and hasn't been done, with football.
So, if you had felt properly warned here, on the dangers of football, you'd have no problem with it.
I didn't say that.
But nice try.
Okay, just so I'm clear your issue isn't so much with McKinley High as with the sport of football itself.
My son was killed participating in a football program at McKinley High.
He was participating as directed by the coach at McKinley High.
He's dead.
So, yes, sir, I take issue with McKinley High.
She was, of course, very upset that we were foreclosing, as were we.
She was a valued customer, and we all sympathized.
Mr.
Gray, can you tell us why you chose to foreclose? Well, quite simply, she couldn't pay her mortgage.
We'd given her several extensions, and, as I said, we valued her business, but, at some point And when you finally did foreclose She became distraught, and she vowed this would not be the end of it.
Several months later, she came back, brandishing the weapon and, well, you saw the tape.
Thank you, sir.
The tape doesn't tell the whole story, does it, Mr.
Gray? I'm not sure what you mean.
I bet you have a pretty good idea.
You were the loan officer who negotiated the mortgage package which enabled my client to buy her house, were you not? - I was.
- A house she couldn't afford.
That isn't true.
She's a single mother, part-time job, supplemented by modest alimony subject to modification by the court.
She's a terrible risk, and yet, you gave her the deal of a lifetime.
- Objection.
- Overruled.
A no-money-down, interest-only, adjustable rate mortgage at three percent fantastic! One could say that deal was just too good to be true.
Which it was.
Objection! The terms of the loan are not an issue.
Your Honor? Short leash.
You knew she wouldn't be able to hold onto this house; in fact, that was the plan, was it not? It certainly was not.
She makes the payments, you get the interest, she doesn't, you get the house.
Do you have any idea how much the banks lost Because your plan backfired when real estate crashed! We didn't set out to screw your client! You raised the rate from three to 13 percent, strapped on a big balloon payment Our rates floated with the prime.
It was an adjustable rate mortgage! Did you advise her of that? She had a lawyer, for God's sake! You were her banker she had an ongoing relationship with you.
You saw the trends.
Did you tell her, "Hey, wait, you might" "want to consider that the rates will go up"? No, that wasn't your business plan, was it? It was more like, take her money, then take her house.
- Objection! - Sustained.
Your bank, Heritage Union, is a subsidiary of J.
P.
Morgan, am I right? - Yes.
- Which received billions and billions of dollars in bailout money.
When you were in trouble, the government bailed you out in part so you could bail your customers out.
But when Elaine Lister came to you, instead of helping her you took her house.
It was great don't get me wrong but our defense is the government's conduct, not the bank's.
I'll get there, but I needed to lay some pipe.
At some point, I want to take another shot with Kim, which I'll need your help with.
She's not going to cut me any favors, so when the time's right, I'd like you to speak to her, D.
A.
to D.
A.
Who are you kidding? That woman was caught on tape.
Stay out of it, if you don't mind.
And even if you do.
I'd also like you to handle Elaine's direct.
Really? I want the jury to be laser-locked on her story.
When she testifies, I want her to be the only one in the room.
I tend to pull focus.
The jury won't notice you.
Got it.
Thanks.
Uh, Chunhua.
Ollie Richard.
We haven't officially met.
- Hello.
- You finding everything okay? You getting set up? Yes.
Everyone's been so nice.
- Thank you.
- Yeah.
Yeah, they're a great group.
Listen, let's get coffee sometime.
I can give you a quick primer on the litigation department.
That'd be great.
Thank you.
What? Ms.
Korn, come on.
I was just as skeptical as you, Your Honor.
And then I started to review the data.
Virtually every high school in America offers football.
Which makes the problem more pervasive.
And you think you're about to get a court to legislate it away? Not really.
My hope here is that you see my clients have been victimized and you recognize that a court of law is their only means of finding a remedy.
And I would hope, Your Honor, that the court tempers its compassion with pragmatism and the controlling body of law.
The body of law is about to shift.
Ms.
Korn, I I have a lot of cases on my docket.
Your Honor, if I could just get you to hear from the treating physician.
If you're inclined to dismiss this claim, then fine.
All I'll ask is that you let your decision be an informed one.
One witness 2:00.
And, Ms.
Korn, one witness means one witness.
Yes, Your Honor.
Thank you.
Okay, so let's put the treating physician up first.
And then we'll call the expert from BU, assuming he can get here.
Harry, the judge said one witness only.
You heard him.
Really? I heard "one at a time.
" Get the treating physician ready to go first, and then the doc from BU to follow.
Judge Gillot is very no-nonsense.
The last thing we need is for you to be held in contempt.
Adam, how long you been doing this? The treating physician first.
The guy from BU to follow.
Thank you.
We appreciate it very much.
Thank you again.
Okay.
Bye.
Okay, the guy from BU is getting on the airplane now.
All this assumes the judge will even let him testify, which I'm just saying, the judge said one witness.
Where's Chunhua? I need to arrange his pickup.
She went for coffee.
With Oliver.
Excuse me? He took some time to show her the ropes, what have you.
Good egg, that Ollie.
- Team player.
- She's my assistant.
I'm sure they'll be back.
What's going on? - We're just going over Elaine's testimony.
- No, you don't.
Out you go, Elaine.
We'll see you at the courthouse.
Tommy! Out you go, Elaine.
We'll see you at the courthouse.
We hadn't even started.
Good to know.
Out you go.
I'm not well-versed on what her story is.
- I certainly have to prepare.
- You want to know her story? Her story is emotion.
It's pain.
It's anger.
If you squeeze it all out of her now, she'll have nothing left when she gets up to testify.
We want her corked, bottled up.
We pull that cork in the courtroom, not here.
But we still need to prepare.
Cassie, if I thought it was hard, I wouldn't let you do it.
Got it.
Just keep it simple.
Ask her what happened.
Let her tell that jury what they did to her.
And don't pull focus.
By the time he was wheeled into the E.
R.
, he was comatose.
He died about 40 minutes later.
I saw footage of that tackle.
It didn't seem that bad.
And it's unlikely that blow by itself would have killed him.
An autopsy on his brain revealed some scar tissue caused by a prior trauma.
Phillip died most likely by what we call second-impact syndrome, which can be fatal.
Once you get one concussion, every one after that is exponentially more dangerous.
Had he been treated before for any concussions? No, but what we're realizing now is players' brains are suffering trauma by what we call subconcussive injuries.
Subconcussive? Uh, the kinds of blows players typically just shake off.
And you think this is what happened to Phillip? When we autopsied his brain, we found evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Brain damage.
Where we used to think CTE was caused by these big, dramatic collisions, we're now realizing that players' brains are being damaged by cumulative exposure as well these repetitive subconcussive injuries.
You're talking about I'm talking about playing football, Ms.
Korn.
Everyday football.
You can state to a medical certainty that Phillip Duggin died from a football-related injury? I can say to a certainty that we found a protein called tau on his brain a protein caused by trauma.
Is it possible he suffered from a genetic defect? It's possible, but Thank you.
And not everyone who plays football ends up with dementia or CTE or In every football player whose brain has been autopsied, we've found evidence of tau or But these studies are skewed.
They're typically done on players who did suffer dementia, but not every player does.
- Am I right? - But that doesn't mean they're not a little less smart for having played.
Again, if you look at the data Thank you, but your testimony goes to your findings, sir what you found in your examination of Phillip Duggin and while you can opine this second-impact syndrome, that's just an educated guess, right? It's my medical opinion.
Based on the fact that he had tau on his brain and that he showed up in the E.
R.
wearing a football uniform, but you can't state to a medical certainty that he died as a direct result of an injury sustained while playing football, - can you? - To a medical certainty, no, but Thank you.
Your Honor, I would like to call one more witness.
Excuse me? Well, it's just that, during the doctor's testimony, repeated references were made concerning current studies being done on the impact of football on the brain.
I could redirect this witness on those studies, but wouldn't it be better to hear from one of the doctors who actually conducted them? In the interest of accuracy? Get him straight from the airport to the courthouse I can brief him there.
There's a driver waiting.
All taken care of.
Ollie, excuse me.
- Got a second? - Sure.
Hey.
What was that? What? Oh.
You wanted a second now? Sorry.
I didn't - You want it now? - Chunhua is my assistant.
I needed her earlier, and she was not here because you had taken her out of the office.
I would appreciate it if you clear something like that with me first.
Oh.
Okay.
I thought you just went for coffee.
Hmm? Oh, right.
Sorry.
Yeah, we went for coffee.
Guess I drink a lot of coffee.
Something else? Why were you having coffee with Chunhua? Just wanted to give her the, uh, rundown on how things work around here.
Office politics, that kind of nonsense.
Pecking order big guys, little guys that sort of thing.
I don't want you ever taking my assistant to coffee again.
You hear me? That's not okay with me.
Got it? Got it.
Sorry.
Whoa.
Lunch? Okay if I take her to lunch? My God.
- All set.
We should get going.
- Have you read these studies? Not all of them, but pretty bad I know.
Ready? Uh, let me just get my bag.
Dr.
Gold is at the courthouse now.
I told him you were on your way.
Good.
Thanks.
Chunhua, I don't want you going out for coffee or lunch or anything else with Oliver Richard.
Okay? I'm not comfortable with that.
Oh.
Okay.
Why? Excuse me? Why don't you want me going for coffee with Oliver Richard? I just don't think it's a good idea.
We'll leave it at that.
- All set? - Let's do it.
Well, first, my husband lost his job, which it put a lot of strain on the marriage.
Ultimately, it contributed to Well, after the divorce, with the settlement, I was able to buy a small house.
- In Richmond? - Yes.
Um, the school systems were good there, so I I have three children.
I wanted them to get a good education, so I moved to Richmond.
And then 2008 happened.
I lost my part-time job, and my husband couldn't make his alimony payments, and so, suddenly You couldn't make your mortgage payment.
Yeah, so I went to my bank.
And they claimed they were in distress, too.
So what happened? Well I found God in a hurry.
And a friend of mine in the banking industry said, "Forget God.
" "Just pray for that bailout package to go through.
" He said that if the government bails out the banks, that they could then rescue us.
And and when it did go through, and when I saw that headline "Congress approves bailout package" I I did thank God then.
I did.
So I called Mr.
Gray, looking for my lifeline, and he said, true, they were receiving federal help, but they wouldn't be passing any of that help onto us.
And how did that make you feel? You have no idea.
For 20 years, I'd been a loyal customer, and then, when I needed their help, I just got, "Sorry.
" "Now we'll take the keys to your house.
" And then I called my congressman, and I got the same response: "Sorry," "but no bailout money for you.
" Only the big people get their help.
Only Wall Street.
And then what? Well, I tried to move on I did but I couldn't.
The more I thought about it, the angrier I They created this mess with their giant Ponzi scheme, and they get bailed out, and they're supposed to use that bailout money to help people like us, but what did they do? They just stuck it deeper in their own coffers, and started taking million-dollar bonuses.
So then I just decided that I'd take things into my own hands.
You know, I'd I'd be damned before I let my children go homeless or let them starve.
So what did you do? I got my gun, went to my bank.
I looked that teller straight in the eye and I said, "I need money to feed my children.
" "You're gonna give it to me.
" And she did.
Then I left.
Okay, but, Elaine, I understand why you blamed the banks, but why the government? The government enabled all of this.
First by deregulating the banks giving them carte blanche.
And then they gave them $700 billion to do whatever they want with.
And they kept it.
The government let this happen, and now all these rich bankers are buying bigger houses while people like me are losing ours? The government is complicit in all of this.
Damn right I blame them! Damn right! Thank you.
I have nothing more.
I have nothing, Your Honor.
The public knows the toll that professional football takes on its players, and that's great.
But what is still not understood - is what the game is doing to the kids.
- And by kids, you mean? The squirts elementary school, high school.
Children should not be allowed to play tackle football, it's that simple.
That's a pretty aggressive statement, Doctor.
If anything, the game is more dangerous the younger you go.
Why? Because a young brain is still just that young.
In the developmental stages, when a neurological injury can be profoundly more damaging and enduring.
And you've done tests on this? Yes.
In my most recent, I studied the brains of 21 high school football players.
We did MRI neuro-imaging.
We specifically studied the cognitive impairment - and every one of them declined.
- All of them? Mm.
And here's what was truly disturbing: fully half of them were nonconcussed.
By that, I mean no clinical symptoms, no apparent injuries.
Even with this group, their cognitive skills were negatively affected.
And we're sure all these boys had proper protection? Helmets protect against outside traumas.
Concussions happen inside the head the brain crashes against the skull.
As equipment gets better, the players have only become more fearless.
They play with more abandon.
If anything, injuries have gone up.
Let's turn to Phillip Duggin specifically.
Did you study his autopsy results? I did.
There was an abnormal collection of a protein called tau.
This is something we find in Alzheimer's patients.
We don't expect to see it in a 16-year-old boy.
And you think this was caused by football? Absolutely.
The concussion was all frontal, and it was insular, which suggests head trauma, most of which was probably sub-concussive.
Which means what? A lot of repetitive little whacks to the head.
The sport is not safe.
Suppose a little-league kid takes a fastball on the noggin, could that cause tau on the brain? Possibly, but in baseball, you don't have the repetitive traumas.
But getting beaned with a fastball, - could that be concussive? - Of course.
Hockey? Checked into the boards? Wrestling, dumped on to your head? High-risk sports for head trauma? Not as bad as football, but yes.
- Skiing? - There are a lot of sports where - Soccer, heading the ball? - Heading the ball in soccer should be banned.
How do you feel about competitive cheerleading? - I'm not a fan.
- Boxing? Should be banned.
Bobsledding, luge, car racing? Forget racing, how about simply driving a car? Statistically, what's more dangerous, getting into your car to drive to the market, or playing in a game of football? Driving a car is statistically more dangerous.
But you're not suggesting we ban automobiles.
Obviously, we're not going to ban driving cars.
So you're open to tempering your opinion with common sense.
Failing that, a little pragmatism.
Objection.
Withdrawn.
Nothing further.
How we doing? So, Tommy sent you in for the kill.
Come on, Kim.
Five years in prison is pretty significant.
For sticking up a bank? When you consider all the circumstances Have you? I have.
- You really want 20? - I do.
Huh.
Isn't like you to go all "Hosanna" on this.
The thing is, Cassie, you don't regard your client as a high risk to society.
I do.
She's a mother with no prior criminal record.
Exactly.
You see the way that they're looking at Elaine Lister.
They find her sympathetic.
Mm-hmm.
Exactly.
And what am I missing? Think about it.
Sports especially contact sports, are fraught with all kinds of dangers.
Hockey, cheerleading, skiing, skateboarding, boxing, wrestling you can die, become paralyzed or suffer brain trauma doing any one of them.
Even heading a soccer ball.
And there are worse.
Today we have cliff jumping, hang gliding, the extreme sports.
We've all watched the X-Games.
Which are insane.
I suppose we could ban it all.
Be safer.
But sport is in our culture.
Football especially so.
Like you said, virtually every high school in America offers it.
Colleges schedule homecoming games.
Last week was Thanksgiving.
Almost all of America was tuned in to football on television.
It is deeply, deeply embedded in our culture.
In fact, it is the most American of all our sports.
And the idea that it should be banned, or that a court would seek to punish a school for offering it Of course our hearts go out to Phillip Duggin's family.
They suffered an unimaginable tragedy.
But Phillip died doing what he loved.
Blaming McKinley High for having a football program that's just not the way to go.
I love the game.
I do.
And true, I can't imagine a Thanksgiving without seeing the Detroit Lions or falling asleep in the La-Z-Boy while the cameraman zooms in for the turkey-day crotch-shot of a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader.
And let's face it, to actually know God is to see the Ohio State Buckeyes kick the *&%$ out of Michigan.
Mr.
Kildare is right, football is ingrained in the American culture.
But it comes at a dangerous, and as we're now learning, deadly cost.
Chronic traumatic brain injuries are much more common than we ever imagined.
Even routine little practice hits over time can cause CTE.
And younger players are especially vulnerable.
Phillip died of Second Impact Syndrome, something that occurs mainly in athletes under the age of 23.
Brains that are still forming.
Malcolm Gladwell, the brilliant author, recently wrote an article in the New Yorker comparing football to dog-fighting blood sports, where we throw the innocent into a ring to do deadly battle for our entertainment.
Sure, other sports are dangerous.
Hockey, skiing, heading the ball in soccer.
But these sports, and others, they can all be made safer.
Whereas football, by its very nature the game calls for high-performance athletes to squat in a crouch and then collide, helmet-to-helmet, on every single play.
We ask these kids to take thousands of hits over time, to their heads.
It is an inherently and innately unsafe sport.
In product liability, we call it a design defect.
As more and more players die, and we autopsy the brains, we're finding brain decay, even in teenage athletes, that's usually reserved for old people with Alzheimer's.
Today's news stinks.
Tomorrow's figures to be worse.
With every ensuing study, the picture gets a little more clear and a lot more shocking.
The human head is not meant to endure football.
Especially the heads of younger players.
I love the game, Judge I do but as ingrained as it is in our culture, if it's hurting our kids, really hurting them, maybe it's time to ingrain it out.
At a minimum, you can't tell me I don't have a case here.
And even if you could how do you tell them? What do you think? Well, honestly, we might have a chance at least as far as beating summary judgment goes.
Your closing was strong.
Adam, can I talk to you a second? Sure.
Give me a break.
Listen, I'm not comfortable with you telling me who I can or can't have coffee with.
I understand I have a job to do, I need to do it, and if you want me at my desk at all times during business hours, I will respect that.
But to put some blanket prohibition I'm beginning to wonder if this is a good idea, me working here.
Chunhua, look, I do not intend to legislate your personal life, that's not my right.
The reason I I just don't want you around dangerous snakes, okay? And Ollie Richard is a dangerous snake.
Don't get me wrong, I actually like the guy.
I just think, on certain levels he's a disgusting human being.
Sort of.
Well, if I want to have coffee with him on my personal time that should be my call.
Okay, never mind; I'll never mention it again.
If you want to see Ollie on your personal time and I do want you at your desk during business hours, by the way that's your right.
He'll just try to bed you, but hey, whatever.
I don't care.
Look, I don't need to convince you that she's guilty.
You saw the tape.
What I might need to persuade you of is that you should care.
I mean, single mom under distress, financial duress, a good person.
Well, it's because she's a good person that we really need to be concerned.
Because more and more good people are just saying, "You know, the law just doesn't work for me.
" And with all the social unrest going on in this country, we are on the cusp of lawlessness getting just a little out of hand.
We've all seen the mob violence in London.
We're seeing some right here at home.
Recently, protesters took over the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.
Kids on college campuses are resorting to violence to protest tuition hikes.
People in tough economic times are saying, "The hell with it!" And as the civil unrest grows, much of which is generated by good people, other good people are watching them get away with it.
That lady that really nice lady walked into a bank, stuck a loaded gun in an innocent woman's face, threatened to use it, and walked out with $60,000.
With no outrage.
Not from the public.
Not from the press.
And probably not from you.
Even her victim, her own victim, whispered, "Good for you.
" That's how fed up people are, and that's how dangerously close we are to anarchy.
And history will tell us that when anarchy threatens, society's best defense, in fact its only defense, is to alarm the lawbreakers to vanish.
And when the good people are knocking over banks, it is time to sound the alarm.
Millions of people are suffering in this economy.
God forbid they should get the idea to arm themselves and commit armed robbery.
Today, with your verdict, you can either defend against anarchy or you can join in.
It's really that simple.
Elaine Lister took $60,000.
For that, she faces prison.
There are bankers, investors, who essentially stole billions.
Brought this country to near economic collapse.
You know how many have gone to jail? Zero.
None.
All those perpetrators of the mortgage fraud that crippled our economy, caused financial ruin for so many not one has even been prosecuted.
But hey, let's get Elaine Lister.
Consider the atrocities committed by the banking industry and the government.
First the deregulation of derivatives, which paved the way for those credit default swaps leading to the great mortgage Ponzi scheme.
Then, after those Wall Street thieves *#$% us all up the ass Can I say that? Those criminally incompetent hacks in Washington spent over a trillion dollars in taxpayer money to bail them out.
With no quid pro quo.
No system put in place to track how the banks were to use that money.
There were no requirements that they increase lending to consumers.
Instead, they just stuck it in their own pockets, took more big bonuses, and as for the rest of us right up the ass again.
Throw 'em all in jail? How about the ten worst offenders? How about one? No, not one.
Not one.
But, hey, let's get Elaine Lister.
Goldman Sachs deliberately duped clients, sold them lousy deals that their firm then profited from by betting against.
That's criminal fraud.
Jail? For anybody? Nope.
But let's get Elaine Lister.
Ms.
Mendelsohn says watch out, we've got social unrest.
Is it any wonder? These lugnuts in Washington nearly shut down the government because they can't pass a budget, millions of Americans are going belly-up, what the hell do they expect? When a government acts to betray the interests of its constituents, civil disobedience isn't just a right, but a duty.
Elaine Lister was making a point that day.
She didn't wear a mask.
She knew she'd get caught.
She was in that bank to make a point.
She is not a criminal.
She is a hero.
The Outrageous Government Conduct defense is pretty simple: it applies when the government conduct is so outrageous that it violates fundamental principles of fairness to prosecute a defendant.
If not now, when? Government.
Hero.
Government Hero.
Government.
Hero.
That's your choice.
Okay.
As novel as the plaintiffs' lawsuit is, in actuality, I suppose it's nothing terribly new.
The President of the United States once called a White House Summit to address the brutality of football.
A professor from the University of Chicago once called football, and I quote: "A boy-killing, man-mutilating," "money-making, education-prostituting," "gladiatorial sport.
" The time was 1905, the president was Theodore Roosevelt.
Since then, the sport has only gotten exponentially more violent.
What is new, however, is the science.
The discovery of Second Impact Syndrome, and the revelation that even little hits, in the aggregate, are causing cognitive decline in the short run, possibly dementia in the long run.
Players who aren't even diagnosed with concussions are being impacted.
It isn't good, folks.
Isn't good.
Ms.
Korn, you know full well the idea that America will ban football is preposterous.
Even Harvard, Princeton, and Yale are still playing it.
But I do agree sometimes even our most cherished traditions have to be re-examined.
Especially when they're killing our kids.
Mr.
and Mrs.
Duggin, do not get your hopes up with any jury, trust me.
But your cause of action will not end with me.
The defendant's motion for summary judgment is denied.
We are adjourned.
Well, how about that? So we move forward.
I think that maybe now, at least, we can squeeze a settlement, which I would strongly encourage.
This seems very fast.
Too fast.
They deliberated less than an hour.
It's either very good or very bad.
Still time to plea.
You could get nothing.
The defendant will please rise.
Okay, Mr.
Foreman, the jury has reached a unanimous verdict.
What say you? In the matter of the State of Ohio vs.
Elaine Lister, on the matter of Aggravated Armed Robbery, we the jury find the defendant, Elaine Lister guilty.
The defendant is remanded into custody.
Sentencing will be set for next Thursday.
Members of the jury, the court thanks you.
You are dismissed.
This case is adjourned.
- I'm very sorry.
- You did your best, Tommy.
Thank you.
Both of you.
We'll look for ways to appeal.
Hopefully, we do okay in sentencing.
Thank you.
So much.
You took your best shot, Tommy.
It was all you could do.
Oh, come on, Tommy.
You didn't expect to really win, did you? You always seem to.
You had a dead-bang loser.
I mean, how do you sue football? It's right up there with apple pie and guns.
Well, the law may evolve some on football, but it's going to stay pretty fixed with bank robbers.
So that sexy voice work for you in court? Oh, this cold I can't shake it.
Think it's sexy? So what now? You take this to a jury? I'm hoping to squeeze some settlement now.
Maybe even an apology.
Come on.
I played football; I got hit in the head many times.
Yeah, very funny.
Seriously, though, a judge is one thing.
How do you sell a jury? Probably don't.
After all, it's football.
Like you say, right up there with apple pie and guns.
It's football.