The Practice Episode Guide

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May May 21, 2000 A powerhouse 10 Flush episode that had everybody crying, both on the show and the studio audience at home. Ellenor, Jimmy, and Eugene represent a deaf woman named Sally Berg (played by Marlee Matlin) who is charged with killing Michael Whittier, the man that raped and killed her seven year-old daughter. The two lawyers want to plead temporary insanity; however, Sally says no, she was not insane. Bobby tells Ellenor and Jimmy to convince Sally to claim temporary insanity or to drop the case. Bobby says that Judge Zoey Hiller (who is my favorite judge) will not allow them to argue jury nullification so they must go with insanity. In a very emotional scene in which Ellenor and Sally sign language each other without saying anything, Sally agrees to plead to temporary insanity. Prosecuting the case is Richard Bay and second chair is Helen. Helen says that she should second chair because Richard has had some high profile loses lately and when he goes up against Ellenor, he becomes particularly emotional. As a result of his poor performance, he is under review as an attorney. Because the arrest of Whittier was so high profile (after all, he did rape and murder a 7 year old), the first bit of evidence is a video tape from a local news channel showing Michael getting shot, although it does not show the shooter. An officer says that the shooter was Sally. A second news video shows Sally approaching Whittier, shooting him, dropping the gun, and putting her hands up over her head. This act is done so calmly that the first defense doctor tells Ellenor that he cannot testify on Sally's behalf, because he no longer thinks that she was insane. As a result, the defense will call Dr. Lanning also known as Dr. Dope to the stand. He is in the courtroom when Sally gives her testimony. Sally's testimony is very emotional. She shares that Jessica had been missing for two days when she was found dead. The murder suspect, Whittier, was Jessica's soccer coach, and Sally has no one left in her life: no other children and her husband died a few years back. Ellenor asks what Sally was thinking when she shot Whittier. Sally responds that she was thinking about her daughter being raped and killed. Her testimony is very emotional, because she communicates through sign language, yet her sobs filled the courtroom and touched the hearts of every viewer. Helen rises and cross examines. She establishes that Sally's actions were three days after her daughter's murder and that Sally had to get a gun from a safe, cancel an appointment with a real estate agent, drive to Whittier's house, park two houses away from his house to avoid detection, and then shoot Whittier. Helen then tells Sally that she is sorry for her loss. Sally says that Helen is not sorry, because she is prosecuting her and we believe Sally, because she does not yell or shout...she just says (actually, her interpreter says). Having completed this testimony, Eugene tells Judge Hiller that the defense rests. Outside of the courtroom, Ellenor questions Eugene's decision, because she says that Hiller will not let the jury vote not guilty without medical evidence, Eugene says, "our defense is emotion. We rest on the highest note." He also points out that Dr. Dope is a bad witness. It then comes time to closing arguments. Richard gives an argument that we have to uphold the law and reject vigilantism. Ellenor then gets up, shows a picture of Jessica and says that we cannot imagine the pain Jessica felt in her last moments of life. We should also imagine being Jessica's mother and should imagine what we would do in that situation. Half of the jury was crying, Helen was crying, and even Judge Hiller looked a little upset. We now wait for a verdict, and Helen tells Richard that he should offer involuntary manslaughter as part of a plee agreement. Richard says that he cannot offer that because it would be like losing the case, and if his job is under review then he cannot lose. The jury returns and finds Sally not guilty of murder one, but guilty of murder two which means a life sentence. Ellenor says that she will appeal the case. Truth be told, I though that Judge Hiller would overturn the verdict, but I suppose that my fantasies can't always come true. A woman is going to jail for killing the man that killed her daughter. Also this week and arguably more importantly this week, Bobby and Lindsay plan for their wedding; it is currently May and their wedding is in June. Bobby is angry with Lindsay because she accidentally invited 390 people to their wedding when these people were only supposed to receive announcements of the marriage after the fact. The two continue to fight over petty details. Lindsay says that Bobby is not active enough in the wedding process. Bobby says that she told him to stop planning the wedding after he picked a church and wedding dress. When they go to get a certificate for their wedding license, they barely even speak to each other. The two fight and finally Rebecca tells Bobby that he's being unreasonable, and he has to make up with Lindsay. Bobby tells Lindsay that he just doesn't like the idea of a big wedding and that he'd be just as happy eloping. She asks if he really means that. Bobby responds that he's only wanted two things in his life: 1) to pitch for the Boston Red Sox inside of Fenway Park and 2) to marry the most perfect woman in the world, and that one of two things isn't bad. Lindsay decides to elope that night, but she doesn't tell Bobby, because it is a surprise for him. She asks Rebecca and Lucy for some help. They blindfold Bobby and tell him that they're taking him to his bachelor's party. Bobby says that only guys are welcome at bachelor's party, but they don't care. They finally arrive at their destination, and they remove his blindfold. Lucy then gives a signal and bright lights shine. Bobby is standing in the middle of Fenway Park and Lindsay is on the pitcher's mound in a wedding dress. Lindsay explains that they can elope now, cancel the big wedding (and all 390 invited people), and have a small ceremony with close friends and family later. A priest is waiting to perform the ceremony. Eugene, Ellenor, Bobby, and Helen arrive from Sally Berg's trial. The wedding takes place and we have a marriage. Bobby turns to all of his guests (translated: all of the characters on the show) and says that if he doesn't say it often enough that these people are his closest friends in the world so thank you. We then leave Fenway Park and see Sally Berg in a prison uniform and shackles, being submissive as she is led into a van that will take her to jail. The van leaves and we see Richard Bay looking with regret at having sent Sally to jail. LINDSAY FACT: Lindsay Dole's middle name is Susanne, making her initials LSD. END OF SEASON May 14, 2000 The best episode that we have seen this season so I give it 10 Flushes. The keys to the success of this episode include lots of Eugene, very little Bobby, and great writing. Two cases dominated this week's episode, and Lucy summed up the cases by saying, "We're scum today, guys." Maybe she was right. The first involved the murder trial of Alex Dickson. Representing Alex in this high-profile case are Eugene and Lindsay. The case is high-profile because Alex is a homeless man found having sex with the murder victim, Hillary Brennan (the daughter of the chancellor of a Boston college), after her death. Alex's defense is that he found Hillary's body in the dumpster after she was murdered and had sex with her corpse. Helen Gamble prosecutes, but Eugene knocks down all of her witnesses. The cop who found Alex with the corpse testified that the body had no bruises matching Alex's fingerprints (so he didn't strangle her) and that the body smelled of garbage (hence, it was in the dumpster). An eyewitness who saw Alex with Hillary while she was alive turns out to be another homeless man who cut a deal on another case in return for his testimony. This homeless man is also proven to be a drunk. A doctor cannot conclusively testify that the body was recently killed when Alex was found with it. Eugene does a great job in the courtroom, but he deals with the emotional consequences of being a defense attorney outside of the courtroom. During a friendly dinner to discuss Bobby and Lindsay's wedding, Helen asks Eugene how he can represent such scum and look at himself in the mirror? Eugene gets fed up being asked the question. He gets into this whole thing about how defense attorneys are taught to separate themselves from their clients, but they never confront the realities of freeing guilty people. Eugene especially feels bad, because he split up again with his wife (or maybe they divorced and are only dating), Sharon. At one point Eugene says, "I don't feel anything. I'm a defense attorney. Why can't people see that?" But before closing arguments, when Lindsay tells Eugene that he is honorable for being so good at defending guilty people, Eugene responds, "And she's [Sharon] right. I can't feel. Maybe that's why I can be so damn honorable." Anyway, despite Helen's closing argument which said, "He [Alex] was seen with her alive. He was seen with her dead. Gee, I wonder what happened?" Alex is found not-guilty. Eugene convinced the jury that reasonable doubt meant holding the prosecution to a standard even when our gut tells us something. Nonetheless, Eugene's gut turns because he helped free a guilty man. Bravo, on an excellent performance of both Eugene and Steve Young. Also this week, Jimmy defends a childhood friend named Peter Hynes in a civil suit. Hynes is being sued for disclosing information about the AIDS status of one his employees, Wayne Mayfield. Wayne voluntarily quit his job after he felt harassed because all of his workers found out that he had AIDS. Jimmy defends Hynes quite effectively and believes that Hynes really was only looking out for the safety of his clients. For example, if Hynes had collapsed and one of his coworkers had tried CPR that coworker might receive AIDS, so shouldn't all of the coworkers know? Jimmy thinks that maybe Hynes invaded Wayne's right to privacy by disclosing medical information, but that Wayne quit and so Hynes should not be held liable. However, when Hynes starts gay bashing and saying that all gay people ask for too many rights, Jimmy realizes that Hynes is a bigot. Jimmy recalls that his mother is a lesbian and that Hynes might, therefore, disapprove of her. Jimmy gives his closing speech saying that we have gone too far and given gay people too many rights and that information is important. Jimmy's closing is spoken quite sarcastically and bitterly, but Hynes thinks the speech appropriate. The jury returns with a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, but only awards $25. Hynes feels vindicated; Jimmy feels guilty. QUOTE OF THE EPISODE: There's nothing more oppressive than a well-meaning sympathizer on the loose. --Wayne Mayfield on the few coworkers that treated him extra nicely after learning he had AIDS. NEXT WEEK: Wedding bell blues, and Marlee Matlin guest stars. May 7, 2000 A truly excellent 9 Flush episode that may have been cheesy at time and may not have had the best dialogue, but it did pack a whallop of emotion. This week we focus solely on Stuart Donovan. In an on-going effort to free this man accused of killing his girlfriend and her mother, Ellenor goes to the governor and asks for an appeal. A secretary stops Ellenor from seeing the governor. Ellenor knows that if she could speak with him that the governor would free Stuart, but that doesn't happen so Jimmy returns to the federal court of appeal and gets the justices sitting on the court angry when he brings the Donovan case for a second time in one week. He tells the court that Stuart should not be executed because the electric chair has only been used once in four years and that the chair might be backfire. Jimmy also argues that ten people have been freed from death row in the past therefore we need to be careful about who we fry. The court disagrees and thinks Jimmy is wasting the court's time so they fine him. In other attempts to free Stuart, Eugene goes to jail to see a trial run of the execution and hopes that something will go wrong so that he will have cause to argue "cruel and unusual punishment," but the execution run goes perfectly. Lucy also helps out by going to jail to visit a man named Joel Bullock. Joel knows how Earl Taylor got the information to support a phony claim that Stuart confessed to Earl. Earl called the coroner's office and district attorney's office pretending to be a police officer and assistant district attorney, respectively and got the evidence that he used in his testimony against Stuart. Lucy swears to this evidence in an affidavit, but it doesn't help. Knowing that they have no other options, Ellenor and Eugene return to the trial judge and ask him to dig up the body of Alissa Kearns. Alissa was dug with the shirt that she was killed in according to a tradition which states that G-d will have compassion for those killed in a violent crime. The judge says that while this evidence may be new (and therefore admissible for testing) that nobody knows if the shirt has DNA evidence and that digging up a body on speculation of evidence is wrong. As a result, Jimmy and Mary visit the father of Alissa and ask for permission to dig up her body. They realize the father will probably say no, but they figure that maybe Mary can express agony and convince the father. Mary says that the father needs to be sure that the right person is dying and Jimmy points out that Alissa's corpse will not be touched, only the shirt (which is in the coffin, but Alissa is not wearing it). The father says that the body can be excavated. Evidence from the shirt comes back proving that there was semen on the shirt and that the semen does not belong to Stuart Donovan. Nonetheless, the prosecutor will not agree to freeing Stuart. As a matter of fact, the prosecutor seems agitated that Stuart's legal team has been working so hard to free him, and the prosecutor goes to his boss, Stanfield, who will argue the case about freeing Stuart before the trial judge. In the meantime, Ellenor is having a difficult time emotionally because she knows that an innocent man is about to be killed. If this final appeal is denied, Stuart will be executed immediately. It's now execution day, but before the killing begins, Stuart is brought to court and one final appeal is made to the original trial judge who is a cranky man that likes nobody and nothing. Ellenor argues that the prosecutor has three pieces of evidence: 1) A confession from a jailhouse snitch which has been proven false. 2) Eyewitness testimony from a drunk man who saw Stuart during Johnny Carson; however, that night Carson was on at 9 instead of 11:30 when the murders took place and 3) A blood match evidence that has been disproved with DNA evidence. DA Stanfield then rises and says that he tested the rape kit which previously was inadmissible and found that this DNA also does not match Stuart Donovan, but this mismatch only proves that there was a coconspirator. In addition, the blood work was a very minor point of the prosecutor's original case. Stanfield says that the confession and eyewitness testimony were subject to cross examination during trial, and that they should, therefore, not be reviewed. Stanfield finally argues that the new evidence must be of such a character that the judge believes a different verdict would have resulted. Ellenor then argues that while all of the evidence may be technically correct, we know that Stuart's original case sl ipped through the cracks. Ellenor says that the original defense attorney was a busy public defender who did not have time to get all of the evidence and that we need to put technicalities aside so that we can get to the truth. Ellenor points to a statistic that in the past ten years 44 people have been set free from death row and that Stuart Donovan has been hurt by the system as much as these people. Stanfield then gets up and says that the prosecutors are just as restless as the defense team and that it is hard enough to secure a conviction nowadays and that when someone is convicted by a jury and the facts have been decided, that we must adhere to that decision. The judge rules that the system is in place for a reason and that the defense team has been picking away at many issues ad nauseum and that they could do so for all time but that the system must be upheld. Nonetheless, the judge says that he no longer believes Stuart committed the crime, so he cannot allow Stuart to be executed. He overturns the verdict and frees Stuart. While we are very happy to hear this, we also feel sorry for the father and husband of the murder victims who now does not get to rest and now has to wonder who killed his family. An emotional ending. NEXT WEEK: Eugene and Lindsay defend a mean man. Jimmy defends a bigot.