William Bernhardt - Capitol offence

Guillerman moved closer, leaning against the rail. "Here is what we know for certain about this witness. He has received a fortune for his role in this case, somewhere in the range of ten thousand dollars. How many psychiatrists would sell their souls for ten thousand dollars? Sadly, I suspect there are more than a few. He told us that Dennis Thomas had a violent temper, that he had actually struck his wife on at least one occasion. That they were having marital troubles and Dennis was upset about it. That he blamed Detective Sentz and was obsessed with him. That after his wife's death his temper grew to such proportion that the doctor prescribed a temper-reducing medication."

He held up a finger. "But here is the most important thing we learned from Dr. Estevez. We learned that he doesn't believe temporary insanity actually exists. In his own words, taken straight from his book, which he did not disavow on the stand, he said that temporary insanity was 'defined into existence.' That means it doesn't really exist. That means no one had even used the term until lawyers invented it to get their clients off the hook. To prevent them from taking responsibility for their actions. Or to put it charitably, to give juries an excuse to ignore the law."

Guillerman leaned even closer, burning into their eyes, not allowing them to escape his gaze. "These are the two questions you must ask yourself." His voice began to rise. "Do you believe that the defendant was temporarily insane? Seriously? And even if you do, is this a case where it is appropriate to set aside the law and give mercy to a murderer?

"The defendant's lawyer is basically asking you to ignore your head and listen to your heart. But is your heart really saying to let the murderer off? Mine isn't. I have a heart a big as anyone's, but my heart goes out to Christopher Sentz, who gave the best years of his life to this community and got thanked with a bullet to the forehead. Our police officers are the thin blue line!"

Ben drew in his breath. Here we go…

"They are all that stands between us and chaos. Crime rampant in the streets. Is this how we want to reward our protectors? By allowing them to be murdered without consequence?" His voice continued to climb. He was in full dramatic dudgeon now, and the jury seemed rapt with attention. "God help us, I hope not. My heart does not go out to the slayers of men who put their lives on the line for us every day. My heart goes out to his wife, now a widow, and his two lovely daughters, now fatherless. My heart does not go out to a man who, for whatever reason, deliberately decided to take another man's life. And it never will!"

Guillerman drew himself up, folded his hands, and added calmly, "You swore an oath when you took a seat on this jury. You swore to apply the law. Nothing else. To apply the law. Please honor that oath."

And with those words, DA Guillerman concluded.

Ben knew he could never match Guillerman in terms of oratory. He just wasn't that slick, not even after spending time in the U.S. Senate. Guillerman was probably better than Ben would ever be. And he lacked the weapons in his arsenal to counter his content. In terms of dramatic potency, he simply had nothing to compete with the slaying of a public servant, husband, and father. Bottom line, Guillerman had the better case. If Ben was going to salvage this, he was going to have to take a different approach. Disarm the jury. Find another way to win.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Mr. Guillerman is right. He's absolutely right. You probably didn't expect to hear me say that. But it's true. He's right."

Out the corner of his eye, Ben saw his cohorts back at the table looking concerned. Dennis was no doubt wondering if Ben was throwing in the towel. Christina knew this wasn't the closing she'd heard him practicing earlier in the day. Well, that was a fundamental part of criminal law-sometimes you had to make adjustments along the way.

"In the main, Mr. Guillerman has not misrepresented the facts. Shaded them in a dramatic manner, perhaps, but he has not misrepresented them. Dennis did in fact follow Detective Sentz. He did in fact go to that hotel room. And he did have a gun. He told you all this. He admitted it. So there's absolutely no reason whatsoever why you should not find him guilty as charged."

Ben turned and started back to the table. Several of the jurors appeared confused, concerned. There was a definite stir in the gallery.

Just as he reached the table, Ben stopped. "Unless, of course, you are concerned about justice." He turned slowly to once again face the jury. "Because surely, even in this day and age, there must be some room for justice in what we almost mockingly call the criminal justice system." He took a step closer. "As I listened to the words of the district attorney, I heard no consideration of justice whatsoever. In fact, I heard him explicitly ask you to disregard justice. And I think that is very sad."

Ben continued to approach, gazing at the jury levelly. "Mr. Guillerman wants to suggest that a blackout could be faked, but I think you know better. The doctors testified that he was out for more than two hours and they were unable to wake him. No one is that good a faker. Dennis Thomas blacked out. So that leads to another question: why? Dr. Estevez explained it. He said that with Detective Sentz's death, Dennis's dissociative state burst like a popped balloon. The brain literally shut itself down to heal. What contrary evidence have you heard? None. What other evidence have you had to explain the blackout? None. The only explanation that has any evidence in support is that Dennis was gripped by temporary insanity. We have presented our evidence and the prosecution has not refuted it. We have also shown the numerous flaws in their supposedly airtight case. Does this give you sufficient cause for doubt?" Ben paused, letting the jury be reminded of the importance of that word. "Absolutely. An alternate explanation for what happened, never refuted by the prosecution, is always grounds for reasonable doubt. And a man acting while temporarily insane must be acquitted. Like it or not. That's the law."

Ben moved forward, casting a quick glance back at his table. He could see that Christina was still confused. But she wasn't frowning.

He could definitely see concern in Dennis's eyes, though. Worry. He hoped the jury couldn't see it, too.

"The district attorney wants you to believe that this case is a referendum on Detective Sentz. To the extent that he is interested in justice at all, he wants justice for Sentz, his representative of the thin blue line. But Detective Sentz is not the one on trial today. Neither is the police department. Dennis Thomas is on trial. This is a referendum on him. You will decide his future."

Ben moved to the side, inviting the jury to give the defendant another look. "Mr. Guillerman has repeatedly attempted to demonize this man. It's not good enough for him to simply say his trauma after the loss of his wife led him to take an extreme action. He wants you to believe he's evil. He wants you to believe he has an explosive temper, based on the scantiest of evidence. He wants you to believe he's dangerous. He wants you to believe he's a wife beater, based on one minor incident, one Dennis readily admitted. He wants to transform a man suffering from the worst sort of grief imaginable into Hannibal Lecter, a cold-hearted, scheming, calculating killer."

Ben gestured back toward his client. "This man is a literature professor. He specializes in the classics. The Iliad. The Odyssey. His students like him, because he goes the extra mile to help them with their problems. He was a loving husband and his wife returned his love. Yes, he has problems, as do we all. But he is a good person, and that did not change in the least until he was hurled into a maelstrom of the most nightmarish events. Days on end of frustration and fear, unable to find his wife, unable to obtain the slightest cooperation from the 'thin blue line.' I don't know whether you think the police are to blame for what they did-or did not do-but this is a fact: their failure to act when they could have acted resulted in the death of Joslyn Thomas. How would you feel about that if it were your spouse in the car? Or your mother? Or you?"