Presumed Innocent Page #10

...if the jury feels I'm being truthful

about something so painful...

...they should believe me when I say

I didn't commit the murder.

What would you think?

If I were a member of the jury?

And I heard you admit

how much she meant to you?

I think I'd conclude you were guilty.

I want to testify.

What would you say?

I'd say you were the only man I ever loved.

And I still do.

Before we begin our presentation,

I would like to--

Make a motion for dismissal?

Yes, Your Honor.

Sit down, Counselor.

I have reflected on this case at length,

ladies and gentlemen.

I understand...

...the prosecutors have suspicions.

Perhaps Mr. Sabich was there that night.

The State might be granted that.

And if the prosecutors

had ever found that glass...

...l might be more convinced.

Maybe before yesterday...

...l might have said there were

reasonable grounds for those suspicions.

But now, I'm not so sure.

So after yesterday...

...there is no proof of motive here.

There is no concrete evidence that

there ever was an intimate relationship.

There is no effective proof,

so far as I am concerned...

...that would give a reasonable person

grounds to believe that...

...Mr. Sabich had carnal relations with

Ms. Polhemus on the night of her death.

In point of fact...

...there's not one shred of direct proof...

...that Mr. Sabich murdered Ms. Polhemus.

Under these circumstances...

...l cannot allow this trial to continue.

Mr. Sabich...

...you are discharged, sir.

I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am...

...that any of this has taken place.

Not even the pleasure of seeing you free...

...can make up for this...

...this disgrace to the cause of justice.

I wish you Godspeed.

Case dismissed.

Hey, Rusty! Come on.

Give the missus a big hug.

Nobody can say anything adequate

at a time like this.

We're very grateful,

very pleased it's all over.

I want to go home, now.

I'll talk to Nat. I'll phone him, tell him.

For the record, I have the highest regard

for Rusty Sabich.

You think you're out of a job?

You're the very best.

How'd you know what was behind

Larren's fear of the B file?

You question the judge's integrity?

With just cause, wouldn't you say?

You knew that file didn't have

a damn thing to do with my case.

Yet you let Larren know you'd drag it in

at any opportunity.

That it would come out

that he was taking bribes.

That Carolyn was the courier.

You blackmailed him, Sandy.

We speak now tonight...

...and these things

are never spoken of again.

Agreed?

Larren's divorce left him

in a state of disorder.

He was drinking too heavily and fell

into a relationship with a beautiful, but...

...self-serving woman.

The fact is...

...Larren himself grew suicidally depressed.

He wanted to resign from the bench.

Raymond Horgan talked him out of it.

Raymond knew he was taking bribes?

Larren told him.

Raymond cleaned up the Northside,

as you recall...

...and he also rescued

a distinguished mind...

...and a career that does honor

to the bench.

I believe Larren today did

what he thought was just.

You tell me, Rusty.

Was justice done?

How are you doing?

Christmas present.

Jesus....

You're hanging your ass out

a good long way on this one.

It was them that f***ed up.

Remember, they came around,

they grabbed all the evidence.

The glass wasn't there.

I took it down to Dickerman.

The very next day I get a call from the lab.

The test is done. I can pick up my glass.

When I went down there, Molto had signed

a receipt, "Returned to Evidence."

The idea was that I'll put it back in.

Only I got nowhere to put it...

...since it ain't my goddamn case anymore.

So I tossed the thing in my drawer.

I figured, sooner or later

somebody's got to ask me.

Nobody did.

You think I killed her.

The lady was bad news.

That makes it okay I killed her?

Did you?

Oh, pal.

Nat!

Where's Mom?

Upstairs in the bathroom

throwing up when I saw her.

She's got her university interview today.

What's the big deal?

No eggs for me, thank you.

That looks nice.

You think?

That dumb old college would be lucky

to have you teaching there.

You tell her, kid.

I'll do some work around the house

while I still have time.

I've lived to see the day.

Give me a hand with the fence

when you get home.

I can't. I got a game after school.

Good luck, Mom.

Go get them, kid.

I did it.

I fooled them all.

The interview.

They think I'm qualified.

You understand what happened

had to happen.

It couldn't have turned out any other way.

A woman's depressed...

...with herself...

...with life...

...with her husband, who had made life

possible for her until he was...

...bewitched by another woman.

A destroyer.

Abandoned...

...like someone left for dead...

...she plans her suicide.

Until the dream begins.

In the dream, the destroyer's destroyed.

That's a dream worth living for.

Now, with such simplicity...

...such clarity, everything falls into place.

It must be a crime...

...that her husband can declare unsolved

and be believed by all the world.

She must make it look like a rape.

But she must leave her husband clueless.

Once he discovers who it was...

...he'll put the case into the file

of the unsolved murders.

Another break-in by some...

...sex-crazed man.

But all his life...

...he'll know that it was her.

She remembers a set of glasses

she bought for the woman...

...some time before, a housewarming gift

from her husband and his office.

She buys another set.

Her husband has a beer one night...

...doesn't even comment on the glass.

Now she has his fingerprints.

Then on a few mornings...

...she saves the fluid that comes out

when she removes her diaphragm.

Puts it in a plastic bag.

Puts the bag in the basement freezer...

...and waits.

She calls the woman and asks to see her.

Stops first at the U

and logs onto the computer.

Now she has her alibi.

She goes to the woman.

The woman lets her in.

When her head is turned, she removes

the instrument from her bag and strikes.

The destroyer is destroyed.

She takes a cord out...

...that she brought along...

...and ties her body...

...in ways her husband described

perverts do.

She feels power...

...control...

...a sense that she's guided

by a force beyond herself.

Takes a syringe and injects

the contents of the Ziploc bag...

...leaves the glass on the bar...

...unlocks the door and windows...

...and goes home.

And life begins again.

Until a trial...

...when she sees her husband suffer...

...the way she never...

...intended.

She is prepared to tell the truth.

Right up to the very end.

But magically...

...the charges were dismissed.

The suffering was over.

They were saved.

Saved?

The murder of Carolyn Polhemus...

...remains unsolved.

It is a practical impossibility

to try two people for the same crime.

Even if it wasn't...

...l couldn't take his mother from my son.

I'm a prosecutor.

I have spent my life

in the assignment of blame.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes