Primal Fear

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First day of law school,

my professor says two things.

First, "From now on, when

your mother says she loves you,"

- "get a second opinion."

- And?

"You want justice, go to a whorehouse.

Wanna get f***ed, go to court."

Naomi!

Let's say you have a client

you know is guilty.

No. Neither our justice system

nor I care about that.

Every defendant,

regardless of what he's done,

has the right to the best defence

his attorney can provide.

- Where were you with the truth?

- Truth? How do you mean?

Naomi!

I'm not sure how many ways

there are to mean it.

- You think there's only one?

- You're late.

- There's only one that matters.

- Marty, hold still.

My version of it. The one I create

in the minds of the twelve jurors.

If you want, you can call it

something else. The illusion of truth.

- If you want. It's up to you.

- OK.

Jack, you need more?

Tomorrow afternoon?

- Yeah.

- I'll have my secretary set it up.

OK.

- This is a cover story, right?

- Yeah.

Yeah. OK, bye.

St. Michael's Boys Choir, thank you.

A very talented group.

Right now, we're gonna have

a brief photo session

while we have the boys here

with His Excellency.

I'll be back in a few minutes. Bear with

us, enjoy your dessert and thank you.

Mangia, mangia.

Thanks. Marty!

What an unexpected surprise.

I'm here to help our friendly prosecutor

off the hook.

- Excuse me.

- What's it gonna cost?

A lot less than the alternative.

Tomorrow. My office. 9:30.

- Is this on? Yes, it is.

- Nice to see you again.

We have come to the heart of

the matter. Why we're here tonight.

It's the fifth straight year

it's been my privilege

to serve as master of ceremony

for the Chicago Bar Association...

- I'm afraid you'll have to put that out.

- It's a bar for Christ's sake.

I thought you quit.

I cut down.

You look beautiful. Cut your hair?

Yeah, a few months ago.

Wanna dance?

- There isn't any music.

- I'm sure there is.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen...

All you have to do is turn around.

I thought you liked it better like this.

That way you don't have

to look at the person.

Mean.

Look at me.

Come on. Let's go find a bar

you can still smoke in.

Thanks for the invite, but I don't like

one-night stands all that much.

We saw each other for months.

It was a one-night stand, Marty.

It just lasted six months.

Well, I must say I haven't seen

this many lawyers and politicians

gathered together in one place

since confession this morning.

There is no way the People

will tolerate a monetary award

to a cockroach

who deserves twenty-to-life.

He may be your client, but Joey Pinero

was a hard-case felon.

- Dealing, racketeering, money...

- Did you say "alleged", Yancy?

Did you hear him say "alleged"?

Mr Pinero has never

been convicted of anything.

The cops left him bleeding in the snow.

A miracle he survived.

Having said that,

I'm not opposed to a settlement.

1 ,500,000 and Pinero leaves the state.

You can't limit a citizen's right

to live where he wants to.

Legally, that's unenforceable.

Enforceable or just

a gentleman's agreement,

Mr Pinero will know what we want.

Get the answer you're looking for,

don't sit around and chat. A pleasure.

You're worse

than the thugs you represent.

- That's enough, Bud. It's over.

- I have to run this by him.

You're on a 40% commission. I'm sure

your recommendation will prevail.

Thank you, John.

Oh, Jesus.

- Hey, Mr Vail.

- How are you doing?

Buena.

Nice tune.

- Traeme dos tequilas por aqui.

- Bien, m'hijito.

So, what did they say?

A take-it-or-leave-it offer of 1 ,500,000.

From Shaughnessy himself.

What do you think?

We should take it. Unless you wanna

spend two years in appellate court.

- No, f*** that. Close it.

- Done.

- OK.

- Gracias.

- Salud.

- Salud.

- Mia?

- Your shot.

There's one more little thing.

They want you to leave the state.

- They want you to disappear.

- Disappear?

That's good. Same bullshit, right?

What? What are you talking about?

I keep getting these offers

from these guys, Marty.

What offers?

A couple of months ago

a cop walks in here. He says,

"You testify against Alderman

Martinez, and we'll owe you, Joey."

Say he did you favours,

say he's on your payroll.

So I tell him to go f*** himself.

Martinez is a good man.

He's the one holding out

while the others try to turn South River

into high-rent condos.

- Why didn't you tell me this before?

- Why?

'Cause this sh*t happens every day.

I didn't think

it had anything to do with this.

- You don't.

- I've spent a lot of money here.

- They spent more.

- I built a clinic here.

These people depend on me.

I don't give a sh*t.

Send them cheques from California.

Chucho, hazme el favor,

scame el CD.

I respect your advice, Marty,

but I can't take it.

- I'll take the money, but I ain't going.

- I don't like it, Joey.

Chucho, dame.

So, what are they gonna do? Kill me?

They've tried once.

How are they gonna kill

a man who never sleeps?

- Get the money.

- You're too much.

That song you liked, fourth cut.

Very nice, thank you.

Police'll have their hands full...

- Captain, can you tell us anything?

- I don't know anything.

Captain Stenner, what's going on?

I haven't seen anything yet. As soon

as I've been inside, I'll tell you.

You should be home in bed, Abel.

It's going around.

I'll consider that, Harvey.

Christ. What a mess, huh?.

- Sam, you got all you need?

- Roll him over.

Hey, stop!

Four fingers severed.

A symbol, B 32.1 56,

is carved into the chest.

Body temperature is still warm...

Captain, we've got

a live one on the run.

A passing train has separated

the suspect...

You want to know what I hate?

When they go on and on about what

big whores defence attorneys are.

We're the bad guys? You know why?

We sit next to some creep,

we start to look creepy.

They assume they're guilty,

like we know it or something.

You don't know, you don't ask,

you don't care. You do the damn job.

It's not like they're your friends

for Christ's sake.

Well, some are your friends, but...

Why did you leave

the State Attorney's office?

Dead-end job.

You can either run for office

or end up a judge.

Why become an umpire

when you can play ball?

...around St. Michael's

and the Archbishop's mansion...

Over here! He's over here!

We will of course stay with this story

as it continues to unfold.

What we do know is that

approx. 1 1:
08 this morning...

So when did you know you had them?

What? Sorry?

When during the Pinero trial did you

say to yourself, "I've got them"?

The day I took the case. Excuse me.

The shocking murder of one

of Chicago's most beloved figures,

Archbishop Richard Rushman,

has left the cityjust numb.

I understand we have Andy live.

We havejust learned the police

have arrested a 19-year-old man

identified as Aaron Stampler.

According to Captain Stenner...

We have to reschedule.

Call my office, OK? I'm sorry.

- Law offices of Martin Vail.

- You got the news on by any chance?

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