Reversal of Fortune Page #2

- You must call a doctor.

- Maria!

Go on.

A half-hour later,

she had not moved.

I went back and forth all morning.

Finally, mid-afternoon,

Mr. von Bulow spoke to Dr. Paultees.

But he lied to doctor.

She's sleeping now, but earlier she was

up to the bathroom and had a soft drink,

so there's no cause for alarm...

But she never moved.

Never got up.

She was lying

in the same position all day.

Later her heart stops, and

Dr. Paultees, he comes and saves her.

After they go to the hospital,

I change the sheets.

I find a puddle of urine.

If Madame went to the bathroom,

she would not have peed in her bed.

Right.

Why would Claus lie about that?

It's suspicious but hardly criminal.

How about the second coma?

Maria wasn't in Newport for that one.

But shortly before the second coma...

I'm cleaning up their room

when I find Mr. von Bulow's canvas bag

packed for Newport.

Inside, there's a little black bag.

A bottle of insulin,

a syringe and needles.

Alexander! Alexander, come here!

Insulin? For what, insulin?

My lady's not diabetic.

Three weeks later,

Sunny's lying unconscious

in a freezing bathroom with

her nightgown hiked over her waist.

If I was on that jury,

I would've voted to convict.

Then you're taking the case?

Reminds me of my Hitler dream.

Hitler calls up, he's alive, needs a lawyer.

I say "Sure. Come on over."

Then I have to decide:

do I take the case or do I kill him?

You? No question.

- I would take the case.

- Then kill him.

I'm a maniac. I need your judgment,

someone to watch what I'm doing and

occasionally remind me about the law.

When can I see the transcripts?

You're a former prosecutor, conservative.

We agree on nothing.

But you're smarter than the DA. If I can

beat your arguments, I can destroy his.

Rhode Island is corrupt. Everything is

political. I don't think that way. You do.

I have to see the big picture.

I can't immerse myself in facts.

But we must know the facts.

No one can assimilate information

as quickly as you two.

I agree with that assessment.

- You're out of your mind.

- I only have 45 days to file.

I can't do it without you.

- I know you don't wanna come back...

- Is this strictly professional?

It better be.

That's wonderful. I want the best

people in the world on our side,

the most prestigious experts.

Nobel prize-winning scientists,

some of your colleagues at Harvard.

Wait a minute, Claus.

We got a little problem, OK?

People like that, we can't control.

They find one incriminating fact,

they'll tell the world.

I'm not afraid, Alan.

Let the chips fall where they may.

That's what an innocent man would say.

I know.

That just came for you, Daddy.

My daughter Cosima.

She never doubted me.

She loves Alex and Ala dearly. Siding

with me has cost her their affections.

I don't know what I would've done.

I don't want to hear your story,

but I do need some information.

Of course.

I gather the older children deny Sunny

had a problem with pills and alcohol.

Spectacular understatement.

So there must be somebody

who saw it. A witness, a friend?

- You want affidavits?

- Yes.

- I'll get them.

- You'll get them.

The drugs prescribed for me

were taken by Sunny.

That's a lot of drugs.

But the prosecution's allegation that

I knew about syringes, injections -

totally accurate.

Sunny and I gave ourselves B12 injections

in the late '60s. It was quite the fad.

Can I explain something? The less I know

from you, the more options I have.

When you tell me "the truth", you limit me

to a defense that fits with what you say.

But isn't the truth the simplest way, Alan?

I mean, why did I stay all day

at Sunny's side without calling a doctor?

Because Sunny detested doctors.

If we called one without her approval,

she went berserk.

Once she broke her hip and

didn't go to hospital for two days.

- Did you hear what I just said?

- Did you hear the judge sentence me?

Sorry. 30 years is a pretty stiff sentence.

Twice trying to murder one's wife,

anything less would be monstrous.

But for a man like myself,

who did nothing...

What I wanted to ask:

if we lose the appeal,

will I have the chance later to set my

affairs in order before I'm incarcerated?

In Europe, a gentleman is given

the opportunity to end things properly.

- Come on, Claus.

- We are each the keeper of our own soul.

Two big problems:

the case against him is very strong,

and the legal conviction isn't the only

conviction that we've got to reverse.

The more dangerous conviction

is the absolute certainty

of the American people

that Claus is guilty.

Finding grounds for reversal

won't be enough here.

Judges on the Rhode Island

Supreme Court

will have to go home to their spouses

and explain why they reversed.

To get them to do that, we have to

obliterate every aspect of the state's case.

Destroy the medical case

and their witnesses,

so the judges have

no possible way to affirm.

Total victory,

or we are dead in the water.

Now, I assume that you've all had

an opportunity to look at the transcripts.

First impressions?

I think this whole thing stinks.

I think Claus von Bulow stinks.

He's obviously guilty of

something pretty despicable,

and, if we free him, we become partners

in his crime, accessories after the fact.

I'm shocked, with your record

defending the poor and oppressed,

that you've taken this case.

I won't have anything to do with it.

And I hope my fellow students

won't, either. Goodbye.

My I exercise my First Amendment

right to free speech?

If lawyers only defended the innocent,

there'd be just ten lawyers in the country.

Why help guilty people get off?

You're sure he's guilty? 100% sure?

He had a lawyer. He had a trial.

He was convicted.

- Are you sure he had a fair trial?

- Come on!

It's the basis of the whole legal system!

Everyone gets a defense.

So the system is there for the one

innocent person who was falsely accused.

OK, look. Say it's you. OK?

You decide to get a divorce.

You're gonna divorce your husband.

A week later, you're accused

of molesting your son.

Don't give me that look.

Stuff like this happens all the time.

Suddenly, you're alone. You hate it.

It's a nightmare.

Everyone assumes that you are guilty.

Even the mailman is beginning

to look at you a little funny.

You only got one person

who believes in you.

There's only one person

you can trust:
your lawyer.

Yeah, OK. So, someone's

gotta defend Claus.

But why you? Why us?

Look, you're my student.

You have a choice.

You don't have to do anything

you don't want to. That is your choice.

The reason I take cases - and here

I'm unlike most other lawyers,

who are not professors

and have to make a living -

I take cases cos I get pissed off.

And I am pissed off here.

The family hired a private prosecutor.

Unacceptable!

They conducted a private search!

Now, we let 'em get away with that, rich

people won't go to the cops any more.

You know what they'll do? Get

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