The Life of David Gale Page #4

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I can listen and actively listen

at the same time.

- I'm good at that.

- Did you bring the Amnesty stats?

Yes. No. Oh!

I left them at home.

I have a copy.

- You want to tell me what's up?

- Nothing.

Everything.

Something profoundly

stupid happened last night.

I hope you used a condom.

Oh. Jesus Christ, David.

- Was she one of yours?

- It was Berlin.

Oh, great!

Oh, that's great.

I can hear the grapevine now.

"They had to suspend her so that Gale

could dick her with a clear conscience."

A power differential equals coercion.

That is great.

- You're so weak.

- You're not my wife, Constance.

Thank God.

Well, don't worry.

It's not a position

I aspire to, so f*** you.

- I didn't mean it that way.

Are you okay?

- Let's go. Yes!

- Really?

- Yes. Let's go.

There are

in the United States.

Ten of the 12 states

that have abolished

the death penalty...

they have a murder rate that's

lower than the national average.

And if he starts with

the religious stuff, just say that...

nearly every denomination

in the United States

opposes the death penalty.

- Are you listening? Okay.

- Yes.

- All right.

Ten seconds, everybody.

- Roll tape, please.

Count 'em in, Mack.

Here we go.

Five, four...

Welcome back to Batter's Box.

We continue our very special

four-part program...

with Governor Hardin, and

arguing capital punishment with him...

is DeathWatch regional codirector,

Professor David Gale.

- You are up, Governor.

- You know, Alan,

I always say the same thing...

and I'm gonna keep on sayin' it...

I hate killin'...

and my administration

will kill to stop it.

- How about it?

- Murderers are not deterred

by the thought of execution.

They're just not,

and you know it.

Every single study that's

been done on this subject...

and there's been over 200...

and you've read them...

has reached the same conclusion.

They all say the same thing.

Well, maybe you should

read your Bible.

Deuteronomy 19:
21.

An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

What did Gandhi say about that?

"The old law of an eye for an eye

leaves us all blind."

Well, I'm sorry...

and with respect...

that's fuzzy liberal thinking.

- You really believe that, Governor?

- Of course.

That's interesting. 'Cause you

said that yourself in a speech

in your first campaign.

He got... He got you there,

Governor. How about it?

Yes, he did.

Yes, he did.

If you're not a liberal at 30,

you've got no heart.

And if you're still a liberal at 40,

you've got no brain.

- That's Winston Churchill.

- Touch.

So what you're essentially

saying and what you feel is...

and this is to choose another quote...

"that a healthy society...

must stop at nothing

to cleanse itself of evil."

Uh, yes. Uh...

I'd have to agree.

- Did I say that too?

- Oh, no, sir. That was Hitler.

Ooh.

Oh!

Can't we just admit that

the capital punishment system

in this country is not working?

We are condemning people to death

based on phony expert testimony...

on junk science,

on-on jail house snitches...

Alan, did you know that Texas

has the highest per capita

incarceration rate in the world?

- Forty-three people

that you executed...

- Alan, could I...

were represented by lawyers who were

at one time disbarred or sanctioned.

There are two men on death row

right now, on this day...

- whose lawyers fell asleep

during cross-examination.

- I'm not a lawyer.

And the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

ruled that that was not...

that was not a basis for a retrial.

Governor, that's just a flawed,

insane, crazy system.

And a flawed system

will kill innocent men.

Okay, all right.

Let him answer.

All right, Mr. Gale,

we'll play your game. Name one.

Name one innocent man that Texas

has put to death during my tenure...

of the hundred or so executions...

It's 131, Governor,

in case you lost count.

- Let him finish.

- Fine. Thank you. Whatever.

Just give me a name...

I'm gonna write it down...

a man that you can prove

was innocent...

- There you go.

And I'll call a moratorium.

Mr. Gale.

- Are we through here, Alan?

- You know what?

We're running out of time.

I'd like to thank my guests,

Governor Hardin and Professor

David Gale from DeathWatch.

- Roll credits.

- Thank you for joining me today.

Hope you will join me tomorrow.

Your exact words were...

"Just tell me when my ego's

getting in the way of the work. "

I'm telling you, your ego's

getting in the way of the work.

I didn't wanna do this

in the first place.

You put up two seconds of

protest at the thought of

being on a televised debate.

- What does that mean?

- It means that DeathWatch

suffers because...

you're so anxious to finger authority,

to publicly prove that David Gale...

is so much f***ing smarter

than the powers that be!

Learn to work without

an audience. Try squeezing

money from the donor list.

Have you licked one single

mail-out envelope?

- Mr. Gale?

- Hey, guys, the governor went that way.

Ramirez... Austin Police.

This is Officer Hasermann.

What, is debating the governor

a crime now?

No, sir. Rape is.

- Berlin had my bite marks.

- Gale! Time's up.

Bruises. Her clothes were ripped.

My skin was found under her fingernails.

I mean, it didn't look like anything

but rape. Then she drops the charges...

and leaves town, making

it look like I was guilty...

and she was too traumatized

to face a trial.

My wife had to read

all about this while she was

sitting in the airport...

wondering where I was,

why I wasn't there to pick her up.

It took me almost two weeks

to get bailed out.

- And the grad student Berlin?

Why do you think

she did it?

Poke her finger at authority,

show the powers that be

how much smarter she was.

Grad student's revenge.

I don't really know.

- Do you know where I can find her?

- No.

First year I was in here,

I got a postcard from San Francisco.

It was signed, "From the student

who would do anything. "

Did she say anything else?

"I'm sorrier than you can know."

- Move it, Gale.

- I'm running out of time.

Can you imagine his wife letting

him stew in jail for two weeks?

Who can blame her? We'll get

an address for the Berlin girl

from the university.

You still don't think

he's telling the truth.

- On the Berlin rap?

- On the whole rap.

Who knows? Anyway,

there is no truth, only perspectives.

If you say there's no truth,

you're claiming

it's true there's no truth.

- It's a logical contradiction.

- Working on our Philosophy

Merit Badge, are we?

When it comes to rape,

an accusation's as good

as a conviction.

- It sticks like sh*t.

- That's an appetizing metaphor.

Technically, a simile.

I think he's telling the truth.

This you know from sitting

in a prison lobby?

- It's just my perspective.

- Three different courts

found him guilty, Zack.

That's enough perspective for me.

Okay, okay, okay.

Seven.

Thirty-three... oh-three.

Right there.

Geez. Look at the sign.

- The stranger in your life -

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