In the criminal justice system,
The people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups.
The police, who investigate crime,
and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
This is crazy.
You can't leave! - I can't stay.
Even with the work-study, I won't make
My next tuition installment.
Taxi.
I'll get you the money, okay?
I got something big lined up.
Don't worry about me.
Just take care of yourself.
Excuse me. You spare something?
Beat it!
Everything's gonna be all right.
I love you.
Call me, okay?
You a marine?
Yeah.
Here. Take it all.
You serious?
Yeah.
Thanks, buddy.
God bless.
Two in the chest.
Student biking through the alley
Heard the shots around 21:10.
Patrol got here quick.
Faculty parking garage, not exactly
Ground zero for gun crime.
You secure the area?
First thing.
No ins or outs till you release the scene.
No wallet or I.D. , but we got a dormitory key card.
let's see what else he's got.
Oh.
Looks like he was a business major.
yeah, minoring in herbology.
Looks like the campus dope dealer.
Mark his report card "d" for deceased
Sub for addic7ed www.addic7ed.com
Dealers. Good riddance.
There's a bunch of latinos over on 125th.
My guys keep 'em off campus.
Yeah.
We're gonna need the security videos for the garage.
There's only one camera.
It covers the exit.
But the rains this summer knocked it out of commission.
Okay, we'll need a list of all the faculty who park there.
That I got.
Okay, it's ready.
And your john doe is...
Hayley kozlow?
It's greg.
Greg tanner.
He's been crashing here.
I can't believe this.
How'd you know him?
We met at the cafeteria.
He's not a student or anything.
He said he had a sister here.
He was mature and nice.
Really nice.
His duffel bag's military issue.
Was he in the service?
Yeah.
Um, greg said he had nightmares from it.
But we didn't talk much, you know?
You talk about this?
Oh, my god.
If I knew about that, I swear he would have been gone.
Was anyone giving him trouble?
I don't know.
Last Saturday I saw him outside of rocco's.
He was getting into it with some hispanic guy,
But greg said it was nothing.
We've got a winner.
Wait here.
Hey, the m.E.'s confirmed it.
There's no stippling or powder burns on tanner,
So figure he was shot from at least three feet away.
Mm-hmm.
There's a young woman downstairs,
Just in from pittsburgh, looks very upset.
It's the sister of our campus dealer.
We have any progress to report to her?
Well, our witness picked out this guy
As someone tanner was having a beef with.
Manny lopez, works with a drug crew on 125th.
So maybe this was a turf dispute.
Slugs came back to a . 22, but they were fragmented.
Even if we do find a weapon,
Matching ballistics will be iffy.
All right, let's go talk to miss tanner.
oh, my god.
My big brother.
When was the last time you saw him?
It was just two days ago.
I had to leave school.
My financial aid fell through.
Greg said not to go, that he'd help me.
Megan, how did he end up living on campus?
It was because of me.
After he got out of the service,
He had no place else to go.
My mom's at a home in pittsburgh.
She's got parkinson's.
Dad died when I was ten.
Greg joined the marines so he could be like him.
Here.
He never said where they sent him,
But me and my mom would get emails,
A phone call at christmas.
Then he showed up at my dorm one day.
He'd been discharged.
But he didn't come back the same guy.
How was he different?
He got anxious a lot.
He needed help, but I think he was having problems
Getting his army benefits.
Megan, do you know what your brother was doing on campus?
I think auditing classes.
I didn't see him much the last few weeks.
Why?
We believe he was dealing drugs.
Oh, god.
Greg.
He met this girl.
I wanted to give him space.
I should have--
Oh, my god. I lost him.
Excuse me.
That last time you saw your brother...
What did the two of you talk about?
He said he'd get me money for school.
That he was working on something big.
The woman has seen it all.
Now one tale of woe and she suddenly goes soft?
Well, if she hears you talking like this,
You're gonna be eating through a straw.
Now that's the lieutenant I know.
No, the something big the sister mentioned
Could have been a drug score.
Could be how tanner got himself
Into a beef with the competition.
So they ambush him in the faculty garage?
Or maybe they followed him there?
Could be he was meeting a client.
Professor pothead.
Take this guy for example.
A law professor by the name of kevin franklin.
In the garage every day at 1:00.
Out by 9:15.
Except the day that tanner's killed.
Really?
Franklin breaks his pattern.
Leaves his car in the garage overnight.
Drives it out the next day at noon.
He looks vaguely familiar.
I might have seen him around campus.
And how about the faculty garage
Wednesday night, say around 9:00?
I wasn't in the garage Wednesday.
If you'll excuse me,
I have a class of law students waiting.
Actually, we have a few more questions.
You'll have to call me later.
Not so fast, professor.
We believe that you were in that garage
Maybe to do a little business with mr. Tanner.
Business?
Score a little pot for your weekend barbecue?
Are you kidding me?
I used to work for the department of justice.
Look, we don't care if you like the occasional joint.
Well, I don't.
And if I saw something, I assure you
I know my obligations, but I wasn't in the garage.
Then tell us why you left
Your car there overnight Wednesday.
I finished teaching my class around 9:00.
I went to wordplay on amsterdam to buy a book.
What book?
John rawls' theory of justice.
The new annotated edition. You buy it?
No, there was a line at the cashier,
So I walked back to the garage,
But the police had already sealed it off.
What time was this?
Just after 9:30, I guess.
My wife was waiting up, so I got a cab
To grand central and I caught the last metro
North to hastings.
Right.
The new rawls' edition came in last week.
What kind of traffic did you have
At the register Wednesday night?
Traffic? You're joking, right?
This place is dead after dinner.
Dead.
Great.
Hey, just ran kevin franklin through the system.
He was arrested in hastings last year.
Get this.
On a cpw.
Cpw? How sweet is that?
Mr. Franklin got into a fender bender
On north street with a max epstein.
And the cpw?
Epstein claimed franklin flashed a weapon.
That was an exaggeration, but franklin
Was carrying a piece in the hip holster.
He said he had a carrier permit, but he couldn't produce it,
So the officer took him in.
Did he have a permit?
Turns out he did.
Full carry for westchester
And a special permit for new york city.
The charge was dropped.
What kind of weapon did he have?
.22 caliber smith and wesson.
Sweeter and sweeter.
Franklin's alibi doesn't hold up.
Plus he got his timeline wrong.
Yeah, franklin said he couldn't get his car at 9:30
Because the garage was sealedff,
But the first unit wasn't on the scene until 9:45.
So tell me why he killed greg tanner.
Money.
Greg told his sister he was working on something big.
Our guess is he tried his hand at blackmail.
Yeah, franklin's a tenure-track
Assistant professor of law.
It comes out he's buying pot, he's got a lot to lose.
Academic post, law license.
None of which adds up to probable cause
For a warrant for his gun.
We can always say, "pretty please with a cherry on top."
Call me when you have some p.C.
Look, you guys need to tie franklin to tanner.
Calls, meetings, evidence of bad blood.
I have to take this.
Look, this case won't clear itself
With you guys sitting on your ass.
Hey.
I never heard greg mention a professor franklin.
Conflict of laws. Civil rights.
You want to be a lawyer?
Uh, those are greg's.
Is there anything else up there that belongs to him?
That folder's not mine.
Hey, I got to go to a spin class, okay?
Just don't mess with my stuff.
We got you.
Have fun spinning.
Oh.
Look at this.
Course syllabus for franklin's con law classes.
And this.
I need your help with the v.A.
If you just go on record--
I don't know what you're talking about.
I can't do this without you.
Please, you owe .
Just get that thing out of my face.
That bad blood seems to be
About the veterans administration.
Tanner's sister said he was having trouble
Getting benefits.
Sergeant tanner received counseling
For 30 days post-discharge.
After that, his temporary benefits lapsed.
Okay, what was the counseling for?
Come on, you know I can't get into that.
How about what type of discharge he got?
That's not classified.
- He got a 5 -13 discharge.
Separation from service due
To a pre-existing personality disorder.
Pre-existing, meaning whatever was wrong with him,
It wasn't service-connected, meaning the military's
Not on the hook for his long-term care.
that's how it works.
A guy humps it for his country for eight years.
He comes home and then uncle sam
Just kicks him to the curb.
Does that seem fair, doc?
No, not for a soldier who required
Post-traumatic stress disorder from doing
Guard duty at abu ghraib.
Greg was guarding terrorists?
He said what he saw kept him up nights.
From the stuff that tanner has underlined,
Looks like he was preparing a lawsuit
To have his benefits reinstated.
And he wanted franklin to represent him.
Can I get your attention, please?
Uh, listen.
Last week, I was diagnosed with cancer.
It's manageable, but I have to start
Treatment immediately.
I'm telling you this because I'll be coming and going
More than usual and I don't want any tongues wagging.
Oh, and before I forget, the chief of ds
Is coming down hard on the fives,
Or should I say the lack of them.
You're all big boys and girls, so get them done on time.
Uh, loo?
Yeah, what you got?
It looks like tanner was after franklin
To help him sue the government
Over his veteran benefits.
Except franklin's a constitutional scholar,
Not a benefits expert.
We'll talk to some of franklin's colleagues.
See what they know.
- Hey, loo. - Yeah?
Sorry.
Yeah.
Professor franklin never mentioned a greg tanner.
I highly doubt that he'd have anything to do
With a drug dealer.
He's wound tighter than a swiss watch.
He sounds pretty tough to get along with.
He's very competitive.
We're both up for tenure, except I don't have
His fancy government pedigree.
Not that I'm suggesting that he's unqualified, mind you.
Just that he's very well connected.
He must be.
Not too many law professors carry permits for handguns.
That's because of the work he did
For the department of justice.
What kind of work? Drug enforcement?
No, all I can tell you is that
A number of bush administration documents
Have recently been declassified,
Including a few memos that franklin wrote.
And, uh, you didn't hear it from me.
Mmm.
"techniques that may be used in interrogation
Of high-value al-qaeda detainees."
Now there's a sexy title.
These declassified documents
Are all about handling terrorist suspects.
This one says the president can send the army
Into american neighborhoods to make arrests.
Here's one that franklin wrote.
"legal standards governing the detention
And interrogation of unlawful enemy combatants."
The entire playbook for gitmo and abu ghraib.
The playbook that set the working conditions
For guards like tanner.
The conditions that caused his post-traumatic stress.
Tanner might have seen it that way.
And blamedranklin. He said franklin owed him.
Maybe this was the payday tanner was talking about.
Money from franklin for his pain and suffering.
There's your bad blood.
And our probable cause for a search.
Let's go.
Connie, I think we got our p. C. On franklin.
You guys are about five minutes late.
Come on in, detectives.
Professor franklin here just confessed
To shooting greg tanner.
He even brought the gun.
Professor franklin was being stalked
By a mentally disturbed lunatic
Who had accosted him in a stairwell.
If this office intends to file charges,
My client will be arguing self-defense.
Of myself and my country.
A plea?
First you push for a million in bail
And now you expect us to take a plea?
We're here as a courtesy to give you
A chance to drop this charge
Before we publicly embarrass you.
He shot an unarmed war veteran from three feet away
And we're the ones who are supposed to be embarrassed?
He shot a trained killer who blamed him
For his mental problems, demanded money,
And then threatened him when he said, "no."
It's a perfect case of self-defense
Except for the running away, the lying.
All of which evinces a consciousness of guilt.
Now he can plead to manslaughter one
Or starting tomorrow, a grand jury
Will hear all about his deceptions.
No, they won't.
What's that?
A writ of prohibition to exclude all statements
My client made to the police on the grounds
That their interview with him was custodial
And he should have been mirandized.
The judge threw it all out.
His phony alibi.
His claims of not knowing tanner.
I mean, in short, everything that makes him look guilty.
I can count on the fingers of one hand
The times I've seen a writ used
To keep evidence out of the grand jury.
Not just any writ, but one franklin
Dashed off during a plea conference
Complete with citations.
Brilliant.
Any evidence he killed tanner
For reasons other than self-defense?
Nothing.
The only one who'd know is tanner.
And, well, he's not talking.
Thanks.
Oh, it's from franklin.
He's asserting his right to address the grand jury.
Sure.
First, get rid of as many inconvenient facts
As possible and then spin what's left
Into a self-serving tale.
Yeah, the law-abiding professor
Versus the deranged drug dealer.
Spin it the other way.
Make greg tanner as cuddly as a week-old puppy.
Greg was smart.
People liked him.
He believed in serving the greater good.
But when he was over there in the war,
Something inside him broke.
He suffered from post-traumatic stress.
That's what his psychiatrist told him.
He worked in the prisons.
He saw interrogations.
People being hurt, being hanged in a shower room.
He had nightmares.
He couldn't keep a job.
Mr. Tanner approached me one night after class.
He told me about his grievance over his military discharge.
He wanted my help suing to have his benefits reinstated.
He thought because I worked for the department of justice
Under the bush administration
That I had some special expertise.
What work specifically did you do?
I wrote advisory memos governing the manner
In which suspected terrorists were held.
Because mr. Tanner guarded those detainees,
He thought I had insights into the conditions
That had caused his post-traumatic stress.
I told him he needed a specialist
In healthcare litigation.
I thought that that was the end of it,
But a week later, he confronted me at the garage.
He was agitated. He demanded money.
He said that I was responsible for his mental problems.
I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't let me leave.
I was trapped by this deranged ex-soldier.
Did he actually threaten to kill you?
I was in fear for my life.
He kept saying, "you're not leaving."
And then he started toward me and that's--
That's when I shot him.
He fell. He stopped moving.
What did you do then? Did you call the police?
Somebody else did.
I wish that I had had the presence of mind
To stay calm, but I was in shock.
And it took you four days to regain your composure
And turn yourself in to the police.
No, I was in contact with the police
Before the formality of my surrender.
You were in contact?
Please, describe those contacts.
Mr. Cutter, I would be happy to tell the grand jury
What I discussed with the police,
But there's a judicial writ prohibiting me from doing so,
Because of the misbehavior of your detectives.
He cooperated from the get-go.
It was the police who misbehaved.
I let myself get bushwhacked.
Twice.
We got bushwhacked twice.
Tanner's sister told the police that he never
Talked to her about his service in iraq,
But she testified that he witnessed interrogations.
She might have gotten that from news reports on the case.
No, she said he saw people hanged in a shower room.
That wasn't in the news.
Thanks.
No bill.
Grand jury bought franklin's story.
Next stop, megan tanner?
I told the police the truth.
Greg never said anything to me.
Well, then where did you hear about this shower room?
My mom needs to know that greg served with honor
Like my dad.
She's very sick and...
If she ever found out that he did that,
Well, I don't think she could take it.
Why? What did he do?
When greg was living with me, he made a video diary.
I found it on my computer after he died.
We walked the detainee into the shower room.
He was handcuffed and he was wearing a hood over his head.
The interrogator told us to hang him
By his wrists from the bars of a window like this
With his hands behind his back up high,
So the guy can't kneel or sit
And all the weight's on his arms and chest.
The 'gator said the guy was an unlawful combatant
And under the rules, we could do
Whatever we want with him.
We hooked him and we left him with the 'gator.
An hour later, 'gator called us back in
And he wanted us to reposition the detainee.
The detainee was slumped forward.
His arms were almost out of their sockets.
He wasn't responsive.
Then we took the hood off of his head
And all this blood poured out of his mouth.
He was--
He was dead.
And those rules--
Those damn rules were wrong.
We had to live by 'em, and it messed us up.
I found one of the guys who wrote the rules
Here at the college.
I got to get right with this.
I didn't join the service to murder people.
Can we confirm this story?
Tanner was stationed at abu ghraib in 2003,
And there was a death that fit his description
In November of that year.
He talks about other interrogations
He witnessed in iraq and gitmo,
Enhanced interrogations, waterboardings,
At all kept him up at night.
Maybe that's what was going through
Franklin's mind when he shot tanner.
Maybe he thought tanner was threatening
To implicate him in a death by torture.
Franklin was bucking for tenure.
Controversy's the last thing he wanted.
Now he shot tanner in a panic,
Not to defend his life, but to protect his position.
Forget it.
You had your bite at the grand jury.
Franklin is getting away with killing tanner.
This memo he wrote for the department of justice
Laid out the legal architecture
Permitting the abuse of prisoners.
Abuse that led directly to this death in iraq.
You could argue this memo is an element
In a conspiracy to commit assault
And depraved indifference murder.
Someone could try to argue it
If they had jurisdiction.
Have you looked at the time stamp on this?
April 10, 2003, 1 st. Andrews plaza.
Franklin was working at the u. S. Attorney's office
Downtown when he wrote it?
Right under our noses.
It's the jurisdictional nexus we need
To prosecute him.
We already have the testimony
Of one of his co-conspirators.
Jack, you want to prosecute a member
Of the bush administration for assaulting
Suspected terrorists?
The word is "torturing."
And, yes, it's about time somebody did.
Draw up a bill of indictment against franklin.
Gladly.
The people have met
Their jurisdictional requirement, mr. Granick.
Your motion's denied.
But, your honor, a conspiracy charge
Requires an agreement between the conspirators.
There is no agreement between mr. Tanner and my client
To assault prisoners in 2003.
The agreement is manifest by the fact
That the recommendations in mr. Franklin's memo
Were conveyed by intermediaries
To mr. Tanner in the field and agreed to by him.
They haven't connected the dots.
Those intermediaries should be named
In the indictment as co-conspirators
Or the charge is legally insufficient.
Franklin's daring us to indict
The whole chain of command.
Have you actually read franklin's memo?
Cover to cover? No, not yet.
Read his advice to anyone worried
About being charged with torture.
"if a defendant has a good faith belief
"that his actions will not result
"in prolonged mental harm,
"he lacks the specific intent necessary
"for his actions to constitute torture.
"a defendant could show that he acted in good faith
"by surveying the professional literature
"or consulting with experts.
Good faith is a complete defense to a charge of torture."
He's telling the interrogators how to circumvent the law.
Just remember, kids, if you're going to torture,
Read a book first.
They want co-conspirators?
I'll give them co-conspirators.
The joint chiefs of staff?
Former secretary of defense?
Vice president cheney?
In for a penny, in for a pound, mr. Cutter.
The indictments are being served as we speak, your honor.
Mr. Franklin can consider the dots connected.
It's absurd.
Mr. Cutter is making a mockery
Of the conspiracy statutes.
It's clear who's behind this.
Jack mccoy obviously took exception
To my boss's conduct of the war on terror,
And now he's politicizing this prosecution.
If mr. Franklin is afraid a trial
Might embarrass his former colleagues,
He's always welcome to take a plea.
I see no reason for this indictment not to proceed.
See you all at trial.
So far, so good.
This was nothing.
The real hailstorm's gonna come
When those indictments start landing
On the co-conspirator's desks.
Our client sent us here hoping
We can talk some sense into you, mr. Mcy.
You wouldn't be the first to try.
You're going to spark a constitutional crisis
And that's no threat.
Is that really the valediction you want for your career?
You let me worry about my career.
And now, unless you're all here to talk about a plea,
There's the door.
A plea?
You actually believe that you, a county d.A.,
Can prosecute a former vice president,
Cabinet members for their conduct of a war
On foreign soil?
I prosecuted a chilean colonel for the murder
Of a u.S. Citizen in santiago.
So government officials who torture prisoners
On american military bases?
Sure. Why not?
This is why not.
This is just the beginning.
We'll keep churning them out until your office
Is drowning in motions.
Motions for change of venue.
Motions to dismiss, to suppress.
Trial starts next week.
We'll be lucky to get through just one of these bricks.
Strawn doesn't represent everybody.
We'll sever the trials.
We'll try franklin and his associates first.
We convict them, then move up the chain of command.
Connie, assemble a team.
Get them working on strawn's motions.
Cards on the table, jack.
I think we bit off more than we can chew,
And I'm not even convinced of our legal standing.
I know.
You value legalities over ethics,
But sometimes doing what's ethical is more important.
You can insult me all you want, jack,
But maybe the ethical thing to do here
Is to save american lives.
We're at war with people who've sworn to kill us
For who we are.
It doesn't matter if it's civilians, women,
Children, as long as they kill americans.
And if we have to use force to extract
The information we need to protect ourselves,
Well, then maybe that's the right thing to do.
I see.
Maybe I should find somebody else to prosecute franklin.
Oh, no.
You can count on my obsession with legalities.
If there's a way to prove that franklin broke the law,
I'm your man.
It's called a palestinian hanging.
It's how the north vietnamese tortured
Senator john mccain when he was a p.O.W.
It's one of the stress positions sanctioned
By mr. Franklin's memo.
What other harsh techniques are sanctioned
By mr. Franklin's memo?
The most well known is waterboarding,
Where a detainee is held down, a cloth is placed over his face,
And water is poured over his mouth and nose
To simulate drowning.
And who, if anyone, besides the u.S. Military
Has used this interrogation technique?
The spanish inquisition.
And after the second world war, we convicted
Japanese officers of war crimes
For waterboarding our p.O.W.S.
Now you told us that during your career in the military,
You participated in over a thousand interrogations.
Did you ever use any of these harsh techniques?
No, sir.
We took down terror networks with tools like respect,
Rapport, cunning, and deception.
Not the techniques in this memo?
Besides the fact I have a moral problem with torture,
It doesn't work, sir.
In fact, it works against us.
It's hypocritical to defend our values with torture.
That hypocrisy is the best recruiting tool
You can give to the terrorists.
Thank you.
I want to be clear, mr. Gardner.
If you had a terrorist who you believed
Had information about a dirty bomb
Set to go off in this city within 24 hours,
You wouldn't avail yourself of every possible technique
To extract information from him?
A man in severe pain or mental anguish
Will say anything to make it stop.
If you only have 24 hours, the last thing you want to do
Is waste time chasing down false leads.
Torture just doesn't work.
No one here's advocating torture, mr. Gardner.
We're talking about harsh techniques.
I know what we're talking about, sir.
I don't need a memo to tell me what torture is.
Jack?
David? What a nice surprise.
Come with me. I'm taking the stairs.
I need the exercise.
So do you, kid.
How are they treating you in washington?
Good.
The attorney general's no jack mccoy,
But I'm learning a lot.
Jack, they sent me here
To talk to you about the franklin case.
They want you to call it off.
The jury's empanelled, jeopardy's attached.
They don't care.
They want the charges dismissed against all the defendants.
I don't get it.
The new administration doesn't have a dog in this fight.
We can't let state prosecutors try to hold
Federal officials accountable for their conduct of a war.
It's a bad precedent.
In any event, the attorney general's
Naming a special prosecutor to investigate torre claims.
I heard. To go after the small fry,
A couple of thugs in the field.
What about the policy-makers, the deciders?
Right.
They get a free pass, because if you go after
The previous administration's dirty laundry,
The next administration will go after yours.
That's the precedent you don't want to set!
It's just politics, jack.
I don't know what you're learning over there, david,
But you've forgotten everything you learned here.
Tell the attorney general no deal.
Information is perhaps the most critical weapon
For defeating the terrorist threat.
Our success rests on our ability to extract
That information.
I was asked to advise the defense department
As to the legal standards governing the interrogation
Of terrorist suspects.
I put my findings in a memo
And sent it on to the relevant parties.
Thank you.
Mr. Franklin, isn't it fair
To characterize the legal standards you set
Governing the interrogations of suspects
As "anything goes," so long as the president orders it?
And in his capacity as commander-in-chief
In a time of war, he has the authority
To issue any order he deems appropriate?
Well, the president can't break the law.
Well, according to your memo, what law is the president
Bound by in the war on terror?
The geneva and hague conventions?
Not applicable because the terrorist detainees
Are illegal combatants.
Well, the due process clause of the fifth amendment?
Not applicable to alien enemy combatants held abroad.
The eighth amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment?
Not applicable because harsh interrogations
Are not punishment.
So you are saying, in war,
The president is bound by no laws?
Yes, in war.
So if he deems he's got to torture somebody,
For example, by crushing the testicles
Of that person's child,
Your memo says there is no law, no treaty that can stop him?
Well, it would depend on why the president
Thinks he needs to do that.
Now, your memo justifies these actions
Because the detainees are not regular soldiers
In a national army as we understand it, correct?
Correct.
Unlawful enemy combatants are not entitled
To the usual protections.
Is it too much to assume they'd be protected
By our own sense of decency?
That's not the task I was given, mr. Cutter.
My memo addressed legal, not ethical, standards.
Now, your memo says that, "historically, nations
"and their sovereigns have been free to treat
Unlawful combatants as they wish."
Could you please give us such a historical example?
Well...
Off the top of my head--
What about this example?
The summary execution of a vietcong guerilla
By a south vietnamese general.
Or this.
The torture and murder of polish resistance fighters
By the german army.
Is this the historical right you say
The president should avail himself of?
I didn't invent the right of sovereigns, mr. Cutter.
I simply defined it.
The right to do what they want with unlawful combatants?
Yes.
Unlawful combatants like the american militia
After king george declared them rebels?
Yes, like that.
So you would defend the brutal treatment
Of american prisoners by the british
During the revolutionary war?
From a legal standpoint? Yes.
Mr. Franklin, what is it about this country
That you don't get?
Withdrawn.
No more questions.
There was a state senator on just now
Calling for your removal as d.A.
You know, that day, eight years ago,
We could see the towers burn from adam's window.
I remember.
Part of me says, "I don't care what you do
"to these detainees.
"I don't want to know.
Just protect us."
The problem is now we do know.
Yeah, and I'm not sure that makes a difference.
We're wanted in federal court tomorrow.
The attorney general is asking the court
To issue an order staying the district attorney's
Prosecution of mr. Franklin and the other defendants.
They can't just step in and stop the trial.
Under the supremacy clause of the constitution,
Actions taken by federal officials in pursuit
Of foreign policy are not grist for state prosecutions.
If those actions are illegal, as torture clearly is,
There's no overriding federal interest
In shielding those who enabled such actions.
All right, gentlemen, I'll take the motion
Under advisement.
I'll issue my ruling by the end of the day.
In the meantime, the state trial can proceed.
I never expected this of you.
You're way off the reservation, jack.
Damn it, david.
I'm trying to save the reservation.
We're looking forward, not backward.
We'se not looking to give aid and comfort to the enemy.
What are you accusing me of?
My client never tortured anybody.
He never ordered another or conspired with others
To commit torture.
As a member of the office of legal counsel
Of the department of justice and in service
To his commander-in-chief, he was asked
To give a legal opinion.
Might not be the most brilliant opinion ever written,
But in the end, it's just that.
A legal opinion.
Whether or not we agree on the conduct
Of the war on terror, we can all still agree
That in this country you have to actually
Commit a crime to be convicted of one.
Thank you.
This is no simple legal opinion, ladies and gentlemen.
This is an instruction on how to commit a crime
And avoid prosecution.
A surgical parsing of words to draw hair-splitting distinctions
Between severe pain and extreme pain.
The creation of a special class of prisoners
Who are fair game for any suffering
We might subject them to.
This is the legal grease
That enabled the conspirators to commit acts
That are immoral and illegal.
Hanging prisoners by their wrists
Until their lungs collapse against their ribs.
Waterboarding one detainee over 180 times.
Now mr. Franklin's defense is that he was
Just following orders as a mere lawyer
In the justice department.
Well, like all lawyers,
He was employed as the last
And best defense against injustice,
To use the law as a shield to protect people.
But instead he used it as a sword to injure them.
Where he was sworn to uphold the constitution,
He used his legal education to subvert it,
To shame it, and betray its promise to the world.
Five days after 9-11,
Vice president cheney told us that we would have to
"work the dark side" to fight terrorists.
Well, we never imagined that to mean
That we would cede control to our own dark side.
The tactics justified in mr. Franklin's memo
Draw from the worst of our nature.
Even in the midst of the revolutionary war,
In the midst of the civil war,
Presidents washington and lincoln
Admonished their troops not to injure their prisoners.
Now, some of you may feel that it is not the place
Of this jury or even the people to question the actions
Of our government officials during a time of war...
That the premise of this trial itself somehow is...
Treasonous.
I would assure you, ladies and gentlemen,
It is not disloyal to hold our officials
To the highest standards of conduct.
And it is not disloyal to allow you, the people,
To decide what you want done in your name.
Thank you.
Has the jury reached a verdict?
We have, your honor.
The defendant will stand.
On the first count of the indictment,
Conspiracy in the--
What's going on, eddie?
He's a federal marshal with an order
From the district court.
Bring it here.
The federal court for the southern district
Has issued an order preempting this prosecution.
The trial is over.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
Thank you for your service.
We are adjourned.
But, your honor, the jury had a verdict.
There's no verdict till it's entered in the record.
It's over, mr. Cutter.
I'll start checking the case law,
See what our next step is.
You won't find anything.
There's no recourse.
The people who want you out, jack,
They'll use this to hammer you.
Good.
At the end of the day, I hope to give them
Even more reason to be mad at me.
Come on, mike.