Picket Fences (1992–1996): Season 3, Episode 19 - Final Judgement - full transcript

[Jimmy] Previously on

Picket Fences ...

The morphine
was turned up to 40 ccs

with the full knowledge
that it would kill Harry.

Which one of you did it?

The morphine
was upped by your wife.

Yes, I did it.

[Littleton] Euthanasia is
illegal, Dr. Brock.

Well, I certainly
know that, Mr. Littleton.

But in cancer cases
with extreme suffering

we customarily increase
the morphine level



in order to relieve
that suffering.

You think I was wrong
to up the morphine?

Yes.

You actually want to
try this case?

The attorney general
wants time served.

We have to be a strong family.

We have to stick together.

[juror] We find the defendant,
Dr. Jill Brock...

guilty as charged.

Two years,
that's my final offer.

She's a mother,
she's a law abiding‐‐

She has
a manslaughter conviction.

Come on, Warren,

we're talking about
a reputable doctor, ex mayor,



distinguished humanitarian
with extended community service.

You've got your verdict,
you've made your point.

But nothing, absolutely nothing
is served by the incarceration
of this woman.

Two years.

I don't think he likes it
that you talk fast.

‐He won't budge.
‐He's actually going to
put me in jail?

No, he is not.

Plan B, court was just
called in session, let's go.

I'll hear from the defense
first on sentencing.

We don't want to be heard
on sentencing.

‐We ask that Your Honor
set aside the verdict.
‐[Judge] What?

On grounds that the law against
physician‐assisted suicide
is unconstitutional.

Your Honor's already made
that ruling two years ago

with the singing
serial killer nun.

‐Excuse me, the what?
‐And since that ruling,

a federal appeals
court in Washington
has followed your lead.

They have declared
that the law
against assisting suicide

is a violation
of a fundamental right
to privacy.

Your Honor,
this is a sentencing hearing.

We don't raise
constitutional appeals
at sentencing hearings.

Things go
a little differently
around here.

This is a sentencing hearing.

‐He repeats himself, Judge.
‐Shut up.

Will you be quiet?

[Judge] Defense Counsel
raises a point, Mr. Grier.

If the law Jill Brock violated

is a law that should be
tossed out while‐‐

Your Honor,

I admit I am new
to this courtroom

and have yet to grasp
all the idiosyncrasies

that make this forum
like no other.

But it is not the province
of a state court judge

to be invalidating laws
on constitutional grounds.

‐Why not?
‐Because it just isn't done
on a superior court level.

Mr. Grier, the defendant
is a friend of mine.

Now, I'll be a fair judge.

I'll rule according to the law.

But I see no need to subject her
to a lengthy and costly
appellate process

if we can deal with the issue
right here.

Your Honor,
you‐‐you cannot do this.

Oh, but I can.

Tomorrow, the law
against euthanasia
goes on trial.

It goes on trial here.

Until then...

Get out.

[theme music playing]

[theme music ends]

This is a dream.
To argue this issue
in front of Judge Henry Bone.

There isn't a jurist anywhere
more sympathetic to
doctor‐assisted suicide.

This isn't exactly feeling
like a dream, Mr. Dell.

Try to control
your goosebumps a little.

I don't enjoy being a test case
as much as you do.

‐Honey...
‐Look at these news trucks
pulling in.

That's only because
you're better looking
than Kevorkian.

‐You're Dr. Death with dress.
‐What?

I won't say it in court.

Jill, don't worry, we...

You keep saying that,
"Don't worry, don't worry."

I'm still looking at
going to jail.

‐I'm worried.
‐Look, Jill...

‐We will win this.
‐Suppose you don't?

‐What's this?
‐A swan.

‐Dead, dirty and heavy.
‐Well, what do you want me to
do?

It's the third one we found
like this, can you autopsy it?

‐Autopsy a swan?
‐I could take it to the vet.

But they don't got
investigational skills,

you're like a detective.

‐Where'd you find him?
‐In the public gardens
where they live.

He looks pretty beat up,
I think somebody murdered him.

This is a justifiable
use of tax dollars,
using a medical examiner for...

It's a swan, people shouldn't be
killing a beautiful swan.

The Supreme Court has held
that for deeply personal choices

those decisions are protected
by the Constitution

against government intrusion.

The Supreme Court has
never ruled

on physician‐assisted suicide.

Not directly.

But it held that competent,
terminally ill people

can refuse
unwanted medical treatment.

There's a big difference
between refusing
medical treatment

and active euthanasia, Mr. Dell.

Oh, come on, Counsel,
what's the real difference?

If the refusal of treatment
means the patient dies,

how's that different
from giving him morphine?

‐[Judge] Both acts kill him.
‐To say, "Okay,

we won't postpone
the inevitable,

let's not prolong
the suffering."

and to turn off a respirator,
that's one thing.

It's quite something else
to inject a patient
to cause death.

That's just a pile of crap,
I'm sorry.

Under the current law, it's okay
to shut off a nutrition tube

and let a patient die,
but it's not okay

to let him go humanely
and peacefully with a drug.

How do you justify that?

I justify it by saying the state
has an interest

against suicide.

We have an interest
in the continued suffering
of dying patients?

What about the depressed man
who just lost his job?

The soccer player
who loses his leg?

They could be competent people
who also choose to die.

Do we just give them morphine
and say, "Nice knowing you"?

‐That isn't this case.
‐But it's very much the danger
posed by this case.

Where do you draw the line?

many Alzheimer's patients
want to die
before dementia begins.

We're all familiar with
the slippery slope argument.

Once you start letting someone
do it, next thing, we'll have
fast food restaurants

dispensing barbiturates
at the drive‐thru.

It's a very lovely theory.

Please don't trivialize...

Everything you say
goes to policy.

But a court has to
stay focused on rights.

Legal rights.

And I repeat,
the Supreme Court has held

that for profoundly
personal decisions,

for matters that go
to an individual's autonomy,

to his human dignity,

for those cases, the message
to the state is: butt out.

And I submit:
what could be
closer to the heart

of personal liberty

than the decision
by a terminally ill

suffering person to decide,

"I've had enough,
I don't want to live anymore."

I don't dispute Mr. Fenwick's
right to make that decision,

I take issue
with her killing him.

[Franklin] That's
an unconscionable distinction.

It's okay for him
to kill himself,

but it's wrong for a physician
to make it more humane.

It's wrong for her
to make it easier.

If we let doctors jump in
and facilitate suicide,

we tacitly endorse it
as an acceptable thing.

‐That's wrong.
‐Oh, that's right.

Suicide should remain
a disgrace.

Yes, it should.

If we de‐stigmatize it,
we make it more imaginable,
more conceivable.

What if that court's ruling
caused somebody out there
to think,

"Hey, suicide is noble."

What if that court's ruling
made somebody you love

to put a gun to their head,

‐Maybe...
‐Hey, you're out of order!

I should hold you in contempt!

‐What did I say?
‐If a person puts a gun
to his head, that's insanity.

It has no bearing on...
It's insanity!

We're adjourned until tomorrow.

‐[door slams]
‐You were right.

‐That swan didn't die of natural
causes, it was beaten to death.
‐I knew it.

And we're not talking about
a couple of whacks,

it was struck more
than a hundred times.

Uh, what's going on?

We've had some swans killed,
I asked Carter autopsy one.

This was a mute swan, female,
she may have been killed
for her eggs.

They're worth about $1,000
on the black market.

Swan eggs?

This is a special swan,

extremely protective
of her offspring,

that's why she's dead.

Poachers usually have
to kill the mother

before they can even get close
to the eggs.

So, a poacher beat it to death?

[sighs] The weapon appeared
to be wood,

but I also dug out
some tiny fragments
of fiberglass.

‐Where are the other two?
‐We buried them, but they looked
just the same as this one.

It's either poachers
after the eggs or we've got
a serial swan killer,

‐either way, this is big.
‐[Jimmy sighs]

I should be deputized.

You, you don't have to be
the judge on every case, Henry.

Maybe this one
strikes too close.

This case has nothing to do
with anything personal to me.

Oh, yeah, I could see by
the little tantrum you threw

which was probably just
an outburst of objectivity.

This is an
ex parte communication.

‐This conversation
is out of line.
‐Henry,

if you can't separate this
from your own tragedy,

you shouldn't be the judge.

I will rule

as the law tells me to rule.

The law will control.

I just can't believe
that anybody would kill a swan.

Maybe it was suffering.

Maybe it was mercy killing.

Please, Zachary,
just eat your dinner.

‐Yeah, eat it.
‐And you just be quiet
if you don't mind.

What?

Is there a problem?

‐Problem? No.
‐You're looking at me
like there's a problem.

[sighs] There's no problem.

Kimberly, I know that you
think what I did was wrong,

but I would appreciate it
if you wouldn't punish me,
this has been tough enough.

Zack, can you pass
the spinach, please?

I appreciate all your support.

Oh, grow up.

What did you say?

‐Can we just have dinner?
‐[Jill] No, no, no.

If she's got something
to say to me,

I would really enjoy
hearing about it.

What do you think it's like
to go to school these days?

How do you think Zack feels
hearing the whispers?

And what about Matthew
having to hand a note
to his principal

saying "Please excuse me
from my gym class,

but I have to attend
my mother's manslaughter trial"?

I know this hasn't been easy
for any of you.

Did you consider that
before you upped
Mr. Fenwick's morphine?

‐Kimberly.
‐Did you stop to think

‐that there may be
consequences for us?
‐[Jimmy] That's enough.

I'm sorry,
but you brought this on, Mom.

And we are just
trying to survive it.

We survive by sticking together.

We told you this was
gonna be hard,

it's hard, damn it.

We stay together.

Eat.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

If you don't feel like
I'm supporting you,

then I just
have to try harder.

No, I‐‐I don't know if I'm...

I'm so on edge because...

I'm afraid of going to jail

or just because I'm afraid
what I did was wrong.

And I suppose it would be
easier to think that you
believed what I did was right.

I'm not saying I don't.

I just don't know.

Yeah.

I do love you.

You know that.

Yeah,

I do.

‐He can't call a witness.
‐Why not?

Because this is an argument
on the constitutional viability
of a law.

It is not
an evidentiary hearing.

One of the ways we evaluate
the constitutional basis
of the law

is to examine its application.

Cynthia Addelson
is from Portland, Oregon.

Her husband died
from physician‐assisted suicide.

‐This case has nothing to do
with Cynthia Addelson.
‐Your Honor,

It's fine for lawyers
to get up here

and pontificate on legal theory,

but the guts of any law
is "How does it work?"

If a lay witness
helps answer that question‐‐

Objection! This is just
an attempt to be inflammatory.

That's a jury objection,
we're doing this before a judge.

And I reiterate,
this is an argument of law,

it is not
an evidentiary proceeding!

I'll hear the witness.

I strenuously object!

Oh? "Strenuously"?

Call the witness.

[indistinct murmuring]

‐Hockey sticks!
‐What?

The fiberglass fragments
match the kind of coating
used on the blades.

Plus they found traces
of black friction tape,

‐the kind use‐‐
‐The swan was killed
with a hockey stick?

Sticks, plural.

There were multiple samples
of different kinds of fiberglass

and different brands of tape!

So we're looking
at more than one stick.

I think we have
a hockey team gang!

Don't mock me!
You're mocking me with a look.

We know the kind of savages
who play hockey!

I tried the game once,
they bit me, and Joey Milan

was seen hanging around
the swan pond!

He plays hockey!
Stop with the mocking look!

‐Joey Milan is a prime suspect!
‐All right, all right.
I'll pick up Joey Milan.

[flapping wings]

What's with him?

[Carter]
Mute swans mate for life.

Now this here is the partner
of the one I autopsied.

Now these birds are also
very, very aggressive

when threatened. That's why
poachers have to kill them
to get to their eggs.

‐So?
‐So,

I think this swan will tell us
who killed his mate!

Again with the mocking look!
This is an intelligent bird!

[honks]

If it sees the attacker,
he'll let us know. He will!

We're gonna help you, Bob.
His name's Bob.

Together, we're gonna
catch the bad guy!

‐[thud]
‐Ooh!

‐[swan honking]
‐[whimpers]

Carl had emphysema.

By the end he always felt
that he was suffocating.

And he had this
pulmonary disease, which...

Well, you know, because of
the bad blood flowing,

he had pain in his arms
and his legs.

‐He was terminal?
‐Yes.

And at some point, you,
he, and your doctor,

discussed turning up
the morphine?

Yes, hmm.

How did you come
to discuss this Mrs. Addelson?

Well, Carl, he knew about it,
because‐‐ well, you know, it's‐‐

it became a law in Oregon,
and, uh...

so he asked the doctors
about it.

[Warren] What did you think?

[Mrs. Addelson]
Well, I was against it at first,

but then, he convinced me

that he didn't want
to live anymore.

He was in pain, and...

he had to be hooked up
to this tank, in order
to breathe, and...

he wanted to die
with some dignity, and...

I couldn't really disagree
with that.

And, Mrs. Addelson...

you're convinced that
your husband was
of competent mind,

when he decided
to terminate his life?

Oh, yes, yes,
he was quite competent!

‐He was too competent.
‐What do you mean by that?

Well, the idea that he was not
of service to his family

was hateful to Carl.

And I think that...

when he heard about that law,

and when he read about all those
other elderly people who were...

terminating their lives,

so that they would not be
a financial

and emotional burden
on their families,

I think Carl, or a part of Carl,

came to believe that, uh...

it was the right thing to do.

That a good father,
or a good husband,

that's what they would do.

Now, do you think,
that this new law in Oregon,

the one that allows for
physician‐assisted suicide,

do you think it played a part
in Carl's decision

to end his life?

Not directly, but...

indirectly, yes.

And that law made suicide
one of the acceptable options.

And, added to that,
if a doctor comes in

and tells you that
he's gonna help you die...

I just think that
Carl came to believe that...

he should die.

That he would be less
of a family man

if he chose to go on living.

[Warren]
Thank you, Mrs. Addelson.

I know that this testimony
has been very difficult.

[person clears throat]

I didn't kill any swan.

You were seen
near the pond, Joey!

You play hockey,
the birds were killed
with hockey sticks.

Are you telling the truth?

Yes.

‐Joey, could you look
at the swan please?
‐Carter.

Just look him in the eye
for a second.

Please?

Look at him, Joey.

[swan honking]

‐Why is he looking at me
like that?
‐[Carter] Joey...

that hockey stick beside you,
I want you to slowly pick it up.

‐Do I have to?
‐Yes.

Pick up the stick.

[swan honking]

‐[swan honking]
‐Aah!

Can I go now?

[swan wings flapping]

[knocking on door]

Don't you dare!

I am not coming in
to try and influence
your decision.

I promise.

You okay?

I don't know.

I wonder if my son thought
there was something redemptive
in taking his life?

'Cause you know,
if people could think that,

I'd shatter that perception
with one swing of my gavel.

'Cause I don't want
any other father to have to.

Henry...

this case isn't about your son.

Yeah, yeah.

You know,

when he was five,

he'd never go to sleep
unless I sang to him.

When he had finally closed
his eyes,

I'd just stay there,

and stare at his little face.

Life was never more rich.

He grew up,

to abuse and molest children.

And shot himself in the head.

I'm not sure right now
life even has meaning, Gary.

Maybe I should recuse myself.

Who the hell am I
to be deciding,
when a life should be...

ending, or...

maybe life has no meaning.

I never needed to believe
in heaven more than I do now.

I pray that when I go

I'll meet my son
in heaven again.

But with what he did

with how he took his life,

he wouldn't be in heaven.
Would he?

Yeah.

Plea bargain?

All of a sudden,
you want to bargain?

Here's the problem.

Grier made an impression
with that witness.

For the first time

I really think we could lose.

Well, all the same,
then we go to appeals court.

On the verdict, yes,
but not on the sentence.

Sentencing takes place now.

Suppose you get a year?

The appeals court won't
overturn that.

If they upheld
the verdict itself,

you'd be stuck
with a year in jail.

So our thinking is if,

if we could plead it out
to three months today

it's worth considering.

Three months in jail?

And be done with it.

Maybe, I should.

What? Go to jail?

Get it over with.

You think Grier would go
for three months?

I think so now.

He's faced with the case
being tossed all together,

I think he'd love to see
three months served.

Okay.

Make the deal.

I won't agree to three months.

‐If he overturns the verdict...
‐I can appeal.

I can appeal his ruling
just like you can.

One year. Best offer.

‐One year.
‐Consecutively?

Come on, Warren
even if you win,

‐the likelihood of Bone
doling out a year...
‐I'll take my chances.

‐You can't.
‐No!

She committed a homicide.
One year.

Could I talk with Mr. Grier
alone, please?

Absolutely not.

I would like to speak
with Mr. Grier in private.

‐I have no problem with that.
‐Well, I do.

Please.

Please.

Everybody, get out.

I'm waiving Counsel.

Everybody out now.

[door opens, closes]

Are you out of your mind?

These birds have
retention skills.
Are you busy?

‐[woman] No, I guess not.
‐Thanks.

Come here. Come here.

So it wasn't Joey Miller,
maybe‐‐

You want me to put a lineup
in front of the swan?

Suppose he picks somebody,
how admissible is that?

I got a list of suspects.
Six boys

‐who were seen‐‐ Kenny!
‐No. No.

Too bad for you
Max is out of town.

She'd love this
agricultural police work,
but I don't.

Now get him out of here
and go with him.

‐Is my father here?
‐Not yet, he's due back
any second.

How come you have the helmet on?

‐[swan honking]
‐[Kenny] What's he doing?

‐He looks upset.
‐Boy, what's the matter?

[Kenny] He looks upset, Carter.

‐[Carter] Sit, no!
‐[Zach screaming]

‐[Carter] Back, back!
‐[swan squawking]

[clamoring]

[indistinct shouting]

‐Control your bird!
‐[squawking]

[sighs]

Everything's okay.
Swan's under control.

Zack, that swan seemed
to know you.

It seemed pretty mad at you.

Did you hurt that swan's mate?

[sobs]

I've been watching you,
Mr. Grier. I...

I know that you're
a compassionate man. I know...

that you understand
why I did what I did

and yet you prosecute me
with such a vengeance.

‐Why?
‐I don't think you'll like
the explanation, Dr. Brock.

I would like to understand you.
Right now, I don't.

Last October,

my brother died of AIDS.

He had the skin
and sinus infections.

Suffered the grand mal seizures,

was even going blind.

And he decided that he didn't
want to live anymore.

Together we attached the hose
to the exhaust pipe.

I closed the garage door

got in on the passenger side

and held the keys in my hand.

We broke open a bottle of wine,

put on some music,
sang together, cried together.

About an hour later,
I kissed him goodbye,

gave him the keys

and went in the house.

What? And you blame yourself
for that?

The story's not over yet.

Another hour went by.

And I came back.

And there he sat crying

with his hand on the ignition.

He couldn't bring himself
to turn it over

intellectually, reflectively,
even emotionally,

he wanted to die, no question.

But there was something inside

that stopped him
from starting that car.

And he asked me to.

And I couldn't.

He ended up suffering

a horrible, painful,
natural death.

If I'd started that car,
it would have been commensurate
with my brother's wishes.

But at the same time,
I would have been
overriding him.

And you think that I was
overriding Harry Fenwick
when I turned up the morphine?

Would he have
turned it up himself?

‐What's going on?
‐They're in the coffee room.

‐The swan attacked him?
‐The swan was definitely
not happy.

[clears throat]

‐I can't believe
what I just heard.
‐Hold on.

Zack.

I want you to tell your father
exactly what you told me.

[sighs] A bunch of kids.

They decided
instead of street hockey

that it might be fun to play
swan hockey.

So, capture a swan

put it in a sack

go to the parking lot
at Hanson Field, then

let the swan out of the sack and

they... play.

Wait, wait, wait.
Um, what is "swan hockey"?

Uh, instead of a puck
or a tennis ball, you play
with a swan.

Try to hit the swan
into the other team's goal.

That's how all these swans
were killed?

You all just...

you hit them
with your hockey stick
to put them into a goal?

‐Zack and I never hit them.
‐But you were in the game.

We never hit the swans.
We stayed out near the side.

But you were in the game.

Yes.

[Kenny] And Zack was at the pond
when the last one was captured.

That's why the mate
remembered him and attacked.

I'm sickened by this.

How could you two
be a part of this?

We never really wanted to be.

But, we couldn't squeal.

So, you just let
the swan be killed?

We didn't know it was a felony.

Your Honor, I've asked
my attorneys if I could
do my own closing.

Mr. Wambaugh said it was
something you would allow.

Well, it's irregular.

But if the alternative is
listening to him,

‐yes, it's okay.
‐I object.

But just a little.

I know all the reasons
against euthanasia.

The potential for abuse.

The woman who testified,
Mrs. Addelson.

The idea that
perhaps her husband
felt obligated to die.

[sighs] That's shocking.

That doctors or family members
could possibly seduce patients
with euthanasia.

Of course, that's horrible.

That a doctor's help

might cause a patient to do it.

A patient who might not do it
without the help.

That's unthinkable.

It's unthinkable.

I‐‐I must admit that

I've never really read
our Constitution.

I don't know what
our Founding Fathers thought
about euthanasia.

I suspect they didn't give it
much thought.

Most people don't

until they're faced with it.

I was faced with it.

And I promise you

when you are looking
into the eyes of a dying man,

it's tough to concentrate
on the big societal picture.

When a patient begs you
for peace, it's

hard to prioritize
the integrity of the law

over the dignity
of that man's life.

Harry Fenwick wanted to die.

He didn't want to exist
in a painful degrading manner.

He wanted to die.

And he asked me, his doctor,

to prescribe some humanity.

The law says that
I should have let him suffer.

A law abiding person
would have let him suffer,
I guess.

I couldn't.

I couldn't.

A good law or bad law,
you're the judge.

You're the judge.

Mr. Grier.

If you don't mind,

I'll hear your summation
tomorrow.

[indistinct chatter]

[crying]

[woman over speaker]
Dr. Richardson to...

‐One of these your grandchild?
‐What?

Oh. No, no,
I'm‐‐I'm just looking.

Nothing more beautiful, huh?

No, nothing.

I don't understand how you
could ever allow it to happen.

How you could let
a poor innocent swan
just be killed.

We kill frogs for biology,
cows for meat.

That's a little different
than beating a swan to death
with a hockey stick.

[Jimmy]
You wanted to become Jewish

because of the
'be kind to animals' rule.

What has happened to you, Zack?

I didn't hit the swan.
I didn't like it
that the other kids did.

We just didn't want
to be squealers.

Well, I don't see how you could
even be friends with the boys

who could do something so awful.

Some of your friends go hunting

and shoot bear and moose.

‐How is it different?
‐Because beating a swan

is cruel, it's torture.

It wasn't killed,
it was tortured.

You don't see the difference?

A few years ago, they came out
with a book called...

The Final Exit.

A suicide manual,
a "how to" book.

A week after it hit the stands,

it went to the top
of The New York Times
best seller list.

A suicide manual.

What is going on?

In a day where thirty percent
of today's teenagers,

thirty percent,

actually consider taking
their own lives.

How can we be cultivating
a permissive attitude
towards suicide?

I'm told that some teenage boys
in this town have been
killing swans.

To me, that certainly
crosses the line.

But how do we really draw
that line today, Your Honor,

when kids see us
reducing the value
of Harry Fenwick's life?

Of Carl Addelson's?

That doesn't bode well
for the swan.

You really think
these incidents are connected?

I don't know.

But I do know the equation
isn't nearly as simple
as the Defense Counsel suggests.

It's much more complicated
than an individual's right
to die.

Or his right to go out
with dignity.

Once we say that it's
okay for doctors to help
kill patients,

Once the erosion of life's value
is so complete,

can it really be a surprise

that teenage boys can think
nothing of killing birds?

We're at that point, Your Honor.

Life has been rendered
to have no intrinsic worth.

Harry Fenwick, I guess,
came to the conclusion that his
being alive had no more worth,

no more value.
His doctor agreed.

So his doctor killed him.

We're supposed to say that
according to the
United State's Constitution

human life has no sanctity.

What is going on?

[indistinct chatter]

We're sorry.

We'll talk about this
when we get home, okay?

‐We know it was wrong.
‐Why didn't you stop them then?

‐It isn't so easy.
‐Jimmy.

I've got the names
of all the kids.
You wanna prosecute?

[Jimmy]
Uh. [clears throat]

No, they'll just walk away
thinking what they did
was illegal.

I don't want them
to get off that easy.

Tell the parents to hold
a funeral for the swan.

‐Make them all attend.
Parents, too, okay?
‐All right.

Nice speech.

Thank you.

If it happened today,
I don't know what I'd do
with Mr. Fenwick.

Do you know what you'd do
with your brother?

No.

We're both looking to that judge
to tell us we were right.

They say he's a smart judge.

Yeah.

He's a very smart judge.

[clerk] All rise.

Be seated.

Euthanasia obviously raises

profound questions
about the meaning of...

the meaning of human life.

The answer I'm afraid comes down
to your definition of value.

Defense Counsel defines it,

by pointing to
the best interests
of the patient.

How much does he value it?

Does it have enough quality
to be worth living?

Mr. Grier

speaks of the intrinsic value
of life itself

regardless of the patient's
rights or interest.

When you crunch this debate,

Mr. Grier is arguing that life
is intrinsically sacred.

And the defense,

you maintain that it isn't.

I so desperately

want to agree with Mr. Grier.

I wanna believe that life,
any life

has intrinsic value.

And that respect for that life

remains distinct from what
the person thinks of himself

or what others think of him

that even if he is never loved,

even if he is hated

or if he does evil,

his life,

his life, nevertheless,

has intrinsic value.

His life is nevertheless

sacred.

[Judge] According to
our Supreme Court,

the patient has the right to die
if he chooses.

Which means,
legally, life enjoys

no sacred protection.

I agree with
the Washington Court,

that there is no
meaningful distinction

between the terminal patient
on life support

and the terminal patient
who's not.

They both wanna die.

They both need
the doctor's help.

To say one death is natural

and the other is artificial

goes against my legal logic.

It also goes against humanity.

I hereby declare the law

against physician‐assisted
suicide

to be invalid.

‐I strike it down
‐[people gasping]

and I'm overturning
the conviction against
Jill Brock.

The defendant is free to go.

[audience exclaiming]

[gavel bangs]

[theme music playing]

[theme music ends]