Oz (1997–2003): Season 1, Episode 4 - Capital P - full transcript

[bright tones]

[tense jazzy music]

♪ ♪

- I don't wanna fight nobody!

- In America we all have
certain inalienable rights.

Like the right
to bear arms,

and the right
to remain silent.

But the state has
the ultimate right.

It can kill us.

And due to popular demand,
Governor James Devlin,

revived capital punishment,

and he decided that
Jefferson Keane,

a man he doesn't know,

a man he will
never even meet,

should be put to death.

Should be put down
like a rabid dog.

- No!

- The mood in this
country has changed.

People are sick of crime,
sick of being afraid.

They need a sign that
something's being done.

- Even, Governor,
if it's been proven

that executions have no effect

on the increase or decrease
of crime whatsoever?

- Especially
if it has no effect.

These days,
murders are random, senseless.

Maybe the punishment
should be, too.

Jefferson Keane will
be the first person executed

by this state in 34 years.
He's the first,

because he snapped the neck
of another inmate.

He's the first
because he deserves to die.

- Jefferson Keane is the first
because he's black and young.

The public is not
gonna feel safe

if we execute
a 70-year-old white guy.

- You're not gonna turn this
into a racial thing

with me are you?
- Oh, please.

- Has anybody thought about
all the protesters

we're gonna have outside?

Marching around,
yelling slogans,

and then the counter-protesters
yelling at them?

- Yeah, and we'll have
even less parking spaces.

- The protesters aren't
gonna be a problem.

- I want you to know that
when those protesters come,

I'm standing with them.

- I can't have an
employee of mine

out there at a vigil

holding a candle
in front of a camera.

- The last time I looked,
we had freedom of speech

and freedom of assembly
in this country,

or did you guys eliminate
those rights too?

- The governor's
been biting my ass,

saying he's gonna
make more budget cuts,

and he means it.

Up to and including your job.

- Is this a threat?

I've got a job, Leo.

I've got a permanent vocation.

I can go teach fifth-grade kids
at Cathedral School.

I can go be a missionary
in Pago Pago.

- [sighs]

Don't join the protesters.

- And if I do?

- You're fired.

- Well, that's fine.

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

I'll send you a postcard
from Pago Pago.

- Hey, Markstram, man,

what if Keane
didn't kill Martinez, huh?

Look, what if they got
the wrong man?

- He did it, Kenny.
- Look, man, I know he did it.

I'm saying
what if he didn't do it?

- I don't understand.
- All I'm saying, Dino, is

makes you wonder
what the guy's doin'

what the guy's thinking,

sitting on death row,
knowing he's gonna die.

- The only difference
between you and him, Joey,

is he knows the
exact date he'll die.

- So the state's
gonna let Keane choose

which way he wants to go out.

Me, I'd take hanging.

- What about lethal injection?
- That's for pussies.

- They say lethal injection
causes no pain.

How do they know?

Someone come back
from the dead

and say they didn't
feel anything?

- Did you hear?
Sister Peter Marie got fired.

- Yeah, I know,
I was her assistant.

She got fired 'cause she's
against the death penalty.

So am I.
- Me, too.

Were you around
when the last person

in the state
was executed?

- I was the last person
in the state executed.

- ♪ The warden threw a party
in the county jail ♪

♪ Prison band was blowing
they began to wail ♪

♪ The joint was jumpin'
and the place began to sing ♪

♪ You should've heard those
knocked out jailbirds sing ♪

all: ♪ Let's rock ♪
[vocalizing]

- ♪ Everybody... ♪
All: ♪ Let's rock ♪

♪ Everybody in the
whole cellblock ♪

♪ Was dancin'
to the jailhouse rock ♪

- ♪ Spider Murphy played
the tenor saxophone ♪

♪ Little Joe was blowin'
on the slide trombone ♪

♪ The drummer boy from Illinois
went crash, boom, bang ♪

♪ The whole rhythm section
was the Purple Gang ♪

all: ♪ Let's rock ♪

- ♪ Everybody... ♪
All: ♪ Let's rock ♪

- So you're saying
your life was saved

by the '65 blackout.

- All the electricity
in five states, gone.

To this day
they don't know

whether the shortage
kept me alive

or if I caused
the power to go "pfft".

- And you had
no after effects?

- Sure!

That's when I first met God.

He shook my hand,
smiled, and said,

"Bob, play the oboe."

- The oboe?
- The oboe.

- And do you?
- What?

- Play the oboe?
- No.

I don't have
the lips for it.

- [laughs]

Gonna share?

- Hey, law-boy.

I thought Schillinger said
you couldn't get high anymore.

- Yeah.
Fuck him.

[both chuckle]

- You go over my appeal?

- Ryan, I told you I was
in litigation not criminal law.

- I got no chance, huh?

- Considering
the number of eyewitnesses?

No.
- Ah, fuck it.

At least I'm not
getting the juice

like that scum-fuck Keane.

They should've just let
the Latinos take him out.

That's the reason
why they were there.

- What do you mean?
- Huh.

- The Latinos were in
the gym to kill Keane?

- Never mind.
- Are you saying he was set up?

- Never mind, Beecher.
- No, no, no, no.

If it was self-defense,
he shouldn't be executed.

- Fuck that!

Don't make trouble
or you'll be next!

[door bangs]

♪ ♪

- Excuse me.

I'd like to get a fax copy

of the transcript from
the Jefferson Keane trial.

[indistinct chatter]

- Bitcher,
get your ass over here.

- Yes, sir?

- That laundry's not
gonna wash itself.

- Sir, have you heard any--

anything about Jefferson Keane
being set up?

- Oh, yeah...

Yeah, the hacks made him
a "Gladiator".

Even got the whole thing
on videotape.

Wouldn't you love
to see that?

- Yeah!

If we could
get that videotape,

he wouldn't be executed.

- What are you talking about?

Another nigger's going down.

I'm glad.
- But...

- "But--but" what?

- Nothing, sir.
- [grunts]

Don't forget,
a little starch.

- So I'll go to McManus,

tell him what might
have happened in the gym,

get him to investigate.
- You can't.

- Why not?

- If you say anything,
they'll kill you.

- They who?

- Exactly.

- Hey, Beecher.

Sorry I got
a little testy before.

- That's okay.

- You wanna get high?

- No, thanks, man,
not right now.

Kind of trying
to keep my head clean.

- Later.

- What I should do,
is represent Keane

and appeal his
murder conviction.

- You?
- I'm a lawyer.

- The state disbarred you.

- The state can't take away
what I do, who I am.

I can help the man.

He killed Martinez
in self-defense.

He shouldn't die.

- You need to
talk to Keane himself,

find out what really
went on that day.

- Yeah, I know, but getting
into death row isn't easy.

- I have a way.

- I'm in fear for my life.
- From who?

- I can't say.
You know I can't say.

I need you to put me
in protective custody.

- You can't be
going in and out

of protective custody
whenever you want.

It's to be used
only in extreme cases.

- Well, this is.

- Next time
you ask for protection,

I may say no.
- I'll take that risk.

Keane?

Keane?

Keane!

- Who wants me?

- Beecher.
Tobias Beecher.

I need to talk to you
about your trial.

I read your transcript.

You weren't very cooperative
with your attorneys.

I killed Martinez.

- Why didn't you tell
the lawyers you were set up?

- Look.

Johnny Post killed Dino Ortolani
because I told him to.

Now the Wiseguys know that.
Now they want me dead.

If they kill me,

one of my homeboys
is gonna kill them,

and then they're gonna kill
another one of my boys,

and on and on and on.

My death can put an end to that.

- Not necessarily.

- Look, if I die,

I feel like
I might go to heaven now,

but if I go back to Em City,

I might go back to my old ways.

I may lose my faith,
my soul.

I'm at peace right now, Beecher.

Please don't take that from me.

- Look, I'm not responsible
for your soul,

but as a lawyer,

I am responsible for justice.

I don't need your cooperation

to file an appeal
on your behalf.

- Beecher, please don't.

- It's something I have to do.

We gotta get a hold
of that tape.

It's got the fight
between Keane and the Latinos.

- What are the chances of one
of the hacks giving it up?

The video would implicate them
in the murder.

Well, do what you can, Bob.

- Sure.

- There you are.

- Oh, yeah, hey.

- Why did you go into "P.C."?

- You know, I just needed
some time alone.

- What are you doing here?

- Working on
Ryan O'Reily's appeal.

- Really?

Thought you said
that was useless.

- Well...

yeah, you know but he asked me
to take another stab at it,

so I figured I would.

- You wouldn't be
bullshitting me, would you?

You want to take a break?

Huh?

You wouldn't be
up to something else?

- No, sir.

- "Argen
versus The State of Tex--"

This is about
a stay of execution.

Since when is O'Reily
being executed?

♪ ♪

Eat it.

- What?

- Eat the page.

- No!

- Do not fuck with me, prag.

Eat it!

♪ ♪

Another one?

[indistinct shouting]

- Rebadow...
- Yes?

- I understand you've been
asking a lot of questions

about a certain videotape...

[both grunt]

- Well...
- Said videotape does not exist.

- Oh, really?

- You don't believe me?
- No, why should I?

[dramatic music]

- Maybe a couple of days
in "the hole"

will help clarify reality
for you.

- Heard you talked to Keane
even though I said don't.

- Yeah.
- That took some balls.

- You starting to grow
some balls, Beecher?

- I had balls

a long, long time ago,

and I thought I could
get 'em back again

by saving Jefferson Keane.

[chuckles wryly]

But the lawyer in me...

Got stretched out on the rack

and hung by the neck until dead.

[chuckles sadly]

[sighs]

You got any dope?

- What you need, pal,
is an upgrade.

What you need is some heroin.

[whispers]
Go ahead...

- [sniffs]

- You swat a fly,
step on an ant,

squash a cockroach,

you don't think much of it.

In fact, killing a bug gives
you a sense of accomplishment.

Fucking ant was
ruining your picnic!

Cockroach was crawling
through your kitchen cabinet.

You put an end
to their disgusting,

miserable little lives

and make a better world
for everyone.

Only, for every one you kill,

more appear,

bigger, uglier,

meaner than before.

- As a man of color,
I'm outraged by that verdict.

As a Muslim,
I have to be concerned

with Tizi Ouzou's soul.
- Tizi Ouzou?

- Oh, since the conversion,
that's the name

that Jefferson Keane
chose for himself.

- Ah, and so you wanna serve
as his minister.

- As his Iman, yes.

- Mm, do you have any objection?

- No.

- Okay then,
here's the deal:

you can go see Keane
in death row

and talk to him,

but only about
spiritual matters.

If I get wind of him or you

or any of the brothers
stirring up shit,

I will give him a rabbi.

[inmates chanting]

- As the day of execution
draws near, tension grows.

Both outside the walls at

the Oswald Maximum Security
Penitentiary, and inside,

where the debate on the
death penalty is no less fierce.

- I don't believe in murder.

First degree, abortion,
or by jury decree.

It's all murder!
- Lethal injection?

What's wrong with the
good old electric chair?

- Jefferson Keane will die
tomorrow in this prison.

In light of the historic,
moral,

and political nature
of the event,

we might lose sight
of the human factors involved.

We spoke today
with Cornelius Keane,

the inmate's father,
and Helen Martinez,

mother of the murder victim.

- You teach a boy
right from wrong,

then you just hope--
you just hope for the best.

- I want him dead!

I want him
in the ground, dead!

Dead!
Dead!

- [exhales]

[slaps door]
- Hey.

- Jefferson Keane's sister's
in kidney failure.

They think she'll die.

- Oh, this is just great.

Well, life just keeps
getting better and better.

I fucked this up
from the get-ready.

Ortolani's dead 'cause of me

and now Keane's gonna join him.

- You think you're responsible

for that bad boy
being on death row?

Timmy...

and I mean this
in the nicest way possible...

you are one fucked-up guy.

- Hmm...

Well...

Does that mean we're not
going to the play tonight?

- [laughs softly]
- Doctor...

We need you.

[jazzy dramatic music]

- [mumbling]

♪ ♪

- On three.
One, two, three.

♪ ♪

We should run some tests.

- I'm gonna be fine.

- Hey, some say there are
five stages of death:

denial, anger, bargaining,

depression,

and finally, acceptance.

The moment when you say
to yourself,

"I'm gonna die,

and ain't shit
I can do about it."

[chuckles]

Oh yeah, in Oz,
we know all about that.

We know all about acceptance.

- Look at your hair.

Come on,
let me braid it for you.

- Nah, that's all right.

- C'mon, I'll make your hair
look so nice,

they won't wanna kill you.

[both laugh]

Come on.
- You crazy.

Come on.

- If you really want to.

- I saw pop on TV yesterday.
- Yeah?

- Talking about you,

talking about our family.

Sorry I ain't who
you want me to be.

I like being queer.
[sniffles]

[crying softly]

- I love you, Billie.

Allah loves you.

- But dad don't.

- Jefferson--

I'm sorry, Tizi...

I've got some bad news.

Your sister Grace
is in the hospital.

Kidney failure.

The doctors think that
she'll probably die soon

unless she gets a transplant,
but organs are scarce.

- Why don't you
take one of mine?

Not like I'm gonna
use it much longer.

Make that happen, McManus.

- I'll try.
- No, you do more than try.

Make it happen.

Make it happen!

(crowd yelling)

- [sighs]

The governor says no,
he won't grant a stay.

- Fuck.

Even that little prick Devlin
can't be that heartless.

- He says Keane
is too dangerous

to be released
to a hospital.

- He's changed.

- This conversion of his
could be bullshit.

- I talked to him, Leo.
It's real.

We gotta fight
for this one.

- How?

If we go public,
we stoke the protesters.

Piss Devlin off even more.

- Devlin thinks he's God.

- Yeah.

- Maybe it's time we got
some help from the real one.

- You want me to call
the cardinal to intercede?

- Yes.
- Tim.

Cardinal Abgott is
more conservative than

Jesse Helms and Bill Buckly
all rolled into one.

He once gave a speech
where he justified

the torture
of the Holy Inquisition.

- That's fucked up,
even so,

you gotta make the call.
- [scoffs]

You make the call.

- What, Ray,
are you afraid?

- No, of course
I'm not afraid.

- Then?

- Why do you think
that I work here, huh, Tim?

I went to the
Pontifical Gregorian University

in the Vatican.
I was in the top of my class.

I was the cardinal's
"Great Yellow Hope",

until I started working
in his office

and I just asked
a few too many questions.

I had a few
too many opinions.

I defied him...

Instead of
deifying him.

So His Excellency decided
to punish me

by sending me to Oz

to extinguish
my career.

- So Jefferson Keane's
sister dies

because you and the cardinal
had a tiff?

- I didn't say
I wouldn't make the call.

I'll make the call.

I'm just warning you,
it probably won't...

[door closes]

Do any good.

- Sorry to disturb you.

- You've come about
the transplant.

- Governor James Devlin,

under pressure
from religious leaders,

including Sheik Zahir Farrah
and Francis Cardinal Abgott,

has granted a 30-day
stay of execution

to Jefferson Keane...
(cheers)

The man convicted
of killing another inmate

at Oswald Maximum
Security Penitentiary.

Keane will donate a kidney
to an ailing sister.

He is expected to go into
surgery sometime today.

The governor was
quick to point out that

all medical costs
are being covered

by the family's own insurance.

- "Clemency" that's
a fancy word for "mercy."

You see, the governor
can commute a death sentence.

He has the power to just
pick up the phone and say no.

But to me,

the only time
the governor shows clemency

is when he don't
make that call,

'cause life in prison
without parole

is a shitload
worse than death.

Death is parole.

Death is the real mercy.

- King me.
- Oh, fuck.

- [laughs]
- O'Reily...

- Yeah.
- Come here.

- Why?
- Because I say.

- So?
- We got business.

- Don't move any pieces,
I got 'em memorized.

- [laughs]
Would I do that?

- Uh, yeah.
- Man, what do you think of me?

- Hey, Joey.
I'm here.

You bet Detroit
on the Sox/Tigers game?

- Yeah.
- You lost.

- Fucking Thomas.
- You owe.

- I know.
- So?

- I'm good for it.
- Says you.

- What, I haven't paid before?
- I want it now.

- Why?
- 'Cause you owe.

- Why you busting my balls?

- 'Cause I don't
like your face.

- Hey, pal, take a look
in the mirror.

- You wanna die?
- You wanna try it?

Problem, guys?
- Yeah, the joint smells

of too much...
[sniffs]

Garlic.
Come on.

- D'Angelo, count to ten
and walk away.

Fucking dago jizzbag.

- You lose, white boy.

- No, I never lose
when it counts.

I'm telling you,
Jefferson was set up.

- By who?
- Come on.

You don't have
to be John Thompson

to figure out
the game plan.

- I know it was
the Wiseguys that did it.

- Schibetta sent Jefferson
to the gladiator ring?

- No, not Schibetta.

I've been asking around.

Looks like Joey D'Angelo
was roguing.

Ever since Ortolani croaked

D'Angelo's been
wanting to move up,

but the old man's been slow,

so D'Angelo
took it on himself

to off Jefferson
just to impress the old man.

- That fuckin' mook,
D'Angelo?

If D'Angelo got Jefferson
the death penalty,

we gotta execute that mother--
- Shut up.

- I swear to g--

- Look, you fellows
do what you gotta do,

but with all the shit that's
been goin' on around here,

if you whack D'Angelo,

Glynn's gonna lock us down
for good.

- So what are we
supposed to do?

- You two work
in the kitchen, right?

- D'Angelo works
in the kitchen.

Maybe he has
a little accident.

- Yeah, yeah, I like that.
- Yeah, yeah.

And why you so hot on justice
for Jefferson now, white boy?

Hmm?

- 'Cause Jefferson took care
of Ortolani for me.

I owe him.

- Good morning.

I'm Carlton Auerbach...
- Who?

- And, as you know,
Sister Peter--

Sister Peter Marie
is not around,

so the--the warden asked me
to pinch hit.

- We want Sister Pete.
- [clears throat]

She's not here.
So, uh, today we're gonna be--

- Shut the fuck up!

[laughter]
- Thank you.

Today we're gonna talk
about anger management.

Controlling the savage beast
inside you.

[all grunting]

- You fuck!

- Fuck!

[screams]

[knocks]
- Mr. Schibetta...

Can I come in?

I heard what happened
to Joey.

Steam pipe bursts,
knocks him backward,

hits him in the head.

Is he okay?
- He's unconscious.

He'll be laid up
for a while.

- I don't mean
to be reaching,

but if you ever need
an extra hand,

I mean, come one.

I-I-I took care of
Jefferson Keane for you.

He's going to die and both
our hands are clean.

- One of my best buddies
in the army

was Donny O'Reily,

Irish guy...

From Howard Beach.

Tough little fucker didn't
take any bullshit from anybody,

including the sergeant.

He loved women,

he loved boats.

He loved
women on boats.

He loved vodka.

He loved women
who drank vodka on boats.

Who knows?

Maybe we can
do some business.

- Okay.

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[machines beeping]

- Poor son-of-a-bitch.

- [laughs]
Yo, padre.

- How you doing?
- How's my baby.

- He's not doing
so good, Miguel.

He's not getting
any better.

- Shit!

- The doctors...

they're thinking of taking him
off the life support.

- What do you mean,
pull the plug?

No, no, no, no.

- Maritza thinks it's
the best thing, too.

- No, Maritza's sweet.
She gonna listen

to anything
anybody tells her to.

I don't want them
to kill my baby.

- They're not killing
the baby, Miguel.

The machine's are the only
thing keeping the baby alive.

If they turn the machines off,
then the baby can have

a natural death.
- I want to speak to Maritza.

I want to see my baby
right now.

- You can't see Maritza.
You can't see the baby.

They're not even gonna
let you make a phone call.

They're gonna start a
psychiatric evaluation of you.

- They think I'm a bug?

- You cut yourself all up!

- So?

I did it for the baby.

- What do you mean you
"did it for the baby"?

- You tellin' me I gave
the baby life, right?

That he's my responsibility.

Well, the baby being sick,

you know,
I don't know what to do.

I ain't a fucking doctor.

- And slashing your face
did what, huh?

- That's between me and god.

- Oh, Miguel, you tell
the shrink that

and you're gonna be in here
till you're 90-years-old.

- You gotta help me.

You gotta get me
out of here.

You gotta help me
see my baby.

You gotta tell them
not to kill it.

You gotta--
you gotta let me see my baby!

You gotta tell them
not to kill it!

I wanna see my baby!

- You see, I got Alvarez
on the road to redemption.

I got him to start caring,

and I guess that's
tearing him up inside.

- The doctor at
the neonatal unit says that

keeping the baby alive is
actually cruel at this point.

- I'm just trying
to catch up here, all right?

I've had one meeting
with Alvarez.

He sort of just
whined about his kid.

- See, all I want is--
I just want him released

so that I can take him
to the hospital,

because I think that
when he sees the condition

that the baby's in,
he will understand why

they're going to take
the life support away.

- I need more time.

- We don't have time.

They want to turn
the machines off tomorrow.

- Tomor--
forget it.

- Okay.

I don't need his permission,
you know.

- Well, yeah, but you're not--

you're gonna take this
responsibility on yourself?

- Absolutely.

[buzzer sounds]

[angelic choir singing]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[flatline]

- You know...
[clears throat]

I appreciate everything
you've done for me...

Especially, like, you know,
with the baby and all.

Um--I mean, I--

you know, I guess sometimes

that's the way things go,
you know.

I mean, things just
work out like that.

You're right.

You know, I feel--
I feel better about myself.

I mean, I never thought that

I'd--I'd love a baby
with all my heart.

And I--you know,

never loved anything before
in my life,

so it's like it, like,
opened up,

like, a whole--whole new me.

[laughs softly]

That's--that's important, right?

Figuring out who you are,

you know, and--and...

about--about yourself.

So, you know,
I know now.

- Well, I'm real glad.

- Well, you know,
I owe it all to you.

- Well, I gotta go.

- Hey father...

where was God
when my son died?

Same place he was
when his own son died.

- It's looking pretty good.

- I feel good.

- Well, the remaining
kidney's functioning fine.

The rest of you
is pretty healthy,

so this afternoon I'll have you
transferred back to...

- Death row.

You can say it, Doctor.

- Keane,
you have a visitor.

- Hey, Pop.

[both laugh softly]

How's Grace?

- Doctor says she recuperating

faster than expected.

That's some rocking kidney
you gave her.

[laughs]

- So how you doing?

- I'm still a little turned
around by all this publicity.

You know?

Having a microphone
shoved in my face

every time I leave the house.

We've been getting lots of
letters and cards,

mostly nice.
[chuckles]

One guy from Iowa,
he sent $100 cash.

Your Aunt Tilly said that
I had to send it back.

- Did you?
- [laughs]

- No fucking way.

[both laugh]

- Dad, um...

I need for you
to do something for me.

- Well, anything, son.
Come on now, you know that.

- I need for you
to talk to Billie.

- He's turned into a fag.

- Dad, you don't know
what it's like in here.

You don't know
the things they do to you.

The loneliness.

Talk to him.

- I raised you three
all alone.

Now your sister, she's--
[chuckles]

she's gonna make something
with her life,

especially with
what you done for her,

but when he leaves...

[scoffs]
What's Billie ever gonna be?

- Your son,
my brother, forever.

- Okay, time's up.

- [quietly]
Hey, man...

- It's rare when you
say good-bye to someone

that you know
it's the last time.

You could try to say
whatever it is

you should have
said before.

Or you can just
hold on tight.

Just hold on hoping the moment
will last you a lifetime.

♪ ♪

- Shit!

[strains, gasps]

- You all right?

- Jefferson...

Was my oldest...

So he always had
a special place.

A man...

shouldn't live
to see his own son die.

- Hey, I-I brought you
some tea.

- You brought me some tea?

Why?

- Well, it's herbal.

Maybe you don't want it.

- Hey,
just so happens I'm out.

Thanks.

So...
- So...

- Why are you here, McManus?

I mean, what do you want?

- I don't know.

I just, uh...

I just wanted to tell you...

that I'm sorry you're gonna die.

And...

- You'd like my forgiveness?

Well, whatever
you think you've done...

I forgive you.

- Ooh.

- Did you get
Kareem Said's test results?

- Um...oh, that feels so good.

So far, everything's fine.

I'm just waiting
for the MRI results.

Oh good.
You wanna go to dinner tonight?

- I can't.

- Why not?

- I'm witnessing
Keane's execution.

- What?

- Yeah, I told you.

- What?
You didn't tell me.

Oh, man, you didn't tell me.
- Yes, I did.

- Gloria, this is not something
I would forget, believe me.

Christ!

- Look, what is the big deal?
- [exhales]

- I'm only prescribing
the drugs, declaring the death.

It's not like I'm sticking
the I.V. in his arms.

- Gloria...Gloria, doctors are
supposed to be healers.

You're supposed
to help keep people alive.

You're not supposed
to kill them.

- You really see this
as a killing.

- I don't want you doing this.

- You what?
- I don't want you doing this!

- Look, Tim,
we've only been going out

for a couple of weeks, okay,
where do you get off

telling me what I can
and can't do?

- Don't--wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait.

- Don't grab me.

[sighs]

You better take
some time off, Tim.

You've been around
this prison so much

you're starting
to act like them.

[crowd yelling]

- Hey, lady!

[both shouting indistinctly]

- Thanks.

Is the governor here yet?

- No, I haven't seen him.

But a pro-death penalty marcher

just took a swing
at Sister Pete.

- Is she okay?

- Good aim.

She just kicked him
in the balls.

I take it you're not
gonna watch the execution.

- How about you?

- Uh-uh.

Can't stand
watching flowers die,

let alone
another human being.

Closest I ever came was Bambi.

- "Bambi"?
- Yeah.

My ex was a big hunter.

He was always going off
with his buddies,

so I said to him
one time "take me".

After some complaining,
he did.

So I got out there
in the forest

with this, uh...
[chuckles]

This big hunky shotgun

and I fired at a deer.

Hit it dead-on.

So I went over to this thing

and I leaned down and...

This deer looked up at me
with these eyes,

these eyes like flashlights.

I knelt beside it
and I held its head

and I whispered,
"I'm sorry".

Then like batteries going bad,
the light in his eyes

flickered a little bit

and, uh...

went out.

For the next two years
that we were married,

every time I walked
into the den,

I had to stare at that
fucking deer's dead eyes.

I had to dust them.

When we got divorced,
that's all I asked for,

the deer's head...

and I buried it.

- That's how I feel tonight.

- What do you mean?

- Like my head's hanging
on somebody's wall.

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

You wanna have dinner?

- Sure.

- Hey...

- Yeah?

- How you doing?

- Okay.
You?

- Not bad for a man
about to die.

- Yeah, you go tonight, huh?

- Yeah, you?

- Next Thursday,

but I'm in appeal.

- You ever see that old movie?

With--with that old actress--
what's her name?

Susan Hayward?

- Which movie?

- I don't know.
It's called, um,

"She's Gotta Live"
or something like that,

she's on death row,
waiting to be fried or gassed

or whatever they used to do
back in the day.

Only thing, her attorney has
applied for some reprieve,

so she just waits
and the clock keeps ticking,

waiting for that call
from the governor.

- Yeah...

And at the last possible minute,
he calls, huh?

- Well, you know,
now that I think about it,

I think she fries.

- I need to ask some questions.

What do you want done
with your property?

- Um...

give it to my dad.

- And the money
in your trust account?

- To my brother and sister.

- Will your family
be claiming your body?

- Yeah.

- Who are your witnesses?

- My dad and
the Minister Said.

- [sighs]

You sure you should see this?

- Yeah.

Tizi and I have come
on a long journey together.

I'm not going to turn
my back on him now.

- [clears throat]
Okay...

let's do it.

Officer.

- "Death is the supreme
moment of truth," my brother.

So sayeth the Prophet.

- Praise be unto him.

- And peace be unto you.

- Minister, they took my corfi.

I don't wanna die out
without my corfi.

- You take mine.

[both speaking foreign language]

- Over 3000 men and women are
sitting on death row right now.

♪ ♪

Congress has denied
state inmates

access to federal courts.

Congress has also
eliminated financing

to law offices
for death row appeals.

The states themselves are
shortening the appeals process.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Lay down.

- In this country,
there's now one execution

every single week.

There were more
executions this year

than any time since the '50s.

And we know how righteous
the 50s were.

- You can make
any statement you'd like.

- I want my family to know,

that I love them.

And I believe that
this punishes them

more than it punishes me.

I'm so sorry

for the three murders
that I did.

And I wish,
by killing me today,

you could bring them back.

My time on this Earth

has been far too short.

Maybe too short
to get it all done right.

So...

I'm ready
to move on.

♪ ♪

All praise...

to Allah.

All praise.

- [gasps and shudders]

- Governor?
- Justice has been served.

- [grunting]

- L'Italien...

The Supreme Court refused
to hear your appeal.

- Rehnquist is fag.

- Be that as it may,

your execution is
scheduled for tomorrow.

Prisoner number 9-7-L-6-4-1
Richard L'Italien,

convicted April 3rd, '97,
murder in the first degree.

Sentence: death.

- Tomorrow?

Well, my schedule's clear.

Okay.

Hey, warden, there's something
I want to tell you.

Something I never told anybody.

I suffocated Jennifer Miller.

- Yeah, I know.

That's why you're gonna die.

- I also suffocated
Dorothy Payne.

- Who?

- Dorothy Payne.

She waitressed
up in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

- You confessing another murder?

- Uh-huh.

- I'll notify
the proper authorities.

- Wait.

I also suffocated

Ethel Peterson
and Gertrude Victor...

And Mary Rapp

and Christina Trudell

and Eleanor Hughes,

Wilma Lomax,
Lisa Masters,

And Lorraine McCarthy,

and Betty Case,

and Irene Martin,

and Amelia Nugent,
Elizabeth Phelps,

and Lucille Upton,

and Esther Voght.

[chuckles]
What I did.

- Richard L'Italien confessed
to 39 murders,

all young women.
He suffocated them all.

- If the governor
had his way,

he would execute L'Italien
39 times.

- I have to get over there.

- Ray, listen...

how can you
go along with this?

You're as much against
the death penalty as I am.

- Of course I am, Pete.

I don't know.

Maybe if anyone
deserves to die,

Richard L'Italien
deserves to die.

Maybe the world will,
what?

Breathe a little easier
once he's gone.

My job is not
to make judgments.

My job is to be
by his side.

My place...

is with him.

If he needs me.

[whispers]
Pray for him, Mary.

That's for him.

That's for all of them.

- Have you ever had
bull's balls, Father?

- No, sir, I can't
say that I have.

- Well, they serve them
every year

at the Bohemian Grove.

- What's that,
that's a restaurant?

- Oh, man, you never
heard of Bohemian Grove?

[laughs]
It's a retreat

in San Francisco.

You know,
for investment brokers,

bankers, politicians,
intellectuals.

I'm amazed you're
not hip to it.

Of course,
I grew up in the Bay Area,

so we always knew
when it was happening.

Even as a kid,
I always wanted to go, you know.

Wow.

Wouldn't that be something?

Swimming the Russian River
with some Secretary of State,

pissing on a redwood
next to Donald Trump.

[laughs]

I mean,
these guys are the elite,

men of power.

Men!
[grunts]

[sighs]

Women were excluded,

but the
Supreme-fucking-Court

forced the Bohemian
to let the "coozes" in.

Can you believe that shit?

Once they were in,

I wanted nothing to do with it.
I was done.

- But who knows the women
you would have met.

- Not the kind of woman
I'd want to fuck.

- There's a big
difference between

wanting to fuck a woman
and wanting to kill her.

- Is there?

Have you ever been laid, Father?

- No.

- Then what would
you know about pussy?

And what would
you know about...

[clears throat]
Anything?

- All I know is that
once upon a time,

you wanted to walk in the woods
with important people

and now, instead,

you're here.

- I'm here because

I love women.

I love every woman I see.

Tall ones,
thin ones, fatties...

It's true.

You know, I once worked
a circus one summer,

and I fucked the dwarf
while the fat lady watched us.

Mm-hmm.

I fucked trailer park trash
in West Virginia,

I fucked rich girls up the ass,
in Aspen,

I fucked PhDs, retards...

You know, once I fucked an
amputee with both legs missing.

- Fucking them isn't the same
as loving them.

- You sound just like
a shrink I had once in juvie.

She tried to tell me
that I hated women.

[chuckles]
I showed her.

- You fucked her.

- And her daughter.

Then I snuffed 'em both.

- If you love women so much,

why do you kill them?

Because...

when you love someone,
they own you,

they possess you!

[clears throat]
I will not be possessed.

- I'm here to give you
absolution for your sins.

Do you wish to be absolved?

- Fuck, yes!
[clears throat]

Shit!

You know, they told me
I could order anything I wanted

as my last meal.
[chuckles]

I shoulda ordered
bull's balls!

I'm really not ready for this.

Oh, man.

- First the inmate's
given sodium pentathol,

the same anesthetic used
in hospitals for major surgery.

Then a massive dose
of pancuronium bromide.

That paralyzes the diaphragm.

Then potassuim chloride
to stop the heart.

- [groans]

[exhales]

- Don't try this at home, kids.

- It's finished.

- Ah, hello.

- Hello.

- Christ was executed,
you know...

And if he hadn't been,

the world would be
a very different place.

- A better place?

- I didn't say that.

I want my job back.

- Okay.

- I don't have to beg?

- If it'll make you
feel better, beg.

- I just want you to know
I still disagree with you

on the death penalty.

- Even for a cyst
like L'Italien?

- Oh, Leo,
"thou shalt not kill."

The Bible makes
that pretty clear.

You cannot take
a human life for any reason.

- Yeah, but the bible also says,

"an eye for an eye,"

which says to me that

if you kill, you die.

Seems to me god's talking
out both sides of his mouth.

Maybe he's as confused about the
death penalty as the rest of us.

All I know for sure is...

No one's going to claim
L'Italien's body,

so we're going to stick him
in a cheap pine box,

stamp an ID number on the lid

and throw him in a hole
at Potter's Field.

There he'll be...

with no one to grieve for him.

- I grieve for him.

- Yeah I know.

That's why I love you.

That's why I'm glad you're back.

- There's this brother
on death row somewheres.

He checked in when he was 16.

He sat there another 16 years

while the courts and lawyers
argued about this and that.

While he waited,
he painted a mural on his wall.

For all those years,
he painted,

not letting a soul see
what he was up to.

Finally, when he was 32
and had spent more life

on death row
than in his momma's house,

all his appeals were exhausted.

He was about to die.

As he was about to be led out
for the final time,

he finally unveiled
his masterpiece.

All there was were six words.

"Death is certain
life is not."

The next day,
the hacks painted over it.

Peace out.

[tense jazzy music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪