Original subtitles

Is that all you got?

I was hoping to trade these for some coffee beans.

You hungry?

Yeah.

Get some water.

I'll make lunch.

[birds chirping]

[alarm blaring]

You know what to do, son.

Yes, sir.

Remember...

this is our land.

It's kill or be killed.

[alarm continues blaring]

OFFICER [over bullhorn]: Mr. Schwieger. State Police.

I need you to step outside.

NORMAN: Now.[gunshot]

[glass breaking]

[officer shouting outside]

[gunshot, gun cocking]

Kill or be killed.[gunshot]

So where are we going?

What are we doing?

And who is this wonder of wonders I just have to meet?

What did you call him? A walking anachronism?

Lucas Schwieger, 16.

He never attended school.

He lives a completely sheltered existence

in a cabin with no electricity or running water

in the woods above Sullivan County.

His father, whom he lived with,

described himself as a radical survivalist.

He was, as far as I can tell, the only person

that Lucas had any sustained contact with

during his 16 years of life.

Wow.

A caseworker with Child Protective Services

heard about him, grew concerned, came to pay him a visit...

escorted by the New York State Police.

"Father and son opened fire, killing the caseworker

"and wounding the State Police officer,

who fired back, killing the father."

Ballistics indicate that while Lucas shot the police officer,

wounding him in the leg, he didn't actually kill anyone.

It was the father's gun that did that.

Nonetheless, he's being charged as an adult for murder

as part of a joint venture.

Does he even understand what's going on? The charges?

That they want him to stand trial?

They want to punish him for what happened?

He didn't even understand what an attorney was

until I explained it to him.[sighs]

You know, it's not like he's mentally impaired.

In fact, in the little time I've spent with him,

he seems innately intelligent.

But his only understanding of the world

is what's been taught to him by his father.

Well, obviously, some doctor, somewhere,

deemed him fit to stand trial.[buzzer blares]

You should also know that Lucas did speak

to the police on the record.

He already admitted he shot the officer.

Expressed clear intent.

Insisted he would do it again.[door clanks open]

[door closing]

[handcuffs clicking]

He's a friend.

My name's Dr. Jason Bull.

Dr. Statton wanted me to meet you.

See if I could help you.

Doctor, huh?

I'm not sick.

No. I'm not the doctor that helps sick people.

I'm the doctor that helps people when they get into trouble,

when they have to go to court.

Do you know what court is?

Did Dr. Statton explain about court to you?

Let me start over.

First of all, I'm sorry about your father.

They had better guns.

How about your mom?

Do you ever see her?

Is there any way I could talk to her?

No.

She hung herself.

It was when I was a little kid.

I'm sorry.

Lucas...

...do you understand you could spend

the rest of your life in here, in jail?

And I'm guessing you don't want that. Am I right?

I just want to go home.

And that's what we want to try and make happen.

You all right with that?

I guess so.[lock buzzes, clicks]

All right.

Let me get back to my office, get this started.

I'm sure I'm gonna want to talk to you some more.

In the meantime, is there anything I can bring you?

Anything you miss? Maybe some books?

Well, if you think of anything.

[door closes]

♪

MARISSA: This is Lucas Schwieger. 16 years old.

Charged with murder in the death

of a New York State Children's Services caseworker.

Yeah. We all got Bull's e-mail about this kid.

He can't read. Barely speaks.

Lived with his dad off the grid

his whole life. Oh, and let's not forget

he confessed to the crime.

DANNY: So I'll just say it.

Can we even help this boy?

We've got the surviving police officer's testimony.

Plus the confession.

And this client doesn't seem like he's

in a position to really help his own defense.

TAYLOR: And what kind of narrative?

What kind of story can you tell a jury

that makes it okay to ambush a caseworker and a trooper?

MARISSA: Bull wants to mount

a defense based on persuasive coercion.

Our position will be that, because of Lucas's sheltered

and isolated upbringing, he didn't know what he was doing,

other than following the instructions of,

quite literally, the only person in his life: his father.

Norman Schwieger was delusional

and paranoid and controlling.

He was convinced that humankind was on the verge

of a cataclysmic end and thought the only way to survive

was to live a completely self-sustaining life

away from the scrutiny of other human beings.

And he forced his son to live the same way...

cloistered on their small plot of land,

which they didn't even really own,

which Norman rigged with trip-wired alarms

to warn them of any trespassers.

Okay. I'll ask.

What is persuasive coercion?

Basically, Bull wants to argue for all intents and purposes

that Lucas's father exercised a kind of mind control over him.

Denied the boy a voice

in any decision-making of any kind.

His job was simply to do what he was told.

And as a result, he had no experience choosing

between right and wrong, no experience choosing anything.

The problem is, it's an affirmative defense.

Hi. Zero years of law school here.

Though I did watch a lot of Ally McBealback in the '90s.