Original subtitles

[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]