An angry veteran whose son died in Iraq claims extreme emotional disturbance after he is charged with killing a young Iraq War protester he thought was provoking him.An angry veteran whose son died in Iraq claims extreme emotional disturbance after he is charged with killing a young Iraq War protester he thought was provoking him.An angry veteran whose son died in Iraq claims extreme emotional disturbance after he is charged with killing a young Iraq War protester he thought was provoking him.
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- DA Arthur Branch
- (as Fred Dalton Thompson)
- Judge Lisa Pongracic
- (as Charlotte Ortiz Colavin)
- Chuck
- (as Trent Armand Kendall)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAllen v. United States (1896) was a United States Supreme Court case that first approved of a judge giving an instruction to a deadlocked jury for them to reconsider their votes in order to prevent a hung jury. It specifically is used when an overwhelming majority of the jury is in agreement and there are only one or two dissenters. While it isn't requiring the dissenting jurors to change their vote, it is encouraging them to be sure that their vote is based on the facts of the case and the law and not instead on their own personal feelings or beliefs. It also encourages them to consider that if their arguments are not convincing to the majority of their fellow jurors that they be absolutely sure that they truly are convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, of their vote.
After that case such an instruction became known as an Allen charge and was used to prevent a hung jury due to a small minority disagreeing with the majority. Because it is used to dislodge jurors from entrenched positions, the Allen charge is sometimes referred to as the "dynamite charge" or the "hammer charge." Since the ruling was made in the federal Supreme Court, state courts are not required to abide by the ruling. In fact 23 states in the US have laws that prohibit the use of a Allen charge.
- GoofsAs Arthur points out when that type of choke hold is done properly it is rarely fatal, the only time it is fatal is when the person either is improperly trained or the person being subdued has some type of health problem (like cardiac or vascular disease). So it would be difficult for McCoy to prove to a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant had the prerequisite intent to kill when he used a non-lethal method designed to subdue. Therefore it would be a mistake to not allow the jury to consider the charge of manslaughter in the second degree, which would be what the defendant would be guilty of if he indeed did not have the intent to kill.
So the jury should actually be considering convicting on one of three charges, 1: Murder in the second degree if the prosecution is able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had the intent to kill while suffering from no emotional disturbance. 2: Manslaughter in the first degree if the prosecution is able to prove an intent to kill but the defense is able to prove extreme emotional disturbance. 3: Manslaughter in the second degree if the prosecution fails to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had the intent to kill.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Arthur Branch: No surprise the jury hung.
Jack McCoy: I'll try him again.
Arthur Branch: Your problem was too many blue collar jurors. They identified with Kenneth Silva.
Serena Southerlyn: How do you know who the holdouts were?
Arthur Branch: The people who escape jury duty, same people who escape active duty.
It's on that which this Law And Order story turns on. A young man who liked to get in people's faces for whatever cause he believed in is found strangled to death in a unique manner which Jerry Orbach describes as the 'sleeper hold'. The NYPD banned it years ago, but those with military training might know it. That's where Orbach and Jesse Martin go hunting for their perpetrator.
In the end they arrest mail carrier Paul Calderon who was a veteran himself and whose son died in Afghanistan. The victim with whom he had slight and unfriendly history with got in Calderon's face once too often calling his son a murderer.
Calderon has a good lawyer in Joe Morton when he goes to court and Sam Waterston is hard pressed to make a case for sympathy for the victim. The debate over the war in Afghanistan is played out as well as those legal definitions I mentioned before.
I won't reveal the result, but Fred C. Thompson probably was right on the money when characterized the nature of the jury at the very end.
- bkoganbing
- Nov 28, 2015