NARRATOR: In the criminal justice system
the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups,
the police who investigate crime
and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
Yeah, I get a pain. Only when I do my jump shot dunk,
bang, and that's when I start feeling pain.
Another guy, he makes the shots for me.
All I'm saying is...
Jamal, Jamal!
Yeah? Get her car.
Oh, no, Frank is getting it, man. Frank is gonna get it.
So, listen, you think I should work it off, you know...
You know, I'm really not that kind of a doctor.
I could recommend somebody to see you. Call my office, okay?
MAN: Hey, don't block it in, all right?
Thanks.
Big help, you know what I'm saying?
She gonna pay the bill, too, man?
You get cars here, Jamal, not Medicare!
Oliver, you saying I can't talk to customers...
No... now and then? Come on, man.
What, you making up rules on me, Oliver?
(sun FIRING)
(THUD)
(CAR HORN BLARING)
What is it? What's going on?
What happened? Don't touch this, man.
Two 9 millimeter shell casings.
One here, one there.
And one slug is in that Toyota,
and the other one blew through her head.
Okay, so the shooter was standing where, about here?
Car comes around the corner, bang, bang.
And then he's out that door.
Anyone see anything outside?
Yeah, everybody saw a lot of people. Midtown, noon.
But nobody running, nobody waving a gun.
Well, this guy just walked away.
This looks like a hit.
What, on a nice lady doctor?
Look at this.
BRISCOE: A nice lady doctor wearing a bullet-proof vest.
I didn't realize the health care debate was so heated.
It was for her.
"Wanted, Dr. Eileen Reed, abortionist, for mass murder. Reward."
Reward?
"God's eternal grace."
Holy Mother.
Two doctors shot dead in Florida.
And one in Buffalo six weeks ago.
Those are just out-of-town tryouts. Now the show's in New York.
The Florida shooters were picked up at the scene.
So was the guy in Buffalo.
Harold Malcolm.
He was standing over the body handing out leaflets.
Well, there's a lot more where those three came from.
Before we start sorting through the nuts,
are we sure this doctor's murder is related to her line of work?
Well, the wanted poster is kind of a hint.
The wanted poster didn't pull the trigger.
Our lives will be a lot easier
if she was killed over a love triangle or a gambling debt.
We'll go see the husband.
Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll confess.
I met Eileen in medical school
during a pediatrics rotation.
Even then, she was working six hours a week at a free clinic.
Dr. Reed,
did your wife ever have any trouble with any of her patients or colleagues?
No. And the two of you?
Any marital problems?
I loved her. She loved me.
We just started trying to have children.
Is there some reason you're avoiding the obvious?
Eileen didn't need to get involved,
but she believed that all women deserve good medical care,
so she performed abortions two afternoons a week at a women's clinic.
That's where she was going when she got shot?
That's why she was wearing a bullet-proof vest.
The clinic is surrounded by zealots.
The doctors working there get death threats all the time.
Like the one she had in her purse.
That was a mild one.
She was gonna send it to the police. They send them all to the police
so that maybe you can find these people before they...
The paper's long grain, twenty pound bond.
Only a few billion sheets a year sold in this country.
Any fingerprints? Yours.
And the victim's.
It's a photocopy,
from a machine with some dirt on the drum. See these specks?
If you get me the machine and it hasn't been serviced,
I can maybe do a positive I.D. Oh, great.
We'll organize a line-up of Xerox machines.
Well, what about other threats that she got?
These arrived at the clinic over the last six months.
Any particular one you want me to look at?
Well...
Maybe we'll just go there in person and see who's been delivering their messages.
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
MAN: Don't kill that baby!
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
Those are the regulars.
And that's Mark Bryant.
KATHERINE: He's the pain-in-the-ass in chief.
This guy, Bryant, he's a photographer?
Faces and license plates.
He tries to get everybody coming in
so he can track them down and counsel them,
which means harass them.
LOGAN: You telling me Dr. Reed had to go through this
every time she showed up?
We do what we can to protect the doctors.
We never even release their names.
But Bryant, was he here when she was here?
Bryant is always here.
BRYANT: If your wives are in there, drag them out!
Be a man. Protect your children.
We're the police, Mr. Bryant. Good.
They're committing murder in there. Do your duty.
Yeah, well, we're investigating the murder of Dr. Eileen Reed.
And you're looking at us?
Hey, you people aren't exactly handing out bouquets to these doctors.
Listen, yesterday I had twice as many rescuers here.
Every time someone fires a shot in our name,
it smears us and reduces our numbers.
Well, sure, nobody wants to get in the way of a stray bullet.
Nobody wants to be associated with killing.
We're here to prevent killing.
Do you know what's going on in there?
Hey, what's going on in there is legal.
We got a dead 35-year-old woman on our hands.
And we mourn her. Violence begets violence.
We want it all to stop.
Hey, Bryant, how's your hobby?
You get any good pictures of Dr. Reed?
Several.
But I didn't know her name until I saw it on the news.
Well, they make a lot of noise on the sidewalks
and try to convince the women going in to change their minds.
Then they refer them to a pro-life pregnancy crisis center.
Pro-life?
You ever notice how some people's concern for life stops at birth?
They want those babies to come out.
After that, they don't give a damn what happens to them.
Well, they seem to give a damn about what happened to Dr. Reed.
Their official policy is anti-murder.
Apparently while the doctor was across town getting shot,
Bryant and his people were waiting for her at the clinic.
All of his people?
BRISCOE: Hey, they claim they didn't even know her name.
Whoever shot her knew her name, her address, and her office hours.
Well, the clinic kept that information secret.
Her private patients knew where to find her.
Her patients are calling.
Half of them are about to give birth.
The insurance companies are driving me crazy.
Did Dr. Reed perform abortions here?
A few.
Most of her patients wanted to be pregnant.
Did she have any new patients the last few weeks?
YVONNE: She wasn't taking any.
But there was one.
Laura Lee.
She called a few days before, said she'd seen the doctor at the clinic.
BRISCOE: What, she had complications?
It was only a consultation.
She wanted the follow-up here.
She asked for the last appointment, whenever that was.
That would be right before Dr. Reed left for the clinic.
Yes, but she didn't show up.
BRISCOE: You have her number? Here.
You got anything else on her?
The clinic sent over her paperwork.
Dial-A-Prayer.
We're gonna keep this, okay?
Laura Lee. Initials L-L.
Like one of Superman's girlfriends.
He won't be dating her. She doesn't exist.
Oh, Lois Lane does?
(CHUCKLES)
Have you got prints on those forms, or what?
A lovely set belonging to one Ms. Nancy Gunther.
Arrested four months ago in Schenectady for trespassing.
Trespassing?
Sitting in at a Planned Parenthood clinic.
You see, Miss Gunther, you being such a pro-life activist and all,
we're wondering why you showed up at a clinic
asking about ending your pregnancy.
I never said I wanted to do that.
You never said your real name, either.
A lot of people give false names. It's very personal.
You gave a false name, but you picked up a real one. Eileen Reed.
The only people they tell the doctors' names to are the patients.
Yeah, you called and made an appointment with her, but you never showed up.
I changed my mind. I'm keeping my baby.
You were always gonna keep it, weren't you?
You asked for the last appointment of the day
so you'd know exactly when she was leaving the office.
Who'd you tell, Nancy?
If you told the shooter, that's conspiracy to murder.
You better help us out, Nancy,
or you're gonna be raising your baby in a cell block at Bedford Hills.
If that's God's will.
She's got nothing to say. She asked for a lawyer.
Hey, let's arrest her for murder. That might motivate her.
There's not enough to hold her.
Her lawyer will say the missed appointment's a coincidence.
Oh, how's this for a coincidence?
That protest in Schenectady where she was arrested,
27 people were taken in,
including her and Harold Malcolm.
What, the guy who shot the doctor in Buffalo?
Yeah, two months later.
The protest was led by a Drew Seeley of Manhattan.
Oh, boy, this one's a real nut.
Defrocked priest. Listen to this.
The Diocese of Schenectady has a restraining order on this guy.
He can't come within 100 yards of any of their churches.
Well, maybe he'll think confession's still good for the soul.
Oh, yes, I know Nancy. She's a fine Christian woman.
And you know Harold Malcolm, too?
I've prayed with him often.
Yeah, well, the reason we're here is that some of your people
have been doing un-Christian things.
What do you mean?
Well, Malcolm blasted a doctor with a shotgun in Buffalo.
We think Nancy Gunther might be involved in the murder of a doctor in Manhattan.
Yes, the abortion doctors.
Four dead.
Isn't that wonderful?
Come in, come in.
Those doctors were committing a holocaust.
And your solution is murder?
What ever happened to turning the other cheek,
loving thine enemy?
I will love my enemy.
But a child in the womb doesn't have that opportunity.
SEELEY: Please.
The Bible commands us... It commands us
to protect the weak and the powerless.
Well, the State of New York commands us not to kill.
I think that's also mentioned in the Bible someplace.
My only goal here is saving lives.
You tell your followers to shoot doctors?
They draw their own conclusions. They don't need me.
You happen to know who drew a conclusion to shoot Dr. Reed?
No, I don't.
Or who talked to Nancy Gunther lately?
Nancy.
Nancy gathered some information on Dr. Reed for me.
I wanted the doctor's name and address to try to persuade her to stop.
Persuade her how?
Well, I tried to call her and I sent her some literature.
A "Wanted" poster. Yes. That was mine.
So you think that calling her a criminal is going to persuade her?
Well, nothing else had.
Where were you around noon on Tuesday?
Well, I was at a conference of the Council on Choice.
He was here, all right, throwing fake blood on the speakers.
We filed a complaint.
I take it you don't see eye-to-eye with Seeley.
He thinks I should be murdered
because I advocate reproductive freedom for women.
I think he should be in jail.
For advocating murder?
If all he does is talk about it, there isn't anything we can do.
You got anything more specific?
He used to wave signs and sit in.
Now he incites his followers to kill people.
Because of people like him,
in 85% of the counties in the United States,
there's not a single doctor willing to perform abortions.
Well, don't some doctors just prefer not to?
Yeah.
And a lot of doctors prefer not getting shot in the head.
If you believe this crap of Seeley's,
you can understand why the guy pulled the trigger.
That's the problem with fanatics.
You get their followers in the right frame of mind,
the next thing you know, they're chugging Kool-Aid.
I've got Drew Seeley's arrest reports.
When he went from sitting in to inciting murders,
I bet he lost a lot of supporters.
Right, we'll look and see who used to get busted
at Seeley's sit-ins and who doesn't anymore.
You know why America had a recession, detective?
Something to do with interest rates?
And crime, drought, earthquakes.
Father Seeley says we're being punished for our sins.
If we don't get right with the Lord, the United States may cease to exist.
Well, Seeley's not a Father anymore.
To me, he is. The man's a prophet.
Well, how come you're not still out there with him?
I would be, but my husband got sick.
I have to run the store.
I marched against the war in Vietnam
and against the nuclear arms race.
Now I march for life.
I didn't think there was much crossover between those movements.
It's all about respect for human life.
Seems pretty clear to me.
Is that why you stopped marching with Seeley?
Abortion doctors are a form of human life.
Seeley and I parted ways on that point.
Can you think of anybody who might have taken Seeley's advice
a little too seriously?
And shot that doctor?
Believe me, if I knew, I'd tell you.
Now, excuse me. I have a customer waiting.
Well, either they're still in love with Seeley, or they haven't got a clue.
Who's next?
Randall Jenkins, 432 Canal Street.
Oh, good. Then we can eat Chinese.
Randall doesn't live here anymore.
LOGAN: But he is your husband?
We're getting divorced.
Oh. Do you know where we can find him?
We really don't keep in touch much.
Do you know why he stopped hanging out with Drew Seeley?
He didn't.
He still sends me literature about saving my soul.
Is there a return address on the literature?
I didn't check.
Look, we... We just had some problems.
If you see him, don't even say you saw me, all right?
She's scared of the guy.
He still follows Seeley, but he stopped getting busted at the protests.
Randall Jenkins.
Eight months ago he burst into a women's clinic on Long Island
and started roughing people up.
He was arrested for assault and sentenced to probation.
Right. So he gets arrested again, even for trespassing,
he goes straight to the joint.
And he's not afraid of getting physical.
Well, maybe he needed to stay out of jail to do something more important
like kill a doctor.
From Jenkins' probation officer.
His new address and place of employment.
Hey, Silkowitzl It's not insured.
I don't expect them to be geniuses.
Keep the mustard out of the ketchup
and don't bang the carts into walls.
Plus, they have to master the recipe of boiling hot dogs, right?
Right.
We're looking for a guy named Randall Jenkins. Is he back yet?
Jenkins.
He fills his cart half with dogs, half with pamphlets.
Now I got the only pro-life frankfurters on the West Side.
So where is he?
He took Tuesday off. Never did come back.
Tuesday. Let's get a warrant.
What are you doing? Come on, just open it.
He is not dangerous, is he?
Dangerous? You got the whole police department here.
Just tell him you gotta fix the radiator. Come on.
(KNOCKING)
Mr. Jenkins!
Whoa, whoa, whoa. All right? Thanks.
"Blood pollutes the land,"
"and no expiation can be made except by the blood of him who hath shed it."
Numbers 35.
Yeah, Old Testament. Blood and guts.
(PAGER BEEPING)
Van Buren.
BRISCOE: Yeah, it's Briscoe.
He's got Jenkins?
Okay.
Seeley called. Van Buren wants us to go pay him a visit.
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. It's a 9 millimeter.
Looks like he called the networks before he called us.
I hate this.
Yes, of course we pray for the soul of Eileen Reed,
as we pray for the souls of those children she murdered.
Here comes Caesar's policemen now.
I really hate this.
Let's just try to do it fast.
All right, excuse us. Police. Excuse me.
Mr. Randall Jenkins, gentlemen.
The most righteous man you'll ever arrest.
In the eyes of God, I declare I shot Dr. Reed.
You're kidding.
JOURNALIST: Mr. Jenkins.
Jenkins, you're under arrest for the murder of Eileen Reed.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used... I am right with God.
Nothing else matters.
You have the right to an attorney.
"Docket number 6-5-4-7-4."
"People v. Randall Jenkins."
"The charge is murder in second degree."
(GAVEL BANGING)
The bailiff will eject anyone from this courtroom
who thinks his opinion should compete with mine.
Do we have a plea?
I committed no crime in the eyes of the Lord.
I'll call that a "not guilty."
Ms. Kincaid?
Other physicians' lives are at risk
if Mr. Jenkins is allowed bail, Your Honor.
It's babies who are at risk.
Mr. Jenkins surrendered as soon as he became a suspect, Your Honor.
He's not likely to flee now.
Flight's not what I'm worried about, counselor.
On behalf of the babies who grow up to be doctors,
bail is denied.
A trial seems like a waste of the taxpayers' money.
We've got the gun, your client's confessed.
Are you so afraid to confront Biblical law in a courtroom?
What is he doing here?
Mr. Jenkins has asked Father Seeley
to be in attendance as his spiritual advisor.
Well, in your capacity as his legal advisor,
would please tell his spiritual advisor
that Mr. Jenkins has a 100% chance of being convicted?
And you can drop the honorific. He's no longer a priest.
Our defense will be justification.
Justification?
That was laughed out of court in Florida.
Maybe New York judges are more sophisticated.
You're getting lousy advice from both heaven and earth here, Mr. Jenkins.
If you go to trial and lose,
you'll draw a maximum sentence.
"Then Peter and the other Apostles answered,
"'We ought to obey God rather than men."'
He'd do better pleading insanity.
It's Seeley sitting there pulling the strings.
All we know that he actually does is congratulate the murderers.
We ought to be looking at him for conspiracy.
Oh, you want to revoke his right to free speech?
He's trying to revoke a woman's Constitutional right to choose.
Oh, so two wrongs make a right?
Is that what they taught you in Harvard Law School?
Maybe we'd be better off sticking to the case at hand.
Case? What case?
Justification can only be claimed
if the killer reasonably believes they're protecting a human life
from imminent deadly force.
So Jenkins will claim that he was protecting human lives
from being terminated by Eileen Reed when she got to the clinic.
First trimester embryos.
He'll be flying in the face of statute and case law.
And his attorney will say
that all that matters is what Randall Jenkins reasonably believed.
ADAM: Nope.
What matters now is what Judge Newfield believes.
JACK: Justifiable force can only be claimed in defense of a person, Your Honor.
Under New York law, a fetus is not a person.
That definition is explicitly limited to the homicide statute.
Fine. If there was no threat of homicide, then Mr. Jenkins had no justification.
In the matter of Danielle Smith, Your Honor.
A court in this state ruled that
an unborn child is a person for the purpose of being protected from abuse
by its mother's drinking during her pregnancy.
The context is very similar to the present case.
That mother's actions were irresponsible.
Dr. Reed's actions were protected by the United States Constitution.
Mr. Jenkins has to show he reasonably believed
the fetuses he was protecting from Dr. Reed are persons.
This decision makes that view seem
very reasonable.
Mr. Jenkins cannot reasonably believe
that a fetus is a person in the context of abortion
when the Supreme Court has ruled that it isn't.
Don't you ever disagree with the Supreme Court, Mr. McCoy?
(SCOFFS)
NEWFIELD: The reasonableness of Mr. Jenkins' views
is a question of fact, not of the law.
I'll let it go to the jury.
If, in the course of the trial,
the defense satisfies its obligation
to establish the other statutory requirements of justification.
Judge Newfield's playing politics.
He's courting the pro-life vote.
Maybe he's just pro-life.
Jack, you say that like he's pro vanilla ice cream.
Claire, if we make this trial about feminism,
we'll be taking the bait and arguing the wrong issues.
Eileen Reed died
because she was protecting a woman's legal right to choose.
Eileen Reed died
because Randall Jenkins put a bullet in her head.
The bullet entered the skull two centimeters above the left orbit.
It passed through the frontal and parietal lobes
and exited through the occipital skull.
That gunshot was the cause of death?
Yes.
Nothing further.
Have you ever conducted an autopsy on a pregnant woman, Dr. Rogers?
Objection. Beyond the scope of cross.
This witness was called as an expert on life and death.
Dr. Reed's death.
That's quite a narrow medical specialty, isn't it?
I'll allow the question, Mr. Garnett, despite the sarcasm.
Yes, I have conducted autopsies on pregnant women.
GARNETT: Does the fetus always die at the same time as the mother?
Different parts of the body often die at different times.
Have you ever heard the phrase "brain dead"?
That's not what I asked you, Doctor.
Fine. You like this answer better?
I've autopsied gunshot victims where the fetus died first, then the brain,
and the rest of the body's been kept alive on life support for a week.
Your question is moot, sir.
NANCY: Well, I got Dr. Reed's name when I went to that clinic.
I used it to get her address.
It wasn't that hard.
And the information you obtained about her, you gave it to Randall Jenkins?
Well, I gave it to Father Seeley first.
Then Randy asked about it.
I didn't see any harm in telling him.
When you went to the clinic,
pretending you wanted to terminate your pregnancy,
what did Dr. Reed do?
Did Dr. Reed give you an abortion?
I didn't want one.
But Dr. Reed didn't know that.
Did she start preparing to give you one?
No.
Why not?
She said I seemed unsure.
She wanted me to take a few days to make up my mind.
So your pregnancy wasn't in any imminent danger, was it?
No.
When Mr. Jenkins
asked you for Dr. Reed's schedule,
why did you give it to him?
Why not?
I knew Randy.
He devoted his life to the pre-born.
How else did he show his devotion?
NANCY: Randy mailed out letters,
he handed out flyers,
he did sidewalk counseling outside of clinics,
he sat in.
He chained himself to clinic doors so they couldn't be opened.
So, shooting Dr. Reed
wasn't the first thing he did
in his efforts to save the pre-born?
No.
No, he tried non-violence.
It didn't work.
GARNETT: Thank you.
She's not just testifying for him, she's lying for him.
Jenkins was violent at least once before at that clinic on Long Island.
Maybe she didn't know.
He ran amok in an abortion clinic.
That's a badge of honor among these people.
Why wouldn't he tell her?
It might've even helped the defense show
that Jenkins tried other lesser means before resorting to murder.
Find out why he kept it to himself.
They sneak up to the window sometimes.
There'll be a scared college girl waiting for the procedure,
and some creep will be going, "Save a life, don't take one."
I got the impression Randall Jenkins did a lot more than that.
Oh, yeah.
I'd like to find out when he's having a prostate exam
and pull him off the table.
He got into an examining room?
Knocked over two secretaries and a nurse to get there.
He seemed to be after a particular patient.
But none of the patients testified against him.
She was gone by the time the police arrived, and she never came back.
Joan Smith. In the city.
432 Canal Street.
JOANNA: Yes?
Miss Smith?
Or should I say Mrs. Jenkins?
When Randy asked me to marry him, I thought that was what I wanted.
People make mistakes.
They grow.
Randy doesn't grow.
He never changes.
No matter what happens, he stays precisely, exactly the same.
But you changed.
When I found out I was pregnant,
it meant I either had to stay with Randy
or raise the baby by myself.
I don't have any money, I...
It was so hard to decide what to do.
Randy followed you to the clinic?
Yeah.
I ran away.
Two weeks later, I went to a clinic in New Jersey.
I told him I had a miscarriage.
He didn't believe me.
Do you think he told his friends what happened?
How could he?
He's so pro-life.
He tried to make me say where I had it done, but I never would.
Why do you think he wanted to know?
Well, he wanted to get even with them.
Your wife wouldn't tell you who performed the procedure,
so you just shot the first doctor you could find.
She was doing abortions every Tuesday and Thursday.
But you didn't kill her to stop those abortions, Mr. Jenkins,
you killed her for revenge.
Your justification defense just evaporated.
This time it was mine.
I never got to know him.
Why isn't anybody mourning for him?
Give us a few minutes, would you, please?
He could still take the stand and try to talk his way out of it.
Seeley is probably in there writing a new press release.
We're ready.
My client will take a plea. Manslaughter one.
In exchange for what?
The guilty party.
He didn't shoot her?
He shot her.
But someone else tracked her down, gave Mr. Jenkins the gun,
drove him to the garage, pointed out Dr. Reed,
told him to shoot her, then drove him away.
I see.
You promised Jenkins he'd get off, but he won't.
So now you're handing over another fall guy.
That's right, Mr. McCoy.
Me.
Seeley wanted to put abortion on trial,
but Jenkins' revenge motive muddied the waters,
so now Seeley steps up as the ideal defendant.
Didn't he tell the police he had an alibi?
Now he says he caused a ruckus at the pro-choice conference
but slipped away early.
I talked to the conference organizer.
She now says she's not sure what time he left.
So he changes his story because he wants his show trial.
And our organizer lady changes her story
because she wants Seeley in jail.
And is there anyone in town
who is not using this office
for their own personal agenda?
JACK: I'm giving Jenkins his deal.
We try Seeley for murder.
Why? You like being used?
Seeley is more dangerous than a dozen Jenkinses.
Isn't justice served by putting them both behind bars?
For the greater good, huh?
Sounds like one of Seeley's arguments
which you are about to hear most eloquently.
He's representing himself.
Well-meaning people can disagree.
Especially about the most emotionally divisive issue to confront this country
in this century.
Drew Seeley
has an opinion about abortion, too.
He thinks his opinion entitles him to kill people.
He will tell you that he had a good reason to do what he did.
This is what he did.
He hunted down a woman named Eileen Reed.
He handed Randall Jenkins a gun.
He told Randall Jenkins to shoot Eileen Reed in the head,
and he did.
Drew Seeley
is a self-appointed executioner.
If you let him get away with it, you better pray
that people like him don't find some fault with you.
A hundred and fifty years ago, you weren't considered a person.
Or you.
A man named John Brown thought that was wrong,
so he took violent action
to liberate black American slaves.
Well, he was arrested and brought to trial
because slavery was legal.
And the law said... The law said
that slaves were not persons deserving of protection.
He was convicted and he was hanged.
But you know what?
John Brown was right, and the law was wrong.
And now John Brown is considered a hero.
Today abortion is legal.
But I say to you,
that law is wrong.
And like John Brown, I follow...
a higher law.
I ask you
to do the same.
My wife got a call.
The man did not identify himself.
He said he wanted to rip her limbs out of their sockets
just like she did every Tuesday and Thursday.
I call your attention to People's Exhibit Four,
stipulated as originating on Mr. Seeley's Xerox machine.
Do you know how this came into your wife's possession?
Yes.
That was the first one she ever got with her name on it.
A few days before she was killed, it was sent to her private office.
JACK: Did your wife try to keep her name a secret
from people who opposed her activities?
SIMON: Yes.
Some of these people are crazy.
She was always afraid that one of the real nuts would find her.
Thank you.
Dr. Reed, your wife was upset
to receive these calls and letters?
Of course.
SEELEY: But she didn't stop performing abortions, did she?
No.
I told her it wasn't worth it,
but she said she wouldn't allow women
to be deprived of their right of choice
by people threatening her life.
Did you want her to stop?
I wanted her alive.
So we both tried to stop her.
But nothing would make her stop as long as she lived.
JACK: Objection! You son of a bitch!
SEELEY: Nothing further. Mr. Seeley!
Nothing further!
JACK: Please tell us your occupation, Dr. Moran.
I'm an obstetrician, and I frequently write and lecture on medical ethics.
You've also been an advisor to Mr. Seeley, haven't you?
Some of my work has contributed to his opposition to abortion, yes.
Does any of your expertise in this area derive from your own experience?
Yes.
I used to perform them myself
until I awoke to the fact that they are wrong.
When you were still performing them,
would Mr. Seeley have been justified in killing you?
(SIGHS)
Yes.
I was, in effect, committing murder.
In effect?
I was committing murder.
Fine.
Would you please stand up?
Officer, arrest this woman.
Mr. McCoy.
We've just heard a confession of murder, Your Honor.
Officer... I'm not amused, Mr. McCoy!
How many counts of murder should we charge you with, Dr. Moran?
SCARLETTI: Mr. McCoy!
May I remind you that abortion is legal?
Thank you, Your Honor.
"The Lord said unto Jeremiah,"
"I knew you when you were in the womb."
I tried to stop the abortionists
by marching, by sitting in, by threats.
I even called the police to report murders in progress.
They laughed.
And the death camp clinics kept on working.
I did the only thing
that was left for me to do.
I am before you as a servant of God.
I'm ready for your questions.
So, Mr. Seeley,
you believe
that doctors who terminate pregnancies should be killed?
Yes, I do.
JACK: And your reasons for doing this
are grounded in the Bible? SEELEY: Yes.
Do you do everything that the Bible tells you?
I try to.
Well, do you keep slaves?
Ephesians 6:5,
"Slaves, obey your worldly masters with fear and trembling."
No, Mr. McCoy.
The Bible simply recognizes a practice of ancient times.
Without condemning it.
Does the Bible specifically condemn abortion?
No. JACK: No?
So, have you been reading God's mind?
"Rescue the weak and the needy." Psalm 82, Verse 4.
Is that what you do?
Yes, I do.
You don't rescue the weak,
you manipulate the weak to kill people for you.
Randall Jenkins followed God's word
and performed a righteous act.
Did he?
If it was so righteous,
why didn't you do it yourself?
My God-given gift
is to organize and lead. Oh.
When you were drafted in the Vietnam War, did you go?
Yes.
As a non-combatant conscientious objector.
Yes.
So that you wouldn't have to shoot anyone, isn't that correct?
Oh, I would have shot, if necessary, to protect others.
But you didn't do it.
Well, I wasn't called upon.
There were plenty of other men with guns.
And then in the 1970s,
you were active in a campaign against capital punishment?
Capital punishment is revenge.
I killed Dr. Reed to prevent deaths, not to avenge them.
You believe that killing is wrong, don't you, Mr. Seeley?
Of course.
Does the Bible specifically condemn murder?
Yes. "Thou shalt not kill."
That's why I oppose abortion.
And that's also why you don't shoot doctors
who perform abortions.
No.
I just told you,
others do that so that I can stay out of jail and keep the movement alive.
Well, but you're ready to go to jail now.
You never would have been arrested
or brought to trial if you hadn't confessed.
The Lord called me to come forward.
And it's a sin to disobey God, isn't it?
Yes, it is.
Are you a sinner, Mr. Seeley?
I fear that all men are sinners, Mr. McCoy.
And what is your sin?
This is neither the time nor the place.
On the contrary, this is exactly the time and the place.
God calls you to organize murders,
God calls you to take credit for murders,
but God never calls on you to pull the trigger?
Each of us has a role.
You can't do it, can you?
You can't bring yourself to shoot someone,
even though you think God is telling you to do it,
you can't do it.
I put the gun in Randall's hand!
I told him where to point it!
You can't point a gun at another human being,
even an abortion doctor, and pull the trigger,
because in your soul you know it's wrong!
God says it's right!
You don't believe that.
I believe in the Lord my God...
Your defense is a lie!
No, what is a lie is the arrogant belief that what you're doing here
furthers justice! Answer my question, Mr. Seeley.
You are unable to shoot doctors yourself
because in your soul
you know it's wrong.
You took an oath on the Bible to tell the truth here.
We're waiting.
He's badgering me, Your Honor.
I'll instruct him to lower the temperature,
but you still have to answer the question.
We're waiting.
If he doesn't believe his own defense, Your Honor,
there's no way you can send it to the jury.
He's right, Mr. Seeley.
The heart of the justification defense
is what you believe.
If you're not prepared to say you believe this killing was justified,
I cannot let the jury consider the defense.
I believe killing abortionists is moral.
But you won't tell us why you don't pull the trigger yourself.
That is between me and my God!
And me, Mr. Seeley.
If you won't answer the question,
I will order the jury not to consider the justification defense.
That means you have no defense.
If Mr. McCoy is willing to offer you any kind of plea bargain,
I suggest you take it.
Seeley pleaded to murder two.
We made it 20-to-life instead of 25.
One for the books, I tell you.
Make it clear that you can't kill anyone,
and that's what nails him for murder.
It's in his own mind, too.
He felt guilty 'cause he didn't kill the doctors.
Yeah.
He says God wants him to go to prison and minister to souls in chains.
Don't you love it when everybody's happy?