The Practice

Target Practice (317)

written by Cindy Lichtman and Alfonso H. Moreno


Part V.
Trees in the Forest
State of Mind
Love and Honor
Lawyers, Reporters and Cockroaches
End Games
Target Practice
Crossfire
Closet Justice
Home Invasions
Infected
Happily Ever After
LUCY: Jimmy, can I get you anything else? Ginger ale's supposed to be good. He's puking.

BOBBY: Jimmy?

JIMMY: Out in a second.

LUCY: Bobby, he can't go into trial sick.

BOBBY: Uh, that just means he's ready. It happens to him on the big cases. He puked before the powerlines case, he puked before going up against Tommy Silva... Those were his best trials.


LAWRENCE: Mrs Kimbrow, you're not alleging any design defect in the guns Pearson Herron manufactures?

MRS KIMBROW: I think any time a gun is designed as an assault weapon there's some kind of defect somewhere.

LAWRENCE: Yes, but this isn't about a safety feature or product -

MRS KIMBROW: No. It's about you putting these things in the hands of killers.


MARSHALL: This thing isn't for self-defence, it isn't to shoot skeet, it isn't to hunt. It's design is to spray fire, which means that you sweep it from side to side. It goes against the way most people shoot in a self defence situation. This is an offensive weapon.

LAWRENCE: Ever heard of survivalists, Mr Marshall?

MARSHALL: Yes, but survivalists -

LAWRENCE: Might a survivalist buy this type of gun?

MARSHALL: He might, but survivalists usually -

LAWRENCE: Ever hear the term 'plinking', Mr Marshall?

MARSHALL: Oh, please. You're not gonna tell me this -

LAWRENCE: Ever heard of plinking, sir?

MARSHALL: Yes.

LAWRENCE: What is it?

MARSHALL: Shooting at cans and bottles.

LAWRENCE: It's a recreational use for the tac-10, isn't it?

MARSHALL: The tac-10 is designed to kill people, not to plink at water bottles!


MS RICHWOOD: Seven bags of marijuana. Frankly, it surprised me, Mr Young, Kendall isn't one of our problem students.

BOBBY: The incident report says that you received a phone tip from a parent, but it doesn't say who the parent was.

MS RICHWOOD: District policy is to keep that kind of information confidential.

EUGENE: What kind of gustapo policy is that?

MS RICHWOOD: I start naming names, and it discourages people from coming forward. I've confiscated two guns this year. Nobody wants to become a target.

EUGENE: I understand your concern, but my son says he was set up, and you relied on a phone tip. Now how do you know the person on the other line was a parent?

MS RICHWOOD: I recognized the name. And I recognize a parent when I hear one.

ELLENOR: We have to know who the accuser is, otherwise -

MS RICHWOOD: I'm sorry -

BOBBY: Miss Richwood, you know we can subpoena this information. Let's just save some time.


HEADBURG: They're in the business of supplying criminals.

LINDSAY: The defendant?

HEADBURG: The defendant, as well as many other major gun manufacturers.

LINDSAY: Mr Headburg, a person can't just walk into a store and buy a gun. There are background checks, waiting periods...

HEADBURG: Yes, that all sounds good, but our studies have found that store buyers go under these dealerships, buy the guns and immediately put them into a black market. That's where the gangs get a hold of them, as well as other people who can't legally buy them on their own.

LINDSAY: But wouldn't that be the dealer's fault? How do you blame the manufacturers?

HEADBURG: I blame them because they turn a blind eye to it, they know where these guns are headed. That, to me, makes them complicit.

LAWRENCE: You have no direct evidence that my client's company knows what the dealerships do?

HEADBURG: How could they not know? These guns are used -

LAWRENCE: It's a guess on your part, right, Mr Headburg? You have no specific information as to what my client knows. This is your opinion.

HEADBURG: The fact is that one buyer with a clean record can walk into a store and buy a hundred assault weapons. My opinion is that he doesn't want all these guns for himself. My guess is that the dealers and the manufacturers take the money and wink.


Kimbrow: One thirty-five?

LINDSAY: No admission of liability. I think we can push them to one fifty.

Mrs Kimbrow: But they don't even admit to blame.

LINDSAY: No. But the fact that they're paying money, people can infer blame.

JIMMY: We think we should accept. The kid who shot your daughter, we've got no evidence as to how he got the gun, whether it was any connection to how it was marketed.

Kimbrow: I'm sorry. Mr Berluti, when you agreed to represent us, you stressed that this was about money. And I know that your contingency is hanging on... What we really want is a verdict.

LINDSAY: I don't think you'll get it.

Kimbrow: I know this seems very selfish of us, but we can't settle out on Lisa's death.

Mrs Kimbrow: What we want to try to do is affect the way these people do business. One hundred and fifty isn't even a pinch to them.

LINDSAY: We're not going to affect the way these people do business, Mrs Kimbrow.


KENDALL: Thay can search it without a warrant?

EUGENE: Don't worry about they. They are the least of your concerns right now. Worry about me. Now why're you selling drugs? Answer me!

SHARON: Eugene.

EUGENE: He's dealing. I can't believe you'd be so stupid -

SHARON: If you would stop yelling at him -

EUGENE: And you stop protecting him.

SHARON: I'm not protecting him. I want to hear what the boy has to say.

KENDALL: I'm sorry, but -

SHARON: But what?

KENDALL: It's just marijuana. It's like selling beer.

EUGENE: Oh, that's a good response. Aren't you glad you heard that?


SHARON: Kendall, do you smoke pot, and drink beer?

KENDALL: No. I just thought I could make some money. I don't do that stuff, I swear.

SHARON: Like you swore those drugs weren't yours.

KENDALL: Technically, they weren't mine. I got 'em on consignment.

EUGENE: What!? How do you know a word like that? And who gave 'em to you? Boy, who gave you the drugs?

KENDALL: He goes by Robby G. I don't know his full name.

EUGENE: Robby G.

SHARON: You know him?

EUGENE: I don't know, maybe.

SHARON: Either you do, or you don't.

EUGENE: He might work for a client of mine, I'm not sure.

SHARON: That's nice. Father and son. Both working for the same guy.


JIMMY: I always make this mistake. I buy a new pair of shoes for trial, they're not broken in, and I get a blister.

LINDSAY: Try mine. You're still chasing the ghost of Jimmy the Grunt, aren't you?

JIMMY: You tried to stop me from making that commercial, I remember.


JIMMY: How come with the tobacco company, you were like Don Kehote, but here...?

LINDSAY: We had a much better case against the tobacco company. And you know how people love guns.

JIMMY: But don't you agree that these companies are supplying criminals?

LINDSAY: Yes. But -

JIMMY: But what?

LINDSAY: Working late here, with the crazy loons we represent... I don't want gang members getting a hold of guns like these, I don't. But I'm glad I got mine.


ELLENOR: It seems they can search the locker.

BOBBY: Without a warrant?

ELLENOR: Comes down to reasonable suspicion.

REBECCA: Which they didn't neccessarily have. The informant has to be reliable.

BOBBY: The tip didn't come from a snitch, Rebecca. It came from some kid's parent.

REBECCA: But there's no evidence the principal knew the parent, which means she has no basis to determine his reliability. Also, on the tape, Kendall said that it was bad to have drugs near the schools, that would go against suspicion of the locker.

ELLENOR: The tape isn't relevant to probable cause. The principal didn't even know about the tape when she okay'd the search. She was just acting on what the parent said.

EUGENE: And she didn't know the parent.

ELLENOR: Which means they wobble on reliability. I think Rebecca's right. We could shut this down.

BOBBY: All right. The DA is Steve Bennett. Helen agreed to talk to him, I'm on my way to see her.

EUGENE: I'm coming with you.

BOBBY: No, you're not. I'll have a better chance without you there.


HYDE: The idea that we market to criminals is an absolute lie.

LAWRENCE: Your ads do show young men with guns.

HYDE: As do ads for trucks. We shoot for a rugged demographic. To say that means criminal is irresponsible, if not repugnant.

LAWRENCE: Okay, but Mr Hyde, you don't deny sometimes your company's products fall into the hands of people who use them for criminal purposes.

HYDE: Look, we comply with every federal and state safety regulation, every distribution regulation. What more can we do? This is the equivalent of holding Ford Motor Company liable because somebody buys one of their Broncos and runs over people.


JIMMY: This your ad for the tac-10?

HYDE: Yes. One of the elements -

JIMMY: There's no question before you, sir. Is it your testimony that you do not try advertise to people who might use your guns for criminal purposes?

HYDE: That is my testimony.

JIMMY: Referring to an advertisement running in this month's Soldier Fortune magazine, talking about the tac-10. Does it represent the weapon to have excellent resistance to fingerprints?

HYDE: There's a context -

JIMMY: It's a yes or no question, sir. Does the advertisement represent the weapon to have excellent resistance to fingerprints?

HYDE: Yes, but there is -

JIMMY: Thank you. You testified that you follow all state and federal regulations with respect to distribution, did you not?

HYDE: Yes.

JIMMY: Again, this is a yes or no question. Does your company ever sell gun kits through the mail?

HYDE: Yes, but -

JIMMY: You've answered the question. Sir, my understanding of gun kit, it's not considered legally a gun since it doesn't include a receiver. Would my understanding be correct?

HYDE: Yes.

JIMMY: And since it's not legally a gun, no background checks are necessary. A convicted felon could order these kits through the mail. Would that be true?

HYDE: Yes.

JIMMY: Do you also advertise something called a frame flap that can be bent into a receiver?

HYDE: The context of that -

JIMMY: It's a yes or no question.

LAWRENCE: Your Honour, I object.

JUDGE: Overruled.

LAWRENCE: He should be allowed to finish his answers.

JUDGE: He's being asked yes or now questions. The objection is overruled.

JIMMY: Your company advertises these frame flaps, true or not true?

HYDE: True.

JIMMY: You also supply your customers with an 800 telephone number they can call for assistance in how to make a frame flap into a receiver?

HYDE: We have an 800 number that offers general assistance.

JIMMY: Assistance including how to turn a frame flap into a receiver!

HYDE: Yes.

JIMMY: If I were a convicted felon, and I wanted a gun. To avoid a background check, I could order one of your gun kits, order a frame flap, call you up, and you'd help me make the receiver.

HYDE: There are a lot of law-abiding people, Mr Berluti, that enjoy making their own guns.

JIMMY: Sure. Okay.


LAWRENCE: Why do you advertise that the gun has a resistance to fingerprints?

HYDE: Well, it refers to the moisture and oils on the hand, a moisture that can corrode the metal. We're talking about a finish that goes to the gun's wear and tear. It has nothing to do with avoiding police fingerprint detection.

LAWRENCE: Thank you.

JIMMY: Your ad doesn't read resistance to moisture which causes corrosion. It reads resistance to fingerprints, right?

HYDE: Yes.


BEST: Hey, Eugene. What's up?

EUGENE: You still got Robby G running for you?

BEST: Why? Is he in trouble again?

EUGENE: I just need to know. You can tell me. I'm your lawyer.

BEST: Yeah. He's still on the payroll. Now, are you gonna tell me what's going on?

EUGENE: Bobby G hooked up with my son. You running a school business, Charlie?

Charlie: I'm running a -

EUGENE: As of right now you're out of the school business, you hear me?

REBECCA: Eugene -

EUGENE: I need a second. If I hear the slightest word that you're anywhere near a school and I'll let you know, I'm going straight to the cops with everything I got on you. Now, get out!


BOBBY: We can't risk it, Eugene.

EUGENE: Probation puts him in the system. That means he's reporting to case workers.

BOBBY: Yes. For a year. But if we challenge PC and lose, he's branded a delinquent. That stays on his record for life. Every time he applies for a job -

EUGENE: I can win at probable cause, I checked the case law.

BOBBY: Eugene, -

EUGENE: I can win it, Bobby. I don't want my kid put into the system when I know I can beat it.

ELLENOR: Eugene, we have a client here found with enough marijuana to warrant an intent to distribute conviction. We've been offered probation, it would be malpractice of us to turn it down. Let us help him as his lawyers. You help him as his father.


JIMMY: Something like ten percent of all high school kids have been shot at. There are more licenced gun dealers in this country than gas stations. Guns are all over. Hey, second amendment, red white and blue. Free country. Truth be told, I thought of getting one. Protect myself, in my home. My right. But this, this isn't a self defence gun. It's a spray-fire assault weapon. Who do they make these for? Hunters, collectors, skeet shooters? They know who're buying these things. Just like we all do. And even if they claim not to know about the black market those guns go almost directly into when they leave the shops, they can't deny knowing about all these studies that say this is what's happening. Who are we kidding? They sell gun kits to beat the background checks. They advertise resistance to fingerprints claiming oh, it's a moisture-corrosion issue. Do you really believe that? Do they really expect you to? Guns don't kill. People do. That's a nice jingle. But when you promote assault weapons, when you flood the market with them and gee, they go off in the hands of the very criminals you derive your profits from, you gotta take some responsibililty. That's all we're asking, ladies and gentlemen. We're not in here calling them murderers. We're just saying it's forseeable that there's a black market for these guns. It's forseeable where these guns will eventually end up. It's forseeable that people will use these guns to kill. Forseeable that people like Lisa Kimbrow will end up dead. Whose buying these things? Just a little responsibility. That's all we ask.


LAWRENCE: Every thirteen seconds, an American gun owner uses a firearm to defend against a criminal. He didn't mention that in his closing, did he? The tach-10, as the testimony revealed, is viable for both self defence and recreation. He forgot to touch on that as well. My client never met the man who shot and killed Lisa Kimbrow. There is no evidence to suggest that this person ever saw Pearson Herron's advertising. There's no case here. Man uses a weapon to kill somebody, let's sue the person who made the weapon, that's what they're saying. Well, then, if somebody gets stabbed, let's sue the cutlery manufacturer. Drunk driver hits someone, sue Chrysler. Man bludgeons somebody with a baseball bat, sue Louisville Slugger. Woman gets poisoned, sue the pharmaceutical company. There's a deep deep pocket behind every instrument, isn't there? Like automobiles and baseball bats and carving knives, guns, when used as directed, are safe. A vast majority of gun owners are law abiding people who use them safely. I agree this case really is about responsibility. We're becoming this litigous nation where every time a tragedy occurs we find a deep pocket to sue. Ray Brown killed Lisa Kimbrow, not Pearson Herron. Responsibility means going after the ones responsible. And not just the ones with the money.


EUGENE: I hope you know the bullet you doged. You also better know, you get arrested again, this case comes alive again. And you get a guilty finding that labels you a delinquent for the- you look at me - the rest of your life. First, you're grounded -

KENDALL: You're grounding me at Mom's?

EUGENE: Keep your mouth shut. Second, I want you at my office this afternoon. I want you to look Bobby, Ellenor and Rebecca all in the eye and thank them for devoting the last twenty-four hours to you. Third, part of my anger at you comes from fear, Kendall. This thing has scared me like -. As angry as I am at you, I know we gotta do something. I'm signing us both up for a drug awareness program, and I hope your mom will come too. You can see I'm angry, but I hope you also see I love you.


JUDGE: The clerk will read the verdict.

CLERK: On question one, was the defendent negligent in the marketing, advertising and distribution of this product, we answer yes. On question two, was the negligence of the defendent an approximate cause of the injuries and death, we answer yes. Question three, what amount of damages will fairly compensate the survivors, answer seven million dollars.


LINDSAY: Jimmy, you did it. You did it.

JIMMY: And the judge didn't throw it out. I didn't hear him throw it out.

LINDSAY: He didn't throw it out.

JIMMY: Did they say seven million?

LINDSAY: Yeah.

JIMMY: I think I'm gonna fall over. Can you hold me up just another second?

LINDSAY: Don't throw up on me.

JIMMY: Oh, I won't do that, no. The judge didn't throw it out?

LINDSAY: He didn't throw it out.

JIMMY: Cause I didn't hear him throw it out.


ELLENOR: Seven million dollars?

LUCY: Yeah, that's what he said.

REBECCA: Have you talked to Lindsay? Sometimes Jimmy gets things wrong.

LUCY: It's seven million.

ELLENOR: I don't believe it.

REBECCA: Is this the first plaintiff's verdict?

ELLENOR: Second, don't forget the New York case.

LUCY: He's gonna wanna be made partner now.

BOBBY: Woah.

REBECCA: I think he should.

ELLENOR: Is he gonna get a commission off of this? I'm just curious. He's also gonna be making more money than me this year.




transcribed by Ryana

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