The Closing Argument

--  Influence #4:  It may seem strange that I consider David E. Kelley an inspiration, but if you think about it, it would be odder if he weren't.  The man is a pioneer of television, and if you read anything I write, you know that television is probably the biggest influence of all when it comes to me.  I think I was most struck by him during what I would call his Renaissance--that's right, I'm talking about when he had two diametrically different television shows on the air at the same time--Ally McBeal (unfairly maligned to this day, when it was good it was unstoppable) and The Practice (ditto).  He even managed to do a cross-over between the two that went off without a hitch.  So no, I never made an effort to watch Boston Legal, and no I've never even seen Picket Fences, but I do know that there hasn't been a writer in the history of television who can write a closing argument like David E. Kelley, and so how else could I honor him but by writing one of my own?  Conveniently, I've been wanting to write one anyway--sort of.  I'm sure many of you got that letter via spam e-mail or myspace bulletins about the two young boys who killed a toddler, and I won't shy away from the word "mercilessly," in England, who were up for whatever kind of parole you have when you're in your twenties after having killed a toddler at the age of nine.  I could never get those boys out of my mind, but more than that, I could never get past people damning them to Hell on every discussion board where the case was brought up.  It disgusted me.  These boys were nine, and yes, what they did disgusted me, but again, they were nine.  They were children.  Why didn't anyone ask HOW this happened, rather than just say "Throw them in jail.  They're depraved."  It was the most blatant example of taking the easy way out that I'd ever seen.  If you're one of those people who would say, "Well, what about the little boy?"  The little boy is gone, and I'm one to look to the living, not the dead.  Does that make me sound heartless?  I find it more heartless to say someone is going to burn in Hell for what they did when they still too young to drive, to even be in junior high school.  I thought of when I was nine, and the mistakes I could have made then.  I wanted to say something, not simply in defense of those boys, but in defense of society standing in judgment of its own productions.  It's own monsters, you might say.  Well, six of one...  --

"The Closing Argument"

There are facts.

Isn't that comforting?

To know

That there are facts?

I find that comforting.

Two boys.

Young boys.

Kill another boy.

Younger than them.

But they're very young.

The boy they kill?

Even younger.

We're dealing with children.

That's not comforting.

It's discomforting.

But there are facts.

We can go back to facts.

They tortured this boy.

It was not an easy murder.

It was prolonged.

It was gruesome.

It was horrific.

This was not easy.

This case is not easy.

And the answers for why

Why this happened

Those aren't easy either.

Standing before you

Are two men

Young men

But not as young

As the two boys

Who murdered that child

A toddler

He was that young

To be considered a toddler

It's discomforting

Isn't it?

I can see some of you

Shifting in your seats

Rocking back and forth

Feeling uncomfortable

I'm sorry

I'm sorry that you have to feel that way

But it'll all be over soon

For you

These young men

Are asking for a chance at life

A chance that they denied

To a young boy

Who would be graduating high school now

Going off to college

Starting a life

Or becoming a drug addict

Becoming a drug dealer

Becoming an awful person

Who knows?

If you say one

You have to say the other

One is easy

The other one is uncomfortable

But you have to say both

You have to consider both

That's why we're here

To consider

Not to attack the dead

But to consider

What they could have become

To consider that they might not

Have become much different

From the two young men

Sitting in front of you

This is a closing argument

And let me making something clear

This is truly a closing argument

There will be no arguments after this

No chance to go back and reconsider

All considering is done now

All thinking on the issue

There will not be another time

To apply sensitivity

Or mercy

Or vengeance

This is it

You can say they showed no mercy

When they murdered that boy

But let me remind you

That when you speak of them

You are not allowed to do so

Without recalling

That they themselves

Were children

I don't use that term loosely

We would call nine-year-olds

Children

Wouldn't we?

If a forty-year-old man

Killed a nine-year-old boy

We wouldn't say he killed an adult

We'd say he killed a child

We can relegate the act to adulthood

We deal with the person

The person is a child

We are dealing with people

Who were children

Who were called adults

Who were called monsters

Who were children

It would be inaccurate

To call them adults

Though it may be more

Comfortable

Did we ask back then

What brought two children

To brutally and savagely

Beat and torture

Another child

And I don't mean blame

I'm not asking

If we blamed anyone

I'm asking how this happened

I'm asking what trickled down

Or rose up from the roots

That corrupted

These two young boys

We can't say they're crazy

Craziness is an aberration

The odds that it occurred

In two separate boys

In the same place

At the same time

Who just happened to be friends

Well, that's ludicrous

That's just a ridiculous argument to make

This was no fluke

These boys were soaked through

With some diabolical force

And no, I don't mean a religious force

I mean something as physical

And real

As if we had dunked them in water

Baptized them in hatred

That's what I mean

And I can use religious terminology

If that'll make everyone more--

Comfortable

We didn't ask how they managed to learn

What it's like to withhold mercy

We didn't ask how they managed to learn

To be cruel without feeling guilty

We didn't ask how they managed to learn

The difference between outright killing someone

And making them feel pain first

We didn't ask

We didn't ask them

We didn't ask their parents

We didn't ask the people

That they came into contact with

We didn't ask ourselves

We damn sure didn't ask ourselves

Did we?

We blamed

We blamed their parents

We blamed videogames

We blamed rap music

We blamed rock music

We blamed television

We blamed anything

We blamed everything

But we never turned that mirror

Right around

And said to ourselves

What did I do?

And believe me

We did something

Believe me

There is not a person

In this court today

Who is clean from this

Believe it

Even if it's not

Comfortable

It is possible

Now that these boys

Are old enough

To damn them forever

Or release them

From this crime

These are the options

You've heard the facts

And now

There are options

We can't control facts

But we can choose options

And here they are

I could hire an investigator

I could do that

I'm a lawyer

I have clients

I must go above and beyond for them

Or I would not be a good lawyer

I could find out things

About every one of you

And not just in the jury

But everyone in the courtroom today

I could find out

Who cheats on their spouses

Who cheats on their taxes

Who stole candy from babies

Who stole money via elaborate scams

Who called out sick and went to the beach

Who chose their job over their family

Who took a girl by force one night after drinking too much

Oh, I could find out

All kinds of things

And who knows

I might even find out something

Worse than what my clients have done

But I won't do that

Those sins lie where they lie

Those who are on trial

Are on trial

And the facts are the facts

But I would ask you

With my closing argument

With my closing breath

To look to yourselves

And ask

Before you put these boys away

So that you can go back

To feeling comfortable

What does that comfort cost you?

What happened?

Why did it happen?

Because even after

You put these boys away

Those questions

Aren't going anywhere

And they still

Need to be answered