A Fall from Grace

My husband and I worked for everything I had.

Don't come near me!

Okay, okay.

Okay. Hey, you don't wanna do this.

I don't know how I could be so stupid!

Hey, hold on a second. Give me your hand.

I have nothing! Nothing!

Sure, you do.

Mrs. Feldman, how about you take a step towards me?

We'll go inside and talk.

I need a Crisis Response Unit here right now.

Get that chopper out of here! No, no, no, no!

Mmm.

Hey, bear.

Hey, baby.

You gotta get up.

I know.

Is that rain?

Yeah, it stopped about an hour ago.

I left the keys on the table for you, by the way.

Baby, it's Tuesday.

You take your mom to the grocery store on Tuesdays.

Nah, it's...

...it's fine. I told her I'd come by later tonight, and...

I just need to stay in.

Are you okay?

- Yeah. - What's wrong?

No, no, nothing. Nothing's wrong.

Nothing's wrong.

Take the car.

Now, get up.

Okay, well, you'll tell me later, like you always do.

I'll wait.

- All right? - Okay.

Now we're going to move over to the Grace Waters case.

Everyone's talking about it.

The woman killed her husband, allegedly.

Hold on, now. Yes, we must say "allegedly."

We have a population of less than 100,000.

Nothing like this has ever happened before...

But have you seen the reports from the DA?

It's clear. She totally did it.

Jasmine.

Coming.

Here. Your next case.

Grace Waters? I can't do this.

Yeah, you can, and you will.

She wants to plead guilty, so this is completely easy.

Go talk to her, talk to the DA, get it worked out,

get the plea done. It's really high-profile,

and we don't need it mishandled or going to trial.

What about giving it to Tilsa or Donnie?

I mean, they are more...

- ...equipped to do this... - You are doing it.

We go through this all the time.

You can do it. Plea deals are your specialty.

She's adamant about pleading guilty.

There's an overwhelming mountain of evidence against her.

This is open-and-shut. Just go get it done.

I want it done this week so this media circus will go away.

- Thank you. - But, Rory, I...

Go.

Okay.

Can you believe this?

Ah! Congratulations, girl. You know we all wanted it.

I cannot believe he gave it to you.

Donnie, shut the hell up.

- I don't understand. - But who asked you? It's not the time.

This is nothing to celebrate, Tilsa.

Look, it's a big case,

but you have a great relationship with the DA, right?

So maybe that's in her best interest.

Great.

I have a great relationship with the DA.

That's awesome.

Either way, it's really sad. Look around.

And I don't see any way out of it. If you ask me, it's getting worse.

I can tell you, without a doubt, the whole town's talking.

This morning, while I was getting coffee,

two or three conversations, all about the Grace Waters case.

Well, that's interesting. How about our next caller?

I mean, I feel like she's totally guilty.

I don't even know why we are wasting money with a trial.

Just tie her up to an electric chair, and hit the switch.

Boom! Problem solved.

We're outside the Holloway Correctional Facility,

where Grace Waters is being held.

She's scheduled for court in three days.

As many of you know, she's been accused of murdering her husband.

Hi, I'm Jasmine Bryant from the public defender's office.

I'm here for Grace Waters.

Yes, ma'am. Step through here for me, please.

And just put your bag on the table for me.

Okay.

- All right. - Okay.

Just have a seat, and I will be right back with her.

E-Excuse me.

- Yes? - Um, is there anything I should know?

Is this your first murderer?

Yeah.

You don't have anything to worry about. She'll be shackled.

Put your hands on the desk for me.

I'm your attorney, Jasmine Bryant.

I'm from the public defender's office. I was appointed by the court.

I told them I didn't want a lawyer.

Well, if not me, then some other lawyer will be here.

The judge was very clear on that.

So, I understand that you want to plead guilty?

How old are you?

Twenty-six.

What school did you go to?

Ruston.

Community college.

And then I went on to Baniview Law.

Your file... um...

I had a chance to glance at it on my way over here,

and, um, I'm a little confused. You worked at a bank,

you've never even had a traffic violation, and now you're here.

I'm gonna ask the DA for 15 years with the possibility of parole.

I may be able to sell that to him.

You're Catholic.

- Yes. - That wasn't a question.

I see the rosary.

Are you Catholic?

In the name of the Father,

and the Son,

and the Holy Spirit...

So, you pray the rosary?

Yes.

I want to move to a prison close to here.

I want to be able to see my son and my grandbaby...

at some point.

And I want that

in the plea deal.

Okay. I'll see what I can do.

Guard!

Okay. So what was she like?

Well, it was nothing like I expected.

She was like my mom, and yours. She was...

gentle.

- Hmm. Mm. - Gentle.

You know, but, at first glance...

she appears to be a picture-perfect defendant.

She baked cookies for kids,

she sang in a church choir, she taught Sunday school.

There's a lot of good things here for you to build a solid defense.

The evidence against her is overwhelming.

But beyond a reasonable doubt? It was circumstantial.

She confessed she did it. She wants to plead guilty.

I mean...

- This... - Donnie, just chill.

No, no, no. No, no.

What, Donnie?

I-I-I'm not trying to take away from your remarkable ability

as a public defender,

um, but they gave you this case because they want you to plead it,

be done with it,

as to not embarrass the public defender's office.

But how embarrassing would it be, due to the high profile of this case,

if you were missing something?

What could I be missing, Donnie?

Okay, like she said, okay, what could she be missing?

The woman confessed, right?

- Exactly. - Please don't encourage her.

Did she confess to you?

- No, she told the officers that she... - Ah. You see?

You see? This is what I'm talkin' about.

You can't just plea her down without knowing all of the facts.

I know the facts, okay?

This is an open-and-shut, Donnie.

With our workload, we don't have enough time or money

to even deal with this.

Hell, the drug dealers we represent make more money than us,

and they have no respect for us.

Look, I'm not gonna go back and forth with you.

- Sorry, - You always do this.

but what does that have to do with the Sunday school teacher

who bakes cookies for kids in the neighborhood?

Okay, so I think we should leave.

You know, that is the most sensible thing you've said all night.

Thank you.

You know, I will never get used to seeing

people going to jail.

Either this is your cause, or it ain't.

Figure it out, Jas.

- Jordan. - Night, girl.

- Hm. - So we'll see you tomorrow.

- Yeah. - Okay, y'all have a nice night.

- Thanks for having us. Beautiful home. - You, too, Tilsa.

I'mma talk to him, okay?

- Don't worry about it. - Just a little chat.

Donnie, get your ass over here! This is why they don't invite us no more.

How you actin' right now...

- See what I mean? - Yeah.

Can't win.

I saw an old woman fall to her death.

But I'm all right.

Your turn.

You know, when I graduated from law school...

I thought I had hit the lottery.