Bull

I wish I had better news for you, Donovan.

That dockworker's testimony...

I'm not sure we can get past it.

How long's it been, Keith?

30 years?

And Donovan's never been convicted with you at his side.

We thank you for that.

But...

now you got to be honest with us.

What should we be preparing for?

Barring a miracle,

a "guilty" sentence.

And with Judge Stanley,

a former D.A., his history on sentencing

for this type of thing and... Donovan's record...

we are almost certainly looking at the maximum.

The full 25 years.

My God...

That's the rest of your life.

He did say "barring a miracle."

I guess I'll just have to pray for that, huh?

You'll pray, too.

Won't you, son?

Evening, Judge. How you doing tonight?

Uh, I'll tell you in a couple of hours.

Hey. Hey, Brendan.

Get in the car. I've got something I got to do.

No, I know what you think you got to do,

but just get in the car, Brendan; you're only gonna

make things worse. Says you. Go home and study.

Hey, wait.

Drive, Dolittle, drive. Brendan, what did you do?

Punch it, Doc.

[playing "How Much Is That Doggie In the Window?"]

Hmm.

Go away. I'm trying to find a reason to live.

Am I not reason enough?

First thing they teach you at law school,

don't ask a question if you don't know the answer.

Good morning to you, too.

They just phoned from downstairs.

A woman who claims to be Colleen McCandless

was inquiring whether or not

she could get an appointment with you.

Right now.

Colleen McCandless...

is married to...

Donovan McCandless.

He's on trial for extortion and racketeering.

He was supposed to be sentenced two days ago,

when the judge in the case inconveniently

got his throat slit on Montague Street in Brooklyn.

Okay. Is the conference room free?

Do we have a metal detector?

Answer the second question first.

Mrs. McCandless? Ten letter word

for the guardianship and control exercised

by the Lord our God?

Providence.

Thank you.

Sorry to have dropped in unannounced, Dr. Bull.

Ah, well, how can I be of help?

Or was it just the one word you came up for?

Do you do crossword puzzles? Once in a great while.

I can't stand having nothing to do.

Feeling powerless.

Now that there are crosswords on my phone...

My two sons...

Brendan, my oldest, and Connor, who just turned 22...

Were arrested last night.

Charged with the murder of a judge.

Judge Weston Stanley.

I'm familiar.

It's a federal crime to kill a federal judge.

Death penalty crime.

And apparently this happened in the middle of the street

with... a whole lot of witnesses around

and I'm... sorry, but I'm actually not sure

how I can be of help to you.

Let's begin at the beginning.

Do you even want to be of help to me and my family?

You understand how it looks, right?

Your husband's trial isn't going well,

so his sons murder the judge

in hopes of getting a mistrial.

See if maybe they can do better the next time around.

You didn't answer my question.

I'm not in the habit of assisting career criminals, no.

My sons were apprehended in a car

identified at the scene of the crime.

And the knife that was used to slit the judge's throat

was found in my oldest's possession.

Okay.

Are you trying to convince me?

I think you should also know that my firstborn

has a very lengthy criminal record.

Duly noted.

I'm not unaware that juries go in with opinions

already formed about what it must be to be a McCandless.

My attorney indicated

that this sort of challenge was your specialty.

As I mentioned previously... I'm not asking you to help

a career criminal.

I'm not asking you to help my older son.

Just my youngest.

Just Connor. He's innocent.

He's why I'm here.

So you just want me to help the one,

not the other son? Brendan's lost to me.

Has been for a long time.

He's...

Runs call girls and numbers, he's his father's boy.

But Connor, my youngest...

he's never been involved in the business.

He's a year into med school.

No one in our family has ever even gotten a college degree,

let alone thought about becoming a doctor.

Mrs. McCandless... Connor didn't choose his father.

I did.

He shouldn't have even been there.

It was my fault.

I asked him to go.

I don't understand.

How is it your fault? Connor was the one driving

the getaway car. I knew my husband and Brendan

were up to something and I called Connor

and I told him he needed to get into the car

and get his brother, make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

It's my fault.

You at all interested in my opinion?

I'm pretty sure I can guess.

You know, these guys...

they're accused of killing a judge.

Before we even walk through the door,

everyone in that courthouse

is going to be against us. Two things:

I haven't agreed to take the case.

Only to meet the younger son.

And what's the second thing? The younger son

is the only one we would represent.

And he didn't pick his father.

I'd also point out

that we have represented clients

accused of every kind of crime there is

and the courtroom is always biased against the accused.

Yes, but in this case, the accused

is a member of a crime family.

Whether he chose to be a member or not.

And as a former prosecutor,

I have a difficult time turning a blind eye to that.

And-and look, I get it. I get it.

Everybody deserves a defense.

But Donovan McCandless and his clan?

Benny, the only promise I made was to meet the boy.

All right. You're the boss.

I wasn't there to help him, I was there to stop him.

After I talked to my mom,

I-I called Brendan. But his phone was off.

So I started asking around to see

if anybody knew where he was.

This guy my father works with told me that Brendan had been

trying to get the home address of Judge Stanley.

I put two and two together.

Got on the Internet, it took about five minutes.

I mean...

my brother's done some bad things before,

but I thought...

i-if I could just talk to him.

So when I got there, it seemed like I had made it in time.

But I couldn't get him to get in the car with me.

A-And the next thing I know, the judge is leaving his house

and Brendan sneaks up behind him...

slits his throat, then jumps in the car with me

and orders me to drive away. Orders you?

H-He put a pistol to my head.

Anyway, like five minutes later, the cops pulled us over.

What'd you tell them? Uh, nothing.

Some things you just learn sitting at the kitchen table.

I learned young not to talk.

So you didn't tell them

that story you just told us?

Okay.

Well, if we got involved,

I'd want to file a motion to sever

your trial from your brother's.

Right now, you're being charged together with murder.

Meaning, you'll both be tried at the same time

with the same jury.

We'd be requesting for your trials to be

completely separated.

The more we can distance you

from your family's reputation, the better.

Benny's right; your best chance

is for you to just tell the truth.

Explain that you were trying to stop your brother

and the only reason you drove away

is that you were afraid for your life.

I don't think you understand.

I can't say that.

I'd effectively be testifying against my own brother.Connor.