Capital P
Written By: Tom Fontana
Directed By: Darnell Martin
Original Airdate: July 28, 1997
Transcribed: November 15, 1999. Last Revised: November 23, 1999.

Oz is the property of Tom Fontana, Barry Levinson, Rysher Entertainment, and HBO. This page is not authorized by any of the above. Absolutely no copyright infringement is intended and no profit is being made from this page.

(Hill narrating, with flashbacks of Keane's fight in the gym and shots of his trial.)

Hill: In America we all have certain inalienable rights, like the right to bear arms and the right to remain silent. But the state has the ultimate right. It can kill us. Due to popular demand, Governor James Devlin revived capital punishment and he decided Jefferson Keane, a man he doesn't know, a man he will never even meet, should be put to death. Should be put down like a rabid dog.

(At a press conference.)

Devlin: The mood in this country has changed. People are sick of crime, sick of being afraid. They need a sign that something is being done.

Reporter: Even, Governor, if it's been proven that execution has been shown to have no effect on the increase or decrease in crime whatsoever?

Devlin: Especially if it has no effect. These murders are random, senseless. Maybe the punishment should be too. Jefferson Keane will be the first person executed by this state in 34 years. He's the first because he snapped the neck of another inmate. He's the first because he deserves to die.

(In a conference room.)

Sister Pete: Jefferson Keane is the first because he's black and he is young. The public is not gonna feel safe if we execute a 70 year old white guy.

Glynn: You're not gonna turn this into a racial thing with me, are you?

Sister Pete: Oh, please.

Wittlesey: Has anybody thought about all the protestors we're gonna have outside, marching around, yelling slogans? And the counter-protestors yelling at them?

Healy: Yeah, and we'll have even less parking spaces.

Glynn: The protestors aren't gonna be a problem.

Sister Pete: I want you to know that when those protestors come I'm standing with them.

Glynn: I can't have an employee of mine out there at a vigil, holding a candle in front of a camera.

Sister Pete: The last time I looked we had freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in this country. Or did you guys eliminate those rights too?

Glynn: The Governor's been biting my ass, saying he's gonna make more budgets cuts. And he means it, up to and including your job.

Sister Pete: Is this a threat? I've got a job, Leo, I've got a permanent vocation. I can go teach fifth grade kids at the cathedral school. I can go be a missionary in Pago Pago.

Glynn: Don't join the protestors.

Sister Pete: And if I do?

Glynn: You're fired.

Sister Pete: That's fine. I'll send you a postcard from Pago Pago.

(In Em City. Various conversations.)

Wangler: Hey, Markstrom, man, what if Keane didn't kill Martinez, huh? Look, what if they got the wrong man?

Markstrom: He did it, Kenny.

Wangler: Look, I know he did it. I'm saying what if he didn't do it?

Schibetta: I don't understand.

D'Angelo: All I'm saying, Nino, is, makes you think what the guy's doing, what the guy's thinking, sitting on death row knowing he's gonna die.

Schibetta: The only difference between you and him, Joey, is he knows the exact date he'll die.

Schillinger: So the state's gonna let Keane choose which way he's gonna go out. Me, I'd take hanging.

Mack: What about lethal injection?

Schillinger: That's for pussies.

Groves: They say that lethal injection causes no pain. How do they know? Did someone come back from the dead and say they didn't feel anything?

Rebadow: Did you hear? Sister Peter Marie got fired?

Beecher: I know. I was her assistant. She got fired because she's against the death penalty. So am I.

Rebadow: Me too.

Beecher: Were you around when the last person in the state was executed?

Rebadow: I was the last person in the state executed.

(Flashbacks of Rebadow's execution with Hill singing "Jailhouse Rock".)

Beecher: So you're saying your life was saved by the '65 blackout?

Rebadow: All the electricity in five states, gone. To this day they don't know if the shortage kept me alive or if I caused the power to go out.

Beecher: And you had no aftereffects?

Rebadow: Sure. That's when I first met God. He shook my hand, smiled, and said, "Bob, play the oboe."

Beecher: The oboe?

Rebadow: The oboe.

Beecher: And do you?

Rebadow: What?

Beecher: Play the oboe.

Rebadow: No. I don't have the lips for it.

(In Ryan's pod. He's looking through a viewfinder and smoking a joint as Beecher comes in.)

Beecher: Gonna share?

Ryan: Hey, lawboy. I thought Schillinger said you couldn't get high anymore.

Beecher: Yeah. Fuck him.

Ryan: You go over my appeal?

Beecher: Ryan, I told you, I was in litigation, not criminal law.

Ryan: I got no chance, huh?

Beecher: Considering the number of eyewitnesses, no.

Ryan: Fuck it. Least I'm not getting the juice like that scumfuck Keane. He shoulda just let the Latinos take him out. That's the reason why they were there.

Beecher: What do you mean?

Ryan: Huh?

Beecher: The Latinos were in the gym to kill Keane?

Ryan: Never mind.

Beecher: Are you saying he was set up?

Ryan: Never mind, Beecher.

Beecher: No, no, if it was self defense, he shouldn't be executed.

Ryan: Fuck that! Don't make trouble or you'll be next.

(In the library.)

Beecher: Excuse me. I'd like to get a fax copy of the transcript from the Jefferson Keane trial.

(In Em City.)

Schillinger: Bitcher! Get your ass over here.

Beecher: Yes, sir?

Schillinger: My laundry's not gonna wash itself.

Beecher: Sir, have you heard anything about Jefferson Keane being set up?

Schillinger: Oh, yeah. Yeah, the hacks made him a gladiator. Even got the whole thing on videotape. Wouldn't you love to see that?

Beecher: Yeah. If we can get a hold of that videotape, he wouldn't be executed.

Schillinger: What are you talking about? Another nigger's going down. I'm glad.

Beecher: But...

Schillinger: But, but what?

Beecher: Nothing, sir.

Schillinger: Ah. Don't forget, a little starch.

(In the laundry room.)

Beecher: So I'll go to McManus, tell him what might have happened in the gym, get him to investigate.

Rebadow: You can't.

Beecher: Why not?

Rebadow: You say anything they'll kill you.

Beecher: They who?

Rebadow: Exactly.

Ryan: Hey, Beecher. Sorry I got a little testy before.

Beecher: That's ok.

Ryan: You wanna get high?

Beecher: Uh, no, thanks, not right now. I'm kinda trying to keep my head clean.

Ryan: Later.

Beecher: What I should do is represent Keane and appeal his murder conviction.

Rebadow: You?

Beecher: I'm a lawyer.

Rebadow: The state disbarred you.

Beecher: The state can't take away what I do, who I am. I can help the man. He killed Martinez in self defense. He shouldn't die.

Rebadow: You need to talk to Keane himself, find out what really went on that day.

Beecher: I know, but getting into death row isn't easy.

Groves: I have a way.

(In McManus' office.)

Beecher: I'm in fear for my life.

McManus: From who?

Beecher: I can't say. You know I can't say. I need you to put me in protective custody.

McManus: You can't be going in and out of protective custody whenever you want. It should be used only in extreme cases.

Beecher: Well, this is.

McManus: The next time you ask for protection, I may say no.

Beecher: I'll take that risk.

(On death row. Beecher is put in the cell next to Keane's.)

Beecher: Keane? Keane? Keane?

Keane: Who wants me?

Beecher: Beecher. Tobias Beecher. I need to talk to you about your trial. I read your transcript. You weren't very cooperative with your attornies.

Keane: I killed Martinez.

Beecher: Why didn't you tell the lawyers that you were set up?

Keane: Look, Johnny Post killed Dino Ortolani because I told him to. Now, the wiseguys know that. Now they want me dead. If they kill me, one of my homeboy's gonna kill them. And they'll kill another one of my boys. And on and on and on. My death can bring an end to that.

Beecher: Not necessarily.

Keane: Look, if I die I feel like I might go to heaven now. If I go back to Em City, I might go back to my old ways. I may lose my faith, my soul. I'm at peace right now, Beecher. Please don't take that from me.

Beecher: Look, I'm not responsible for your soul, but as a lawyer, I am responsible for justice. I don't need your cooperation to file an appeal on your behalf.

Keane: Beecher, please, don't.

Beecher: It's something I have to do.

(In the library.)

Beecher: We gotta get a hold of that tape. It's got the fight between Keane and the Latinos.

Rebadow: What are the chances of one of the hacks giving it up? The video would implicate him in the murder.

Beecher: Well, do what you can, Bob.

Rebadow: Sure.

(Schillinger comes in.)

Schillinger: There you are.

Beecher: Oh, yeah, hey.

Schillinger: Why didn't you go with the PC?

Beecher: I just needed some time alone.

Schillinger: What are you doing here?

Beecher: Working on Ryan O'Reily's appeal.

Schillinger: Really. Thought you said that was useless.

Beecher: Well, yeah, but he asked me to take another stab at it so I figured I would.

Schillinger: You wouldn't be bullshitting me, would you? (To the librarian.) You wanna take a break? You wouldn't be on something else?

Beecher: No, sir.

Schillinger: Argent versus the state of Texas. This is about a stay of execution. Since when is O'Reily being executed? Eat it.

Beecher: What?

Schillinger: Eat the page.

Beecher: No.

Schillinger: Do not fuck with me, prag. Eat it!

(In a hallway.)

Healy: Hey, Bob.

Rebadow: Yes?

Healy: I understand you've been asking a lot of questions about a certain videotape.

Rebadow: Well...

Healy: Said videotape does not exist.

Rebadow: Oh, really?

Healy: You don't believe me?

Rebadow: No. Why should I?

Healy: (Grabs Rebadow around the throat.) Maybe a couple of days in the hole will help clarify reality for you.

(In Beecher's pod.)

Ryan: Heard you talked to Keane even though I said don't.

Beecher: Yep.

Ryan: That took some balls. Starting to grow some balls, Beecher?

Beecher: I had balls a long, long time ago. And I thought I could get 'em back by saving Jefferson Keane. But the lawyer in me got stretched out on the rack and hung by the neck until dead. You got any dope?

Ryan: What you need, pal, is an upgrade. What you need is some heroin. (Holds out his hand with heroin on it.) Go ahead. (Beecher snorts the heroin.)

(Hill narrating.)

Hill: You swat at a fly, step on an ant, squash a cockroach, you don't think much of it. In fact, killing a bug gives you a sense of accomplishment. Fucking ant was ruining your picnic, cockroach was crawling through your kitchen cabinets. You put an end to their disgusting, miserable little lives and make a better world for everyone. Only, for every one you kill, more appear. Bigger, uglier, meaner than before.

(In a hallway.)

Said: As a man of color, I am outraged by that verdict. As a Muslim, I have to be concerned with Tisi Oso's soul.

Glynn: Tisi Oso?

Mukada: Since the conversion, that's the name that Jefferson Keane chose for himself.

Glynn: And so you want to serve as his minister?

Said: As his Imam.

Glynn: You have any objection?

Mukada: No.

Glynn: OK, then. Here's the deal. You can go see Keane on death row and talk to him, but only about spiritual matters. If I get wind of him or you or any of the brothers stirring up shit, I will give him a rabbi.

(On death row. Said goes to pray with Keane.)

(In Em City. The inmates are watching TV.)

Reporter: As the day of execution draws near, tension grows, both outside the walls of Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary and inside, where the debate on the death penalty is no less fierce.

Sister Pete: I don't believe in murder, first degree, abortion, or by jury decree. It's all murder!

CO: Lethal injection? What's wrong with the good old electric chair?

Reporter: Jefferson Keane will die tomorrow in this prison. In light of the historical, moral, and political nature of this event, we might lose sight of the human factors involved. We spoke today with Cornelius Keane, the inmate's father, and Helen Martinez, mother of the murder victim.

C. Keane: You teach a boy right from wrong and then you just hope, just hope for the best.

H. Martinez: I want him dead! I want him in the ground, dead. Dead! Dead!

(Said collapses.)

(In Nathan's office.)

Nathan: Jefferson Keane's sister's in kidney failure. They think she'll die.

McManus: Oh, this is just great. Well, life just keeps getting better and better. I fucked this up from the get ready. Ortolani's dead 'cause of me and Keane's gonna join him.

Nathan: You think you're responsible for that bad boy being on death row? Timmy, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, you are one fucked up guy.

McManus: Well, does that mean we're not going to the play tonight?

Nurse: Doctor! We need you.

(Said is rushed into the hospital.)

(Hill narrating.)

Hill: Hey, some say there are five stages of death. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance. The moment when you say to yourself, "I'm gonna die and there ain't shit I can do about it." Oh, yeah, in Oz we know all about that. We know all about acceptance.

(On death row.)

Billie: Look at your jig hair. Come on, let me braid it for you.

Keane: Nah. It's all right.

Billie: Come on, I'll make your hair look so nice they won't wanna kill you. Come on, come on. I saw Pop on TV yesterday.

Keane: Yeah?

Billie: Talking about you, talking about our family. Sorry I ain't who you want me to be. I like being queer.

Keane: I love you, Billie. Allah loves you.

Billie: But Dad don't.

McManus: Jefferson. I'm sorry, Tisi. I've got some bad news. Your sister, Grace, is in the hospital. Kidney failure. The doctors think that she'll probably die soon unless she gets a transplant. But organs are scarce.

Keane: Why don't you take one of mine? Not like I'm gonna use 'em much longer. Make that happen, McManus.

McManus: I'll try.

Keane: No, you do more than try. Make it happen. Make it happen!

(At a window. McManus is watching the protestors.)

Glynn: Governor says no. He won't grant a stay.

McManus: Even that little prick Devlin can't be that heartless.

Glynn: He says Keane is too dangerous to be released to a hospital.

McManus: He's changed.

Glynn: This conversion of his could be bullshit.

McManus: Talk to him, Leo. It's real. We gotta fight for this one.

Glynn: How? We go public we stoke the protestors and piss Devlin off.

McManus: Devlin thinks he's God.

Glynn: Yeah.

McManus: Maybe it's time we got some help from the real one.

(In Mukada's office.)

Mukada: You want me to call the Cardinal to intercede?

McManus: Yes.

Mukada: Tim, Cardinal Apgard is more conservative than Jesse Helms and Bill Buckley all rolled into one. He once gave a speech where he justified the torture of the Holy Inquisition.

McManus: That's fucked up. Even so, you gotta make the call.

Mukada: You make the call.

McManus: What, Ray, are you afraid?

Mukada: No, of course not.

McManus: Then?

Mukada: Why do you think that I work here, huh, Tim? I went to the Pontifical Gregorian University in the Vatican. I was in the top of my class. I was the Cardinal's great yellow hope, until I started working in his office and I asked a few too many questions. I had a few too many opinions. I defied him, instead if deifying him. So his Excellency decided to punish me by sending me to Oz, to extinguish my career.

McManus: So Jefferson Keane's sister dies because you and the Cardinal had a tiff?

Mukada: I didn't say I wouldn't make the call. I'll make the call. I'm just warning you, it probably won't do any good.

(In the hospital.)

McManus: Sorry to disturb you.

Said: You've come about the transplant.

(In Em City. The inmates are watching TV.)

Reporter: Governor James Devlin, under pressure from religious leaders including Sheik Zahir Farar and Cardinal Apgard, is granting a 30 day stay of execution to Jefferson Keane, the man convicted of killing another inmate at Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary. Keane will be donating a kidney to an ailing sister. He is expected to go into surgery sometime today. The Governor was quick to point out that all medical costs are being covered by the family's own insurance.

(Hill narrating.)

Hill: Clemency. That's a fancy word for mercy. You see, the Governor can commute a death sentence. He has the power to just pick up the phone and say no. But to me, the only time the Governor shows clemency, is when he don't make that call. 'Cause life in prison without parole is a shitload worse than death. Death is parole. Death is the real mercy.

(In Em City.)

Hill: King me.

Ryan: Oh, fuck.

D'Angelo: O'Reily.

Ryan: Yeah?

D'Angelo: Come here.

Ryan: Why?

D'Angelo: Cause I say.

Ryan: So?

D'Angelo: We got business.

Ryan: Don't move any pieces. I got 'em memorized.

Hill: Would I do that? What do you think of me?

Ryan: Hey, Joey. I'm here.

D'Angelo: You bet Detroit on the Sox-Tigers game?

Ryan: Yeah?

D'Angelo: You lost.

Ryan: Fucking Thomas.

D'Angelo: You owe.

Ryan: I know.

D'Angelo: So?

Ryan: I'm good for it.

D'Angelo: Says you.

Ryan: What, I haven't paid before?

D'Angelo: I want it now.

Ryan: Why?

D'Angelo: Cause you owe.

Ryan: Why you busting my balls?

D'Angelo: I don't like your face.

Ryan: Hey, take a look in the mirror.

D'Angelo: You wanna die?

Ryan: You wanna try?

Wittlesey: Problem, guys?

Ryan: Yeah, the joint smells of too much garlic. (D'Angelo attacks Ryan.)

Wittlesey: D'Angelo, count to ten and walk away.

Ryan: Fucking dago jizzbag.

Hill: You lose, whiteboy.

Ryan: I never lose when it counts.

(In a classroom.)

Ryan: I'm telling you, Jefferson was set up.

Wangler: By who?

Ryan: Come on, you don't have to be John Thompson to figure out the game plan.

Adebisi: It was the wiseguys that did it.

Wangler: Schibetta sent Jefferson to the gladiator ring?

Ryan: No, not Schibetta. I been asking around. Looks like Joey D'Angelo was roguing. Ever since Ortolani croaked, D'Angelo's been wanting to move up, but the old man has been slow. So D'Angelo took it on himself to off Jefferson just to impress the old man.

Wangler: Fucking mook D'Angelo! If D'Angelo got Jefferson to death row, we got to execute that mother...

Adebisi: Shhh.

Ryan: You fellows do that you gotta do, but with all this shit that's been going on around here, if you whack D'Angelo, Glynn's gonna lock us down for good.

Wangler: So what are we supposed to do?

Ryan: You two work in the kitchen, right? D'Angelo works in the kitchen. Maybe he has a little accident.

Wangler: I like that.

Adebisi: Yeah, yeah. Now why are you so hot on justice for Jefferson, huh, whiteboy? Huh?

Ryan: Cause Jefferson took care of Ortolani for me. I owe him.

Auerbach: Good morning. I'm Colin Auerbach and as you know, Sister Peter, uh, Sister Peter Marie is not around so the Warden asked me to pitch in.

Ryan: We want Sister Pete.

Auerbach: Uh, she's not here. Today, we're...

Wangler: Shut the fuck up!

Auerbach: Today we're gonna talk about anger management. Controlling the savage beast inside you. (Shots of Adebisi and Wangler attacking D'Angelo in the kitchen.)

(In Schibetta's pod.)

Ryan: Mr. Schibetta? Can I come in? I heard what happened to Joey. Steam pipe burst, knocks him backward, hits him in the head. Is he ok?

Schibetta: He's unconscious. He'll be laid up for a while.

Ryan: I don't mean to be reaching, but if you ever need an extra hand... I mean, come on, I took care of Jefferson Keane for you. He's gonna die and both our hands are clean.

Schibetta: One of my best buddies in the army was Donnie O'Reily. Irish guy. From Howard Beach. Tough little fucker, didn't take any bullshit from anybody, including the Sergeant. He loved women. He loved boats. He loved women on boats. He loved vodka. He loved women who drank vodka on boats. Who knows? Maybe we can do some business.

Ryan: Great.

(In the hospital.)

Groves: Poor son of a bitch. (Looking at D'Angelo.)

Alvarez: Yo, Padre!

Mukada: How you doing, Miguel?

Alvarez: How's my baby?

Mukada: He's not doing so good, Miguel. He's not getting any better.

Alvarez: Shit.

Mukada: The doctors, they're thinking of taking him off the life support.

Alvarez: What, you mean pull the plug? No. No. No!

Mukada: Maritza thinks it's the best thing too.

Alvarez: No, Maritza's sweet and she gonna listen to anything anybody tells her to. I don't want them to kill my baby.

Mukada: They're not killing the baby, Miguel. The machines are the only thing keeping the baby alive. If they turn the machines off then the baby can have a natural death.

Alvarez: I want to speak to Maritza. I want to see my baby right now.

Mukada: You can't see Maritza, you can't see the baby. They're not even gonna let you make a phone call. They're gonna start a psychiatric evaluation of you.

Alvarez: What, they think I'm gonna bug?

Mukada: You cut yourself all up!

Alvarez: So? I did it for the baby.

Mukada: What do you mean you did it for the baby?

Alvarez: You tell me that I gave the baby life, right, that he's my responsibility. But the baby being sick, I don't know what to do. I ain't a fucking doctor!

Mukada: And slashing your face did what, huh?

Alvarez: That's between me and God.

Mukada: Oh, Miguel, you tell the shrink that and you're gonna be in here 'til you're 90 years old.

Alvarez: You gotta help me. You gotta get me outta here. You gotta help me see my baby! You gotta tell 'em not to kill it! You gotta let me see my baby! You gotta tell 'em not to kill it! I wanna see my baby!

(In Sister Pete's office.)

Mukada: You see, I got Alvarez on the road to redemption. I got him to start caring. And I guess that's tearing him up inside.

McManus: The doctor at the neo-natal unit, he says that keeping the baby alive is actually cruel at this point.

Auerbach: I'm just trying to catch up here, all right. I've had one meeting with Alvarez and he sort of just whined about his kid.

Mukada: All I want is to have him released so I can take him to the hospital, because I think when he sees the condition the baby is in he will understand why they're going to take the life support away.

Auerbach: I need more time.

McManus: We don't have time. They wanna turn the machines off tomorrow.

Auerbach: Tomorrow? Forget it.

McManus: OK. I don't need his permission, you know.

Mukada: You're gonna take this responsibility on yourself?

McManus: Absolutely.

(Shots of Mukada taking Alvarez to the hospital to see his baby and Maritza.)

(In Alvarez' pod.)

Alvarez: I appreciate everything you've done for me, you know, especially with the baby and all. I guess sometimes that's the way things go, you know. Sometimes things just work out like that. You're right. I feel better about myself. I mean, I never thought that I'd love a baby with all my heart. And, you know, I never loved anything before in my life. It's like it opened up a whole new meaning. That's important, right? Figuring out who you are, you know, and about yourself? So, you know, I know now.

Mukada: Well, I'm real glad.

Alvarez: Well, I owe it all to you.

Mukada: Well, I gotta go.

Alvarez: Hey, Father. Where was God when my son died?

Mukada: Same place he was when his own son died.

(In the hospital.)

Nathan: Well, it's looking pretty good.

Keane: I feel good.

Nathan: Well, the remaining kidney is functioning fine. The rest of you is pretty healthy. This afternoon I'll have you transferred back to...

Keane: Death row. You can say it, Doctor.

Wittlesey: Keane, you have a visitor.

Keane: Hey, Pop. How's Grace?

C. Keane: Doctor says she recuperating faster than expected. That's some rocking kidney you gave her.

Keane: So how you doing?

C. Keane: I'm still a little turned around by all this publicity, you know. Having a microphone shoved in my face everytime I leave the house. We been getting lots of letters and cards, mostly nice. One guy from Iowa, he sent $100 cash. Your Aunt Tillie said I had to send it back.

Keane: Did you?

C. Keane: No fucking way.

Keane: Dad, I need you to do something for me.

C. Keane: Anything, son. Come on, now you know that.

Keane: I need for you to talk to Billie.

C. Keane: He's turned into a fag.

Keane: You don't know what it's like in here. You don't know the things they do to you, the loneliness. Talk to him.

C. Keane: I raised you three all alone. Your sister, she's gonna make something with her life, especially with what you've done for her. But when he leaves, what's Billie ever gonna be?

Keane: Your son. My brother. Forever.

Wittlesey: OK, time's up.

(Hill narrating.)

Hill: It's rare when you say goodbye to someone that you know it's the last time. You can try to say whatever it is you should've said before or you can just hold on tight. Just hold on, hoping the moment will last you a lifetime.

(At a window. C. Keane is crying.)

Wittlesey: You all right?

C. Keane: Jefferson was my oldest. So he always had a special place. A man shouldn't live to see his own son die.

(Wittlesey puts her hand on his in comfort.)

(On death row.)

McManus: Hey. I brought you some tea.

Keane: You brought me some tea? Why?

McManus: Well, it's herbal. Maybe you don't want it.

Keane: Hey, just so happens I'm out. Thanks. So...

McManus: So...

Keane: Why you here, McManus? I mean, what do you want?

McManus: I don't know. Just, I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry you're gonna die. And...

Keane: You'd like my forgiveness? (McManus shrugs.) Well, whatever you think you've done, I forgive you.

(In the hospital. McManus comes up behind Nathan and massages her neck.)

McManus: Did you get Kareem Said's test results?

Nathan: Well... Oooh, that feels so good. So far, everything's fine. I'm just waiting for the MRI results.

McManus: You wanna go to dinner tonight?

Nathan: I can't.

McManus: Why not?

Nathan: I'm witnessing Keane's execution.

McManus: What?

Nathan: Yeah, I told you.

McManus: What? You didn't tell me.

Nathan: Yes, I did.

McManus: You didn't tell me. Gloria, this isn't something I'd forget, believe me. Christ!

Nathan: Look, what is the big deal? I'm only prescribing the drugs, declaring the death. It's not like I'm sticking the...

McManus: Gloria, Gloria...

Nathan: ... IV in his arms.

McManus: Gloria, doctors are supposed to be healers. You're supposed to help keep people alive. You're not supposed to kill them.

Nathan: You really see this as a killing?

McManus: I don't want you doing this.

Nathan: You what?

McManus: I don't want you doing this!

Nathan: Look, Tim, we've only been going out a couple of weeks. Where do you get off telling me what I can and can't do?

McManus: Wait, wait, wait.

Nathan: Don't grab me! You'd better take some time off, Tim. You hang around this prison so much, you're starting to act like them.

(At a window. Wittlesey is watching the protestors as McManus comes up. She hands him a bottle of water.)

McManus: Thanks. Is the Governor here yet?

Wittlesey: No, I haven't seen him. But a pro death penalty marcher just took a swing at Sister Pete.

McManus: Is she ok?

Wittlesey: Evidently. She just kicked him in the balls. I take it you're not gonna watch the execution?

McManus: How 'bout you?

Wittlesey: No. Can't stand watching flowers die, let alone another human being. Closest I ever came was Bambi.

McManus: Bambi?

Wittlesey: Yeah. My ex was a big hunter, he was always going off with his buddies so I said to him one time to take me. After some complaining, he did. So I got there in the forest with this big hunky shotgun and I fired at a deer. Hit it dead on. So I went over to this thing and I leaned down and this deer looked up at me with these eyes, these eyes like flashlights. I knelt beside it and I held its head and I whispered, "I'm sorry." And like batteries going bad the light in its eyes flickered a little bit and went out. For the next two years we were married, every time I walked into the den I had to look at this fucking deer's dead eyes. I had to dust them. When we got divorced that's all I asked for, the deer's head. Then I buried it.

McManus: That's how I feel tonight.

Wittlesey: What do you mean?

McManus: Like my head's hanging on somebody's wall. Wanna have dinner?

Wittlesey: Sure.

(On death row.)

Keane: Hey.

L'Italien: Yeah?

Keane: How you doing?

L'Italien: OK. You?

Keane: Not bad, for a man about to die.

L'Italien: Yeah, you go tonight, huh?

Keane: Yeah. You?

L'Italien: Next Thursday. But I'm on appeal.

Keane: Did you see that old movie with that old actress, what's her name, Susan Hayward?

L'Italien: Which movie?

Keane: I don't know what it's called. But she gotta live, or something like that, she's on death row ready to be gassed or fried or whatever they used to do back in the day. The only thing is, her attorney has applied for some reprieve so she just waits. The clock keeps ticking, waiting for that call from the Governor.

L'Italien: Yeah, and at the last possible minute he calls, huh?

Keane: Well, you know, now that I think about it, I think she fries.

Glynn: I need to ask some questions. What do you want done with your property?

Keane: Give it to my dad.

Glynn: And the money in your trust account?

Keane: To my brother and sister.

Glynn: Will your family be claiming your body?

Keane: Yeah.

Glynn: Who are your witnesses?

Keane: My dad and the Minster Said.

Glynn: Sure you should see this?

Said: Yeah. Tisi and I have come on a long journey together. I'm not gonna turn my back on him now.

Glynn: OK. Let's do it. Officer?

Said: Death is the supreme moment of truth, my brother, so sayeth the Prophet.

Keane: Praise be unto him.

Said: And peace be unto you.

Keane: Minister, they took my khofi. I don't want to die without my khofi.

Said: You take mine.

(Hill narrating as Keane is taken to be executed and McManus and Wittlesey have sex.)

Hill: Three thousand men and women are sitting on death row right now. Congress have denied state inmates access to federal courts. Congress has also eliminated financing to law officers for death row appeals. The states themselves are shortening the appeals process. In this country there's now one execution every single week. There were more executions this year than anytime since the 50's. And we all know how righteous the 50's were.

(In the execution chamber.)

Glynn: You can make any statements you'd like.

Keane: I want my family to know that I love them and I believe that this punishes them more than it punishes me. I am so sorry for the three murders that I did and I wish by killing me today, you could bring them back. My time on this earth has been far too short. Maybe too short to get it all done right. But so, I'm ready to move on. All praise to Allah. All praise.

(At the front lobby.)

Devlin: Justice has been served.

(On death row.)

Glynn: L'Italien, the Supreme Court refused to hear your appeal.

L'Italien: Rehnquist is a fag.

Glynn: Be that as it may, your execution is scheduled for tomorrow.

(Hill narrating, with flashbacks of L'Italien's crime.)

Hill: Prisoner number 97L641, Richard L'Italien. Convicted April 3, '97. Murder in the first degree. Sentence: death.

(On death row.)

L'Italien: Tomorrow? Well, my schedule's clear. OK. Hey, Warden, there's something I wanna tell you. Something I never told anybody. I suffocated Jennifer Miller.

Glynn: Yeah, I know. That's why you're gonna die.

L'Italien: I also suffocated Dorothy Paine.

Glynn: Who?

L'Italien: Dorothy Paine. She a waitress up in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Glynn: You confessing another murder?

L'Italien: Uh-huh.

Glynn: I'll notify the proper authorities.

L'Italien: Wait! I also suffocated Ethel Peterson and Gertrude Victor. And Mary Rapp. And Christina Trudell and Eleanor Hughes, Linda Lomaz, Lisa Masters, and Lorraine McCarthy and Betty Case and Irene Martin and Amelia Nugent, Elizabeth Phelps and Lucille Upton and Esther Vaughan. Well, I did.

(In Mukada's office.)

Mukada: Richard L'Italien confessed to 39 murders, all young women. He suffocated them all.

Sister Pete: If the Governor had his way he would execute L'Italien 39 times.

Mukada: I have to get him to pray.

Sister Pete: Ray, listen, how can you go along with this? You're as much against the death penalty as I am.

Mukada: Of course I am, Pete. I don't know. Maybe if anyone deserves to die, Richard L'Italien deserves to die. Maybe the world will breathe a little easier once he's gone. My job is not to make judgments. My job is to be by his side. My place is with him if he needs me. (Lights a candle.) Pray for him, Mary. That's for him. That's for all of them.

(On death row.)

L'Italien: Have you ever had bulls balls, Father?

Mukada: No, sir, I can't say that I have.

L'Italien: Well, they serve them every year at the Bohemian Grove.

Mukada: What's that? That's a restaurant?

L'Italien: Oh, man, you never heard of the Bohemian Grove? It's a retreat in San Francisco. You know, for investment brokers, bankers, politicians, intellectuals. Amazing you're not hip to it. Of course, I grew up in the Bay Area so we always, you know, was having them. Even as a kid I always wanted to go, you know. Wow. Wouldn't that be something? Swim in the Russian River with some secretary of state, piss on a bed next to Donald Trump. I mean, these guys are the elite, men of power. Men. Women were excluded but the Supreme fucking Court forced the Bohemian to let the cooches in. Can you believe that? Once they were in, I wanted nothing to do with it. I was done.

Mukada: But who knows the women you would have met?

L'Italien: Not the kind I wanted to fuck.

Mukada: There's a big difference between wanting to fuck a woman and wanting to kill her.

L'Italien: Is there? Have you ever been laid, Father?

Mukada: No.

L'Italien: Then what would you know about pussy? What would you know about anything?

Mukada: All I know is that once upon a time you wanted to walk in the woods with important people and now, instead, you're here.

L'Italien: I'm here because I love women. I love every woman I see. Tall ones, thin ones, fatties. It's true. You know, I once worked a circus for the summer, and I fucked the dwarf while the fat lady watched us. I fucked trailer park trash in West Virginia, I fucked rich girls up the ass in Aspen, I fucked PhD's, retards... You know, once I fucked an amputee with both legs missing.

Mukada: Fucking them isn't the same as loving them.

L'Italien: You sound just like a shrink I had once in juvie. She tried to tell me that I hated women. I showed her.

Mukada: You fucked her?

L'Italien: And her daughter. Then I snuffed them both.

Mukada: If you love women so much, why do you kill them?

L'Italien: Because when you love someone, they own you, they possess you. I will not be possessed.

Mukada: I'm here to give you absolution for your sins. Do you wish to be absolved?

L'Italien: Fuck, yes! Shit. You know, they told me I could order anything I wanted as my last meal. I shoulda ordered bulls balls.

(In the execution chamber.)

L'Italien: I'm really not ready for this. Oh, man.

(Hill narrating.)

Hill: First, the inmate's given Sodium Pentothal, the same anasthetic used in hospitals for major surgery. Then, a massive dose of Pancuronium Bromide, that paralyzes the diaphragm. Then, Potassium Chloride to stop the heart. Don't try this at home, kids!

(In the execution chamber.)

Nathan: He's finished.

(In Glynn's office.)

Glynn: Hello.

Sister Pete: Hello. Christ was executed, you know. And if he hadn't been, the world would be a very different place.

Glynn: A better place?

Sister Pete: I didn't say that. I want my job back.

Glynn: OK.

Sister Pete: I don't have to beg?

Glynn: If it'll make you feel better, beg.

Sister Pete: I just want you to know that I still disagree with you on the death penalty.

Glynn: Even for a cyst like L'Italien?

Sister Pete: Leo, "thou shalt not kill." The Bible makes that pretty clear. You cannot take a human life for any reason.

Glynn: Yeah, but the Bible also says, "An eye for an eye." Which says to me that if you kill, you die. Seems to me God's talking out of both sides of his mouth. Maybe he's just as confused about the death penalty as the rest of us. All I know for sure is, no one's come to claim L'Italien's body, so we're gonna stick him in a cheap pine box, stamp an ID number on the lid, and throw him in a hole at Potter's Field. There he'll be, with no one to grieve for him.

Sister Pete: I grieve for him.

Glynn: Yeah, I know. That's why I love you. That's why I'm glad you're back.

(Hill narrating, with shots of Mukada in his office, blowing out the candle.)

Hill: There's this brother on death row somewheres, he checked in when he was 16. He sat there another 16 years while the courts and lawyers argued about this and that. While he waited he painted a mural on his wall. For all those years he painted, not letting a soul see what he was up to. Finally, when he was 32 and had spent more life on death row than in his mama's house, all his appeals were exhausted. He was about to die. As he was about to be let out for the final time, he finally unveiled his masterpiece. All there was were six words, "Death is certain. Life is not." The next day the hacks painted over it. Peace out.