Alan老师的陈词
Boston Legal 七月 30th, 2008
自己翻译的作品中,最喜欢的一段。绿色部分是我翻的
US Supreme Court, in the Great Hall, Alan and Denny stand at the appellant's table; D.A.G. Ronald
Lazarus at the respondent's table. Carl and Audrey are seated in the room.
The Marshall of the Court: Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme
Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the Court is now sitting.
God save the Unites States and this Honorable Court!
As she goes through the traditional call to order, the nine Justices of the US Supreme Court appear on
cue from the curtains directly behind the chairs on the bench.
Denny Crane: Sotto to Alan. I had no idea they sat so close. We're here, Alan, we're here. Look at us. In the
Supreme Court of the United States.
Alan Shore: Right.
Denny Crane: He reaches over to give Alan a one-armed hug. I love you, man.
Alan Shore: He puts his arm around Denny. I love you too, Denny. Carl coughs delicately behind them.
They sit as Alan pats Denny on the back.
Chief Justice Roberts: This morning we will hear arguments in Serra versus the State of Louisiana. Mr Lazarus.
Lazarus steps up to the lectern.
D.A.G. Ronald Lazarus: Mr Chief Justice.
Chief Justice Roberts: How do you distinguish this case from Croker where we barred the death penalty for nonhomicide
rape?
D.A.G. Ronald Lazarus: Well, first Mr. Chief Justice, Coker was linked to the rape of adult women.
Denny Crane: Sotto. Dull. Where's the remote?
Alan Shore: Ssshhh.
D.A.G. Ronald Lazarus: And second, that ruling relied on evidence of a national trend against execution for nonhomicide
cases. Today, five States make child rape a capital offense. We also have the death penalty for air
piracy and treason, also non-homicide offenses. Denny is making eyes at Justice Ginsbery. When a child is
raped the impact is beyond horrible. Beyond repair. And the fact that the raped child doesn't die doesn't make it
any less heinous, any less unconscionable and less unspeakable…
Denny farts. Everybody looks at him as he sits acting innocent.
In Jerry's office, he is there alone.
Dana Strickland: She knocks and comes in. Hey, Jerry! Ready for lunch? He doesn't answer. What's wrong?
Jerry Espenson: A beat. Lorraine informs me you work as an escort at her service. Is that true, Dana? Dana
doesn't answer. Is that true, Dana?
Dana Strickland: Yes.
Jerry Espenson: He sighs. A beat. Please leave.
Dana Strickland: Could I have an opportunity to explain?
Jerry Espenson: I don't think there is an explanation you could offer I would find satisfactory. Dana, please
leave.
Dana Strickland: Jerry… Jerry shakes his head. I kept part of my life a lie. When I tell you I love you, that isn't
a lie. What we had the other night that was not a lie.
Jerry doesn't answer. He shakes his head and points to the door. Dana leaves.
US Supreme Court, in the Great Hall, D.A.G. Ronald Lazarus is still at the lectern.
D.A.G. Ronald Lazarus: The punishment is not disproportionate. It reflects the current national consensus. This
court has been criticized recently for not standing up for the little guy. Well, I'm standing here today asking you
to stick up for an eight-year old girl who was raped by the defendant.
Chief Justice Roberts: Okay, Mr Lazarus, the red light indicates your time is up.
D.A.G. Ronald Lazarus: Thank you, Mr Chief Justice.
Denny Crane: He reaches over to clasp Alan's hand. This is it.
Alan Shore: I think I'd rather be fishing.
Denny Crane: Go get 'em.
Alan Shore: He goes to the lectern. May it please the court, Mr Chief Justice, currently there are 3,300 on
death row in this country. My client is one of only two who didn't commit murder.
Justice Antonin Scalia: Are you here to give us a box score?
Alan Shore: I'd like to provide a context, Your Honor. In Louisiana 180 men have been prosecuted for child rape
since this law went into effect in 1985. Leonard Serra is the only one facing death.
Justice Antonin Scalia: Look, Counsel, Louisiana law permits death for child rape.
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Alan Shore: And I would respectfully submit that law is unconstitutional.
Justice Antonin Scalia: Based on what?
Alan Shore: Based on this court's find in Coker that the death penalty…
Justice Antonin Scalia: Spoke to the rape of an adult, not a child. Maybe you need to read it again. And even if I
were to concede your point, which I don't, there's a national consensus now in favor of authorizing the death
penalty for non-homicide rape.
Alan Shore: Why? Because Louisiana passed a barbaric law, joining the ranks of Saudi Arabia, Uganda,
China…
Justice Antonin Scalia: And other States in this country!
Alan Shore: Five! Five States. That's hardly a consensus. And none of those other States authorize death for
first-time offenders as Louisiana does. And it should also be noted in your reliance on a national consensus you
look to transcend legislation. Laws passed by politicians mostly around election time when they're desperate to
appear tough on crime. The people who care the most about the welfare of children, doctors and social workers,
the people who actually treat abused kids, have filed amicus briefs asking you to strike down this law. Because
they know the death penalty in fact does not protect kids at all, but rather it makes it less likely that children,
even if they have been abused, will report the crime, especially if a family member is involved. No kid wants to
be responsible for a relative being executed! And children often get it wrong! They are uniquely prone to
suggestibility and coercion, not that the police would ever be guilty of that, of course. But we already have an
epidemic of wrongful convictions in this country. As many as 15,000 a year! Too many of them ending up on
death row. And child rape prosecutions are especially unreliable. And now we wanna add the death penalty to
make these mistakes irrevocable? Whatever one's feelings are on capital punishment, and I realize with this
court one seems to be for it, you simply cannot ignore the fact that we often screw it up! We convict the
innocent. We botch executions. Which is why many States have declared a moratorium on capital punishment.
That's your true national consensus! And yet, here comes Louisiana seeking to expand the death penalty to
non-homicide cases. And this is my favorite part, to kill the mentally disabled! Are we serious?
Chief Justice Beyer: This defendant was never officially pronounced disabled.
Alan Shore: But he is just the same, Your Honor. He has an IQ of 70. They're gonna kill him because there was
no official pronouncement?
Chief Justice Alito: The way this goes, Counsel, is we work off a record which you are not free to amend.
Alan Shore: But, by record you simply mean the conviction. Reading of the entire record shows that he denies
his guilt, and always has, he has no prior arrests, that the victim never even made the accusation until a full
twenty months after the alleged crime, there was no DNA…
Chief Justice Alito: Factual innocence is not something you get to argue.
Alan Shore: Well, how silly is that? You're deciding whether or not to kill someone and his possible innocence is
irrelevant?
Chief Justice Roberts: Mr. Shore! I don't like your demeanor, your tone, and I would remind you of where you
are.
Alan Shore: I know exactly where I am, Mr. Chief Justice. I'm in the Supreme Court of the United States, and let
me tell you, you folks aren't as hot as all get out.
Carl Sack: Under his breath. Dear God.
Alan Shore: Let's consider your respective Senate confirmations. You all testified under oath that you never
actually considered how you would rule on abortion. You must be kidding me! Never gave it a thought? No
perjury there? Justice Scalia? You went duck hunting with Vice President Cheney while he was a named
defendant in a case before this court. Congratulations on not getting shot, by the way, but you didn't exactly
avoid the appearance of impropriety there? Justice Alito? You were caught hearing a case involving a company
you'd invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in. Ha! No conflict of interest there? You also don't recuse
yourself in terrorism cases even though your best friend is Michael Chernov, head of Homeland Security?
Seems to me the Supreme Court of the United States should be made of sterner stuff. Am I right? Justice
Thomas? At least put down the magazine!
Chief Justice Thomas: Hey!
Denny gasps. Alan turns to smile delightedly. Denny makes a fist in triumph.
Chief Justice Roberts: I really don't think you mean to come after us, Counsel.
Alan Shore: Oh, but I do! In your short term as Chief Justice this court with your narrow majority has turned back
the clock on civil rights, school segregation, equal protection, free speech, abortion, campaign finance. You've
been overtly and shamelessly pro-business, making it impossible for some plaintiffs to so much as sue
corporations, especially big oil and big tobacco! Somebody's gotta go after you! Exxon Mobil made over forty
billion dollars in 2007.Forty billion! And yet nineteen years after the Valdez oil spill plaintiffs are still waiting to be
fully compensated. Justice Scalia? You wanna overturn the verdict altogether because it's not the company's
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fault that the ship's captain got drunk? But he was a drunk! And they knew it! Perhaps not the best choice to
pilot fifty million gallons of crude oil through an environmentally sensitive area!
Justice Antonin Scalia: You are getting so far off point.
Alan Shore: My point is, who are you people? You've transformed this court from being a governmental branch
devoted to civil rights and liberties into a protector of discrimination! A guardian of government! Carl is sitting
with his hand hiding his face. A slave to monied interest and big business, and today, hallelujah! You seek to
kill a mentally disabled man! I'm curious, as a group, how many executions have you all actually witnessed? A
beat. I'm sorry that's… that's unfair. He collects himself. I've seen five. And it is the most inhumane, cruel and
unusual hypocrisy of a system that promises to be just.
Justice Antonin Scalia: I'll ask you to leave your personal politics out of this.
Alan Shore: And I'd ask you to do exactly the same! The Supreme Court was intended to be free and
unadulterated by politics. It is now dominated by it. You're hand-picked by Presidents with ideological agendas,
and of the two dozen five-four decisions of your 2006-2007 term, nineteen broke straight across ideological
lines. That's politics! And while you claim to be against judicial activism you rewrote--check that--invented new
law to decide a presidential election for God's sake! If that's how it's going to be then at least have the decency
to put your names on ballots like the rest of the politicians so that we the people get a voice!
Chief Justice Roberts: Mr. Shore! You have said quite enough. Now you might consider using what little time
you have remaining to represent your client instead of your own left wind agenda.
Alan Shore: Contrite. Yes. A long beat. I absolutely cannot stand up here and ask anybody to excuse the rape
of a child. If it were my child I'd want to shoot the son of a bitch in front of the courthouse. But the more evolved
response would be to take into account all the circumstances, and to deliberate and decide whether Leonard
Serra truly represents the worst of the worst of humanity for whom we reserve the death penalty. I've been
advised by my advisors not to talk about Leonard, but I am going to talk about him because Leonard Serra is not
in any way the worst. Leonard is not a son of a bitch. Emotionally, intellectually, he is a child! Is this really a
person to make an example of? Of all the men Louisiana has prosecuted for child rape since the passage of this
law only Leonard has been sentenced to death. Does it strike you as fair that the one guy singled out is the one
with an IQ of seventy? Really? He takes a moment to compose himself. Leonard Serra is black. In Louisiana
historically it's been blacks that have been executed for rape in non-homicide cases. In the last hundred years
Louisiana has executed twenty-nine men for rape. All were black. On the face of this building it reads, "Equal
justice under law." I would beg you to honor that. Finally, I'd like to say, despite my tone, I have always been
and still am in enormous awe of this institution. Elected officials represent the will of the American people, but
the Supreme Court has always reflected our soul and our conscience. My conscience and I hope yours simply
cannot reconcile executing a mentally disabled man, whether he was officially pronounced as such or not. We
have to be better than that! Even if Louisiana isn't. You know, on the back of this building is that magnificent
sculpture, part of which symbolizes the concept of justice tempered by mercy. If mercy truly lives within these
walls, within your hearts as Justices, as people, you cannot cause this man to be injected with chemicals for the
purpose of killing him for a crime it's very possible he did not commit. He asked me to tell you that. That he did
not commit it. He felt it was important that you know that. A moment. He also asked me to tell you he doesn't
want to die.
About
呵呵 路过~~~