Liberty.txt

gistfile1.txt

INT. COURTROOM -- DAY

Will stands before JUDGE MALONE (40) being arraigned. It is
fairly unceremoniuous, the coutroom nearly empty, save Will
and the PROSECUTOR. Lambeau walks in from the back.

                        WILL
           There is a lengthy legal precedent,
           Your Honor, going back to 1789, whereby
           a defendent may claim self-defense
           against an agent of the government
           where the act is shown to be a defense
           against tyranny, a defense of liberty--

The Judge interrupts to address the prosecutor.

                        JUDGE MALONE
           Mr. Simmons, Officer McNeely who signed
           the complaint isn't in my courtroom.
           Why is that?

                        PROSECUTOR
           He's in the hospital with a broken
           knee, Your Honor. But I have
           depositions from the other officers.

                        WILL
           Henry Ward Beecher proclaimed, in his
           Proverbs From Plymouth Pulpit back in
           1887, that "Every American citizen is
           by birth, a sworn officer of the state.
           Every man is a policeman." As for the
           other officers, even William Congrave
           said; "he that first cries out 'stop
           thief' is 'oft he that has stolen the
           treasure."

                        PROSECUTOR
           Your Honor--

Will cranks it up.

                        WILL
                 (to Prosecutor)
           I am afforded the right to speak in my
           own defense by our constitution, Sir.
           The same document which guarantees my 
           right to liberty. "Liberty," in case
           you've forgotten, is "the soul's right
           to breathe, and when it cannot take a
           long breath laws are girded too tight.
           Without liberty, man is a syncope."
                 (beat, to Judge)
           Ibid. Your Honor.

                        PROSECUTOR
           Man is a what?

                        WILL
           Julius Caesar proclaimed-- Though he
           be wounded--"Magna..."

The Judge interrupts.