[Intro — SPOKEN, GRAVE, PROCEDURAL] In the Superior Court of the Ninth District, justice is a matter of evidence, intent, and the impartial application of the law. Tonight, the court will consider a most unusual case. Two attorneys. One dead relationship. And the question of whether a person can be guilty of loving someone beyond the limits of reason. The prosecution will argue that the defendant destroyed the life they shared. The defense will argue that the prosecution did the same. The court will hear both sides. It will find neither innocent. [PROSECUTION — measured, precise] Your Honor, the facts are simple. The defendant made a promise. The defendant broke it. The defendant watched the damage spread And called the wreckage an accident. [DEFENSE — cool, cutting] Objection. The prosecution has omitted The circumstances preceding the alleged offense. [PROSECUTION] The circumstances were love. [DEFENSE] Precisely. An unreliable witness. [Verse 1 — PROSECUTION] Exhibit A: the letters. Exhibit B: the ring. Exhibit C: the little lies That didn't mean a thing. Exhibit D: the empty side Of a bed we used to share. Exhibit E: the defendant's claim That nobody was there. [Verse 1 — DEFENSE] The prosecution speaks of evidence As if evidence were truth. As if every scar were proof of guilt, Every silence proof of abuse. I submit the prosecution's heart As Exhibit F. A closed and hostile chamber With no room for anything else. [Duet — OBJECTIONS] PROSECUTION: You swore you'd never leave me. DEFENSE: You swore you'd let me breathe. PROSECUTION: You made a home of promises. DEFENSE: You made a cage of me. PROSECUTION: I gave you everything. DEFENSE: You kept the deed. BOTH: The court will please disregard The parts we cannot read. [Verse 2 — PROSECUTION] Let the record show That I was there when you were ill. I kept the lights on. I paid the bills. I swallowed every bitter word To keep the peace between us. [Verse 2 — DEFENSE] Let the record show That peace was just another word For doing what you wanted While I waited to be heard. You call it sacrifice. I call it keeping score. You gave me everything you had And made me owe you more. [PROSECUTION — rising] You knew the terms! [DEFENSE — rising] You changed the terms! [PROSECUTION] You took an oath! [DEFENSE] You wrote the oath! [PROSECUTION] You ruined me! [DEFENSE] You wanted me ruined! [Both — overlapping, increasingly frantic] PROSECUTION: I loved you! DEFENSE: You owned me! PROSECUTION: I saved you! DEFENSE: You condemned me! PROSECUTION: I would have died for you! DEFENSE: You made me wish you would! [Instrumental Break / Courtroom Murmur] [Verse 3 — PROSECUTION, quieter] Your Honor, I request That the record be sealed. There are matters of the heart That should never be revealed. [Verse 3 — DEFENSE, almost tender] Your Honor, I concur. Let the record disappear. There are things we did for love That sound different when they're heard. [Duet — FINAL ARGUMENT] PROSECUTION: If I am guilty, so are you. DEFENSE: If I am guilty, so are you. PROSECUTION: Then let the sentence fit the crime. DEFENSE: Then let the punishment be mine. PROSECUTION: No more appeals. DEFENSE: No more delays. BOTH: We have exhausted every way To make the other one obey. [Outro — SPOKEN, PROCEDURAL] The court finds that both attorneys have violated the standards of professional conduct. Their licenses to practice law are revoked. Their partnership is dissolved. Their final agreement, drafted and signed in advance, was ruled legally binding by neither heaven nor earth. But the parties honored it nonetheless. In a mutually agreed suicide pact, each killed the other. There were no surviving witnesses. No appeal was filed. The case remains open. [Pause] Court is adjourned.
