as far as I remember
The appeals lawyer hedges his account of brief talks with Adams, sounding careful and reserved.
To the best of my recollection...The Thin Blue Line · 1988 — 第 17 / 20 章 · 4'18" · C1
The Case the Supreme Court Reversed, Explained：set the wheels of justice in motion
A defense lawyer walks through the appeals: the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirms the conviction 9-0, then the U.S. Supreme Court reverses it 8-1, giving new hope. But the district attorney's move to commute the sentence to life kills the retrial, and the lawyer admits, "I was absolutely shocked."
あらすじ
The chapter follows a case through two courts and then out of reach. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declines to overturn the conviction, 9-0; the U.S. Supreme Court later reverses, 8-1. Before a retrial can happen, the district attorney asks the governor to commute the death sentence to life, removing the chance to try the case again.
注目の表現
to the best of my recollectionunanimous decisionfront-page storyvowed a retrial
00:00 / 04:18Space 再生 · ← → セリフ移動 · R リピート
いま
このシーンの表現
set the wheels of justice in motion
get the legal machine moving
The lawyer describes how one decision to prosecute started a machine no one could stop.
One complaint set the wheels of justice in motion.
このシーンの他の表現
- to the best of my recollection
as far as I remember
- unanimous decision
a decision by everyone
- front-page story
a story on page one
- vowed a retrial
promised to try the case again
- give up a practice
quit one's law practice
このシーンのメモ一覧
68 行のセリフに 21 件のメモ
not relevant at all
it's totally irrelevant.ought to have won
I felt we, A: should have won...hit very hard
B: certainly shouldn't have been slapped so hard...correct or mistaken
they are never saying the trial judge was right or wrong.end up as a result
If you tally all those votes, I come out 10-8.Link come out into one sound, like co-mout.
If you tally all those votes, I come out 10-8.no tolerance for it
because there was no room in his book for a cop-killer...police killer — Loaded and hostile; common in news and police talk.
because there was no room in his book for a cop-killer...object clause: A whole clause acts as the object of thought, showing his expectation.
I took that to heart. I thought I was going to get my chance.relative clause: The that-clause describes which reasons are meant: ones kept hidden.
For reasons that were never really made public...the chance of something
and that eliminated the possibility of a retrial...cannot avoid thinking
I can't help but believe...cannot help but: Cannot help but plus a bare verb means you cannot stop yourself.
I can't help but believe...The t in can't often drops, and help but runs together.
I can't help but believe...the wrong way
in the wrong direction and they got going so fast no one could stop them.got started and kept moving — Casual; describes something that starts and cannot stop.
in the wrong direction and they got going so fast no one could stop them.ruined or confused
it's all gotten messed up and derailed again.ruined — Everyday and informal; keep it out of formal writing.
it's all gotten messed up and derailed again.The v in given almost disappears, so it sounds like give-nup.
Since his trial, I have given up my practice of criminal law.do a different thing
I'd rather do something else.「The Case the Supreme Court Reversed」を読み解く
What's really going on
This is the part of the story where the law works and still fails. The state's highest criminal court affirms the conviction 9-0; the U.S. Supreme Court later reverses 8-1, which should mean a second trial. Then the case is taken off the table: the district attorney asks the governor to commute the death sentence to life, which, as the lawyer explains, 'eliminated the possibility of a retrial based on the reversal.' The lawyer is left counting votes — 9-0 one way, 1-8 the other, 'if you tally all those votes, I come out 10-8' — and still the case was reversed. What stays with him is not the score but the machinery: someone 'set the wheels of justice in motion' in the wrong direction, and it went 'so fast no one could stop them.' He says he has since 'given up my practice of criminal law.' The chapter is about a system that can be right on paper and still leave a man in prison.
Theme
JusticeThe appeals go in the defendant's favor and change nothing: the sentence is commuted before a retrial can expose the truth.
DutyThe lawyer takes the failure personally — he felt it was up to him to stop the case — and quits criminal law over it.
このチャプターで学べること
- A lopsided vote can still end in a reversal.
- One prosecution decision can outrun everyone who made it.
- A commuted sentence can quietly erase the right to retry.
- Quitting a career is the film's quietest verdict.
発音のポイント
- come out — Link come out into one sound, like co-mout.
- can't help but — The t in can't often drops, and help but runs together.
- given up — The v in given almost disappears, so it sounds like give-nup.
I took that to heart. I thought I was going to get my chance.The lawyer reads the D.A.'s vow of a retrial as a promise to him, then waits for the second trial that the commutation will prevent.
So I felt it was up to me to stop them and I didn't.The confession at the center of the scene: he believes the case was on him to stop, and admits that he failed to do it.
Since his trial, I have given up my practice of criminal law.The consequence he names: because the system could fail this badly, he has stopped taking criminal cases altogether.
They are saying they disagree with the judge.The lawyer's reading of an appellate reversal: it is not a ruling on the trial judge's correctness but a statement of disagreement.
it's all gotten messed up and derailed again.The image for how the case ran away: once the machinery started, it spun out of control and could not be brought back.
Yet the case was reversed.A flat note of disbelief: the vote totals and the outcome do not line up, yet the reversal stands and the man stays convicted.
このシーンについての質問
What happened in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals?
It affirmed Randall Adams's conviction 9-0, a unanimous decision against his lawyers. The state's highest criminal court, in Austin, refused to overturn the case.
What did the U.S. Supreme Court do?
It reversed the conviction 8-1. That reversal gave the defense new hope and, legally, opened the door to a retrial.
Why was there no retrial?
The district attorney asked the governor to commute Adams's death sentence to life. As the lawyer says, that 'eliminated the possibility of a retrial based on the reversal.'
Why did the lawyer stop practicing criminal law?
He says he gave up his criminal practice after this trial. The case left him feeling that justice had miscarried so badly — and that he had failed to stop it — that he preferred to do something else.
The Thin Blue Line · 全 20 章
すべて見る →
次のチャプター · 第 18 章came over meDavid Harris's Same M.O.
第 1 章meant to beRandall Meets David at the Gas Station
第 2 章give a damnDetective Forces Adams to Sign
第 3 章graveyard shiftOfficer Wood Shot at Traffic Stop
第 4 章swear up and downDavid Harris Brags About the Killing
第 5 章come to find outRecounting the Night of the Shooting
第 6 章acting strangeRandall Recounts the Motel Night
第 7 章went blankAdams's Statement Labeled a Confession
第 8 章under the impressionThe Car With No Bullet Marks
第 9 章scot-freeDavid Harris Gets Off Scot-Free
第 10 章cover forWhy the Story Was Two Hours Late
第 11 章refreshed her memoryMrs. Miller Changes Her Story
第 12 章hinge onA Couple Witnesses the Shooting
第 13 章wheels start rollingWitnesses Testify for Money
第 14 章without remorseDr. Grigson's Prison Test
第 15 章put food on the tableDr. Death Takes the Stand
第 16 章hard-nosedRandall Adams on Death Row
再生中 · 第 17 章set the wheels of justice in motionThe Case the Supreme Court Reversed
第 18 章came over meDavid Harris's Same M.O.
第 19 章tore my head offThe Scales Are Not Balanced
第 20 章point-blank rangeDavid Harris Confesses in the Bayou第 17 / 20 章 · 残り約 12 分