Insanity - Recap

A lawsuit is in progress. The jury observes a video clip, in which a teenager calmly walks through a campus-shooting chaos, and takes out his victims from close range. The DA emphasizes on the teenager’s body language to prove that his mental condition was normal while he carried out his attacks. Ollie is representing the defendant – Matthew Gayles – and puts forth the argument that the jury does not need to decide whether or not Matthew killed. Everyone can clearly see that he shot three students dead, and injured another. However, they do need to analyze and rethink if Matthew was in complete sanity while committing the crime. That will help in proving whether or not he is accountable.

Ollie shows a picture of Matthew’s elder brother to the jury. His name is Brian. The brothers got estranged after their parents were killed when they were with a drunk driver. When Brian got old enough to take legal custody of Matthew, he did. One day, Brian died for consuming a treacherous amount of alcohol at the behest of his mates. This turned Matthew into a schizophrenic patient, and all he wanted was revenge. This pushed him into the erratic behavior we see on the video.
When Harry wants to know how the opening statement went at the court, all Cassie says is that it went fine. Angered by the extra short praise, Ollie lays in on her – is that all he deserves? A deflating comment, and that too in front of Harry? Adam butts in angrily into the fracas as well. However, Harry puts the situation under control. Then she asks Cassie to take over the meeting.

When it is Adam’s turn to handle his case, he understands Chunhua’s problems, and suggests a way out. She is about to be evicted due to some kind of government project in her locality. Adam points out that the project is supposed to create jobs, and with the economy in shambles, it will be hard to convince any jury that the eviction is unjust. Chunhua lives with her dad, and both of them will have to suffer the brunt. Adam tells her that they should take the best deal available, and move on. Tommy has taken up an unusual case. His client is a man who owns a vegetable business and is also the owner of a mortuary. One of his customers had asked for an environment-friendly burial of her mother. It meant no headstone or engraving. While she got the burial done the way she wanted, she is charging Tommy’s client because he uses fertilizers from the burial ground for his vegetable produce. This implies that by buying vegetables from him, the customer has been eating the stuff that was fertilized from her mother’s grave.

Back at the campus shootout lawsuit, one of the survivors takes to the stand. The DA cues her to say what happened on the fateful day. While she saw the teenager on the rampage, she knew her life was changing for the worse. Later, when her injury was obvious, the assailant came up to her and told her she was not his target, and he was sorry for whatever he did to her. When Ollie cross-examines the witness, it turns out that she had tried to heal the defendant at a later instance. Next up, the DA shows the jury a clip, in which the defendant claims he is not crazy. He also says all of them deserved death. When Ollie and Cassie are back at the office, Harry wants to know the progress. While Ollie remarks positively, Cassie points out that testimony from the victims could be taking their fight in a negative direction. Livid about Cassie’s outlook, Ollie is about to fire her rather brashly. However, Harry is quick to notify that if Cassie gets off the case now, it will not look right to the jury. Moreover, she tells Ollie that when Cassie is skeptical about the way Ollie is going, he should spare a thought as to why she thinks so.

It turns out Tommy’s client was aware of the possibilities that buyers would have a problem with the food fertilized on grounds that feed on human remains. While he was aware of it, he did not make an attempt to conceal the fact – however he was not explicit about it as well. At the shootout trial, the DA shows the jury another video clip. This one shows the defendant being tough with the police. The defendant says that it is his way of getting justice for his tragic life. After that, when the DA brings a detective to the stand, he testifies that the defendant was defiant, and did not want a lawyer to represent him. All he wanted was revenge for his brother’s death. Moreover, the detective reveals, that defendant Matthew Gayles did not sounded excited or agitated while saying all this. When Ollie cross-examines, he brings up the fact that the detective was not qualified to comment on the mental state of the defendant.

Later, when Ollie and Cassie are out for dinner, they hope to bond stronger as a team. However, Cassie reveals that she was herself a near-victim in a high school shootout. Her best friend died, but she escaped the bullet by the nick of chance. Moreover, she is still scared of walking around in any campus. Later, when Harry hears about this, she rebukes Cassie for keeping the story to herself all this while. When Cassie says she thought she would be able to handle the case without bringing it up, Harry unexpectedly tells her that she could close the case if she wanted. Ollie is in despair. Meanwhile, as Tommy explains to his client that settling with his customers would be a better idea than to fight the case, he fears having to shut down business because all his customers could come for cash retrievals.

Later at the shootout trial, Ollie brings a Dr. Edwin Bonner to the stand. He testifies that Matthew suffered from acute depression and psychological disorientation owing to the death of his last legal guardian – his elder brother Brian. He also says that Matthew told him whatever he did was what dead Brian wanted him to do. However, the DA points out that Dr. Bonner heard Matthew say that only after the shootout. Moreover, how could Matthew have apologized to a survivor for injuring her if he was actually insane? However, Dr. Bonner insists that Matthew needs care, and not something as bad as jail. At the fertilization lawsuit, when the complainant’s lawyer points out that the seller purposely kept the customers from knowing about his process, Tommy argues that at least he is doing something to make burial a more environment-friendly process.

Later, Chunhua expresses her gratitude to Adam for working hard on the eviction matter. She also wants to work as an administrative assistant in the firm. Adam thinks that is a great idea, but when he tells Harry about the new recruit, she points out that Adam and Chunhua have slept with each other, which could bring about complications. Harry wants Adam to refuse her the job, but cannot anymore when Chunhua showers thanks on her. After putting Matthew on the stand, Cassie asks him about the shootout. Matthew claims it was justified. A while later, when Cassie starts with a set of intriguing questions, Matthew is already in a rage – he shouts that he does not want to talk about his brother, and then begins a strange conversation with his dead brother. Ollie gets up to conclude it right there.

Assistant DA, Kepler, cross-examines, and brings out a sequence of events that led to the murders Matthew committed. Kepler appears successful in proving that Matthew first approached the police to punish those who egged his brother on to drink fatally at the frathouse, then he got himself a gun and shot the frathouse friends after finding out where they ought to be during school hours. Matthew agrees to all of it. At the fertilization hearing, the judge lets the businessman go free after seeing the many advantages that his environment-friendly mortuary has been able to ensue, especially compared to conventional burial involving numerous materials, cost and damage to forests.

At the shootout trial, the DA comes out with a closing statement that emphasizes on how premeditated Matthew’s actions were. However, Cassie, in her closing statement points out that Matthew had been mindless in most of the steps he took to avenge his brother’s death. Moreover, losing his parents, and then his brother were enough to put him in such a mental state. She even recounts her experience in high school when a madman went on rampage. She insists that Matthew be put somewhere but not in jail. Later, the DA tells Cassie and Ollie, that the best deal she can offer is 30 years. When the jury returns, it finds Matthew guilty. Later when depressed, Cassie wants to be left alone as Ollie tries to console her. When he is about to leave, she says may be she could go for a beer.

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