“The only thing necessary
for the triumph of evil is for
good men to do nothing”

Edmund Burke

Screenplay by James Silveritt.

“The proposal for a new law. Raising underage drinking threshold from 21 to 28
years.”

Houston Bar: Law Bar representative
Charles Stinky: Renaissance Services Corporation representative
Peggy Holmes: Harris County DA
Terry Pou: Harris County Judge
Mike Green: Houston’s City Council member

Houston Bar: Thank you for this opportunity. It is a great pleasure to see you
again. We have the responsibility to face the demands of this century with
proactive thinking, and be ready to tailor our ways to provide for more secure
living for us, and our posterity. Now, let me share some news according to the
meeting’s schedule. Houston lawyers feel that their job security is lower then
in previous year, and some even think about closing practice. Our think tank has
analyzed the situation, and came up with a proposition to update age threshold
for underage drinking offense from 21 to 28 years, misdemeanor class C. By doing
so, we expect 10,000+ increase in related local arrests, and more than $1,000,000
collectable in attorney fees yearly. This creates a workplace for dozens of new
criminal attorneys and makes their jobs more secure.

Charles Stinky: You have a tunnel vision. What do you mean by misdemeanor class
C? That the system is supposed to provide a second chance? I’m telling you, some
people are merely born to have 24 hours control over them: they become more
productive, and more law-abiding people. It is obligatory to make this offense a
third-degree felony. The demand for our services is growing, and we have a plenty
of places to be filled.

Mike Green: Your topsy-turvy, inflated-style proposition does not have a smallest
token of respect for moral values. Just think about what you’ve both just told
us. Criminalize people to provide more job security for lawyers! Make an
underage drinking a felony to fill up vacant places in detention facilities?
This is merciless, and immoral. On top of that our people will never vote for
bill like this.

Peggy Holmes: Before making muckraking intrusions, and speaking on behalf of
“our people” you’d better think: who “our people” are? We live in conformist
society, addicted to own wishes, own pleasures, with own tunnel vision–right–
of the world. 90% of our people would never react to the most heinous things if
these things do not affect them personally–money and family things–you know it
perfectly well. On the one hand, we have serial murderers who ruthlessly drown
their children, then found innocent, and, on the other hand, we have many
innocent people who were routinely placed behind bars without any hope to return
and be reintegrated into the society. These people are dead alive because they
live in legal limbo, all legal links are cut off, and even if they manage to go
outside, the network of negative digital information made up about them will
catch them and put them back. Those who drive the truth twist the truth. Our
people are most likely to believe most pleasant and most reassuring things about
our justice system, than would pay attention to voices of innocents or
wrongfully convicted behind bars. We provide people with this kind of reassuring
information. Innocence or guilt is a petty academic question. The power to
sustain myths is everything. That’s all. Do you think that the majority of
people are much better that our senators in Austin who rarely read bills before
voting?

Mike Green: Don’t overunderestimate the character of our people. Sounds to me
that you–the Harris County DA–are assuming that there are a lot of innocent
people behind bars…

Terry Pou: I’m a felony judge for more the two decades. Over the past 20 years
we had a dramatic increase in caseload per judge. The math is fairly simple: if
judge is not capable to close a case in several minutes, the overall mass of
unresolved cases would screw him and put a jeopardy the whole justice system.
What is our first priority is to support and feed the trust of law-abiding
citizens in our justice system. Thereby your ideas about making this case a
felony are totally intolerable, and thereunder ought to be thrown into a
cesspool.

Charles Stinky: We have a system that works perfectly as a Swiss watch. When I
visit our facilities and see endless rows of people devoted to make their
assignments well and on time, I’m filled with tranquility and I’m proud for
designers, builders, and supporters of this system. Terry, we consistently
proved that people coming to us from your courtroom can be made obedient,
useful, and productive. As far as I remember, our last encounter was on Hawaiian
resort, where you could visit professional seminars between golf sessions. Let
me remind you, we sponsor trips like this, and it is an excellent place to make
links for fund raising during election campaigns. These trips are not solely
designed to save you from the drudgery of court work. The bottom line is that
the debts must be paid off.

Terry Pou: I have a rule in my courtroom: every monkey must mind only own
monkey’s business. The courtroom is the place where evil is constantly
challenges us, and nevertheless my actions are always lawful, just, and moral.

Peggy Holmes: As a DA I will not tolerate that business decisions would be
tailored to one’s subjective speculations. My people occurred to have deaf ears
when swarms of screaming people besieged my office and wanted to see you down
when adultery affairs between Harris County judge and a girl from Galveston club
came up. You know why this case was not given a green light. Even your wife has
reservations trusting them. I want to remind you the story of my one-time boss–
you know whom I’m talking about–which tells us about the caveats of sticking to
moral issues. I agree the debts must be paid in full.

Mike Green: By the end of this year, there are about 200,000 Texans behind bars,
and about a million if those in local jails, on parole, and on probation are
counted. Now Texas has more people behind bars then all the U.S. just few
decades ago. Much more Texans had passed through the system during their life
span. Every second of them have a child or children, more than half are not
violent offenders. Many have families, and extended families. In politics you
must know the statistics, and you must be aware that when the percentage of
Texas population that has direct knowledge–we must include extended families
and probably friends–about what is going on in our justice system will reach
30-50% the political winds will naturally flow in opposite direction.

Houston Bar: Let me remind you that we are here to discuss the initiative for
the new bill regarding underage drinking. Therefore we must keep focus on the
subject. Besides, our analytical group has made preliminary analysis that shows
no risk of system instability if we follow cautious and conservative course by
sticking to the bill draft, which classifies drinking under 28 years as
misdemeanor class C. By making this offense as not punishable by prison time, we
allow defendants to avoid the risk of being transported to one of the state’s
prison facilities, and keep the whole system balanced in the long term.

Charles Stinky: You lawyers always play with facts too much. That’s why people
hate you. Besides, your law school teachers pay more attention to buzzword
conspiracy theories about rival groups and different kinds of instabilities than
to plain and simple historical facts. Who were representatives from 13 states,
met in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention of 1787? Among 39 who
signed the Constitution there were 4 representatives from South Carolina, the
state where slaves were a majority by plain head count. They were merely a
property–right–but they were a majority! I tell you more, just before the
outbreak of Civil War and the beginning of invasion in 1861, Texas had 182,000
slaves that were about 30 percent of the Texas population. In fact, the Texas
state convention in Austin that took decision to secede from the Union was
composed of people who were 70% slave owners. There was no instability you are
talking about, but it was evidently the greed and envy of industrialized Northern
states that needed cheap labor from another states for their machines at the
expense of Southern states that produced cotton peacefully, and treated slaves
as children, directed, praised, petted, scolded, and protected.

Mike Green: You prison corporations guys are obviously put yourselves into the
dungeon. We are living in the XXI century, in the most free, prosperous,
powerful democracy in the world. We must provide true leadership, because the
rest of the world is full of injustice, misery, oppression, abuse of power,
tyranny, crimes and we must provide a model, and high standards. Why call these
ghosts of the past? There are no slaves in the US for about 150 years. All men
are created equal, they are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights
such as Liberty, Life, and the Pursuit of Happiness. You know these self-evident
Truths.

Peggy Holmes: We get the man, we see offense description provided by police
officers, and if we believe the offense is prosecutable–I tell you, we must
believe our fellow police officers–then the man must stay behind bars, period.
It is not our business to discuss the content of the Code, and it is wrong to
discredit our police officers. We have the books, our duty is to find the ways
to enforce the rules. Harris County prosecutors are priviledged enough as law
fraternity members. Those who do not abide by these truths are out. Those who
think that the system might be unstable just because we prosecute a hell a lot of
men are merely nincompoops. Trust me, Houston residents will always be focused on
discussions like why couple of serial child murderers are found innocent in our
courtrooms in couple of cases, while paying zero attention to the silent facts
that many tens of thousands of their fellow residents are sent behind bars
because we have successfully matched suspicions of petty crimes provided by
police officers to descriptions in our books. What Harris Country residents are
frequently don’t realize is that every successful prosecution even for petty
offense effectively transfers the person to the system forever. The system
strings attached, and the man is easily controlled. There is no hope, all doors
are shut down forever, a man crashed completely. Besides, remind you, we are
living in digital world. Therefore, the risk of instability is minimal. In fact,
our system is grossly underpopulated. I tell you, 50-75% is a realistic figure!

Charles Stinky: You are right, Mrs. Holmes! For the last thirty years we
observed a dramatic renaissance in our business expectations. The great influx
of workers, the prison construction boom, more than 70 corporations are steadily
increasing their profitability. By the end of the last year, the skills of
200,000 workers are employed to produce flags, stickers, home pets inventory,
furniture and many other items of high demand. The workers are co-operative,
easily trained, and effective. There is no other sort of the business, where I
could invest my own money with the same level of trust. This type of
organization gives me the peace of mind, and the sense of tranquility. Last year
we reached 10% annual increase in the bed capacity of our facilities.

Mike Green: You venomous two-legged creatures! It looks for me you assume as a
routine fact that the system is using the labor of many tens of thousands of
people who are likely totally innocent? And, you just told us, the last year the
number of workers in Texas prison facilities exceeded the number of slaves that
Texas had before the Civil War in 1861! Another words, Texas has recently passed
the milestone of restoring pre-Civil War slavery system or restoring of what is
essentially a substitute for this system?

Terry Pou: Mind your own monkey’s business. I’m a felony judge of the Harris
County, and I am warning that you can be cited for the contempt of the court. I
did not do it now and here, just because you represent the City Council.

Mike Green: Stop talking as if you were in your own cozy courtroom. Such a stand
is unworthy a man of honor, and is the true characteristic of a narrow heart and
a piddling politician. Our founding fathers had repeatedly warned us against the
danger of being effectually enslaved by the want of laws in America, and agaist
some judges who like sappers and miners are constantly working underground to
undermine the foundations of our country. If this is true–if thousands of
innocents are already ruined by these barbarities–I’d further say, one who could
consider all these as no crimes, must have been a moral monster, against whom
every hand must be…

Terry Pou: You don’t need to unbosom yourself here of your assumptions, nor we
need to unbosom ourselves mutually. The people you are talking about are not
slaves. They are found guilty, and because of that they were escorted to the
mentioned facilities. I am proud I’m the one who helped land lawbreakers there.
I had never lost a case for the more then twenty years of my career, and, as a
judge, my actions were always lawful, just, and moral.

Mike Green: This is United States of America and not some kind of communist
country where their leader is elected with 99% of all votes. How many seconds
you spend in average per case? Do you realize that there are always more complex
cases which involve mistaken ID, police and prosecutorial misconduct, bad
lawyering, false confessions, lies of a “victim”, coersion and torture? It is a
statistical issue. You flip coin, and you get statistical 50/50 result. How you
dare to say that you had never lost a case?

Terry Pou: I have prosecutors in my court. What you are talking about is their
monkey’s professional business. My business is to have papers and to sentence
people. I don’t have time for the rest. My salary ticks in six-minutes
increments, not in seconds increaments as you are suggesting. But, I have a
question for you, as one trying to pry into the slavery issues. What kind of
compromise XVIII century slave traders made when they had, firstly, the desire
to increase profits by taking onboard of a human cargo ship as many as possible
slaves, and…

Terry Pou’s mobile phone rings.

Terry Pou: Hello Kate…I told you I don’t trust boys with a lot of metal in
their lips, and even tits. No…I’m busy now, call me later.

Sorry, this was my daughter, just a stupid teenager. Where I stopped? Ah…and
secondly–the need for reducing their own legal risks stemming from too many
fatalities?

Mike Green: I have no idea.

Terry Pou: Mostly slave traders were able to justify before their bosses human
losses about 10%, and in some cases – 30%. In these cases, the act of slave
trading was considered on paper as 100% successful. I’m proud to say that
collateral damage during Harris County court sessions does not exceed 30%.
Besides, 150 years in human dimension, is a not a long period. Try talking to
people in their ninetieth, and think for yourself.

Silence. Peggy Holmes stands up, and takes a book from the bookshelf.

Peggy Holmes: I’m the DA of the largest county in Texas. The Texas was and–it
is important–is a Southern state, which means not only its geographic location,
but also the whole set of traditions, and mentality. Any judge knows that case
law it more practically important than the laws in books. So in Texas, the
traditional Southern views, which run deep, are practically more important than
many books. Now, this is Mitchell’s “Gone with the wind” in my hand. This novel
gives us the lead into the mind of young woman about 150 years ago. In
Scarlett’s mind, when she contracted prisoners for next to nothing for her
startup business, the terms prisoner and slave were interchangeable. She was
slave owner as many woman of her status. For Scarlett, large profits from cheap
convict labor were much better off than paying considerable wages to “darkies”
and having northerners on her neck to see if she were giving them chicken three
times a day and tucking them to sleep under eiderdown quilts. Convicts are
dirt-cheap then and here. Still waters run deep. I’d say the title of this book
misses a question mark at the end for the old Southern civilization is not
completely went away. The prisoner or slave does it really matter? Either way,
slave or prisoner is the one who is completely subservient to a dominating
influence. Renaissance facilities run in this way. Ironically, my Harris
County DA’s office located at the place where one Houston’s colonel operated a
major slave market in nineteenth century.

Terry Pou’s mobile phone rings.

Terry Pou: Kimberly, that’s you? What kind of blues? The fact you feel offended
does not mean he must go to prison for the rest of his life. What? Before all
I’m your dad, don’t use me this way. Sorry, I have an important meeting now.
Okay. See you in the evening.

Sorry Mrs. Holmes, this was my daughter.

Peggy Holmes: What a curse to be the father to three grown-up daughters!
Now Mike, I suggest you better keep your guesswork for yourself, very private,
because your sister is on probation and her papers are at my office.

Mike Green: Looks like you are threatening me. You perfectly know she was
rounded up with other 300 people by mad dogs from Sheriff’s department for
alleged trespassing of restaurant premises during so-called Renaissance
operation just because restaurant manager did not pay sheriffs on time and
police snitch removed the trespassing warning temporarily!

Peggy Holmes: You are misinformed. Five grams of dope were found in her pocket.
Mind you, deputies from Sheriff’s department were never noticed in something
like this. Understood?

Mike Green: This is my sister! She had never tried drugs, and she doesn’t even
smoke. You know that…the cops from the Sheriff’s department put this thing
into her pocket! It’s your faithful bootlicking assistant Willson who organized
the whole thing.

Houston Bar: Rings. Thank you. We have to be careful with off-topic issues, and
let me remind you that if we want to have support of interesting parties, and
want to present the Bill proposal in Austin by the end of this year the proposal
must be presented at City Hall in the next week. Houston Bar thinks that
Mr. Green is the best candidate who can manage it.

Mike Green: Why me? Here is my invitation for this meeting, it credits my
experience and says that I’m invited as a guest, and not a candidate for
something like this.

Charles Stinky’s mobile phone rings. He picks up the phone, and leaves the room.
Houston Bar’s representative offers a 10 minutes break, and in a few moments the
meeting room is empty.

10 minutes passed, and the meeting resumes.

Charles Stinky: Breaking news! The Austin legislature has just approved
$400,000,000 budget for the next year to build new Renaissance-type
facilities to provide hosting for the new workers.

Peggy Holmes: Mind you, they’re inmates first of all, not workers. Damn it, the
figure is impressive. They’re not building 5-star hotels or resorts, or
anything, aren’t they? Or, you spend all your spare money on lobbying, and
think you’re privileged for the taxpayer’s money? Damn it, the budget for
single yearly maintenance of a bunch of Renaissance-type corporations nearly
equals the yearly budget of all Harris Country police departments, and it is
only a part of Renaissances maintenance, isn’t? I’m the DA of Harris County,
and this is the largest county in Texas. For the last 20 years the number
of cases, which my office handles, is steadily going upwards, we have to
increase caseload for every prosecutor, and thus decrease maximum and average
time spent for every case. I consider updating performance measurements of our
prosecutors making it seconds-based, instead of older-style minutes-based. Judge
Pou, as a former prosecutor, would tell you that our standards remain high, and
our best prosecutors never lose a case. But this is the damniest
disproportion…I’m telling you, I barely manage DA office with $30,000,000
yearly budget!

Charles Stinky’s makes excuses, and leaves the room. Soon, he returns.

Charles Stinky: I have two more news. The good news for you Mrs. Holmes
is that you promoted to the Board of Directors of Renaissance Corporation, and
the other news is that the Board wants the underage drinking offense be
classified as a third-degree felony.

Terry Pou (tips of his ears flushed red): My office successfully uses mandatory
sentencing when suspicions match crime description in books, and we are very
creative on that employing creative punishment. I don’t see the end in the war
on drugs though, and, surprisingly, the caseloads are growing. Nevertheless it
is no one else’s duty to make lawbreakers face the ends and land ‘em
appropriately. In fact, I spend four times less on a case then 10 years ago, and
other Harris County judges too. I am sure their excellent work must be rewarded,
and the logic demands that the judges pay must be synchronized with the growing
caseloads.

Mike Green: How you can be sure that you’re sentencing the right people when
even employees of Harris County’s crime lab, which evidence you use while
sentencing, are selling drugs, the crime lab’s chief concocted his PhD record
and has a second job, and Sheriff’s Department is collecting fees from
businesses punishing disobedient! Even Roman inquisition required at least two
witnesses, but one or no witnesses is enough for you.

Peggy Holmes: We don’t have time for the liberal demagoguery. The rock bottom is
that there is nothing in books that precludes us from further enforcing
mandatory sentencing. When you, Terry was under my command as Harris Country
prosecutor before you became Harris County judge you were more cautious in your
demands. Now, you have the opportunity to assign your fellow defense attorneys
to multimillion high-profile cases, and give them the privilege of first-hand
information, while my desk is full of complaints from local attorneys who allege
that you routinely remove them from cases that you consider interesting. Up to
now I had never taken any real actions!

Terry Pou’s mobile phone rings.

Terry Pou: Kayley, that’s you? Kayley, I had always told you that I don’t like
these liberal political gatherings… No, they are not right conservatives. They
are liberals. What? I’m just doing my job. I paid for your college in Austin
being sure you can sort out right and wrong by your own. What? Stop paying
attention to this bullshit from liberal junkies or I’ll take it very seriously!
I’ll talk to you later… Sorry, this was my daughter Kayley.

Mike Green: The third one? Kate, Kimberly, Kayley… If one takes first letters
… sounds interesting. Now KKK is virtually not existent, but there were times
in Southern history, maybe even twenty-thirty years ago…

Terry Pou: What is important is the true meaning of the words and not merely
negative hype that liberal demagogues associate with some words. The second KKK
was after the rights of the victims, and I’m here for the rights of the victims.

Mike Green: Well, you have minutes or even seconds per case and if a “victim”
has motive and plays well?

Peggy Holmes: By calling a pig a horse you cannot turn it into a horse. They are
criminals, lawbreakers if you wish, and that’s why they must stand justice. You
cannot distrust police officers just because your sister claims that bad cops
put a coke into her pocket. Obviously, she has a reason to use her imagination,
hasn’t she? And she was given an opportunity as firsttime offender to avoid
serving time. I’m a Harris county DA for more then 20 years, I’m telling you
that Sheriff’s Department has a long, and verifiable track of positive
achievements. I don’t see any reason to distrust our police offices now and in
the future.

Houston Bar: Rings. Let’s recap and make a closure for this meeting. Our
objective is to present a new Bill regarding underage drinking before City
Council members and receive their support. On the second stage, the Bill will be
presented at Austin. The Bill classifies underage drinking offense as a
third-degree felony, and Mr. Green, City Council member, will make a
presentation next week before his fellow City Council members.

Mike Green: I have an impression that I visited today slave trading market,
where you Peggy posed as a trader. Or, you prefer to be referred as
prison-industrial complex trader?

Houston Bar: The amendment XIII of the US constitution does allow slavery under
certain circumstances. It permits both slavery and involuntary servitude as
“punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”

Mike Green: You’re missing an important point. The Constitution was designed to
be the system of power balances. Neither corruptions of reason from individuals
who cannot be trusted or have passive tempers, nor vicious happiness from
individuals steeped in corruption, vice, and venality taking advantage of the
dupery of our citizens have anything to do with the spirit of our Constitution.
Therefore, this kind of stamp act proposed by Harris County organized lawyerdom
must be repealed.

Mike Green rises and leaves the room.

Houston Bar: Are you sure in this man Mrs. Holmes? Or, maybe, we made a mistake?

Peggy Holmes: Mike is a family man as most of us, and he is hooked. In fact, he
has no choice. If you want to see your family members every day you must eat up
your own pride. That’s the bottom line.

Houston Bar: By the way Mrs. Holmes, what’s the name of your hairstyle and who
mastered it for you? I’ve never seen the hair so elaborately curled and teased
at such altitude.

Peggy Holmes: This hairstyle is called “pouf”. Some folks are dreaded by it,
some–who see me as a woman–are teased by it. It takes two hours every
morning for my hairdresser to maintain the hair as high as possible. It’s real
nasty when I get phone calls during session with my stylist. Don’t make such a
mistake!

Statistical data about Harris County:

Harris County: the largest county in Texas, which includes Houston, the 4th
largest US city.
Harris County DA’s office handles yearly: more than 70,000 class A and B
misdemeanors, more than 40,000 felonies. The office also handles yearly more
than 500,000 class C misdemeanors.
Harris County DA’s office employs: about 200 prosecutors.
Harris County’s criminal judges: about 20.
Harris County population: 3.7 million

Copyright: Screenplay is based on real facts and figures. No author rights
reserved. The screenplay can be used and reproduced freely.