A woman is stressed out by her hyperactive teen-aged daughter, having lost two jobs, being punched in the nose, and unable to find help or respite anywhere. So she brings her daughter to an ex nun who performs an exorcism ritual and manages to kill the kid.
It's a conundrum. The mother pleads to manslaughter but it seems hardly her fault, since she was driven to distraction and wasn't present when the accidental death took place. On the stand, she's very convincing.
And the ex nun is practically a paragon of selflessness, devoting her life and its skimpy resources to helping the homeless and the poor with no assistance from outside. She claims that all her activities were guided by the voice of St. Michael the Archangel, who acted as a messenger between her and God. She's convincing too. She's play by Frances Conroy, who has plain and undistinguished features.
It's all twisted and it puts the DA's office into an avoidance/avoidance conflict, which leads to a laughable exchange.
Angie Harmon: I don't want that woman on the street killing any more children.
Sam Waterston: And I don't feel like challenging this woman's religious beliefs on the stand.
Steven Hill: Alright. Split the difference. Prove that a saint committed murder.
Of course the subject is serious enough. Suppose a religious culture demands that an adulteress be stoned to death. Is that more justified than an accidental death during a curing ritual, or worse? How about Joan of Arc? How about ANY case in which an attempt to do good results in a bad outcome?
It's a conundrum. The mother pleads to manslaughter but it seems hardly her fault, since she was driven to distraction and wasn't present when the accidental death took place. On the stand, she's very convincing.
And the ex nun is practically a paragon of selflessness, devoting her life and its skimpy resources to helping the homeless and the poor with no assistance from outside. She claims that all her activities were guided by the voice of St. Michael the Archangel, who acted as a messenger between her and God. She's convincing too. She's play by Frances Conroy, who has plain and undistinguished features.
It's all twisted and it puts the DA's office into an avoidance/avoidance conflict, which leads to a laughable exchange.
Angie Harmon: I don't want that woman on the street killing any more children.
Sam Waterston: And I don't feel like challenging this woman's religious beliefs on the stand.
Steven Hill: Alright. Split the difference. Prove that a saint committed murder.
Of course the subject is serious enough. Suppose a religious culture demands that an adulteress be stoned to death. Is that more justified than an accidental death during a curing ritual, or worse? How about Joan of Arc? How about ANY case in which an attempt to do good results in a bad outcome?