Fracture Quotes

Ted Crawford Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Willy Beachum What style would you say this is?

Detective Flores Oh... I'd say homicidal modern.

Lt. Robert Nunally I warned you about him.

Willy Beachum You warned me he was smart. You didn't warn me you were stupid.

Judge Pincus Mr. Crawford, you have been charged with section 664 slash 187 of the California penal code: Attempted murder. Do you waive further reading of the complaint and complete statement of rights?

Public Defender You do.

Ted Crawford I do. But, I... I want...

Judge Pincus And do you wish to enter a plea at this time?

Ted Crawford Yes, not guilty. But I also want to waive my right to counsel and to represent myself.

Judge Pincus Surely you won't have trouble finding an attorney, Mr. Crawford?

Ted Crawford No, but I want to do it myself.

Public Defender Your Honor, if I can have a moment with my client.

Ted Crawford I'm not your client. Try and keep up, will you?

Judge Pincus Uh, Mr. Crawford, you're facing some very serious charges here. I strongly urge you to retain counsel.

Ted Crawford That's very kind but I believe I'm within my rights.

Judge Pincus Be aware that lack of counsel will not be grounds for an appeal.

Ted Crawford Oh, I understand. I understand.

Judge Pincus People have an objection, Mr. Beachum?

Willy Beachum Well, Your Honor, we have a verbal and signed confession. So, I would strongly advise Mr. Crawford to get a competent attorney to try and negotiate a plea.

Judge Pincus That's pretty damning evidence, Mr. Crawford. You wanna reconsider?

Ted Crawford Absolutely not.

Willy Beachum Huh. It's gonna turn into a circus.

Judge Pincus I appreciate your concern for the dignity of the court, 007. Unfortunately, the man is a tax-paying citizen and entitled by our constitution to try and manipulate the legal system like everybody else.

Ted Crawford Nicely done, Willy. Truly. A regular chain of evidence. Great stuff. Vivid. Heartbreaking. The victim cries out from beyond the grave. Yeah. Jurors love all that sort of crap, don't they? I bet you don't even need a confession anymore, do you, Willy? I tell you what, though, old sport. Let's make you a new one just in case. The real deal, all the juicy details. You can get your rocks off on that, then, can't you? Huh? I shot my wife in the face, right there. She didn't look so pretty after that. And l stood there looking down at her... and l watched her eyes go all empty. I could smell the blood and the shit. Smelled like metal. And the look on his face! He was trying to get her back to life and l was pissing myself laughing... because I took both the bastards out with one fucking bullet. Yeah. And now you've got your little bullet, haven't you? Got what you want. So bring it all on, kiddo. Bring it all into court. Except you can't, can you? Let's see, now, first year law, double jeopardy. I went to trial, you lost. Oh, pity about that. It doesn't matter what you do now. It doesn't matter what you know. I mean, she could come back from the dead, you see... and testify, spill the beans, and it would mean... nothing. So you can't touch me... ever.

Ted Crawford Knowledge is pain.

Willy Beachum I'm not going to play any games with you.

Ted Crawford I'm afraid you have to, old sport.

Lt. Robert Nunally Your wife? Is she OK?

Ted Crawford I don't think she is. I shot her.

Willy Beachum I don't think the gun grew little gun legs and walked out of the house. It's in here somewhere, find it.

Ted Crawford You look closely enough, you'll find that everything has a weak spot where it can break, sooner or later.

Willy Beachum Did Mr. Crawford seem confused, intoxicated, or impaired in any way?

Lt. Robert Nunally No, not at all. He knew exactly what was going on.

Willy Beachum Detective Nunally, what did Mr. Crawford say?

Lt. Robert Nunally He said: It was like I just suddenly snapped. I got the gun and I shot my wife. I shot her in the head

Ted Crawford Objection.

Judge Robinson I'm sorry, Mr. Crawford, did you say something?

Ted Crawford Yes, I wish to object.

Judge Robinson On what grounds?

Ted Crawford I don't know...

Willy Beachum Your honor...

Ted Crawford Um, I don't know what, uh, you'd call it, but, uh, they... It wasn't the first time it happened either... but, um. I, um, I don't know the, uh, legal terminology.

Judge Robinson Well, why don't you try to explain it in layman's terms.

Ted Crawford Um... fucking the victim. Well, you said layman's terms!

Willy Beachum Your honor!

Ted Crawford I'm sorry, your honor, but what would you call it, legally, when the officer who arrested you was having sexual intercourse with your wife? You know, I think it's objectionable. It's rather disgusting is what I think, but uh... I dunno; maybe I'm wrong!

Ted Crawford You really need to be nice to me now, Willy.

Willy Beachum Why?

Ted Crawford Because... what's left of a life depends on a machine powered by a cord that leads to a plug in an electrical outlet... and I decide when it gets pulled. That's why.

Willy Beachum This is getting out of hand, Your Honor. He just provoked my witness with an outrageous allegation …

Ted Crawford My dick has evidence.

Judge Robinson Excuse me?

Ted Crawford My dick, my private investigator. I call him Dick. Perhaps I should call him as a rebuttal witness, because since the tragedy, he's dug up hotel records and witnesses that confirm that my wife and Mr. Nunally were having an affair. My dick is good.

Willy Beachum Your Honor, so what if he was?

Judge Robinson Mr Beachum.

Willy Beachum Even if he was...

Judge Robinson Your witness was intimate with the victim and assaulted the defendant during the arrest.

Ted Crawford Actually, while trying to obtain my so-called confession.

Judge Robinson Yes.

Willy Beachum Oh, come on.

Ted Crawford Is that a legal argument, "Oh, come on"?

Willy Beachum Don't make me come across this table cause I will...

Ted Crawford I just want...

Willy Beachum Your Honor, he dictated and signed his confession at the station long after the incident, all right?

Ted Crawford In fear for my life, since my wife's lover who had just beaten me, was in the room with his friends, and the other officers.

Judge Robinson Was Detective Nunally present during Mr. Crawford's interrogation?

Willy Beachum Uh... he... he... he may have been, I don't know.

Judge Robinson Because if that is indeed the case, the confessions, both of them, are out. If Nunally was there, Mr. Crawford was under duress. The confessions and any evidence gathered while Mr. Nunally was present will all have to be excluded as "fruit of the poisonous tree.

Willy Beachum This... This is insane.

Ted Crawford That's the Bible, isn't it? The fruit of the tree and all that? It's Matthew. Or is it Mark?

Willy Beachum He set all this up. This is a setup.

Judge Robinson I'm sorry, Mr. Beachum, but I am not going to allow coerced confessions in my courtroom.

Ted Crawford Your Honor, do you think I could go home now, with Thanksgiving around the corner?

Willy Beachum Unbelievable.

Judge Robinson Don't push it, Mr. Crawford.

Judge Robinson What I want to do is I'm going to give Mr. Beachum a few days to come up with some new evidence, and if he can't then maybe you can go home. So we will reconvene on Monday morning. I think that's all.

Ted Crawford Thank you, Your Honor.

Ted Crawford You know, my grandfather was an egg farmer.

Willy Beachum This isn't going to be about your "rough childhood", is it?

Ted Crawford No, I used to candle eggs at his farm. Do you know what that is? You hold an egg up to the light of a candle and you look for imperfections. The first time I did it, he told me to put all the eggs that were cracked or flawed into a bucket for the bakery. And he came back an hour later, and there were 300 eggs in the bakery bucket. He asked me what the hell I was doing. I found a flaw in every single one of them – you know, thin places in the shell; fine, hairline cracks. You look closely enough, you'll find that everything has a weak spot where it can break, sooner or later.

Willy Beachum You looking for mine?

Ted Crawford I've already found yours.

Willy Beachum What is it?

Ted Crawford You're a winner, Willy.

Willy Beachum Yeah. Well, I guess the joke's on me then, isn't it?

Ted Crawford You bet your ass, old sport.

Judge Gardner You know what nobody understands about certain kinds of low-pay public service work, every now and then you get to put a fucking stake in a bad guy's heart. I'm not supposed to talk about that when I visit third grade classes for career day and it doesn't get you very far in the country club locker room, but it's hard to beat when you actually get to do it.