(Man speaking over radio)
(Police siren wailing)
Officer: Hey! Hey!
(Man speaking indistinctly over radio)
Michelle: Brian had one thing on his mind that night,
to protect that 12-year old-girl.
The one person who had no obligation to her at all,
is the one that got punished.
I do not regret a thing I did,
regardless of the fact that I could spend
up to the next 20 years in freaking prison.
If people had known what I have lived through,
they would understand and would have reacted the same way I did.
Deric walpole: Brian is charged with aggravated assault,
which carries up to 20 years in prison,
as a felony and up to a $10,000 fine.
It basically involves my client defending a small child.
The law is,
if you intentionally, knowingly or recklessly threaten someone,
with serious bodily injury and you exhibited a deadly weapon,
you're guilty of aggravated assault.
That's the letter of the law.
The letter of the law is also, that you can use
a reasonable amount of force necessary
to defend yourself from an unlawful imminent attack from another.
Right now, his life is in my hands.
And, I've gotta be careful with it.
Brian is 29 years old. He's a welder.
He's got a 6-month-old baby.
He's got an 11-year-old stepson that he needs to take care of
and he could be separated from them for a very long time.
I want him to come in today and really give the story to me in detail,
because, we got to get it right.
- How is it going? - How are you?
- Pretty good, how are you? - Good. Have a seat.
All right, so,
I want you to tell me the story from the beginning.
Okay. Well, I was
at a friend's house across the street
from where everything occurred.
I received a text that a neighbor of ours
had beaten his daughter,
and that she had ran
to our house at the time, for refuge.
And that they had contacted the police.
- Deric: Was it dark yet? - Brian: Yes.
- Deric: How dark is it? - Pitch black.
All right. What was your thought process?
The few times I had met this guy,
it was...
He was drunk with an ar-15,
and I wanted to have an equal amount of firepower as he did.
I went to the garage,
and got an ak-47 which was in the garage.
About 20 minutes later, I saw him coming up the road.
But when he pulled up his truck and he got out,
I couldn't see his hands, couldn't make out if he had a weapon or not.
And I was screaming at him from the top of my lungs.
"Stay back, stay back. Stay off the property."
And, as soon as he walked
about four feet onto the property
I aimed the gun 45-degree angle in his direction,
and I discharged two rounds.
The second those two rounds were discharged,
the cops come flying around the corner with their lights on.
The cop got out of his car,
and he's asking, "who has the gun? Who has the gun?"
This is when I made my mistake.
I told that cop that he had the gun,
and that he shot the rounds.
And that I didn't have a gun.
- That was a mistake. - That was a mistake.
Why did you do that?
I was almost sure of myself that he had a gun,
and that they would find that gun and hopefully just take his gun.
Yeah, what did you think the odds were at that point that he had a gun?
Oh, I was 100% positive.
I mean, yeah, we got some...
- We've got some problems. - Okay.
You know, you lied to the police. That's the main one.
So, the cop mirandizes you.
You're telling the story.
Brian: Yeah, I told him the whole story.
I was telling the truth this time.
So the police officer walks over to the other police officers
and says, "he tells me the guy got out of his car,
"pointed the gun at him, he turned around,
"and when the guy was getting back to his car, he fired the shots."
After just having talked to you.
And that's when they say, "well, that's not self-defense."
"That's...
"That's aggravated assault."
So it's pretty serious.
It's the same level offense as sexual assault, robbery.
I mean, it's bad.
The only thing that's worse than that is a first degree felony,
- which is murder. - Murder.
Deric: Some people just don't get involved.
Brian is not like that. Brian does get involved.
He's a protector.
He's also a volunteer firefighter.
It's hero stuff, man. He wants to help people out.
And if it's dangerous, that's fine.
I'll put myself in danger to help other people out
with little or no credit for it.
And in this position,
not only did he get little or no credit for,
he ended up with a felony arrest
and looking at two to 20 years in prison.
I am on my way to pick up my youngest, Bentley, from daycare.
I love being a dad.
It's a little agonizing at times, but,
most of the time it's pretty good.
My fiancee,
she works nights mostly,
and I work days.
So, she takes him to daycare,
and I got to pick him up from daycare.
Check it out! There you go!
Brian: I was a volunteer fireman for almost two years.
Responding to both medical and emergency calls.
That was a big part of my life.
That, right there,
I was about to head into that house.
That's me,
during that fire.
Yeah, I did have friends in the department, for sure,
but, yeah, it was mainly the excitement, getting to help people.
So, getting to be
that ingrained in the community.
It's a calling, you know.
Our lives will be put below the lives we're trying to save.
Good memories.
- Good memories. - Bentley: Dada!
As soon as this case hit,
I wasn't allowed to do it anymore.
I was placed on suspension.
One moment, the entire community is looking up to you,
and the next moment, you're looked at as a villain.
If I wasn't that person, I'd have never...
I'd have never gone to help
that night.
Deric: It is a really pretty day.
And I'm going to interview Michelle,
who's Brian's biological mother.
When she's relaying the events to the jury,
she needs to relay them to the jury in a way
that, kind of, puts them in the same frame of mind that Brian was in.
Because, that night, she sold the little girl's story to Brian,
to where Brian was actually willing to pick up a gun
and actually discharge it at somebody.
I need to have the jury believe
the same thing that Brian believed that evening.
I got a call from my pastor, pastor Phil.
And he told me that one of my youth
had called him.
Twelve-year-old girl who also happens to be my neighbor.
She said that her dad had laid his hands on her,
and that there were marks.
I went over there and the girl was standing in her kitchen crying, sobbing.
Her face was red, her neck was red.
And she proceeded to tell me
that her and her dad had gotten in a fight.
That he had his hands around her neck.
She said he tried to choke her,
so I brought her back to my house.
So, you are of the opinion that he could show up
and cause some serious harm.
Yeah.
- And then Brian comes over. - Yes.
And you tell him in person what's going on.
Yeah, and I had opened the door and he said,
"just go back inside for right now.
"Go take care of the girl."
And so I did.
Did you see Brian standing out there with the gun?
Yes.
What were your thoughts on that?
- Um... - Necessary, unnecessary?
There were so many thoughts running through my head at that point.
Oh, absolutely necessary.
Absolutely necessary.
Okay. Were Brian's actions reasonable?
- Yes! - Okay.
What's the next thing you know happens?
I heard, I think,
two gunshots.
You hear the gunshots,
you see the headlights from the police come up?
What happens next?
Brian was yelling. I was yelling.
The police officer came over
and asked where the gunshot came from.
He had no idea where the shots had come from.
He didn't know anything that was going on.
You know, you can only do the best you can do
with what you have at the time.
And I firmly believe that is what Brian did.
Okay. All right. Well, thank you for having me in your home.
No problem.
Michelle: Brian had one thing on his mind that night
and that was to protect that 12-year-old girl.
I should say I've done more praying in the last year and a half
than I ever have in my entire life.
Brian has a family that depends on him.
And...
(Scoffs)
What kind of system is that that would send away someone who tried to protect a child?
Deric: The plan for today is to go meet with my trial partner
and discuss what we have to do next.
How would you say we want to portray Brian?
Do we want it, like, hey, we would hope
anyone would do this if, you know, he's protecting his child.
He made, you know,
what he thought was the right decision under the circumstances,
and he should be commended for doing what he did to protect a child.
I mean, I can sell it.
Or is it more like, listen, you know,
Brian went a little off the rails here.
You know what?
I say he's a hero.
November 3rd, 2016.
Two individuals broke into my apartment.
They had picked the locks and came in,
and woke up with the gun in my face.
I went to grappling with that guy.
And as I was struggling,
that's when I heard, um,
you know, "pop-pop" from behind me.
I took the first hit in the back of the shoulder,
and it came out the top of my shoulder.
And then I took a gunshot to my arm.
When the bullet hit,
it detached a piece of my humerus, about this big and completely separated it.
And I ran right for the door of the apartment,
and as I was leaving, I took another hit
in the lower waist, to my right side.
Psychologically, it had a tremendous impact,
and a lot of people have asked the question,
you know, how do you feel about guns after being shot?
Well, I feel
the more of the need to own them now than I ever did before.
Briee and I, we were introduced by my mother
a week after the incident happened.
And, three weeks before that, she had lost her husband.
Briee: The first day we actually met, I had a leaking water pipe. (Chuckles)
And he came over and he made it so much worse.
But he felt like home when I was around him.
We were both at points in our life
where we didn't want anything serious.
We weren't looking for anything serious.
We were just going to help each other get through our situations as friends.
And, that turned very quickly into dating.
And then, months later, I was proposing to her
because I just knew she was the one.
Briee: He is a good protector of the family.
I'm almost positive he has PTSD from the home invasion.
He goes on, like, high-alert.
Like, he is on edge.
He is...
You know, he's ready for the worst.
Deric: We've got the bodycam videos.
This is going to be played during the trial
and Brian is going to be questioned on it.
So, doing that now,
is going to make us better prepared
for when we're actually sitting in a courtroom.
- How's it going, deric? - Deric: It's going pretty well.
All right, so, I wanted you to listen this part.
Good answer.
You're just saying, "I didn't know."
You do a good enough job telling your story
to where I really wouldn't have you tell it any differently,
if you were on the stand.
Deric: All right. So, here's his account of what happened.
Deric: All right, that's what she accused him of doing,
grabbing her by the ears.
Officer: Okay.
I mean, that's important. "I was going to go straight to the door."
He's admitting, still advancing
while you're telling him
to get off the property and not move.
Going towards the door.
The gun was pointed at him.
It wasn't pointed at him the whole time,
but it was rested to a point where all I had to do was...
That.
Deric: It is a really pretty day.
And I'm going to interview Michelle,
who's Brian's biological mother.
When she's relaying the events to the jury,
she needs to relay them to the jury in a way
that, kind of, puts them in the same frame of mind that Brian was in.
Because, that night, she sold the little girl's story to Brian,
to where Brian was actually willing to pick up a gun
and actually discharge it at somebody.
I need to have the jury believe
the same thing that Brian believed that evening.
I got a call from my pastor, pastor Phil.
And he told me that one of my youth
had called him.
Twelve-year-old girl who also happens to be my neighbor.
She said that her dad had laid his hands on her,
and that there were marks.
I went over there and the girl was standing in her kitchen crying, sobbing.
Her face was red, her neck was red.
And she proceeded to tell me
that her and her dad had gotten in a fight.
That he had his hands around her neck.
She said he tried to choke her,
so I brought her back to my house.
So, you are of the opinion that he could show up
and cause some serious harm.
Yeah.
- And then Brian comes over. - Yes.
And you tell him in person what's going on.
Yeah, and I had opened the door and he said,
"just go back inside for right now.
"Go take care of the girl."
And so I did.
Did you see Brian standing out there with the gun?
Yes.
What were your thoughts on that?
- Um... - Necessary, unnecessary?
There were so many thoughts running through my head at that point.
Oh, absolutely necessary.
Absolutely necessary.
Okay. Were Brian's actions reasonable?
- Yes! - Okay.
What's the next thing you know happens?
I heard, I think,
two gunshots.
You hear the gunshots,
you see the headlights from the police come up?
What happens next?
Brian was yelling. I was yelling.
The police officer came over
and asked where the gunshot came from.
He had no idea where the shots had come from.
He didn't know anything that was going on.
You know, you can only do the best you can do
with what you have at the time.
And I firmly believe that is what Brian did.
Okay. All right. Well, thank you for having me in your home.
No problem.
Michelle: Brian had one thing on his mind that night
and that was to protect that 12-year-old girl.
I should say I've done more praying in the last year and a half
than I ever have in my entire life.
Brian has a family that depends on him.
And...
(Scoffs)
What kind of system is that that would send away someone who tried to protect a child?
Deric: The plan for today is to go meet with my trial partner
and discuss what we have to do next.
How would you say we want to portray Brian?
Do we want it, like, hey, we would hope
anyone would do this if, you know, he's protecting his child.
He made, you know,
what he thought was the right decision under the circumstances,
and he should be commended for doing what he did to protect a child.
I mean, I can sell it.
Or is it more like, listen, you know,
Brian went a little off the rails here.
You know what?
I say he's a hero.
November 3rd, 2016.
Two individuals broke into my apartment.
They had picked the locks and came in,
and woke up with the gun in my face.
I went to grappling with that guy.
And as I was struggling,
that's when I heard, um,
you know, "pop-pop" from behind me.
I took the first hit in the back of the shoulder,
and it came out the top of my shoulder.
And then I took a gunshot to my arm.
When the bullet hit,
it detached a piece of my humerus, about this big and completely separated it.
And I ran right for the door of the apartment,
and as I was leaving, I took another hit
in the lower waist, to my right side.
Psychologically, it had a tremendous impact,
and a lot of people have asked the question,
you know, how do you feel about guns after being shot?
Well, I feel
the more of the need to own them now than I ever did before.
Briee and I, we were introduced by my mother
a week after the incident happened.
And, three weeks before that, she had lost her husband.
Briee: The first day we actually met, I had a leaking water pipe. (Chuckles)
And he came over and he made it so much worse.
But he felt like home when I was around him.
We were both at points in our life
where we didn't want anything serious.
We weren't looking for anything serious.
We were just going to help each other get through our situations as friends.
And, that turned very quickly into dating.
And then, months later, I was proposing to her
because I just knew she was the one.
Briee: He is a good protector of the family.
I'm almost positive he has PTSD from the home invasion.
He goes on, like, high-alert.
Like, he is on edge.
He is...
You know, he's ready for the worst.
Deric: We've got the bodycam videos.
This is going to be played during the trial
and Brian is going to be questioned on it.
So, doing that now,
is going to make us better prepared
for when we're actually sitting in a courtroom.
- How's it going, deric? - Deric: It's going pretty well.
All right, so, I wanted you to listen this part.
Good answer.
You're just saying, "I didn't know."
You do a good enough job telling your story
to where I really wouldn't have you tell it any differently,
if you were on the stand.
Deric: All right. So, here's his account of what happened.
Deric: All right, that's what she accused him of doing,
grabbing her by the ears.
Officer: Okay.
I mean, that's important. "I was going to go straight to the door."
He's admitting, still advancing
while you're telling him
to get off the property and not move.
Going towards the door.
The gun was pointed at him.
It wasn't pointed at him the whole time,
but it was rested to a point where all I had to do was...
That.
I get up at 4:00 a. M. Every day,
and I get to work between 5:20 and 5:30.
My work is to weld
the door assemblies for these trailers, here.
I was raised to not give up, not quit.
My principles are loyalty,
hard work.
Regardless of what the odds are, if you believe in something,
you fight for it.
People at work
changed the way they see me but not in a negative manner.
They see me as somebody who stood in the face of danger
to prevent something bad from happening.
And I have their full support.
This case, it's very exhausting. It's bugging me all the time.
Even though, I'm not proven guilty by a jury yet,
you know, it feels like I'm already a criminal.
Today, I want to look over the disciplinary records,
if any, of the police that were involved.
See what they've got going on.
What we think happened in this case
is they just decided Brian was getting arrested.
He lied to them, they didn't like it.
They're going to get him for something.
Now, what I would look for to show that they're prone to that sort of thing,
I can't imagine what that would be.
But, you got to look.
It looks like this police officer, he got in a little trouble here.
So, that was a violation of a number of rules.
He is not a new hire that is not aware of policy and procedures.
He's failed to show competence as a supervisor.
So, he's not perfect.
He needs to listen better. He needs to communicate better.
And in this particular situation,
the police officer didn't listen,
and then he miscommunicated.
I think that's really super-freaking-helpful is what I'm thinking,
because that's exactly what he did that night
Brian: The entire time this has been going on,
it's basically one gigantic nuisance.
Every time I leave the county or want to leave the state,
I got to call this damn supervising probation lady.
Which she always gives me permission for,
but it's like, I have to call her every single time.
This case, so far, the whole thing altogether,
between bail, deric,
even though I haven't been convicted,
whole thing has cost me around $30,000.
You know, this is basically coming down to a matter of opinion,
as to whether Brian's actions were reasonable.
And I want to see it for myself.
When we get to the scene of the alleged crime,
Brian is going to recreate what happened that evening.
I need to be there. I need to see the distances.
So, I think it's going to be really helpful.
- Hey, Brian. - How's it going, deric?
- Nice to see you. - Yeah. All right.
- Let's do it, man. - Do I need to get the prop ak out of the car?
Yeah, I think you should get the prop ak out of the car.
Brian: Right here. This is the house.
This is right about where he pulled up.
Deric: All right.
Where are you at?
I was standing about right here.
I took cover like this.
And as soon as he got out of his truck,
I was screaming at the top of my lungs
for him to stay back, stay off the property.
Here, I'm going to out here. You tell me where he was and where he ended up.
Brian: Move to your right. Three feet.
There you go.
And I'm screaming at him, "stay back! Stay back!"
And he's, kind of, doing a slow walk now.
Stay back. Stay off the property.
Pop! Pop!
And then, no more than five seconds,
that cop comes buzzing around there with his lights on.
And as soon as I saw him make that corner,
I went like that.
Rocked out the round.
I shoved it under the Van like that.
Why?
Because as soon as law enforcement arrives,
the last thing you want them to see in your hands is a gun,
whether you are friend or foe.
Stay back! Stay back! Stay off the property!
Pop! Pop!
Where do you suppose those bullets ended up?
Brian: It could have hit that water tower,
but I didn't hear any metal.
It's actually a damn good thing I didn't hit those power lines, to be honest.
It's a damn good thing you didn't hit lots of things, Brian.
- You're responsible for where your bullets go, right? - Uh-huh.
I mean, they landed somewhere.
Well, I want to wait till dark,
and so I can see what this place looks like at night time.
Brian: Okay.
Deric: Is that light working?
Brian: No, that light hasn't worked
for the entire three years I lived here.
Deric: All right.
Deric: That street light was working.
- Brian: (Sighing) Yes. - This one wasn't.
- This one was not. - And,
- it doesn't look like there's any other lights on the street. - Brian: No.
Deric: It's not a very well-lit street.
And I'm already having problems seeing
what you do or don't have in your hands.
Brian: Yeah.
Deric: Just got to figure out the best way to convey that to the jury.
Deric: Texas is a pretty gun-friendly state in general,
but really, it can depend on the particular county I'm in.
Now, my expectation would be in most rural counties in Texas,
that use of guns to defend yourself
and ownership of guns is not just acceptable, it's expected.
It would be weird if you didn't have guns.
Regardless of self-defense or otherwise,
the prosecutor is not going to want the jury to like what Brian did.
People have an opinion about ak-47s, and it's negative.
And it is the preferred weapon of the enemy.
That definitely is a strike against my client.
And what Brian did do by anyone's account,
is shoot two bullets over the city, ladonia.
Those bullets have to come down somewhere.
And that could have put everybody in danger.
That's something I want to be on top of.
So I'm going to a ballistics calculator
to figure out about where that bullet went.
The ballistic coefficient of this type of bullet is .361.
123-gram bullet comes out of the barrel of an ak-47
at approximately 2,400 feet per second.
So, if he fired 165 inches, over his head,
at ten yards,
that bullet would zero out at 4,000 yards.
So,
this is the driveway.
That's where he was standing.
Run a line over the water tower.
That's 4,000 yards.
That puts us out in the middle of freaking nowhere.
I mean, they did not land around anywhere
that a human being could have possibly been struck by that bullet.
Brian's mother, who was a teacher
at this local church in ladonia,
she received this information
that one of the parishioners' daughters
had been assaulted by her father,
and they took her into their house and sheltered her there.
And Brian knew this girl's father.
And then, he fired two shots with an assault rifle
over his head at about a 45 degree angle
- to stop him from... - Yeah.
Coming any further onto the property, right?
Three years before our case,
Brian was actually shot three times in the course of this robbery.
So, when Brian found himself in this situation,
how do you think that could have factored into the way
that Brian responded that night?
Yeah. PTSD, I think, you know, a lot of people
don't really pay attention to how that can factor in
on somebody's reactive behavior.
- It's like a shot of adrenaline. - Right.
And we know what happens when adrenaline hits.
Sometimes, I mean, you can't control it.
You're just ready, ready to do what you need to do.
If you're getting called by your mom
to come protect the little girl,
that's going to get him into immediate fight mode.
But now you compound PTSD on top of that. Right?
Now you got, like, a severe kind of fight protection mode,
- that I would imagine that would occur to somebody. - Right. Right.
I'm glad that he shot up in the air. Matter of fact.
I definitely think it's an element of Brian's story
that we want him to tell to the jury,
and we want to make sure they understand
- how that triggered his response that night. - Mm-hmm.
If everything went our way,
you know, for two days of testimony,
maybe there's a situation where Brian doesn't have to testify.
But the overwhelming likelihood is that we have to put him on the stand.
If we're going to get the jury instruction on self-defense,
- which we have to do... - Right.
I don't see there's any way that we can't call him.
- Right. - And he's got to sell it.
What are your concerns about Brian testifying?
My concerns about Brian testifying
are that the jury, they think
that he unnecessarily interjected himself
into this situation and sort of...
You know, played vigilante when the situation
could have been handled by the police.
And,
I'm concerned, that in the heat of cross examination,
he could get very combative and that could come across very poorly.
Poorly for us as well.
Yeah, he can't get combative.
I think one thing that could be a useful exercise
is if we tried to set up some sort of mock trial.
- Yes. - Cross him a little bit and see how he responds to,
you know, some hostile line of questioning.
Kick his ass a little bit. See how he stands up.
You'd definitely get him flustered.
Yeah. Let's go ahead and do it.
Brian, this is judge pask. He agreed to do this,
- so we really appreciate that. - Appreciate it.
- Harrison is going to be playing the role of the prosecutor. - Mm-hmm.
All right, everybody, take your places.
You never know how you're going to act in a fight until you're in a fight.
And no one knows how they're going to act on the stand
until they're up on the stand.
Deric: Did you think your actions were reasonable that evening?
Yes.
The violence he showed towards his daughter,
I believe that things had escalated to a point
where he was no longer in control, emotionally.
How much time do you think you have
to defend yourself against somebody who's got a gun at their side?
As much time as it takes my finger to go like that.
So, Brian, the reason that you felt threatened
was primarily due to what you knew about him before that night,
not due to what he did on that night. Isn't that correct?
I would say I was...
Harrison: Yes or no?
That's not a yes or no question.
Is it fair to say that you have a bit of a cowboy mentality?
You like to take the law into your own hands, don't you?
Brian: No, I do not.
Harrison: Brian, you're a volunteer fireman. Is that correct?
Brian: I was at the time.
So you understand that being a volunteer fireman,
that doesn't give you the right
to enforce the laws of that community, right?
Yes.
And you decided that you were going to take it upon yourself, Brian,
to protect that girl by any means necessary, right?
Correct.
Why do you have that gun, Brian?
Brian: My constitutional right to bear arms.
Okay.
Let's recount. You fired the gun.
- Correct? - Correct.
You lied to the police about having fired the gun.
Brian: Correct.
So, you repeatedly were making false statements to police that night, isn't that correct?
Yes.
Harrison: No further questions, your honor.
Judge: Thank you. You may stand down.
Harrison: I think there's a few things to clear up.
Brian needs to be able to articulate the fact that
this had just happened, this assault that he believed was legitimate.
I think the answer of,
it was not based on anything he did that night.
- I think there's a better way to phrase that answer. - I agree.
Judge: Just remember, don't give the state any more than they ask.
Okay.
Listen to them carefully
and only respond to their question.
Harrison: There are some things that he did that night
that the prosecution is going to try to pick at.
And there is a real chance that he could be convicted,
and he needs to know, you know, he's looking at prison time if he does.
So, the stakes are high.
Deric: Here's a couple of things I want to talk about.
When he asked why you had a gun, right?
You said because it's my constitutional right.
It sounds defiant.
- I don't really like the way it came off. - Okay.
Deric: Constitutional right is what allows you to have the gun,
- it's not why you have it. - Brian: All right.
Why you have it, is for self-defense.
-I mean, they're not... It's not a target rifle, right? -Right.
If you say anything different when you're on the stand,
than you did when you made the police statement,
you're gonna get impeached. Well, you said something different to the cops.
So, you were lying then, or you're lying now.
- Okay. - They wanna see your reactions.
They're watching you, man, and they're seeing how you are responding to things.
So what emotions are allowed and what aren't?
You just gotta behave.
You got to sit there and behave.
Brian: Question is, if I'll be able to.
You have to, man.
Okay. I'm gonna practice.
You are in trouble.
You can stand your ground.
I mean, you don't have to be ashamed,
but you can't be cocky.
These guys are trying to send you to prison, man.
Okay.
I've been wanting to do this for a while,
and we just... I don't know.
It sounds terrible that we were both just, kind of,
lazy about going to get...
Since we were planning all this
because I think that's really the reason why it hadn't happened yet.
And trial starting was just kind of that push of,
"okay, let's just go do it."
We've made it through everything,
we've made it through so far.
The rest of our life should go pretty smoothly.
Because I would think that going to court
and everything else, that would have killed most relationships.
But, we're still standing,
so there's at least some hope.
If we can make it through that, we can make it through anything.
(Phone ringing)
What's going on, man?
How did that go?
No. It's not a win. It's not a win, deric.
I want you to go back to him and explain to him...
Okay, look, I've pretty much have been on probation two years as it is.
Like, I'm over it. I've literally...
Deric, I've been on probation.
Deric: After a year and a half of being punished by his estimation,
you know, now they want to offer this deal.
I do this all the time.
And, you know, you're here, actually listening to a client, how aggravating that is,
yeah, I get it. I get it.
But what I don't want him to do
is make a decision based on anger.
Well, I spoke to the two women in my life.
I'm trying to explain to them that there's a whole lot more at stake
than
me.
They're thinking of the kids,
and me not being around if I lose this thing.
And, you know, I'm thinking about the kids, too,
but I'm thinking more about the kids than me not being around.
What am I telling my children?
I'm telling them that even if you do the right thing,
it's okay if the system (bleep) You.
I'm not gonna teach my kids that.
I'm not going to be one of those parents.
That's ridiculous, honestly.
Well, what do you know.
I sent an offer to him saying six months' probation on false report,
and he just sent me back an email saying,
"why don't we just do time served?"
If he means what I think he means,
that's a wrap.
I gotta call Brian and say, "hey, what do you think?"
(Phone ringing)
Hey, what's going on, deric?
Okay?
So, they literally counter offered
with a better offer is what you're saying?
Okay.
Well...
I guess, tell him we accept.
Deric: The prosecution probably got around
to starting the interviews with these witnesses,
and I think he realized that we were gonna kick his ass if we went to trial.
But, at the same time, I'm not gonna fault the guy
for doing the right thing and being reasonable.
Harrison: No, of course.
- Even if it took a little longer than I would have liked. - Of course not.
All right, man. I'll see you.
Harrison: I think this is justice in this case.
This recognizes that,
you know, "hey, Brian, maybe you could have done things a little bit differently,
"but, also what you did,
"does not rise to the level of a felony offense
"that we're looking at an extended jail sentence for."
Deric: The perfect victory is one without battle.
So...
We won.
I'm heading up to my fiancee's work,
because,
I thought it to be way too good a news
to deliver over the phone.
Hey.
It's done. It's over with.
So, we don't even have to go to trial on Monday?
- No, it's done. - Really?
This will end tomorrow.
Tomorrow, I'm going to go cross the t's and dot the i's and everything.
So it's done? Like, "we're done" done?
It's "done" done.
- It's over. We did it. - That's good.
See? It's done.
- I can't believe it. - Yeah.
Briee: It's the best feeling in the world.
He's not going anywhere.
(Voice shaking) He's home.
(Exhales)
The boys don't lose him,
I don't lose him.
We get to keep our life.
Um...
We get to plan, like, a normal life.
She will always be somebody who's too good for me.
But I will spend every day the rest of my life trying to be good enough for her.
Woman: Today, we gather to lift briee and Brian
of their celebration of everlasting love.
Briee: Now this gets to not just be our wedding,
it's like a celebration of freedom.
Woman: By the power vested in me,
I pronounce you Mrs. And Mr. Lapsys.
You can kiss your bride.
(All cheering)
Brian: All right, let's cook some fajitas!