Dawson Quotes

Capt. Ross: Why did you go into Santiago's room?
Galloway: The witness has rights!
Capt. Ross: The witness has been read his rights, Commander.
Judge Randolph: The question will be repeated.
Galloway: Your Honor!
Capt. Ross: Why did you go into Santiago's room?

Downey: Hal?
Capt. Ross: Did Lance Corporal Dawson tell you to give Santiago a Code Red?
Downey: Hal?
Capt. Ross: Don't look at him!
Dawson: Hal?
Dawson: Private, answer the captain's question!
Downey: Yes, Captain, I was given an

order by my squad leader, Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson, United States Marine Corps, and I followed it.

Galloway: But my feeling is that if this case is handled in the same fast-food, slick-ass ' Persian Bazaar manner with which you seem to handle everything else, something's gonna get missed. And I wouldn't be doing my job if I allowed Dawson and Downey to spend any more time in prison than absolutely necessary, because their attorney had pre-determined the path of least

resistance.
Kaffee: Wow... I'm sexually aroused, Commander.

Kaffee: Lieutenant, do you know what a code red is?
Lt. Kendrick: Yes, I do.
Kaffee: Have you ever ordered a code red?
Lt. Kendrick: No, I have not.
Kaffee: Lieutenant, did you order Dawson and two other men to make sure that Private Bell receive no food or drink except water for a

period of seven days?
Lt. Kendrick: That is a distortion of the truth, Lieutenant. Private Bell was placed on barracks restriction. He was given water and vitamin supplements, and I can assure you that at no time was his health in danger.
Kaffee: [sarcastic] I'm sure it was lovely for Private Bell. But you did order the barracks restriction, didn't

you? You did order the denial of food.
Lt. Kendrick: Yes, I did.
Kaffee: Wouldn't this form of discipline be considered a code red?
Lt. Kendrick: No.
Kaffee: If I called the other 478 Marines from Guantanamo Bay to testify, would they consider it a code red?
Capt. Ross: If it

please the court, the witness can't possibly testify as to what 478 other men would say. Now, we object to this entire line of questioning as argumentative and irrelevant badgering of the witness.
Judge Randolph: The government's objection is sustained, Lieutenant Kaffee, and I would remind you that you are now questioning a Marine officer with an impeccable service record.

Capt. Ross: Thank you, Your Honor.

Kaffee: [while looking through his refrigerator] Were you able to speak to your friend at the NIS?
Lt. Weinberg: Yeah, she said that if Markinson doesn't want to be found, we're not gonna find him. She said I could be Markinson and you wouldn't know it.
Kaffee: Are you Markinson?
Lt. Weinberg: No.

Kaffee: I'm not Markinson. That's two down. What?
Lt. Weinberg: I'm just wondering, now that Joanne's in on this, you know, I was just wondering if you still needed me.
Kaffee: They were following orders, Sam.
Lt. Weinberg: An illegal order.
Kaffee: You think Dawson and Downey knew it

was an illegal order?
Lt. Weinberg: It doesn't matter what they knew. Any decent human being would have refused.
Kaffee: They're not permitted to question orders.
Lt. Weinberg: Then what's the secret? Huh, what are the magic words? I give orders every day nobody follows them.
Kaffee: Sam, we have

softball games and marching bands. They work at a place where you have to wear camouflage or they might get shot! I need you. You're better at research than I am and you know how to prepare a witness.
Galloway: [Galloway arrives] I have medical reports and Chinese food. I say we eat first.
[pause, Weinberg is pondering, remains silent]

Galloway: [confused] What?
Lt. Weinberg: You got any Kung Pao chicken?
Kaffee: [pointing to their chalkboard with his baseball bat] Alright, here's our defense. Intent, no one can prove there was poison on the rag. Code reds, they're common and accepted in Guantanamo Bay. The order, A, Kendrick gave it, B they had no choice but to

follow it. That's it.
Lt. Weinberg: What about motive?
Kaffee: We're a little weak on motive they had one.
Galloway: Just because a person's got a motive doesn't mean they're guilty.
Kaffee: Relax, we'll deal with the fence line shooting when it comes up. For now, let's start with intent. I don't know

what made Santiago die, I don't want to know. I just want to show that it could have been something other than poison. Jo, talk to doctors find out everything there is to know about lactic acidosis. Sam, find out who else was in the emergency room that night.

Kaffee: [in Sam's office after work hours] I don't believe it, Dawson's is going to jail despite me. Fine, if he wants to jump off a cliff, I'm not going to hold his hand the way down. I want to get him a new lawyer and how do I do it?
Lt. Weinberg: Just make a motion tomorrow morning at the arraignment the judge will ask if you want to enter a plea and you

tell him you want new counsel assigned.
Kaffee: That's that.
Galloway: [as Danny leaves Sam's office] One thing though: When you ask the judge for new counsel, be sure to ask "nicely"
Kaffee: [in the hallway] What do you want from me?
Galloway: Why are so afraid to be a lawyer? Were daddy's expectations

really that high?
Kaffee: Dawson and Downey will have their day in court, they'll just have it with another lawyer
Galloway: Another lawyer won't be good enough, they need you, you know how to win. You know they have a case and you know how to win. If you walk away from this now, you've sealed their fate.
Kaffee: Their fate

was sealed the minute Santiago died.

Galloway: [in West's office] I appreciate you seeing me on such short notice.
Capt. West: Would you like to sit down?
Galloway: I'm fine sir.
Capt. West: Have a seat.
Galloway: [embarassed] OK.
Capt. West: I understand we had some trouble over the weekend down in

Cuba?
Galloway: [as she hands him their files] Yes sir. This past Friday two marines, a Lance Corporal Harold Dawson and Private Louden Downey entered the barracks room of a Pfc. William Santiago and assaulted him. Santiago died approximately an hour later. The NIS agent who took Dawson and Downey's statements maintained they were trying to prevent Santiago from naming

Dawson in a fence line shooting incident. They're scheduled to have a hearing down in Cuba this afternoon at sixteen hundred. Dawson and Downey are both "recruiting poster" marines. Santiago was known to be a screw up. I was thinking it sounded a lot like a code red.
Capt. West: Christ.

Col. Jessup: [to Danny as he, Sam, and Jo enters Jessup's office for the for the first time] Nathan Jessup, come on in
Kaffee: [as they shake hands, introduces Sam, and Jo] thank you sir, I'm Daniel Kaffee. I'm the attorney for Dawson and Downey.
Col. Jessup: pleasure
Kaffee: [gestures to Jo] This Lieutenant

Commander JoAnne Galloway.
Col. Jessup: [as they shake hands] pleasure meeting you Commander.
Galloway: Colonel
Kaffee: [to Jessup, gestures to Sam] Lieutenant Sam Weinberg, he'll be assisting
Lt. Weinberg: [as they shake hands] sir
Col. Jessup: [gestures to Markinson and

Kendrick] this is my XO Colonel Markinson and platoon leader Lieutenant Kendrick, I've asked them to join us, sit down, please
Lt. Col. Matthew Andrew Markinson: [as they shake hands] Lieutenant Kaffee
Kaffee: [as they shake hands] Colonel Markinson
Lt. Col. Matthew Andrew Markinson: I had the pleasure of meeting your father

once. I was a teenager, he spoke at my high school
Col. Jessup: [to Danny] Lionel Kaffee?
Kaffee: yes sir
Col. Jessup: [to Kendrick] well what'd you know? This man's dad once made a lot of enemies in your neck of the woods. Jefferson versus Madison County School District. Folks down there said a little black girl couldn't go

to an all white school. Lionel Kaffee said "well, we'll just see about that."

Capt. Ross: [upon entering Danny's office] Dan Kaffee.
Kaffee: Smilin' Jack Ross.
Capt. Ross: Welcome to the big time.
Kaffee: You think so?
Capt. Ross: Let's hope for Dawson and Downey's sake that you practice law better than you play softball.
Kaffee:

Unfortunately for Dawson and Downey, I don't do anything better than I play softball. I'm out of here, Janelle!
Janelle: Bye!
Kaffee: See you when I get back from Cuba.
Janelle: [playfully, sarcastically] Say hi to Castro for me.
Kaffee: Will do. What are we looking at?
Capt. Ross: They plead guilty, we drop the

conspiracy and the conduct unbecoming. Twenty years, they're home in half that time.
Kaffee: I want twelve.
Capt. Ross: Can't do it.
Kaffee: They called the ambulance, Jack.
Capt. Ross: Look, I don't care if they called the Avon lady. They killed a Marine.
Kaffee: Rag was tested

for poison. The autopsy, the lab reports, all say the same thing, maybe, maybe not.
Capt. Ross: The Chief of Internal Medicine for the Guantanamo Bay Naval Hospital says he's sure.
Kaffee: What do you know about code reds?
Capt. Ross: Oh, man. We off the record?
Kaffee: You tell me.
Capt.

Ross: Look, I'm going to give you the twelve years. Before you get yourself into any trouble tomorrow, I think you should know that the platoon commander, Lieutenant Jonathan Kendrick, held a meeting with the men and specifically told them not to touch Santiago.
Kaffee: We still playing hoops tomorrow night?
Capt. Ross: We got a deal?

Kaffee: I'll talk to you when I get back.

Galloway: [while in a seafood restaurant] I think you're an exceptional lawyer I watch the court members they respond to you they like you I see you convincing them and I think Dawson and Downey will end up owing their lives to you
Kaffee: I think you should prepare for the fact that we're going to lose. Ross's opening statement was all true let's pretend

for a minute that it actually mattered to the court that these guys were given an order. I can't prove it ever happened we'll keep doing what we're doing and we'll put on a show but at the end of the day all we have is the testimonies of two people accused of murder
Galloway: We'll find Markinson
Kaffee: We're going to lose, and we're going to lose

huge

Capt. Ross: [the prosecution's opening statement] the facts of the case are these: on midnight of September sixth the accused entered the barracks room of their platoon mate PFC. William Santiago, they woke him up tied his arms and legs with tape and forced a rag into his throat, a few minutes later a chemical reaction called Lactic Acidosis caused his lungs to begin bleeding, he

drowned in his own blood and was pronounced dead at thirty seven minutes pass midnight. These are the facts of the case and they are undisputed. The story I've just told you is the exact same story you're going to hear from lance corporal Dawson and it's going to be the exact same story you're going to hear from private Downey, furthermore the government will demonstrate the accused soaked the rag

in poison and entered Santiago's room with the intent to kill, their attorney lieutenant Kaffee is going to pull off a little "magic act" he's going to try a little misdirection he's going to astonish you with stories and rituals and dazzle you with official sounding terms like "code red", he might even cut in a few officers for you. He'll have no evidence mind you none but its going to be

entertaining. And when we get the end, all the "magic" in the world will not have divert your attention to the fact that Willie Santiago is dead and Dawson and Downey killed him. These are the facts of the case and they are undisputed.