In this final episode, the jury – Judge Mark Jones – has made his decision. He’s our Twelve Angry Men, forced to choose between Daniel’s competing diagnoses and then determine the fate of a young man on the cusp of adulthood. He could face life in prison or, if his defense attorneys succeed, a not-guilty insanity verdict which, under Florida law, would still require Daniel to be treated and likely committed to a treatment facility.
But first, attorneys have one last chance to make their case. And for this, prosecutors turn to Daniel and the bloody note he left behind in the bedroom he shared with Pascal.
In a courtroom that for nearly two weeks acted as a stage for a teenager’s troubling childhood, the criminal justice system that so often fails mentally ill defendants will determine Daniel’s fate. The final act will play out with Jones in the lead, struggling to balance the demands that he keep society safe, while providing justice to a dead boy and his family. It will be left to the retired Navy attorney to decide whether to lock Daniel up for what could be the rest of his life (and at the very least to old age), or throw him a lifeline.