- Todd Marten: [Deena comes home at 2:00 A.M. and her father is sitting in the stairwell] Do I have to lock you in your room?
- Deena Marten: I just went out for a walk.
- Todd Marten: At 2:00 in the morning you went out for a walk?
- Cynthia Marten: [Deena's mother walks down the stairwell] When you're grounded?
- Deena Marten: I've been locked up all day.
- Todd Marten: You haven't been locked up all day, but you will be. I'll nail the damn door shut if I have to.
- Cynthia Marten: You're not leaving this house until we get you to a doctor.
- Deena Marten: A doctor?
- Todd Marten: It's for your own good, Deena. Whatever's going on, it has to stop. And it's gonna stop now.
- Cynthia Marten: What are you doing? We're trying to help you.
- Deena Marten: Get away from me.
- Todd Marten: Put that down. Deena, put that down right now.
- Deena Marten: Get away!
- Cynthia Marten: Please. Deena!
- Todd Marten: Put the damn phone down!
- Deena Marten: Get away from me!
- Todd Marten: Deena, stop it!
- [Deena breaks the mirror in the back of some pictures behind her]
- Todd Marten: What the hell are you doing?
- Cynthia Marten: Put that down right--
- [Deena hits her mother in the face with the telephone. Cynthia's forehead is hurt. Deena runs away]
- Todd Marten: Deena! Deena, come back here! Deena!
- Judge Roubal: You're being charged with Assault Two. That's a felony. It's a very serious charge. Since this is your first offense, I don't want to keep you in detention. But the situation at your home is far too volatile for me to send you back until the case is resolved.
- Todd Marten: Uh, your Honor, if I can say something. I don't think Deena was trying to hit her mother with a telephone. I think she was just trying to...
- Judge Roubal: I don't want to hear about that now. I'm only interested in whether I should keep Deena in detention until the dispo hearing. Are there any alternative placements available?
- Attorney: Uh, your Honor, I spoke with Deena this morning, and she informed me that if she can't go home, she has an aunt she'd like to stay with.
- Cynthia Marten: But she wants to come home.
- Judge Roubal: I can't allow that.
- Todd Marten: [Whispering in Cynthia's ear] Look, let's just get her out, then we'll worry about the rest later, OK?
- Judge Roubal: Do you have any objection to the aunt? Assuming that the probation officer approves.
- Todd Marten: No. No, your Honor.
- Judge Roubal: In addition to the placement order, I want Deena to abide by whatever guidelines her probation officer sets forth, and to begin counseling immediately. If it were in my power, I'd order the entire family into therapy. But I can't do that. What I can do is mandate that between now and the dispo hearing, you see your daughter only in the presence of a therapist approved by this court.
- Judge Roubal: [Judge Roubal is addressing Deena Marten in court before making the ruling] I could send you to jail for 6 months, Deena. But since this is your first offense and since I've had some very good reports from your therapist, I'm going to allow you to go home. But I'm also placing you on probation for 1 year, provided that you perform 300 hours of community service, that you attend anger management classes, and that you abide by whatever addition guidelines your probation officer deems appropriate. I have high hopes for you, Deena. I've seen too many kids fall by the wayside because they did not have the support of their families. You've got that. So don't let me see you back here again.
- [Deena listens and accept Judge Roubal's warning. Deena smiles]
- Todd Marten: Thank you.
- Todd Marten: I don't know what we're gonna do. We've tried everything. She's out of control. She breaks things. She hits her mother.
- Police Officer: What happened to your hand?
- Todd Marten: Uh, that was an accident. Look, if you could just get that knife away from her, calm her down, I'm sure we could...
- [the police officers have caught Deena and they bring her downstairs. The Police Officer is writing a report. But Todd is there and sees her]
- Todd Marten: We're taking you to the hospital.
- Police Officer: No, you're not. She's under arrest.
- Todd Marten: Arrest for what?
- Police Officer: Assault.
- Todd Marten: Now, wait a minute, wait a minute, we don't want this.
- Cynthia Marten: You can't arrest her.
- Police Officer: Take her out.
- Cynthia Marten: You can't do that.
- Todd Marten: Now, wait a minute, wait a minute, we didn't ask for this. We didn't call the police.
- Adam Marten: I did. It was your idea. At the hospital, you said that...
- Todd Marten: I didn't say you should call the police.
- [the officer hands over the list to Todd]
- Police Officer: Here, you can see her in the morning. This'll tell you what to do.
- Cynthia Marten: He's asleep.
- Todd Marten: It was like this once last summer and again at Christmas.
- Cynthia Marten: You didn't tell me?
- Todd Marten: No.
- Cynthia Marten: How could you not tell me?
- Todd Marten: I knew it would upset you, and when you're upset, you drink. Things were better enough last Christmas.
- Cynthia Marten: Maybe that's because you were off selling your bowls and i was left to do all the work.
- Todd Marten: Yeah, well maybe you drank 'cause I wasn't around and maybe I wasn't around because you drank. It all started so long ago, I don't remember.
- Cynthia Marten: It started when we had Deena. That's when you bought all this equipment.
- Todd Marten: It's when I stopped having a wife.
- Cynthia Marten: Oh, you've got such a distorted view of things!
- Todd Marten: I remember when she was a little girl, she was the center of everything. She ran this house, and every time she got angry with you... she could be a vicious little girl. You just rolled over and took it. So it was your fault, nothing she ever did was wrong. It was like you needed her to be your friend more then you needed to be her mother.
- Cynthia Marten: Maybe I needed her because she was all I had. Maybe you came down here in this basement and worked on these bowls and you weren't there for me!
- Todd Marten: I came down to this basement because all you cared about was the kids!
- Cynthia Marten: Oh, no, no, you've got it all backwards, that is not how it happened!
- Todd Marten: It doesn't matter how it happened, and what matters is that I get out of this basement to start being a father! What matters is that you stop drinking, and be a mother.
- Cynthia Marten: Don't you talk to be about being a mother, not when you've spent our entire marriage in this basement working on these, these stupid bowls!
- Adam Marten: You're always saying "Don't upset Mom." I thought if I told her the truth, she'd be upset.
- Todd Marten: Did I tell you to lie?
- Adam Marten: No.
- Todd Marten: Garret's on suspension for hitting a teacher. Your mom should have known that. Are you lying to me now?
- Adam Marten: No.
- Todd Marten: And you're absolutely sure you don't know where Deena is? I want the truth, Adam.
- [Todd Marten can't handle the truth]
- Attorney: OK, you'll plead not guilty. That's automatic. That's gonna give us time to prepare the case.
- Deena Marten: How long will that take?
- Attorney: About 4-6 weeks.
- Deena Marten: I have to stay here for 4-6 weeks?
- Attorney: Well, that's what the judge is gonna rule on this afternoon.
- Young Man: I'm no busboy. You pick it up!
- Man: No, no. You pick up the tray now. And get out.
- Deena Marten: I can't stay here. I'm not like those other kids. I just want to go home.
- Attorney: Well, I don't think the judge is gonna let you do that, Deena.
- Deena Marten: Why? I didn't do anything.
- Attorney: Deena, look. I want you to be very clear about something. You attacked your parents with a weapon. OK? This system is set up to protect the victim. Not the aggressor.
- Judith: I got into terrible fights with my mom, too.
- Deena Marten: Yeah, but I bet you never hit her.
- Judith: No. She did all the hitting.
- Deena Marten: My mom never hit me. She never even spanked me.
- Judith: I think that she just swung way over in the other direction to try not to do what our mom did.
- Deena Marten: Yeah, but why'd I hit her? I mean, why'd I grab that knife? Where does that come from?
- Judith: I don't know. Sounds like everything got turned upside-down.
- Deena Marten: What was it like growing up with her?
- Judith: We were really different. I remember her favorite book was Lives of the Saints.
- [Judith laughs. Phone rings. She answers]
- Judith: Hello. Yeah, hold on.
- [It's for Deena]
- Judith: It's your mom. I'm gonna go get your bedding ready.
- Deena Marten: OK.
- D.A. Pearlman: You're not in a position to withdraw the charges.
- Cynthia Marten: But we're her parents.
- D.A. Pearlman: She assaulted you with a weapon.
- Cynthia Marten: She had a knife, but she wasn't going to use it.
- D.A. Pearlman: I'm talking about the telephone. The knife enters into it, but...
- Todd Marten: Look, we know she has problems. And we're going to get her whatever help she needs.
- Cynthia Marten: We think she's on drugs, maybe cocaine.
- D.A. Pearlman: There were no drugs found in her system. But whether there were or not, what I see here is a pattern of physical abuse. That's a crime.
- Cynthia Marten: Physical abuse? That's ridiculous. We--We're her parents.
- D.A. Pearlman: We're seeing more of this every day.
- Todd Marten: Can't believe this.
- D.A. Pearlman: We used to see it primarily in immigrant families, where the parents don't know the language and the children have all the power.
- Cynthia Marten: That's not us.
- D.A. Pearlman: I'm just saying that this seems to happen when those roles get reversed. When the children become the survival figures for their parents.
- Cynthia Marten: We're good parents. We have a good family. And we want Deena to come home.
- D.A. Pearlman: And I'm asking you to help me hold her accountable for what she did. I know that's hard. This is the only place in our entire justice system where the victim is asked to help prosecute someone they want to defend.
- Todd Marten: No homework, just a bunch of F's and "incompletes."
- Cynthia Marten: [Showing Todd the bag of marijuana] Look at this. 15 years old.
- Todd Marten: I didn't try this stuff till I was in coll...
- Cynthia Marten: Shh.
- [Hearing the door open and close, Cynthia turns off the light]
- Todd Marten: No.
- Cynthia Marten: What are you doing? She'll go ballistic if she find us in here.
- Todd Marten: I told you, I'm gonna call the police.
- Cynthia Marten: Todd, you can't do that. We'll have half the neighborhood standing on our front-
- [Deena appears sees her mom and dad in her room]
- Todd Marten: [showing Deena his broken hand] How am I supposed to work?
- [showing her the bag of marijuana]
- Todd Marten: And how long has this been going on?
- Deena Marten: It's not mine.
- Todd Marten: Not anymore. Where's your homework?
- Deena Marten: I didn't do it.
- Todd Marten: You lied, then.
- Deena Marten: Yeah.
- Todd Marten: As of right now, you are grounded indefinitely. No stereo, no television, no telephone, no nothing.
- Cynthia Marten: And you aren't going to see Garret anymore.
- Todd Marten: Tomorrow you'll stay home, and you'll complete every one of your missing assignments.
- Deena Marten: Tomorrow's Saturday.
- Todd Marten: [Yelling] Good! Then you'll have the weekend to finish it. And if you ever, ever raise your hand to anyone in this family again, I'll call the police.
- Deena Marten: The police?
- Cynthia Marten: Yes.
- Deena Marten: What are they gonna do?
- [Todd put the telephone down]
- Todd Marten: I hope you'll never have to find out.
- Deena Marten: I could just tell them it was self-defense.
- Todd Marten: Self-defense against what?
- Deena Marten: I could say you tried to attack me. Maybe even tried to rape me.
- Cynthia Marten: [Todd gets up angrily, violently, but Cynthia stops him] Todd.
- [Deena is very scared]
- Deena Marten: Who do you think they'd believe?
- [Todd is a very bad man. Deena is an innocent victim]
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