Where this was said
The Courthouse Ambush: Werchuk vs. DA Montoya
At 27:17 · chapter starts 24:20
The attempt to ambush DA Montoya unfolds with painful awkwardness. Chammas and his producer Alvin watch from the waiting room — a flat-screen TV playing Cake Wars — as Werchuk leaps from his seat the moment Montoya sweeps through with an aide. The conversation deteriorates almost immediately: Montoya says his office doesn't have the bandwidth, Werchuk begs for five minutes, Montoya cites another meeting. Werchuk escalates, mentioning the non-matching DNA and the approaching execution date; Montoya, now blunt, says 'I'm telling you, it's not happening.' When Werchuk asks if he can come back in a few weeks, Montoya says yes — but his answer will still be no. Chammas and Alvin stare at their wedding rings. The whole exchange lasts less than two minutes but feels, Chammas writes, like a hole in the space-time continuum.
Greg Werchuk camps outside the incoming El Paso DA's office with no appointment. When Montoya sweeps by, what follows is an excruciating two-minute exchange that ends with a blunt 'It's not happening.' The awkwardness, Chammas says, felt like it lasted a week.
Greg Werchuk lives by the Charlie Brown principle: you have to keep running up to kick the football because the one time Lucy doesn't pull it away, you have to be ready. In capital defense work, cynicism is a death sentence for your client.
