Her Honor

After giving up a promising, though demanding route to a political career, cool, ambitious Kathleen Talbotthe ""Ice Queen'' of the public prosecutor's officeaccepts a judgeship in its place. Her powerful father is so infuriated by her choice that he suffers a series of massive strokes, and it's Kathleen's awful duty to decide whether he should be taken off life-support systems. Assigned to a mercy killing case by a spiteful superior, she is tormented by her personal ethical dilemma and is made the target of several unbalanced individuals, both inside and outside the court. A judge himself, Coughlin (The Twelve Apostles is on firm ground when he details the backbiting politics of the judicial system. But self-conscious dialogue and a clutch of cardboard characters combine to ruin a potentially provocative plot. (June 29)