Outlaw s01e01 Episode Script
Pilot
[Metal clanks, buzzer sounds.]
- Promise me something.
Promise me You'll move on.
The girls, they need a man in the house.
- Marry me.
[Buzzer sounds.]
- Greg, Jewell, listen This isn't over.
- The governor said no? - Jewell, the governor is an idiot.
- It's all right.
- No, it's not.
There's nothing remotely all right about this.
So what are we gonna do now besides pray for a miracle? - I just filed a request with the supreme court to stay the execution.
Jewell, listen.
I know that's a Hail Mary.
But, Greg, we have the truth on our side, and I swear to you That's better than any prayer.
- Bless me, father, for I need a 4.
[George Thorogood's who do you love?.]
- Sir? See that gentleman over there? - Who do you love? - Oh! People say there's no justice! Ha ha.
- Excuse me, sir.
- I got a cobra snake for a necktie - Counting cards is legal.
In Huston vs.
Resorts international, the Jersey supreme court affirmed five to four.
- Well, the Jersey bouncers just de-firmed 2-zip.
Have a nice evening, justice.
He's on the supreme court? No wonder the country's going down the crapper.
- Last I checked, Mereta, you were a law clerk, not a nursemaid.
That was a six-deck shoe I was beating.
No one beats a six-deck shoe.
- Habeas petition from S.
C.
I.
Greene.
Execution scheduled in two days, and the justices who weren't doubling down just gave their opinion.
It's four-four.
Gregory Beals' life is in your hands, which is why all these people are here.
They heard you were supposed to speak at the banquet.
- You sure? Maybe Springsteen's playing.
- No, it's you they want, and on a stake.
- You're gonna let Beals die, aren't you? - Cute? - If you're into cankles and whiskers.
- Let me guess ACLU.
- Yeah.
Card-carrying member.
- Justice, we really should go.
- You know, before you go and burn a flag in protest, a jury unanimously convicted Greg Beals of killing a cop.
Three appellate courts saw no reason to overturn that verdict, but perhaps you know better.
- I might, if you'd let him have a fair trial.
- I don't let people have anything.
I follow the law.
- You have an 8:00 A.
M.
call.
- If Beals had exculpatory evidence, he had to present it at the state Habeas hearing.
He didn't.
- Because he had an attorney who didn't get his brief in on time.
- I'm really sorry to interrupt, but we really do need to get going.
And if you have an issue with the law, then maybe you should bring it up with the lawmakers.
- Yeah, while you're at it, how about picking up a copy of the constitution? If a law violates it, I'll overturn it.
If not, I'm Switzerland.
- Wow, would your dad be disgusted right now.
He was a hero of mine.
He was never Switzerland.
He used the law to give people hope, to lift their spirits, not shatter their dreams.
He wasn't afraid of anything.
- He'd be terrified of you.
- Oh, he'd agree with me that his son is a - schmuck? - Yes! - He used to call me that a lot.
- Does making a joke like that help you sleep at night? - It's not a joke, and I sleep like a baby, though for you, I'd be happy to make an exception.
[Click.]
- You dedicated your life to social justice.
- And my son has dedicated his to undoing that.
- That must be difficult for you.
- It's difficult for me, but it's worse for the country.
- As a young man, Francisco Garza marched alongside Bobby Kennedy and Cesar Chavez.
- They protected the rights of the weakest part of our society.
- Since his tragic death last year, Garza's living legacy is his son, the sole survivor of the accident and arguably the most conservative justice on the U.
S.
supreme court.
- He's my my blood, my flesh.
And, uh, we enjoy life very much, and we both love this country very much.
And I love him dearly.
But he's wrong.
[chuckles.]
He's just wrong.
And, uh Deep inside of him He knows it.
"Outlaw: S01E01" "Pilot" Original Air date 14 September, 2010 - May I help you? [Gum pops.]
I'm Eddie Franks.
I clerk for justice Garza.
- I don't want to be your lover.
- I'm sorry.
What? - You want to get in my pants, don't you? - No.
Not really.
- Good 'cause I don't sleep with the people I work with.
- Lucinda.
Excellent.
I see you've already met Eddie.
- Mm-hmm.
- Come on in.
Sowow me.
- He was on haldol.
Prison doctor pumped him full of it.
- Pumped who? What are we talking about? - Greg Beals.
I asked Lucinda to do some research.
- Research? I thought you'd already decided.
His execution is tomorrow.
- Exactly.
So make it quick.
Haldol why should I care? - Turns you into a zombie, which is what Beals looked like in that courtroom.
The prosecutor even referred to his insensitive, remorseless face.
- Prosecutor tell the jury why he looked so "dawn of the dead"? - No didn't say a word.
- If nobody said a word, then how do you know he was drugged? - I hacked into the county jail logs.
- Y you you did what? - Relax, Harvard! They're public records.
I'm not telling you anything you don't have the legal right to know.
- The nerve of some people.
Oh.
I'm sorry.
Am I interrupting something? - It's okay.
We're just getting tips on breaking and entering, the legal version.
- What is it, Mereta? - Politico emailed.
They would like to know would justice Garza care to comment on a reliable report that he has half a million dollars in gambling debt? - They mention the Swedish ambassador's wife? - How do you even know about that? - Who is she? - She is a private investigator.
- Who seems to have found a few tidbits in Beals that have eluded us.
- Eluded us? Sir The case has been briefed.
We're we're not allowed to look for tidbits.
- Prosecutor broke the law.
- If there was misconduct, the defense had 11 years to find out they didn't.
Just because Beals only has three meals left doesn't mean we get to change the rules in order to grant him a new trial.
- All right.
5 bucks says I can cut the Ace of Spades.
One cut, no looking.
- Well, I prefer strip poker, but I'm in.
- Following the rules Doesn't always lead to justice.
When that happens, Eddie, got to change the rules.
Beals deserves another trial.
Great work, Lucinda.
- And you thought I was just hot.
- We're on deadline here, Mereta.
I'm gonna need a redraft of Beals by 8:00.
- You got it.
- Get in.
[Engine turns.]
- If I knew you were taking me to the prom, I would have brought you a corsage.
- Do I look like I'm in the mood for your moronic jokes? - No.
In fact, I think there's actual steam coming out of your ears.
- Schulze vs.
Intel, Frankel vs.
Portland, Manilow vs.
3M all five-four decisions.
Five-four.
These are precedent-setting cases, and they all went south because of you.
And now I hear you're thinking of reversing Beals.
Who the hell do you think you are, going soft on the death penalty? - [Chuckles.]
- You think this is funny? Make this thing right.
- I plan on it, senator.
- If this new direction of yours is because of your dad's death, see a therapist.
If it's a midlife crisis, screw your secretary.
But do not shift the balance of the supreme court.
We put you in there.
We can take you out.
- You make it sound like you're gonna hire a hit man.
- We're going to impeach you, and don't think we can't do it.
Section one, Article three justices shall hold their offices during good behavior.
[Laughs.]
Who are we kidding? That rules you out.
You're at the tipping point here, Cyrus.
You don't vote the right way on Beals, you're out.
- He's my my blood, my flesh.
We enjoy life very much.
We both love this country.
[Horn honking.]
- Dad! [Horn blaring, tires screeching.]
And I love him dearly.
But he's wrong.
Deep inside of him, he knows it.
- Gregory Beals is scheduled to be executed today by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Some people say granting him yet another trial is a fool's errand which serves no purpose except to create chaos by delaying the wheels of justice.
There was a time where I would have said those people are right.
But it seems to me now that a little chaos is a fair price to pay for the life of another human being.
And that is why I am staying the execution of Gregory Beals and sending the case back for a new trial.
[Audience murmuring.]
I love this court.
Its cautious respect for precedent and neutrality has, at times, saved our country.
But I came here a different judge, a different man.
I used to be satisfied being cautious and neutral, being Switzerland.
I am not anymore.
The job of a justice is to preserve the status quo, to be a referee, to settle fights.
Well, I am ready to fight them, and I can't do that here.
That is why today I am announcing my resignation from the court [Audience murmuring.]
Because I'm ready to change it.
- Today's supreme court resignation came as a bombshell.
[Cell phone rings.]
Looming large in the nation's mind is why - Okay, so admit it.
You miss me already.
- You pissed off a lot of people today.
- Yep.
And it feels pretty damn good.
- Enjoy it, because by tomorrow, you're gonna be the most hated man in America.
You're on your own, pal.
I suggest you get a bodyguard.
[Cell phone beeps.]
So, now we are bound to have a complete shift of the United States supreme court just because justice Garza has personal problems.
- Well, I wonder what that personal revelation is, because now this president has the power to shift the balance of the court Can you imagine? - Congratulations.
The left hated you when you joined the court.
The right hates you when you leave.
- Controversy's never bad for business.
But if you don't think my name will look good on your firm's masthead, I can find someone who does.
- And this is strictly business? - I thought so, but If you'd like to throw in a few incidentals - I don't.
- Then, yes, it's strictly business.
- So what's your proposal? - Your firm gets my name on the door, and I get the same salary as you.
- [Laughs.]
You really think you're worth that? - No.
But I know you do.
One other thing I pick my cases and my team.
- I already have a job.
- This firm has given me carte blanche.
We can parachute in all over the country.
- Dad, dad, DJ's trying to smell my butt! - Okay.
Go get some cereal.
DJ, come here, my man.
- We can go wherever the action is.
California, it's gay marriage.
Montana, euthanasia.
Connecticut - Didn't you vote against those things? - Ah.
And don't you have a desk upstairs where you can go do your homework? Cyrus, listen, this all sounds really tempting, but clearly, you have lost your mind.
I mean, I'm down with you helping to save my client, but quitting the supreme court? What the hell were you thinking? - That you were right about my dad.
- Fascist.
- [Scoffs.]
He never thought people should take responsibility for their lives.
Everyone was a victim.
He was like St.
Jude.
It was always one lost cause after another.
- Okay, so now you're gonna be one too? - Look, daddy.
- Hey, man, listen, come here.
Don't smell your sister's butt.
Go.
- Look, Al, ever since the accident, it's felt like I'm hurting the people that I should be protecting People like Greg Beals.
- Dad, DJ's drowning! - DJ! What are you [Bubbling.]
Come here, man! - Speaking of which, I want Beals to be our first case.
- What? You were his judge.
[DJ coughing.]
Now you're gonna be his lawyer? Change your shirt, DJ.
[Scoffs.]
Cyrus, do you want to leave the court or get disbarred? - If the bar association wants to come after me, then let them.
And, no, I haven't lost my mind.
But I am gonna need your help.
You know the case, and I trust you, even though you raised your daughter to think I'm Mussolini.
- [Chuckles.]
Yeah, you should hear her mother.
You really want to do this, man? - Our whole legal system is based on protecting that one innocent person that's been falsely accused.
I have a feeling Greg Beals is that person.
- I think what he's doing is amazing.
He's the first person to resign from the court based on principle.
- Resigned to represent a cop killer.
The state had an eyewitness saying that Beals did it.
The medical examiner blew out his alibi at trial.
- Hey, Harvard, you don't like it, what are you doing eating the grub? - Don't worry about me.
My resume's in with justice Esposito.
As soon as he gets the okay to add an extra clerk, I'm out of here.
- Oh, great.
- What was that? I'm not sure I heard you.
- You're all here.
You've all met Al.
He's gonna be working with us.
Mereta, thanks for, uh, hooking up lunch.
- There are drink's in the fridge.
I thought I should stock up - [Smooching.]
- Since it's our new office.
- Al's the reason that Beals is still alive.
Just got the briefing schedule.
It's gonna be a nightmare, so let's dive in.
You've all read the transcripts, I assume.
Any thoughts? - Yeah, yeah.
Uh, Beals is guilty.
He goes in to score.
Vice cop busts in.
He whacks her.
- Not according to the one eyewitness.
Uh, he recanted his testimony.
- When? He died in prison six months ago.
- He had a court-appointed therapist who said that before he died he admitted he never actually saw Beals the night that Pam Hogan was murdered.
Her name was, uh Felicia Milton.
She called the office this morning.
I guess with the publicity of the case, she decided to come forward.
- Will she testify? - I didn't ask her exactly - Call her, get her depo.
Find out if she'll testify.
- Right.
Of course.
- What else? - There is a timeline issue.
Pam Hogan's body was found in a crack house on April the 10th.
At trial, the M.
E.
Testified that killing could've happened as early as April 3rd.
- How convenient the one day Beals doesn't have an alibi.
- 'Cause starting April 4th, he was in jail for stealing a truck some alibi.
- And the medical examiner's dates those are solid? No one ever challenged those? - No one ever did.
But I came to the case after the habeas hearing, and by then, there was no new evidence allowed.
- Lucinda, see if you can shake up the M.
E.
's story.
- Yeah.
I'll call the body farm.
- I don't want to know what that is.
[Cell phone rings.]
- Too bad, 'cause you're going with her.
Garza.
- I promise I won't bite.
- Can I get that in writing? - Sure.
What time? All right, we'll be there.
That was, uh, the prosecutor.
He wants to set up a meeting with the victim's husband.
- You've ever been in love? - I have married 15 years.
- Pam and I only got two, but she was my life.
She took care of me after I was shot.
I still wake up every morning, hoping to find her next to me.
- Well, in order to prevent another trial, Mr.
Hogan is gonna ask the court to commute Mr.
Beals' sentence to life.
- Well, that's a start.
- I just I I don't want to relive it, okay? I mean, all those details, what-ifs I worked vice.
I knew how dangerous it was.
- Walt and his wife worked together on the force until he was wounded on the job.
- I understand the suffering that you've endured, and I wouldn't ask you to relive any of it if I didn't believe that Mr.
Beals is innocent.
- What are you talking about? There was an eyewitness who saw Beals pull the trigger.
- Well - Well, what? - We have questions about the witness.
- Questions? - About the offer.
We're gonna have to present this to our client.
- You know, you lawyers are all the same.
I mean, this is just a game to you.
You don't care about the truth.
You make me sick.
- Okay.
All right.
Stirring all this up is exactly what Walt wants to avoid.
So the offer for Beals is life in prison.
- Which is more than he deserves.
- Since this case has dragged on long enough, he's got 24 hours to make a decision, starting now.
- They want me to plead guilty? - We can say no and go to trial.
But you know every time we've gone to court, we've lost.
- But that's before I had a supreme court justice as one of my lawyers.
- Greg, if we had DNA evidence, then maybe, but we don't.
If we lose, you get executed.
They're giving you a chance to live, man.
- Justice Garza, you're the reason why I'm still here.
Tell me what to do, and I'll do it.
- This is your life, Mr.
Beals.
I can't decide that for you.
But if it were me I couldn't say that I had killed someone if I hadn't.
- I didn't kill anyone.
I did not kill anyone.
- Well Then there's your answer.
- I want the lawyers to approach.
- Hey, Dick, how you doing? How's Martha? - She's fine.
But I'm a little concerned about you.
- About my resignation? Oh, you should be thrilled.
You're probably on the short list to replace me.
If they ask, I promise I won't say anything about that night in Miami.
- I was talking about this case.
Did you really have your client reject a plea to commute his sentence to life? - He's innocent.
- Not in this court, he's not.
At trial, state met its burden.
- Your client's presumed guilty.
The burden's on you to convince me he's not.
- Yeah, I'm pretty clear on how that works.
My client did not receive a fair trial.
- So you bent the rules to give him another one? - You can't put the system before a man's life.
- Damn right, I can.
That's what a judge is supposed to do.
So spare me your soapbox.
- Excuse me, your honor.
But is the offer still available? - For another six hours, it is.
- Thank you.
A moment? [Courtroom murmuring.]
Cyrus, I know you like the long shot, but we're not at the track.
To Beals, this is about getting to grow old.
This is about getting to see his kids grow up.
So before you turn down this offer, remember that this about his life, not yours.
- We're going to trial.
- I hope you know what you're doing, Cyrus.
- You know, I agreed with your dad on just about everything except that you were a schmuck.
Turns out he was right about that too.
[Indistinct chatter.]
[Flies buzzing.]
- Are we here to meet a forensic anthropologist or an ex murderer? - Corpses are donated to a body farm so they can be studied it's called science.
I know that you right-wing wackos have an issue with that, but unfortunately, Jesus isn't around to let us know exactly when Pam Hogan died.
- And the maggot eating that guy's eye will.
- People lie.
Maggots don't.
- What do you think the justice is lying about? I mean, why did he really quit? Did he break the law? Did he get some girl pregnant? - Maybe you're right.
Maybe he does have some dark secret.
Does that turn you on? - No.
- Really? 'Cause I'm starting to think maybe you've got some dark secrets of your own.
You're gay, right? It's okay.
Just admit it.
- Okay, you know what? First you think I want to get in your pants.
Now you're saying I'm gay.
Is it possible I'm just not attracted to you? - Or maybe you're bi.
I am.
Hey, Stan.
- Hey.
- You get a chance to look at the crime-scene photos? - Take a look.
So right here, you see the marbled appearance of her extremities? That indicates she died approximately seven degree days before autopsy.
So an average temperature of 70 degrees would put her death no earlier than April 8th.
But if it was below 60 degrees, she could have died as early as April 1st.
- Three days before Beals was jailed.
- Okay, so if it was 60 degrees, Beals has no alibi.
But if it was 70 degrees, we've got a case.
- Yeah.
Okay.
Great.
But h-how do we find out what the temperature was in the basement of a Philadelphia crack house first week of April 11 years ago? - Well, I don't think that'll be a problem.
- Apparently not a problem.
Thank you.
- Darling, she ain't here.
I paged her three times already.
- That's impossible.
I mean, she said she'd be here at 2:30.
Can you can you check again, please? - I'd say we're at a solid four.
- Wait a minute.
Here we are Dr.
Felicia Milton.
Looks like she's on vacation for the next two weeks.
Left today.
- That would be five.
- Well, I talked to her this afternoon.
She confirmed that the eyewitness recanted his testimony.
- Forget it.
Prosecutor got to her.
- She was our case.
- This is why we're now at a ten.
- Why did you hire me? I mean, I know that you hired Eddie because he was first in his class.
- I hired Eddie because he was a bull's fan.
I hired you 'cause you're pretty.
- Okay, you broke like ten laws just now.
- All right, fine.
You're not pretty.
But as a liberal elitist, you do believe in affirmative action for race and gender, right? - Yeah.
- Well, so why not for high cheekbones? - I graduated in the top of my class.
- You were seventh.
The other six applied.
- Clearly, you don't respect me, so why don't I just quit? - Most women would if they were you.
[Bottle opens.]
But, uh You're here, working your ass off, which impresses the hell out of me.
Cheers? - Cheers.
[Buzzer sounds.]
- Yeah.
- It's doc.
- That's, uh, Doc Levin, my, uh nutritionist.
- You have a nutritionist? - Yeah, I figured with all the changes going on in my life, I could use a good cleanse.
- Hey.
Long time no see.
- Look, doc, uh [Over intercom.]
I know I'm due.
- More like overdue.
You got an illness here, and you didn't treat it.
Now we're in a situation where you don't have much time.
- Uh, how long? - You gonna take it seriously? - Seriously? I [chuckles.]
It's one of the reasons why I left the court.
- So no ducking appointments? - No more ducking.
How long? - Best-case scenario Three months.
- Did you get the stuff or not? - Everything that's legal.
I figured the house Pam Hogan was found in wasn't always a crack den, so I pulled construction permits.
I got the floor plans, venting and insulation specs.
- Hmm.
Insulation specs.
How butch of you.
- Do you ever take anything seriously? - Me? [scoffs.]
You're the one who's gonna ditch this case the minute justice Espo-weirdo blows his dog whistle.
- You know hacking into energy department computers is a felony? - Well, you do realize we're trying to save an innocent man's life here, right? - I'll be sure to mention that to homeland security when they come in and bust us.
- [Chuckles.]
You really think homeland security's gonna bust me for flashing my boobs? - Flashing your boobs, that's your big, uh that's your big plan for accessing classified data? - Hey, they're nice boobs Not that you'll ever know.
- Sorry, big guy.
- Yeah.
Take it you heard.
We lost the shrink.
- Mm-hmm.
You're a little out of practice.
You'll get it back.
- It doesn't excuse tipping the prosecutor off that we knew that the eyewitness was gonna recant.
Told you I needed you.
- Well, you know I'm here.
- She got it.
She got it Beals' alibi.
It holds.
- He's in love with me now.
- Well, I no, I - That's okay.
We're all in love with her.
- I'm not in love with her.
No offense, but So what'd you get? - Temperature in the crack house was never below 70 degrees, which, based on the rate of decomposition, means the earliest the murder could have happened was April 8th.
- Five days after Beals was sent to prison.
He couldn't have done it.
- I'm in love with you now.
- Al, you call the court, find out if we can have time to file an amended brief.
- I'm already on it.
- Eddie, do what you do best start writing.
If we're lucky, we'll get till morning.
- Cyrus.
- Gregory Beals is innocent.
For 11 years, he has been behind bars for a crime he did not commit.
His children, the woman he loves, and his freedom have been taken from him.
The only thing he has left is his innocence.
Today the defense will introduce new evidence which proves - Excuse me.
There's no case which allows you to introduce new evidence on an appeal.
- Actually, there is one, your honor.
This case Beals.
In Beals, the supreme court held that federal law does not prohibit the introduction of new evidence on appeal when that evidence can prove the defendant's actual innocence.
- Your honor, that's justice Garza's opinion.
- I was writing for the majority.
- Your honor, we are prepared to argue procedural issues like judicial error, questions that Mr.
Beals is legally entitled to raise.
But the question of Mr.
Beals' guilt was decided years ago.
- Incorrectly.
The decision in Beals is clear.
The system cannot be preserved at the expense of an innocent man's life.
- Damn it, Cyrus.
I warned you not to bring your soapbox in here.
We're done.
[pounds gavel.]
I've ruled.
- Eddie, I need you to research every opinion Denner has issued from the bench.
If he won't listen to an opinion of mine, maybe he'll listen to one of his own.
- But it proves Greg's innocent.
- There are rules.
- You even told Greg not to take that deal, and now you're bringing up rules like it's some surprise.
You are a supreme court justice.
You made those rules.
Now, how am I gonna explain to my girls that our own lawyer killed their father? - Killed him? For your information, Mr.
Garza has three months to live, and he's spending them trying to save Greg's life.
Don't even try and deny it.
I overheard you and Doc Levin.
- Jewell, look I know you're scared.
This is not over, okay? It's not over.
I want you to trust me.
Right now I I just need a minute alone with my team.
Can you and your mom give us that? - You're our last hope! - I know that I shouldn't have eavesdropped, but I am so glad that I did, because now we can focus on what really matters.
- I think you misunderstood.
- For me, it's you.
I love you.
I do, and I don't care if anybody can hear me, because it's the truth.
I I love you.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
- Okay, is it just me, or does the feeling totally not seem mutual? - Look, I didn't I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of everybody.
I I know that you might not feel the same way, and it's okay, really.
I just, um I wanted to tell you before you - Doc Levin's my bookie.
- What? - He's called doc, because no one operates on the spread better.
- But he said that you have three months.
- To pay what I owe.
turns out, no one can beat a six-deck shoe.
- So Politico was right.
- Well, they're wildly inaccurate.
They said I owed half a million.
It's only 250,000.
- But you're not dying.
- Not unless you want to kill me.
- You're totally healthy.
- Listen, about what you said - Oh, my God! Oh, my God, everybody heard me! - It's okay.
I I mean, I talked to them.
- What did you say, other than that I'm fired? - Mereta, you're not fired.
In fact, I feel like maybe it's my fault saying that I hired you because you're pretty.
Maybe that gave you the wrong impression.
- Yeah.
Yeah, I'll go with that.
Maybe maybe it was your fault.
- As far as my personal life goes, I'm pushing 50, never been married.
[Chuckles.]
I don't even know the names of the last three girls I slept with.
- Cindy Schultz, Hailey Simpson, and Chelsea Hathaway.
- You're way too good for me.
- Yeah, well, not good enough.
I'll see you back at the office.
And, uh Don't worry.
Your secret's safe with me.
- I think I found something.
- Yeah, yeah? - The prosecution's case is based on indirect evidence.
There's no DNA.
So in Leeds v.
Gilbert, judge Denner ruled that a case based on indirect evidence can be challenged if any part of the evidence is factually incorrect.
- What's the standard? - Reasonableness.
- I'll tell you what's reasonable.
Me being pissed off that the proof I found is being ignored.
- Lucinda, what you and Eddie found about the time of death is something that Beals' original attorney reasonably should have discovered at trial.
But if we find something that is impossible to know at trial, then based on Leeds We have a shot.
- Hey.
Mereta's got something.
- It's the crime tech on the case.
Simon Barnet he never testified.
- Yeah.
Mereta and I pulled all the cases he's worked.
He testified on every murder except this one.
- Did you talk to him? - No.
He wouldn't talk.
- But we tried.
When we asked him if he was protecting someone, he freaked out and told us to leave.
- Hmm.
Someone that adamant that he's not protecting someone is usually - Protecting someone.
- Yeah, but who? A best friend, another crime tech? - There was another one at the scene? - No.
But there was at the lab.
She stored and catalogued evidence.
- She.
- What evidence? I've never seen a murder case with less evidence.
- Eddie! You got a name for me? - Hi.
I'm looking for a Rita Schmidt.
- It's, um, s-c-h-m-i-d-t.
- When did you lose contact with her? Five years ago.
- Philadelphia.
Rita Schmidt.
- Hi, there, I'm calling from Family Digest magazine.
Uh, Rita Schmidt has won our grand sweepstakes.
- If you can help us find a forwarding address, I would be very appreciative.
- Yeah, I'll hold.
- Hello? - Cyrus Garza.
May I speak to Rita Schmidt, please? Yes.
Justice Garza.
No, I'm not kidding.
Hello? [cell phone beeps.]
No, it's like she's fallen off the face of the earth.
We've been over this, Al.
Barnet would be a hostile witness.
He wouldn't talk even if we subpoenaed him.
Yeah.
I'll see you later.
[Cell phone beeps.]
Got it.
- Yeah, yeah.
- We don't know how to find Rita Schmidt, but maybe her ex-partner, Barnet, does.
Odds are, if we call him, he'll panic and turn around and call her.
- Yeah.
But in a very private, legally protected way.
- U.
S.
penal code 634.
8-- laws and regulations regarding wiretapping do not apply to patently unlawful conversations.
I'd say hiding a material witness qualifies as being unlawful.
- Have you memorized the whole penal code? - You remember 634.
8, in case you're caught.
Try to find Lucinda.
- W whoa caught doing what? Caught doing what? - Esposito blew his dog whistle.
Got the okay to add an extra clerk.
I start Monday.
[electronic beeping.]
- Mm.
Go on, take it.
Give you one last story to tell your Harvard buddies about your week slumming it with the badass P.
I.
- Mr.
Barnet I'm one of the lawyers working the Beals case.
I just wanted to let you know that Rita Schmidt has agreed to testify.
If you don't believe me, you can call her yourself.
I'm sorry.
I don't speak [cell phone beeps.]
I think he just told me to screw myself in Greek.
- St.
Peter's church.
How may I help you? - I need to talk to Rita schmidt.
- I'm sorry.
She's not here at the moment.
[Electronic beeping.]
- 508.
Looks like Garza's going to Massachusetts.
[Indistinct chatter.]
- Rita Schmidt? - How did you find me? - I need to know what happened that night.
- I'm assuming, after our last little get-together, we're all ready to play by the rules.
- Yes, your honor.
- Excellent.
- I want to begin by saying I was wrong when I suggested there was one opinion that allowed new evidence on appeal.
In fact, there were two.
- You're kidding, right? - No.
And I can't imagine you were either when you wrote it.
In Leeds vs.
Gilbert, you wrote that "a case based on indirect evidence "falls apart if any of that evidence is factually incorrect.
" - That was a tort case.
This is a murder trial.
- You didn't make that distinction.
You wrote, "any case falls apart if the indirect evidence is incorrect.
" And how can you prove that without being able to introduce new evidence? - Get on with it.
- The defense calls Rita Schmidt.
[Audience murmuring.]
Would you tell the court what your job was in April of 1998? - I was a crime-scene technician with the Philadelphia police department.
- And were you working on April 10th, the night lieutenant Pam Hogan's body was found? - Yes.
I was in the crime lab.
- And did you happen to catalogue the evidence that was brought from that crime scene where the body was found? - Yes, I did.
- Were there a pair of prescription glasses amongst that evidence? - Yes.
- Did those glasses belong to Gregory Beals? - No.
- Who did they belong to? - They were Walt Hogan's.
- And how could you possibly know that? - Because that night when I came back from break, he was trying to steal them.
- Captain Hogan was trying to steal his own glasses.
- He realized he'd left them at the scene, that they'd been found and brought to the lab.
When I caught him, he was strung out.
He told me he was an addict.
- Captain Hogan, would you stand up, please? You do know that Captain Hogan is a decorated police officer who was shot in the face? - Yes.
- And yet, you expect us to take your word for it that he was an addict? - He said his wife had found out about his habit, that she'd followed him to the crack house.
He said they argued, and he shot her.
[Audience murmuring.]
- And you're only telling us this now after 11 years? - [Voice breaking.]
He threatened me.
He said I would end up like her.
I have three boys.
I'm all they have.
- Okay, well, this just gets better and better, because there's no proof here.
- Her blood was on them the glasses.
- What glasses? I have an evidence list right here.
This is the list that you signed off on, and nowhere on here I'm looking, I'm looking nowhere on here is a pair of glasses.
- That's because I took them.
- Oh, you took them.
- I thought that someday I might need them for protection.
- Your honor, we'd like Mr.
Hogan's glasses to be marked defense exhibit one.
- This is ridiculous.
This could be anybody's glasses.
You could go to your neighborhood rite aid and get a pair! - Oh, actually, in Captain Hogan's case, that wouldn't be true.
As Mr.
Freed just pointed out, Captain hogan was shot in the line of duty.
That bullet left him partially deaf in his left ear.
As you can see, your honor, the left temple of these glasses has been adjusted to accommodate for a hearing aid.
- Your honor, you've already ruled on this.
The question of new evidence has been asked and answered.
- Yes, it has.
That's not the question that matters.
The one that does is whether you, whether any of us, uses the law to prevent or to do justice.
- No, you don't use the law.
You follow the law.
- People come in here, searching - Your honor, could you please - they come into this room searching, hoping, expecting not just fairness, but moral rightness moral rightness! We all know the rules are there for a reason.
without them, we'd be in chaos.
We also know that when those very rules put an innocent man behind bars to death, even there's something wrong.
And there's something wrong with us if we let them.
So many times, I I was sitting there Up there, your honor, right where you are, feeling like my hands were tied, like I was a prisoner.
In this case, your honor, your hands aren't tied.
In this case, you can do what's right.
Justice demands it.
It demands the immediate release of Gregory Beals and that Walt Hogan be taken into custody for the murder of Pam Hogan.
[Audience murmuring loudly.]
[Reporters shouting.]
- Greg! - Hey.
Thank you, baby.
Will you marry me? - Yes.
Yes! - Justice Garza, I don't know what to say.
You gave up everything to save me.
- Who says you were the only one who needed saving? - Hey.
What's up? What's up? - I wanted to give you this.
- St.
Jude Patron Saint of lost causes.
- My sister gave me this when all this started.
Now that it's over, maybe you could use it.
- It's my dad's favorite.
Thank you.
- Good luck, Jewell.
- You guys take care.
- You too.
- Thank you.
- You think I was one of my dad's lost causes? - Hell, yeah.
But I know you're also his pride and joy.
How's it feel being an outlaw? - Feels great.
- You are loving me now.
- I just like your meat.
- By the way, I decided not to go with Esposito.
I'm gonna stay.
- Oh, thank God.
Now we can finally make love among the legal briefs.
I'm kidding.
Oh, my God, you you actually thought - No.
- Good, because it's not gonna happen.
- Fine.
Great.
- Ever.
Just keep your meat on the plate.
- Done.
- How are the hot dogs coming? - Pretty much done.
- Are they for you or for your lover? - What I said was said in a moment of stress, and misunderstanding.
It does not reflect how I truly feel.
- [Laughing.]
- Don't worry about it.
Sometimes everybody says things they wish they hadn't, except, of course, for Lucinda, who always says things we wish she hadn't.
- Food's ready.
- I'm hungry.
- Well, that sounds great.
I'll talk to Al, and I'll get back to you.
- Claire is so hot for us now.
- Oh, everyone's hot for us now that we've won.
That was about some case in Florida, some David going up against big pharma.
- Says goliath.
- Maybe you're right not to have any kids.
You, sit.
[Line ringing.]
- Yeah.
- It's me.
Call off the bodyguard.
- I don't know what you're talking about.
- The side of beef with the buzz cut he's been following me everywhere.
- I have nothing to do with that.
I told you, you're on your own.
- So who is he? - I have no idea.
But wherever you are, you should leave.
- I'm not going anywhere.
[Cell phone beeps.]
- Everything all right? 'Cause you got next, unless you're ducking me.
- I'm not ducking anybody.
Let's do this.
- Oh! [The rolling stones' street fighting man.]
- everywhere I hear the sound
- Promise me something.
Promise me You'll move on.
The girls, they need a man in the house.
- Marry me.
[Buzzer sounds.]
- Greg, Jewell, listen This isn't over.
- The governor said no? - Jewell, the governor is an idiot.
- It's all right.
- No, it's not.
There's nothing remotely all right about this.
So what are we gonna do now besides pray for a miracle? - I just filed a request with the supreme court to stay the execution.
Jewell, listen.
I know that's a Hail Mary.
But, Greg, we have the truth on our side, and I swear to you That's better than any prayer.
- Bless me, father, for I need a 4.
[George Thorogood's who do you love?.]
- Sir? See that gentleman over there? - Who do you love? - Oh! People say there's no justice! Ha ha.
- Excuse me, sir.
- I got a cobra snake for a necktie - Counting cards is legal.
In Huston vs.
Resorts international, the Jersey supreme court affirmed five to four.
- Well, the Jersey bouncers just de-firmed 2-zip.
Have a nice evening, justice.
He's on the supreme court? No wonder the country's going down the crapper.
- Last I checked, Mereta, you were a law clerk, not a nursemaid.
That was a six-deck shoe I was beating.
No one beats a six-deck shoe.
- Habeas petition from S.
C.
I.
Greene.
Execution scheduled in two days, and the justices who weren't doubling down just gave their opinion.
It's four-four.
Gregory Beals' life is in your hands, which is why all these people are here.
They heard you were supposed to speak at the banquet.
- You sure? Maybe Springsteen's playing.
- No, it's you they want, and on a stake.
- You're gonna let Beals die, aren't you? - Cute? - If you're into cankles and whiskers.
- Let me guess ACLU.
- Yeah.
Card-carrying member.
- Justice, we really should go.
- You know, before you go and burn a flag in protest, a jury unanimously convicted Greg Beals of killing a cop.
Three appellate courts saw no reason to overturn that verdict, but perhaps you know better.
- I might, if you'd let him have a fair trial.
- I don't let people have anything.
I follow the law.
- You have an 8:00 A.
M.
call.
- If Beals had exculpatory evidence, he had to present it at the state Habeas hearing.
He didn't.
- Because he had an attorney who didn't get his brief in on time.
- I'm really sorry to interrupt, but we really do need to get going.
And if you have an issue with the law, then maybe you should bring it up with the lawmakers.
- Yeah, while you're at it, how about picking up a copy of the constitution? If a law violates it, I'll overturn it.
If not, I'm Switzerland.
- Wow, would your dad be disgusted right now.
He was a hero of mine.
He was never Switzerland.
He used the law to give people hope, to lift their spirits, not shatter their dreams.
He wasn't afraid of anything.
- He'd be terrified of you.
- Oh, he'd agree with me that his son is a - schmuck? - Yes! - He used to call me that a lot.
- Does making a joke like that help you sleep at night? - It's not a joke, and I sleep like a baby, though for you, I'd be happy to make an exception.
[Click.]
- You dedicated your life to social justice.
- And my son has dedicated his to undoing that.
- That must be difficult for you.
- It's difficult for me, but it's worse for the country.
- As a young man, Francisco Garza marched alongside Bobby Kennedy and Cesar Chavez.
- They protected the rights of the weakest part of our society.
- Since his tragic death last year, Garza's living legacy is his son, the sole survivor of the accident and arguably the most conservative justice on the U.
S.
supreme court.
- He's my my blood, my flesh.
And, uh, we enjoy life very much, and we both love this country very much.
And I love him dearly.
But he's wrong.
[chuckles.]
He's just wrong.
And, uh Deep inside of him He knows it.
"Outlaw: S01E01" "Pilot" Original Air date 14 September, 2010 - May I help you? [Gum pops.]
I'm Eddie Franks.
I clerk for justice Garza.
- I don't want to be your lover.
- I'm sorry.
What? - You want to get in my pants, don't you? - No.
Not really.
- Good 'cause I don't sleep with the people I work with.
- Lucinda.
Excellent.
I see you've already met Eddie.
- Mm-hmm.
- Come on in.
Sowow me.
- He was on haldol.
Prison doctor pumped him full of it.
- Pumped who? What are we talking about? - Greg Beals.
I asked Lucinda to do some research.
- Research? I thought you'd already decided.
His execution is tomorrow.
- Exactly.
So make it quick.
Haldol why should I care? - Turns you into a zombie, which is what Beals looked like in that courtroom.
The prosecutor even referred to his insensitive, remorseless face.
- Prosecutor tell the jury why he looked so "dawn of the dead"? - No didn't say a word.
- If nobody said a word, then how do you know he was drugged? - I hacked into the county jail logs.
- Y you you did what? - Relax, Harvard! They're public records.
I'm not telling you anything you don't have the legal right to know.
- The nerve of some people.
Oh.
I'm sorry.
Am I interrupting something? - It's okay.
We're just getting tips on breaking and entering, the legal version.
- What is it, Mereta? - Politico emailed.
They would like to know would justice Garza care to comment on a reliable report that he has half a million dollars in gambling debt? - They mention the Swedish ambassador's wife? - How do you even know about that? - Who is she? - She is a private investigator.
- Who seems to have found a few tidbits in Beals that have eluded us.
- Eluded us? Sir The case has been briefed.
We're we're not allowed to look for tidbits.
- Prosecutor broke the law.
- If there was misconduct, the defense had 11 years to find out they didn't.
Just because Beals only has three meals left doesn't mean we get to change the rules in order to grant him a new trial.
- All right.
5 bucks says I can cut the Ace of Spades.
One cut, no looking.
- Well, I prefer strip poker, but I'm in.
- Following the rules Doesn't always lead to justice.
When that happens, Eddie, got to change the rules.
Beals deserves another trial.
Great work, Lucinda.
- And you thought I was just hot.
- We're on deadline here, Mereta.
I'm gonna need a redraft of Beals by 8:00.
- You got it.
- Get in.
[Engine turns.]
- If I knew you were taking me to the prom, I would have brought you a corsage.
- Do I look like I'm in the mood for your moronic jokes? - No.
In fact, I think there's actual steam coming out of your ears.
- Schulze vs.
Intel, Frankel vs.
Portland, Manilow vs.
3M all five-four decisions.
Five-four.
These are precedent-setting cases, and they all went south because of you.
And now I hear you're thinking of reversing Beals.
Who the hell do you think you are, going soft on the death penalty? - [Chuckles.]
- You think this is funny? Make this thing right.
- I plan on it, senator.
- If this new direction of yours is because of your dad's death, see a therapist.
If it's a midlife crisis, screw your secretary.
But do not shift the balance of the supreme court.
We put you in there.
We can take you out.
- You make it sound like you're gonna hire a hit man.
- We're going to impeach you, and don't think we can't do it.
Section one, Article three justices shall hold their offices during good behavior.
[Laughs.]
Who are we kidding? That rules you out.
You're at the tipping point here, Cyrus.
You don't vote the right way on Beals, you're out.
- He's my my blood, my flesh.
We enjoy life very much.
We both love this country.
[Horn honking.]
- Dad! [Horn blaring, tires screeching.]
And I love him dearly.
But he's wrong.
Deep inside of him, he knows it.
- Gregory Beals is scheduled to be executed today by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Some people say granting him yet another trial is a fool's errand which serves no purpose except to create chaos by delaying the wheels of justice.
There was a time where I would have said those people are right.
But it seems to me now that a little chaos is a fair price to pay for the life of another human being.
And that is why I am staying the execution of Gregory Beals and sending the case back for a new trial.
[Audience murmuring.]
I love this court.
Its cautious respect for precedent and neutrality has, at times, saved our country.
But I came here a different judge, a different man.
I used to be satisfied being cautious and neutral, being Switzerland.
I am not anymore.
The job of a justice is to preserve the status quo, to be a referee, to settle fights.
Well, I am ready to fight them, and I can't do that here.
That is why today I am announcing my resignation from the court [Audience murmuring.]
Because I'm ready to change it.
- Today's supreme court resignation came as a bombshell.
[Cell phone rings.]
Looming large in the nation's mind is why - Okay, so admit it.
You miss me already.
- You pissed off a lot of people today.
- Yep.
And it feels pretty damn good.
- Enjoy it, because by tomorrow, you're gonna be the most hated man in America.
You're on your own, pal.
I suggest you get a bodyguard.
[Cell phone beeps.]
So, now we are bound to have a complete shift of the United States supreme court just because justice Garza has personal problems.
- Well, I wonder what that personal revelation is, because now this president has the power to shift the balance of the court Can you imagine? - Congratulations.
The left hated you when you joined the court.
The right hates you when you leave.
- Controversy's never bad for business.
But if you don't think my name will look good on your firm's masthead, I can find someone who does.
- And this is strictly business? - I thought so, but If you'd like to throw in a few incidentals - I don't.
- Then, yes, it's strictly business.
- So what's your proposal? - Your firm gets my name on the door, and I get the same salary as you.
- [Laughs.]
You really think you're worth that? - No.
But I know you do.
One other thing I pick my cases and my team.
- I already have a job.
- This firm has given me carte blanche.
We can parachute in all over the country.
- Dad, dad, DJ's trying to smell my butt! - Okay.
Go get some cereal.
DJ, come here, my man.
- We can go wherever the action is.
California, it's gay marriage.
Montana, euthanasia.
Connecticut - Didn't you vote against those things? - Ah.
And don't you have a desk upstairs where you can go do your homework? Cyrus, listen, this all sounds really tempting, but clearly, you have lost your mind.
I mean, I'm down with you helping to save my client, but quitting the supreme court? What the hell were you thinking? - That you were right about my dad.
- Fascist.
- [Scoffs.]
He never thought people should take responsibility for their lives.
Everyone was a victim.
He was like St.
Jude.
It was always one lost cause after another.
- Okay, so now you're gonna be one too? - Look, daddy.
- Hey, man, listen, come here.
Don't smell your sister's butt.
Go.
- Look, Al, ever since the accident, it's felt like I'm hurting the people that I should be protecting People like Greg Beals.
- Dad, DJ's drowning! - DJ! What are you [Bubbling.]
Come here, man! - Speaking of which, I want Beals to be our first case.
- What? You were his judge.
[DJ coughing.]
Now you're gonna be his lawyer? Change your shirt, DJ.
[Scoffs.]
Cyrus, do you want to leave the court or get disbarred? - If the bar association wants to come after me, then let them.
And, no, I haven't lost my mind.
But I am gonna need your help.
You know the case, and I trust you, even though you raised your daughter to think I'm Mussolini.
- [Chuckles.]
Yeah, you should hear her mother.
You really want to do this, man? - Our whole legal system is based on protecting that one innocent person that's been falsely accused.
I have a feeling Greg Beals is that person.
- I think what he's doing is amazing.
He's the first person to resign from the court based on principle.
- Resigned to represent a cop killer.
The state had an eyewitness saying that Beals did it.
The medical examiner blew out his alibi at trial.
- Hey, Harvard, you don't like it, what are you doing eating the grub? - Don't worry about me.
My resume's in with justice Esposito.
As soon as he gets the okay to add an extra clerk, I'm out of here.
- Oh, great.
- What was that? I'm not sure I heard you.
- You're all here.
You've all met Al.
He's gonna be working with us.
Mereta, thanks for, uh, hooking up lunch.
- There are drink's in the fridge.
I thought I should stock up - [Smooching.]
- Since it's our new office.
- Al's the reason that Beals is still alive.
Just got the briefing schedule.
It's gonna be a nightmare, so let's dive in.
You've all read the transcripts, I assume.
Any thoughts? - Yeah, yeah.
Uh, Beals is guilty.
He goes in to score.
Vice cop busts in.
He whacks her.
- Not according to the one eyewitness.
Uh, he recanted his testimony.
- When? He died in prison six months ago.
- He had a court-appointed therapist who said that before he died he admitted he never actually saw Beals the night that Pam Hogan was murdered.
Her name was, uh Felicia Milton.
She called the office this morning.
I guess with the publicity of the case, she decided to come forward.
- Will she testify? - I didn't ask her exactly - Call her, get her depo.
Find out if she'll testify.
- Right.
Of course.
- What else? - There is a timeline issue.
Pam Hogan's body was found in a crack house on April the 10th.
At trial, the M.
E.
Testified that killing could've happened as early as April 3rd.
- How convenient the one day Beals doesn't have an alibi.
- 'Cause starting April 4th, he was in jail for stealing a truck some alibi.
- And the medical examiner's dates those are solid? No one ever challenged those? - No one ever did.
But I came to the case after the habeas hearing, and by then, there was no new evidence allowed.
- Lucinda, see if you can shake up the M.
E.
's story.
- Yeah.
I'll call the body farm.
- I don't want to know what that is.
[Cell phone rings.]
- Too bad, 'cause you're going with her.
Garza.
- I promise I won't bite.
- Can I get that in writing? - Sure.
What time? All right, we'll be there.
That was, uh, the prosecutor.
He wants to set up a meeting with the victim's husband.
- You've ever been in love? - I have married 15 years.
- Pam and I only got two, but she was my life.
She took care of me after I was shot.
I still wake up every morning, hoping to find her next to me.
- Well, in order to prevent another trial, Mr.
Hogan is gonna ask the court to commute Mr.
Beals' sentence to life.
- Well, that's a start.
- I just I I don't want to relive it, okay? I mean, all those details, what-ifs I worked vice.
I knew how dangerous it was.
- Walt and his wife worked together on the force until he was wounded on the job.
- I understand the suffering that you've endured, and I wouldn't ask you to relive any of it if I didn't believe that Mr.
Beals is innocent.
- What are you talking about? There was an eyewitness who saw Beals pull the trigger.
- Well - Well, what? - We have questions about the witness.
- Questions? - About the offer.
We're gonna have to present this to our client.
- You know, you lawyers are all the same.
I mean, this is just a game to you.
You don't care about the truth.
You make me sick.
- Okay.
All right.
Stirring all this up is exactly what Walt wants to avoid.
So the offer for Beals is life in prison.
- Which is more than he deserves.
- Since this case has dragged on long enough, he's got 24 hours to make a decision, starting now.
- They want me to plead guilty? - We can say no and go to trial.
But you know every time we've gone to court, we've lost.
- But that's before I had a supreme court justice as one of my lawyers.
- Greg, if we had DNA evidence, then maybe, but we don't.
If we lose, you get executed.
They're giving you a chance to live, man.
- Justice Garza, you're the reason why I'm still here.
Tell me what to do, and I'll do it.
- This is your life, Mr.
Beals.
I can't decide that for you.
But if it were me I couldn't say that I had killed someone if I hadn't.
- I didn't kill anyone.
I did not kill anyone.
- Well Then there's your answer.
- I want the lawyers to approach.
- Hey, Dick, how you doing? How's Martha? - She's fine.
But I'm a little concerned about you.
- About my resignation? Oh, you should be thrilled.
You're probably on the short list to replace me.
If they ask, I promise I won't say anything about that night in Miami.
- I was talking about this case.
Did you really have your client reject a plea to commute his sentence to life? - He's innocent.
- Not in this court, he's not.
At trial, state met its burden.
- Your client's presumed guilty.
The burden's on you to convince me he's not.
- Yeah, I'm pretty clear on how that works.
My client did not receive a fair trial.
- So you bent the rules to give him another one? - You can't put the system before a man's life.
- Damn right, I can.
That's what a judge is supposed to do.
So spare me your soapbox.
- Excuse me, your honor.
But is the offer still available? - For another six hours, it is.
- Thank you.
A moment? [Courtroom murmuring.]
Cyrus, I know you like the long shot, but we're not at the track.
To Beals, this is about getting to grow old.
This is about getting to see his kids grow up.
So before you turn down this offer, remember that this about his life, not yours.
- We're going to trial.
- I hope you know what you're doing, Cyrus.
- You know, I agreed with your dad on just about everything except that you were a schmuck.
Turns out he was right about that too.
[Indistinct chatter.]
[Flies buzzing.]
- Are we here to meet a forensic anthropologist or an ex murderer? - Corpses are donated to a body farm so they can be studied it's called science.
I know that you right-wing wackos have an issue with that, but unfortunately, Jesus isn't around to let us know exactly when Pam Hogan died.
- And the maggot eating that guy's eye will.
- People lie.
Maggots don't.
- What do you think the justice is lying about? I mean, why did he really quit? Did he break the law? Did he get some girl pregnant? - Maybe you're right.
Maybe he does have some dark secret.
Does that turn you on? - No.
- Really? 'Cause I'm starting to think maybe you've got some dark secrets of your own.
You're gay, right? It's okay.
Just admit it.
- Okay, you know what? First you think I want to get in your pants.
Now you're saying I'm gay.
Is it possible I'm just not attracted to you? - Or maybe you're bi.
I am.
Hey, Stan.
- Hey.
- You get a chance to look at the crime-scene photos? - Take a look.
So right here, you see the marbled appearance of her extremities? That indicates she died approximately seven degree days before autopsy.
So an average temperature of 70 degrees would put her death no earlier than April 8th.
But if it was below 60 degrees, she could have died as early as April 1st.
- Three days before Beals was jailed.
- Okay, so if it was 60 degrees, Beals has no alibi.
But if it was 70 degrees, we've got a case.
- Yeah.
Okay.
Great.
But h-how do we find out what the temperature was in the basement of a Philadelphia crack house first week of April 11 years ago? - Well, I don't think that'll be a problem.
- Apparently not a problem.
Thank you.
- Darling, she ain't here.
I paged her three times already.
- That's impossible.
I mean, she said she'd be here at 2:30.
Can you can you check again, please? - I'd say we're at a solid four.
- Wait a minute.
Here we are Dr.
Felicia Milton.
Looks like she's on vacation for the next two weeks.
Left today.
- That would be five.
- Well, I talked to her this afternoon.
She confirmed that the eyewitness recanted his testimony.
- Forget it.
Prosecutor got to her.
- She was our case.
- This is why we're now at a ten.
- Why did you hire me? I mean, I know that you hired Eddie because he was first in his class.
- I hired Eddie because he was a bull's fan.
I hired you 'cause you're pretty.
- Okay, you broke like ten laws just now.
- All right, fine.
You're not pretty.
But as a liberal elitist, you do believe in affirmative action for race and gender, right? - Yeah.
- Well, so why not for high cheekbones? - I graduated in the top of my class.
- You were seventh.
The other six applied.
- Clearly, you don't respect me, so why don't I just quit? - Most women would if they were you.
[Bottle opens.]
But, uh You're here, working your ass off, which impresses the hell out of me.
Cheers? - Cheers.
[Buzzer sounds.]
- Yeah.
- It's doc.
- That's, uh, Doc Levin, my, uh nutritionist.
- You have a nutritionist? - Yeah, I figured with all the changes going on in my life, I could use a good cleanse.
- Hey.
Long time no see.
- Look, doc, uh [Over intercom.]
I know I'm due.
- More like overdue.
You got an illness here, and you didn't treat it.
Now we're in a situation where you don't have much time.
- Uh, how long? - You gonna take it seriously? - Seriously? I [chuckles.]
It's one of the reasons why I left the court.
- So no ducking appointments? - No more ducking.
How long? - Best-case scenario Three months.
- Did you get the stuff or not? - Everything that's legal.
I figured the house Pam Hogan was found in wasn't always a crack den, so I pulled construction permits.
I got the floor plans, venting and insulation specs.
- Hmm.
Insulation specs.
How butch of you.
- Do you ever take anything seriously? - Me? [scoffs.]
You're the one who's gonna ditch this case the minute justice Espo-weirdo blows his dog whistle.
- You know hacking into energy department computers is a felony? - Well, you do realize we're trying to save an innocent man's life here, right? - I'll be sure to mention that to homeland security when they come in and bust us.
- [Chuckles.]
You really think homeland security's gonna bust me for flashing my boobs? - Flashing your boobs, that's your big, uh that's your big plan for accessing classified data? - Hey, they're nice boobs Not that you'll ever know.
- Sorry, big guy.
- Yeah.
Take it you heard.
We lost the shrink.
- Mm-hmm.
You're a little out of practice.
You'll get it back.
- It doesn't excuse tipping the prosecutor off that we knew that the eyewitness was gonna recant.
Told you I needed you.
- Well, you know I'm here.
- She got it.
She got it Beals' alibi.
It holds.
- He's in love with me now.
- Well, I no, I - That's okay.
We're all in love with her.
- I'm not in love with her.
No offense, but So what'd you get? - Temperature in the crack house was never below 70 degrees, which, based on the rate of decomposition, means the earliest the murder could have happened was April 8th.
- Five days after Beals was sent to prison.
He couldn't have done it.
- I'm in love with you now.
- Al, you call the court, find out if we can have time to file an amended brief.
- I'm already on it.
- Eddie, do what you do best start writing.
If we're lucky, we'll get till morning.
- Cyrus.
- Gregory Beals is innocent.
For 11 years, he has been behind bars for a crime he did not commit.
His children, the woman he loves, and his freedom have been taken from him.
The only thing he has left is his innocence.
Today the defense will introduce new evidence which proves - Excuse me.
There's no case which allows you to introduce new evidence on an appeal.
- Actually, there is one, your honor.
This case Beals.
In Beals, the supreme court held that federal law does not prohibit the introduction of new evidence on appeal when that evidence can prove the defendant's actual innocence.
- Your honor, that's justice Garza's opinion.
- I was writing for the majority.
- Your honor, we are prepared to argue procedural issues like judicial error, questions that Mr.
Beals is legally entitled to raise.
But the question of Mr.
Beals' guilt was decided years ago.
- Incorrectly.
The decision in Beals is clear.
The system cannot be preserved at the expense of an innocent man's life.
- Damn it, Cyrus.
I warned you not to bring your soapbox in here.
We're done.
[pounds gavel.]
I've ruled.
- Eddie, I need you to research every opinion Denner has issued from the bench.
If he won't listen to an opinion of mine, maybe he'll listen to one of his own.
- But it proves Greg's innocent.
- There are rules.
- You even told Greg not to take that deal, and now you're bringing up rules like it's some surprise.
You are a supreme court justice.
You made those rules.
Now, how am I gonna explain to my girls that our own lawyer killed their father? - Killed him? For your information, Mr.
Garza has three months to live, and he's spending them trying to save Greg's life.
Don't even try and deny it.
I overheard you and Doc Levin.
- Jewell, look I know you're scared.
This is not over, okay? It's not over.
I want you to trust me.
Right now I I just need a minute alone with my team.
Can you and your mom give us that? - You're our last hope! - I know that I shouldn't have eavesdropped, but I am so glad that I did, because now we can focus on what really matters.
- I think you misunderstood.
- For me, it's you.
I love you.
I do, and I don't care if anybody can hear me, because it's the truth.
I I love you.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
- Okay, is it just me, or does the feeling totally not seem mutual? - Look, I didn't I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of everybody.
I I know that you might not feel the same way, and it's okay, really.
I just, um I wanted to tell you before you - Doc Levin's my bookie.
- What? - He's called doc, because no one operates on the spread better.
- But he said that you have three months.
- To pay what I owe.
turns out, no one can beat a six-deck shoe.
- So Politico was right.
- Well, they're wildly inaccurate.
They said I owed half a million.
It's only 250,000.
- But you're not dying.
- Not unless you want to kill me.
- You're totally healthy.
- Listen, about what you said - Oh, my God! Oh, my God, everybody heard me! - It's okay.
I I mean, I talked to them.
- What did you say, other than that I'm fired? - Mereta, you're not fired.
In fact, I feel like maybe it's my fault saying that I hired you because you're pretty.
Maybe that gave you the wrong impression.
- Yeah.
Yeah, I'll go with that.
Maybe maybe it was your fault.
- As far as my personal life goes, I'm pushing 50, never been married.
[Chuckles.]
I don't even know the names of the last three girls I slept with.
- Cindy Schultz, Hailey Simpson, and Chelsea Hathaway.
- You're way too good for me.
- Yeah, well, not good enough.
I'll see you back at the office.
And, uh Don't worry.
Your secret's safe with me.
- I think I found something.
- Yeah, yeah? - The prosecution's case is based on indirect evidence.
There's no DNA.
So in Leeds v.
Gilbert, judge Denner ruled that a case based on indirect evidence can be challenged if any part of the evidence is factually incorrect.
- What's the standard? - Reasonableness.
- I'll tell you what's reasonable.
Me being pissed off that the proof I found is being ignored.
- Lucinda, what you and Eddie found about the time of death is something that Beals' original attorney reasonably should have discovered at trial.
But if we find something that is impossible to know at trial, then based on Leeds We have a shot.
- Hey.
Mereta's got something.
- It's the crime tech on the case.
Simon Barnet he never testified.
- Yeah.
Mereta and I pulled all the cases he's worked.
He testified on every murder except this one.
- Did you talk to him? - No.
He wouldn't talk.
- But we tried.
When we asked him if he was protecting someone, he freaked out and told us to leave.
- Hmm.
Someone that adamant that he's not protecting someone is usually - Protecting someone.
- Yeah, but who? A best friend, another crime tech? - There was another one at the scene? - No.
But there was at the lab.
She stored and catalogued evidence.
- She.
- What evidence? I've never seen a murder case with less evidence.
- Eddie! You got a name for me? - Hi.
I'm looking for a Rita Schmidt.
- It's, um, s-c-h-m-i-d-t.
- When did you lose contact with her? Five years ago.
- Philadelphia.
Rita Schmidt.
- Hi, there, I'm calling from Family Digest magazine.
Uh, Rita Schmidt has won our grand sweepstakes.
- If you can help us find a forwarding address, I would be very appreciative.
- Yeah, I'll hold.
- Hello? - Cyrus Garza.
May I speak to Rita Schmidt, please? Yes.
Justice Garza.
No, I'm not kidding.
Hello? [cell phone beeps.]
No, it's like she's fallen off the face of the earth.
We've been over this, Al.
Barnet would be a hostile witness.
He wouldn't talk even if we subpoenaed him.
Yeah.
I'll see you later.
[Cell phone beeps.]
Got it.
- Yeah, yeah.
- We don't know how to find Rita Schmidt, but maybe her ex-partner, Barnet, does.
Odds are, if we call him, he'll panic and turn around and call her.
- Yeah.
But in a very private, legally protected way.
- U.
S.
penal code 634.
8-- laws and regulations regarding wiretapping do not apply to patently unlawful conversations.
I'd say hiding a material witness qualifies as being unlawful.
- Have you memorized the whole penal code? - You remember 634.
8, in case you're caught.
Try to find Lucinda.
- W whoa caught doing what? Caught doing what? - Esposito blew his dog whistle.
Got the okay to add an extra clerk.
I start Monday.
[electronic beeping.]
- Mm.
Go on, take it.
Give you one last story to tell your Harvard buddies about your week slumming it with the badass P.
I.
- Mr.
Barnet I'm one of the lawyers working the Beals case.
I just wanted to let you know that Rita Schmidt has agreed to testify.
If you don't believe me, you can call her yourself.
I'm sorry.
I don't speak [cell phone beeps.]
I think he just told me to screw myself in Greek.
- St.
Peter's church.
How may I help you? - I need to talk to Rita schmidt.
- I'm sorry.
She's not here at the moment.
[Electronic beeping.]
- 508.
Looks like Garza's going to Massachusetts.
[Indistinct chatter.]
- Rita Schmidt? - How did you find me? - I need to know what happened that night.
- I'm assuming, after our last little get-together, we're all ready to play by the rules.
- Yes, your honor.
- Excellent.
- I want to begin by saying I was wrong when I suggested there was one opinion that allowed new evidence on appeal.
In fact, there were two.
- You're kidding, right? - No.
And I can't imagine you were either when you wrote it.
In Leeds vs.
Gilbert, you wrote that "a case based on indirect evidence "falls apart if any of that evidence is factually incorrect.
" - That was a tort case.
This is a murder trial.
- You didn't make that distinction.
You wrote, "any case falls apart if the indirect evidence is incorrect.
" And how can you prove that without being able to introduce new evidence? - Get on with it.
- The defense calls Rita Schmidt.
[Audience murmuring.]
Would you tell the court what your job was in April of 1998? - I was a crime-scene technician with the Philadelphia police department.
- And were you working on April 10th, the night lieutenant Pam Hogan's body was found? - Yes.
I was in the crime lab.
- And did you happen to catalogue the evidence that was brought from that crime scene where the body was found? - Yes, I did.
- Were there a pair of prescription glasses amongst that evidence? - Yes.
- Did those glasses belong to Gregory Beals? - No.
- Who did they belong to? - They were Walt Hogan's.
- And how could you possibly know that? - Because that night when I came back from break, he was trying to steal them.
- Captain Hogan was trying to steal his own glasses.
- He realized he'd left them at the scene, that they'd been found and brought to the lab.
When I caught him, he was strung out.
He told me he was an addict.
- Captain Hogan, would you stand up, please? You do know that Captain Hogan is a decorated police officer who was shot in the face? - Yes.
- And yet, you expect us to take your word for it that he was an addict? - He said his wife had found out about his habit, that she'd followed him to the crack house.
He said they argued, and he shot her.
[Audience murmuring.]
- And you're only telling us this now after 11 years? - [Voice breaking.]
He threatened me.
He said I would end up like her.
I have three boys.
I'm all they have.
- Okay, well, this just gets better and better, because there's no proof here.
- Her blood was on them the glasses.
- What glasses? I have an evidence list right here.
This is the list that you signed off on, and nowhere on here I'm looking, I'm looking nowhere on here is a pair of glasses.
- That's because I took them.
- Oh, you took them.
- I thought that someday I might need them for protection.
- Your honor, we'd like Mr.
Hogan's glasses to be marked defense exhibit one.
- This is ridiculous.
This could be anybody's glasses.
You could go to your neighborhood rite aid and get a pair! - Oh, actually, in Captain Hogan's case, that wouldn't be true.
As Mr.
Freed just pointed out, Captain hogan was shot in the line of duty.
That bullet left him partially deaf in his left ear.
As you can see, your honor, the left temple of these glasses has been adjusted to accommodate for a hearing aid.
- Your honor, you've already ruled on this.
The question of new evidence has been asked and answered.
- Yes, it has.
That's not the question that matters.
The one that does is whether you, whether any of us, uses the law to prevent or to do justice.
- No, you don't use the law.
You follow the law.
- People come in here, searching - Your honor, could you please - they come into this room searching, hoping, expecting not just fairness, but moral rightness moral rightness! We all know the rules are there for a reason.
without them, we'd be in chaos.
We also know that when those very rules put an innocent man behind bars to death, even there's something wrong.
And there's something wrong with us if we let them.
So many times, I I was sitting there Up there, your honor, right where you are, feeling like my hands were tied, like I was a prisoner.
In this case, your honor, your hands aren't tied.
In this case, you can do what's right.
Justice demands it.
It demands the immediate release of Gregory Beals and that Walt Hogan be taken into custody for the murder of Pam Hogan.
[Audience murmuring loudly.]
[Reporters shouting.]
- Greg! - Hey.
Thank you, baby.
Will you marry me? - Yes.
Yes! - Justice Garza, I don't know what to say.
You gave up everything to save me.
- Who says you were the only one who needed saving? - Hey.
What's up? What's up? - I wanted to give you this.
- St.
Jude Patron Saint of lost causes.
- My sister gave me this when all this started.
Now that it's over, maybe you could use it.
- It's my dad's favorite.
Thank you.
- Good luck, Jewell.
- You guys take care.
- You too.
- Thank you.
- You think I was one of my dad's lost causes? - Hell, yeah.
But I know you're also his pride and joy.
How's it feel being an outlaw? - Feels great.
- You are loving me now.
- I just like your meat.
- By the way, I decided not to go with Esposito.
I'm gonna stay.
- Oh, thank God.
Now we can finally make love among the legal briefs.
I'm kidding.
Oh, my God, you you actually thought - No.
- Good, because it's not gonna happen.
- Fine.
Great.
- Ever.
Just keep your meat on the plate.
- Done.
- How are the hot dogs coming? - Pretty much done.
- Are they for you or for your lover? - What I said was said in a moment of stress, and misunderstanding.
It does not reflect how I truly feel.
- [Laughing.]
- Don't worry about it.
Sometimes everybody says things they wish they hadn't, except, of course, for Lucinda, who always says things we wish she hadn't.
- Food's ready.
- I'm hungry.
- Well, that sounds great.
I'll talk to Al, and I'll get back to you.
- Claire is so hot for us now.
- Oh, everyone's hot for us now that we've won.
That was about some case in Florida, some David going up against big pharma.
- Says goliath.
- Maybe you're right not to have any kids.
You, sit.
[Line ringing.]
- Yeah.
- It's me.
Call off the bodyguard.
- I don't know what you're talking about.
- The side of beef with the buzz cut he's been following me everywhere.
- I have nothing to do with that.
I told you, you're on your own.
- So who is he? - I have no idea.
But wherever you are, you should leave.
- I'm not going anywhere.
[Cell phone beeps.]
- Everything all right? 'Cause you got next, unless you're ducking me.
- I'm not ducking anybody.
Let's do this.
- Oh! [The rolling stones' street fighting man.]
- everywhere I hear the sound