Justice (2006) s01e02 Episode Script

Butchered in bed in Hollywood's Premier sex playground- Lenny Stein- Music producer, maverick executive, murder victim.
His unknown killer is still at large.
Witnesses saw Stein enter the hotel with a very young, very attractive woman.
the L.
A.
P.
D.
is now looking for this woman, the woman witnesses saw with Stein just before he was murdered.
Police are asking if you have any information about her or her whereabouts, please contact L.
A.
P.
D.
immediately.
Oh, my god.
I killed him.
I can't believe it.
I killed him.
Ann, listen to me.
Listen to me.
You did the right thing by talking to a lawyer.
Now from what you're saying, it sounds like you have a good case for self-defense.
If he was attacking you, the law says you can protect yourself.
But in order for me to help you, I need to understand exactly what happened, okay? So one more time, but slower.
Lenny invited me to his hotel room.
We're friends.
And I don't know if it was his temper or his drinking or what, but he got mad, and he hit me, and he wouldn't let me leave.
He Tried to kill me.
Are you all right? I'm okay.
I've seen you on tv, mr.
Nicholson, in these big, huge trials.
Um And that's why I came here- Because I didn't know what else to do.
I'm not from here.
I go to school here, and my parents are in Nebraska.
I just don't know anybody.
I'm so scared.
Don't be.
All right? I called my partners.
They're on their way down here right now.
Thank you, Tom.
Thank you for helping me.
I swear, I didn't mean to hurt him.
That's exactly what we're gonna tell the jury.
The los angeles police are asking for help from the community.
This person of interest is believed to be a white female between the ages of 20 and 24.
We'll handle it.
I promise.
These are my partners - Luther Graves, Alden Tuller and Ron Trott.
Ron, this is Ann Diggs.
She's the girl they're looking for in the Stein murder.
What did you use, a knife? Yeah, from the room service cart.
Why did you come to a law firm? Why not go to the police? Anything I say to the police could be used against me, right? I was afraid if I went without a lawyer, I would say something stupid and make it worse.
And you guys are the only lawyers that I've ever heard of.
How? How did you hear of us? From all the big cases that you do.
mr.
Trott, I don't deserve to go to jail.
I need you to take my case.
We don't take walk-ins.
Come on, Ron.
A great case like this walks in, you just don't let it walk out and go to geragos.
Look at the tv.
Mrs.
Stein, the dead man's wife, is in Paris.
She's flying home this evening, grief-stricken.
This is the lead story, Ron.
It's only going to get bigger.
Plus, I've already talked to Ann, and I've heard her story.
I believe her, Ron.
she had to kill him, or he would have killed her.
And I've also done a background check.
She has no criminal record.
We can win this thing on self-defense.
We'll take your case.
We will? Tom and Luther are right.
This is going to be a media circus, the kind of case we're built to win.
We're tnt&g.
We don't lose.
I don't have any money.
None.
I'm on student loans at u.
c.
I.
a.
, and my parents don't give me any financial support whatsoever.
How much is this gonna cost me? We'll do it for free.
Free to her.
I didn't say we won't get paid.
Book rights, movie rights- Press like this, we're gonna get paid.
Trust me.
I told you we'd handle it, but we've gotta move fast.
Take her purse and her cell phone.
News coverage means the chance of you getting a fair trial is going down by the second, so we've got to do everything we can before we turn you in.
You just need to answer one question.
I told you.
It was self-defense.
That's not the question.
Don't guess! Ron.
What did you do with the knife? Threw it away? That's not good.
Plus, she's too calm to have just killed someone.
She's not calm, Alden.
She's numb.
Not too numb to come here instead of going to the cops.
You think she's lying to us? A married man and a college girl go to a hotel room together- Someone's lying about something, and that's before anyone dies.
The D.
A.
will argue that she ditched the knife because it's a murder weapon.
They'll convict her based on her trying to hide it.
So let's find it before they do, turn it over to the cops and show the jury she has nothing to hide.
Just do it fast, before the next news cycle.
Luther, you're an ex-D.
A.
How long do we have before they identify Ann? Depends.
Police have a composite drawing, Which means they can't put a name to a face yet.
By now they have picked over the scene and found her fingerprints, and they're entering them into their master database.
If she had a record, they'd know who she is now.
The good news is, she doesn't.
The bad news is, with her driver's license, passport and her student loan application, they'll know who she is by morning.
Fine.
We can do a lot in one night.
Yeah, like make our case worse.
Nothing says we have to find the knife.
What if we decide not to go with self-defense after all? Stein's wife was in Paris.
We can't blame her, and this doesn't look like suicide, so it's self-defense or nothing.
Find the knife, now.
Think.
when you left the hotel, did you go left or right? Uh, I don't remember where I threw it.
I - It was an alley.
Did you park on the street, or did you use valet? Street, 'cause I-I can't afford valet.
- Good.
Meter or lot? - Meter.
And I went to a coffee shop to get some change.
Okay, give me all the alleys in the area by commercial buildings near the hotel.
Now you said you threw the knife in the alley where you parked.
Is it any of these? These are near stores, if you threw the knife near where you got the change.
Um It's one of those.
Is it that one just off Fordham road? Yes, yes.
That's it.
- That's okay.
Dou did all right.
- I'm sorry.
Print that.
We'll get our guys down there and check it out.
Looks like our paralegals have found something.
Let's hope it's a knife.
L.
A.
P.
D.
is really working this one.
They love big media cases almost as much as we do.
We found something over here, mr.
Nicholson.
Oh, nice.
Well, who says trial work isn't glamorous? Who's got a glove? I do, mr.
Nicholson.
But, uh, won't the police say- Hey, the rat's the one destroying evidence, not me.
We're not sure that it is evidence.
It may not be the knife she used.
If it is the knife, we are going with self-defense.
So we are not going to deny that she killed him with it.
Of course, the cops could still charge us with evidence tampering.
Well, that's no problem.
We'll just defend ourselves.
We're tnt&g, right? "We don't lose.
" They really didn't go over this part in law school, mr.
Graves.
It's okay.
The defense lawyers have as much right to gather evidence as prosecutors.
Most defense lawyers are just too lazy or scared to do it.
Plus, if we waited for the cops to find evidence, We'd never win our cases.
Come on.
Let's just hope it was self-defense.
'Cause if it wasn't, we just found the evidence That's gonna convict our client.
Good work.
Come on.
100% innocent.
- =the last fantasy=- proudly presents Like I always say, If you got the right lawyer with you, We've got the greatest legal system in the world.
Got it.
Thanks.
My sources downtown are telling me they know who Ann is.
L.
A.
P.
D.
just identified her prints.
We have got to turn her in now, Ron.
Who's the homicide a.
D.
A.
on duty? William Matthew Byrne, jr.
Ouch.
Byrne's tough.
If we turn Ann in now, Byrne will be the trial D.
A.
- When does his shift end? - 6:00 a.
m.
Then it's j.
d.
Keller.
- Maybe we should wait.
- Hey, I am not afraid of Byrne.
I'd rather go up against Keller.
Keller loves the media so much, he'll tip his trial strategy just to get his name in the paper.
We'll know what he's gonna do in court before he does it.
After he hit me, I landed here in the corner by the bed.
He was here between me and the door, and the cart was right here, where I grabbed the knife.
How? Show me.
I just swung and ran past him.
So you had to use deadly force because he blocked your retreat.
Excellent.
Who's doing the investigation? It's a Wobbler - L.
A.
P.
D.
, Beverly Hills P.
D.
- joint jurisdiction.
So they'll be fighting over who gets to make the arrest.
I love it.
Turf battles between cops always help the defense.
The L.
A.
P.
D.
will really want this one bad, so arrange to turn her in to the Beverly Hills P.
D.
It'll buy us a few more hours and let us argue she wanted to cooperate, she wasn't hiding from anyone.
Get Ann examined.
I want photographs of her bruises, anything that proves Stein attacked her.
It'll help at trial, and I don't want to rely on the cops to get photos of them.
Our whole case is gonna be her testimony.
Whatever we can do to bolster it, the better.
We start putting her story together now.
Thanks, Ron.
I didn't think you'd spend money on a pro bono case.
It isn't going to be pro bono by the time we're done, believe me.
If she dated Stein, you'd better believe she dated other guys like Stein- Rich, powerful and eager to pay any price to stay clear of this case.
I'm going on tv.
- Now? - Yes, now.
For the east-coast feed.
Any time we get to the client before the police, we do pre-spin.
I'm gonna plant self-defense in the minds of potential jurors through the media.
To win, people have to know Stein was a bad man.
Now's a good time to start telling them.
I just can't mention that we represent her.
Defense lawyer Howard Weitzman, you've been following the Stein case.
What do you make of this woman the L.
A.
P.
D.
is looking for? at this point, it's hard to say.
- We don't even know who she is.
- Could she be a prostitute? Whoa! mrs.
Stein isn't gonna like hearing that, Suzanne.
Neither is this woman, whoever she is.
I mean hypothetically, if the woman is a hooker, - She could have rolled Stein for his money.
- What is this, aruba? We're just making theories up.
Americans have a right to a fair trial.
Actually, Ron's right.
At this point, we don't know what she is, and we don't know if she was involved in this.
She has to be involved.
Witnesses saw her with Stein.
I hear Stein had a terrible temper.
Did anyone else hear that or know anybody who was a victim of that? Maybe the poor girl was defending herself.
I don't remember.
How long did you two date? We didn't date.
I'd see him at parties and premieres and award shows.
Beats going to keggers at frat houses.
That's the great thing about going to college here is that you can go to all that Hollywood stuff.
I'd see Stein at these things, and he would flirt with me and ask me out, and I always said no.
Until you said "yes.
" We just went to dinner a couple times.
That's all.
You know? Can I call my parents in Nebraska? I just - I want to warn them about all the stuff on the news before they see it.
Sorry.
Till we turn you in, we can't risk letting anyone know you're here.
Trial lawyers have great hearing.
It comes from trying to hear what jurors are whispering about.
Where exactly did you meet Stein? We met through prime match at Hyde.
This is bad.
They're gonna say Ann's a prostitute, or as they say in Hollywood, a "strategic dater"- A girl who goes out with a rich man because he gives her nice things.
- What are you talking about? - Prime match is this dating service that throws parties at clubs like Hyde.
Women get in free to interact with rich men who pay for the privilege.
How do you know all this? I've gone to the parties with my friends R arely.
I just end up being the designated driver and the one who saves them from bad situations like Stein.
If you ever went out, you'd know these things, Tom.
Well, did you know the dead guy, Lenny Stein? No, but I know his type.
I know Ann's type, too.
She's a poor girl trying to live larger than she can afford.
Yeah, well, she's not that poor.
You see her clothes tonight? They're all knockoffs - the purse, the dress, the shoes.
She wants people to think she's a model.
She doesn't want to admit how she met Stein.
Personally, I don't blame her.
I mean, you never heard me mention those parties.
Well, we'll be okay, then.
Women who go to those parties are not necessarily prostitutes or strategic daters.
But the jury will think she is.
Well, you're not, right? The main thing is, you believe her.
Unlike you, I don't have to believe the clients to defend them, but, yes, I believe her.
Her clothes are phony, but those bruises are real.
Come on.
we gotta meet Ron.
You never mentioned that we represented Ann? Suzanne never asked.
And she's gonna go ballistic - When she realizes you did pre-spin.
- It makes good tv.
Good tv helps her ratings and our client every time.
We are set to turn Ann over to the Beverly Hills police department.
A.
D.
A.
Keller went on duty ten minutes ago.
It is time.
You couldn't get her to target to get a new outfit? There are no 24-hour targets around here, Ron.
You know, the whole point of getting the knife and arranging for her surrender was to show that she had nothing to hide.
Changing her clothes would be tampering with evidence.
We don't cross that line, ever.
Look at her.
Does she look innocent to you, of anything? Put your head back.
Put this on.
Better.
Let's go.
Self surreender are you entering a plea today? Excuse us.
We're coming through.
Thank you.
We're here to stop an injustice.
Yes, she had to defend herself- With this - the knife.
She has nothing to hide.
She asked us to turn this knife over because she wants the truth to get out.
The bastard spins on my show, then doesn't even give me an exclusive.
He's gonna pay for this.
She defended herself against a violent man.
She deserves a medal, not a murder charge.
We will not let her be victimized by the justice system.
That's it! The "Hollywood hooker homicide" heats up.
Sources say she was a high-priced prostitute who stabbed Stein to death and picked his wallet clean.
The D.
A.
's story is that Ann is a prostitute who killed Stein for the money in his wallet.
Now the wallet was empty, but her prints weren't on it.
Now the D.
A.
is going to say that she is lying about being attacked to avoid getting convicted.
I think Ann may have lied about a lot of things.
Alden's at her dorm room to see what she's hiding.
You're on student loans.
Your clothes are knockoffs.
But you have a $15,000 Birkin bag in your dorm closet.
How does a nice girl manage that? Look, I know it seems like I'm prying, because I am.
- So if you have another source of income, - I don't.
Or if you're hiding something else, just tell me.
We just have to know before we put you on the stand.
We can't win your case unless we know who you are.
In a self-defense case, if we can show that Stein was violent in the past, we can argue that he was violent this time, and that's why Ann had to defend herself.
That'll be easy.
Everyone in Hollywood knew Stein beat up women, - especially young women.
- We've been looking for women to testify that Stein was violent with them.
- The problem is, we can't find any.
- Can't find any? Nobody in Hollywood will go near this case.
Stein was powerful.
It looks like he paid women off not to file complaints.
Now we will keep looking, but so far, nothing.
Ann dated Al Stirling.
The pornography guy? Publisher, Tom, not pornographer.
Well, the guy's scum.
We refused to defend him a couple of times.
If the D.
A.
finds out Ann dated him, He'll use it to make Ann look like a prostitute.
Don't worry about Al Stirling.
I'll take care of him.
I said we'd get paid for this case, didn't I? Alden, handle the physical evidence.
See if the knife wounds are consistent with self-defense.
I'd rather work with Ann.
Her testimony will be our whole case.
No, do the scientific evidence.
You do that better than anybody.
Besides, you think she's a hooker.
No, I don't, Ron.
I've seen her place.
I think she's just a college girl that goes out with rich men so she doesn't feel like a loser And she's hiding a gawky past, which I understand.
I've been that.
Okay.
Let Alden take Ann.
I'll take the physical stuff.
Ann's parents are coming in from Nebraska.
I hate the families.
You handle 'em.
I'm going to see Al.
That was nice, him pardoning you, Al.
Well, if you'd handled my tax case, I wouldn't have been convicted.
I told you, "stop stealing from people.
But if you're going to steal, pay your taxes.
" It was free advice, but did you listen? So you know Ann Diggs.
I took her to some laker games.
What do you want, Ron? I want to keep you up-to-date on the case as a courtesy.
We're gonna argue self-defense.
So? We're thinking of calling you as a character witness.
To say what? In a self-defense case, character for peacefulness, for non-violence, is admissible.
Did you know that? since you two are friends- Whoa, whoa, whoa.
We're not friends.
I took her to some basketball games.
We never even - fought? Is that what you were gonna say? You didn't get into any fights.
Good.
It won't help us that much, but it's admissible to prove she had a peaceful character.
Though I have to say, testifying won't be so pleasant for you.
The tabloids are all over this case, and the D.
A.
will cross you pretty hard.
As for how your wife handles it, I can't say.
- You do have a prenup, right? - Or? Sorry? You're the lawyer, Ron.
Great lawyers always give you an alternative.
Look, if you've got a business trip coming up or plans with your wife, I don't want a trial to mess that up.
It's time you gave back to the community.
If you want to help, you could contribute to Ann's defense fund.
That's blackmail.
Don't tell me the law, Al.
Everything I said is legal.
If you want to stay out of these cases, quit screwing around.
He might have pardoned you But your wife never will.
Ron, Tom, these are Ann's parents.
Great.
You haven't talked to the press, have you? Ann, what have you gotten yourself into now? I'm sorry, mom.
You should be.
This is why we didn't want you to go to college out here.
They remind me of my parents.
Mr.
Diggs? Tom Nicholson, from hastings, Nebraska.
It's right near where you folks live.
We've just posted Ann's bail.
Listen, I'm sorry about all this, - but, uh, Ann's gonna be okay.
- She's not gonna be okay.
We read the papers.
She killed a man with a knife, and she's not denying it.
They called her a whore.
I'm not a whore.
Then why's it say so in the papers? Get them out of here.
I don't want them around for trial.
They're not sympathetic, they're not press-friendly, and they're not helping her.
Your mother's been crying ever since she got the call.
I warned you about comin' out here, and now look what you've done! This isn't about you, dad! You've humiliated yourself and your whole family.
It is about us! I am the one who's in trouble here, okay? Not you! Everything's not about you! What you do reflects on us.
Gosh, would you just shut up and just let me talk!? Don't hit her.
Don't tell me how to treat my daughter.
She's not your daughter.
She is our client, and nobody touches our client, ever.
Tom.
Tom.
Tom! Ron used some of the money he's collected for your defense fund to post your bail, and he sent your parents home.
We both think it will be better for you and the trial.
You okay with that? Listen, I'm sorry about getting into it with your dad.
I'm sure he means well.
No, he doesn't.
Whatever my brothers did was fine, you know? But he never trusted me, ever.
Well, some dads are better with sons than they are with daughters.
My dad was.
Drove my sister crazy.
When you get into the mock jury room, don't be surprised if the focus group asks you some questions.
It's a good thing.
It's how we learn what kind of questions the real jury's gonna ask when they're sitting in the box at your trial.
Just answer honestly.
okay? Go on, Ann.
What happened next? After dinner, I wanted to go home, because I had a test the next day, but he wouldn't let me.
Stein called me names, and he hit me.
So I grabbed the knife to defend myself, and I swiped the knife behind me to get him away from me.
Why didn't you go to a restaurant? Well, the hotel was his idea.
I bet.
The dials are going down.
She can't answer the mock jury's questions without sounding like a liar.
You know what the D.
A.
will do to her? Miranda, we pay you to tell us how to handle juries.
We're arguing self-defense.
Her testimony is our whole case.
The jury has to love her.
You're the consultant, Miranda.
Look at the numbers.
They hate her.
You're right.
See how the jurors' arms are crossed? That's a sign.
They don't like how she looks.
they don't like how she sounds.
They don't like her.
Did you guys have sex in his room before or after dinner? We didn't have sex.
we didn't.
The d The doctor can testify to that.
- My lawyers had a doctor check me.
- Why'd they check? Didn't your lawyers believe you either? This is a disaster.
So what do we do about it? Keep as many women off the jury as possible.
Women have a tendency to be less sympathetic towards women in most cases.
We don't like to admit that we could have been the girl in the hotel room.
What about the men? What's their problem? They want to have sex with her, and they know they don't have a chance.
That doesn't make her likeable.
Look, I can help make her more likeable, but I can't make her tell the truth.
That's your job.
Wait.
You think she's lying? It's not about what I think.
It's about what they think, and they're not buying her or her story.
Jurors judge you based on how you come across, what you look like, maybe even more than what you say.
It is shallow, it is wrong, but it is true.
So far the mock jury doesn't like or believe you.
You're going on trial for murder.
We need to tone down your look Give you a trial makeover.
The goal is not to fool anyone.
We want to show the jury the real you.
We're going to show them that you're not a Hollywood party girl- You're an innocent college girl.
Well, my parents will like it.
Let's just hope the jury likes it.
What do you mean we have a problem? What witness? The L.
A.
P.
D.
has a witness who swears that Ann walked out of the hotel calmly, not like a woman who just killed in self-defense.
That was the desk clerk.
If the jury believes him, she'll be convicted.
Do a background check on him.
We gotta prove Ann is telling the truth with any way we can.
This complaint was filed with the state bar today.
It calls for sanctions against tnt&g for tampering with a murder weapon.
Mr.
Stein's a.
t.
m.
records show that he withdrew $10,000 the night he was killed, and his wallet was found empty, so money was a motive.
Mrs.
Stein says that her husband and Ann Diggs were having an affair.
He went to the hotel that night to end it.
Ann Diggs murdered mr.
Stein in a jealous rage because he attempted to end their affair.
So did your client kill him for the money or because of the affair? Prosecutor Keller made some pretty serious allegations there.
Did your client kill out of a jealous rage or not? Discussing - that the D.
A.
would make an allegation like that, knowing he can't prove it.
'cause it's not true? I'm not gonna dignify the D.
A.
's charges by responding to them.
You're not answering my question! Did they have an affair? I've answered your question.
This was self-defense.
It's bad enough her parents have abandoned her because of lies in the media.
Don't make it worse.
That was controversial superstar lawyer Ron Trott.
It would've been nice to know about Keller's press conference before we started, Suzanne.
Do me a favor, Ron.
Don't come on my show and talk about a case you're working on again.
- What are you talking about? - You know what I'm talking about.
You never mentioned that you were already representing her.
I never break state bar rules for dealing with the media.
Since there are no rules for reporters/entertainers like you, you couldn't have broken any rules.
So what's the problem? The eve of the trial We're killing the D.
A.
in the press.
So Keller tried to respond with a press conference.
Pathetic.
Jealousy wasn't a motive here.
That was good you dodged - The question about the affair, Ron.
- Turns out I was wrong.
No wonder the mock jury doesn't believe her.
Ann lied about something big.
Ann said she never had sex with Stein, but we took her cell phone the night she came in, remember? After Keller's press conference we checked to see if she'd ever called Stein.
She didn't.
Then we checked her deleted text messages.
These are text messages Ann sent to Stein- Very sexual, very explicit.
Ann not only dated Stein more than she admitted, she had sex with him.
not the night he died, but definitely in the past.
It's evidence that Ann killed Stein out of jealousy.
If he's got these text messages, he can prove it.
So our case is going to come down to Ann's word? We're dead.
We've read the text messages.
You had sex with him.
- You loved him.
- Wait, I never said that I loved him! Don't give me that! We don't have time for that! Just let me finish.
We're on the eve of trial.
You know how bad this will look to a jury? It seems like maybe I'm a slut and a stalker.
And that I killed him because I was jealous, right? Because that's what the tv says, right? - Did you kill him out of jealousy? - No! Then why didn't you tell us about the affair? It wasn't an affair! He took me to great places.
I slept with him a few times.
I wouldn't call it an affair! I mean, he asked me out to dinner.
I said yes.
I felt like less of a slut because I was friends with him, okay? You should've told us about it.
- Ann, come on.
- Tom! - She's got a hell of a bad temper.
- Yeah, and it seems to come out when she's dealing with older men.
Did you notice - Her dad, Ron? My point is, the D.
A.
's story is she killed Stein in a jealous rage.
We have to put her on the stand, but we can't rely on her to win this thing.
It's too risky.
You better destroy the coroner with your knife demonstration.
You ready for the desk clerk? We need to show the jury he's an unreliable witness, that he can't be trusted.
What about finding other women Stein beat up? We found two.
neither of them will testify.
They both had affairs with Stein.
They're both married.
Even if we could force them on the stand, the jury would hate us for putting them through it.
Then I'll hold a press conference and tell potential jurors that Stein beat up other women.
No, you won't.
Nobody can talk to the press anymore.
Keller just filed and got a gag order on the case.
What? So after Keller had his press conference, he got an order to make sure I couldn't have mine.
We need jurors to know Stein was violent towards women.
Those two women are the only way to do it.
If we can't put them on the stand, I've got to at least let potential jurors know that they're out there, that they exist.
If you violate a gag order, Ron, you go to jail.
First rule of criminal law - if anyone goes to jail, it's the client, not the lawyer.
I know my way around a gag order.
I'm just gonna have a drink tonight with a friend of mine.
But first I'm going to talk to a waitress I know at the bar.
This waitress knows everybody and everything.
And her girlfriend is a publicity agent for a big public relations firm.
She'll feed the story back to her boss in new york who loves to give gossip to real reporters in exchange for favorable stories being printed about his clients down the line.
By the time the leak gets back to I.
a.
and it's read by our potential jurors, it's three people away from me and untraceable.
The problem with gag orders isn't that they're un-american.
It's that they don't work.
Thank god.
The female jurors already don't like Ann.
You see that? We've kept as many women off the jury as we could.
We'll just have to get these women to identify with Ann.
The prosecution's first witness and from the desk where you were working, you had a clear, unobstructed, well-lit view? Yes.
She walked through the lobby calmly.
She wasn't upset at all.
Thank you.
Your witness.
I know you.
You're an actor.
I've done some acting, but nothing you would know me from.
But you'd like to do more acting? Maybe even be a star witness in a murder trial? In fact, you'd say anything to be a star witness.
I didn't ask to be a witness.
I didn't ask to see her leave.
But you did ask a book agent to handle the book you might be writing.
I'm not writing a book.
I said you talked to an agent about writing a book About this case.
In fact, you could make a lot of money off this case.
I talked to a book agent.
But that doesn't mean that I'm writing- Since we're talking about money and your motive to lie, do you know what the "son of Sam" law is? It says you cannot make money from murdering someone.
I didn't murder anyone.
That's right.
You are just a witness in a murder case.
You can make money from this.
And since we're talking about money, let me ask you this.
Who found mr.
Stein's body? The hotel maid, I think.
The maid, you think.
So did she take the money out of his wallet? Or did you? I didn't take any money! Oh, so you didn't care so much about money then.
Could it be now you're looking for a bigger payday by writing a book? Luther neutralized the desk clerk at least.
The D.
A.
can't prove she looked calm or stole the money.
Yeah.
But check out the jury.
So the knife entered low, angled up and drove up behind the ribs.
Was it consistent with a self-defense wound in your opinion? No.
There were no tears in the tissue around the puncture.
If there had been a struggle, I would expect to see some tearing.
He's making it look like she stood in front of him and plunged the knife in on purpose.
Thank you, doctor.
Your witness.
The way you demonstrated it for the jury, you made it look like she was facing him, stood still, and knifed him on purpose.
Based on the knife angle, that might be what happened.
Or it might not be.
See this? Let the record reflect it is a chest cavity model exactly like the one the D.
A.
used.
Now is it possible that she was moving away from him when the knife went in? Anything's possible, I guess.
But I don't see how.
It would take a lot of hand strength to drive the knife that deep into his chest.
Especially if either one of them was moving away.
I'd like my colleague to help me with the demonstration.
Now let's assume my client grabbed the knife in a struggle and held it awkwardly by the end of the handle.
And then Stein lunges towards her as she tries to get away.
Swinging the knife behind her In a desperate effort to keep him away.
Look at the knife angle.
It is exactly consistent with his report and a self-defense blow.
Nothing further, your honor.
After Luther Graves decimated the desk clerk, Tom Nicholson showed why he's a top trial lawyer.
God, that woman loves you, Tom.
It's embarrassing.
Hey, I'm not the one who dated her.
Are you always gonna bring that up? What we did was not dating.
We can't put her on the stand.
Alden, what the hell happened? I'm not sure what makes me madder- that I didn't practice the re-creation at full speed, or that I didn't get the truth from Ann.
She couldn't have stabbed him the way she says.
I put the knife in the way Ann says she did, and it felt like I broke my hand.
But you never even winced.
You wouldn't have.
We have to get you to a doctor.
No, not until trial's over.
I don't want anyone seeing.
Can you imagine what Keller would do if he knew? You know, Ann didn't have any bruises on her hand the night she came in here.
I shook her hand.
she was fine.
If Keller notices she didn't have bruises, putting Ann on the stand is putting her in a trap.
If she is lying, we can not put her on.
- The jury will see right through it.
- She has to testify.
You can't even argue self-defense if the defendant doesn't testify to it.
I need more than one night to get her ready.
She gets on the stand in the morning and convinces the jury this was self-defense, or she goes to prison.
it's up to her.
And you, you need to make it happen.
Hey.
You have a lot of stupid habits.
Don't you? Smoking, screwing around Lying to your lawyers.
You have to believe me.
It was self-defense.
If you held the knife the way you said you did, your hand would've looked like this.
It didn't.
You weren't moving away from him when you stabbed him.
You were standing right in front of him.
All you've got is your story.
But if you only tell part of it because you're embarrassed or scared or confused, the jury will think you're lying.
And they'll punish you for it.
They'll convict you.
It's time you told the whole truth, whatever it is.
We don't have time for anything else.
We have to get you ready to testify.
We have to get you in front of the mock jury tonight.
- We broke up a few months ago.
- Not "broke up.
" "Broke up" suggests you had a relationship.
You didn't, did you? We had sex.
I don't remember how many times.
It wasn't an affair.
I wanted it to be.
I wanted to think that it meant more to him, because it meant more to me.
He would call me late at night, and I would come to where he'd say.
And we'd have sex.
And then he just stopped calling me.
Why did he stop calling? I don't know.
Why? Why did he stop calling you? Lenny found out that this other man had bought me this expensive Birkin bag.
Go on.
We're listening.
I begged him to see me again, which was really humiliating.
And finally, that night, he said he would see me.
He would take me to a party because his other date had canceled.
Whose idea was it to go to the hotel? Whose idea was it? It was mine.
I wanted just to get him alone.
Why? So I could convince him to leave his wife.
I never had a boyfriend in high school.
And then I came here and got real skinny and started going out.
He was the first person I had sex with.
And I always thought Because he told me That he was gonna leave his wife.
I wanted him to marry me.
Did you have sex with him that night, Ann? No, not that night.
We have a medical examination report confirming that, your honor.
I told him we could have sex, and then he just laughed at me and called me a whore for going out with this other man.
I tried to leave.
He, uh He had a really bad temper.
It was really out of control.
And he grabbed me and he threw me on the floor.
Defense exhibits 55 and 56, showing Ann's bruises.
I just grabbed the first thing I could, which was the knife.
How did you hold the knife? It happened- it happened so fast, and I was so scared that I don't - I don't remember exactly how I held it.
Or if I was moving away from him or not.
I mean, I wish I could remember how it happened, because I know it would help me, but All I know is that he was coming at me and the knife just went in.
I'm so sorry.
Innocent people don't run.
Innocent people go to the police.
She admits killing him.
She just doesn't want to be convicted of it.
She didn't run.
She went to go see a lawyer.
Don't hold that against her.
That's the smartest thing she did that night.
It's what you would've told her to do if she was your sister, isn't it? It's what I would've told my sister to do.
Go find someone who can tell you how to handle this thing, someone who can give you some good advice.
And god forbid If my sister ever found herself in a room with a man like Stein.
Maybe Ann made some bad decisions in her life.
But don't find her guilty for that.
This was a tragedy.
This was not murder.
The jury in the Stein murder case is back, but not with a verdict.
After nine days of deliberations, two notes from the jury.
Question one - the jury has asked that the defendant's testimony be reread to them.
Question two- the jury has asked to visit the hotel room.
Okay, do we want the jury going to the hotel room or not? No, we don't want them thinking too hard about the details of the room.
What details? Why do they even wanna see the room? Play it safe.
In trial, the rule is- if you don't know what to do, don't do anything.
What we do not want is for them to hear her testimony again.
Why? I told them the truth.
The court reporter rereads testimony.
Whatever emotional impact you gave it, we lose.
If testimony comes in good once, you never let the jury hear it again.
So if they wanna hear it again, doesn't that mean that they don't believe me? No, it could be just one juror.
Jury notes don't come from the whole jury.
Most of the time, it comes from just one.
Tom, I've worked with Keller in the D.
A.
's office.
He's stubborn.
He'll never go for anything he thinks you want.
Make him fight you, then give in.
Watch this.
Okay, look We want them to hear the testimony again.
We want a rereading.
Forget it.
What about the hotel? Hell yes, we want it.
Then we're opposed on both.
All right, if that's the way you feel.
No help for the jury in the Diggs case.
Whatever they're confused about, they're going to have to figure it out themselves.
What the hell is taking so long? Either it was self-defense, or it wasn't.
What's the issue? I should've pushed her harder to tell me the truth.
I kept thinking I knew what she was lying about because some of it is stuff I lie about.
Look, I know you wanna win, but Don't lie in your closing again.
It's not worth it.
Your little sister? You don't have a little sister.
I did.
She died before I became a lawyer.
She was about Ann's age.
Anyway, they're probably gonna hang, right? Sure.
Right.
And then maybe we can talk Ron into letting us- plead it out? We're a trial firm.
If someone wants to plead it out, they oughta hire mesereau or geragos.
Those guys will plead things out once in a while.
Us? Never.
Anyway, this isn't gonna be a plea.
The court called.
The jury is back with a verdict.
As to the single count of the indictment, we, the jury, find the defendant Ann Diggs Not guilty.
Have we booked the girl on? Ann? Get her on today.
By next week, nobody's going to remember her.
Thank you so much.
Is there anything I can do to thank you? Start dating boys your own age.
The death of Lenny Stein