Made in Jersey (2012) s01e08 Episode Script
Ridgewell
1 A beer stein.
From the Lighthouse Festival.
It was a good day.
Save or sell? Sell.
Make room for new memories.
Hey, Grandma, can I get that lamp? Sure, honey.
Hey, Ma, should I put this stuff at the curb? Yeah.
That'd be great, sweetheart, thanks.
Can, uh throw a red scarf over it.
No.
A 16-year-old's room shouldn't be moody.
Come on.
You and the girls used to dance around your room with that strobe light.
You remember? She thinks it's a slippery slope from mood lighting to teen pregnancy.
Oh, I don't worry about teen pregnancy.
'Cause if I ever caught you having sex, I would hunt the boy down and I would kill him.
No sex till you're married.
Then you have my blessing.
As long as he's got a good job and a good gene pool.
Ma, I'm taking this stuff home with me.
Okay, honey.
She worries about you.
Well, I'm just hanging on for college.
Then I'll be on my own.
That's what she worries about.
Plus, she knows that sex can be kind of intoxicating.
Did you have sex with Grandpa before you got married? Yes, we had sex.
No, we didn't tell anyone about it; yes, my mother would've killed me and him.
Yes, we were safe.
And, yes, it was fun.
Come here.
Your mother is pushing abstinence.
I'd recommend using good judgment.
Okay, thanks.
Hide the lamp in the hall closet.
You can sneak it out later.
Thanks, Grandma.
Carbon "ethyline"? E-N-E.
Carbon ethylene.
It's an additive for aviation fuels that Contar Chemical makes in a plant outside of Ridgewell.
When did you realize that your daughter was sick? Four years ago.
Clara started saying that her stomach felt like it was on fire.
Turns out that carbon ethylene had leaked into the town's groundwater.
Compromised the lining of her digestive tract.
Mr.
Koeneke, when you made the appointment, you mentioned you were already part of a class action lawsuit against Contar Chemical.
I am.
Then I guess I'm not exactly sure how we can help you.
People started getting sick five years ago.
So they contacted the CEO of Contar, Lou Morris, who said it had nothing to do with them.
So they hired a lawyer and filed a lawsuit, but this lawsuit isn't going anywhere.
It's two years from a court date, let alone a settlement.
I think we need new lawyers, lawyers that are gonna push a little harder.
I know a lot of lawyers at Jessup Markum, Mr.
Koeneke.
Smart, solid people, and I suspect that they are doing a very good job for you.
If Stark & Rowan stepped in, we'd need to get familiar with the facts of the case.
She's right.
We'd slow you down.
Not speed you up.
There must be something you can do.
I wish there was.
How's your daughter doing? She's up and down.
But there's this experimental treatment that, given Clara's age uh, might cure her completely but insurance won't cover it.
I don't have the money to pay for it.
I'm really sorry that we can't help you, Mr.
Koeneke.
Me, too.
You know, Clara's lucky to have a dad who won't stop trying to figure this stuff out.
New lawyers might have been my last idea.
Look, I understand your frustration with the process.
I was a prosecutor in Trenton.
I've been at Stark & Rowan for three months, and I'm still not used to the pace of civil trials.
It seems unfair that if you punched the CEO of Contar Chemical in the face, you'd be in court in a week.
But they've got the luxury of making you wait for years.
Thanks for meeting with me.
My family will light a candle for your daughter.
Thanks.
Do, dee, do, do Do, dee, do, do Do, dee, do, do Robby, watch it with the water.
Robby, put that thing down.
Why aren't you grilling? I'm hungry.
Your mom didn't tell us to put the food on yet.
What? We don't start cooking until she says so.
Where is she? Her and Deb are talking about something upstairs.
I don't know what you were thinking.
Sweetheart, sweet I was just being honest.
What's going on? Mom told Kate that she and Dad had sex before they were married.
And not just that you had sex, that you enjoyed it.
Well I better get that food on the grill.
Let me know if you need any help.
Ma.
Look at you.
You lost weight? Ma.
Don't change the subject.
I am not.
You told Kate, she told a bunch of her friends, and now I'm the poster parent for sex before marriage.
Uh, should I get a bowl for the fruit? Yes, please.
Listen, my 16-year-old granddaughter asked me a direct question.
What am I supposed to do? Lie.
Like I did when she asked me.
Oh, come on.
You said that you were a virgin when you were married? Shut up.
Good one.
Her counselor called and left a message.
Apparently other parents are upset.
I haven't called him back because I don't know what to say.
Get Ma to call.
Talk about what a stud Dad was.
You're not helping.
How many times do we have to go through this? Martina Garretti.
Does Kate have a boyfriend? Is that why she's asking? Oh, my God.
I didn't even think of that.
Honey, honey Ma.
I'm so sorry.
I got to go.
Well, wh-why? I got to get a guy out of jail.
Good luck to you, honey.
Martina, thanks for coming down.
I did not tell you to punch the CEO of Contar Chical in the face.
I lost my head.
After I left your office, the doctor called with some bad test results for Clara, and it just got me thinking of what would happen if I punched Lou Morris in the face.
So I went to this Man of the Year thing, and I did it.
Now there's got to be a trial, right? He's gonna have to take the stand and testify about everything.
Yeah, the trial's gonna be about you punching him.
Not about whether Contar Chemical did or did not poison your groundwater.
He poisoned my groundwater.
Will you defend me and get Morris to admit what he did to my little girl? I'm gonna try.
Okay? I will try.
Look at me I know that I can make it It's got to be And you can't change me I've got to dream And no one's gonna break me This is who I want to be There's so much more to me Nothing can stop me now.
Sync and corrected As a representative of this firm, you have a responsibility to think before you speak.
I know.
This is not Thanksgiving dinner, where you can say whatever you want.
I know.
This is a law firm.
When people come to us, they are vulnerable.
Yes, sir.
We do not encourage them to do stupid things.
In her defense You were the senior associate in the meeting.
Blame goes up, this is your fault.
Yes, sir.
This was not Nolan's fault.
I-It was all my fault, okay? I'm very, very sorry.
I will choose my words more carefully.
Yes, you will.
I do feel a responsibility to help Mr.
Koeneke.
Then refer him to an excellent lawyer.
Sir, it's an assault case.
He's got a sympathetic story.
A jury's not gonna want to convict him.
Y-You can't argue for nullification.
If you tell the jury to try to ignore the facts and find him not guilty, the bar will censure you.
No, I won't have to tell 'em to do anything.
What with the daughter's bad medical results and Contar Chemical's stalling tactics in the class action suit, I can build a crime of passion defense.
Look, the jury's gonna get to nullification all on their own.
The prosecution isn't gonna roll over and let you introduce emotional testimony.
No, but I'll get latitude on intent.
So I'll get a bit in here and a bit in there.
The prosecution's not gonna call Lou Morris to the stand.
But I can call him, and hopefully, by then, I'll have found a way to ask about the groundwater poisoning.
You want to try the class action suit using the assault case.
I just want to give the civil case a shot in the arm.
That's risky.
Look I feel horrible about what happened, and I am committed to fixing the mess I created.
Please.
Much of the success of this firm is the result of the innovative thinking from its best and its brightest.
Last year, Contar made me participate in a bake-off for their secondary IPO.
They didn't hire us.
They should have.
Stark & Rowan will represent Mr.
Koeneke.
Thank you.
If you lose, your nice client goes to jail.
Then let's not lose.
I know Hank Wilson.
He's the lead counsel for the class action lawsuit.
I will ask him if he can help us out.
Great.
Thank you.
Shows you what I know.
I thought Ed Koeneke was one of my calmer plaintiffs.
Well, he needs money for a medical treatment to help his daughter.
He didn't think it through.
I can't blame him.
I've been working class action suits my entire career, and Contar is one of the squirmiest companies I've ever faced.
What can I do for you? We're going with a crime of passion defense, Hank, and we would love to have access to your background materials, so that we don't have to reinvent the wheel.
I've got a thousand boxes full of documents, you know? Well, we don't need science.
We just need emotion-- memos, transcripts of town hall meetings.
Any contact Contar had with the affected families that might establish the company was responsible for Ed's state of mind.
And then, we're gonna put CEO Morris on the stand just to drive it home.
Let me tell you something about Morris.
Lou Morris is smart.
He's not gonna say anything helpful.
That's our problem, not yours.
He's probably putting pressure on the D.
A.
to keep the thing from even going to trial.
If Stark & Rowan succeeds and we get Morris on the stand and he says anything interesting, that goes on the record.
That helps you.
I got three years in this thing, man.
If Ed Koeneke comes across as unstable, that's bad for me.
And he knows that, and if at any moment you feel like this thing is going south, Ed has agreed to plead guilty.
I'll have my paralegals put together some material.
You're a prince among men.
Thank you.
We owe you.
Yeah, you owe me.
Dad! Kitchen! What happened? Uh last night one of the kids stuffed a turkey dog down the drain.
Okay, look, I reviewed your contract for the Murphy job.
They want you to pay treble damages if you're unable to perform services due to an act of God.
What? It's ridiculous, and not even legal.
Look, I crossed out the changes.
You just need to leave your initials.
Hey, good morning, sweetheart.
Hey.
You know what I've decided? What? I'm gonna quit my job.
Since when? Since two minutes ago.
I really want to learn a musical instrument.
Maybe take up bridge.
You know, they're teaching it as school now, to help out the kids with math.
Ma, it just seems, uh pretty sudden.
After 25 years, I think it's time.
And we finished paying off the house four months ago.
So we don't need the money, right? I guess not.
Math is important.
And the advancements in additive chemistry have been matched by the creative ways this industry That's your punch-ee.
Lou Morris.
Some talk he gave at an industry breakfast.
Okay, here's my interview with the nurse who gave Ed his test results.
She'll testify he was very emotional.
So test results the morning of the punch gets you state of mind.
Mm-hmm.
Did you get anything from the country club? Oh His bio in here? Does he admit to poisoning the groundwater? Hah.
Not that I saw.
'Cause that would make it a lot easier to introduce the class action facts into the assault trial.
I'll read it again.
I did talk to a couple employees who worked the event, including the busboy Ooh.
who delivered ice cubes to the men's room for Lou Morris's bloody nose.
What did he have to say? Apparently, our client has a mean left hook, but nothing else helpful.
Okay Did anyone overhear conversation between our guy and Lou Morris? Nobody I talked to was even close enough.
Anything in the boxes? Oh, we just started going through those.
Mm.
Hey, Tommy.
Meet? Uh, sure.
You'll come by my office-- that's, uh, nice, but I'm not there right now.
Yeah, how about in an hour? Yeah, I'll text you the place.
Okay.
Bye.
Why aren't you in your office? Uh that was a-a friend from the D.
A.
's Office.
I know why he's calling, and him coming here is not gonna get me what I need.
Working for a fancy Midtown firm, I thought you'd be busier than this.
You're catching me on my way somewhere.
Aren't I always? Sorry.
What can I do for you, Tommy? I've been sent with an offer.
No.
Don't you want to hear it first? You know, if Ed Koeneke had coldcocked Lou Morris someplace private, then Lou wouldn't have pressed charges.
But I bet the D.
A.
is under a lot of pressure to settle this case instead of taking it to trial.
Apparently, I didn't have to take a bus to the park.
Not for an offer of, uh, misdemeanor assault and a fine, no jail time? Close enough.
Still no.
Fine.
We'll drop the assault Clara! Hey! Very sneaky, Garretti.
Clara, this is Tommy.
Hi.
Uh Hi.
How you doing? Hi.
Good.
How are you? You and your dad having fun in the city? Yeah.
My dad took me on a ferry You know, there is a shaved-ice cart right behind that statue-- I bet there's something you'd like.
Tell your dad I'm buying.
Thanks! You're welcome.
The boat's getting away.
Go get it.
She needs medical attention my client can't afford.
That's why I can't accept your offer.
I need to get Lou Morris on the stand.
Well, we can drop the charges without your permission.
Oh, you do that, and I'll be on every TV station in New York talking about how the D.
A.
is in the pocket of the corporate polluters.
Good luck getting two reporters to show up to that press conference.
I have gotten media traction on a lot less.
Your boss know what you're doing? Yeah.
And he's very supportive.
Fine.
You got your trial.
You prosecuting this case? No.
Smart guy named Arjun Gupta pulled the ticket.
Oh.
Well, good.
I'd hate for you to be on the wrong end of this.
I am thinking good thoughts for the start of your trial tomorrow.
Thank you.
Is this for the guy you made punch the CEO of Contar Chemical? That's not quite how it happened.
Well, I didn't mean you physically made him do it.
I didn't think that's what you meant.
But you're still wrong.
Riley, you know, I think if you send this document to the bizhub, it's gonna print about 50 times faster.
She's trying.
I know, but small talk should not be that hard.
Good night.
Hey.
Hey.
I had a paralegal do a brief of crime-of- passion case law.
Hm.
That was nice.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
You got a big day tomorrow.
Big day.
This is background on the prosecution's witness.
And a list for the party guests that I was able to track down, plus a chart showing the relationship between the CEO and those guests.
Thanks.
You're gonna be fine.
Do I look nervous? Just around your face.
Look, right now, I am relying on the prosecution's witnesses to corroborate on my crime-of-passion defense, and I don't like that.
I might be able to help.
Today, I was running down a list of the homeowners in Ridgewell.
One of the houses is owned by a trust.
I dug into it-- guess who the trustee is? Uh, I have no idea.
But you sound excited, which makes me excited.
Lou Morris.
Did he ever live in it? I don't know yet.
But he bought it back in 2004 from a Brian Holloway.
Now, according to the DMV, Mr.
Lou Morris lived in a big house in Riverdale, so, if he moved out of the danger zone and Ed knew about it Then it could open up the door for me.
Lou Morris would be my corroborating evidence in my crime-of-passion defense.
Please make it so? I have a call in to Ed to ask him if he knew.
I'll let you know as soon as I hear back.
Okay, but even if he didn't know about it, it's still a juicy fact for the class action suit.
Nice job, Riv.
Sitting in your garden room Watching the flowers grow Hi, Ma.
Hi, sweetie.
What you got there? Dinner.
You know you never take the time to eat when you got a big trial.
Guy with a sick kid-- I know you're gonna go all out for is.
But you're no good to nobody on an empty stomach, so here you go.
Thanks, Ma.
Sure.
Oh Is that what you're gonna wear tomorrow? Yeah.
Nobody could pull off mustard, sweetheart, not even a girl as pretty as you.
Okay, what's going on? The sex talk with Kate, the brutal honesty, the life-changing decisions-- where's it all coming from? Ten days ago, I had my yearly.
One of the blood tests showed some irregular levels, so the doctor sent me to have an ultrasound.
They saw a shadow on my liver, and Oh, my God, Mom No, no, I'm sorry, honey, I'm being overdramatic.
Look, they did a follow-up MRI-- turns out that it was just some scarring from surgery.
But it was a tense couple of days.
But you're fine.
Totally fine.
I just realized that you never know what's gonna happen.
I could get hit by a car tomorrow.
So I am trying to live without regrets.
And my mustard shirt's gonna give you regrets? Mm, if you lost-- and, of course, you won't-- but if you did, I'd be left wishing I'd said something.
Thanks for dinner, Mom.
You know what? That guy is very lucky that you're his lawyer.
Yeah.
Let's hope he still thinks so after the trial.
You're up, Mr.
Gupta.
This case is about Ed Koeneke, who punched a man in the face in front of 200 witnesses.
His defense attorney is going to try and tell you that this case is about something other than that fact.
It's called jury nullification.
Which means that she is going to try and drown the law in a wave of emotion and life circumstances.
But I know you folks won't fall for it.
This was an assault.
Open and shut.
The facts of this case aren't even in dispute.
Ms.
Garretti knows that.
Which is why she's going to try and fool you into thinking the facts don't matter.
But she should have known better than to waste your valuable time.
I'm gonna trust you to be smart enough to decide if I've wasted your time.
And they'd just served the salad when I saw the defendant walking toward our table.
Was Mr.
Morris saying anything inflammatory as the defendant approached? Definitely not.
Lou was telling me about his Corgi, Marmalade.
So Mr.
Morris was talking about a dog, and Mr.
Koeneke just walked up and punched him without provocation? Objection! Calls for speculation.
She doesn't know why he punched him.
Sustained.
No further questions.
I will let you answer the D.
A.
's question about Mr.
Koeneke's demeanor, but I assume you thought he seemed pretty calm.
Yes, he did.
Very calm.
And should I trust your judgment? 'Cause you seem like a violent hothead.
Objection.
Argumentative.
Your Honor, she is opining on my client's state of mind.
The way that she moves through the world seems relevant to her assessment.
I'll allow it.
For a minute.
You can answer.
I am not a violent hothead.
You sure? You never flipped off a guy who cut you off in traffic? Of course not.
Okay, so you're not a person who gets angry.
Of course I get angry.
But you don't show it? Not like that.
Okay, so maybe it is possible that my client, instead of being calm when he approached Lou Morris, was actually full of profound feelings.
I suppose.
Feelings about how his nine-year-old daughter contracted a painful and debilitating digestive dis Objection! Ms.
Garretti.
Withdrawn.
No further questions.
So you think it's okay I'm not at the trial every day? At a trial like this, I don't think the jury focuses on whether family shows up or not.
Well, it's just that Clara's got so many appointments.
It would be hard to reschedule them all.
Mrs.
Koeneke, Martina's got plenty of fight in her.
All right? You don't worry about your husband.
He's in good hands.
This is the one.
Ed told me he didn't know Lou Morris owned it.
I thought Contar Chemical owned it.
What made you think that? Well, it was empty when we moved into the neighborhood seven years ago, but then one day, I saw someone there.
I went over to, you know, introduce myself.
Thought it was a new neighbor.
Uh-huh.
But it turned out the guy was working as a consultant for the plant.
He was in the house for a couple of weeks, and then he was gone.
He said his name was Brian Holloway.
I heard he moved to Riverdale.
So they use it for temporary housing? Well, they did back then.
I think it's been completely empty for four or five years.
That's a lot of money to pay for a house that sits empty.
I just assumed they didn't want any company people near us.
Make sure they didn't say anything they shouldn't about the the lawsuit.
Could be.
Do you think it's something else? I don't know.
But I do think it's worth looking into.
After the defendant punched Mr.
Morris, you grabbed him and pulled him away? Yes.
Uh, me and another guy.
Did the defendant say anything? Yes.
He Well, he called Lou an expression for, uh, poultry fecal matter.
ken,Chic assume.
Yes.
Did he admit to the police what he had done? Yes.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Did Mr.
Koeneke call Lou Morris a before or after the punch? After.
And what was his tone? Did he seem angry? Objection.
Calls for speculation.
Your Honor, we all know when people sound angry.
Overruled.
Yes, he sounded angry.
According to the Urban Dictionary, the phrase refers to "people who are cowardly.
" Any idea why my client would be so angry that Mr.
Morris was a coward? Objection.
Withdrawn.
No further questions.
Mr.
Roberts is excused, Your Honor.
And at this time, the People would like to call our final witness Martina Garretti.
What's going on? Your Honor, that is so far from the realm of reasonable, I don't even know what to object to.
Counsel, please approach.
We want to question Ms.
Garretti about a conversation she had with her client before the assault on Mr.
Morris.
Did Mr.
Gupta skip a year of law school, Your Honor? Using his words, that was a conversation I had with my client.
I would invoke privilege.
We have it on good authority that Ms.
Garretti incited Mr.
Koeneke into this assault.
Emolo v.
Emolo makes it clear that privilege wouldn't apply.
We'll remove the jury while I determine if this is a worthwhile line of questioning.
Am I supposed to question myself? I need counsel.
Office full of attorneys, I assume you can find one by morning.
Your Honor, you can't let him make an allegation like this with no proof.
You may be that proof, Ms.
Garretti.
We'll see you on the stand, tomorrow morning, 9:00.
We're done for the day.
How many people did Ed tell about your conversation? Okay, look, he says he told one friend, but who knows how many people that guy told? Case this small, there's no way the DA sent an investigator out, so Contar must have hired somebody.
You've got them nervous.
Yeah.
Well, that's the good news, but the really bad news is that once the jury hears what I said, my crime-of-passion defense is dead.
It'll seem premeditated.
Right Which, you know, it kind of was.
Right.
And we're making headway.
I can tell the jury really likes Ed.
And Riv's going to talk to that guy who sold Morris that house in Ridgewell.
You need to keep your conversation with Ed away from the jury.
I probably shouldn't handle your questioning, 'cause I was there for the first part of the meeting.
But So, how did it go? Uh, looks like the prosecution's going to rest without calling Morris to the stand.
That's what we expected.
Now, you get to call him as a hostile witness.
I enjoy a hostile witness.
I'm sure you'll get him to say exactly what you need him to.
Enjoy your dinner.
Thank you.
Mm-hmm.
You're not gonna tell him that you got called? I like to fix a problem before I tell my boss there is one.
If you can't represent me, who am I gonna turn to? It's my understanding you had a conversation with Mr.
Koeneke where you told him you wouldn't represent him in an outstanding legal matter.
Is that accurate? It is.
And then what happened? I walked him to the elevator.
So did you happen to say anything else to him before he left? I said my family would light a candle for his daughter.
I'm sure you did.
Did you also say, it seemed unfair that if he punched a CEO of Contar Chemical in the face, he'd be in court in a week? I did.
No further questions.
What made you say that to Mr.
Koeneke? Objection! Relevance.
Your Honor, based on a remark made at the end of a meeting, prosecution is alleging Ms.
Garretti incited a client to violence.
Without knowing the full conversation, we couldn't possibly understand her state of mind when she made that comment.
No.
What he said to her isn't the issue.
Only the impact her statement had on the defendant's subsequent actions.
Whether her statement was affected by context is a triable issuof fact.
I'll allow it.
Ed Koeneke was emotional when he came to our offices.
His insurance wouldn't cover a medical procedure that might cure his nine-year-old daughter, who he believes got sick because Contar Chemical polluted the groundwater in his town.
Their stalling tactics Your Honor, this is a court of law, not the op-ed page.
If Mr.
Gupta prefers, I can ask individual questions to take us through the substance of the meeting.
I can even include one about Lou Morris not showing up to a meeting with the citizens of Ridgewell that he himself scheduled.
This whole process will just take longer.
This horse looks like a loser, Counselor.
We withdraw Ms.
Garretti as a witness.
Prosecution rests.
You can step down, Ms.
Garretti.
We'll start your side of the case when we reconvene.
I would never ever, never, never, ever Were you ever going to tell us about the doctor? What was I going to say? I had some appointments.
Everything turned out fine.
Yeah, that might have been better than just launching into this whole truth program with no warning.
I like it.
Never have to second-guess a conversation.
Yeah, I'll like it, too.
Once she takes care of Kate.
Kate's fine.
Oh, yes, a young woman with a bright future.
She's at school right now directing the fall play.
Hello! Except she's probably talking to the cast about sex before marriage.
Ugh! That's not what I meant, and you know it.
She is 16.
She hears what's most interesting, whether it's what you meant or not.
And now I got parents looking at me crossways.
You need to make it right.
Okay, fine.
If it's that important to you, I will talk to her.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
I wasn't done with that.
Sorry.
Don't you go away I want to Don't ask me to stay I want to Don't you go away I want to Don't ask me to stay I want to Hi.
I assume you live here, right, and you're not just stealing children's toys? Depends.
Are you the, uh, toy police? Not hardly.
You know, my family and I-- we're, uh we're moving to this area from New York City, and I drove down to check out neighborhoods.
You know, wondering, what do you, uh what you think of this one? It's a great place.
Lots of kids everywhere, uh, very family-friendly.
Yeah? Well, what-what about the schools? It's like anywhere else.
You got to make sure your kids do the work, but, uh, I've liked the teachers.
Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! You, uh You lived here a while? Almost eight years.
Came up from Ridgewell.
What brought you to Cherry Hill? New job.
Ah.
Me, too.
I'm in construction.
Production management for, uh, Downton Fertilizer.
I've never met anyone who works in fertilizer before.
You What, you gotta have, like, your own fleet of cows to get that job? Thankfully, no.
Uh, my brother-in-law owns a chemical company that makes an additive for the stuff.
He, uh, hooked me up.
You know, my brother-in-law-- he just sits around, drinks all my beer.
I'm glad you got one that's helpful.
Well Thanks for talking to me, man.
Yeah.
Hey! Hey! So Lou Morris got his brother-in-law a job, then bought the family's house so they could move out of Ridgewell? Yes.
Almost two years before anyone else knew there was a problem with the groundwater.
It's a great piece of evidence for the class action lawsuit.
Oh, whenever that gets to trial.
So you don't think you've established relevance in order to question him about it during the criminal trial? No.
Have you gone through his published comments? Did he ever talk about the community being safe, or anything related to real estate values? We checked, but he always sticks to a denial-of-liability script, like it was written by his lawyers.
Look, I'm starting my case tomorrow.
I think nullification is a slam dunk.
Ed will be sympathetic.
The nurse will say he got emotional about the test results.
With just those two pieces of testimony, no way the jury convicts.
But you're not sure about calling Lou Morris? I think it's a mistake.
I agree.
Don't try to trick him into admitting prior knowledge about the groundwater poisoning.
If you fail, it gives him credibility.
Which might make Ed seem out of line punching him.
It could push the jury to a guilty verdict.
So, we need to question Lou Morris, just not in front of a jury.
Hello, Peter.
Donovan.
My office said you were on the way.
To what do I owe the pleasure? Well, I wish I could say it was the private label scotch the club serves, but I'm afraid it's just business.
Ah, what's this? A subpoena.
You're calling me as a witness? As Contar's corporate counsel, did going to that "Man of the Year" banquet count as billable hours? How many guests are you calling? Well, we dug up the names of almost 200 Lou Morris friends and colleagues that were there.
Oh, you know who else we found? The busboy who brought the ice cubes to the bathroom for Lou's bloody nose.
And the funny thing about busboys is people forget they're there, and then they say the darndest things in front of them.
What do you really want? Our client wants Lou Morris to talk on the record about carbon ethylene.
Now, we can do it for the assault trial, but it'll be more embarrassing for your client and his friends.
As a professional courtesy, I'm offering you an alternative.
Tell your client to give his deposition in the class action lawsuit.
He's not prepared for his deposition.
Peter, I've read all the public statements.
You've been prepping him for this since the day the case was filed.
He's gonna have to give his deposition eventually.
It's just a question of time.
I don't like being bullied.
I don't like that Stark & Rowan was left out of Contar's secondary offering when you decided to help your soon-to-be-indicted college roommate.
So why don't we call it even and move on.
What do you say? No friends? No busboys? Not a one.
He went for it.
Martina? Oh, uh, good.
I was, uh, looking for you.
What is this? A gift.
For what? For helping me out the other day.
What's this? A bill.
For $500.
You were in court for, like, ten minutes.
I had to prepare.
I had to get there and back.
I'm not gonna lie; this is awkward.
Hmm.
If I wasn't kidding.
Give me that.
Okay Oh You should've seen your face.
You should've seen yours.
And, to the best of your knowledge, Contar Chemical was unaware of any issue in Ridgewell until notified by the EPA on April 12, 2006? Mm-hmm, that's correct.
So, uh it's your sworn testimony that, uh, until the letter from the EPA was received, Contar Chemical in general, or you, as its CEO, didn't know about the carbon ethylene problem? Yes.
How many times you gonna ask the same question, Hank? Oh, sorry I'm late.
Who's she? Lawyer for the man who punched you.
My client did not come here today to answer questions about the criminal trial.
That's not why she's here.
She's been added as special counsel to the class action suit.
Look, Mr.
Morris, this is a deposition, not a courtroom.
Your lawyer's gonna keep you from answering any questions he doesn't want on the record.
And if you walk now, it'll look bad-- like you're not confident in your position.
Five minutes.
Thank you.
Uh, you live in, uh, Riverdale, right? Yes, I do.
Is that your signature? What's that document? It's a signature page from the deed to his house.
It's not a trick question.
Yes, that's my signature.
Okay.
Here's the tricky part.
This isn't a deed to the house in Riverdale; it's for the one in Ridgewell.
You bought your sister's house on October 28, 2004, didn't you, Mr.
Morris? Don't say a word, Lou.
He doesn't have to; I've got the documentation right here.
Let the record reflect that Lou Morris bought that house and moved his sister and her family away from Ridgewell almost two years before the letter from the EPA.
It's time for you to take responsibility, Mr.
Morris.
Hey, hey.
I know why I'm here.
Mom wants you to say you had a stroke and started rambling to me about sex.
Yeah, well, I'll talk to her later.
You don't have any of the same restrictions I had when I was a girl, honey.
You can be anything you want.
Anything.
And yet there is still this idea that you should be embarrassed about sexual desire.
That's crazy, because you will, and you should, feel and want things with the same intensity as a man.
And that doesn't mean that you are some kind of bad girl.
I stand by what I said.
You have to drive a car before you buy it.
Otherwise, you could end up with I don't know, cloth, when what you really wanted was leather.
Okay.
But you'll notice that I didn't say any of these things to your classmates, because guess what, I don't know them.
I didn't tell that many people.
One is too many.
I'm sorry.
So our new motto is "more honesty, less sharing"" Got it, Grandma.
I believe you're up, Ms.
Garretti.
The defense rests, Your Honor, and if the prosecution is willing, we'd like to move straight to closing arguments.
You okay with this? Yes, sir, Your Honor.
You ready to close, Mr.
Gupta? Sure.
The defense has waived its right to call witnesses, so we're moving to closing statements.
You have all gleaned that there is more to this case than just a simple assault.
I'd like to tell you about the deposition the CEO of Contar Chemical gave this morning Objection.
What I can tell you, ladies and gentlemen, is that ADA Gupta, he was right about one thing.
I was going to try to convince you to ignore the facts of this case.
I was gonna get Ed Koeneke to pull on your heartstrings, to tell you that he punched Lou Morris 'cause he blamed him for his daughter's illness.
And while that's the truth, the fact is, he still punched him.
And Ed and I have realized that you need to find him guilty.
We know that's going to be hard.
He's a loving father, and you're gonna want to side with him.
But you need to put aside those feelings and convict Ed Koeneke of assault 'cause he wants to take responsibility for his actions, even if Contar Chemical refused to do so for theirs.
We agree.
Find him guilty.
Hey.
Hey.
Ta-da! You know it's illegal to drink in the park, right? Well, it's not open, so technically, you're just holding a really nice bottle of Irish stout.
Jury's not even back yet.
It's a little early for your concession bottle.
I asked to lose.
How much easier could I make it for him? I'll talk to Arjun, see if he can ask the judge for a suspended sentence.
Thanks.
You know, it's illegal to drink in the park.
Really? Tell me you at least helped your class action lawsuit.
Yeah, I hear Contar Chemical implemented a "long-planne"" escrow account to cover medical expenses.
My client's gonna get money for his daughter.
Not an admission of guilt, but I'll take it.
Stark & Rowan gonna see any of that settlement? Don't mess with Jersey.
Has the jury reached a verdict, Madam Foreperson? Yes, we have.
Will the defendant please rise? In the matter of State of New York v.
Ed Koeneke, on the charge of assault in the second degree, we find the defendant not guilty.
Thank you to all the members of the jury.
Your service is now completed.
Thank you, Martina.
Is the sound of the lost gone found It's the sound of the mute Best trial ever.
Is the sound of a new start Kiss With a mouth full of shooting stars Congratulations.
Thank you.
And to think, it all started with a punch.
Don't remind me.
Well, that's not even the most interesting part.
Tricking a CEO into giving a deposition? Asking a jury to convict? And, most alarming, not telling your boss you were called as a witness.
Riley told you.
No.
She's emotionally challenged, but she respects privilege.
No, unfortunately for you, code 1192 for an internal client always gets my attention in the billable hours system.
But she took the bill back.
Which required her to void the transaction.
So it-it showed up twice? Mm.
Yeah.
I saw it.
Two times.
Oops.
Good night, Martina.
Good night.
Sync and corrected
From the Lighthouse Festival.
It was a good day.
Save or sell? Sell.
Make room for new memories.
Hey, Grandma, can I get that lamp? Sure, honey.
Hey, Ma, should I put this stuff at the curb? Yeah.
That'd be great, sweetheart, thanks.
Can, uh throw a red scarf over it.
No.
A 16-year-old's room shouldn't be moody.
Come on.
You and the girls used to dance around your room with that strobe light.
You remember? She thinks it's a slippery slope from mood lighting to teen pregnancy.
Oh, I don't worry about teen pregnancy.
'Cause if I ever caught you having sex, I would hunt the boy down and I would kill him.
No sex till you're married.
Then you have my blessing.
As long as he's got a good job and a good gene pool.
Ma, I'm taking this stuff home with me.
Okay, honey.
She worries about you.
Well, I'm just hanging on for college.
Then I'll be on my own.
That's what she worries about.
Plus, she knows that sex can be kind of intoxicating.
Did you have sex with Grandpa before you got married? Yes, we had sex.
No, we didn't tell anyone about it; yes, my mother would've killed me and him.
Yes, we were safe.
And, yes, it was fun.
Come here.
Your mother is pushing abstinence.
I'd recommend using good judgment.
Okay, thanks.
Hide the lamp in the hall closet.
You can sneak it out later.
Thanks, Grandma.
Carbon "ethyline"? E-N-E.
Carbon ethylene.
It's an additive for aviation fuels that Contar Chemical makes in a plant outside of Ridgewell.
When did you realize that your daughter was sick? Four years ago.
Clara started saying that her stomach felt like it was on fire.
Turns out that carbon ethylene had leaked into the town's groundwater.
Compromised the lining of her digestive tract.
Mr.
Koeneke, when you made the appointment, you mentioned you were already part of a class action lawsuit against Contar Chemical.
I am.
Then I guess I'm not exactly sure how we can help you.
People started getting sick five years ago.
So they contacted the CEO of Contar, Lou Morris, who said it had nothing to do with them.
So they hired a lawyer and filed a lawsuit, but this lawsuit isn't going anywhere.
It's two years from a court date, let alone a settlement.
I think we need new lawyers, lawyers that are gonna push a little harder.
I know a lot of lawyers at Jessup Markum, Mr.
Koeneke.
Smart, solid people, and I suspect that they are doing a very good job for you.
If Stark & Rowan stepped in, we'd need to get familiar with the facts of the case.
She's right.
We'd slow you down.
Not speed you up.
There must be something you can do.
I wish there was.
How's your daughter doing? She's up and down.
But there's this experimental treatment that, given Clara's age uh, might cure her completely but insurance won't cover it.
I don't have the money to pay for it.
I'm really sorry that we can't help you, Mr.
Koeneke.
Me, too.
You know, Clara's lucky to have a dad who won't stop trying to figure this stuff out.
New lawyers might have been my last idea.
Look, I understand your frustration with the process.
I was a prosecutor in Trenton.
I've been at Stark & Rowan for three months, and I'm still not used to the pace of civil trials.
It seems unfair that if you punched the CEO of Contar Chemical in the face, you'd be in court in a week.
But they've got the luxury of making you wait for years.
Thanks for meeting with me.
My family will light a candle for your daughter.
Thanks.
Do, dee, do, do Do, dee, do, do Do, dee, do, do Robby, watch it with the water.
Robby, put that thing down.
Why aren't you grilling? I'm hungry.
Your mom didn't tell us to put the food on yet.
What? We don't start cooking until she says so.
Where is she? Her and Deb are talking about something upstairs.
I don't know what you were thinking.
Sweetheart, sweet I was just being honest.
What's going on? Mom told Kate that she and Dad had sex before they were married.
And not just that you had sex, that you enjoyed it.
Well I better get that food on the grill.
Let me know if you need any help.
Ma.
Look at you.
You lost weight? Ma.
Don't change the subject.
I am not.
You told Kate, she told a bunch of her friends, and now I'm the poster parent for sex before marriage.
Uh, should I get a bowl for the fruit? Yes, please.
Listen, my 16-year-old granddaughter asked me a direct question.
What am I supposed to do? Lie.
Like I did when she asked me.
Oh, come on.
You said that you were a virgin when you were married? Shut up.
Good one.
Her counselor called and left a message.
Apparently other parents are upset.
I haven't called him back because I don't know what to say.
Get Ma to call.
Talk about what a stud Dad was.
You're not helping.
How many times do we have to go through this? Martina Garretti.
Does Kate have a boyfriend? Is that why she's asking? Oh, my God.
I didn't even think of that.
Honey, honey Ma.
I'm so sorry.
I got to go.
Well, wh-why? I got to get a guy out of jail.
Good luck to you, honey.
Martina, thanks for coming down.
I did not tell you to punch the CEO of Contar Chical in the face.
I lost my head.
After I left your office, the doctor called with some bad test results for Clara, and it just got me thinking of what would happen if I punched Lou Morris in the face.
So I went to this Man of the Year thing, and I did it.
Now there's got to be a trial, right? He's gonna have to take the stand and testify about everything.
Yeah, the trial's gonna be about you punching him.
Not about whether Contar Chemical did or did not poison your groundwater.
He poisoned my groundwater.
Will you defend me and get Morris to admit what he did to my little girl? I'm gonna try.
Okay? I will try.
Look at me I know that I can make it It's got to be And you can't change me I've got to dream And no one's gonna break me This is who I want to be There's so much more to me Nothing can stop me now.
Sync and corrected As a representative of this firm, you have a responsibility to think before you speak.
I know.
This is not Thanksgiving dinner, where you can say whatever you want.
I know.
This is a law firm.
When people come to us, they are vulnerable.
Yes, sir.
We do not encourage them to do stupid things.
In her defense You were the senior associate in the meeting.
Blame goes up, this is your fault.
Yes, sir.
This was not Nolan's fault.
I-It was all my fault, okay? I'm very, very sorry.
I will choose my words more carefully.
Yes, you will.
I do feel a responsibility to help Mr.
Koeneke.
Then refer him to an excellent lawyer.
Sir, it's an assault case.
He's got a sympathetic story.
A jury's not gonna want to convict him.
Y-You can't argue for nullification.
If you tell the jury to try to ignore the facts and find him not guilty, the bar will censure you.
No, I won't have to tell 'em to do anything.
What with the daughter's bad medical results and Contar Chemical's stalling tactics in the class action suit, I can build a crime of passion defense.
Look, the jury's gonna get to nullification all on their own.
The prosecution isn't gonna roll over and let you introduce emotional testimony.
No, but I'll get latitude on intent.
So I'll get a bit in here and a bit in there.
The prosecution's not gonna call Lou Morris to the stand.
But I can call him, and hopefully, by then, I'll have found a way to ask about the groundwater poisoning.
You want to try the class action suit using the assault case.
I just want to give the civil case a shot in the arm.
That's risky.
Look I feel horrible about what happened, and I am committed to fixing the mess I created.
Please.
Much of the success of this firm is the result of the innovative thinking from its best and its brightest.
Last year, Contar made me participate in a bake-off for their secondary IPO.
They didn't hire us.
They should have.
Stark & Rowan will represent Mr.
Koeneke.
Thank you.
If you lose, your nice client goes to jail.
Then let's not lose.
I know Hank Wilson.
He's the lead counsel for the class action lawsuit.
I will ask him if he can help us out.
Great.
Thank you.
Shows you what I know.
I thought Ed Koeneke was one of my calmer plaintiffs.
Well, he needs money for a medical treatment to help his daughter.
He didn't think it through.
I can't blame him.
I've been working class action suits my entire career, and Contar is one of the squirmiest companies I've ever faced.
What can I do for you? We're going with a crime of passion defense, Hank, and we would love to have access to your background materials, so that we don't have to reinvent the wheel.
I've got a thousand boxes full of documents, you know? Well, we don't need science.
We just need emotion-- memos, transcripts of town hall meetings.
Any contact Contar had with the affected families that might establish the company was responsible for Ed's state of mind.
And then, we're gonna put CEO Morris on the stand just to drive it home.
Let me tell you something about Morris.
Lou Morris is smart.
He's not gonna say anything helpful.
That's our problem, not yours.
He's probably putting pressure on the D.
A.
to keep the thing from even going to trial.
If Stark & Rowan succeeds and we get Morris on the stand and he says anything interesting, that goes on the record.
That helps you.
I got three years in this thing, man.
If Ed Koeneke comes across as unstable, that's bad for me.
And he knows that, and if at any moment you feel like this thing is going south, Ed has agreed to plead guilty.
I'll have my paralegals put together some material.
You're a prince among men.
Thank you.
We owe you.
Yeah, you owe me.
Dad! Kitchen! What happened? Uh last night one of the kids stuffed a turkey dog down the drain.
Okay, look, I reviewed your contract for the Murphy job.
They want you to pay treble damages if you're unable to perform services due to an act of God.
What? It's ridiculous, and not even legal.
Look, I crossed out the changes.
You just need to leave your initials.
Hey, good morning, sweetheart.
Hey.
You know what I've decided? What? I'm gonna quit my job.
Since when? Since two minutes ago.
I really want to learn a musical instrument.
Maybe take up bridge.
You know, they're teaching it as school now, to help out the kids with math.
Ma, it just seems, uh pretty sudden.
After 25 years, I think it's time.
And we finished paying off the house four months ago.
So we don't need the money, right? I guess not.
Math is important.
And the advancements in additive chemistry have been matched by the creative ways this industry That's your punch-ee.
Lou Morris.
Some talk he gave at an industry breakfast.
Okay, here's my interview with the nurse who gave Ed his test results.
She'll testify he was very emotional.
So test results the morning of the punch gets you state of mind.
Mm-hmm.
Did you get anything from the country club? Oh His bio in here? Does he admit to poisoning the groundwater? Hah.
Not that I saw.
'Cause that would make it a lot easier to introduce the class action facts into the assault trial.
I'll read it again.
I did talk to a couple employees who worked the event, including the busboy Ooh.
who delivered ice cubes to the men's room for Lou Morris's bloody nose.
What did he have to say? Apparently, our client has a mean left hook, but nothing else helpful.
Okay Did anyone overhear conversation between our guy and Lou Morris? Nobody I talked to was even close enough.
Anything in the boxes? Oh, we just started going through those.
Mm.
Hey, Tommy.
Meet? Uh, sure.
You'll come by my office-- that's, uh, nice, but I'm not there right now.
Yeah, how about in an hour? Yeah, I'll text you the place.
Okay.
Bye.
Why aren't you in your office? Uh that was a-a friend from the D.
A.
's Office.
I know why he's calling, and him coming here is not gonna get me what I need.
Working for a fancy Midtown firm, I thought you'd be busier than this.
You're catching me on my way somewhere.
Aren't I always? Sorry.
What can I do for you, Tommy? I've been sent with an offer.
No.
Don't you want to hear it first? You know, if Ed Koeneke had coldcocked Lou Morris someplace private, then Lou wouldn't have pressed charges.
But I bet the D.
A.
is under a lot of pressure to settle this case instead of taking it to trial.
Apparently, I didn't have to take a bus to the park.
Not for an offer of, uh, misdemeanor assault and a fine, no jail time? Close enough.
Still no.
Fine.
We'll drop the assault Clara! Hey! Very sneaky, Garretti.
Clara, this is Tommy.
Hi.
Uh Hi.
How you doing? Hi.
Good.
How are you? You and your dad having fun in the city? Yeah.
My dad took me on a ferry You know, there is a shaved-ice cart right behind that statue-- I bet there's something you'd like.
Tell your dad I'm buying.
Thanks! You're welcome.
The boat's getting away.
Go get it.
She needs medical attention my client can't afford.
That's why I can't accept your offer.
I need to get Lou Morris on the stand.
Well, we can drop the charges without your permission.
Oh, you do that, and I'll be on every TV station in New York talking about how the D.
A.
is in the pocket of the corporate polluters.
Good luck getting two reporters to show up to that press conference.
I have gotten media traction on a lot less.
Your boss know what you're doing? Yeah.
And he's very supportive.
Fine.
You got your trial.
You prosecuting this case? No.
Smart guy named Arjun Gupta pulled the ticket.
Oh.
Well, good.
I'd hate for you to be on the wrong end of this.
I am thinking good thoughts for the start of your trial tomorrow.
Thank you.
Is this for the guy you made punch the CEO of Contar Chemical? That's not quite how it happened.
Well, I didn't mean you physically made him do it.
I didn't think that's what you meant.
But you're still wrong.
Riley, you know, I think if you send this document to the bizhub, it's gonna print about 50 times faster.
She's trying.
I know, but small talk should not be that hard.
Good night.
Hey.
Hey.
I had a paralegal do a brief of crime-of- passion case law.
Hm.
That was nice.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
You got a big day tomorrow.
Big day.
This is background on the prosecution's witness.
And a list for the party guests that I was able to track down, plus a chart showing the relationship between the CEO and those guests.
Thanks.
You're gonna be fine.
Do I look nervous? Just around your face.
Look, right now, I am relying on the prosecution's witnesses to corroborate on my crime-of-passion defense, and I don't like that.
I might be able to help.
Today, I was running down a list of the homeowners in Ridgewell.
One of the houses is owned by a trust.
I dug into it-- guess who the trustee is? Uh, I have no idea.
But you sound excited, which makes me excited.
Lou Morris.
Did he ever live in it? I don't know yet.
But he bought it back in 2004 from a Brian Holloway.
Now, according to the DMV, Mr.
Lou Morris lived in a big house in Riverdale, so, if he moved out of the danger zone and Ed knew about it Then it could open up the door for me.
Lou Morris would be my corroborating evidence in my crime-of-passion defense.
Please make it so? I have a call in to Ed to ask him if he knew.
I'll let you know as soon as I hear back.
Okay, but even if he didn't know about it, it's still a juicy fact for the class action suit.
Nice job, Riv.
Sitting in your garden room Watching the flowers grow Hi, Ma.
Hi, sweetie.
What you got there? Dinner.
You know you never take the time to eat when you got a big trial.
Guy with a sick kid-- I know you're gonna go all out for is.
But you're no good to nobody on an empty stomach, so here you go.
Thanks, Ma.
Sure.
Oh Is that what you're gonna wear tomorrow? Yeah.
Nobody could pull off mustard, sweetheart, not even a girl as pretty as you.
Okay, what's going on? The sex talk with Kate, the brutal honesty, the life-changing decisions-- where's it all coming from? Ten days ago, I had my yearly.
One of the blood tests showed some irregular levels, so the doctor sent me to have an ultrasound.
They saw a shadow on my liver, and Oh, my God, Mom No, no, I'm sorry, honey, I'm being overdramatic.
Look, they did a follow-up MRI-- turns out that it was just some scarring from surgery.
But it was a tense couple of days.
But you're fine.
Totally fine.
I just realized that you never know what's gonna happen.
I could get hit by a car tomorrow.
So I am trying to live without regrets.
And my mustard shirt's gonna give you regrets? Mm, if you lost-- and, of course, you won't-- but if you did, I'd be left wishing I'd said something.
Thanks for dinner, Mom.
You know what? That guy is very lucky that you're his lawyer.
Yeah.
Let's hope he still thinks so after the trial.
You're up, Mr.
Gupta.
This case is about Ed Koeneke, who punched a man in the face in front of 200 witnesses.
His defense attorney is going to try and tell you that this case is about something other than that fact.
It's called jury nullification.
Which means that she is going to try and drown the law in a wave of emotion and life circumstances.
But I know you folks won't fall for it.
This was an assault.
Open and shut.
The facts of this case aren't even in dispute.
Ms.
Garretti knows that.
Which is why she's going to try and fool you into thinking the facts don't matter.
But she should have known better than to waste your valuable time.
I'm gonna trust you to be smart enough to decide if I've wasted your time.
And they'd just served the salad when I saw the defendant walking toward our table.
Was Mr.
Morris saying anything inflammatory as the defendant approached? Definitely not.
Lou was telling me about his Corgi, Marmalade.
So Mr.
Morris was talking about a dog, and Mr.
Koeneke just walked up and punched him without provocation? Objection! Calls for speculation.
She doesn't know why he punched him.
Sustained.
No further questions.
I will let you answer the D.
A.
's question about Mr.
Koeneke's demeanor, but I assume you thought he seemed pretty calm.
Yes, he did.
Very calm.
And should I trust your judgment? 'Cause you seem like a violent hothead.
Objection.
Argumentative.
Your Honor, she is opining on my client's state of mind.
The way that she moves through the world seems relevant to her assessment.
I'll allow it.
For a minute.
You can answer.
I am not a violent hothead.
You sure? You never flipped off a guy who cut you off in traffic? Of course not.
Okay, so you're not a person who gets angry.
Of course I get angry.
But you don't show it? Not like that.
Okay, so maybe it is possible that my client, instead of being calm when he approached Lou Morris, was actually full of profound feelings.
I suppose.
Feelings about how his nine-year-old daughter contracted a painful and debilitating digestive dis Objection! Ms.
Garretti.
Withdrawn.
No further questions.
So you think it's okay I'm not at the trial every day? At a trial like this, I don't think the jury focuses on whether family shows up or not.
Well, it's just that Clara's got so many appointments.
It would be hard to reschedule them all.
Mrs.
Koeneke, Martina's got plenty of fight in her.
All right? You don't worry about your husband.
He's in good hands.
This is the one.
Ed told me he didn't know Lou Morris owned it.
I thought Contar Chemical owned it.
What made you think that? Well, it was empty when we moved into the neighborhood seven years ago, but then one day, I saw someone there.
I went over to, you know, introduce myself.
Thought it was a new neighbor.
Uh-huh.
But it turned out the guy was working as a consultant for the plant.
He was in the house for a couple of weeks, and then he was gone.
He said his name was Brian Holloway.
I heard he moved to Riverdale.
So they use it for temporary housing? Well, they did back then.
I think it's been completely empty for four or five years.
That's a lot of money to pay for a house that sits empty.
I just assumed they didn't want any company people near us.
Make sure they didn't say anything they shouldn't about the the lawsuit.
Could be.
Do you think it's something else? I don't know.
But I do think it's worth looking into.
After the defendant punched Mr.
Morris, you grabbed him and pulled him away? Yes.
Uh, me and another guy.
Did the defendant say anything? Yes.
He Well, he called Lou an expression for, uh, poultry fecal matter.
ken,Chic assume.
Yes.
Did he admit to the police what he had done? Yes.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Did Mr.
Koeneke call Lou Morris a before or after the punch? After.
And what was his tone? Did he seem angry? Objection.
Calls for speculation.
Your Honor, we all know when people sound angry.
Overruled.
Yes, he sounded angry.
According to the Urban Dictionary, the phrase refers to "people who are cowardly.
" Any idea why my client would be so angry that Mr.
Morris was a coward? Objection.
Withdrawn.
No further questions.
Mr.
Roberts is excused, Your Honor.
And at this time, the People would like to call our final witness Martina Garretti.
What's going on? Your Honor, that is so far from the realm of reasonable, I don't even know what to object to.
Counsel, please approach.
We want to question Ms.
Garretti about a conversation she had with her client before the assault on Mr.
Morris.
Did Mr.
Gupta skip a year of law school, Your Honor? Using his words, that was a conversation I had with my client.
I would invoke privilege.
We have it on good authority that Ms.
Garretti incited Mr.
Koeneke into this assault.
Emolo v.
Emolo makes it clear that privilege wouldn't apply.
We'll remove the jury while I determine if this is a worthwhile line of questioning.
Am I supposed to question myself? I need counsel.
Office full of attorneys, I assume you can find one by morning.
Your Honor, you can't let him make an allegation like this with no proof.
You may be that proof, Ms.
Garretti.
We'll see you on the stand, tomorrow morning, 9:00.
We're done for the day.
How many people did Ed tell about your conversation? Okay, look, he says he told one friend, but who knows how many people that guy told? Case this small, there's no way the DA sent an investigator out, so Contar must have hired somebody.
You've got them nervous.
Yeah.
Well, that's the good news, but the really bad news is that once the jury hears what I said, my crime-of-passion defense is dead.
It'll seem premeditated.
Right Which, you know, it kind of was.
Right.
And we're making headway.
I can tell the jury really likes Ed.
And Riv's going to talk to that guy who sold Morris that house in Ridgewell.
You need to keep your conversation with Ed away from the jury.
I probably shouldn't handle your questioning, 'cause I was there for the first part of the meeting.
But So, how did it go? Uh, looks like the prosecution's going to rest without calling Morris to the stand.
That's what we expected.
Now, you get to call him as a hostile witness.
I enjoy a hostile witness.
I'm sure you'll get him to say exactly what you need him to.
Enjoy your dinner.
Thank you.
Mm-hmm.
You're not gonna tell him that you got called? I like to fix a problem before I tell my boss there is one.
If you can't represent me, who am I gonna turn to? It's my understanding you had a conversation with Mr.
Koeneke where you told him you wouldn't represent him in an outstanding legal matter.
Is that accurate? It is.
And then what happened? I walked him to the elevator.
So did you happen to say anything else to him before he left? I said my family would light a candle for his daughter.
I'm sure you did.
Did you also say, it seemed unfair that if he punched a CEO of Contar Chemical in the face, he'd be in court in a week? I did.
No further questions.
What made you say that to Mr.
Koeneke? Objection! Relevance.
Your Honor, based on a remark made at the end of a meeting, prosecution is alleging Ms.
Garretti incited a client to violence.
Without knowing the full conversation, we couldn't possibly understand her state of mind when she made that comment.
No.
What he said to her isn't the issue.
Only the impact her statement had on the defendant's subsequent actions.
Whether her statement was affected by context is a triable issuof fact.
I'll allow it.
Ed Koeneke was emotional when he came to our offices.
His insurance wouldn't cover a medical procedure that might cure his nine-year-old daughter, who he believes got sick because Contar Chemical polluted the groundwater in his town.
Their stalling tactics Your Honor, this is a court of law, not the op-ed page.
If Mr.
Gupta prefers, I can ask individual questions to take us through the substance of the meeting.
I can even include one about Lou Morris not showing up to a meeting with the citizens of Ridgewell that he himself scheduled.
This whole process will just take longer.
This horse looks like a loser, Counselor.
We withdraw Ms.
Garretti as a witness.
Prosecution rests.
You can step down, Ms.
Garretti.
We'll start your side of the case when we reconvene.
I would never ever, never, never, ever Were you ever going to tell us about the doctor? What was I going to say? I had some appointments.
Everything turned out fine.
Yeah, that might have been better than just launching into this whole truth program with no warning.
I like it.
Never have to second-guess a conversation.
Yeah, I'll like it, too.
Once she takes care of Kate.
Kate's fine.
Oh, yes, a young woman with a bright future.
She's at school right now directing the fall play.
Hello! Except she's probably talking to the cast about sex before marriage.
Ugh! That's not what I meant, and you know it.
She is 16.
She hears what's most interesting, whether it's what you meant or not.
And now I got parents looking at me crossways.
You need to make it right.
Okay, fine.
If it's that important to you, I will talk to her.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
I wasn't done with that.
Sorry.
Don't you go away I want to Don't ask me to stay I want to Don't you go away I want to Don't ask me to stay I want to Hi.
I assume you live here, right, and you're not just stealing children's toys? Depends.
Are you the, uh, toy police? Not hardly.
You know, my family and I-- we're, uh we're moving to this area from New York City, and I drove down to check out neighborhoods.
You know, wondering, what do you, uh what you think of this one? It's a great place.
Lots of kids everywhere, uh, very family-friendly.
Yeah? Well, what-what about the schools? It's like anywhere else.
You got to make sure your kids do the work, but, uh, I've liked the teachers.
Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! You, uh You lived here a while? Almost eight years.
Came up from Ridgewell.
What brought you to Cherry Hill? New job.
Ah.
Me, too.
I'm in construction.
Production management for, uh, Downton Fertilizer.
I've never met anyone who works in fertilizer before.
You What, you gotta have, like, your own fleet of cows to get that job? Thankfully, no.
Uh, my brother-in-law owns a chemical company that makes an additive for the stuff.
He, uh, hooked me up.
You know, my brother-in-law-- he just sits around, drinks all my beer.
I'm glad you got one that's helpful.
Well Thanks for talking to me, man.
Yeah.
Hey! Hey! So Lou Morris got his brother-in-law a job, then bought the family's house so they could move out of Ridgewell? Yes.
Almost two years before anyone else knew there was a problem with the groundwater.
It's a great piece of evidence for the class action lawsuit.
Oh, whenever that gets to trial.
So you don't think you've established relevance in order to question him about it during the criminal trial? No.
Have you gone through his published comments? Did he ever talk about the community being safe, or anything related to real estate values? We checked, but he always sticks to a denial-of-liability script, like it was written by his lawyers.
Look, I'm starting my case tomorrow.
I think nullification is a slam dunk.
Ed will be sympathetic.
The nurse will say he got emotional about the test results.
With just those two pieces of testimony, no way the jury convicts.
But you're not sure about calling Lou Morris? I think it's a mistake.
I agree.
Don't try to trick him into admitting prior knowledge about the groundwater poisoning.
If you fail, it gives him credibility.
Which might make Ed seem out of line punching him.
It could push the jury to a guilty verdict.
So, we need to question Lou Morris, just not in front of a jury.
Hello, Peter.
Donovan.
My office said you were on the way.
To what do I owe the pleasure? Well, I wish I could say it was the private label scotch the club serves, but I'm afraid it's just business.
Ah, what's this? A subpoena.
You're calling me as a witness? As Contar's corporate counsel, did going to that "Man of the Year" banquet count as billable hours? How many guests are you calling? Well, we dug up the names of almost 200 Lou Morris friends and colleagues that were there.
Oh, you know who else we found? The busboy who brought the ice cubes to the bathroom for Lou's bloody nose.
And the funny thing about busboys is people forget they're there, and then they say the darndest things in front of them.
What do you really want? Our client wants Lou Morris to talk on the record about carbon ethylene.
Now, we can do it for the assault trial, but it'll be more embarrassing for your client and his friends.
As a professional courtesy, I'm offering you an alternative.
Tell your client to give his deposition in the class action lawsuit.
He's not prepared for his deposition.
Peter, I've read all the public statements.
You've been prepping him for this since the day the case was filed.
He's gonna have to give his deposition eventually.
It's just a question of time.
I don't like being bullied.
I don't like that Stark & Rowan was left out of Contar's secondary offering when you decided to help your soon-to-be-indicted college roommate.
So why don't we call it even and move on.
What do you say? No friends? No busboys? Not a one.
He went for it.
Martina? Oh, uh, good.
I was, uh, looking for you.
What is this? A gift.
For what? For helping me out the other day.
What's this? A bill.
For $500.
You were in court for, like, ten minutes.
I had to prepare.
I had to get there and back.
I'm not gonna lie; this is awkward.
Hmm.
If I wasn't kidding.
Give me that.
Okay Oh You should've seen your face.
You should've seen yours.
And, to the best of your knowledge, Contar Chemical was unaware of any issue in Ridgewell until notified by the EPA on April 12, 2006? Mm-hmm, that's correct.
So, uh it's your sworn testimony that, uh, until the letter from the EPA was received, Contar Chemical in general, or you, as its CEO, didn't know about the carbon ethylene problem? Yes.
How many times you gonna ask the same question, Hank? Oh, sorry I'm late.
Who's she? Lawyer for the man who punched you.
My client did not come here today to answer questions about the criminal trial.
That's not why she's here.
She's been added as special counsel to the class action suit.
Look, Mr.
Morris, this is a deposition, not a courtroom.
Your lawyer's gonna keep you from answering any questions he doesn't want on the record.
And if you walk now, it'll look bad-- like you're not confident in your position.
Five minutes.
Thank you.
Uh, you live in, uh, Riverdale, right? Yes, I do.
Is that your signature? What's that document? It's a signature page from the deed to his house.
It's not a trick question.
Yes, that's my signature.
Okay.
Here's the tricky part.
This isn't a deed to the house in Riverdale; it's for the one in Ridgewell.
You bought your sister's house on October 28, 2004, didn't you, Mr.
Morris? Don't say a word, Lou.
He doesn't have to; I've got the documentation right here.
Let the record reflect that Lou Morris bought that house and moved his sister and her family away from Ridgewell almost two years before the letter from the EPA.
It's time for you to take responsibility, Mr.
Morris.
Hey, hey.
I know why I'm here.
Mom wants you to say you had a stroke and started rambling to me about sex.
Yeah, well, I'll talk to her later.
You don't have any of the same restrictions I had when I was a girl, honey.
You can be anything you want.
Anything.
And yet there is still this idea that you should be embarrassed about sexual desire.
That's crazy, because you will, and you should, feel and want things with the same intensity as a man.
And that doesn't mean that you are some kind of bad girl.
I stand by what I said.
You have to drive a car before you buy it.
Otherwise, you could end up with I don't know, cloth, when what you really wanted was leather.
Okay.
But you'll notice that I didn't say any of these things to your classmates, because guess what, I don't know them.
I didn't tell that many people.
One is too many.
I'm sorry.
So our new motto is "more honesty, less sharing"" Got it, Grandma.
I believe you're up, Ms.
Garretti.
The defense rests, Your Honor, and if the prosecution is willing, we'd like to move straight to closing arguments.
You okay with this? Yes, sir, Your Honor.
You ready to close, Mr.
Gupta? Sure.
The defense has waived its right to call witnesses, so we're moving to closing statements.
You have all gleaned that there is more to this case than just a simple assault.
I'd like to tell you about the deposition the CEO of Contar Chemical gave this morning Objection.
What I can tell you, ladies and gentlemen, is that ADA Gupta, he was right about one thing.
I was going to try to convince you to ignore the facts of this case.
I was gonna get Ed Koeneke to pull on your heartstrings, to tell you that he punched Lou Morris 'cause he blamed him for his daughter's illness.
And while that's the truth, the fact is, he still punched him.
And Ed and I have realized that you need to find him guilty.
We know that's going to be hard.
He's a loving father, and you're gonna want to side with him.
But you need to put aside those feelings and convict Ed Koeneke of assault 'cause he wants to take responsibility for his actions, even if Contar Chemical refused to do so for theirs.
We agree.
Find him guilty.
Hey.
Hey.
Ta-da! You know it's illegal to drink in the park, right? Well, it's not open, so technically, you're just holding a really nice bottle of Irish stout.
Jury's not even back yet.
It's a little early for your concession bottle.
I asked to lose.
How much easier could I make it for him? I'll talk to Arjun, see if he can ask the judge for a suspended sentence.
Thanks.
You know, it's illegal to drink in the park.
Really? Tell me you at least helped your class action lawsuit.
Yeah, I hear Contar Chemical implemented a "long-planne"" escrow account to cover medical expenses.
My client's gonna get money for his daughter.
Not an admission of guilt, but I'll take it.
Stark & Rowan gonna see any of that settlement? Don't mess with Jersey.
Has the jury reached a verdict, Madam Foreperson? Yes, we have.
Will the defendant please rise? In the matter of State of New York v.
Ed Koeneke, on the charge of assault in the second degree, we find the defendant not guilty.
Thank you to all the members of the jury.
Your service is now completed.
Thank you, Martina.
Is the sound of the lost gone found It's the sound of the mute Best trial ever.
Is the sound of a new start Kiss With a mouth full of shooting stars Congratulations.
Thank you.
And to think, it all started with a punch.
Don't remind me.
Well, that's not even the most interesting part.
Tricking a CEO into giving a deposition? Asking a jury to convict? And, most alarming, not telling your boss you were called as a witness.
Riley told you.
No.
She's emotionally challenged, but she respects privilege.
No, unfortunately for you, code 1192 for an internal client always gets my attention in the billable hours system.
But she took the bill back.
Which required her to void the transaction.
So it-it showed up twice? Mm.
Yeah.
I saw it.
Two times.
Oops.
Good night, Martina.
Good night.
Sync and corrected