Law & Order: Los Angeles (2010) s01e14 Episode Script
Runyon Canyon
NARRATOR: In the city of Los Angeles the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups, the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
And guess what? This will definitely be on the test.
This is a prokaryotic cell which lacks both a nucleus and membrane bound organelles.
As opposed to The eukaryotic cell (PHONE BEEPING) Including mitochondria, golgi apparatus Lysosomes, peroxysomes, secretory vacuoles.
Moving on (COUGHING) (CRYING) (SCREAMING) (CRYING CONTINUES) I I cut my foot.
Oh, let me look at it.
(WHIMPERING) That's nothing.
No! No! Leave me alone! I don't want to do it anymore! No! A woman found her at 6:20 this morning.
Oh, watch out! (GRUNTS) (DOGS BARKING) I thought I'd been everywhere in LA.
Good morning.
Says you.
What do you have, Miwako? Female, late teens.
No ID.
Petechial hemorrhaging, suggests death by strangulation.
There's two sets of bruises around her neck, maybe two different pairs of hands.
Somebody had a party.
And there's bruising, possible rape.
And what party would be complete without a little torture? First degree burns, hot wax.
There's residue, jasmine scented.
Tattoo.
Kappa Kappa Rho.
Sorority.
I can't believe this.
Beth was so sweet.
She was one of our first picks during rush week.
Beth have a boyfriend? No, she studied all the time.
She was pre-med.
When was the last time you saw her? Last night around 8:00.
She was going to the library.
I've got to go talk to the girls.
I'm the house mother.
They're really upset.
Thanks for your help.
Sounds like Beth fit better in a convent than a sorority.
Oh, you don't buy any of it? Kids have to blow off steam.
Except Karina, of course.
I just grounded her.
For the rest of her life.
Huh.
Look what they're wearing in the convent these days.
I knew LA was wrong for her.
Did Beth ever mention a boyfriend? No, she would have told me if she was dating.
Are you saying another student did this? We don't know what happened yet, sir.
ARLEEN: But if you could remember anything.
A change in attitude, a problem with anyone.
Last month she de-friended me on Facebook.
DAN: Our daughter was very innocent.
ARLEEN: The officer outside can take you to talk to somebody at Victim's Assistance.
Yeah.
Again, we are very sorry for your loss.
Thank you.
Well, the story's consistent.
Beth was a bookworm.
No dating, no partying.
Except for that new thong.
That could have been a gift from one of her sorority sisters.
Most girls her age wear them.
Not my daughter.
Coroner confirms vaginal bruising, possible rape, but no semen.
There was a piece of glass in Beth's right foot.
The lab found crack cocaine residue on it.
Could be a crack pipe.
Preliminary tox indicates Beth had a couple of drinks.
Period.
So, maybe a crack pipe belonging to the suspect.
Check this.
At 4:20, on the afternoon that she was killed, Beth got a text from Sylvie Lester.
"We R on.
" With three exclamation points.
SYLVIE: It was about getting together at the library to study.
Three exclamation points.
You must really like studying.
With her, yeah.
She was so smart and we were both pre-med.
Beth was a real brainiac.
Uh, drawing it helps me remember.
That's my shoulder.
That's mine, too.
Yeah, you're really good, Sylvie.
Anyway, you and Beth, besides anatomy, you ever talk about boyfriends? We didn't have that kind of friendship.
TJ: When were you at the library until? We worked until 11:00.
I was beat, I went home to sleep.
And what about Beth? She said she needed to chill.
She went over to the pool for a swim.
It's really sad.
I really liked her.
(STARTING SIGNAL BLARING) TEDDY: I wasn't on last night.
RICARDO: I noticed you need to swipe a card to get in.
So I guess there was a record of who was swimming last night.
TEDDY: Yeah, sure is.
All right, Beth Garret wasn't here last night.
Last time she used the pool was Tuesday, 7:28 a.
m.
And before that, Monday at 10:14 a.
m.
and Hold on.
Look at this.
We have a Jesse Beckman, entering at 10:15 a.
m.
right behind Beth.
And again on Tuesday he swiped in at 7:29.
Right behind Beth Garret.
Never go swimming without a buddy.
I didn't know Beth Garret.
She was a freshman, I'm a senior.
Constitutional law.
Nowak and Rotunda.
Mmm-hmm.
I plan on going to law school.
Oh, so you know all about res ipsa loquitur.
The thing speaks for itself.
You implying that I had something to do with killing that girl? You did go to the pool five times in the last two weeks.
I like to swim.
RICARDO: At the same time as Beth Garret.
You ever hear of coincidence? One time is coincidence.
Five times is res ipsa loquitur.
I wasn't stalking her, okay? I've got a girlfriend.
Let me guess, her name is Sylvie.
Were you cheating on Sylvie with Beth? I don't have to Don't start, Jesse.
You might feel safe in your dorm room with your college books and your Mint snus, but we come from the real world where lying to the police, has consequences.
Okay.
Okay.
Look, Sylvie was acting weird.
I thought she was seeing someone else, so I went to the pool to talk to Beth about Sylvie.
I didn't tell you guys straight off because I don't think law schools appreciate applicants whose name shows up in a murder case.
All the same, where were you last night? At the basketball game on campus.
Here's my ticket stub.
I did not kill Beth, okay? RICARDO: Jesse Beckman, Mr.
Darden.
He has the season ticket next to you.
Was he at the game last night? Are you kidding? Arizona? You'd have to be crazy or dead to have tickets and not go.
It was a hell of a game.
Um, yeah, if you like blowouts.
Bad for Arizona, good for me.
The crowd emptied out a half time.
I moved down on the third row behind the visitors' bench.
Was Jesse there for the whole game? Uh, actually I saw him on a lower level, too.
At the end of the game.
Third row, close enough to hear the Arizona coach curse out Watson.
What did he say again? Ah, you name it.
I wouldn't use that language in front of women and kids.
(CHUCKLING) Uh, I need another cup of Joe.
Late night studying? (LAUGHS) I'm on what they call an extended leave from the college.
I think I've got chronic fatigue syndrome.
Okay to go? Sure, Roger.
We'll get back to you.
S.
O.
B.
's lying.
The Arizona coach got booted from the game a minute before the half.
Yeah, Roger's covering for Jesse.
Or worse.
Nishizawa did say there were two sets of hands on Beth's neck.
Thirty-five years? Well, that's what I call a real fan.
Thank Thank you, Mrs.
Lyle.
Lady who sits on the other side of Jesse thinks he and Roger are buddies.
She said they both left just before the half.
Well, Roger popped up on our files.
He got bonded by a security company.
He works the graveyard shift as a guard.
Tuesday night he was guarding and empty house in Runyon Canyon.
Nobody lives here.
Word is the owner's trying to unload it.
His broker hired us about three months ago.
Transients were using it as party central.
Smells like an ashtray.
An ashtray somebody puked in.
Broken crack pipe.
This could be Beth's blood on it.
Ugh, Rick.
In here.
Condoms, candles, baggy.
Some nasty stuff I don't even want to speculate about.
Little punks.
Well, they had an excuse.
The devil made them do it.
SID found Beth's blood in the den and on the floor near a broken crack pipe.
Suspect leave any calling card? So far, SID's identified blood samples from 23 different people.
Who lived in this place, Dracula? RICARDO: And Caligula.
They found semen from 19 individuals and prints from assorted bangers, dope heads, and prostitutes.
Any match for Roger Darden or Jesse Beckman? Well, Jesse's prints weren't in the database, but we got a hit on Roger on a baggy found near the mattress.
It had traces of the drug salvia.
All the thrills of an acid trip in five minutes.
So I bonged some salvia in the haunted mansion.
Big deal.
Not to mention, last I checked, smoking salvia is perfectly legal.
What about your basketball buddy, Jesse? He ever come up there to keep you company? We're not that close.
Maybe he needed a place to bring a girl, so that his girlfriend, Sylvie wouldn't find out about it.
Nope.
Fail.
Didn't happen.
Roger, our lab found Beth's blood up at the mansion.
We know Jesse was following her.
We know he sits next to you at the games.
You're a smart guy.
Ask your ULA legal clinic lawyer here, it does not look good for you.
Look, the night you guys are asking about I drove down Franklin to get a sandwich.
So if someone broke into the mansion, I must have missed it.
Thanks, Roger.
You admitted operating your vehicle while under the influence of a drug.
Since you got a DUI four years ago, we can impound and search your vehicle.
His car made that mansion look like Martha Stewart's powder room.
No trace of your victim.
No hair fibers, no blood.
Cup from the basketball arena.
Tobacco and mint.
Maybe from that snus crap Jesse puts under his lip.
You think that's enough to get a warrant to search his dorm room? Judge Lorenzo Thinks all college kids should be in jail.
TJ: This box of candles found in your room matches the candle found in the mansion And the wax on Beth's body.
(DOOR OPENING) We have your prints now, Jesse.
It's only a matter of time before they're matched up to the ones in the mansion and inside Roger's car.
Okay.
(CLEARS THROAT) Okay, look.
I was at the mansion, but like a week before Beth was killed.
I went up there with Roger to trip and that's when I brought the candles.
Very romantic.
The two of you No.
There was no electricity in the place.
I left the candles there, somebody else must have used them on Beth.
See we have competing stories of our own.
My partner seems to think that you brought Beth up there to play haunted house.
Maybe Beth threatened to tell Sylvie you were cheating on her.
You panicked, lost your temper.
No, no that never happened.
My partner thinks you went up there with Beth.
Roger joined in for three-way patty cakes.
Maybe it was too much for Beth, she screamed rape, Roger killed her.
You don't need law school to see how this lays out.
It's you or Roger.
(DOOR OPENING) Mr.
Gregory's here from the ULA legal clinic.
Jesse, I'm representing you now.
Interview's over.
One more thing, Jesse.
We have no favorites between you and Roger.
First one to speak up gets the deal.
(SIGHING) TJ: And you're You spend 50 grand to send your kid to college.
All right.
You send them off with love and advice.
And then you keep your fingers crossed.
That was the legal clinic.
Sylvie got the lawyer for Jesse and for Roger.
ARLEEN: Very nice of her.
One big happy family.
RICARDO: Son of a bitch.
See if Nishizawa can confirm it.
Assuming this sketch is to scale, the thumb to index spread, matches the spread of the imprint on the neck.
Now the hand that made these marks didn't necessarily kill her.
It's the hand that grabbed her at the base of the neck that did.
So what are these bruises about? Erotic asphyxia.
Squeezing here during sex reduces the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain causing light-headedness and heightened pleasure at the moment of orgasm.
Now, the bruises indicate that pressure was applied repeatedly over time.
Could the same hand have caused the strangulation marks? Impossible to say definitely.
You think a freshman pre-med would know? I gave this to Jesse.
He wanted it.
It's a sketch of my hand.
Life size and true to life, right? Yes, except for the skin, of course.
This is a photograph of the marks on Beth's neck.
I understand if this is hard for you to look at.
It's okay.
I've seen human dissections at the med school.
Fair enough.
You see this mark here? You mean on the superior carotid triangle? I mean right here.
The coroner took measurements and determined that this mark is a perfect match, for the hand in your sketch.
RICARDO: Your hand, Sylvie.
Now, that's not what killed Beth.
See those marks here, in what I believe you call the inferior carotid triangle? Those are the strangulation marks.
The coroner also found that those marks match your hand.
No No, she was alive.
The last time I saw Beth, she was alive.
RICARDO: But you were with her in the mansion on Runyon Canyon.
Now, you may not have killed her, but you have to explain these marks.
Beth, uh Beth wanted to party.
She wanted to try salvia.
We went up there with Jesse and Roger and then it got crazy.
Explain it.
Beth started making out with Roger.
She wanted to try things, like the choking thing, but she didn't trust Roger to do it, so she asked me to, while she was having sex with Roger.
Then Jesse started kissing her.
I got mad at Jesse and Beth freaked out.
She ran outside.
I Tried to find her, but she was hiding.
It got really late, I had an early class, I left.
Those guys said that they would keep looking for her.
I don't know what they did to her.
I, uh I think I should talk to a lawyer.
All right, Sylvie.
But right now, we have to put you under arrest and take you down to the office for booking.
Turn around and put your hands behind your back.
Oh, my God.
You won't believe this.
The cops are busting some student.
Get ready to go viral.
"I tried to find her but she was hiding.
"Those guys said they'd keep looking for her.
"I don't know what they did to her.
" Whose statement is that? His girlfriend, Sylvie.
She implicated him and his buddy Roger for the murder.
No way.
Yes way.
She said when she left your little orgy, Beth was still alive and you and Roger were in the house.
That's crazy.
Why would I kill Beth? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that you tried to rape her.
I "Then Jesse started kissing her.
"I got mad at Jesse and Beth freaked out.
" Sylvie told me to make out with Beth.
Your girlfriend told you to have sex with her friend? The whole thing was Sylvie's idea.
She brought Beth to the mansion and she She told me and Roger what to do.
She was like The Queen Bee Mistress of Darkness, you know? She would hold Beth's arms and tell me and Jesse what to do.
Two big guys, taking orders from a little girl.
Normally I call the shots, but hey, I can roll with anything.
Including rape apparently.
No.
No.
Beth was into it.
It was Sylvie choking her that freaked her out.
She got mad at Sylvie and ran outside.
What did you do about that? We looked for her.
Sylvie said she had to leave, so Me and Jesse waited around in case Beth came back.
She never did.
Maybe Sylvie put her in her car.
I I don't know.
Spit it out! The next day Sylvie said she would destroy me if I told anyone.
She said no way was I going to mess up med school for her.
They could have coordinated their stories to put all the weight on Sylvie.
They both gave the same blow-by-blow.
Right down to who put what where when.
Too many details for those two to remember.
Unless it was true.
Yeah, but how can we make a jury believe, that this girl from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, with a 3.
8 GPA, is a sexual sadist? There's something cold about her.
She talked about the murder with all the emotion of somebody dissecting a frog.
Well, she's a med student.
She has problems with empathy.
I've had plenty of doctors with lousy bedside manner.
And you throw in the kinky sex? You say kinky, I say experimentation.
That's what kids do in college.
It doesn't necessarily peg them as deviants.
Or maybe what bothers you is that some 100 pound girl is bossing those big, bad boys around.
Look, I'm just saying, that I want our case to be based on facts, not perception.
Yeah, well, bring me facts.
How can she be mixed up in this? She's going to be a doctor for God sakes.
(SOFTLY) Hal! They're accusing Sylvie of murder.
What am I supposed to do, roll over? If you want to help your daughter, Mr.
Lester, I suggest you calm down.
Ma'am, we don't know what to think.
Sylvie never missed a day of school.
When she wasn't studying, she was working with learning disabled kids.
I don't understand.
What happened? It's better if you hear it from Sylvie's lawyer.
Is it that awful? (WHISPERS) Oh, it is.
Did Sylvie mention having any friends on campus? Did you talk to Melanie Patterson? She's a freshman, too.
They were friends in high school.
She knows Sylvie's a good person.
Talk to her.
In high school, Sylvie was a total geek, but when we got here, she went, like, weird.
Well, she tried to kiss me.
That was shocking to you? Coming from her, yeah.
I think she got hurt that I turned her down.
She said something? It's what she did.
We pledged Alpha Chi together.
The upper-class girls made the pledges get naked and paddle each other's butts.
I figured Sylvie and I were friends so she wouldn't hurt me.
And then she punished you.
Oh, my God, I almost passed out from the pain.
I haven't talked to her since.
It's sad.
When we first got here, we didn't know anybody, so she'd come and sleep over and we'd play with my dog.
Just like when we were little kids.
You have a dog? Do you ever take it up to that dog park off Mulholland? Yes.
Sylvie and I went there all the time.
JONAH: Your Honor, the People have presented evidence that the defendant was familiar with the park where the body was found.
That she has a history of sadistic behavior.
That she instigated a sex and drug party the night of the murder.
That she repeatedly choked the victim for erotic pleasure.
We've also heard testimony that when the victim ran away, the defendant pursued her in the dark.
A half an hour later, reappeared alone, and quickly got in her car and inexplicably drove away.
It's not inexplicable, Your Honor.
She had an early class.
Your Honor, the People have shown cause to proceed to trial.
Your Honor, look at her.
She sold Girl Scout cookies for crying out loud.
That's your argument? The People's case rests on the testimony of two compromised witnesses, who sexually abused the victim and had the means and opportunity to kill her.
Your Honor, Sylvie Lester may have sold cookies, but she's also a perverse sadist who killed Beth Garrett because Beth defied her and threatened to expose her.
All right, Mr.
Dekker, the court finds that the People have indeed shown probable cause to proceed to trial.
SHEILA: Is this your son? He was eight then.
He's 11 now.
He's beautiful.
And a handful.
When Sylvie was eight, I found her in her room crying, "Do I have to grow up, Mommy?" (LAUGHS) Most little girls can't wait to get older.
But Sylvie looked at me and said, "When I grow up" (CRYING SOFTLY) "I'll have to leave you and Daddy.
" In here, you know who your baby is.
And you know when they're hurting or sad, or afraid.
And you know what they're capable of.
And that girl, Mr.
Dekker described in court, was not my Sylvie.
(DOOR OPENING) Hey.
Does it bother anybody that the only evidence we have that Beth was in Sylvie's car is a few hairs in the front seat? Which you'd expect since Beth drove to the house with Sylvie.
Well, Sylvie's pre-med, she'd know about DNA.
Maybe she wrapped the body up.
And there's no evidence that Sylvie was at the dump site.
There's no dirt on her shoes, nothing on her clothes.
It's worth another look.
RICARDO: Oh, you're kidding.
No.
And Dad, dollars to donuts, your daughter wears a thong.
(CLEARS THROAT) Unlike the marks from the erotic asphyxiation, the strangulation marks occurred during a struggle, the killer was trying to hold on, and there are way too many bruises to assign to a set of hands.
Are you having doubts? Not us.
Our boss.
She had a heart-to-heart with the killer's mom.
(SIGHS) I never knew Arleen to be such a softie.
RICARDO: Humor her, for our sakes.
I did find five dog hairs.
Three in her throat, two in her lungs.
Black hairs and white hairs.
I estimate she breathed them in while she was being strangled.
She was dumped in a dog park.
I assume she was already dead and stopped breathing by then.
If she'd been strangled outside the house She would have breathed in other materials, pollen, dirt, besides the dog hairs.
Well, there were no dog hairs in Sylvie's car, the mansion, Roger's car.
She was in another car.
The killer's car.
The actual killer.
The one who's out there right now walking a black and white dog.
Five dog hairs? Most likely from a terrier.
She had been running around the canyon, LA's a dog town.
I mean dozens of people walk their dogs up there.
We think she came in contact with an unknown suspect, maybe he gave her a ride, killed her in the car, he has a dog, she inhaled hairs from the dog.
Well, this evidence is vapor.
Trial begins tomorrow.
You'd go to trial when there's doubt? There's no doubt here.
Play it out.
Check the dog park.
Her parents were in the courtroom.
And they were upset.
But in 25 years she's going to come out ofjail and they'll still have a daughter.
What'll we have? Nothing.
This girl sits there stone-faced.
I want to see her when the jury says she's guilty, I want to see a tear, anything to show she feels remorse.
(SCOFFS) I don't care about her remorse.
I just want a guilty verdict.
We're counting on you, Mr.
Dekker.
We'll do everything we can.
Thank you.
I need to work on my opening.
Three good cops think we're jumping the gun.
I don't answer to them.
The evidence, the facts, they point to Sylvie.
Not perception.
Facts.
WOMAN: Do you know how many people have terriers? They were the "it" dog a couple of years back.
Well, if you see anyone with a black and white one, I'd appreciate if you call the number there.
I've got nothing.
Same here.
All right.
You take north, I'll take south.
(DOGS BARKING) I saw the flyer and thought "Better safe.
" It's so horrible what happened.
In your message you said you saw someone with a black and white terrier.
Yes I mean no.
He has two Scotties, one black, one white.
He uses them to hit on women in the park.
He hasn't been around since that poor girl was found.
RICARDO: Do you know his name? No.
TJ: How about a description? Average.
He thought he was some sort of stud.
He was on a reality show, The Bachelorette or the other one.
It was probably bogus.
You know I used to eat fish tacos every night while in trial.
Well, I'm not superstitious.
Neither am I.
I just like fish tacos.
You hungry? You said you wanted to talk.
I'd prefer if you didn't put me on the stand tomorrow.
Do you have a credible lead besides five dog hairs? I'm just not convinced she did it.
We both have daughters.
And with that comes an expectation of how good girls should behave.
Well, you're not going to be asked your opinion about her guilt.
Her lawyer, Citron, he's a lot smarter than he lets on.
Yeah, well, I can handle him.
I'm not sure I can, without perjuring myself.
Rick, I know you well enough to know that you would never do that.
And you know me well enough to know that I would never ask you to.
I'll see you tomorrow.
RICARDO: We questioned Jesse Beckman and Roger Darden, separately on several occasions and their accounts were consistent with the facts.
In my opinion, they told the truth.
Thank you.
When you first talked to Beckman and Darden, they lied, isn't that true? Yes.
So when, in your opinion, did they start telling the truth? When we confronted them with Sylvie's statement.
And you decided they were telling the truth, when they contradicted her account.
Isn't that right? That's not the reason.
Come on, Detective, you made a decision based on your own morality.
Beckman and Darden, they were just acting like horny college boys.
But Sylvie exploring her sexuality, that's Well, it's un-ladylike, it's immoral, evidence of a depraved personality capable even of murder.
Isn't that why you believed them and not her? No, I based my decision on my years as an investigator and a prosecutor.
Well, speaking of your experience, given that Sylvie is not a professional killer, did you find it unusual that there was no trace that she had transported Beth's body in her car? There was no blood, no fluids, nothing in the trunk or the backseat.
There may very well have been traces.
We just didn't find them.
Finally, Detective, having failed to find any direct evidence my client killed Beth Garrett, are you satisfied that you've investigated every lead, every alternate theory of this crime? No.
I don't ever consider a case closed, until there's been a confession or a finding of guilt.
Only a jury can close a case.
No further questions.
JUDGE: Redirect, Mr.
Dekker.
No, Your Honor.
JUDGE: You're excused, Detective.
This guy with the Scotties, Trevor Cannon.
On probation for assault.
Seems after he got thrown off of that dating show, he beat up some citizen in a bar.
Quiet.
I got tired of driving up to that dog park.
Found a place here in Burbank.
My dogs don't know the difference.
I wouldn't be so sure.
Scotties are very intelligent.
The victim had dog hairs on her.
Could we take some hair samples from your dogs? Just for elimination purposes.
My dogs wouldn't like that.
Oh, we can take them off the carpet.
I don't want you in the house.
Oh, you have some hair right here.
(BOTH LAUGHING) I think you just violated your probation, Mr.
Cannon.
Please turn around and put your hands behind your back.
Jesse was the first boy I had an actual relationship with.
I didn't have a boyfriend in high school.
I had sex twice, it was quick and not any fun.
Jesse and I wanted to try things together, like the choking thing.
I told Beth about it and she said she wanted to try it.
It wasn't a lifestyle.
We were just curious.
Jesse got his friend Roger, and we all met up at the mansion.
What happened there? The boys were acting all awkward.
So, I had to tell them what to do, what Beth wanted.
Roger was having sex with her and I'd squeeze her neck, let go, and do it again.
And then she started coughing.
She ran out and Roger got mad because he wasn't finished.
So he went and got her and she'd cut her foot.
CITRON: What did you do? (CELL PHONE VIBRATING) SYLVIE: I told her I was sorry.
Roger wanted to keep having sex with her, but Beth wasn't into it anymore, so, she ran and got her stuff and she left.
We all went to look for her, but she'd disappeared.
The cops have a suspect.
CITRON: And you left? SYLVIE: Mmm-hmm.
I thought I'd find her walking home.
When I didn't, I assumed she'd gone back to the house and the guys would take her home.
I liked Beth.
We were both going to be doctors.
Thought we'd be friends for life.
I would never, ever hurt her.
CITRON: Thank you, Sylvie.
But in fact, Ms.
Lester, you did hurt Beth, didn't you? You gave her first degree burns with hot wax, you choked her hard enough to leave bruises on her neck.
(STAMMERING) Yes, we got carried away.
No, you got carried away.
When she cut her foot, what did you do? SYLVIE: I tried to stop the bleeding.
How? Did you remove the piece of glass? Did you clean out the wound? No.
Did you insist on driving her to the hospital so she could get stitches? I was going to.
But you didn't.
And you say that you want to be a doctor.
But I'm sorry, maybe your compassion doesn't extend to play things because that's what Beth was to you, wasn't she, a play thing? No.
We were friends.
I was home by myself.
Hmm.
Another lonely night in lonely town, huh? I get plenty of action.
This assault two years ago, you got angry when a woman made a joke about your getting tossed off that dating show.
You beat up her boyfriend.
I was minding my own business, they got in my face.
They made fun of you.
They were looking for a fight.
Hmm.
You got dumped after the third episode, right? Getting shot down by a girl in front of 11 million people.
Ouch.
How do you live that down? It was worth the paycheck.
I downloaded the episode.
Did you ever watch it? (LAUGHS) The look on your face.
Forget it.
Dumped! (BOTH LAUGHING) Forget it! TJ: It's priceless.
Here! I said forget it already! You don't like people laughing at you, do you, Trevor? JONAH: You lied to the police about where you were that night.
You lied about your relationship with Beth, you lied about your sex games.
How do you explain all of these lies? I was afraid of what other people think of me.
Just like what you think now.
That I'm some weirdo.
Is that why you told Jesse that you would destroy him if he said anything to anybody? Because you didn't want it ending up on the Internet, did you? Somewhere everyone could see it, your parents, the medical schools No, I didn't! Is that why you ran after her when she ran away? So you can calm her down and talk her out of filing a complaint against you with the school? She wouldn't do that.
Is that what she told you when you found her? I didn't find her! Oh, come on, Sylvie.
She ran out half dressed, limping with a cut in her foot and you couldn't catch up to her? SYLVIE: No, it was dark.
JONAH: But you could hear her crying, couldn't you? She accused you of hurting her, using her, she blamed you.
That's not true.
That is not true.
And so you wrapped your hands around her neck, lower this time, around the inferior carotid triangle just to shut her up, but you didn't let go until she was dead.
Isn't that what you did? No.
I didn't kill Beth.
We just have a couple more things to go over, and then you can go home.
What do you have on him? Black and white terriers, a prior for assault and he stopped going to the dog park right after the murder.
Mr.
Cannon's got a real problem with women.
Maybe we should make a call to Judge Barber.
No, jeopardy's attached.
The case goes to the jury tomorrow and if we pull it now and we're wrong, we can't retry Sylvie.
So unless we hear a confession, we're not doing anything.
Our experts examined your cell phone records.
They noticed that the night the girl was killed, your phone was pinging off towers in the Hollywood hills.
You told us you were home in Burbank all night.
Right.
But I ran an errand for my mom.
She lives off Franklin, I went over the hill and brought her groceries.
That's nice.
What time was that? Around 10:00.
And you were there No, I helped her with some laundry, folding it and such.
(STIFLING LAUGHTER) There's nothing funny about it.
RICARDO: No, of course there isn't.
Sylvie's lawyer wants to meet up and talk about a deal.
She's ready to take a plea.
RICARDO: Jane Cannon, that's your mother? You get a lot of calls from her.
(LAUGHS) What can I tell you, she's my mother.
CONNIE: What should I tell him? TJ: You get groceries, you do the laundry.
Bird in hand, Counselor? TJ: Is she elderly? No.
TJ: Disabled? There's nothing wrong with her.
Why don't you just call her? She'll tell you I was at her place that night.
Call the lawyer, tell him to meet us in my office in 15 minutes.
RICARDO: The road from your place to your mom's place goes right past Runyon Canyon.
TREVOR: So? TJ: So, that's the same path the girl would have used to get back to her campus.
RICARDO: You picked her up, didn't you? TJ: The lab's going to match the dog hairs, Trevor.
They'll find traces of the girl in your car.
Let me step this out for you, Trevor.
There's you, with a belly full of rage from your mom, yanking on your leash every time she wants something done.
And there's this half-naked college girl in the seat next to you crying.
Maybe you put your hand out on her knee to comfort her, but she took it the wrong way.
She ordered you to stop the car and let her out.
She demanded it.
Just like Mom.
Always demanding.
What kind of a man takes that from a woman? What kind of a man doesn't fight back? Do I have it right, Trevor? You fought back.
I couldn't stop myself.
The state has dropped all charges against Sylvie Lester.
I want to thank you for your time and effort.
You are dismissed.
Ms.
Lester, you're free to go.
Court is adjourned.
These are their stories.
And guess what? This will definitely be on the test.
This is a prokaryotic cell which lacks both a nucleus and membrane bound organelles.
As opposed to The eukaryotic cell (PHONE BEEPING) Including mitochondria, golgi apparatus Lysosomes, peroxysomes, secretory vacuoles.
Moving on (COUGHING) (CRYING) (SCREAMING) (CRYING CONTINUES) I I cut my foot.
Oh, let me look at it.
(WHIMPERING) That's nothing.
No! No! Leave me alone! I don't want to do it anymore! No! A woman found her at 6:20 this morning.
Oh, watch out! (GRUNTS) (DOGS BARKING) I thought I'd been everywhere in LA.
Good morning.
Says you.
What do you have, Miwako? Female, late teens.
No ID.
Petechial hemorrhaging, suggests death by strangulation.
There's two sets of bruises around her neck, maybe two different pairs of hands.
Somebody had a party.
And there's bruising, possible rape.
And what party would be complete without a little torture? First degree burns, hot wax.
There's residue, jasmine scented.
Tattoo.
Kappa Kappa Rho.
Sorority.
I can't believe this.
Beth was so sweet.
She was one of our first picks during rush week.
Beth have a boyfriend? No, she studied all the time.
She was pre-med.
When was the last time you saw her? Last night around 8:00.
She was going to the library.
I've got to go talk to the girls.
I'm the house mother.
They're really upset.
Thanks for your help.
Sounds like Beth fit better in a convent than a sorority.
Oh, you don't buy any of it? Kids have to blow off steam.
Except Karina, of course.
I just grounded her.
For the rest of her life.
Huh.
Look what they're wearing in the convent these days.
I knew LA was wrong for her.
Did Beth ever mention a boyfriend? No, she would have told me if she was dating.
Are you saying another student did this? We don't know what happened yet, sir.
ARLEEN: But if you could remember anything.
A change in attitude, a problem with anyone.
Last month she de-friended me on Facebook.
DAN: Our daughter was very innocent.
ARLEEN: The officer outside can take you to talk to somebody at Victim's Assistance.
Yeah.
Again, we are very sorry for your loss.
Thank you.
Well, the story's consistent.
Beth was a bookworm.
No dating, no partying.
Except for that new thong.
That could have been a gift from one of her sorority sisters.
Most girls her age wear them.
Not my daughter.
Coroner confirms vaginal bruising, possible rape, but no semen.
There was a piece of glass in Beth's right foot.
The lab found crack cocaine residue on it.
Could be a crack pipe.
Preliminary tox indicates Beth had a couple of drinks.
Period.
So, maybe a crack pipe belonging to the suspect.
Check this.
At 4:20, on the afternoon that she was killed, Beth got a text from Sylvie Lester.
"We R on.
" With three exclamation points.
SYLVIE: It was about getting together at the library to study.
Three exclamation points.
You must really like studying.
With her, yeah.
She was so smart and we were both pre-med.
Beth was a real brainiac.
Uh, drawing it helps me remember.
That's my shoulder.
That's mine, too.
Yeah, you're really good, Sylvie.
Anyway, you and Beth, besides anatomy, you ever talk about boyfriends? We didn't have that kind of friendship.
TJ: When were you at the library until? We worked until 11:00.
I was beat, I went home to sleep.
And what about Beth? She said she needed to chill.
She went over to the pool for a swim.
It's really sad.
I really liked her.
(STARTING SIGNAL BLARING) TEDDY: I wasn't on last night.
RICARDO: I noticed you need to swipe a card to get in.
So I guess there was a record of who was swimming last night.
TEDDY: Yeah, sure is.
All right, Beth Garret wasn't here last night.
Last time she used the pool was Tuesday, 7:28 a.
m.
And before that, Monday at 10:14 a.
m.
and Hold on.
Look at this.
We have a Jesse Beckman, entering at 10:15 a.
m.
right behind Beth.
And again on Tuesday he swiped in at 7:29.
Right behind Beth Garret.
Never go swimming without a buddy.
I didn't know Beth Garret.
She was a freshman, I'm a senior.
Constitutional law.
Nowak and Rotunda.
Mmm-hmm.
I plan on going to law school.
Oh, so you know all about res ipsa loquitur.
The thing speaks for itself.
You implying that I had something to do with killing that girl? You did go to the pool five times in the last two weeks.
I like to swim.
RICARDO: At the same time as Beth Garret.
You ever hear of coincidence? One time is coincidence.
Five times is res ipsa loquitur.
I wasn't stalking her, okay? I've got a girlfriend.
Let me guess, her name is Sylvie.
Were you cheating on Sylvie with Beth? I don't have to Don't start, Jesse.
You might feel safe in your dorm room with your college books and your Mint snus, but we come from the real world where lying to the police, has consequences.
Okay.
Okay.
Look, Sylvie was acting weird.
I thought she was seeing someone else, so I went to the pool to talk to Beth about Sylvie.
I didn't tell you guys straight off because I don't think law schools appreciate applicants whose name shows up in a murder case.
All the same, where were you last night? At the basketball game on campus.
Here's my ticket stub.
I did not kill Beth, okay? RICARDO: Jesse Beckman, Mr.
Darden.
He has the season ticket next to you.
Was he at the game last night? Are you kidding? Arizona? You'd have to be crazy or dead to have tickets and not go.
It was a hell of a game.
Um, yeah, if you like blowouts.
Bad for Arizona, good for me.
The crowd emptied out a half time.
I moved down on the third row behind the visitors' bench.
Was Jesse there for the whole game? Uh, actually I saw him on a lower level, too.
At the end of the game.
Third row, close enough to hear the Arizona coach curse out Watson.
What did he say again? Ah, you name it.
I wouldn't use that language in front of women and kids.
(CHUCKLING) Uh, I need another cup of Joe.
Late night studying? (LAUGHS) I'm on what they call an extended leave from the college.
I think I've got chronic fatigue syndrome.
Okay to go? Sure, Roger.
We'll get back to you.
S.
O.
B.
's lying.
The Arizona coach got booted from the game a minute before the half.
Yeah, Roger's covering for Jesse.
Or worse.
Nishizawa did say there were two sets of hands on Beth's neck.
Thirty-five years? Well, that's what I call a real fan.
Thank Thank you, Mrs.
Lyle.
Lady who sits on the other side of Jesse thinks he and Roger are buddies.
She said they both left just before the half.
Well, Roger popped up on our files.
He got bonded by a security company.
He works the graveyard shift as a guard.
Tuesday night he was guarding and empty house in Runyon Canyon.
Nobody lives here.
Word is the owner's trying to unload it.
His broker hired us about three months ago.
Transients were using it as party central.
Smells like an ashtray.
An ashtray somebody puked in.
Broken crack pipe.
This could be Beth's blood on it.
Ugh, Rick.
In here.
Condoms, candles, baggy.
Some nasty stuff I don't even want to speculate about.
Little punks.
Well, they had an excuse.
The devil made them do it.
SID found Beth's blood in the den and on the floor near a broken crack pipe.
Suspect leave any calling card? So far, SID's identified blood samples from 23 different people.
Who lived in this place, Dracula? RICARDO: And Caligula.
They found semen from 19 individuals and prints from assorted bangers, dope heads, and prostitutes.
Any match for Roger Darden or Jesse Beckman? Well, Jesse's prints weren't in the database, but we got a hit on Roger on a baggy found near the mattress.
It had traces of the drug salvia.
All the thrills of an acid trip in five minutes.
So I bonged some salvia in the haunted mansion.
Big deal.
Not to mention, last I checked, smoking salvia is perfectly legal.
What about your basketball buddy, Jesse? He ever come up there to keep you company? We're not that close.
Maybe he needed a place to bring a girl, so that his girlfriend, Sylvie wouldn't find out about it.
Nope.
Fail.
Didn't happen.
Roger, our lab found Beth's blood up at the mansion.
We know Jesse was following her.
We know he sits next to you at the games.
You're a smart guy.
Ask your ULA legal clinic lawyer here, it does not look good for you.
Look, the night you guys are asking about I drove down Franklin to get a sandwich.
So if someone broke into the mansion, I must have missed it.
Thanks, Roger.
You admitted operating your vehicle while under the influence of a drug.
Since you got a DUI four years ago, we can impound and search your vehicle.
His car made that mansion look like Martha Stewart's powder room.
No trace of your victim.
No hair fibers, no blood.
Cup from the basketball arena.
Tobacco and mint.
Maybe from that snus crap Jesse puts under his lip.
You think that's enough to get a warrant to search his dorm room? Judge Lorenzo Thinks all college kids should be in jail.
TJ: This box of candles found in your room matches the candle found in the mansion And the wax on Beth's body.
(DOOR OPENING) We have your prints now, Jesse.
It's only a matter of time before they're matched up to the ones in the mansion and inside Roger's car.
Okay.
(CLEARS THROAT) Okay, look.
I was at the mansion, but like a week before Beth was killed.
I went up there with Roger to trip and that's when I brought the candles.
Very romantic.
The two of you No.
There was no electricity in the place.
I left the candles there, somebody else must have used them on Beth.
See we have competing stories of our own.
My partner seems to think that you brought Beth up there to play haunted house.
Maybe Beth threatened to tell Sylvie you were cheating on her.
You panicked, lost your temper.
No, no that never happened.
My partner thinks you went up there with Beth.
Roger joined in for three-way patty cakes.
Maybe it was too much for Beth, she screamed rape, Roger killed her.
You don't need law school to see how this lays out.
It's you or Roger.
(DOOR OPENING) Mr.
Gregory's here from the ULA legal clinic.
Jesse, I'm representing you now.
Interview's over.
One more thing, Jesse.
We have no favorites between you and Roger.
First one to speak up gets the deal.
(SIGHING) TJ: And you're You spend 50 grand to send your kid to college.
All right.
You send them off with love and advice.
And then you keep your fingers crossed.
That was the legal clinic.
Sylvie got the lawyer for Jesse and for Roger.
ARLEEN: Very nice of her.
One big happy family.
RICARDO: Son of a bitch.
See if Nishizawa can confirm it.
Assuming this sketch is to scale, the thumb to index spread, matches the spread of the imprint on the neck.
Now the hand that made these marks didn't necessarily kill her.
It's the hand that grabbed her at the base of the neck that did.
So what are these bruises about? Erotic asphyxia.
Squeezing here during sex reduces the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain causing light-headedness and heightened pleasure at the moment of orgasm.
Now, the bruises indicate that pressure was applied repeatedly over time.
Could the same hand have caused the strangulation marks? Impossible to say definitely.
You think a freshman pre-med would know? I gave this to Jesse.
He wanted it.
It's a sketch of my hand.
Life size and true to life, right? Yes, except for the skin, of course.
This is a photograph of the marks on Beth's neck.
I understand if this is hard for you to look at.
It's okay.
I've seen human dissections at the med school.
Fair enough.
You see this mark here? You mean on the superior carotid triangle? I mean right here.
The coroner took measurements and determined that this mark is a perfect match, for the hand in your sketch.
RICARDO: Your hand, Sylvie.
Now, that's not what killed Beth.
See those marks here, in what I believe you call the inferior carotid triangle? Those are the strangulation marks.
The coroner also found that those marks match your hand.
No No, she was alive.
The last time I saw Beth, she was alive.
RICARDO: But you were with her in the mansion on Runyon Canyon.
Now, you may not have killed her, but you have to explain these marks.
Beth, uh Beth wanted to party.
She wanted to try salvia.
We went up there with Jesse and Roger and then it got crazy.
Explain it.
Beth started making out with Roger.
She wanted to try things, like the choking thing, but she didn't trust Roger to do it, so she asked me to, while she was having sex with Roger.
Then Jesse started kissing her.
I got mad at Jesse and Beth freaked out.
She ran outside.
I Tried to find her, but she was hiding.
It got really late, I had an early class, I left.
Those guys said that they would keep looking for her.
I don't know what they did to her.
I, uh I think I should talk to a lawyer.
All right, Sylvie.
But right now, we have to put you under arrest and take you down to the office for booking.
Turn around and put your hands behind your back.
Oh, my God.
You won't believe this.
The cops are busting some student.
Get ready to go viral.
"I tried to find her but she was hiding.
"Those guys said they'd keep looking for her.
"I don't know what they did to her.
" Whose statement is that? His girlfriend, Sylvie.
She implicated him and his buddy Roger for the murder.
No way.
Yes way.
She said when she left your little orgy, Beth was still alive and you and Roger were in the house.
That's crazy.
Why would I kill Beth? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that you tried to rape her.
I "Then Jesse started kissing her.
"I got mad at Jesse and Beth freaked out.
" Sylvie told me to make out with Beth.
Your girlfriend told you to have sex with her friend? The whole thing was Sylvie's idea.
She brought Beth to the mansion and she She told me and Roger what to do.
She was like The Queen Bee Mistress of Darkness, you know? She would hold Beth's arms and tell me and Jesse what to do.
Two big guys, taking orders from a little girl.
Normally I call the shots, but hey, I can roll with anything.
Including rape apparently.
No.
No.
Beth was into it.
It was Sylvie choking her that freaked her out.
She got mad at Sylvie and ran outside.
What did you do about that? We looked for her.
Sylvie said she had to leave, so Me and Jesse waited around in case Beth came back.
She never did.
Maybe Sylvie put her in her car.
I I don't know.
Spit it out! The next day Sylvie said she would destroy me if I told anyone.
She said no way was I going to mess up med school for her.
They could have coordinated their stories to put all the weight on Sylvie.
They both gave the same blow-by-blow.
Right down to who put what where when.
Too many details for those two to remember.
Unless it was true.
Yeah, but how can we make a jury believe, that this girl from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, with a 3.
8 GPA, is a sexual sadist? There's something cold about her.
She talked about the murder with all the emotion of somebody dissecting a frog.
Well, she's a med student.
She has problems with empathy.
I've had plenty of doctors with lousy bedside manner.
And you throw in the kinky sex? You say kinky, I say experimentation.
That's what kids do in college.
It doesn't necessarily peg them as deviants.
Or maybe what bothers you is that some 100 pound girl is bossing those big, bad boys around.
Look, I'm just saying, that I want our case to be based on facts, not perception.
Yeah, well, bring me facts.
How can she be mixed up in this? She's going to be a doctor for God sakes.
(SOFTLY) Hal! They're accusing Sylvie of murder.
What am I supposed to do, roll over? If you want to help your daughter, Mr.
Lester, I suggest you calm down.
Ma'am, we don't know what to think.
Sylvie never missed a day of school.
When she wasn't studying, she was working with learning disabled kids.
I don't understand.
What happened? It's better if you hear it from Sylvie's lawyer.
Is it that awful? (WHISPERS) Oh, it is.
Did Sylvie mention having any friends on campus? Did you talk to Melanie Patterson? She's a freshman, too.
They were friends in high school.
She knows Sylvie's a good person.
Talk to her.
In high school, Sylvie was a total geek, but when we got here, she went, like, weird.
Well, she tried to kiss me.
That was shocking to you? Coming from her, yeah.
I think she got hurt that I turned her down.
She said something? It's what she did.
We pledged Alpha Chi together.
The upper-class girls made the pledges get naked and paddle each other's butts.
I figured Sylvie and I were friends so she wouldn't hurt me.
And then she punished you.
Oh, my God, I almost passed out from the pain.
I haven't talked to her since.
It's sad.
When we first got here, we didn't know anybody, so she'd come and sleep over and we'd play with my dog.
Just like when we were little kids.
You have a dog? Do you ever take it up to that dog park off Mulholland? Yes.
Sylvie and I went there all the time.
JONAH: Your Honor, the People have presented evidence that the defendant was familiar with the park where the body was found.
That she has a history of sadistic behavior.
That she instigated a sex and drug party the night of the murder.
That she repeatedly choked the victim for erotic pleasure.
We've also heard testimony that when the victim ran away, the defendant pursued her in the dark.
A half an hour later, reappeared alone, and quickly got in her car and inexplicably drove away.
It's not inexplicable, Your Honor.
She had an early class.
Your Honor, the People have shown cause to proceed to trial.
Your Honor, look at her.
She sold Girl Scout cookies for crying out loud.
That's your argument? The People's case rests on the testimony of two compromised witnesses, who sexually abused the victim and had the means and opportunity to kill her.
Your Honor, Sylvie Lester may have sold cookies, but she's also a perverse sadist who killed Beth Garrett because Beth defied her and threatened to expose her.
All right, Mr.
Dekker, the court finds that the People have indeed shown probable cause to proceed to trial.
SHEILA: Is this your son? He was eight then.
He's 11 now.
He's beautiful.
And a handful.
When Sylvie was eight, I found her in her room crying, "Do I have to grow up, Mommy?" (LAUGHS) Most little girls can't wait to get older.
But Sylvie looked at me and said, "When I grow up" (CRYING SOFTLY) "I'll have to leave you and Daddy.
" In here, you know who your baby is.
And you know when they're hurting or sad, or afraid.
And you know what they're capable of.
And that girl, Mr.
Dekker described in court, was not my Sylvie.
(DOOR OPENING) Hey.
Does it bother anybody that the only evidence we have that Beth was in Sylvie's car is a few hairs in the front seat? Which you'd expect since Beth drove to the house with Sylvie.
Well, Sylvie's pre-med, she'd know about DNA.
Maybe she wrapped the body up.
And there's no evidence that Sylvie was at the dump site.
There's no dirt on her shoes, nothing on her clothes.
It's worth another look.
RICARDO: Oh, you're kidding.
No.
And Dad, dollars to donuts, your daughter wears a thong.
(CLEARS THROAT) Unlike the marks from the erotic asphyxiation, the strangulation marks occurred during a struggle, the killer was trying to hold on, and there are way too many bruises to assign to a set of hands.
Are you having doubts? Not us.
Our boss.
She had a heart-to-heart with the killer's mom.
(SIGHS) I never knew Arleen to be such a softie.
RICARDO: Humor her, for our sakes.
I did find five dog hairs.
Three in her throat, two in her lungs.
Black hairs and white hairs.
I estimate she breathed them in while she was being strangled.
She was dumped in a dog park.
I assume she was already dead and stopped breathing by then.
If she'd been strangled outside the house She would have breathed in other materials, pollen, dirt, besides the dog hairs.
Well, there were no dog hairs in Sylvie's car, the mansion, Roger's car.
She was in another car.
The killer's car.
The actual killer.
The one who's out there right now walking a black and white dog.
Five dog hairs? Most likely from a terrier.
She had been running around the canyon, LA's a dog town.
I mean dozens of people walk their dogs up there.
We think she came in contact with an unknown suspect, maybe he gave her a ride, killed her in the car, he has a dog, she inhaled hairs from the dog.
Well, this evidence is vapor.
Trial begins tomorrow.
You'd go to trial when there's doubt? There's no doubt here.
Play it out.
Check the dog park.
Her parents were in the courtroom.
And they were upset.
But in 25 years she's going to come out ofjail and they'll still have a daughter.
What'll we have? Nothing.
This girl sits there stone-faced.
I want to see her when the jury says she's guilty, I want to see a tear, anything to show she feels remorse.
(SCOFFS) I don't care about her remorse.
I just want a guilty verdict.
We're counting on you, Mr.
Dekker.
We'll do everything we can.
Thank you.
I need to work on my opening.
Three good cops think we're jumping the gun.
I don't answer to them.
The evidence, the facts, they point to Sylvie.
Not perception.
Facts.
WOMAN: Do you know how many people have terriers? They were the "it" dog a couple of years back.
Well, if you see anyone with a black and white one, I'd appreciate if you call the number there.
I've got nothing.
Same here.
All right.
You take north, I'll take south.
(DOGS BARKING) I saw the flyer and thought "Better safe.
" It's so horrible what happened.
In your message you said you saw someone with a black and white terrier.
Yes I mean no.
He has two Scotties, one black, one white.
He uses them to hit on women in the park.
He hasn't been around since that poor girl was found.
RICARDO: Do you know his name? No.
TJ: How about a description? Average.
He thought he was some sort of stud.
He was on a reality show, The Bachelorette or the other one.
It was probably bogus.
You know I used to eat fish tacos every night while in trial.
Well, I'm not superstitious.
Neither am I.
I just like fish tacos.
You hungry? You said you wanted to talk.
I'd prefer if you didn't put me on the stand tomorrow.
Do you have a credible lead besides five dog hairs? I'm just not convinced she did it.
We both have daughters.
And with that comes an expectation of how good girls should behave.
Well, you're not going to be asked your opinion about her guilt.
Her lawyer, Citron, he's a lot smarter than he lets on.
Yeah, well, I can handle him.
I'm not sure I can, without perjuring myself.
Rick, I know you well enough to know that you would never do that.
And you know me well enough to know that I would never ask you to.
I'll see you tomorrow.
RICARDO: We questioned Jesse Beckman and Roger Darden, separately on several occasions and their accounts were consistent with the facts.
In my opinion, they told the truth.
Thank you.
When you first talked to Beckman and Darden, they lied, isn't that true? Yes.
So when, in your opinion, did they start telling the truth? When we confronted them with Sylvie's statement.
And you decided they were telling the truth, when they contradicted her account.
Isn't that right? That's not the reason.
Come on, Detective, you made a decision based on your own morality.
Beckman and Darden, they were just acting like horny college boys.
But Sylvie exploring her sexuality, that's Well, it's un-ladylike, it's immoral, evidence of a depraved personality capable even of murder.
Isn't that why you believed them and not her? No, I based my decision on my years as an investigator and a prosecutor.
Well, speaking of your experience, given that Sylvie is not a professional killer, did you find it unusual that there was no trace that she had transported Beth's body in her car? There was no blood, no fluids, nothing in the trunk or the backseat.
There may very well have been traces.
We just didn't find them.
Finally, Detective, having failed to find any direct evidence my client killed Beth Garrett, are you satisfied that you've investigated every lead, every alternate theory of this crime? No.
I don't ever consider a case closed, until there's been a confession or a finding of guilt.
Only a jury can close a case.
No further questions.
JUDGE: Redirect, Mr.
Dekker.
No, Your Honor.
JUDGE: You're excused, Detective.
This guy with the Scotties, Trevor Cannon.
On probation for assault.
Seems after he got thrown off of that dating show, he beat up some citizen in a bar.
Quiet.
I got tired of driving up to that dog park.
Found a place here in Burbank.
My dogs don't know the difference.
I wouldn't be so sure.
Scotties are very intelligent.
The victim had dog hairs on her.
Could we take some hair samples from your dogs? Just for elimination purposes.
My dogs wouldn't like that.
Oh, we can take them off the carpet.
I don't want you in the house.
Oh, you have some hair right here.
(BOTH LAUGHING) I think you just violated your probation, Mr.
Cannon.
Please turn around and put your hands behind your back.
Jesse was the first boy I had an actual relationship with.
I didn't have a boyfriend in high school.
I had sex twice, it was quick and not any fun.
Jesse and I wanted to try things together, like the choking thing.
I told Beth about it and she said she wanted to try it.
It wasn't a lifestyle.
We were just curious.
Jesse got his friend Roger, and we all met up at the mansion.
What happened there? The boys were acting all awkward.
So, I had to tell them what to do, what Beth wanted.
Roger was having sex with her and I'd squeeze her neck, let go, and do it again.
And then she started coughing.
She ran out and Roger got mad because he wasn't finished.
So he went and got her and she'd cut her foot.
CITRON: What did you do? (CELL PHONE VIBRATING) SYLVIE: I told her I was sorry.
Roger wanted to keep having sex with her, but Beth wasn't into it anymore, so, she ran and got her stuff and she left.
We all went to look for her, but she'd disappeared.
The cops have a suspect.
CITRON: And you left? SYLVIE: Mmm-hmm.
I thought I'd find her walking home.
When I didn't, I assumed she'd gone back to the house and the guys would take her home.
I liked Beth.
We were both going to be doctors.
Thought we'd be friends for life.
I would never, ever hurt her.
CITRON: Thank you, Sylvie.
But in fact, Ms.
Lester, you did hurt Beth, didn't you? You gave her first degree burns with hot wax, you choked her hard enough to leave bruises on her neck.
(STAMMERING) Yes, we got carried away.
No, you got carried away.
When she cut her foot, what did you do? SYLVIE: I tried to stop the bleeding.
How? Did you remove the piece of glass? Did you clean out the wound? No.
Did you insist on driving her to the hospital so she could get stitches? I was going to.
But you didn't.
And you say that you want to be a doctor.
But I'm sorry, maybe your compassion doesn't extend to play things because that's what Beth was to you, wasn't she, a play thing? No.
We were friends.
I was home by myself.
Hmm.
Another lonely night in lonely town, huh? I get plenty of action.
This assault two years ago, you got angry when a woman made a joke about your getting tossed off that dating show.
You beat up her boyfriend.
I was minding my own business, they got in my face.
They made fun of you.
They were looking for a fight.
Hmm.
You got dumped after the third episode, right? Getting shot down by a girl in front of 11 million people.
Ouch.
How do you live that down? It was worth the paycheck.
I downloaded the episode.
Did you ever watch it? (LAUGHS) The look on your face.
Forget it.
Dumped! (BOTH LAUGHING) Forget it! TJ: It's priceless.
Here! I said forget it already! You don't like people laughing at you, do you, Trevor? JONAH: You lied to the police about where you were that night.
You lied about your relationship with Beth, you lied about your sex games.
How do you explain all of these lies? I was afraid of what other people think of me.
Just like what you think now.
That I'm some weirdo.
Is that why you told Jesse that you would destroy him if he said anything to anybody? Because you didn't want it ending up on the Internet, did you? Somewhere everyone could see it, your parents, the medical schools No, I didn't! Is that why you ran after her when she ran away? So you can calm her down and talk her out of filing a complaint against you with the school? She wouldn't do that.
Is that what she told you when you found her? I didn't find her! Oh, come on, Sylvie.
She ran out half dressed, limping with a cut in her foot and you couldn't catch up to her? SYLVIE: No, it was dark.
JONAH: But you could hear her crying, couldn't you? She accused you of hurting her, using her, she blamed you.
That's not true.
That is not true.
And so you wrapped your hands around her neck, lower this time, around the inferior carotid triangle just to shut her up, but you didn't let go until she was dead.
Isn't that what you did? No.
I didn't kill Beth.
We just have a couple more things to go over, and then you can go home.
What do you have on him? Black and white terriers, a prior for assault and he stopped going to the dog park right after the murder.
Mr.
Cannon's got a real problem with women.
Maybe we should make a call to Judge Barber.
No, jeopardy's attached.
The case goes to the jury tomorrow and if we pull it now and we're wrong, we can't retry Sylvie.
So unless we hear a confession, we're not doing anything.
Our experts examined your cell phone records.
They noticed that the night the girl was killed, your phone was pinging off towers in the Hollywood hills.
You told us you were home in Burbank all night.
Right.
But I ran an errand for my mom.
She lives off Franklin, I went over the hill and brought her groceries.
That's nice.
What time was that? Around 10:00.
And you were there No, I helped her with some laundry, folding it and such.
(STIFLING LAUGHTER) There's nothing funny about it.
RICARDO: No, of course there isn't.
Sylvie's lawyer wants to meet up and talk about a deal.
She's ready to take a plea.
RICARDO: Jane Cannon, that's your mother? You get a lot of calls from her.
(LAUGHS) What can I tell you, she's my mother.
CONNIE: What should I tell him? TJ: You get groceries, you do the laundry.
Bird in hand, Counselor? TJ: Is she elderly? No.
TJ: Disabled? There's nothing wrong with her.
Why don't you just call her? She'll tell you I was at her place that night.
Call the lawyer, tell him to meet us in my office in 15 minutes.
RICARDO: The road from your place to your mom's place goes right past Runyon Canyon.
TREVOR: So? TJ: So, that's the same path the girl would have used to get back to her campus.
RICARDO: You picked her up, didn't you? TJ: The lab's going to match the dog hairs, Trevor.
They'll find traces of the girl in your car.
Let me step this out for you, Trevor.
There's you, with a belly full of rage from your mom, yanking on your leash every time she wants something done.
And there's this half-naked college girl in the seat next to you crying.
Maybe you put your hand out on her knee to comfort her, but she took it the wrong way.
She ordered you to stop the car and let her out.
She demanded it.
Just like Mom.
Always demanding.
What kind of a man takes that from a woman? What kind of a man doesn't fight back? Do I have it right, Trevor? You fought back.
I couldn't stop myself.
The state has dropped all charges against Sylvie Lester.
I want to thank you for your time and effort.
You are dismissed.
Ms.
Lester, you're free to go.
Court is adjourned.