Bull (2016) s01e21 Episode Script
How to Dodge a Bullet
1 BULL: I've never met a man or woman who, at some point in their lives, doesn't believe they've dodged a bullet.
(typing) Walked out to the edge of that cliff we call fate, and then, for whatever reason So don't forget it It's just a silly phase I'm going through decided not to jump.
And just because I call you up You know the feeling.
Don't get me wrong You're about to make a life-changing mistake, and then I'm not in love You don't.
The only thing about those bullets you dodge, is they do keep traveling, and sometimes, they come back to hit you right between the eyes.
So, you just foraging, or you have a lunch meeting? Actually, I've had sushi on the brain for three days.
You know any place good around here? Nope.
Hey, you know that stuff isn't cooked, right? I only mention it because, you know, they charge you like it's cooked.
Don't you find that morally dubious? I'm way too hungry to play straight man to you, and we got to be back in that deposition in 45 minutes.
All right, then, so forget about eating guppies and goldfish and come have lunch with me.
I'm meeting a bunch of old friends who'd be thrilled to meet you.
You'd be like a movie star to them.
All right, how far away is this place, and who are you meeting? Oh, it's, it's right here.
It's just a bunch of guys I knew from the D.
A.
's office when I was an A.
D.
A.
They texted me out the blue this morning, and said, âLet's have lunch.
â Yeah, Benny, what are you doing? You're under investigation from the D.
A.
's office.
No, no, no.
It's-it's not that, Bull.
Okay? I-I know these guys.
These guys, they're my friends.
And-and maybe they know something.
You know? Maybe maybe they could tell me something.
Benny, if you need me to come to lunch with you, just ask.
Want to come to lunch with me? (laughs) - Good to see you, man.
- You, too.
Jason.
This right here is Wilson Jessup.
Used to be one of the toughest NYPD detectives in all five boroughs.
Now he's the head of the northeast region of the United States Department of Justice.
And this guy right here, - this guy was my old boss - Ah.
In the D.
A.
's office.
Now he's the head Poobah of the Federal Public Investigation Unit.
Well, clearly, you graduated last in your class.
You must be ashamed of yourself.
(laughter) And this is my current boss, Dr.
Jason Bull.
Well, this is a great honor, Dr.
Bull.
Hope you don't mind us talking a little shop.
Our friend Benjamin here has gotten himself into a little bit of a situation.
Mm.
What kind of situation? You ever heard of Hayden Watkins? They called him the Socialite Slayer? It was about ten years ago, now.
They had all those clubs here in the city back then, all those rich 19-year-olds lining up with their phony IDs and their daddy's credit cards to buy bottle service and to hook up with a married man with an expense account.
God bless America.
JESSUP: This guy Hayden, he'd cruise the clubs, hook up with one of these rich kids, and then they'd never hear from them again.
He'd take 'em home, do what he wanted to with them, and bury 'em at the edge of Long Island in a landfill.
Me and Benny, we put him away.
Ah, look at you.
Yeah, look at me.
JANSON: And then the Rectitude Project decided three or four months ago that maybe Hayden Watkins had been railroaded.
How so? Well, they convicted him with hardly any physical evidence.
No bodies.
I mean, by the time we found where he was burying them, there wasn't enough flesh to pin him to any of the killings.
But his last victim was Tinsley Browning.
Yeah, and as luck would have it, one of her contact lenses was found in Watkins' apartment.
Oh, actually, Benny found it.
Contact lens had that animal's DNA all over it.
Don't ask me how it got there, but it was there.
I'm waiting for the twist.
(laughs) Well, well, here's the twist.
Uh, the DNA test nine years ago used five markers.
Uh, and they were able to match three.
Back then, that would be considered a probable match.
- Would've worked for me.
- But the new DNA test uses 50 markers.
And when the Rectitude Project tested the lens again two months ago, only 14 markers matched.
Out of 50.
Well, guys.
I hate to say it, but I don't think we're gonna be staying for lunch.
Benny? Did you tell him about the call? I told you, I didn't tell him anything.
Well, he got a call the day before trial from a detective out on Long Island, working a kidnapping case, same exact M.
O.
, but eyeing a different suspect.
- All right, Benny, let's go.
- And that's a Brady violation.
You were legally required to disclose that call and all the particulars to the defense counsel.
Guys, guys, you know as well as I know, this was a high profile case.
We got hundreds of random tips every day that were meaningless.
And we had our guy.
And we found the contact lens No, you found the lens.
Is that your funeral procession outside? Don't act surprised.
We all know what's going on here.
Benny, you know exactly what's gonna happen next.
You're a friend, Benny.
I was giving you a chance to come clean.
All right.
Don't say a word.
Let them cuff you, read your rights.
We'll fix this in court.
Benjamin Colón, you have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to speak with an attorney.
(Marissa sighs) Hmm.
Tie.
What? No, Chunk says that one's for Benny.
This one's for you.
I was talking to one of the FBI guys while they were processing Benny.
He seemed almost certain they were gonna charge him with a misdemeanor.
No jail time.
Phew.
- Hello.
- Thank you.
Of course.
- Hey.
- Hey.
Your noose, sir.
Does, uh, everyone at TAC know? Know what? I hear that.
Let's just get this over with.
I'll plead guilty and take my lumps.
(sighs) You know they're gonna probably want to suspend your license to practice.
Maybe I should've told them about that call.
Who knows? Fine me, suspend me for a year for not reporting that call, but I'm gonna tell you this, though.
When this crapstorm first started raining down on me, I was convinced that they were right.
You know, m-m-maybe I-I-I messed up.
Maybe, maybe I-I did something seriously wrong.
Because science says th-that he's innocent, so, so he has to be innocent, right? But I ran it through my head.
Over and over and over again.
And I know two things.
I really didn't do anything wrong, and he is guilty as sin.
Tinsley Browning's parents.
Can't believe they have to go through this again.
Huh.
Are they sitting with the district attorney? And is that counsel for the City of New York? BENNY: Yeah, I think so.
The hell is he doing here? It's a full house, Benny.
CLERK: All rise.
I'm not sure this is gonna go the way we planned.
JUDGE: Afternoon, everyone.
Let's jump right in.
Benjamin Colón, you stand charged with obstruction of justice for failure to disclose exculpatory evidence.
Additionally, you stand charged with a violation of civil rights for tampering with evidence.
- What? - They think you planted that lens at Hayden Watkins' apartment.
Seriously? No, I would never do anything like that; they know that.
I don't think they care, Benny.
Look around, we're the only people in this room who didn't see this coming.
Mr.
Colón, how do you plead? Not guilty.
Absolutely not guilty.
(exhales) MARISSA: I don't understand.
You said it was gonna be a slap on the wrist.
Benny could get ten years.
Why doesn't he just take a plea? 'Cause they didn't offer him a plea.
They want him to go to prison.
But why? Why Benny? I'm guessing this new DNA test has the D.
A.
's office spooked.
They secured a lot of convictions with the original test.
And nobody is excited about having their old cases getting a second look, so they're changing the conversation.
This isn't about DNA.
It's about planting evidence, about Benny planting evidence, which he swears he didn't do.
Can I do anything? Can I get you anything? You're like an encyclopedia of lawyers.
I need you to do some research for me tonight.
I need the best there is when it comes to cases involving the Department of Justice, the FBI.
Somebody who's got those guys completely wired, and I want to get in and see him first thing in the morning.
Can you do that for me? Do that for Benny? Sure, of course.
I'll head home right now and get on it.
Make that your last drink.
- (phone ringing and buzzing) - (grunts) (sighs) Hello.
Bull, it's Marissa.
Everyone I've spoken to says the person Benny needs is J.
P.
Nunnelly.
Nunnelly.
I've never heard of him.
Can you get me in to see him? Well, that's the thing, I took a shot, called the office, thinking they might have an emergency line, and to my amazement, an assistant answered.
She put me on hold for a minute and a half and then asked if you were available for a meeting now.
Now? It's 3:50 in the morning.
Actually, the time they suggested was 4:30.
In the morning.
In the morning, 40 minutes from now.
(grunts) Okay.
Where's his office? Well, actually, they want to do the meeting in a restaurant.
On Third Avenue.
I'll text you the address.
In a restaurant at 4:30 in the morning.
I'm just the messenger, Bull.
Hello? Anybody here? Hello? (exhales) (sighs) Dear Marissa, I hate you.
The dream I was dreaming before you called and woke me up involved all kinds of ridiculous and illegal activ Oh, thank God, somebody's here.
Wow, look at you.
How'd you luck out and get this shift? I hope they pool the tips around here.
Could I get a cappuccino? Mr.
Bull, my name's J.
P.
Nunnelly.
Oh, wow, sorry.
I what are the chances of you forgetting the last two minutes of your life? (chuckles) Would you like to talk about Benjamin Colón? You know why I'm here? Well, I never agree to meet someone if I'm not reasonably certain I have the answers to most of their questions.
Well, then answer me this.
What are you doing up at 4:30 in the morning? I'm not up at 4:30 in the morning, Mr.
Bull.
I'm up at 3:00.
Most mornings by this time I've already worked out, checked my e-mails and called Europe.
That's very impressive.
It is what it is.
So, what are we doing in this restaurant all by ourselves at this ungodly hour? I own it a piece of it, anyway.
I wanted to meet you, and this was the only time I had available.
I've got three floors over on Fifth, but I find office buildings are truly spooky at this hour of the morning, so I hope this is okay.
Now, about Mr.
Colón.
Would you like me to fix it? Excuse me? I don't know what you know about me, but I'm a fixer, Mr.
Bull.
Sometimes I make things happen, sometimes I make things go away.
It's how I got to be managing partner of my own law firm with offices in three states.
People have a problem, I fix it.
Mr.
Colón clearly has a problem.
Want me to take care of it? Please.
Excellent.
Stay by your phone.
Wait a second.
So, how does this work? What do you mean? Money? No, I'm not interested in your money, Mr.
Bull.
I'm interested in your work, in your science, in your company.
I'm offering to do you a professional favor.
All I expect is for you, or rather your company, to do me one in return.
I will stay by my phone.
You do that.
Don't worry, I'll lock up.
(elevator bell chimes) Wow.
Look at this place.
I'm clearly in more trouble than I thought.
Thank you, Bull.
I haven't done anything yet.
Ah.
Here comes the cavalry.
Mr.
Colón.
I'm J.
P.
Nunnelly.
Pleasure to meet you.
Likewise.
Right this way.
So, here's what we've got, and I, for one, am pretty pleased with it.
We've won you your freedom, Mr.
Colón.
I've managed to convince the U.
S.
Attorney's office to accept a plea deal.
No prison time.
(exhales) BENNY: No, wait, wait, wait, but-but yesterday they said that there was no plea deal.
That was yesterday.
Yesterday was not in my purview.
Welcome to today.
Say thank you, Benny.
But-but you said deal.
That means you have to give something in order to get something.
What what do I have to give? In return for not spending ten years in prison as an ex-prosecutor? Rubbing elbows and maybe a whole lot more with men you helped to put away? Let's reframe the question.
What wouldn't you give? J.
P.
, please.
What do they want from Benny? An apology.
A public apology.
- For what? - For planting evidence.
But I didn't plant any evidence.
Given your current situation, - that's rather beside the point.
- No.
It's the only point.
And I didn't do it.
And Hayden Watkins did.
And-and can we just talk about that for a minute? If I sign a document saying that I planted the contact lens, within 48 hours, his attorney is going to file paperwork for his exoneration because the question would no longer be why his DNA is not on the contact lens.
The question is going to be: where are the keys to his cell and how fast can we get him out of there? Because maybe, just maybe we can put a ceiling on how many millions of dollars he sues the city for.
And lest we forget that-that this newly-minted millionaire is a murderer who kidnapped, strangled and buried three girls.
Are you telling me that my friends at the Justice Department would much rather see that than try to get to the bottom of this? Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you.
They want this to go away.
And as for Hayden Watkins, any filing for exoneration would take years to make its way through the courts.
Right, right, right.
With my name next to his, uh, in-in-in-in every article, every-every-every Internet story Which still beats ten years in prison.
Not to me! Not to me! (huffing) I want to go to court.
I want to go to trial.
Talk to your friend.
Don't have to.
We want to go to trial.
(knock at door) (door opens) It's me, don't shoot.
(chuckles) Um I just want to say no harm, no foul.
Uh, I appreciate all the work you did.
And, uh, Benny does, too.
He in his own way.
I still owe you one.
I'm looking forward to you taking me up on it.
Wait a second.
Am I being released? Well, yeah.
I know you're a fixer.
That's your deal.
You, uh, make the problem go away.
I mean, the whole point of you is so you never have to go to court.
Clearly, we are going to court.
So, uh I need a litigator.
If you've got any names, feel free to toss them in the hat.
Wait a second, Mr.
Bull.
You're not releasing me.
I'm releasing you.
- Really? - Yeah.
Really.
I didn't violate our agreement.
You did.
I promised to make your problem go away and I did that.
I played a card that I can never play again with the U.
S.
Attorney's office, but you and Atticus Finch decided to go to trial anyway.
Don't you just hate people with integrity? - No, but right now I really hate you.
- Hmm.
Did he really think that he would get something for nothing? And for your information, the only name I'd consider putting in your hat is my own.
I am a world-class litigator.
World-class.
The court is my church and I am its high priestess.
Uh-huh.
The only way you get to be a great fixer is because people are afraid of meeting you in court.
So, get it straight, Mr.
Bull, you're not releasing me.
I'm releasing you.
Okay, now, wait a second.
Maybe nobody needs to release anybody.
Oh, right.
Lucky me.
My firm would get the privilege of spending countless hours and precious resources defending a man who isn't even smart enough to know a good deal when it's presented to him? That man has character.
And he deserves a world-class litigator.
Just to be clear, I'll be paying his legal fees.
It'll be worth it just to watch you work.
I took this case as a favor to you.
- So I could watch you work.
- Then what are we doing? Let's go to court.
One big happy family.
Three cases.
I do this one case for you, you do three cases for me.
Hmm.
Three? Three.
You can count to three, can't you? Give me a second.
Three.
If you win.
You mean when I win.
Is that what I meant? See you in court, Mr.
Bull.
Give it to me, baby Uh-huh, uh-huh Give it to me, baby Uh-huh, uh-huh Give it to me, baby - Uh-huh - (phone chimes) (sighs) I really got to change that alarm one of these days.
(door beeps, unlocks) Well, hey.
Look at you.
4:30 in the morning, and you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
Please.
I've been up since midnight.
Called Africa.
Invented a flying car.
Figured out the whole Arab-Israeli thing.
Wow.
Come.
Meet my baby.
Explain this to me.
Because this, I do not understand.
Well, that's why I wanted you to see it.
You're going to court today.
We're going to court today, and I wanted you to know all the tools you have at your disposal.
Okay.
In my experience, you prepare like a madwoman.
You gather your facts.
You assemble a narrative to support them.
Pretty straightforward.
But that assumes that everyone hears those facts the same way you do and with the same meaning.
And that they draw the same conclusion that you do, but experience suggests that's not always the case.
Say we have a jury.
And on this jury there are all different kinds of people, right? Cross section of the community.
You got this guy here, the shoe salesman.
You got a guy who owns a used car dealership.
And this lady hasn't worked in five months, et cetera, et cetera.
We find out everything we can about them.
Their opinions, their prejudices, their religion, their political affiliations, their age, their playlist, their favorite flavor of ice cream.
Episcopalian, Independent, none of your damn business, I'll send it to you, and fudge ripple.
Huh.
- I didn't see that coming.
- Hmm.
Then what we do, we find the closest approximate match to each juror, and we bring them all into the courtroom.
We clock their attitudes and feelings.
We basically give you an approximate indication in real time of whether or not all your hard work, all those facts you've gathered to support that narrative that you've created is being heard the way you intended.
Hmm.
I'm not sure I buy it.
I'm not sure it's possible to predict behavior this way.
Well, it's a science.
It's pretty dependable.
Come here.
I'll give you a demonstration.
Relax.
If I was gonna do this I'm pretty sure you'd do that.
You can be certain.
And if I were to do this I'm pretty certain you would do that.
Not sure that's science.
And if I were to do this I'll kick you so hard in the balls your dead grandfather will scream.
Huh.
See, I knew you were gonna say that.
- Hmm.
- (chuckles) And all of this touching and flirting is supposed to help me in the courtroom how? Well, it's kind of hard to explain in the abstract.
Hmm.
We're not losing our way here, are we? (chuckles) Well, how do you mean? All I'm looking for out of this partnership is to win your friend's freedom.
And perhaps learn a little bit about trial science or whatever it is you call it.
Assuming it is a science.
Assuming there's something to learn.
It is, and there's a lot to learn, and me, too.
The Benny's freedom part, I mean.
(sighs) I apologize if I'm acting a little goofy, flirty.
Distracted.
I think the psychologist in me would probably speculate that I'm trying to avoid thinking about the situation that Benny finds himself in.
He's my friend and I'm frightened for him.
Tell me I shouldn't be.
I can't do that.
I don't do what you do.
I don't speculate about human behavior or anything else.
I just show up prepared.
And it's mostly worked for me.
Come on, Dr.
Bull.
Let's go plead our case.
Mr.
Colón.
If you had to put a number on it, how many times would you say you visited Hayden Watkins' apartment? Actually, I checked my notes and calendar this morning, and I believe it was six times.
Six times? So you examined this man's apartment on five other occasions, and over a period of What would you say? Two, two and a half months or so.
JANSON: Two, two and a half months or so.
And you never saw this contact lens? I did not.
JANSON: And you weren't the only person examining this apartment, is that correct? BENNY: No.
It was forensics, local police, FBI.
I don't know.
A lot of people.
And if you had to put a number on that, a number on the people, I mean.
Objection.
The prosecution is asking my client to speculate.
I think the jury's capable of understanding the context in which the question is being asked.
The prosecutor is attempting to make a point, and I'd like to see him make it.
Objection overruled.
Score one for the other team.
JANSON: Mr.
Colón, an estimate.
No one's gonna file additional charges if the number isn't perfectly accurate.
Mm-hmm.
I don't know.
60, 65 people maybe.
Okay.
60, 65 people.
And of course, they weren't all in the apartment at the same time.
So, again, with your attorney's permission, of course, could you estimate how many individual visits by various law enforcement branches were conducted on Hayden Watkins' apartment for the sole purpose of collecting evidence? No.
JANSON: I would like to enter into evidence this log which indicates 27 separate visits were made to Mr.
Watkins' apartment prior to Mr.
Colón discovering that contact lens.
27 visits.
60 different people, all of them trained to look for evidence.
And no one found it.
No one but you.
Is there a name for that, Mr.
Colón? I don't know what you're asking me, Mr.
Janson.
I'm asking what your reaction is when you hear those kinds of numbers.
I mean, you're a law enforcement professional.
Surely you had a reaction at the time.
Objection.
Counselor's badgering the witness, Your Honor.
- Objection overruled.
- JANSON: What do you call that? You know, your case is falling apart.
There's no physical evidence to make it stick.
And then (gasps) suddenly there is, and wh what do you call that? I know what I would call that.
I would call that a miracle.
You believe in miracles, Mr.
Colón? They just scored the extra point.
- Your witness.
- (gavel bangs) JUDGE: Let's take an hour recess for lunch.
Uh, just so you know, in terms of the jury Please.
A blind man could read that jury.
(water running) (door opens) JESSUP: Why didn't you just take the deal, Benny? You don't even need your license.
Everybody knows you practice pretend law for Dr.
Bull.
Wow.
That's what this is about to you, huh, Will? How I make my living? I'm just saying, this trial could go sideways.
I don't want to see anything bad happen to you.
No one does.
That was never the plan.
Why not just say you regret what you did and let's be done with it? Sorry, Will.
I just don't know how to do that.
I feel bad for you, Benny.
I feel bad for me, too, Will.
(door opens) (door closes) Tell us about the day you found the contact lens.
What about it? What was the state of the case? - Were you high on it? - High? (scoffs) What's the opposite of high? We had a ton of circumstantial evidence.
People had seen Hayden at the clubs.
They had seen him interacting with the women.
We'd interviewed him a number of times and knew that he was psychologically capable of committing the crimes.
His MySpace page practically read as a textbook example of a sociopath's manifesto.
But none of that proved he did it.
You must have felt an enormous amount of pressure.
BENNY: The case was on the front page of the paper at least once or twice a week.
People just wanted him locked up, put away.
They were afraid, afraid to let their daughters go out, their sisters, their girlfriends.
And what about Mr.
Janson? Was he feeling the pressure? I'm not sure the jury is aware; he was your boss at the district attorney's office at the time, wasn't he? We all wanted the same thing.
J.
P.
: Well, you must have been very frustrated.
(sighs) Well, Mr.
Watkins was extraordinarily meticulous in how he handled the killings.
There simply was no physical evidence to tie him to the crimes.
Did you ever have a moment of doubt? Did you ever think, âMaybe we have the wrong guyâ? No.
And why was that? Hey, it's okay, Mr.
Colón.
You're here to defend yourself.
Let me help you.
What happened two weeks before you found the lens? There was a break in the case, wasn't there? He confessed.
(gasps and murmuring) Finally.
That woke them up.
MARISSA: We've got a tiny bit of movement.
BENNY: He told us where the bodies were, how he did it.
J.
P.
: And none of that is in the court record.
BENNY: No.
Can you tell us why? Because a day later he recanted.
Claimed that the young detective who had obtained his confession had coerced him.
Denied him of food and drink, put his hands on him.
Wasn't the confession videotaped? It was.
And what did it show? Everything that the suspect claimed.
Of course, the judge agreed with him.
Felt that the confession was coerced, therefore it was expunged from the record.
What did you think? Well, we all thought the same thing.
The suspect had coerced the detective into coercing him.
He goaded the kid.
He wanted it.
Wanted us to know where the girls were.
Wanted to play with us.
- What made you think that? - Because when we went to where he said the bodies were buried there was nothing there that we could really use.
They were in such an advanced state of decay That you were back to where you started.
Worse.
It was worse.
When we started, we thought we could make a case, but now it was It's impossible.
J.
P.
: So you went back to the apartment one last time.
Did anyone go with you? No.
I, uh, specifically wanted to go alone.
Why? I thought that maybe I don't know, I would feel something.
A direction to go in.
You're Catholic, aren't you, Mr.
Colón? I am.
When you went back to the apartment, did you pray? I would like to know, Your Honor, where the defense is getting her information.
- She's humanizing him.
- Or trying.
that was suppressed and stricken from the record.
Your Honor, isn't the real question not where I got my information but whether it's true? Mr.
Janson was there.
None of this is news to him.
You may proceed, Counselor.
Did you pray, Mr.
Colón? Started to.
I got on my knees, but before I could start, I saw a glint under the sofa.
Stopped what I was doing and put on my gloves and reached underneath.
Did you think it was a miracle, Mr.
Colón? I didn't know what to think.
I I didn't know if it belonged to the girls, to him.
I It was a hard contact lens, and it was in pretty awful shape.
I thought let's give it to the lab.
We had everything to gain and nothing to lose.
I have no further questions, Your Honor.
- Let's pick up from here tomorrow.
- (gavel bangs) That girl is good.
- Tell me about our jury.
- Pretty amazing.
You took them on an attitudinal roller coaster ride.
And that's a good thing, right? CABLE: It's good.
The question is, is it good enough? The jury is surprisingly unanimous in its attitude towards Benny.
Coming into this thing, they were convinced he was a bad guy - and guilty.
- And now? They're not convinced.
What we really want, what we really need is for them to be convinced of his innocence.
Hard to do without offering up a guilty party in his stead.
I was sort of hoping you would tell me the defense could rest.
You could, but we want an acquittal, not a hung jury.
And while there are unanimous good feelings towards Benny, there's not unanimity about what he's been accused of doing.
What do you mean? How is that even possible? Well, for instance, these three guys here have come to believe that Benny is a good man.
And because he is a good man, he could have planted that evidence to prevent another killing.
Huh.
BENNY: Where'd you get those transcripts? The documents, all that stuff you used today.
Me praying, Hayden Watkins' confession, the interviews.
That was all under seal.
How'd you get that? What does it matter? And you're very welcome, Mr.
Colón.
I want to know where you got that stuff.
I'm your client and I have the right to know.
No, you're not my client.
He's my client.
You're my defendant.
And I'll tell you what you need to know and when you need to know it.
What's with the attitude, Benny? She's working like hell to save your skin.
What does it matter how she does it? 'Cause I'm starting to question what side she's on.
Someone gave her that material.
And there's got to be a reason why.
J.
P.
? You should feel free to hire new counsel if you're dissatisfied with what I'm doing.
And if you don't trust me.
Hmm.
Well we all know what way you'll vote, Bull.
We can see it every time you look at her.
Fine.
It's your money.
See you in court tomorrow.
Back to work, everybody.
Where does that leave us? Well, clearly, you have to stop looking at me.
I mean, with the case.
Pretty clear what has to be done.
Just a question of whether I can do it.
Not for me.
And by the way, I look at every female lawyer who owns her own firm and has offices in three states exactly the same way.
I'll bet you do.
I'll bet you do.
(gavel bangs) Call your next witness, please.
The defense calls Inspector General Wilson Jessup, Your Honor.
J.
P.
: Mr.
Jessup, will you tell the jury what it is you do for a living? I'm the inspector general for the northeast region of the United States Department of Justice.
Wow, that sounds like a big job.
I wake up every day amazed I have it and thankful for the opportunity.
(soft chuckle) But that wasn't your job during that summer almost ten years ago when the city was being terrorized by the Socialite Slayer.
JESSUP: No, ma'am, I was a detective for the New York City Police Department.
And what was that like? I mean, being in the center of such a notorious case? It was frustrating.
Uh, there was a lot of pressure, virtually no solid evidence like Benny uh, Mr.
Colón said.
Hmm.
It must have really killed you.
And you were already a highly decorated officer.
People were whispering in your ear about maybe becoming chief, even running for office.
I didn't listen to any of that stuff.
You really like Benny Mr.
Colón, don't you? I do, actually, yes.
I'd like to enter into evidence this newly released analysis from the Rectitude Project.
It's their report on evidence recovered from Tinsley Browning's contact lens.
I asked them to do some more work on it.
See if they could identify anyone else who might have come into contact with that lens.
Would you be interested in hazarding a guess what they found, Mr.
Jessup? I was trying to help your client, young lady.
I was trying to help Benny.
We don't have to go here.
I gave you those files.
I put myself at risk.
I think you have enough to do what you need to do.
I'm sorry, Mr.
Jessup.
Some people, whose work I respect a great deal, say that I don't.
JUDGE: Mr.
Jessup, I'm not sure you've answered counsel's question.
Counsel? Would you be surprised to hear that your DNA, your fingerprints were on that lens? (gallery gasps and murmurs) Mr.
Jessup? (soft chuckle) That young detective.
He screwed this case.
He punched him.
Punched that monster right in the jaw, on video.
Might as well have hand-delivered him another victim to kill.
(sighs) I went out to the landfill.
I-I had no idea what I was thinking.
I was desperate.
And then I'm standing there, looking down at this naked girl's decaying skull.
And that's when I saw it.
Uh, what did Benny call it? A-A glint? I thought, âThis is it.
âThere is a God.
We are gonna be able to put this animal away.
â So I put on my glove, and But God had other plans.
I went back to the suspect's apartment and put it under his couch.
Figured I'd come back with a whole team and we'd all find it together.
But then Benny went back out there before me.
All by himself.
J.
P.
: And what did that do to your plans? It actually made it better.
More degrees of separation.
(chuckles) And then, when it came back three out of five DNA markers and they said it was a probable match, I thought âI hit the jackpot.
I won the lottery.
â Talk about dodging a bullet.
Little did I know.
(soft chuckle) I'm sorry, Benny.
(voice breaking): I wish you had taken the deal.
Let's recess for ten minutes and then reconvene.
(gavel bangs) (sighs) (âI'm Not in Loveâ by 10cc playing) (mouths) They didn't even put your name in the headline.
I'd sue.
You're a great boss.
I think you're just saying that 'cause I saved your ass and you're drinking.
(chuckles) I sent, uh, flowers to your lady friend.
You're way off base on this one.
She means nothing to me.
Less than nothing.
- âNuh.
â - Mm.
(chuckles) I thanked her, I apologized, I haven't heard a word.
Oh, you will.
She is not out of our lives.
I'm not in love.
(typing) Walked out to the edge of that cliff we call fate, and then, for whatever reason So don't forget it It's just a silly phase I'm going through decided not to jump.
And just because I call you up You know the feeling.
Don't get me wrong You're about to make a life-changing mistake, and then I'm not in love You don't.
The only thing about those bullets you dodge, is they do keep traveling, and sometimes, they come back to hit you right between the eyes.
So, you just foraging, or you have a lunch meeting? Actually, I've had sushi on the brain for three days.
You know any place good around here? Nope.
Hey, you know that stuff isn't cooked, right? I only mention it because, you know, they charge you like it's cooked.
Don't you find that morally dubious? I'm way too hungry to play straight man to you, and we got to be back in that deposition in 45 minutes.
All right, then, so forget about eating guppies and goldfish and come have lunch with me.
I'm meeting a bunch of old friends who'd be thrilled to meet you.
You'd be like a movie star to them.
All right, how far away is this place, and who are you meeting? Oh, it's, it's right here.
It's just a bunch of guys I knew from the D.
A.
's office when I was an A.
D.
A.
They texted me out the blue this morning, and said, âLet's have lunch.
â Yeah, Benny, what are you doing? You're under investigation from the D.
A.
's office.
No, no, no.
It's-it's not that, Bull.
Okay? I-I know these guys.
These guys, they're my friends.
And-and maybe they know something.
You know? Maybe maybe they could tell me something.
Benny, if you need me to come to lunch with you, just ask.
Want to come to lunch with me? (laughs) - Good to see you, man.
- You, too.
Jason.
This right here is Wilson Jessup.
Used to be one of the toughest NYPD detectives in all five boroughs.
Now he's the head of the northeast region of the United States Department of Justice.
And this guy right here, - this guy was my old boss - Ah.
In the D.
A.
's office.
Now he's the head Poobah of the Federal Public Investigation Unit.
Well, clearly, you graduated last in your class.
You must be ashamed of yourself.
(laughter) And this is my current boss, Dr.
Jason Bull.
Well, this is a great honor, Dr.
Bull.
Hope you don't mind us talking a little shop.
Our friend Benjamin here has gotten himself into a little bit of a situation.
Mm.
What kind of situation? You ever heard of Hayden Watkins? They called him the Socialite Slayer? It was about ten years ago, now.
They had all those clubs here in the city back then, all those rich 19-year-olds lining up with their phony IDs and their daddy's credit cards to buy bottle service and to hook up with a married man with an expense account.
God bless America.
JESSUP: This guy Hayden, he'd cruise the clubs, hook up with one of these rich kids, and then they'd never hear from them again.
He'd take 'em home, do what he wanted to with them, and bury 'em at the edge of Long Island in a landfill.
Me and Benny, we put him away.
Ah, look at you.
Yeah, look at me.
JANSON: And then the Rectitude Project decided three or four months ago that maybe Hayden Watkins had been railroaded.
How so? Well, they convicted him with hardly any physical evidence.
No bodies.
I mean, by the time we found where he was burying them, there wasn't enough flesh to pin him to any of the killings.
But his last victim was Tinsley Browning.
Yeah, and as luck would have it, one of her contact lenses was found in Watkins' apartment.
Oh, actually, Benny found it.
Contact lens had that animal's DNA all over it.
Don't ask me how it got there, but it was there.
I'm waiting for the twist.
(laughs) Well, well, here's the twist.
Uh, the DNA test nine years ago used five markers.
Uh, and they were able to match three.
Back then, that would be considered a probable match.
- Would've worked for me.
- But the new DNA test uses 50 markers.
And when the Rectitude Project tested the lens again two months ago, only 14 markers matched.
Out of 50.
Well, guys.
I hate to say it, but I don't think we're gonna be staying for lunch.
Benny? Did you tell him about the call? I told you, I didn't tell him anything.
Well, he got a call the day before trial from a detective out on Long Island, working a kidnapping case, same exact M.
O.
, but eyeing a different suspect.
- All right, Benny, let's go.
- And that's a Brady violation.
You were legally required to disclose that call and all the particulars to the defense counsel.
Guys, guys, you know as well as I know, this was a high profile case.
We got hundreds of random tips every day that were meaningless.
And we had our guy.
And we found the contact lens No, you found the lens.
Is that your funeral procession outside? Don't act surprised.
We all know what's going on here.
Benny, you know exactly what's gonna happen next.
You're a friend, Benny.
I was giving you a chance to come clean.
All right.
Don't say a word.
Let them cuff you, read your rights.
We'll fix this in court.
Benjamin Colón, you have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to speak with an attorney.
(Marissa sighs) Hmm.
Tie.
What? No, Chunk says that one's for Benny.
This one's for you.
I was talking to one of the FBI guys while they were processing Benny.
He seemed almost certain they were gonna charge him with a misdemeanor.
No jail time.
Phew.
- Hello.
- Thank you.
Of course.
- Hey.
- Hey.
Your noose, sir.
Does, uh, everyone at TAC know? Know what? I hear that.
Let's just get this over with.
I'll plead guilty and take my lumps.
(sighs) You know they're gonna probably want to suspend your license to practice.
Maybe I should've told them about that call.
Who knows? Fine me, suspend me for a year for not reporting that call, but I'm gonna tell you this, though.
When this crapstorm first started raining down on me, I was convinced that they were right.
You know, m-m-maybe I-I-I messed up.
Maybe, maybe I-I did something seriously wrong.
Because science says th-that he's innocent, so, so he has to be innocent, right? But I ran it through my head.
Over and over and over again.
And I know two things.
I really didn't do anything wrong, and he is guilty as sin.
Tinsley Browning's parents.
Can't believe they have to go through this again.
Huh.
Are they sitting with the district attorney? And is that counsel for the City of New York? BENNY: Yeah, I think so.
The hell is he doing here? It's a full house, Benny.
CLERK: All rise.
I'm not sure this is gonna go the way we planned.
JUDGE: Afternoon, everyone.
Let's jump right in.
Benjamin Colón, you stand charged with obstruction of justice for failure to disclose exculpatory evidence.
Additionally, you stand charged with a violation of civil rights for tampering with evidence.
- What? - They think you planted that lens at Hayden Watkins' apartment.
Seriously? No, I would never do anything like that; they know that.
I don't think they care, Benny.
Look around, we're the only people in this room who didn't see this coming.
Mr.
Colón, how do you plead? Not guilty.
Absolutely not guilty.
(exhales) MARISSA: I don't understand.
You said it was gonna be a slap on the wrist.
Benny could get ten years.
Why doesn't he just take a plea? 'Cause they didn't offer him a plea.
They want him to go to prison.
But why? Why Benny? I'm guessing this new DNA test has the D.
A.
's office spooked.
They secured a lot of convictions with the original test.
And nobody is excited about having their old cases getting a second look, so they're changing the conversation.
This isn't about DNA.
It's about planting evidence, about Benny planting evidence, which he swears he didn't do.
Can I do anything? Can I get you anything? You're like an encyclopedia of lawyers.
I need you to do some research for me tonight.
I need the best there is when it comes to cases involving the Department of Justice, the FBI.
Somebody who's got those guys completely wired, and I want to get in and see him first thing in the morning.
Can you do that for me? Do that for Benny? Sure, of course.
I'll head home right now and get on it.
Make that your last drink.
- (phone ringing and buzzing) - (grunts) (sighs) Hello.
Bull, it's Marissa.
Everyone I've spoken to says the person Benny needs is J.
P.
Nunnelly.
Nunnelly.
I've never heard of him.
Can you get me in to see him? Well, that's the thing, I took a shot, called the office, thinking they might have an emergency line, and to my amazement, an assistant answered.
She put me on hold for a minute and a half and then asked if you were available for a meeting now.
Now? It's 3:50 in the morning.
Actually, the time they suggested was 4:30.
In the morning.
In the morning, 40 minutes from now.
(grunts) Okay.
Where's his office? Well, actually, they want to do the meeting in a restaurant.
On Third Avenue.
I'll text you the address.
In a restaurant at 4:30 in the morning.
I'm just the messenger, Bull.
Hello? Anybody here? Hello? (exhales) (sighs) Dear Marissa, I hate you.
The dream I was dreaming before you called and woke me up involved all kinds of ridiculous and illegal activ Oh, thank God, somebody's here.
Wow, look at you.
How'd you luck out and get this shift? I hope they pool the tips around here.
Could I get a cappuccino? Mr.
Bull, my name's J.
P.
Nunnelly.
Oh, wow, sorry.
I what are the chances of you forgetting the last two minutes of your life? (chuckles) Would you like to talk about Benjamin Colón? You know why I'm here? Well, I never agree to meet someone if I'm not reasonably certain I have the answers to most of their questions.
Well, then answer me this.
What are you doing up at 4:30 in the morning? I'm not up at 4:30 in the morning, Mr.
Bull.
I'm up at 3:00.
Most mornings by this time I've already worked out, checked my e-mails and called Europe.
That's very impressive.
It is what it is.
So, what are we doing in this restaurant all by ourselves at this ungodly hour? I own it a piece of it, anyway.
I wanted to meet you, and this was the only time I had available.
I've got three floors over on Fifth, but I find office buildings are truly spooky at this hour of the morning, so I hope this is okay.
Now, about Mr.
Colón.
Would you like me to fix it? Excuse me? I don't know what you know about me, but I'm a fixer, Mr.
Bull.
Sometimes I make things happen, sometimes I make things go away.
It's how I got to be managing partner of my own law firm with offices in three states.
People have a problem, I fix it.
Mr.
Colón clearly has a problem.
Want me to take care of it? Please.
Excellent.
Stay by your phone.
Wait a second.
So, how does this work? What do you mean? Money? No, I'm not interested in your money, Mr.
Bull.
I'm interested in your work, in your science, in your company.
I'm offering to do you a professional favor.
All I expect is for you, or rather your company, to do me one in return.
I will stay by my phone.
You do that.
Don't worry, I'll lock up.
(elevator bell chimes) Wow.
Look at this place.
I'm clearly in more trouble than I thought.
Thank you, Bull.
I haven't done anything yet.
Ah.
Here comes the cavalry.
Mr.
Colón.
I'm J.
P.
Nunnelly.
Pleasure to meet you.
Likewise.
Right this way.
So, here's what we've got, and I, for one, am pretty pleased with it.
We've won you your freedom, Mr.
Colón.
I've managed to convince the U.
S.
Attorney's office to accept a plea deal.
No prison time.
(exhales) BENNY: No, wait, wait, wait, but-but yesterday they said that there was no plea deal.
That was yesterday.
Yesterday was not in my purview.
Welcome to today.
Say thank you, Benny.
But-but you said deal.
That means you have to give something in order to get something.
What what do I have to give? In return for not spending ten years in prison as an ex-prosecutor? Rubbing elbows and maybe a whole lot more with men you helped to put away? Let's reframe the question.
What wouldn't you give? J.
P.
, please.
What do they want from Benny? An apology.
A public apology.
- For what? - For planting evidence.
But I didn't plant any evidence.
Given your current situation, - that's rather beside the point.
- No.
It's the only point.
And I didn't do it.
And Hayden Watkins did.
And-and can we just talk about that for a minute? If I sign a document saying that I planted the contact lens, within 48 hours, his attorney is going to file paperwork for his exoneration because the question would no longer be why his DNA is not on the contact lens.
The question is going to be: where are the keys to his cell and how fast can we get him out of there? Because maybe, just maybe we can put a ceiling on how many millions of dollars he sues the city for.
And lest we forget that-that this newly-minted millionaire is a murderer who kidnapped, strangled and buried three girls.
Are you telling me that my friends at the Justice Department would much rather see that than try to get to the bottom of this? Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you.
They want this to go away.
And as for Hayden Watkins, any filing for exoneration would take years to make its way through the courts.
Right, right, right.
With my name next to his, uh, in-in-in-in every article, every-every-every Internet story Which still beats ten years in prison.
Not to me! Not to me! (huffing) I want to go to court.
I want to go to trial.
Talk to your friend.
Don't have to.
We want to go to trial.
(knock at door) (door opens) It's me, don't shoot.
(chuckles) Um I just want to say no harm, no foul.
Uh, I appreciate all the work you did.
And, uh, Benny does, too.
He in his own way.
I still owe you one.
I'm looking forward to you taking me up on it.
Wait a second.
Am I being released? Well, yeah.
I know you're a fixer.
That's your deal.
You, uh, make the problem go away.
I mean, the whole point of you is so you never have to go to court.
Clearly, we are going to court.
So, uh I need a litigator.
If you've got any names, feel free to toss them in the hat.
Wait a second, Mr.
Bull.
You're not releasing me.
I'm releasing you.
- Really? - Yeah.
Really.
I didn't violate our agreement.
You did.
I promised to make your problem go away and I did that.
I played a card that I can never play again with the U.
S.
Attorney's office, but you and Atticus Finch decided to go to trial anyway.
Don't you just hate people with integrity? - No, but right now I really hate you.
- Hmm.
Did he really think that he would get something for nothing? And for your information, the only name I'd consider putting in your hat is my own.
I am a world-class litigator.
World-class.
The court is my church and I am its high priestess.
Uh-huh.
The only way you get to be a great fixer is because people are afraid of meeting you in court.
So, get it straight, Mr.
Bull, you're not releasing me.
I'm releasing you.
Okay, now, wait a second.
Maybe nobody needs to release anybody.
Oh, right.
Lucky me.
My firm would get the privilege of spending countless hours and precious resources defending a man who isn't even smart enough to know a good deal when it's presented to him? That man has character.
And he deserves a world-class litigator.
Just to be clear, I'll be paying his legal fees.
It'll be worth it just to watch you work.
I took this case as a favor to you.
- So I could watch you work.
- Then what are we doing? Let's go to court.
One big happy family.
Three cases.
I do this one case for you, you do three cases for me.
Hmm.
Three? Three.
You can count to three, can't you? Give me a second.
Three.
If you win.
You mean when I win.
Is that what I meant? See you in court, Mr.
Bull.
Give it to me, baby Uh-huh, uh-huh Give it to me, baby Uh-huh, uh-huh Give it to me, baby - Uh-huh - (phone chimes) (sighs) I really got to change that alarm one of these days.
(door beeps, unlocks) Well, hey.
Look at you.
4:30 in the morning, and you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
Please.
I've been up since midnight.
Called Africa.
Invented a flying car.
Figured out the whole Arab-Israeli thing.
Wow.
Come.
Meet my baby.
Explain this to me.
Because this, I do not understand.
Well, that's why I wanted you to see it.
You're going to court today.
We're going to court today, and I wanted you to know all the tools you have at your disposal.
Okay.
In my experience, you prepare like a madwoman.
You gather your facts.
You assemble a narrative to support them.
Pretty straightforward.
But that assumes that everyone hears those facts the same way you do and with the same meaning.
And that they draw the same conclusion that you do, but experience suggests that's not always the case.
Say we have a jury.
And on this jury there are all different kinds of people, right? Cross section of the community.
You got this guy here, the shoe salesman.
You got a guy who owns a used car dealership.
And this lady hasn't worked in five months, et cetera, et cetera.
We find out everything we can about them.
Their opinions, their prejudices, their religion, their political affiliations, their age, their playlist, their favorite flavor of ice cream.
Episcopalian, Independent, none of your damn business, I'll send it to you, and fudge ripple.
Huh.
- I didn't see that coming.
- Hmm.
Then what we do, we find the closest approximate match to each juror, and we bring them all into the courtroom.
We clock their attitudes and feelings.
We basically give you an approximate indication in real time of whether or not all your hard work, all those facts you've gathered to support that narrative that you've created is being heard the way you intended.
Hmm.
I'm not sure I buy it.
I'm not sure it's possible to predict behavior this way.
Well, it's a science.
It's pretty dependable.
Come here.
I'll give you a demonstration.
Relax.
If I was gonna do this I'm pretty sure you'd do that.
You can be certain.
And if I were to do this I'm pretty certain you would do that.
Not sure that's science.
And if I were to do this I'll kick you so hard in the balls your dead grandfather will scream.
Huh.
See, I knew you were gonna say that.
- Hmm.
- (chuckles) And all of this touching and flirting is supposed to help me in the courtroom how? Well, it's kind of hard to explain in the abstract.
Hmm.
We're not losing our way here, are we? (chuckles) Well, how do you mean? All I'm looking for out of this partnership is to win your friend's freedom.
And perhaps learn a little bit about trial science or whatever it is you call it.
Assuming it is a science.
Assuming there's something to learn.
It is, and there's a lot to learn, and me, too.
The Benny's freedom part, I mean.
(sighs) I apologize if I'm acting a little goofy, flirty.
Distracted.
I think the psychologist in me would probably speculate that I'm trying to avoid thinking about the situation that Benny finds himself in.
He's my friend and I'm frightened for him.
Tell me I shouldn't be.
I can't do that.
I don't do what you do.
I don't speculate about human behavior or anything else.
I just show up prepared.
And it's mostly worked for me.
Come on, Dr.
Bull.
Let's go plead our case.
Mr.
Colón.
If you had to put a number on it, how many times would you say you visited Hayden Watkins' apartment? Actually, I checked my notes and calendar this morning, and I believe it was six times.
Six times? So you examined this man's apartment on five other occasions, and over a period of What would you say? Two, two and a half months or so.
JANSON: Two, two and a half months or so.
And you never saw this contact lens? I did not.
JANSON: And you weren't the only person examining this apartment, is that correct? BENNY: No.
It was forensics, local police, FBI.
I don't know.
A lot of people.
And if you had to put a number on that, a number on the people, I mean.
Objection.
The prosecution is asking my client to speculate.
I think the jury's capable of understanding the context in which the question is being asked.
The prosecutor is attempting to make a point, and I'd like to see him make it.
Objection overruled.
Score one for the other team.
JANSON: Mr.
Colón, an estimate.
No one's gonna file additional charges if the number isn't perfectly accurate.
Mm-hmm.
I don't know.
60, 65 people maybe.
Okay.
60, 65 people.
And of course, they weren't all in the apartment at the same time.
So, again, with your attorney's permission, of course, could you estimate how many individual visits by various law enforcement branches were conducted on Hayden Watkins' apartment for the sole purpose of collecting evidence? No.
JANSON: I would like to enter into evidence this log which indicates 27 separate visits were made to Mr.
Watkins' apartment prior to Mr.
Colón discovering that contact lens.
27 visits.
60 different people, all of them trained to look for evidence.
And no one found it.
No one but you.
Is there a name for that, Mr.
Colón? I don't know what you're asking me, Mr.
Janson.
I'm asking what your reaction is when you hear those kinds of numbers.
I mean, you're a law enforcement professional.
Surely you had a reaction at the time.
Objection.
Counselor's badgering the witness, Your Honor.
- Objection overruled.
- JANSON: What do you call that? You know, your case is falling apart.
There's no physical evidence to make it stick.
And then (gasps) suddenly there is, and wh what do you call that? I know what I would call that.
I would call that a miracle.
You believe in miracles, Mr.
Colón? They just scored the extra point.
- Your witness.
- (gavel bangs) JUDGE: Let's take an hour recess for lunch.
Uh, just so you know, in terms of the jury Please.
A blind man could read that jury.
(water running) (door opens) JESSUP: Why didn't you just take the deal, Benny? You don't even need your license.
Everybody knows you practice pretend law for Dr.
Bull.
Wow.
That's what this is about to you, huh, Will? How I make my living? I'm just saying, this trial could go sideways.
I don't want to see anything bad happen to you.
No one does.
That was never the plan.
Why not just say you regret what you did and let's be done with it? Sorry, Will.
I just don't know how to do that.
I feel bad for you, Benny.
I feel bad for me, too, Will.
(door opens) (door closes) Tell us about the day you found the contact lens.
What about it? What was the state of the case? - Were you high on it? - High? (scoffs) What's the opposite of high? We had a ton of circumstantial evidence.
People had seen Hayden at the clubs.
They had seen him interacting with the women.
We'd interviewed him a number of times and knew that he was psychologically capable of committing the crimes.
His MySpace page practically read as a textbook example of a sociopath's manifesto.
But none of that proved he did it.
You must have felt an enormous amount of pressure.
BENNY: The case was on the front page of the paper at least once or twice a week.
People just wanted him locked up, put away.
They were afraid, afraid to let their daughters go out, their sisters, their girlfriends.
And what about Mr.
Janson? Was he feeling the pressure? I'm not sure the jury is aware; he was your boss at the district attorney's office at the time, wasn't he? We all wanted the same thing.
J.
P.
: Well, you must have been very frustrated.
(sighs) Well, Mr.
Watkins was extraordinarily meticulous in how he handled the killings.
There simply was no physical evidence to tie him to the crimes.
Did you ever have a moment of doubt? Did you ever think, âMaybe we have the wrong guyâ? No.
And why was that? Hey, it's okay, Mr.
Colón.
You're here to defend yourself.
Let me help you.
What happened two weeks before you found the lens? There was a break in the case, wasn't there? He confessed.
(gasps and murmuring) Finally.
That woke them up.
MARISSA: We've got a tiny bit of movement.
BENNY: He told us where the bodies were, how he did it.
J.
P.
: And none of that is in the court record.
BENNY: No.
Can you tell us why? Because a day later he recanted.
Claimed that the young detective who had obtained his confession had coerced him.
Denied him of food and drink, put his hands on him.
Wasn't the confession videotaped? It was.
And what did it show? Everything that the suspect claimed.
Of course, the judge agreed with him.
Felt that the confession was coerced, therefore it was expunged from the record.
What did you think? Well, we all thought the same thing.
The suspect had coerced the detective into coercing him.
He goaded the kid.
He wanted it.
Wanted us to know where the girls were.
Wanted to play with us.
- What made you think that? - Because when we went to where he said the bodies were buried there was nothing there that we could really use.
They were in such an advanced state of decay That you were back to where you started.
Worse.
It was worse.
When we started, we thought we could make a case, but now it was It's impossible.
J.
P.
: So you went back to the apartment one last time.
Did anyone go with you? No.
I, uh, specifically wanted to go alone.
Why? I thought that maybe I don't know, I would feel something.
A direction to go in.
You're Catholic, aren't you, Mr.
Colón? I am.
When you went back to the apartment, did you pray? I would like to know, Your Honor, where the defense is getting her information.
- She's humanizing him.
- Or trying.
that was suppressed and stricken from the record.
Your Honor, isn't the real question not where I got my information but whether it's true? Mr.
Janson was there.
None of this is news to him.
You may proceed, Counselor.
Did you pray, Mr.
Colón? Started to.
I got on my knees, but before I could start, I saw a glint under the sofa.
Stopped what I was doing and put on my gloves and reached underneath.
Did you think it was a miracle, Mr.
Colón? I didn't know what to think.
I I didn't know if it belonged to the girls, to him.
I It was a hard contact lens, and it was in pretty awful shape.
I thought let's give it to the lab.
We had everything to gain and nothing to lose.
I have no further questions, Your Honor.
- Let's pick up from here tomorrow.
- (gavel bangs) That girl is good.
- Tell me about our jury.
- Pretty amazing.
You took them on an attitudinal roller coaster ride.
And that's a good thing, right? CABLE: It's good.
The question is, is it good enough? The jury is surprisingly unanimous in its attitude towards Benny.
Coming into this thing, they were convinced he was a bad guy - and guilty.
- And now? They're not convinced.
What we really want, what we really need is for them to be convinced of his innocence.
Hard to do without offering up a guilty party in his stead.
I was sort of hoping you would tell me the defense could rest.
You could, but we want an acquittal, not a hung jury.
And while there are unanimous good feelings towards Benny, there's not unanimity about what he's been accused of doing.
What do you mean? How is that even possible? Well, for instance, these three guys here have come to believe that Benny is a good man.
And because he is a good man, he could have planted that evidence to prevent another killing.
Huh.
BENNY: Where'd you get those transcripts? The documents, all that stuff you used today.
Me praying, Hayden Watkins' confession, the interviews.
That was all under seal.
How'd you get that? What does it matter? And you're very welcome, Mr.
Colón.
I want to know where you got that stuff.
I'm your client and I have the right to know.
No, you're not my client.
He's my client.
You're my defendant.
And I'll tell you what you need to know and when you need to know it.
What's with the attitude, Benny? She's working like hell to save your skin.
What does it matter how she does it? 'Cause I'm starting to question what side she's on.
Someone gave her that material.
And there's got to be a reason why.
J.
P.
? You should feel free to hire new counsel if you're dissatisfied with what I'm doing.
And if you don't trust me.
Hmm.
Well we all know what way you'll vote, Bull.
We can see it every time you look at her.
Fine.
It's your money.
See you in court tomorrow.
Back to work, everybody.
Where does that leave us? Well, clearly, you have to stop looking at me.
I mean, with the case.
Pretty clear what has to be done.
Just a question of whether I can do it.
Not for me.
And by the way, I look at every female lawyer who owns her own firm and has offices in three states exactly the same way.
I'll bet you do.
I'll bet you do.
(gavel bangs) Call your next witness, please.
The defense calls Inspector General Wilson Jessup, Your Honor.
J.
P.
: Mr.
Jessup, will you tell the jury what it is you do for a living? I'm the inspector general for the northeast region of the United States Department of Justice.
Wow, that sounds like a big job.
I wake up every day amazed I have it and thankful for the opportunity.
(soft chuckle) But that wasn't your job during that summer almost ten years ago when the city was being terrorized by the Socialite Slayer.
JESSUP: No, ma'am, I was a detective for the New York City Police Department.
And what was that like? I mean, being in the center of such a notorious case? It was frustrating.
Uh, there was a lot of pressure, virtually no solid evidence like Benny uh, Mr.
Colón said.
Hmm.
It must have really killed you.
And you were already a highly decorated officer.
People were whispering in your ear about maybe becoming chief, even running for office.
I didn't listen to any of that stuff.
You really like Benny Mr.
Colón, don't you? I do, actually, yes.
I'd like to enter into evidence this newly released analysis from the Rectitude Project.
It's their report on evidence recovered from Tinsley Browning's contact lens.
I asked them to do some more work on it.
See if they could identify anyone else who might have come into contact with that lens.
Would you be interested in hazarding a guess what they found, Mr.
Jessup? I was trying to help your client, young lady.
I was trying to help Benny.
We don't have to go here.
I gave you those files.
I put myself at risk.
I think you have enough to do what you need to do.
I'm sorry, Mr.
Jessup.
Some people, whose work I respect a great deal, say that I don't.
JUDGE: Mr.
Jessup, I'm not sure you've answered counsel's question.
Counsel? Would you be surprised to hear that your DNA, your fingerprints were on that lens? (gallery gasps and murmurs) Mr.
Jessup? (soft chuckle) That young detective.
He screwed this case.
He punched him.
Punched that monster right in the jaw, on video.
Might as well have hand-delivered him another victim to kill.
(sighs) I went out to the landfill.
I-I had no idea what I was thinking.
I was desperate.
And then I'm standing there, looking down at this naked girl's decaying skull.
And that's when I saw it.
Uh, what did Benny call it? A-A glint? I thought, âThis is it.
âThere is a God.
We are gonna be able to put this animal away.
â So I put on my glove, and But God had other plans.
I went back to the suspect's apartment and put it under his couch.
Figured I'd come back with a whole team and we'd all find it together.
But then Benny went back out there before me.
All by himself.
J.
P.
: And what did that do to your plans? It actually made it better.
More degrees of separation.
(chuckles) And then, when it came back three out of five DNA markers and they said it was a probable match, I thought âI hit the jackpot.
I won the lottery.
â Talk about dodging a bullet.
Little did I know.
(soft chuckle) I'm sorry, Benny.
(voice breaking): I wish you had taken the deal.
Let's recess for ten minutes and then reconvene.
(gavel bangs) (sighs) (âI'm Not in Loveâ by 10cc playing) (mouths) They didn't even put your name in the headline.
I'd sue.
You're a great boss.
I think you're just saying that 'cause I saved your ass and you're drinking.
(chuckles) I sent, uh, flowers to your lady friend.
You're way off base on this one.
She means nothing to me.
Less than nothing.
- âNuh.
â - Mm.
(chuckles) I thanked her, I apologized, I haven't heard a word.
Oh, you will.
She is not out of our lives.
I'm not in love.