Law & Order (1990) s02e01 Episode Script

Narrator: In the criminal justice system, 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.
This isn't a criticism, Mike.
Well, I guess I'm a little hypersensitive.
Look, it probably won't hurt us.
My point is, Ben was trying to get a straightforward laundry list going.
That's exactly what I gave him.
Listen, Paul I pinch hit for Max in the grand jury, I present the case the way you and I reviewed it, now you're giving me a bunch of Come on, man.
Chill.
Tomorrow, when we ask you to name names, don't go off on a tangent about kickbacks and stolen copper pipes and mangoes.
"Mungo," not mangoes.
Mungo.
And I think everybody knows that's extra building material that just disappears.
Yeah, and it ends up in somebody else's building.
Hey, we didn't pick the grand jurors.
No, but your crash course in corruption went way over their heads.
So what? So they get too confused, they may throw up their hands and "no-bill" it.
Relax.
You're going to get your indictments.
Max is back tomorrow morning.
He's gonna give you what you want Howard Neffer, Jimmy "The Mope" D'Onofrio, Morgan Stern.
I'm going to call him later, we're gonna go over the case notes, and then I'm going out frugging with Patsy Kelly.
Marie: I don't know.
He's still rummaging around in the trunk.
You know Max always losing his paperwork.
Marie, can you tell him to light a fire under it? - Dinner getting cold? - No, my date's getting cold.
I'm still at the office.
Marie: Tell me about it.
It's like being married to a ghost.
Now he's out there gabbing with somebody.
- Who's he gabbing to? - I don't know.
It's dark.
Matthew, go out and tell your father to hurry up, will you? Matthew: Okay, Ma.
- What is this? - Marie? Oh, Mary Mother of God.
Marie? Marie! Marie! Left right left right left right halt.
In.
Left and right face.
One step to the rear.
Present arms.
I'll testify as soon as you need me.
I can take over for Max's testimony as well.
The grand jury will be suspended.
When you open back up, you include Max's murder as part of the offering, right? If we find anything substantive and so far we've found nothing.
Logan: The night before his first day of grand jury testimony, somebody heard something was going down and didn't like the sound of it.
I'd like to go after the list of pending indictments.
You and I should find out who had knowledge of those indictments in our office.
What about a leak out of the grand jurors? Let's check their ties to construction industry.
Every one of them.
If word on the grand jury, or a list of indictments got out, why hit Max the lead on a task force? Because they already hit the leading investigator from the building department.
That was an open investigation, right? In the papers.
What were they going to accomplish by that? I don't think these people are what you'd call "long-term planners.
" Two in the back, one in the face.
That's not a pro, not a thinker.
The purpose of this little get-together is emphatically not to "bust your chops," as you put it.
It's to help you accept your partner's death.
I accept it.
Boom he's dead.
It's end of story.
Also to help the officer in trouble reach a sense of closure.
All right, first of all, I'm not "in trouble," okay? Matter of fact, I'm alive, and I'm on the case.
Second of all, I'm Irish Catholic I got a sense of closure at Max's wake.
Well, then, there's no problem.
That's right.
Can I go now? Listen, thanks a lot.
But, really, I'm fine.
Olivet: Hey, Detective? Ever hear of the "seven stages of grief"? No.
The first one is denial.
I'm fine.
Cragen: Mike? You know Phil Cerreta from the 39? I know him by name.
He's handling Max's case.
I saw him the night of the crime scene.
He's thinking about coming over, maybe as second whip.
So? So, he asked about you.
How you would feel? Fine I mean, whatever.
I don't care.
Same rank as Max, pick of cases.
He comes over, that means he's bringing Max's shooting with him? - I would assume so.
- All right, then I'm on this case.
Mike, I let you back in the field, I got to be concerned about your objectivity.
- Then you put Cerreta on point.
- Mike I know the history of the task force.
Who else is going to interview these people? It doesn't matter.
You're still due time on a desk.
So? What? How are you doing with this? I'm fine.
Robinette: I only found one name that makes sense.
"Magadan, Dan Sr.
Retired construction"? It's a good possibility.
It gets better.
Check his pension ties.
Pull everything you can on him.
Stone: Your pension fund is vested with Local 139.
It's hard to believe you didn't know any of the names offered for indictment in that room.
Magadan: I had heard of a few, maybe.
They were just names.
I don't know them.
Do you know any people who do? Not that I know of.
Two of them are on the governing board of that local.
I haven't been active in the local for years.
My pension's there, that's all.
Still, if you'd mentioned anything, even out of a sense of loyalty I didn't say anything.
Mr.
Magadan we're not talking about loyalties and pension funds.
We're talking about the killing of a man who had 23 years on the job.
And we're talking about his wife and his children, who'll spend months, maybe years, trying to come to terms with the fact that he is gone.
Look, we're not assessing blame.
We just need some help.
We've got to know whether you said anything.
I didn't.
I swear.
Nothing was said.
Captain tells me we're partnering.
Yeah.
I'm sorry about Max.
Yeah.
Listen Phil.
I know you're the new whip and everything, but I got a few things Mike, you know all the players on this copper business.
I need you on point.
Okay.
Okay.
Logan: You, Stern, Neffer, you were all indicted.
And you don't know anything about the special investigator that got tossed down on 48th Street? Yeah, well, sure.
Everybody's heard about it, but I don't know nothing.
Well, I want you to think about it, Vince.
Because I got a hundred bucks that says the guys that threw him off the roof were the same ones who killed my partner, Detective Greevey.
I swear, Detective, I'm just a salesman.
- He seems okay to me.
- Yeah.
- Maybe a few degrees too cool.
- Another hothead? Another mick.
Your lot in life, Phil.
Max was not exactly "Mr.
Mellow.
" I can imagine these two guys together.
They did fine.
You and Mike get a list of the indictees? Yeah, tomorrow.
Mike and I are going out tomorrow on a couple of them.
Good.
I restore old buildings.
I consider myself a conservator of the city's architectural heritage.
Cerreta: Very noble of you, Mr.
Neffer.
Is this part of your conservatorship? It's pipe.
What do you want? All kosher, Howie? We hear it's stolen.
You want to show me a search warrant? You think we're gonna load a bunch of pipe in our trunk? We don't need a search warrant.
We'll go back and get you an arrest warrant.
Just tell me what you want.
Cerreta: Somebody on the secret grand jury couldn't keep his big mouth shut.
We believe that information led to the murder Detective Logan's partner.
Why me? I don't know anything about that.
We know you supplied a lot of pipe to the 48th Street project.
Remember that one? That's the one they tossed Inspector Janklow off.
I had nothing to do with that.
Who did? Ask Morgan Stern.
He told me to He told you what? To keep my mouth shut about the leak.
Stone: Ball's in your court, Mr.
Stern.
I want immunity on anything that may come of this.
I want to know where you got the information on the grand jury.
You already stated to Detectives Cerreta and Logan that you did warn Howard Neffer to keep his mouth shut about the leak! I want to know who that leak is! All right.
How about immunity on the copper theft? Five more seconds of this, you'll need immunity on a lot more than that.
My project manager.
His name?! Magadan.
Robinette: Magadan the old man? No, his son Daniel Magadan Jr.
The grand jury foreman told his son.
I'll be a son of a bitch.
Mr.
Magadan, we're not interested in why you lied.
What we need to know is, why did you tell your son about the grand jury? He said he had a friend who wanted to know what the grand jury was getting.
I told him not to be a hero.
If his friend was mixed up in something like that, then it was none of his business.
That's all? I told him this Detective Greevey was going to name names, and I hoped to God the name Magadan wasn't one of them.
Where's your son now, Mr.
Magadan? I don't know.
That I swear I don't.
Look, I got Just two minutes.
These Danny's friends? The ones he's covering for? If he's protecting someone, it's wrong.
You know it's wrong.
My partner died because you opened your mouth on the grand jury.
I'm not going away.
Somebody's got to do something right.
Danny came to me about the grand jury.
Pumped me for info.
Said it was for a friend but maybe there was no friend.
Maybe he did it for himself.
- What do you mean? - I don't know.
Mr.
Magadan, if you're saying your son killed my partner, then every cop in this city will be gunning for him.
His best bet is with me.
Any other cop, the odds go down to 50-50.
Your word you won't hurt him? I promise.
Hey, Danny? Freeze! On your head.
On your head! The name "Max Greevey" ring a bell, Danny? I don't know what you're talking about.
You throw Inspector Janklow off a roof, then kill my partner to shut him up? No.
No? No.
- Get on your knees.
- What? I said, get on your knees.
This is how you did my partner, isn't it? I swear, I didn't kill nobody.
I don't believe you.
I'm just gonna ask you one more time, "Danny boy.
" Oh, God Please! I did it, okay? I did it.
You do understand you have the right to an attorney? You maintain you've passed on that right? Yeah, I understand.
I've been through all this already with that psychotic.
We'll go over it again, for the record.
You don't mind, do you, Mr.
Magadan? No.
Will you tell me something? How did you find out where Sgt.
Greevey lived? Some chick my cousin knows who works at the DMV.
It's not that tough.
So I went out there and parked across the street.
Then you got out of your car and you shot him.
Isn't that correct? Not quite like that.
I mean, I had to wait a few hours and when he came out, I pulled into his driveway.
Intending to shoot him? Not necessarily.
I thought maybe I could scare him off or something, you know? Threaten his old lady if I could get her alone.
What happened to make you change your mind? I don't know.
When he came out he was just there.
I kind of lost it.
You said the gun was not yours.
No, it belongs to the construction company.
I've got an extra key to the trailer.
That's where the gun is now, in the trailer? Yeah.
Bull's-eye.
Cerreta: Where exactly is it kept? Danny: You want me to hand it over to you on a silver platter? Good job.
Make sure I get a copy of that confession.
Cerreta: You need to be very specific when we go in front of the judge.
You know the drill.
Search warrant It's in the toolbox right there with the tools and the rest of the stuff.
Mike looks like you got this guy dead to rights, huh? I guess so.
You want to check it before I hand it in? Just make sure all the "T's" are crossed and the "I's" are dotted.
- I'm sure it's fine.
- It's all kosher? You want me to freakin' proofread it, or what, Phil? It's just that in case you had to drag it out of him We ought to know that before his lawyer comes on board.
He's saying I dragged it out of him? He said something like that.
You see any marks on the guy? It isn't that.
It's that he said you threatened to kill him.
He said that, huh? A cop killer? You think I would have killed him, Phil? I don't know, Mike.
I don't know what's in your mind.
I don't know you well enough.
That's right you don't.
Cragen: "Maybe threaten his old lady.
" Too bad he didn't take that route.
Marie would have kicked his ass.
- That's for sure.
- Everything all right with you two? Oh, yeah.
He's a good kid.
The collar is top of the line.
We got a 100-proof case against the skel Whoa, Phil, let's stop with the cliches already.
What's going on? Suppose Logan went a little over the line on this one? - How far over? - Not much, maybe five yards.
I wasn't even gonna mention this, but apparently, or maybe, he was gonna blow this guy's brains out.
What the hell is that supposed to mean? Magadan says that Logan was waving his gun at him.
Mike's got to be thinking this guy is armed.
I mean, this is the guy who killed his partner.
Yeah.
And he would have his gun out.
It was dark.
And you gotta be careful.
I mean, what are you going to do? Mike? Anything you want to tell me? Yeah.
I got us Max's killer.
Okay, let's get a warrant, get that freakin' gun in here before something happens to it.
Cerreta: Mr.
Stern, we have a warrant to search these premises.
If it's true, the officer's use of his gun to get a confession With all due respect, Judge, these allegations of threats are not relevant to bail.
Hold it.
If you believe your client's statement was coerced, make a motion to suppress it.
People's case appears to be tight confession was made inside the precinct, the murder weapon was recovered, corroborative evidence bail's out of the question.
Fine, Judge.
Legal Aid only represents Mr.
Magadan for this arraignment.
I'm sure that his regular attorney will submit papers challenging a confession obtained at the point of a gun.
To which the People will respond.
Pursuant to Criminal Procedure Law, Section 51040, the defendant is remanded to the custody of the State.
Bailiff: Docket number 64788.
Defense attorney: Paul Dave, if this is the "rubber hose" routine, I've heard it a thousand times.
Well, this was no rubber hose.
It was a.
38 police special.
- And you're buying? - Hey, I hear this twice as much as you guys.
I got nothing invested here.
Once his high-priced mouthpiece rolls in, my office is gone.
I'm telling you, it feels on the level.
And if it is, it's a big pile you've stepped in.
From out of nowhere, this detective rousts me.
I'm trying to be cool, but I figure the guy's on speed or something.
Why do you think that? Because before I'm halfway into my act he puts his piece here.
He asks me did I kill the fat cop.
I don't say anything.
I hear the hammer go back click click No bruises or cuts.
No way to verify it.
You just spilled your guts.
You know how to read a rap sheet, don't you? Five arrests, three convictions.
So you're a loser.
So? So, no guilty pleas.
Two years ago, I got popped in Jersey.
A missing semi-trailer full of microwaves.
A sergeant questions me with a cigar.
I didn't talk then, either.
But this son of and that sound "click.
" The guy was brought in, Sergeant Cerreta Mirandized him, he duly confessed.
That doesn't undo the damage.
What damage? You were there yourself, for crying out loud! - You see anything screwy? - Not in the interrogation room.
Can I cut in on this tap dance? We're talking about the alley, right? What's the difference? You have a signed confession.
I get the feeling we're not getting the whole truth.
- Well, Mike? - Well, what? I asked the guy about Max, he blurted it out.
Did you help him? Did you? What I am asking you, Detective, is did you threaten Mr.
Magadan in order to obtain information? - I pressured him, okay? - Mike What the hell is this? You expect me to sit on my ass while my partner's killer walks around free?! Either way, that is exactly what is going to happen.
Because if the first confession is coerced, then so is the second, and the third no matter how many times you Mirandize the suspect.
Coercion is a judgment call.
My guy never laid a glove on the son of a bitch.
That doesn't matter.
If he coerced the first confession, it is still "fruit of the poisonous tree.
" What "fruit"? What's it some stupid technicality? Perhaps you can explain the concept to your men, so they don't let another cop killer walk.
I doubt if Max Greevey would've considered it a "technicality.
" So Stone's holding you responsible for Magadan possibly getting off.
You think that's fair? No, I don't.
But I don't give a damn what he thinks.
- That's not what I asked you.
- It's not? What I'm asking is, do you feel it's a fair assessment? You mean, do I feel responsible for Max getting blown away? Maybe, if I'd gone home with him, you know? Maybe he wouldn't have gotten zipped.
Maybe I just should've stepped in front of that bullet myself, right? No, I don't feel responsible.
I feel incredibly angry.
That one of your "seven stages"? Great.
This is a statement which Detective Logan gave voluntarily to the investigators of the Internal Affairs Division.
Please read it over, Mr.
McAnally, and advise your client.
Now, Don, where are we going to assign him until this thing is resolved? Temp desk.
Plus he's got some vacation time coming.
You don't expect the lad to sign this right here now, I hope? He and I have got some conferring to do.
Come on what am I, the stiff at my own funeral? "Aw, poor Mike, he looks so lifelike " Come on, cool it, Mike.
What for? Everybody's acting like I'm the one that's dead.
"Menacing.
" You're charging me with a class B misdemeanor? We are not charging you with anything yet, but I do suggest you talk to your captain here about the odds on your losing your pension and your badge, and the possibility of a million dollar lawsuit against you for violating Mr.
Magadan's civil rights.
His civil rights?! What about Max's civil rights? This is not a case of ends justifying the means.
Of course it is, and you know it.
You know it, because you do the exact same thing every day of the week.
You threaten to send them away, or whisper their dirty little secrets to their wives or their bosses.
You threaten to screw up their lives just so you can get a little information from them.
I didn't do it at gunpoint, Detective.
There's a big difference.
Mike, as your PBA attorney, I must advise you not to sign Why not? It's the truth.
Just lucky that this isn't L.
A everybody walks around with a video camera.
What's the point? He never physically injured the guy.
The best we can do is menacing.
- It's a B misdemeanor.
- For blowing our case?! I'd bust him for reckless endangerment if I could.
Stone: I thought of that.
But his partner was killed.
No jury would convict.
Any chance of arguing the confession wasn't coerced? - With a gun to his head? - The man is a suspect in a cop killing! - If Logan saw a gun - Adam, there was no gun.
There's no nothing.
Every piece of evidence, every statement is tainted by Logan's reckless action.
It's all useless.
A guy kills a cop.
Catch him and we can't close.
Hell of a system.
Talk to Logan.
Maybe Magadan said something before he pulled his little stunt with the.
38.
Logan: His father told me where he was.
I took him by surprise.
It hasn't changed since yesterday, Paul.
Hey, we're on the same side.
What about the initial investigation? Can we get him on anything else? Magadan's name never came up.
Look, we got the owner of the company on the ropes.
Anything we can use there? Morgan Stern was one of the heavies in the copper scam, but we weren't able to get to him.
We were waiting for Judge Merlis to sign search warrant apps for half a dozen construction sites.
Are they still unsigned? Due out the day after Max went down.
You may be a hero after all.
Yeah, right.
We're arguing what if, basically.
It's a pretty big if.
No, we're arguing inevitability.
The first batch of unsigned search warrants are very much apropos to the grand jury investigation.
And had they been signed, Cerreta and Logan could have used the task force warrants to confiscate the gun? Making any search warrant springing from the coerced confessions unnecessary.
Either way, we would've found the gun.
That's going to take a lot of fast talking.
And we get the calendar against us.
We draw the wrong judge, we're in too deep to tread water.
Then it's sink or swim.
We got a choice? No.
The gun is the fruit of the coerced confession.
It must be excluded.
Tainted evidence is admissible if it would inevitably have been found by other police techniques.
And the Fourth Amendment is obsolete? It is the exception to the exclusionary rule.
Now, the task force applied for a search warrant during the grand jury investigation of corruption and before Detective Greevey was murdered.
- It was never signed.
- Inevitably, it would have been.
It's very specific, Your Honor.
It covers cash, documents and weapons.
No doubt we would have found that gun.
Your Honor, he is "bootstrapping.
" His entire evidence string was poisoned by the coerced confession.
Now he's begging for another way in.
Supreme Court's stance on the scope of warrants is much looser than it's ever been.
Given the recent Fulminante decision I'm gonna have to allow the gun into evidence.
- Your Honor! - But any reference whatsoever to Mr.
Magadan's confession and I declare a mistrial before Mr.
Lambrusco here even thinks about objecting.
Understood? We found out the gun was located in a trailer at a construction site on West 51st Street.
- Did you obtain a warrant for the site? - Yes, we did.
And when we arrived we discovered the gun at the specified trailer.
Stone: To whom was the gun registered? Morgan Stern, the defendant's employer.
The permit limits use of the gun to the construction site only.
For purposes of security, I presume? - I would guess.
- Thank you.
No more questions.
Let's stay with this famous gun, Detective.
Now you testified that you didn't find it on Mr.
Magadan when you arrested him? That's correct.
Did you recover any weapons at all from Mr.
Magadan's person? No, he was unarmed.
Now, at that moment when you first confronted Mr.
Magadan in that alley, did you consider him to be a witness or a suspect? He wasn't immediately arrested.
And yet you placed him under arrest just a few moments later, did you not? Yes, I did.
I was at the site checking on some invoices.
Danny showed up, he was surprised to see me.
Did he have the gun when he arrived? It was dark, but he seemed to be hiding something.
Could you describe what that something was? It was pretty obvious it was a gun.
Did Mr.
Magadan say anything? He was sweaty, kind of whacked out.
I asked him what was up, he said, "The grand jury thing.
" He was terrified that they were going to look into Inspector Janklow's death.
Objection hearsay! Statement against penal interest, Your Honor.
Judge: Overruled.
What else did he say? He said he "took care of our problem" with the grand jury.
Objection, Your Honor, hearsay.
Overruled.
Same reason as before.
Stone: Your witness.
So you never actually saw Mr.
Magadan with a weapon that evening, hm? No, I said I thought it was obvious.
Isn't it true that you were among the targets of that secret grand jury, Mr.
Stern? - I have no idea.
- Oh, no? Didn't you make a deal with the District Attorney for immunity against those indictments if you agreed to testify against Mr.
Magadan? Yeah yes.
So in other words, before this arrangement with the District Attorney, you had just as much motive as Mr.
Magadan to keep Detective Greevey from testifying.
I'm not crazy enough to kill a cop.
It was your gun! You had access to it.
You certainly had opportunity.
And by your own testimony, Mr.
Magadan said that he had taken care of "your problem with the grand jury" meaning yours as well as his, - now isn't that correct? - I didn't kill that guy.
Everybody knows that Danny copped to it.
The cop's partner put a gun in his ear, and he lost his water.
Your Honor, I move for an immediate mistrial.
Your Honor, may we recess? Court is in recess.
- What's going on here? - It was his question that elicited the reference to the confession.
And your damn witness! Are you suggesting he was coached to let it slip out? What the hell difference does it make now? Drop the histrionics.
Just give me the law.
And make it brief, gentlemen.
What the Supreme Court said recently in the Fulminante case is to the point.
Yes, the confession is coerced; yes, the jury heard about it; no, we needn't throw the case out.
So we all fall back to the Dark Ages because of the Fulminante decision? What do you suggest? That we find some guy in Milwaukee with body parts in this freezer and let him walk because some cop got too rough with him? That is hardly pertinent, Ben, and you know it.
The hell it isn't! The Supreme Court's decision is based on the belief that the jury can be instructed to disregard certain remarks.
You warned him yourself, Judge "One mention of the confession and I'll throw the case out.
" And that was directed to both of us.
I know what I said, gentlemen.
And I am familiar with the law.
That's enough for today.
I'll have a decision tomorrow morning.
Judge: I've made my ruling, Counselor.
You're guaranteeing a conviction.
Why bother Why bother following the guidelines of the Supreme Court of the United States, Mr.
Lambrusco? Those guidelines violate my client's right against self-incrimination.
Last year's "automatic mistrial" is this year's "harmless error.
" The Supreme Court has spoken, Mr.
Lambrusco.
Now, it's the law of the land.
Bottom line, Counselor In addition to whatever else the prosecution can prove, your client is guilty of bad timing.
Defense motion for a mistrial is denied.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Give me 10 minutes, then bring in the jury.
Stone: The world in which Daniel Magadan Jr.
Lives has a very simple set of rules "You buy three truckloads of cement, you pay for two.
An honest building inspector discovers your pattern of extortion and illegal payoffs, you toss him 60 stories onto 48th Street.
A police officer testifies against you, you put three bullets in him.
" The law has a set of rules, too.
Not simple, but ultimately unequivocal "You kill a cop, you go to jail.
You don't get out.
" Bailiff: All rise, the Court of the Judge Manual Leon is now in session.
Be seated.
Technically, Mr.
Magadan you have been found guilty of murder in the first degree, which is reserved for the killing of a police officer in the line of duty.
The death penalty having been held unconstitutional by our court of appeals in Albany, renders me powerless to sentence you to the punishment you so richly deserve.
The Court therefore sentences you to a term of 25 years to life imprisonment.
The People have recommended the severest limitation for any possibility of parole.
And I see no reason to disagree.
Maybe life wasn't enough of a sentence.
It's what the law allows.
I can live with it.
I know I went over the line.
I was down on myself for a while, even though I you know, I tried to rationalize it.
I have to find a way to forgive myself.
Acceptance, Logan.
That's the Yeah that's the last stage, right? Max is dead.
I accept it.
But I'll never accept it, you know?