Law & Order (1990) s02e02 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.
They want all cops to live in the city.
On our salaries? I don't think this is beef, man.
Somebody didn't want to pay for dinner.
It's too greasy.
Officers, please Restaurant bills, we don't get involved.
- Go to Small Claims court.
- No, no.
Downstairs, I push buzzer.
No answer.
Lady walk out, I walk in.
They owe $26.
I very sorry I come in, but $26! I no touch anything.
I no take anything.
Tell him to shut up.
The order was called in at 9:05, and the delivery boy found them at 9:40.
Close the door.
- Cop: It's the smell.
- The flies'll come in for the blood.
Close the door.
Well, silver, jewelry, cash untouched.
Here's a Con Ed bill "Mr.
And Mrs.
Edward Cullen.
" Young wife? Eh I don't know.
Four closets with his clothes, one closet with hers.
No wallet, no purse, no credit cards? Come on.
It's the strangest marriage I've ever seen.
Cop: Excuse me.
Easy there, ma'am.
The two of them? What what did you say? Ed and Melanie they're getting divorced.
She doesn't live here anymore.
Is she blonde, about 30? Blonde, but if Melanie's 30, I'm Vanilla Ice.
Who? It wasn't the wife.
You know where we can find Mrs.
Cullen? We were we were separated for 15 months.
That doesn't mean that I stopped loving him.
Cerreta: Take your time.
We just want to find out who did this.
Did your husband have any enemies? You know I mean, in business or anything? Eddie owed people money, but not enough for somebody to kill him.
Your husband, Mrs.
Cullen, when's the last time you saw him? Three four months ago.
With the lawyers.
Not a friendly divorce? It was amicable.
People change.
Did you know your husband's friend? She was blonde, about 30.
A woman was shot with your husband in the bedroom.
Huh-uh.
Could you tell me what you were doing tonight, Mrs.
Cullen? I was married to him for 25 years.
Do you think I could shoot him? I was here with Jamie, our my son.
He went home a half hour ago to study.
Would you give us his address? Do you mind if I call him first? Let me tell him his father's dead? Of course.
Everybody liked him.
Cerreta: Construction is not always a friendly business, Jamie.
Are you saying my dad was some kind of gangster? Why would anybody kill him? You work with your father? Yeah.
Um I'm putting up frames.
He wanted me to get into law school.
Course for the law boards.
Who was your father's girlfriend? I didn't know he had a girlfriend.
You guys had to tell my mother? You were with her tonight? I have dinner with her a couple times a month.
She still can't get used to living alone.
So when'd you leave her? About 10:00, right? About 11:00.
I guess it's I guess it's your job, thinking these things, you guys, but it's crazy.
My mother wouldn't kill my father.
Six slugs.
Talk about "coitus interruptus.
" - You bring me a.
38? - It's out there somewhere.
Only 7-800,000 of them around.
You're looking for an old one, heavy rifling.
Run Melanie and Edward Cullen.
Done.
No registrations New York, Connecticut, Jersey and Pennsylvania.
She does card tricks, too.
Try this trick go through every.
38 slug you got, and if that doesn't work, start with our friends in Hoboken and Long Island City and work your way east and west.
Sure, but it's a big haystack.
The wife and the kid may be telling the truth.
Yeah or the kid's lying to cover for her.
Or she's lying to cover for him.
Or maybe they got up after the lasagna cabbed it to 73rd Street and whacked the "happy couple" together.
You know, we do have a few other people in this town.
Have you considered anybody else? There's no mob angle, because as you know, they use.
22s, not.
38s.
So? What, you figure Cullen got up at a delicate moment, let the killer in and then hopped back in the sack? I figure "somebody" had a key.
Phil, I know it looks obvious, but before we sentence the wife, remember we do have two victims here, and one of them is still wearing a tag on her toe "Jane Doe.
" Maybe she had an enemy.
Maybe she had a name.
Middle-age guy has a babe like that, he spreads the news.
Ask at the office.
I always told Ed, "Stick to your core business residential in Queens, commercial in Manhattan.
" No, he wants to do condos, First Avenue.
- Cerreta: You his partner? - Sales manager.
And I know what sells.
He wants to leave Melanie, I said, "She's Brooklyn, you're Brooklyn.
That's your core.
" - You think it was the girlfriend? - No, she came later.
You know, mid-life crisis, business goes bad, he wants a divorce, he cons Melanie into moving out, promises he's gonna sell the apartment.
This dead boss of yours sounds like a real charmer.
What, only bad guys leave their wives? Every guy who knew Ed Cullen thought he was terrific.
Alexandra Beckett what, is that with two "T"s? One or two.
I never met her.
He kept her mostly secret.
You happen to know where she lived? No, but she worked at Christie's.
Woman: Oh God.
It's Alexandra.
This was her big sale.
Could we go downstairs? Yeah, sure.
Cerreta: Did you know her boyfriend? Mm-hm.
Doug Phillips.
How many boyfriends did she have? Oh, you mean Edward.
You said "boyfriend.
" She broke up with him when she started seeing Edward.
In other words, she traded in a boy for a man? He Doug dropped out of Wharton, dropped out of Yale Architecture.
Edward was solid.
He knew what he wanted.
What he wanted was Alexandra? He adored her.
Doug must've been thrilled.
He have a temper? Oh no no, no.
Doug would've never have killed Alexandra.
But he might've killed Cullen.
There there was a scene in a restaurant With Cullen? Edward was there with Alexandra at "Vincenzo's," and Doug walked in drunk, and he punched him.
P- H-I-L-L-I-P-S.
First name "Douglas.
" Run him for his prints, will you? And his phone.
Message unit detail.
- Bobby, Bobby, get a subpoena for his MUDs, all right? - Bobby: Gotcha.
Usage details.
Phillips called his girlfriend's apartment and Cullen's apartment 50 times.
There's no gun registered to Phillips in New York, and there's no match yet on the slugs.
Yeah, but he called Cullen's apartment the night of the murder.
Yeah, keep checking the other states and keep looking for a match.
The kid had an altruistic phase.
Taught public school one summer.
So you got his prints? They match a set in Cullen's apartment.
Let me see that.
You're welcome.
And may I suggest a search warrant? Cerreta: Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
I didn't kill her.
I wanted to marry her.
Did she want to marry you? What was she doing at Cullen's shopping for her trousseau? Are these yours? Hers.
Spares.
She was my girlfriend.
She used to sleep here.
We'd like you to come down to the precinct, just to ask a few questions.
I'm going to call a lawyer.
So he slugged him, once, weeks ago.
That's not murder.
He was a sleaze in a thousand-dollar suit.
With a nicer apartment than yours.
Alexandra had a weakness for older men, which is a joke, if you know her father.
What are you saying here? Am I a suspect? Hey, listen, everybody's a suspect until they're cleared.
But let's just say you didn't kill Cullen, all right? Have you ever been in his apartment? Uh, once.
A cocktail party with Alexandra four or five months ago.
He was trying to get on the board of a dance company.
Pathetic.
They wanted his money and his view.
Your girlfriend liked a lot more than the view.
Hey up yours, pal.
- Do I have to take this crap? - Cerreta: Nice work bait him, calm him down, rev him up again.
Logan: Did you talk to Alexandra the night she was killed? I was home.
You call anybody? Anybody call you? You called Cullen's apartment an hour before he died and the call lasted six minutes.
Not another word.
Let's go.
That's it.
Interview's over.
You charge him or you let him go.
Prints, motive, opportunity.
Those prints could've been five months old.
- Or 96 hours.
- How did he get in? Kid had a key to the girl's apartment, she had a key to Cullen's I'm figuring "one plus one equals two.
" The girl was shot first.
He's gonna kill him, he'd pop the guy first.
Come on.
He's angry enough to shoot her but not enough to shoot her first? - I wish we had a gun.
- I wish I had a girlfriend named "Lola.
" What do you think, Counselor? We've gotten indictments on a lot less.
They don't sell hot guns at Brooks Brothers.
I am telling you, this twerp wouldn't know where to get one.
Come on, Phil, even rich jerks can get a.
38 in this town.
Douglas Phillips, you're under arrest for the murder of Edward Cullen and Alexandra Beckett.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you do say Not guilty.
Your Honor, these are vicious murders committed by a privileged young man who considers himself beyond the norms of society.
The People request substantial bail.
Your Honor, Mr.
Phillips has never been arrested before, he has strong family roots in New York City his grandfather sat on the bench where Your Honor now presides.
I hope he worked shorter hours than I do.
$200,000.
I'll be back in 10.
What? What are we doing here? No gun, no witness, no record.
He'd have a record if Cullen had called the cops after he slugged him.
You want to make a case, he'll plead to assault.
How about manslaughter one crime of passion? Logan: Here you go.
Best hot dog in the city? the papaya place.
There may be hope for you yet.
"Ptomaine City.
" You want this? Yeah.
What's around here? "Antonio's.
" Let's go get some calamari.
Listen, Phil, I don't eat anything that squirts ink, okay? "Mrs.
Cullen thanked the police for apprehending her husband's killer.
" What, she send you a note? You tell me.
How did Phillips get in? Cragen could be right he lifted the girl's key.
Do you buy it? You don't think he did it? The Cullen kid spent a lot of time with his father.
Yeah.
He probably had a key.
Remember what he said? He said, "My mother wouldn't kill my father.
" He was with her at the time of the murder.
Why didn't he say, "My mother didn't kill my father"? You want to reopen 'cause the kid used the wrong tense? All right, look, it's not just that.
These snot-nosed rich kids, you look at 'em funny, they fall apart.
Phillips he didn't break.
This a conspiracy? You guys in on this together? Cullen and the girlfriend are shacking up for four months.
The wife never heard of her? The son never noticed? Come on, her clothes are in his apartment.
The son go blind? The son has no motive, the wife has an alibi.
What about the alibi's alibi? - Jamie Cullen.
- Oh.
Excuse me, dear.
Hmm, looks like he'll be back for another try.
Checks out the review tapes, but his test exam's marginal.
Very.
Have his scores dipped lately? Bad and steady.
We set him up with a study group seven other students.
Oh, look at this.
He missed class Thursday night.
You got the names of those kids? The ones in the study group.
I'm trying to get into law school because my father told me education is wasted on women.
Jamie wants to go because his father wanted him to make something of himself.
Did he have a problem with his father? Jamie had a problem with the law boards.
He liked his father.
You took him his notes after class? For what it's worth.
What time's he get there? About 9 9:10.
You leave them at the door? No, I gave them to Jamie.
You're sure about the time? I'm positive.
You arrested somebody, right? Why are you asking me this? It's a slow day.
I don't know, we thought we'd kill some time.
Jamie, you weren't with your mother.
I had dinner with her.
What do you think this is, some kind of a schoolyard game? "No, I didn't.
" "Yes, you did.
" You want us to prove it, we will prove it.
Okay, I was with her.
I was there until about 8:30.
She called me up, she was scared.
She said you accused her.
- Did she tell you to lie? - She didn't kill my father.
We're barely out the door, she's already on the horn telling the kid to lie.
The good news? Great Neck, four years ago, your.
38 hit a burglar.
You're not gonna ask? - The dog ate it? - Stolen.
Three years ago.
Stolen from who? Right out of my apartment.
Somebody must've come in the fire escape.
I reported it.
Where were you working then? What, three years ago? I don't remember.
That's the damn truth.
Your boss says it was a construction site in Nassau County.
- If you say so.
- I do say so.
How long you been a security guard, George? says in 14 years you had three registered guns two of them stolen.
You're a hell of a security guard.
You ought to hire a guard to watch your guns.
I live in a rough neighborhood.
Your last stolen gun has two bodies on it.
You sold that, it's a felony.
Maybe you like "accessory to murder" better? Hey, do you think we can't find out what happened to your guns? - We'll tear your life apart.
- Or you tell us, plead to a misdemeanor, find yourself a new career.
Hey, look he said he couldn't get a license.
He carried a lot of cash and he needed a gun for protection.
- He gave me $500.
- He?! Are you trying to annoy me? Is that what he's trying to do? - He's trying to get on my nerves.
- The boss, Mr.
Cullen.
His own gun.
I love this.
So he killed the girl, killed himself, and then threw the gun out the window? Come on.
He had the gun in the apartment for three years.
The wife didn't know about it? The kid didn't know about it? But how would Doug Phillips know? The wife's alibi is shot.
So you have means and opportunity.
- What about motive? - Try blonde and 30.
Not to mention money.
She says he was broke.
He sure didn't live like he was broke.
Go rattle her chain.
- Why would I need a lawyer? - Cerreta: Because you're a suspect in the murder of your husband and Alexandra Beckett.
I told my son to lie because I was afraid.
Afraid your husband was going to leave you without a dime? We were married for 25 years and I haven't had a job since I got engaged.
I was a salesgirl at B.
Altman then, and now I don't even know what category to look under.
How about "Housewife from King's Highway, Brooklyn"? There's nothing wrong with being a housewife from King's Highway.
Unless your husband wants a hostess from Georgetown.
Ever see something like this? Yeah on TV.
Your husband had one of these.
You know where he kept it? I haven't been in that apartment for a year.
The gun's been there for three years.
I just buried my husband.
Is this one solid? - She lied about her alibi.
- She lied about the gun, too.
Look, we lifted her prints off the photo of the gun.
They match the prints on Cullen's doorknob.
Hard to believe they stayed there over a year.
And 10-to-one she lied about knowing the girlfriend.
You need a scorecard to keep track of the lies with this broad.
They convinced me.
Okay, we'll dismiss on the boyfriend.
Pick her up.
Bailiff: The charges are murder in the second degree and manslaughter in the first degree.
Is the defendant ready to enter a plea? Not guilty.
Your Honor, this was a vicious double murder What is this deja vu all over again? Didn't I hear this speech two weeks ago with a different defendant? The People have rectified their error.
Mr.
Lehrman: Your Honor, they're compounding their error.
There's no predicting who they'll arrest next.
Mrs.
Cullen is a grief-stricken widow.
Save it, Counselor.
Same crime, same bail.
$200,000.
Lehrman: Murder two? Why even have it on the menu? This isn't murder, it's manslaughter.
So you're admitting she killed them? No, but if she killed them, it was extreme emotional disturbance and that's manslaughter.
I get it she wasn't there.
And if she was there, she didn't kill them.
If she did kill them, she didn't mean to.
If she did mean to, it's because she was upset.
Cute.
The murder charge is inflated.
If she killed in the heat of passion and you can prove it.
Her husband was in bed with another woman.
Juries tend to be sympathetic.
They also tend to sympathize with people who have been shot six times.
Criminally negligent homicide.
She does no time.
No time? Why don't we throw her a tickertape parade? Manslaughter one, eight and a third each count.
It's called plea bargaining, not plea scalping.
Pass.
The jury is not going to convict on murder.
Take a deal.
Manslaughter one, four years.
That's all she'll probably get anyway.
This kind of case, judges are lenient.
In this kind of case, if it is a case of passion, the woman is weeping into the barrel of the gun as the cops drive up.
She doesn't run, hide the gun, lie to the police, fake alibis.
Yeah, and all the jury's gonna see is a middle-aged widow who snapped.
Some widow she's barely a wife.
A few months, the legal separation is up, two signatures, they're divorced.
- Which they weren't.
- Which means she inherits.
Another motive entirely.
Cullen was supposed to be broke.
I need every scrap of paper from the crime scene, Cullen's office, Mrs.
Cullen's apartment, and every witness re-interviewed.
I'll give you five-to-one all you're gonna get is eyestrain.
All the detectives are going to get is sore feet.
You're gonna end up exactly where you started "Wife Shoots Husband in Bed with Lover.
" Take a deal.
Cerreta: Cullen sure got a lot of mail.
Here's your motive.
Cullen won a million bucks right from Ed McMahon.
Here's something from the office of the Attorney General.
Hmm, notice of sales tax violation.
Hmm.
Did he jaywalk, too? It's a jeweler.
They don't go after people for nickels and dimes.
Man: Eight and 1/4% tax.
On $14,000, that's over $1100.
My customer says to me, "Ship a dummy box to Jersey or I'll buy my stones in Palm Beach.
" What am I supposed to do? Tell him our jails are nicer than Florida's.
State hit me with a $100,000 fine.
I love New York.
Looks like you're surviving.
The record on that necklace Is this really important? My customer comes in again, I want his business.
If your customer comes in again, call "Geraldo.
" He's dead, and this is a murder investigation.
Mr.
Cullen paid cash, right? And the necklace was sent to an Alexandra Beckett? Just barely.
Mr.
Cullen had bought several pieces for his wife over the years.
Smaller pieces.
It was a cretinous new shipping clerk who called Mrs.
Cullen by mistake.
She was not expecting a necklace.
Very embarrassing.
If Mr.
Cullen had found out, it could've cost me his business.
Cost him a lot more than that.
Two motives are better than one.
She knew he had money and a girlfriend.
So she was upset.
That gets her from murder down to manslaughter.
Really? She got the bad news two months before she killed them.
Every court in the state will call that a cooling-off period.
She can be provoked more than once and still say it's a crime of passion.
- Not if she planned to kill them.
- She found them in bed.
I know to a jury it looks like new provocation, but what if she wasn't surprised to see them there? What if I prove to you that she went there to kill them and she knew she could pick up a gun on the way to the bedroom? - Would that satisfy you? - Would that satisfy you? You're splitting legal hairs.
Do you sincerely believe Melanie Cullen went there with murder in her heart? If I have any doubts I'll plead her down.
If not, she does 25-to-life.
We're still collecting Cullen's mail.
This came yesterday.
"If you wish to make additional spare copies of the keys to your Fournier 'Securi-Proof' lock, discover the convenience of ordering directly from the factory.
" So he had a key made.
Somebody had a key made.
Locks with thousand-dollar keys.
Invent one, I'll mint money.
Fourniers, 57 bucks a pop.
The Cullen key? "Reason: Lost original.
Owner: Mrs.
Edward Cullen.
" Mrs.
Cullen? She had an original key? Lost original.
But you made her a copy? She had the serial number.
And, yes, I called the company and checked the address on her ID.
Where do you get a serial number? It's on the registration papers.
That's it? Stamped on the original keys, but she'd lost them, right? - Where'd she get the number? - Stone: Fournier locks have three keys.
Cullen had one, Alexandra Beckett had one.
You think either of them gave Mrs.
Cullen the number? The son.
He gave it to her, or she helped herself.
So Cullen was killed by his wife, or by his wife and son.
I don't even want to think about this.
We pick him up as an accessory, maybe even a co-conspirator.
He lied, Adam.
He knows something.
Frank Lehrman will never let you deal the son against the mother.
And maybe she copied the number off her son's key.
He doesn't know we bring him the news.
Suddenly he sees Mom in a whole new light.
- Don't arrest him.
- I have to scare him.
My office or the room at Rikers.
The minute you call him, he's gonna call his mother, she's gonna call Frank Lehrman, and he's gonna demand that the interview take place in his office.
You want to scare the kid? Put Cerreta and Logan at the water cooler.
If he doesn't break, then read him his rights.
Gestapo tactics, Stone? Two cops outside? Why not rubber hoses? We have reason to believe that you are guilty of criminal facilitation providing your mother with the means to murder your father.
What? This is the "minor question" you wanted to ask? You had a key to your father's apartment, didn't you? So? She got the serial number off of your key.
She had it made or you gave it to her.
L I didn't she didn't have a key.
Sworn statement from the locksmith.
That's it this interview has ended.
- Stone: She didn't tell you, did she? - You don't have to answer that.
She had it made because she planned to kill your father.
No, that's not what she said! No, come on that is not admissible.
Shut up.
No, you shut up.
You take your hands off him, or I'll have you up on hindering prosecution.
- I'm this boy's lawyer.
- You're his mother's lawyer.
He and his mother have different interests.
Isn't that right, Jamie? When you arrested her, she told me my dad let her in.
Okay? She was just going over to talk about getting back together again.
She didn't know Alexandra was going to be there.
She didn't want to hurt anybody.
She didn't mean to do it, you know? That's what she said.
That's what That's what she said.
Mr.
Gruen: I'm not his corporate attorney.
I only represented Mr.
Cullen in his divorce.
What was the status of the divorce when Mr.
Cullen was killed? Objection the attorney-client privilege survives death.
I'm asking about documents in the public record.
On that basis only proceed.
Mr.
Gruen: The separation period was up.
He signed the document, she didn't.
She hit him with a dozen motions about his finances.
In your expert opinion, what does that indicate? Your Honor, is my hearing going, or did Mr.
Stone say about six seconds ago that he'd only ask about public documents? Mr.
Gruen is an expert in divorce litigation, and I am not asking about discussions with his client.
Your hearing is fine, Mr.
Lehrman.
Sit down.
Stone: What does it generally mean when one party in a divorce makes repeated motions against the other party's assets? She thought he was hiding money.
Thank you.
What did the documents you gave Mrs.
Cullen say about Mr.
Cullen's financial condition? They said he was broke.
Mr.
Cullen provided the documents.
And how much were you charging Mr.
Cullen for your expert services? - 350 an hour.
- Nice work.
How much did you bill him just before he died? About $7,000.
Did he pay that bill? He did.
How? In cash.
Alexandra Beckett was my boss, and she was my friend.
Had you ever seen the defendant, Melanie Cullen, before today? Cecily: Yes, about six weeks before Alexandra died, that woman walked onto our floor at Christie's.
Alexandra stopped talking to the customer, and she went into the office.
She told me she didn't want to talk to her.
Was that the first time you'd seen the defendant? She came about two other times once Alexandra was off, once she just hid.
Thank you.
Do you know how Ms.
Beckett met Mr.
Cullen? He and his wife bought some Japanese prints at one of her sales.
So isn't it possible that Mrs.
Cullen wanted to speak to Ms.
Beckett about upcoming sales? She was a collector, wasn't she? Mrs.
Cullen didn't have any money.
Did the defendant ask specifically to see Ms.
Beckett's apartment? Yeah, her the defendant.
She said she was looking for a studio.
I say, "I'm the super.
You want the rental agent.
Anyway, there's no vacancies.
" She says, "Here's a hundred bucks.
" Stone: What was the money for? Super: She wants to see Ms.
Beckett's apartment.
Heard she was movin' out.
I said, "Maybe, but not for a couple of months yet.
" She says, "Here's 200.
" I wouldn't show her.
Thank you.
Mr.
Kolvino, hasn't anybody ever paid you to look in an apartment before? Sure, but not in this market.
You almost feel sorry for her.
Adam: I trust the key word is "almost.
" Two months after my divorce, I wanted to kill my wife I didn't.
Adam: 50% of marriages end in divorce.
If everybody starts shooting, a quarter of the population is dead.
Don't count on that jury.
But my premeditation case halfway there.
The son testifies, Melanie Cullen is gone.
Two years on the job, my first murder case, I said to myself, "Jury'll be out in 30 minutes.
Guilty.
" And a day later, they acquitted.
Six days they convicted.
But a lousy six days.
Adam: Yes? Tell him to call him back.
Thank you.
Lehrman wants to talk.
You get a decent deal, take it.
Manslaughter two, one count.
Two dead bodies, two counts.
Manslaughter one, Maybe the jury believes she was following Ms.
Beckett, but she was acting crazy when she did it.
Six years.
end of conversation.
Look, you're not gonna get anyplace trying Melanie Please.
I'd be an old woman.
That's more than Alexandra Beckett'll be.
I gave him my life, and he just threw it away.
Look, I am not a used piece of furniture, Mr.
Stone.
I'm not some end table that you replace because it gets nicks and chips, and the styles change.
And so you shot your husband.
I hadn't planned to kill him.
You know what, Mrs.
Cullen? I don't believe you.
There are women on the jury.
They'll believe me.
I won't be a victim anymore.
Stone: Did she tell you how she killed them? She knew my father's gun was in the dresser.
Stone: Did you have a key to your father's apartment? Jamie: Yes.
Did you ever give that key to your mother? No.
She had her own.
What? You are under oath, Mr.
Cullen.
My father told me to give her the serial number so she could make a copy so she could move out the rest of her things whenever she wanted.
Recess, Your Honor? Recess, 10 minutes.
- Stone: She got to him.
- Robinette: She's his mother.
I don't know who to slam first the kid for perjury or Lehrman for suborning.
He gave her the gun.
Without his testimony, we didn't have the murder weapon.
Without the key, we've got no premeditation! Go easy.
To the jury, he's halfway to being an orphan.
You're trying to finish the job.
Please, just get the deposition.
- "I didn't know my mother had a key " - Stone: Louder, Mr.
Cullen.
"If she copied my key, she did so without my knowledge.
" - You sign that statement? - I said what you wanted to hear you confused me.
"Confused" you? How old are you, Mr.
Cullen? - 22.
- And when did you graduate from college? My father was murdered.
You brought two policemen with you.
You were going to arrest me if I didn't say what you wanted to hear! Stone: Mr.
Cullen, that has nothing to do with the proceedings.
Now what? You want to put Cerreta and Logan on the stand? They're gonna say sure they were there smiling the whole time.
- I shouldn't have taken them.
- You wanted to arrest the kid.
That would've looked terrific to a jury they'd have convicted you.
What if we put Lehrman on the stand? He's not the kid's attorney, and I don't think he'd perjure himself.
Oh, that's beautiful a defense attorney as a witness.
Judge Becky Stein not gonna happen, let it drop.
Lehrman's changed his witness list.
Mrs.
Cullen's up first.
Oh, great.
Get out your handkerchiefs.
I just went over to talk to him.
L I thought things were getting better.
I thought we might get back together.
We had 25 years.
You knew he'd been seeing someone else? A little fling.
Men do that.
But you did not know she would be there? No.
And then I saw her in my in my bed.
She told me to get out of my bedroom.
I saw my hu I knew it was all over.
I'd been kidding myself.
Over-the-hill, middle-aged woman kidding herself, and this young, rich girl looking at me.
I felt so pathetic.
So pathetic! I wanted to kill myself.
Melanie: That's all that's all I remember, I'm sorry.
I'm so I'm so sorry.
Your witness.
Mrs.
Cullen Mrs.
Cullen how many times did you shoot them? I don't remember.
Do you remember asking your son to lie the night of the murder? I was afraid.
I'm sorry.
Do you remember asking your son to lie for you at this trial? I told him to tell the truth.
Nothing matters.
Nothing matters anymore.
- You want to do what? - Juries like to compromise.
If they can choose between murder two, manslaughter or acquittal, they'll choose manslaughter.
Good, she'll go to prison.
For four years for two deaths.
If we drop the manslaughter charge, they'll pick murder, 25-to-life.
- Or they'll acquit.
- She's a cold-blooded killer.
- She could walk.
- My case is made premeditation.
The jury won't let that happen.
"Pride goeth before a fall.
" I'll send you flowers in the intensive care unit.
I can't do it, Ben.
The evidence cuts both ways.
Stone: It is within your discretion.
So the People request that the manslaughter counts not be submitted to the jury.
You drop manslaughter, and the jury convicts on murder - automatic appeal.
- Not if you don't object.
I am representing Mrs.
Cullen.
If the jury believes her, and the manslaughter counts are gone, she goes home tomorrow afternoon.
Judge Stein: If he accepts this, Ben, I'm going to make it absolutely clear they must believe beyond a scintilla of doubt that she committed premeditated murder, or they acquit.
"Beyond a scintilla"? A "mini-scintilla.
" Was Mrs.
Cullen confused, emotional, suicidal? This is what Melanie Cullen did: She stalked Alexandra Beckett; she had a key made to the new lock on Edward Cullen's apartment; she went there after dark, let herself in, and she helped herself to the gun that she knew was there.
She ran away, she disposed of the gun; she convinced her son to give her a phony alibi.
She lied to the police; she lied to her son; she lied to you.
She shot and killed two people in an act of cold and calculated murder.
Don't let her get away with it.
The question is not whether the defendant killed Mr.
Cullen and Ms.
Beckett.
The only question for you to resolve is that of her state of mind.
You must find beyond any reasonable doubt, that she did not act under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance.
You must find that she did intend, with premeditation, to cause the deaths of two people, or you must find her not guilty.
Robinette: Never seen you like this before.
I have never done anything this potentially stupid before.
I just pray to God that when I get out of here, I'm not competing with Melanie Cullen for an uptown cab.
Jury just finished dinner catered from "Walter's.
" Hope you don't have a lousy six days.
Well, it's four hours it's already lousy.
- Good night, gentlemen.
- Good night.
Stone.
Just a minute.
It's Lehrman he's pacing, too.
He'll take two counts of man one.
She'll do nine years.
It's more than four.
Less than 25.
Your case.
And my stomach.
Deal.
Your role was no less crucial because your verdict was not required.
I thank you.
You are excused.
Your Honor, move to continue bail until sentencing.
Motion to continue granted.
Juror: Lucky? 10 minutes later, it would have been murder.
We were voting.
The way she used her son made us all furious.
- If only the kid hadn't lied.
- What if your mother killed your father? I wouldn't have lied.
What is she up to? Rehearsing for the parole board.
I don't know what happened.
I don't remember.
I went there to talk to Eddie.
I thought everything would be all right and that we could work everything out.
We were married for 25 years.
I thought everything would be all right.
I've always loved Eddie.
I've always loved him.