Accused (2023) s02e03 Episode Script

1
I wanna review the updated witness list
so we're not blindsided.
Marcus?
It's from my niece. She's turning ten.
(SOFT MYSTERIOUS MUSIC)
(DISTANT CHILDREN PLAYING)
(RHYTHMIC MUSIC)
Arrr, give up your buried treasure
or we'll make you walk the plank!
Oh, really? Well, if you do that,
then who's gonna bring
you your cake, Captain?
Mom, obviously.
Ha, you little traitor.
- Have you seen your Uncle Pete?
- Over there with Wendy's mom.
- Arrr.
- Arrr.
Cake time in five minutes, everyone.
- (CHILDREN CHEERING)
- Cake!
Well, I haven't actually
met anyone who's afraid of AI
who knows the first thing about AI.
Sorta like a perfect example
of the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
Dunning-Kruger Effect?
Yeah, you know, when, uh,
people of little
competence, they they tend
to overestimate their ability.
Another example would
be me thinking I could
ask you out on a date.
Huh, I didn't see that coming.
- You kinda saw it coming.
- Pete, the candles?
- Hey, Marcus, this is Claire.
- Wendy's mom.
Man, you had one job.
You were supposed to get
- the candles an hour ago
- Relax. Relax. I got you.
Sorry, you'll have to excuse my friend,
he's, uh, he's wound a little tight!
- It makes sense, though, right?
- Yeah, it does.
- Ah! You found him.
- (MARCUS SIGHS)
Over there talkin' to Claire Bellow.
- Wendy's mom?
- Mm-hmm.
She's married.
When has that ever stopped him?
(CHUCKLING)
Yeah. I cannot believe our little boy
- is turning seven years old.
- Mm-hmm.
- It happened so fast.
- Mm, not for me, it didn't.
(LAUGHING)
(PHONE RINGING)
Oh, sorry. I gotta get this.
Uh, don't go anywhere.
- Yo.
- (WOMAN): Pete, great.
- We got you on the line.
- Hey, yeah.
- Are you with Marcus?
- Sorry.
- Arun has an important update.
- Yeah?
He needs to jump on a
call with you both. ASAP.
- Okay
- Can you grab him now?
- (LYCIA): All right
- Yeah, gimme a second.
let's do this. You got the lighter?
- Yeah. Here you go.
- Yo, Marcus,
I need you on this call. It's Arun.
Uh, no. We're about to do cake.
He says it's important.
Candles are already in, man.
Does it have to happen right now?
He says it needs to be now
and it needs to be both
of us on the line. Come on.
Go ahead, take the call.
Yeah. We'll just, uh we'll sing slow.
- Slow!
- (LAUGHING)
All right. Let's go.
Let's go.
Happy birthday to you ♪
Arun, man, it's Marcellus's birthday
so whatever you gotta tell
us, just make it quick.
(ARUN): Okay, check this out.
Google wants to buy Caraxon.
- Say that again?
- (ARUN LAUGHS)
Google!
Their lawyers just sent
over a letter of intent
- to acquire Caraxon.
- How much?
- A billion.
- (LAUGHING)
But that's just their opening offer,
- so we'll get that number up.
- Okay. All right.
Uh, thanks Arun, we'll talk to you soon.
(CHEERING, SHOUTING)
(GUESTS CHEERING)
(DISTANT SHOUTING)
(LAUGHING)
- A "b"!
- A "b"!
- A billion.
- We did it! We did that!
(CHEERING)
Confirming a person's identity
by capturing their face,
that's our business model, right?
Well, man, I wish I
coulda captured Pete's
flabbergasted face yesterday
when we got that call.
(LAUGHING) Pete Vanderkamp,
the most annoyingly,
frustratingly, brilliant individual
I have ever known.
And he just so happens
to be my best friend.
Now, back in the day when Pete and I
first started this company,
we knew it wasn't
about just building out
Pete's algorithm.
We knew that we had to
recruit the best of the best.
- Build out a real team.
- (WOMAN): Yeah!
And that's why we're
standing here today,
because of you.
You believed,
you sacrificed your
precious, precious time.
But now? Now it's time to
trade in all your sweat equity
for some real equity.
(CHEERING)
All right, chillax.
Cálmate. Let's not
get ahead of ourselves,
the deal isn't closed just yet.
But until it is,
you guys just keep
doin' what you're doin',
and just know that we
truly, truly appreciate
and are grateful for
each and every one of you
for making Caraxon a
billion-dollar acquisition.
- (EMPLOYEES): Yeah!
- In other words,
let's go!
- (CHEERING)
- What he said!
- Thank you. Thank you.
- Yeah!
Back to work!
- (GASPS)
- Oh my god. You scared me.
(LAUGHING)
Sorry I'm late.
I didn't even hear you come in.
Ah, that's 'cause
you're focused on, uh
a lil' house-hunting.
Nah, open it back up.
- Let's see. I like that one.
- Oh, really?
Mm-hmm. Yeah, oceanfront
view, tennis court,
infinity pool, nine bedrooms. I mean
there's only three
of us, so lemme see
Yeah, that means we
get three bedrooms each.
- Okay. All right.
- Might be a little tight,
- but we can make it work.
- No, I know it's stupid.
Nah, it's not stupid. I mean
A little premature, but
there's nothing wrong
- with a little real estate porn.
- It's just, you know,
we've been talking for all these years
about getting to this moment,
but we never talked about
what we'd do once we're here.
Like I said, we're not there yet.
But we are close.
So, you can't keep pushing this away.
Marcus, this is really happening,
so we gotta start talking about
how we're going to handle this.
- You're right.
- Having all of this money
all of a sudden, it
is it's disorienting
and frankly, it's pretty terrifying.
(SIGHS)
But
we'll figure it out. We always do.
Okay.
As long Marcellus doesn't
become one of those
entitled brats we can't stand.
(LAUGHING)
I ain't worried about
that. I know his mama.
You deserve this.
We deserve this.
Mm You had the dream,
and you made it happen.
I'm so proud of you.
Well, thank you, but
none of this means anything
without you and Marcellus.
That's nice.
I mean it. Speakin' of nice
Come love on me. (LAUGHING)
Please. Please. Come over here.
(PHONE CHIMES)
Mm-mm, don't answer
that. Mm-mm. Come to bed.
- Come to bed. Marcus.
- I know. I'll just
- Just
- All right,
I'll be waiting for you.
(WOMAN): Mrs. Skilling, are
you pleased with this verdict?
Am I grateful that the
police who murdered my husband
will be punished? Yes, I am.
But my husband's side of the bed
will still be empty tonight,
so there's no justice
that can make my life any less lonely.
(OVERLAPPING REPORTER CHATTER)
Excuse me.
(MAN): All right, no more questions.
(PHONE BUZZING)
Hello?
(DISTORTED VOICE): I see
you've just watched the video
I sent of Mrs. Skilling.
Who is this?
It doesn't matter who I am.
Tell me or I'm hangin' up.
All that matters is what
I know about your company.
What do you think you know?
That Xavier Skilling was murdered
because of your company's negligence.
And I can prove it.
How?
Twenty-million dollars.
That's my price for
keeping this to myself.
Unless you want me to
leak it to the media.
Look, whoever you are
and whatever you're trying
to do, this is really not
- I'll be in touch.
- (PHONE BEEPS)
(PHONE BUZZES)
(BEEPING)
What the heck?
(LYCIA): Marcus, you comin'?
Hey, what's wrong?
Um
the bankers, they
Uh, they want to file some disclosures
by tomorrow morning, so
- I gotta go over 'em with Pete.
- Now?
- Yeah.
- No, M
You can't do that over the phone, honey?
- You just got home.
- I'll be home soon. I love you.
(TENSE MUSIC)
(INDISTINCT WHISPERING)
A pre-trial motions hearing
was held two weeks ago
at which plea negotiations failed.
I understand that the defendant
maintains his plea of not guilty
for the charge of
involuntary manslaughter,
and the parties have answered
ready for trial today.
- Yes, Your Honor.
- Yes, Your Honor.
All right then, let's bring in the jury
and start with opening statements.
(TENSE MUSIC)
(PHONE RINGING)
(SIGHS)
Marcus, what the hell man?
I've been trying to call
you for like an hour.
Well, did it occur to
you that there's a reason
- I'm not picking up?
- We need to talk.
- Okay. I'm listening.
- Not on the phone.
I'm outside your house right now.
What? You're here? Now?
Um
Uh, okay. Uh, uh, just
give me a couple of minutes.
- Hurry up.
- Yep.
(SIGHS)
(DOORBELL RINGING)
Marcus.
Please don't tell Lycia.
A little afterparty after
the birthday party, huh?
She had some issues with her husband.
You know, she needed someone to talk to.
So now you're a marriage counsellor?
- Look, we gotta talk, man.
- All right, brother,
tell me what's goin' on.
You tell me.
You know what that is?
Analytics from, uh,
our beta version that
we tested seven years ago
- with the Sacramento PD.
- Yeah, they're saying
that our system has a
higher margin of error
- identifying Blacks and Asians.
- Slightly higher.
Statistically insignificant.
You want a drink?
So, you did know about this!
Yeah. Of course, I knew about it.
I'm the one who fixed it.
How'd you dig it up?
Someone sent it to me.
Someone smart enough
to hack into our server
and contact me from
a non-traceable VOIP.
- What?
- They're threatening
to go public unless we
give 'em 20 million dollars.
And they're blaming
us for Xavier Skilling.
Okay. The cops that killed Skilling
were supposed to confirm his identity
before they went in.
Right? With their own eyes.
They didn't follow protocol.
That's why they went to prison.
Human error killed Xavier
Skilling, all right?
Not our software. There's no universe
where we're legally liable.
Yeah, maybe not in a court of law,
but in the court of public opinion?
We're gonna get crucified.
(SIGHS)
How could you release
our software when you knew
this was a problem?
Because you said that
we needed Sacramento
to get our second round of financing.
- Do not try to turn this on me.
- Tell me that I'm wrong.
Tell me that you didn't say
our burn rate was so high
that if we didn't get Sacramento,
we'd have to shutter the
whole company in six months.
Huh?
So, what are we gonna do when
Google finds the discrepancy?
They won't.
They're auditing our Analytics.
- I scrubbed the numbers.
- You did what?
There's no record of the differential
after Sacramento. Okay?
Google can't find something
- that never happened.
- Except the person
that's blackmailing us
has the unedited version.
Which is why you need to pay them.
- I can't
- Marcus, we're takin' about
less than five percent of what you and I
stand to make from this deal.
But there won't be a deal
if we don't pay them. So, you tell me
what other options do we have here?
- I don't know.
- What do you wanna do, man?
You wanna go to the FBI?
You wanna go straight
into the New York
Times? What? You tell me
what you want to do, and I'll do it.
- I don't know!
- Well, I do.
And unless you want to burn down
the last 18 years of our lives,
and the lives of everybody
that works for us,
there is only one choice.
I asked them, and they have agreed
to shorten your employment contracts
from five to four years
and to accelerate
your vesting schedules.
And how much do we have to give up?
Nothing. Not one dollar.
You're both basically just
getting your payouts faster.
I love that you took
a billion-dollar offer
and you thought to
yourself, "You know what?
I can do better." Haha!
You're a genius, Arun.
Hey, I'm just here to
help raise this unicorn
that you and Marcus gave birth to.
Ooh, giving birth to a unicorn,
that sounds painful. (CHUCKLING)
Hey, Marcus, you joining
the party or what?
Um
Sorry, I was just
making sure I understand it all.
Well, that's why you
overpay us. To translate it.
(CHUCKLING)
So, uh, when do we close?
Once you sign off on terms,
they can start the
due diligence process.
Right, and how long will that take?
Four months? Six, tops.
-
- Their auditors just need to kick the tires
- and look under the hood.
- Can we finish this later?
Um, I just uh need to go over
a couple of things with Pete
before we sign, just in
case we have any questions.
It's a letter of
intent, it's non-binding,
but because of their
accounting calendar,
it does need to be signed
and submitted to the SEC
- by tomorrow.
- Tomorrow's fine.
All right, then. Well,
we'll come back tomorrow.
Cool.
(SCOFFS)
(DOOR BEEPS)
All right, it's almost two.
What was goin' on with you back there?
I thought we hashed this out last night.
When you first found out about
the discrepancy in Sacramento,
- why didn't you tell me?
- The same reason
I don't tell you about
the thousand other glitches
that I fix every time
we release a new version.
This wasn't just another glitch, Pete.
It was a problem that needed fixing,
so I fixed it. Just like I always do.
You still should've told me.
Do you tell me about
every problem you have
on the business side? No. No.
And I don't expect you to.
It's divide and conquer, man,
it's the whole point
of us being partners.
Well, then what's the
point of being friends?
(SIGHS) Marcus, you don't code, okay?
You wouldn't have been
able to do anything.
So, is that real reason
you didn't tell me?
Do you actually think that
I held this back from you
- because you're black?
- You said it, not me.
(SCOFFS)
Look, I understand
that you're wound up
about this right now,
- okay, so am I.
- I'm just asking a question.
You're calling me a racist.
(PHONE BUZZES)
Yeah, um
I'm here with my partner.
(DISTORTED VOICE): Mr. Vanderkamp.
Yeah. Hi.
So, the money you're asking for
we don't have it yet.
Our deal doesn't close
for another six months.
You're getting 50 million
when you sign the Letter of Intent.
(MARCUS): How come you know
so much about our business?
(DISTORTED VOICE): Once you
sign the LOI, I'll contact you
with wiring instructions.
And after we pay you,
how do we know you won't go public?
- You don't.
- Then what?
We're just supposed to trust you?
Like you trust each other.
We done here?
(DOOR OPENS)
(KEYS JINGLING)
Where you goin' so early?
Couldn't really sleep,
so I figured I'd hit the gym, but you
- you go back to bed.
- It's still dark outside.
Hey, I'll be back in time
to make Marcellus breakfast.
Go to sleep.
(SIGHS)
(SOFT MUSIC)
(MAN): Mrs. Skilling,
please describe your
husband for the court.
Xavier was the best man I've ever known.
You couldn't find a more loving
husband or devoted father.
He had a good business,
and he cared after his customers.
He liked people, and people liked him.
I had 30 years with him,
and I was looking forward
to another 30 more, but
I'm sure you must want to
put all this behind you.
Not at all.
Every chance I get to
tell anyone about Xavier
is a chance I'll take.
Cam, that knee is lookin' better.
- Back on the dancefloor, baby.
- (LAUGHING)
Even my most loyal customers
don't come in this early.
(MARCUS CHUCKLES)
Yeah, early business meeting,
so I thought I'd grab
some bagels and donuts
to earn some good
will with my employees.
No better way. So how
big is your meeting?
Eight people maybe? So, a
couple of dozen should work.
Do you want any particular kind,
or you want an assortment?
You're the expert, so, you know,
whatever you say, just mix it up.
What kind of business are you in?
Uh tech.
Oh. Thanks, Jane. Tech!
Woo, that remains a mystery to me.
I need my kids to change
the settings on my phone.
- (CHUCKLING)
- You have kids?
Yes, ma'am. Uh
One, my son. He just turned seven.
Oh, that's a good age.
I was checking out the
photos when I walked in.
- Girl in the cap and gown?
- Oh, that's Willow.
That's my daughter. Cam,
can I get another box?
- Yep.
- She's in medical school.
And that's my son, Dwayne.
He's a ranger in the National Park.
The first time we ever
took him, when he was six,
he said, "That's what I wanna do,"
and that's what he did.
Impressive kids. You must be proud.
Yes, I am.
No bakers in the next generation?
They saw my husband
and me wake up at 3 A.M.
all those years. No.
I can't blame 'em, though.
He's, uh
He's passed, so it's
it's just me now, so
You ever think about sellin' it?
Yeah, I imagine I'll
sell at some point, but
this is where my husband
and I built our lives,
and raised our kids, and
supported a community.
So, it'll be hard to let go.
Well, I hope that
your meeting goes well.
And that your team is hungry.
You know what? I'll
take a few more dozen.
Cam, can I get two more boxes?
Yep!
Thank you very much.
Mrs. Skilling,
both the criminal and civil cases
against the Sacramento Police
Department were resolved
seven years ago.
Please tell the court
why you decided to testify today?
Because I wanted this man to see me,
and I wanted him to be
seen for what he really is.
- Objection.
- Sustained.
Prosecution will stay away
from character evidence.
Yes, Your Honor.
Jurors will disregard the
witness' last response.
I'm striking it from the record.
(LYCIA): I'm concerned,
I was watching that jury
when Lenore Skilling was up there.
We knew she would make
a compelling witness,
but she didn't bring any
new facts to the case.
I'm not worried about the facts.
I'm worried about how
she made them feel.
I saw their faces. Did you see
how they were looking at you?
Yeah.
I think I should testify.
- Lycia that's
- It might help.
Spousal privilege protects
you from having to testify,
but once you do, the prosecution
can cross-examine you.
I'll take that chance.
The jury needs to hear my side of this.
Because what happened
was not just on Marcus.
(DISTANT SIRENS WAILING)
Marcellus!
I'm sorry.
Why you ridin' that
in the house any damn way?
I didn't mean to break
it. It was my present.
Hey, it's okay, baby.
It's okay. He knows you didn't mean it.
- Marcellus
- Let's go.
Walk away from the glass.
Marcellus
Ah
It's fine.
Let me see it.
It's fine.
Hey.
I didn't mean to yell.
Well, now you sound like Marcellus.
Neither of you meant it.
I gotta go talk to him.
First you need to talk to me.
I know you well enough to
know when something's goin' on.
There's a lot going on, Lycia.
I'm tryin' to sell the company.
And that should be making you happy,
not short-tempered and sleepless,
leavin' all hours of the night,
screaming at your son,
drinkin' the minute you get home.
There's just a lot of stuff
that, um, I gotta work through.
Okay. What kind of stuff?
Marcus, you can tell me, whatever it is.
I don't need to involve you.
Well, anything that
involves you, involves me.
And that's when your husband told you
he was being blackmailed.
He told me everything.
He even told me about going
to the bakery earlier that morning
because he couldn't
sleep. The idea that he had
anything to do with Xavier
Skilling's murder is
it was weighing on Marcus to the point
where he did not think
he could live with himself
if he kept it in.
Marcus wanted to
to tell the truth. He wanted to step up
and do what was right.
- But he didn't.
- No.
Why not?
Because I said he shouldn't.
Well, Pete should've told
you exactly when it happened,
obviously. So, the two of you
have got a lot that
you need to work out,
but (SIGHS)
Honey, I I think he's right.
Right about what?
Paying this person what they want.
And hopefully, it'll all go away.
An innocent man was
murdered because of us.
Not because of you.
Because the police didn't
confirm his identity
before they shot him.
If they weren't using our system,
Xavier Skilling would
still be alive today.
Maybe. We don't know.
But is killing your company,
is blowing up this deal
gonna bring him back? It's not.
They won't credit you
for coming forward.
They'll just use it to
take you down, Marcus,
and to keep you there.
Come on.
Is exposing this small margin of error
worth destroying our family?
After everything that
you have sacrificed,
after everything we have
both sacrificed to get here.
In that moment, I thought I was
protecting my husband and my son,
but it's more than that.
And I'm not making
excuses for what I did,
I'm still just trying
to understand it myself.
My grandfather was a veteran,
and he couldn't get a
loan under the GI Bill.
Redlining kept our
families out of homes,
out of neighborhoods.
And now, here's my family
getting close to the
kind of status and power
and
all that comes with that kind of wealth.
And all because my
husband built a company
from the ground up.
And I wasn't gonna let
that get taken away.
I'm so sorry for what
happened to your husband.
(SNIFFLES)
And I really don't
expect you to forgive me.
But I hope that my husband might.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Marcus
let's do this.
Uh, yeah. I just gotta talk to Pete.
Yeah, uh, I haven't heard
back from either of you.
I'm assuming we're
good to go on the LOI.
- Yeah.
- Well, that didn't sound
very convincing.
Like I said, uh
before we sign, I just
gotta sort some stuff out with Pete.
Anything I can help you with?
- Nah.
- Okay. Hey, Marcus
I've been meaning to thank you.
I mean this is a life-changing
moment for a lot of us,
me included, and I didn't
want that to get left unsaid
in all the excitement.
Some ride, huh?
Yeah. Some ride.
- And you keep forgetting. When else
- I haven't forgotten a single thing.
- Yes, you have. No
- I've listened to you.
- (PETE CLEARS THROAT)
- Am I interrupting something?
Ask Pete.
The defendant claims that Mr. Vanderkamp
told him that you were arguing
over the equity stake in
the sale of the company.
- Is that accurate?
- No.
Pete accused me of
blackmailing Marcus and him.
Based on what?
I'm the one who discovered
the statistical anomaly.
I ran the analytics
during the Sacramento pilot
after Xavier Skilling was murdered.
Other than Pete, I was the
only one who knew about it.
Was Mr. Vanderkamp correct
in his suspicion
that you were using the
information to extort them?
- Yes.
- Let the record show
the witness has already
pleaded guilty to extortion
and is awaiting sentencing.
So noted.
Ms. Wax,
why would you resort to blackmail
when you stood to earn
ten-million dollars from the sale?
Because
Pete promised he'd compensate me for it,
but he never did.
Every time I brought it up,
he had some excuse.
So, when I heard about
the company being sold
and Pete pretended like he'd
never promised me anything, I
But that was Pete,
promising something one minute
and forgetting it the next.
Ms. Wax, after you found the anomaly,
why did you bring it to
Mr. Vanderkamp's attention
and not Mr. Paul's?
I wanted to tell Marcus, I did,
but Pete didn't want him to know.
Why not? Why keep that information
from his best friend
and business partner?
He said he wanted to protect Marcus.
That Marcus' heart was too big
and that he was too good
to handle what we'd found.
She's not happy with
her payout. It's fine.
I'll deal with her after the meeting.
We gotta talk.
Arun's waiting for us.
Let him wait.
What's this about?
Not here. Let's go.
(OMINOUS MUSIC)
Well?
This doesn't feel right.
Could you be a little more specific?
We gotta disclose the
analytics from Sacramento.
- I'm not signing the LOI.
- Oh God.
I'm sorry, Pete, man, I can't.
We already had this
conversation, Marcus.
Yeah, I wish I could just
hold my nose and sign it,
but I keep imagining how
I'd have to explain myself
to Marcellus if he ever found out.
He won't. Right? Marcellus
is never gonna know.
- Nobody is ever gonna know.
- I'll know.
And the idea of carrying this
with me for the rest of my life,
I can't. I won't do it, Pete.
Not for all the money in the world.
We are talking about a
statistically negligible
result that's no longer an issue. Okay?
I-It wasn't even an issue back then.
See?
That's exactly what I'm talkin' about.
- What?
- You're always so damn
- easy on yourself.
- What does that even mean?
Sleeping with married women.
(SCOFFS)
Buying a house that you can't afford.
Here we go.
Faking our company's analytics
right before a
billion-dollar transaction,
which by the way, is called fraud.
How many more examples do you need?
Pete just does what he wants to do.
And when someone calls you on it,
you always got a
convenient little excuse.
It's who you are. Who
you've always been.
And you're just realizing
all of this right now? Hmm?
Right now. Now, when we're
about to get everything
that we ever dreamed of, huh?
Wow, Marcus, I gotta tell
you, man, the timing here
is, uh, pretty messed up.
Let me ask you a question, though.
If I'm such a bad person,
then why'd you come to me
to start a company? Huh?
It's gonna take some time
for me to figure that out.
Well, maybe you should start
by looking in the mirror.
You know, now that we're being
so honest with each other.
Goodbye, Pete.
- We are not done here.
- Yes, we are.
No, we are not. What,
you're too afraid to hear
- the truth about yourself?
- Take your hand off me,
- or I'll take it off myself.
- You have always known
exactly who I was, but
I was your Golden Goose,
so you held on tight
and looked the other way.
(GRUNTING)
Okay, Ms. Wax, um, let's
go to the day in question.
You told the police
that you followed Mr. Paul
and Mr. Vanderkamp into
the stairwell landing.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Yes.
Ms. Wax, please tell the court
why you followed them that day.
Part of me thought about
telling them the truth,
because something ugly
was growing between them.
And I knew I was responsible.
- (SHOUTING)
- But by the time
I opened the door
it was too late.
Ms. Wax, you told the police
that you saw them
fighting in the stairwell?
Not right away.
(GRUNTING)
I tried listening through the door,
but it was too heavy to hear anything.
So I opened it just a crack.
And what exactly did you see?
(GRUNTING)
(SCREAMING)
I saw Pete going over the railing
and
falling into the stairwell.
But not because my client pushed him.
- No.
- Yet you claimed earlier
my client was close
enough to Mr. Vanderkamp
to catch him before he
fell, but he failed to do so.
- Yes, but
- And you witnessed this
from outside the actual
stairwell landing,
in what you yourself
described as a a narrow gap.
I had a clear enough view.
Well, how close were you to them?
Six feet? Ten?
Which is it? Six? Ten?
It's hard to say exactly.
Is it possible the angle
you viewed them from
made it even harder to judge
the distance between them?
I suppose so.
And by the time you actually
entered the stairwell,
what'd you see?
Marcus was kneeling over him.
- He was trying to help.
- He was trying to help?
Uh that doesn't sound
like the intention of a man
who wanted to hurt Mr. Vanderkamp.
Objection. Leading the witness.
- Sustained.
- I'll rephrase.
Ms. Wax, please,
describe my client's
emotional state, uh,
when you saw him, "trying
to help" Mr. Vanderkamp.
Marcus was in pain.
(GASPS)
I've never seen anyone so deeply
and completely wrecked.
How long have you known
Mr. Paul and Mr. Vanderkamp?
Several years.
I was their fourth hire.
And how well do you know them?
Very well.
We worked crazy, long hours,
all of us, so
we got to know each
other pretty intimately.
Other than his principals and
the company they co-founded,
could you describe their relationship?
They were friends.
Best friends.
And even that doesn't describe
what they meant to each other.
Yes, they fought sometimes,
but only to make each other better.
And they'd still have
that (VOICE BREAKING)
they'd still have each other
if I hadn't done what I'd done.
And I'm so, so sorry.
Your task here today is not to determine
the Caraxon Corporation's culpability
in the tragic murder of Xavier Skilling.
Mm-mm. No.
Your task is to decide
what was Mr. Paul's intent
when he caused the death
of Peter Vanderkamp.
By failing to stop Mr.
Vanderkamp's lethal fall
when he was well within reach,
Mr. Paul clearly
demonstrated his intent.
His failure to act
is the literal definition
of involuntary manslaughter,
the culmination of
a lifetime of grievances
that metastasized into a rage.
The prosecution rests, Your Honor.
Thank you.
Mr. Walker, you may present
your closing statement.
Of course, my client
harbored grievances that day,
but only after he learned
Mr. Vanderkamp lied to him,
and withheld crucial information
about the company he co-founded,
a company to which he's dedicated
almost all his adult life.
You're being asked today
to decide the fate of a man
based on the testimony of a,
a single disgruntled employee.
And as strenuously as the state
has tried to prove otherwise,
they have failed to
present sufficient evidence
that Mr. Vanderkamp's
fall was anything other
than a tragic accident.
With any reasonable doubt
that this unfortunate
death was premeditated,
it is your duty
to find my client not guilty.
The defense rests, Your Honor.
Have you reached a verdict?
We have, Your Honor.
In the case of the State of California
versus Marcus Paul,
on the charge of
involuntary manslaughter,
we find the defendant
not guilty.
(BREATHING SHAKILY)
Thank you, members of the jury,
for your time and your consideration.
You are dismissed.
Mr. Paul, you are free to go.
- This court is
- Your Honor, my client
would like to address the court.
Go ahead.
Pete was my friend.
And my business partner.
And I'm
I will always
carry the burden of his death.
And I will never know
if our system misidentified
Xavier Skilling
because he was black.
But if I would've known at the time
that that was even a possibility
I would like to think that
I would have disclosed it.
But maybe, Pete, my best friend,
was just trying to
protect me from the burden
of facing that uncertainty.
And maybe part of me didn't wanna
ask him those tough questions,
so I wouldn't have to
confront those real truths.
Mrs. Skilling,
I echo my wife's words.
I do not expect you to forgive me.
But I promise you,
I will dedicate my life
to asking the questions
I should've asked
before your husband was killed.
For the rest of my life
I will honor his life,
and the way he lived it.
Thank you, Your Honor.
This court is adjourned.
(GAVEL BANGS)
(SOFT MUSIC)