Law & Order (1990) s02e14 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.
Sunday night, huh? - If you were off, this what you'd be doing? - I'd be tuning my Harley.
Or Mary Louise.
Come on, break it up, break it up.
Just relax, you'll get in.
It's not a problem.
- Get the manager out here.
- Is there a problem? You got excessive noise, you got loitering.
- Not me.
My feet are moving.
- Peter, come on! I was talking to the policeman.
Where are you going? The car's over there.
- We got to go home.
- At midnight? - Let's go to Nirvana - It's time to go home! It is not time to go home.
No, I don't want to Peter! - Nobody saw her at the club.
- Was she invisible out here? Tore the necklace so hard, took skin with it.
Lois Ryder, Off the park.
Nice.
- Saperstein, 3-6.
- Phil Cerreta, Mike Logan.
What's the matter, you don't get enough work in your own turf? Hit her in the head? Maybe a baseball bat? Took the jewelry, left the credit cards? Case closed.
You got the guy booked? Last six weeks, two within 10 blocks.
- I didn't see it on the borough sheet.
- No.
We don't want the MO out.
We gagged it downtown.
The guy hits them with a bat, takes the jewelry, leaves the cards.
What do you got? Hits 'em with a bat, takes the jewelry, leaves the cards.
You got nothing.
Cerreta: We realize it's a difficult time.
You were in the country all weekend? I had to get the roof fixed.
Who cares if the roof was leaking? Mr.
Ryder Mr.
Ryder? Do you know what your wife would have been doing tonight? I talked to her this morning.
She and I talked.
And she said she might go to the movies, and I told her not to walk.
The movie, Mr.
Ryder, would you know which one that would be? She likes the 69th Street Twin.
Mr.
Ryder, do you happen to have a photo of her that we could borrow? Girl: Daddy? Daddy, is something wrong? Where's Mommy? Man: Scandinavian film festival.
People committing suicide in the snow.
Not exactly what New Yorkers want to see in the winter.
We sold 86 tickets.
One to her? I'm so bored, I'm working with my eyes closed.
Okay, thanks.
Six more bars, four Korean fruit stands.
Nobody saw her.
What's he got? Suicide.
In Swedish.
Massive blunt force trauma.
Matches the other victims.
This guy is batting a thousand.
She ate an hour before she died.
Meat, huh? Maybe she found an art house that served carpaccio with the cappuccino.
You find semen in the vagina, you don't call us? Nobody said it was rape.
There's no sign of rape.
No tearing, no abrasions.
- Her husband was out of town.
- I'm supposed to know that? - What am I, his travel agent? - What time did she do it? Before midnight last night.
Sperm cells were dead this morning.
And after midnight Friday.
I found acid phosphatase seminal fluid.
Disappears 48 hours after intercourse.
Of course, it's also found in cauliflower juice.
I think we can rule out a cauliflower.
Your friend Saperstein from the 3-6? Jewelry from one of the other murders turned up in the Diamond District.
Not traceable.
Why does she go to a late movie with two little kids at home? Maybe because she had two little kids at home.
And because she has a housekeeper.
She's not going to tell the housekeeper where she's going? She had dinner, she had sex.
Spells boyfriend.
- Maybe a lovers' quarrel? - Or the husband wasn't gone for four days.
It would be nice to know who she was sleeping with.
You're gonna have to go see the husband.
Boy, if it wasn't him, this is a lousy time to bring him that kind of news.
My son's under sedation.
This is not a good time.
We really do have to talk to him.
The children, the funeral arrangements.
He's very upset.
Mr.
Ryder, sorry to bother you.
If we could just have a minute, privately? The family is in this together.
- I really don't think - No.
No, it's all right.
Your wife there's medical evidence that indicates she had intimate relations in the 48 hours before she died.
That's impossible.
I went to Southampton on Thursday.
- If it wasn't you - What are you saying? My wife was having an affair? I'm sure Lois was doing no such thing.
If we could track her movements, we might find a witness to her murder.
Ryder: It can't be.
- I know my wife.
- It's possible the lab was wrong.
If you would take a blood test, we'd know it's you, we don't have to look for someone that doesn't exist.
My daughter-in-law is dead, my grandchildren don't have a mother, and you want to drag my son through some cheap scandal.
I don't think so.
No.
Tell me, what's the big deal about taking a blood test? Your wife just died, maybe you don't like being asked to prove she wasn't sleeping around.
Maybe he didn't want us to know he saw her over the weekend.
Your guy Ryder? Draft bait, Vietnam.
Joined the National Guard.
Dan Quayle Brigade.
The Army found his DD214.
Blood type "A.
" That doesn't match the semen.
So why won't he take the test? Like I said grieving husband, privacy.
Maybe he just don't like cops.
Logan: Maybe he knew it wouldn't match.
Didn't want us to know she had a boyfriend.
- And that he had a motive.
- I'll tell you one person who saw her before she died the boyfriend.
- Where do you have her last? - Housekeeper says the hospital.
Carnegie Hill.
Volunteer work.
What are you waiting for? I need people to hold patient's hands.
Most volunteers, they want to work the resale shop on Madison.
First dibs on the used Adolfos.
So you didn't know Mrs.
Ryder well.
Doctor: Ryder money built this hospital.
Lois should have been part of that crowd, but she didn't understand the game.
Worked the pediatric cancer ward.
Did she ever tell you about her life? We think she had a boyfriend.
I wouldn't know.
Ms.
Phillips, you can either tell us or a grand jury.
He's married.
He has kids.
Leave him out of it.
He's already in it.
What's his name? Joel Friedman, Chief of Pediatrics.
Lois Ryder? Of course I knew her.
She volunteered at the hospital.
Were you with her Sunday night? I don't know what you're talking about.
We'll make it easy for you.
Sunday night, Lois Ryder.
You, together.
Cerreta: Do you want us to tell you your rights? Who is it, honey? I'll get my coat.
- We want a blood test.
- If you're not going to give it to us, - we'll get a court order.
- Relax, gentlemen.
Joel.
I was with her.
We'd been seeing each other about five months.
Normally, I wouldn't see her in my apartment.
She called.
She wanted to talk.
- Her husband says they were happily married.
- Really? No.
No, there's a picture in the Ryder house.
Lois told me.
His grandmother on a camel.
Egypt 1930.
In 1930, her grandmother was scrubbing floors in East Orange, New Jersey.
And the Ryders never let her forget that.
I can't be involved in this.
Did her husband know about the affair? I saw him last month at a hospital fundraiser.
He smirked at me.
He knew.
Lois didn't understand what she was doing.
I did.
I was there to make him jealous.
He's cooperating.
He didn't kill her.
I know it, you know it.
She's using him.
Maybe he loses his temper.
The elevator man says the Doc's wife got home 40 minutes after Lois Ryder left.
He was waiting at the door for her.
That gives him just about enough time.
Fire escape dumps into a locked yard.
There's a tall fence.
So the Doc goes out, climbs the fence, clobbers Lois Ryder, hauls her body from West Side to the East Side and gets home just in time to kiss his wife hello? What is he, Houdini? The Doc here says Ryder knew about him.
And Ryder said he didn't know.
I knew.
I just didn't see why the rest of the world had to know.
We had to know.
He was one of the last people to see her alive.
My granddaughter should she read in the newspaper about her mother's infidelity? And especially with someone so foreign.
Yes, he's from the West Side.
You know what I mean.
He was not of our element.
No Jewish doctors in your crowd, huh? Mr.
Ryder, let me ask you something.
Your wife's affair, you didn't have a problem with it? Look, this thing with Dr.
Friedman my wife and I discussed it.
It was ending.
And frankly, I don't think he was very happy about it.
First Ryder sends us to the movies, but his wife didn't go to the movies.
- Then he points at the doctor.
- It's all crap, and it's all coming from Ryder.
Maybe he came into town early and surprised the wife.
Give us six guys, and this time we canvass with Ryder's photograph.
Why don't I just hire the Russian Army? They're not busy.
First we do the doc's neighborhood, then we do Ryder's neighborhood, and then we do where she was found.
Just give us Profaci and Lee.
One shift.
I got a guy who saw Ryder driving a news delivery truck.
It was either Ryder, or it was a black guy who looked exactly like him.
I got a guy who saw a UFO.
Pick up Lee, go home.
And say hello to Shirley for me, all right, Profaci? - I'll see you, Phil.
- Logan: Phil! Phil! I love New York this time of year.
You got somebody who saw him the night she was hit? Not quite.
Come meet Mr.
Lewis.
Nice looking lady.
For me, a little old, but great cheekbones.
Tell him about the boys.
Couple of weeks ago, two kids, they're renting porn.
"Vibrating Vixens.
" - There oughta be a law.
- There is a law.
Anyway, they're talking about the baseball bat guy the mugger.
The lady with the cheekbones, she comes in all the time.
- Art movies.
- Mrs.
Ryder.
The one in the picture.
She gets upset.
- She turns to the guy with her.
- Mr.
Ryder.
She's all riled up.
"What's wrong with society? Life is unfair.
No wonder they mug people.
" He says, "Can we finish the speech when we get home?" Me, I say, "They oughta get shot.
" Ryder knew about the mugger.
Thanks a lot.
Now we know why he didn't want to take the blood test.
He didn't want us to look for the boyfriend.
We find the boyfriend, we find out Ryder knew who he was.
He knows who he is, he knows where to look for his wife.
He waits outside the doc's apartment.
- That's Riverside Drive.
11:00, nobody on the street.
- Cracks her skull.
Brings her over here across town, - dumps her in this neighborhood.
- Copycatting the mugger.
And then figures we drop it right here.
"One more mugger victim.
Too bad.
Case closed.
" My ass.
Case open.
You know, I just come on.
Ryder says he came straight from Southampton.
Nothing says he didn't.
"Traffic on the Southern State," he said.
Like I care.
Not your favorite customer, huh? I get in, I want to park the car.
He's yakkin'.
His winter place in the Islands, the roof's broken, the pool's too hot.
In the winter, I'm lucky if I get to Park Avenue South.
Mr.
Ryder, is he always so cordial? - I gotta just sit in the cold car and listen.
- Cold? The car was cold? - It was freezing.
- Thanks a lot.
What is it to Southampton, two hours? - Yeah.
- I go six blocks in my car and it overheats.
He hit his wife, then we went and sat in some coffee shop for a couple of hours till the shift changed here.
You want to canvass I want to get in that damn car.
Only if we impound the car, Ryder's gonna know we're sniffing around.
I'm going to dance for the warrant.
They can do it here.
No blood in the car.
Must have bagged her head.
But CSU tweezers picked up fibers from Mrs.
Ryder's sweater.
But where's that going to get us? - Even $800 cashmere sheds.
- It's her car.
There's bound to be fibers from her clothes.
In the trunk? Paul, I can guarantee it.
He waits outside Friedman's apartment, he hits her, he drags the body across town, he dumps it, he makes it look like a mugging, he tells us she was down at the movies.
No evidence.
We can barely convict Ryder of lying.
- What about the fiber? - It could have been there for months.
- The car was cold.
- It wasn't bloody.
Cerreta: What do you want us to do? Hit every sporting goods store in the five boroughs, - find a clerk who sold a middle-aged man a bat? - Cragen: Hey, hey.
Last time I looked, we all got our paychecks from the same place.
He is not the enemy.
Give us something like motive.
There's the affair, but the doc says Ryder didn't even care about it.
Ryder? I guarantee he cared his wife's lover was Jewish.
Come on, who cares about the religion of the guy your wife is boffin'? The Ryders.
You heard what she said "Not in our element.
" An affair.
Is that motive? But what was going on in the marriage? She must have told somebody.
Let's get photostats of her date book.
"K, drinks, 'The Algonquin.
"' "Kent, lunch.
" "K.
Meeker, dinner, 'Lutece.
"' "Kent, lunch, 'Le Perigord.
"' What have we got, another boyfriend? Man: Lois and I? No.
Just friends.
- Are you friends with Mr.
Ryder? - Prep school.
We were on the swimming team, St.
Luke's.
- I'm almost family.
- How about Mrs.
Ryder? Is she "almost" family, too? Lois was killed by a mugger, isn't that right? This time that you spent with Mrs.
Ryder She came to me because look, let's say that my pedigree was marginally better than hers.
She needed advice.
Her marriage.
What's wrong with it? Lois figured it went bad when Jonathan's mother left the wedding reception before the florist did.
My mother doesn't like my wife.
I stopped worrying about that 20 years ago.
You are not Jonathan Ryder.
You know, when we were in prep school, he wasn't doing well.
His mother comes up, there's a new Ryder building.
Suddenly his grades are fine.
She never let him forget that.
- That he was a screw up? - It takes its toll.
He once booted the cat across the room.
- Did he ever boot his wife? - Worse.
Lois told me he offered her three million to leave.
Just handed her a paper.
"Hi, honey, sign this, go away.
" She loved him.
She wanted a marriage counselor.
But he could get a divorce with her or without her.
Her share of the joint property? In the neighborhood of 20 million.
- Unless she just happened to die.
- Jonathan? Doesn't have the giblets.
Mama cut 'em off years ago.
Maybe you should ask Barbara Ryder where she was that night.
Ryder should've popped his mother and told her where to get off.
- You the expert on lousy moms? - As a matter of fact, I am.
Mrs.
Ryder's necklace and bracelet pawned in Chelsea.
Identified from insurance company photos.
Who pawned them, Jonathan Ryder's mother? I don't think she frequents the "New Era Pawnshop.
" When did that jewelry come in? Morning after the murder.
- Pawnshop got our flyer yesterday.
- Are we making this up? Was she killed by a mugger? Why don't you find the guy and ask him? Man: What's with the muscle? I saw the circular, and I called.
I'm gonna eat the money I gave that creep.
Since when have you become so law abiding? Since I did one-to-three for receiving.
My wife likes me home for the holidays.
Okay, good.
Thanks.
Hey, your Mr.
Everett who pawned the jewelry? Bad ID.
His license was stolen three weeks ago.
The law says get an ID.
I got one.
Oh, yeah? Did you look at the picture on it? What color was he? - White.
- No.
The real Mr.
Everett is black.
You didn't look too good.
Mikey this guy laid out $4,000 on a fake ID.
- What do you think? - I think he's probably got other stolen stuff here.
I think I should open the safe.
Look! This guy is crazy.
He could kill me.
I don't want trouble.
From him or from us? Who's it gonna be? Give me the name.
I guess the middle class really is moving out of New York.
Cerreta: 14.
Henry Willard?! New York City Police! Go to it, big daddy.
Tough guy, huh? I guess we interrupted his recreation.
Logan: Come on, get out of here.
Henry.
Henry? Your driver's license, your ID at the pawnshop, Henry, you mugged a guy to get them.
Not to mention mugging the lady.
She's in pretty bad shape.
- You better hope she can't identify you.
- I found that stuff.
- On Mrs.
Ryder.
- In a dumpster.
Penn Station somewhere.
Middle of the night.
I was high.
I don't remember.
You're a real specimen.
Stupid, drugged and violent.
Thanks.
Okay, Henry these are the insurance photos of the jewelry.
Pay attention! This is the bracelet, this is the necklace, this is the pin.
Over here.
Where's this pin? There was no damn pin.
Don't you want us to tell the DA that you cooperated? - Huh? - Get me a lawyer.
Mr.
Willard's yellow sheets.
B and E, mugging, crack He mugs for jewelry, sells it for drugs.
I got a problem.
The guy's a whacko.
- He swung a table at us.
- I don't see the problem.
- Book him.
- A table, not a baseball bat.
There wasn't a bat in the room.
He going to buy a new bat every time he mugs someone? Listen to this.
"Bracelet, diamonds, made by Harry Winston, Necklace, diamonds and rubies, Pin, silver, Lucien Peller, 1931.
Yeah? Suppose Mr.
Congeniality in there is telling us the truth.
He found the expensive necklace and bracelet in the dumpster, - but not the $1,000 pin.
- Ryder.
He threw the new stuff away.
It was only money.
The pin was an heirloom.
You're telling me he killed her, then started feeling a little sentimental, kept the pin? The city house, the country house and the mother's house.
This time you dance for the warrant.
Tennis rackets, skis, polo mallets, and what is this? A lacrosse stick.
My son hasn't played in years.
- You mind if I use your phone again? - Not at all.
No baseball bats.
- You should wait for my attorney.
- Yes, ma'am.
But the law says we don't have to.
Get me Detective Lee, please.
Thanks.
Hey.
Logan.
You find anything? Oh, thanks.
Nothing on the other side of town.
Ryder says they wrinkled his suits.
Yeah? Well, he may not be wearing them for a while.
Pin, silver, 1931.
Docket number 5231.
The People versus Jonathan Ryder.
The charge is murder in the second degree.
How does the defendant plead? Not guilty.
The People seek substantial bail.
- The charge is murder.
- So I heard, Mr.
Robinette.
Mr.
Webber? - Your Honor, Mr.
Ryder is a well-established - I know who he is.
He can afford it.
The usual travel restrictions.
Paul, Mr.
Ryder's mother, his sister, they were all playing bridge the night of the murder.
- Alibi witnesses.
- Bridge? Three of them? I believe a computer made up the fourth hand.
Is the computer going to testify, too? Well, who do you and Stone have, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? Anything to avoid it.
I don't want to testify.
A murder trial isn't a matter of personal convenience.
My daughter comes home at 3:00 in the morning.
My son wants to know why his mother won't talk to me.
They'll turn my life into tabloid headlines.
- What do you need me for? - Your affair.
Mr.
Ryder's awareness of it.
What time Mrs.
Ryder left your apartment.
I don't know anything about the murder.
If you cared for Mrs.
Ryder I loved her.
I wanted to marry her.
My kids I couldn't leave my wife.
She wouldn't survive.
I'm on the board of six Jewish charities.
I know that sounds stupid, but that's my life.
If you don't testify, I'll cite you for contempt.
I can't bring her back.
I want to salvage what's left of my life.
Cite me for contempt.
I'll pay the fine.
My lawyer said you won't put me in jail.
Barbara: Mr.
Robinette we thought it would be more convenient for you if you saw us together.
Your lawyer said you wouldn't see me any other way.
There must be some misunderstanding.
I hope we can dispose of this situation.
Why don't we sit down? We left Jonathan's house just after 11:00.
Did you notice the time, too, Mrs.
Dickey? Jane never wears a watch.
I've tried to convince her for years.
You left your brother's house with your mother? Jane's staying with me in the country.
We were so sorry to hear about Lois.
Barbara: May I be frank, Mr.
Robinette? I'm very worried about my son, as I'm sure your mother would worry about you.
Jonathan's been accused of a horrible crime.
I spoke with him this morning.
He hasn't left his house in days.
Jane: Now that you have our statement, you'll drop the charges, won't you? We are certain it was 11:00.
My late husband insisted I be punctual.
I always know the time.
Think they'll hold up on the stand? Paul says the sister's just like Ryder - under his mama's thumb.
- She's convinced her daughter to commit perjury.
She drove her son to kill his wife.
The paper Ryder asked his wife to sign.
You wonder why she didn't take the three million to walk? - Paragraph seven.
- He wanted her to give up the kids? Sure.
To them the mother's disposable.
The children are Ryder's.
She went, they stayed.
Lovely.
- Why didn't Ryder burn this? - Didn't know we were looking for it.
- We got it from his corporate lawyer.
- They let you have it? - It's attorney work product.
- No, Ryder wrote that himself.
They can't claim privilege.
Couldn't have got it from Ryder, anyway.
- Why not? - You're gonna love this.
His mother said he was home.
They went to serve a subpoena on him, not in the city or Southampton.
The housekeeper gave me the limo service.
Dropped him and the kids at JFK.
Sun Air terminal.
International.
- Ryder has a winter house? - Two.
Palm Beach, where he isn't, and Barbados.
- The bail conditions say he can't leave the country.
- He broke bail.
Judge: It looks to me like your client was fleeing this jurisdiction.
Mr.
Ryder had no intention of flight, Your Honor.
He wanted to get his children away from the press.
I put people in jail because they don't have 25 cents for bail.
Mr.
Ryder thinks the rules don't apply to him? I advised him it was all right.
- At worst, a technical violation.
- Bad advice.
Very bad advice.
I've got a technical solution for your technical violation.
Mr.
Ryder likes islands? I've got one for him.
Rikers.
- This is ridiculous.
- Your Honor.
Judge: Bail is revoked.
Ryder in jail for two months? His idea of a rough weekend is a picnic with warm champagne.
You think he'll start blabbing to his cellmate? By the trial he'll be a blithering idiot.
- So let's put an informant in his cell.
- We'll never survive on appeal.
Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
No, the Supreme Court is clear.
If the informant doesn't elicit anything, it's admissible.
Who's available to send in? An armed robber, a rent-gouging landlord.
Both of those are ripe for deals.
Go with the armed robber.
Ends up in front of a jury, he'll get more sympathy than a landlord.
I know what you want.
I'll get it.
You will not get it.
You will not ask Mr.
Ryder any questions.
You will not say good morning.
And if he tries to confess, I should break out of the cell? If you mess this up, you'll be very sorry you cut a deal with me.
Ryder mentions his wife, you avert your eyes, say nothing.
You don't trust me, you put in a robot with a tape recorder in its head.
If I could, I would.
Cashmere fibers in the trunk matched fibers from the sweater Mrs.
Ryder was wearing beyond any doubt.
Was the pattern of fibers in the trunk distinctive? Witness: Well, they were spread in a band about three feet long, and pulled out at the base, as if they'd been wrapped around something heavy and dragged.
Your witness.
Mr.
Medill, your report notes traces of naphthalene.
- What is that? - Dry cleaning fluid.
This ticket from the Seaview Cleaners in Southampton itemizes clothes removed from storage two weeks before Mrs.
Ryder died.
Do any of those listed items match the type of fiber you found in the trunk? There's a pink cashmere sweater.
This fiber pattern, could it have been made by a bundle of clothes removed from storage, and put in a trunk with a pink sweater on the bottom? Dry cleaners wrap their clothes in plastic.
And if the plastic ripped? - I suppose so.
- You suppose what, Mr.
Medill? It could be consistent, yes.
Thank you.
And after Mrs.
Ryder left the hospital, do you recall whether she was wearing any jewelry or not? There was a pin on her coat.
She wore it all the time.
I'm showing you People's Exhibit Number 12.
- Is this the pin? - That looks like it, yes.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Ms.
Phillips, does this resemble the pin Lois Ryder was wearing? It's similar.
And this? Yes, it does.
And the pin in this photograph? Your Honor, objection! Where did he get these? Gentlemen.
Excellent question, Counselor.
If you had those things produced to create confusion The Ryder family had four nearly identical pins made in 1931.
The insurance agent that identified the one Lois Ryder was wearing made a mistake.
- He'll testify to that.
- This is a very convenient mistake.
- Easy one to make.
- How did that pin end up in Barbara Ryder's house? She took it to wear to her daughter-in-law's funeral.
Judge: Mr.
Webber, if you don't back this up, you're looking at a character committee investigation.
Objection overruled.
Ms.
Phillips, I ask you again, are you absolutely certain which of these pins Mrs.
Ryder was wearing? I think it was the first one.
Really? Which is the first one? Hell of a case of reasonable doubt.
You still think Ryder's guilty? Some of that stuff is bunk.
- The cleaners? A ripped plastic bag? - The pins are not bunk.
And the alibi witnesses are not bunk.
And this is probably the lousiest staff work I've ever seen.
You want me to fire somebody? That make you happy? The man is arrogant, he's stupid.
He's going to get away with it.
That fella you planted, what's he getting? Ryder's teaching him how to play bridge.
How to play bri This is People's Exhibit 12.
Do you recognize it? It's one of a set of four pins.
My father had it made.
Webber: What is the history of these four pins? Barbara: My daughter has two.
Lois had two.
She was wearing one when she died.
That one is missing.
I borrowed this one from Jonathan.
Webber: Why did you borrow your dead daughter-in-law's pin? I wanted to wear it to Lois' funeral.
I wanted to have something of hers near me.
Thank you.
Mrs.
Ryder, where were you when this photo was taken? At Lois' funeral.
Would you show me where the pin is? I can't.
It was high on the left side, under the collar.
L you can't see it.
Isn't it true your son gave you the pin to hide after the funeral, so the police wouldn't find it in his house? No, that is not true.
Isn't it true that this is the pin Lois Ryder wore when he killed her? If my son had killed Lois, Mr.
Stone, I would be leading the pack against him.
Lois was a Ryder, too.
- Are we winning? - Like we won Pearl Harbor.
We have another rowboat with a peashooter to add to the fleet.
A club in Bridgehampton.
Mrs.
Ryder likes the piano player.
She always requests "The Girl From Ipanema," which would annoy him, but she's a good tipper after four drinks.
He's pretty sure she was there the night of the murder.
- Pretty sure? - That's the good news.
He has no idea when she walked in.
Could've been 10:00, when she swears she was playing games with Johnny.
Or it could've been 12:00, when Johnny was on his way not to kill his wife.
Great, we put him on the stand as a rebuttal witness.
If Webber forgets to cross-examine, we're all set.
But if this plays out, we won't have to.
Everything's going his way, Adam.
We got to shake him up.
Telling Webber you're going to indict Mother Ryder for perjury and accessory based on the testimony of a piano player.
I offer to reconsider if he pleads to manslaughter.
And this piano player does not remember when Mrs.
Ryder got to the bar.
She knows when she got there.
If it was after midnight, her alibi story holds.
That's the beauty of it.
It only works if she's lying.
All this is to get Ryder excited.
He's not going to like the picture of his mother in jail.
Suppose I have a witness that puts her elsewhere? Suppose? Do you or don't you? Don't do the deal and find out.
Even at her age, she'll do time.
You shouldn't be dealing, you should be apologizing.
I'll consider manslaughter one for him.
Otherwise, it's accessory and perjury for her.
They could be in neighboring prisons, with a joint card room.
Don't wait by the phone.
Ryder won't crack.
Webber's been in to see Ryder twice.
I know you didn't like it.
If he takes the deal, I'd say yes.
If he takes the deal, I'll start buying lottery tickets.
I got to go home.
- Mr.
Stone.
- Yeah? You've got a call from Rikers.
It's Morgan.
What did you guys do, put angel dust in his caviar? - What did he say? - At first, nothing.
A relief.
I had enough bulletins from the society page.
Then he asked me the longest term I'd done upstate.
I said a nickel.
He says he might do eight-to-25.
You didn't ask any questions? I put a magazine in my mouth.
He gets weepy.
Says mother was right, he's a total foul-up.
Couldn't kill his own wife without getting Mother sent to jail.
Not bad, huh? Then he's crying his brains out.
He starts talking about the bat.
The bat and Alison.
- Who's Alison? - His little girl.
Oh.
Says maybe it's for the best.
How could he face her, anyway? Then he shuts up, I take the magazine out of my mouth and call you.
I'm going to set up a hearing with the judge on Monday morning.
You tell him exactly what you told me.
I always tell the truth.
- It's not good.
- Oh, no, please.
Don't tell me Morgan died.
Bad case of memory loss.
Says he made it all up.
- There was no confession.
- Barbara Ryder got to him.
Morgan's wife emergency visit to Rikers yesterday.
You talk to her? She's done time herself.
She's got a lawyer.
I wonder how much they paid him to do another two years.
Mistrial? He gave us Ryder's daughter.
He tampered with a witness! - Put away your slingshot.
I never talked to Morgan.
- Who visited his wife? Larry, if you tampered with a witness, I will personally appear at your disbarment hearing.
- Judge, a threat? In these circumstances? - Get off of it.
We're off the record.
But I must tell you, Ben, I don't like jailhouse informants.
They always say they keep their mouths shut.
I wouldn't have admitted it anyway.
In that case, I'd like an order to examine Ryder's daughter, Alison, as a potential witness.
An 11-year-old to testify against her father? It's indecent.
Not to mention fruit of the poisonous tree.
If the so-called confession isn't admissible, neither is anything stemming from it.
Come again, Counselor? He learned about the daughter from a confession you say doesn't exist.
According to you, there is no poisonous tree.
He had an informant in the cell.
US versus Ceccolini.
The Supreme Court allowed a witness discovered by an illegal search.
They certainly showed greater reluctance to suppress a live witness than physical evidence.
All right, gentlemen, this Court is issuing an order.
The People will get a psychiatric examination of Mrs.
Ryder's daughter.
Thank you, Your Honor.
We were going to Barbados.
It was after after Mommy died.
Craigie, my brother, he wanted his bat.
It wasn't in the tool room.
Daddy Craig was crying.
Daddy said we lost it at the beach, but I didn't think so.
Daddy said we did, but I saw it after the summer.
I think I did.
Olivet: When Mommy left that day, and told you she was going to the hospital, do you remember what pin she was wearing? Alison: It was mine.
When I grew up.
Mommy always wore the special one.
Olivet: How was it special? I don't know.
She said it was a secret.
She said she'd tell me someday.
I think she knows her father killed her mother.
- She can't deal with it.
- She's useless as a witness.
She can talk about the bat.
She won't hold up on the stand.
And the jury will love you.
She said there was a secret.
Who did Lois Ryder tell her secrets to? They bought a witness.
- They committed perjury.
- I've been following the trial.
Do you know anything about the jewelry she was wearing? Your lawyer's wrong, I'll cite you for contempt, I'll send you to jail.
I'm not sure that's the worst thing that could happen to me.
Tell that to me after you see Jonathan Ryder at the next hospital fundraiser.
I worked occasionally on Sunday nights.
My wife accepted that.
In the course of your affair, did you ever have any indication that Mr.
Ryder knew of his wife's infidelity? Lois would Mrs.
Ryder, she would call her husband.
She would give him excuses.
They were ridiculous.
Two times in a row she told him she was going to the Monet exhibit at the Met.
The Monet exhibit was already closed.
Did you ever meet Jonathan Ryder? I saw him at hospital fundraising events.
Did he ever indicate he knew where you lived? Friedman: Once.
He told me he didn't understand why a doctor would live on the West Side.
He said, "Riverside Drive not very safe over there.
" Stone: The last time you saw Mrs.
Ryder, do you recall what jewelry she was wearing? Her wedding ring, a necklace, a bracelet and a pin.
Dr.
Friedman, here are three pins.
Do you recognize any of them? That's the one that Lois was wearing.
Stone: Let the record indicate that he identified People's Exhibit 12.
Let the record so indicate.
Why did you pick that one? Mr.
Ryder's grandfather had four of them made.
This one was for his daughter, Jonathan's mother.
She told Jonathan it would be for his wife before he married Lois.
But how did you identify it? The initial "B" is etched into one of the leaves.
When Lois got married, she asked Jonathan to have an "L" etched in opposite it.
"L" for Lois.
She waited two years.
She finally had it done herself.
Her mother-in-law never knew about it.
Lois always Lois always wanted to add an "A" for when her daughter would wear it.
Stone: Thank you.
No further questions.
On the sole count of the indictment, the charge of murder in the second degree, how does the jury find? We find the defendant guilty.
I had a call from a lawyer representing Dr.
Friedman's wife.
She filed for divorce.
Wants copies of anything her husband said to us.
Another generation of Ryders.
God help 'em.