Law & Order (1990) s02e20 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.
Your mom's paying for an AP prep course? - Yeah.
- You don't need it.
I need a five, but she thinks it's the best way.
The best way is not to worry so much.
That's easy for you to say.
- What did he say? - Lo-fan.
Barbarians.
They don't want Tim hanging around white people.
Katie.
Your family still doesn't want to meet me, do they? Why don't you take me home with you right now and introduce me to your mother? You handled that real well.
- Kate, what are you doing? - Walking.
If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're an insensitive jerk.
If I didn't know better, I'd say it's none of your business.
You know, both you and Tim are real mature.
- What was that? - Man: It's down there.
Oh my God! No! All right, let me get this straight.
It's the middle of the afternoon, - you got three shots, but you got no witnesses? - Noisy street.
Maybe people thought it was a car backfiring.
This is a freaking echo chamber in here.
It must have sounded like the Fourth of July.
It didn't happen on the street.
What do you want, somebody who saw two stray dogs near the body? Hey, no problem.
A dog did it.
Officer: Coming through.
Okay, kid still had his wallet on him.
Get this, $1,000 laptop computer in his knapsack.
He was a star physics student at Manhattan Science.
All right, dead end, no way out the back.
Kid leaves his friends on the way back from school.
Why does he walk in here? Someone was waiting for him, called him in? - Or he was expecting somebody.
- Maybe.
So have CSU check the grounds.
- Every inch, okay? - Right.
Have you seen the Jade Squad report? Three Chinese gang hits in the past two months.
We're going to take you to the precinct and you can call your parents.
He'd still be alive if I'd just kept walking with him.
You just never think that something like this would happen to people like us.
Somebody ought to tell them bullets don't recognize your IQ.
Kate: They just drove by.
Tim said something in Chinese - and then they were gone.
- Here.
These boys in the car, these were Tim's friends? She told you, she hardly saw them.
Mrs.
Silver, would you let your daughter talk? Tim didn't talk about his friends from growing up.
So you didn't recognize any of them? They weren't from school.
They had those leather jackets with those metal rings looked like they were in a gang.
I am sure Tim wasn't in a gang.
- He did live in Chinatown.
- And what does that mean? Mom.
Mr.
Borland, you know something about the boy's family? I do business with the Chinese.
They live in a different world.
For God's sake, they're from Canal Street, not Mars.
and nobody sees this thing? There were six uniforms there, they didn't turn up anybody.
So we canvassed and we got nothing.
It's the back of an apartment house.
A dead-end courtyard.
- Not a lot of people there.
- Yep.
We can't even be sure if it was the Chinese kids in the car.
Well, that's great.
What can we be sure of? If you grow up in Chinatown, you're either a member of a gang or you got troubles with them.
Fine.
Any indications of gangs? CSU found three shells.
Ballistics says a 380 Tanfoglio Titan.
Now that seems to me a rather expensive weapon for an ordinary street kid.
Okay, I'll buy that.
Let's see what the family has to say.
Great, I can't wait.
"Sorry about your son.
By the way, was he running any protection rackets?" I'm sure you can find a more diplomatic way of putting it.
Whatever you do, please, don't mention that in front of my mother.
My brother wasn't in a gang.
Maybe he had a run-in with one.
- Miss Chong, we're trying to find a motive.
- I would have known.
All due respect, you know you're a little bit older than your brother.
- You don't live down here - My mother would've known.
She paid more attention to Tim's life than her own.
All Tim wanted was to get out of here.
He was going to MIT.
Policemen, Mother.
Tim not in gang.
Sometimes when children are away from home He told her everything.
Not about his girlfriend.
Cerreta: Did Tim ever seem upset? Did he ever come home looking like he'd been in a fight? All the time after every drug deal.
He spent his weekends at the library.
Miss Chong, you're brother must've had some friends in the neighborhood.
Just school friends.
Do you think we could see your brother's room? Maybe get a picture of him? If she didn't know about the girlfriend, maybe she didn't know about his friends on the street.
Chairman Mao, Albert Einstein, and Patrick Ewing.
What do you think they got in common? One 17-year-old Chinese kid.
Phil, look at this.
"Timothy Chong, winner of the NASA Science Competition.
" This kid had everything.
So why is he dead? I got a better question.
Why did he go to a plastic surgeon? "Removal of tattoo.
" - Gang insignia? - Maybe the ME can tell us.
First I want to talk to someone on that Jade Squad.
A tiger tattoo? That's the White Tigers.
Yeah, but this kid went to Manhattan Science.
- That tiger on his arm wasn't a fashion statement.
- He has no record.
Half the smack in the country blows through here.
You seen a lot of arrests lately? - Maybe they're paying you off.
- Yeah, millions.
My mortgage is a front.
- You got nobody on the inside? - I had one.
You got a medium, you can talk to him.
We found him in little pieces on Hester Street.
Listen how bad do you want to break this? I know a kid in the Tigers who will talk to you.
If there's any hint they did it, you'll know.
Tim Chong.
I seen it in the paper.
Rumor has it he was a White Tiger.
- Yeah, for five seconds.
- Was it a happy divorce? We don't shoot people, all right? My lawyer, he advises against it.
Yeah, you always take your lawyer's advice? Why would we want the kid dead? Tim Chong buys that American dream crap, we didn't care.
See that kid over there? Kid sells smack.
Yeah.
What some stiff at IBM makes in a year, he could do in one week.
Billy, no matter how much you make, it's hard to spend it in Attica.
- We didn't do Tim Chong.
- All right, listen.
A wagon, you know, like a Jeep or Blazer? Yellow.
- Who drives it? - I don't know.
I don't know.
If I knew I'd tell you.
We didn't want the kid hit.
So much for the American dream, huh? Did everything right, wound up dead anyway.
Ballistics compared the slugs from Chong to every Chinese gang killing in the past three years - no match.
- This kid is 17 years old.
- How many enemies could he have? - Wait a minute.
This kid was getting bagged for having white friends.
The wind only blows in one direction? If somebody did this at school, there's gonna be talk.
Maybe we ought to take a run at the girlfriend.
Without the mother.
Cragen: I don't know, that's kind of risky.
Turns out she's involved in any way, whatever she says is useless without a parent there.
Her mother's around, everything she says is useless.
Most of Tim's friends were white.
Yeah, but he's an American, so that wouldn't be a problem, right? Some of my friends, they call me an egg.
White on the outside, yellow on the inside.
- Calling names is one thing, but does it go beyond that? - This isn't like most schools.
- It's not violent or anything like that.
- No fistfights? Nobody breaks into a locker? The worst it gets, somebody sprayed graffiti it said "slant-eyes" on the door of the 1600 Club.
It's a study group for the SAT's.
The club's about half Chinese.
So Tim wasn't having any trouble with anybody? I'm really not sure.
We weren't communicating very well.
Who would he talk to? Maybe Mr.
Steinman, our physics teacher.
He knew Tim pretty well.
Tim Chong was the best student I ever taught.
How long you been teaching? Long enough not to exaggerate.
Last year he won the NASA award.
This year he was a shoo-in for the Hellmuth competition.
Other kids give him grief for screwing up the curve? Students are sophisticated here.
They compete to get in.
What about after they get in? Getting in is the start of the race, not the end.
This science competition, you call it the Hellmuth? Do you have anybody else who might win it? What are you getting at? Was there any prize money for it? $20,000, but it isn't the point.
It's the Nobel Prize of high school.
Who's the also-ran? Any number of people.
Are you betting on any favorites? Okay.
He was with Tim when he was shot.
Borland kid? Carl.
He and Tim were always number one and number two.
- Since when always? - Since freshman year.
Drove Carl's mother crazy.
I don't know how bad it was, but parent-teacher's night, Carl's parents up in the front, Tim's mother in the back.
The boys were friends.
Parents never even said hello.
Yeah, I remember that night.
Mrs.
Borland couldn't even look at us.
Weren't Tim and Carl friends? Carl's a nice boy.
His mother is not a well woman.
What does this have to do with Tim? Two kids are friends, usually the parents at least say hello.
She said hello when she called and said we weren't real Americans.
Why should Tim get the prizes? Carl's older brother called, too.
You're not saying My mother wants to know, are you suggesting that Tim was killed so a Chinese kid wouldn't win the scholarship? Come on.
What are you telling me? Every parent would like his kid to be number one.
Every parent doesn't make threatening phone calls.
You talked to the Chong kid's girlfriend what, twice, three times? Trouble like this, you don't think she would've mentioned it? She was a wreck.
She probably would have told us.
We're talking about $20,000 here, and the biggest science prize in the whole country.
There's no getting over the fact that Marian Borland is wired about her little boy Carl.
I'm no expert here, but it looked to me like the father was playing with a full deck.
Maybe this is a dumb idea, but why don't we pay her a visit, punch a few buttons, and rule her out? - Is that okay with you? - That's okay with me.
We were all shocked.
Tim's murder is horrible.
Maybe we should raise our children in the suburbs.
Guess it's as bad there.
So, what does this have to do with me? Claudia Chong said you made some unpleasant phone calls.
I love my son.
Maybe sometimes I go to far.
How far is that? Oh, this is ridiculous.
Tim was a lovely kid, but the boys were very competitive.
It wasn't healthy.
Do you have children? You know how hard it is being a parent.
Yes, but I don't make phone calls to other parents when their kids get better grades than mine do.
I admit I was inconsiderate.
Did you tell the Chongs that you thought Chinese shouldn't win prizes? Of course, I didn't! At 3:30 on the afternoon that Tim Chong was shot, can you tell us your whereabouts? This is unbelievable.
- The idea that I would - Mrs.
Borland, look, we got to ask you.
It was Thursday? My shift ends at 3:30.
Randy, my oldest boy, picks me up and takes me home.
Maybe one of the other employees saw you when you left.
I change in the back.
I don't know who would have seen me.
- Where can we find Randy? - Fulton Fish Market.
- He works with his father.
- Thank you.
You know, this hasn't been easy on any of us.
Right.
Every Tuesday and Thursday I get her.
My dad doesn't like her on the subway.
Anybody here when you left to pick her up? Nobody comes till late.
You guys.
My mom told me what you're thinking.
Really? We just left her 20 minutes ago.
Yeah, she called.
Lunch hour, she's under pressure.
She's working.
- You coming in like that.
- You picked her up at 3:00? I dropped her at home.
Look, maybe my mom said some dumb things.
You called the Chongs too, right? My mom wouldn't kill anybody.
What happened after you dropped her at home? The Y, 23rd Street.
Shot some hoops.
Regular game, 4:00.
I get back, there's a note from Dad.
- He went to take care of Carl.
- Didn't that worry you? I'm sorry about the Chinese kid, but somebody's got to run the stall.
I got to get some ice.
So, I mean, how upset was she? You think she called Randy just to make herself feel better? She called Randy to make sure he got the time right.
Yeah, did you notice that he wasn't exactly an aerospace engineer? I also noticed he's not her favorite son, either.
Mm-hmm.
Well, if she lied, he lied.
If he's lying, where did they go after he picked her up? She didn't go home.
He didn't shoot hoops.
You're praying at the right church.
You gonna read that to us, or fan us with it? Borland, Ronald.
dba R.
Borland & Son Fresh Fish.
Carry permit.
Seems to me, it's the gun I said it would be.
Let's get a warrant.
What do you mean he said no? You want me to try it in Portuguese? He said, "You cannot have a search warrant.
" Since when is Judge Feinstein so picky? Since he got a clerk who knows about guns.
He said a Tanfoglio is too common.
Just because Borland has one doesn't give you probable cause.
Big bunch of crap.
You want some probable cause, try breaking some alibis.
Okay, do you think Marian Borland punches a time clock at the restaurant? Randy went to the Y.
Basketball buddies notice when you're holding up a game.
Good.
That's very good.
And next time you need a warrant, don't go to Judge Feinstein.
Woman: Everything is computers now.
So you don't have the records? I'm looking, I'm looking.
Maybe I have her timecard.
They come back from the service, sometimes I remember to save them.
You got cards in here that look like they might come from World War II.
All I hear is, "They shortchanged me.
I lost an hour.
They cheated me.
" No, not here.
Sorry, I must have dumped them.
Marvin, I can't find it.
My payroll man doesn't have it either.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
She clocked out at 2:30.
He won't swear by it.
He could have entered it wrong off the card.
If she entered it wrong, she would've complained.
- Missing pay, right? - She don't have the check yet.
Thanks, Marvin.
Later.
- Don't tell her we were here.
- You're cops.
Now, if you were IRS, I might tell her.
Thursdays, 4:00.
It's a great time for Randy.
He works the graveyard shift.
- So, last week, he was here at 4:00? - Always on time.
We got the court for like an hour.
After that, volleyball.
You know Randy pretty well? High school.
You talk to him today? No, why? I'm asking you questions about him, but you're not asking what it's about.
Locker room sign-in sheet.
Randy signed in at 3:51.
Like I said, we play at 4:00.
The computer at the payroll service not a lot of probable cause.
We got to try.
This time we try Judge Allan Berg.
You better spell it with two "L's" and two "A's" or we're never going to get a warrant.
We want the business, which is 296 South Street.
And the apartment, which is 573 East 30th Street.
Detective Logan.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Can you wait a minute? I'm gonna put you on hold.
Don't go away.
- Where is it?! - What? I got a tip on the Chong shooting.
Come on.
Somebody give me a tape recorder.
- Batteries something.
- Get him back on the line.
Stall him.
One, two, three.
- Yeah.
- Here you go, Logan.
Yeah.
No, I'm not going to put you on hold.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, I'm listening.
I'd love to know.
Uh-huh.
Well, how do I know you're on the up-and-up? You know what I'm saying? Mm-hmm.
You know what the address is? What kind of gun am I going to find there? Hello, hello, hello?! That's the same caliber.
That voice ring a bell? Me neither.
Any bets? Friend? Maybe somebody who works at that fish market? What do you want to do? The address, caliber of gun, sounds reliable and credible to me.
- Probable cause? - If Judge Berg thinks it is.
I should call my dad at work.
If you wanna do that, I think you should.
Officer: I got this room covered.
You have a key for this? Son, I'm going to have to break into it.
Carl: Okay, okay.
There's nothing in the kitchen.
You sure you haven't seen a gun lying around the house, somewhere? My dad keeps it in the office.
Officer: I think I've got prints on this.
- That's my mom's good China.
- That's okay.
Officer: Nothing in here.
Mike.
Bingo.
The Italians make nice guns.
It would be nicer if it's the right gun.
It would be nicer if it were a clean match.
R7 twist.
I wouldn't say this is close.
I'd say exact.
Yes, Mama.
- Very nice.
- No question this gun killed Tim Chong.
One set of prints on the gun.
A good match to Ron Borland from when he got his permit.
His gun, his prints.
That's a problem? Considering that he walked in here an hour after the killing and didn't even blink? Why are the mother and son running all over town fixing alibis? I thought Randy's held.
Not anymore.
Sign-in sheet from the Y.
Infrared scan.
His pal fixed it.
Unless you believe in elves.
What, do you think the whole Borland family killed the kid? Nothing puts the mother and Randy at the scene.
But we do have the gun.
We arrest Ron Borland, maybe something breaks.
Pick him up.
Mr.
Borland? I think you've bothered my family enough.
Ronald Borland, you're under arrest for the murder of Timothy Chong.
- You have the right to remain silent.
- Dad.
- If you choose to waive that right - Go call your mother.
anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
I got to my store at 2:00.
I didn't leave till Carl called.
But your gun managed to kill Timothy Chong.
You fellas have what? Three open gang shootings? Maybe your lab had a little help with that bullet.
I wouldn't try that with a jury, Mr.
Willis.
Why not? Juries always trust cops? So, you were at your store, but nobody saw you there? I was there for Carl's call.
An hour after Tim Chong was killed.
I heard it.
Your wife and Randy join you in the shooting? Finito, gentlemen, over.
You're going to book him, let's do it.
Why? I mean, it makes no sense.
I was back barely two hours.
Willis called.
He'll take man two.
We haven't even started interviewing witnesses.
What's the hurry? Borland's prints are on the gun.
But Cerreta and Logan are right, everything else points away from him.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Attributed? Thanks.
Tomorrow's "Post" says we're negotiating a plea.
No attribution.
Willis.
Dragging us to the altar.
I don't like shotgun weddings.
I want to know what happened.
So put a vise around that family.
And I don't care how hard you squeeze.
I'm glad I don't have your job.
I don't have to talk to you.
Did you hear them plan it, Carl? I didn't know about it.
I mean, that's not the way it happened.
Did your mom go with your dad? Or did she just provoke him into doing it? My parents are good people.
They only want what's best for me.
Killing someone? Is that how you get the best? How did your dad know where Tim would be? - Did you tell him? - I'm not going to talk to you anymore.
Do you know what accessory to murder means, Carl? My father didn't kill anyone.
- His fingerprints were on the gun.
- You don't know anything.
You don't know what you're talking about! Even Carl Borland knows his father didn't do it.
How the hell do you explain the prints on the gun? Ben, what the hell are you trying to pull? - Why are you talking to Carl? - Leave my son alone.
- He's a potential witness.
- He's a kid! You play the media well, Leonard, get a headline, make us look bad.
You're making it hard for Carl to study.
- Get them to leave him alone! - Mrs.
Borland, please.
- If you care to sit down - It's bad enough what's happened.
My son's life is at stake here.
I thought it was your husband's? There's a lot at stake here.
Leonard: Let's go, Marian.
Next time you want to see Carl, do me a favor call first.
- The family's certifiable, Adam.
- Unlike everybody else.
Who made that anonymous phone call? Obviously you don't think it was an angry employee.
What if Ron Borland made it himself? Try this Borland gets back from the precinct with Carl.
He sees his wife and Randy, and he knows they did it.
They're the ones faking the alibis.
Why didn't Borland throw the gun away? Maybe he panics.
Cerreta and Logan are onto them.
So he does something heroic.
Randy belongs to him the way Carl belongs to his mother.
So he wipes their prints off the gun, puts his own on, takes the fall.
Yeah.
You want to arrest the mother along with the older son.
And right now you wouldn't get a conviction for bad thoughts.
I have motive.
I have the gun.
If it's not suppressed because of a questionable warrant.
All right, I don't.
I can tell the jury about it.
- You won't get a conviction.
- If we don't arraign, I can't even try.
Fine.
Try.
Can we have a statement? How many reporters out there? You trying this in the press? Well, to quote a public opinion poll, my client's are the salt of the earth.
- So was the victim.
- Ginseng maybe, not salt.
Having a bad week, Leonard? Judge: Docket number 51423.
The People versus Marian Borland and Randall Borland.
The charge is murder in the sec What's happening? Didn't I already see this case on my docket? The People's motion charges against the previous defendant were dismissed.
- The People regret their error.
- Regret? We're talking about murder, Mr.
Robinette.
You ought to publish an apology in "The Times.
" How do the defendants plead? Not guilty.
Not guilty.
I'll hear a few spirited words on the subject of bail.
Leonard, it's nice to see you, please be brief.
Thank you, Judge.
Nice to see you, too.
My clients are not a flight risk.
They're bound to the community.
- Any high bail would be a hardship.
- Mr.
Robinette? The People request $50,000 on each defendant.
Flight is not an issue, but the severity of the crime Go no further.
When you're right, you're right.
Leonard, he's right.
This is murder two.
Next.
You don't even know who fired the gun.
Stone: Why don't you tell me? You want to discuss manslaughter two? - They do the minimum, two to six.
- Two years? Why not 30 days with time off for good behavior? Man one, they do the max.
Eight and a third to 25.
You're hitting an elephant with a fly-swatter.
- You don't have a murder weapon.
- Did I miss a hearing? Has there been a ruling? The search warrant for the Borland apartment should never have been issued.
No jury ever hears about that gun.
- Cancel the bravado.
- It's too late.
- My career's built on it.
- The warrant was proper.
An anonymous phone call is probable cause? I don't think so.
You knew Ron Borland never fired that gun when we arraigned him.
You know if I discuss that with you, I could be disbarred.
Manslaughter two, last chance.
You lose on the warrant, no deal.
See you in chambers.
You want to give them man two? They put three bullets into that kid.
Willis is offering you a gift.
Judge suppresses that gun, you don't get a conviction.
The Court of Appeals let a similar warrant stand in Ashton.
Then they killed it in Johnson.
That was two years ago.
Ashton was last year.
I don't want to be overturned on appeal.
What are you worried about? Our closure rate? I'm worried about the Borland's not serving a day.
They kill a teenager over a science prize, maybe tomorrow they get angry at the mayor.
There's no way Simon suppresses the gun.
Simon thinks the ACLU is too conservative.
- When's the hearing? - Tomorrow.
You lose on the gun, you lose the case.
Willis: That search warrant has no basis in probable cause.
You can't let a jury hear about that gun.
The informant not only knew the caliber of the gun, - he knew where to find it.
- This was an anonymous call.
Let's look at the standard.
Agala-Spinelli calls for a specific two-prong test the informant's reliability and the basis of his knowledge.
Now, Ben, how reliable was that tip? A 380 lots of people probably knew Borland had one.
And the address you could've gotten from the phone book.
The Supreme Court is adopting a less rigorous standard for search warrants.
They oughta be ashamed.
They forgot why we have the Fourth Amendment.
Besides, here in New York, thank God, we have a stricter standard.
The Court of Appeals is moving with the Supreme Court.
The Court of Appeals changes its mind more often than I change my socks.
That permit was for the Borland business.
The warrant was for the Borland home.
Any idiot can see the cops were relying on the phone call.
I'm not even an idiot, I can see it.
Your Honor, I respectfully suggest You can respectfully suggest from now to New Year.
The warrant is ruled invalid.
The gun is suppressed.
None of it goes into evidence.
You want to go to trial, you go without the gun.
When Randy Borland called, what did he say? He said the cops the police thought he had something to do with this kid's murder.
They wanted to know what time he came to play.
And I said I'd say whatever he wanted me to.
Stone: What else did he ask you to do? Man: He said could I fix the sign-in sheet? Stone: How do you do that? I can get behind the desk.
I work part-time checking membership cards.
I knew some people that signed in in pencil.
This is People's Exhibit 11.
It's an enlargement of the sign-in sheet for that day, subjected to infrared light.
Would you please describe it for the Court? Randy's name is signed over Larry Gordon's.
I erased Larry's.
Down here Larry's name is written over Randy's.
So you changed the names? Yes, I did.
Stone: What effect did that have? It makes it look like Randy got there an hour before he did.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Your Honor, permission to show this to the jury? Judge: You may do so.
I was given three shell casings from the crime scene and three bullets removed from Timothy Chong's body.
And what type of gun was used? Based on lands and grooves on the bullets and the injector marks on the casings, I concluded the gun was a 380 Tanfoglio Titan semi-automatic.
During your investigation, did you determine whether Mr.
Borland was licensed to carry a firearm? - I did.
- What did you find? Woman: Mr.
Borland is licensed to carry a 380 Tanfoglio Titan semi-automatic.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Ms.
Shrier, do you have any idea how many licenses the State has issued for a Tanfoglio Titan 380? I couldn't say exactly.
If I told you it was more than a thousand, would you find that a surprise? I'm sure that it's more than that.
And if I told you the actual number was 2,941, would that surprise you? No, it wouldn't.
I'm glad.
In your expert opinion, could another gun have left the kind of markings that you found? Very unlikely.
So you are saying that it could have been another kind of gun.
Excuse me.
I concluded the gun was a Tanfoglio before I knew Mr.
Borland owned one.
That's very cavalier of you, thank you.
No further questions.
I instruct the jury they may draw no conclusion from the fact that a weapon has not been entered into evidence in this trial.
Cloudy, muddy, murky.
The jury has enough reasonable doubt to bottle and sell it.
You can hear Willis in summation.
"The defendants lied because they were scared.
Yes, they owned a gun, but did they use it?" Marian Borland.
What did she tell the cops? "The kids were competitive, it was unhealthy.
" The only unhealthy competition was hers for her son's glory.
Are you prosecuting or preaching? She pulled the trigger.
Not physically.
Oh, metaphysically.
She harped about the Chong kid every day.
Why did Randy kill him? You kick a dog long enough, it bites.
You want to try that in your summation? - It won't get you a conviction.
- Might get us a deal.
Ron Borland was willing to go to jail to save his son.
Is he going to watch Randy go now? You want him to pressure his wife? I make the offer in front of him.
Randy does less time than his mother.
Ron Borland will make his wife take the deal.
Giving the shooter a better deal.
Is that what you want? Uh-huh.
I just don't know if it'll work.
We're trying to arrive at what's fair.
I hope your clients understand that.
The sentences we have a problem.
That's settled.
Manslaughter two for Mrs.
Borland, she does two to six.
Eight and a third to 25, no playing around.
You said he'd be reasonable.
Marian.
It is unlikely Mrs.
Borland will be convicted.
Let's finish the trial and find out.
You said a few years.
You said parole.
Be quiet, Marian.
Mrs.
Borland, if you're convicted, you will do 25 to life.
We're offering you much less.
- You said he wouldn't do this.
You said - Stop it! How long will Randy be in prison? He pleads to man two, he does three to nine.
- This isn't right.
- Mom.
- It's not gonna help.
- Why don't we just go outside Stop! He's 23.
He has a chance for a life.
Sit down.
The trial isn't over.
- I don't see why - Because he's your son.
I don't believe we'll be convicted.
I won't do this.
Do you remember, Miss Chong, how many of these phone calls occurred? Over the last six months nine or 10.
What did Mrs.
Borland say? She said Carl and Tim shouldn't be friends.
That Tim was using Carl, using his brain.
She called my brother a Chink.
She said, "You Chinks aren't real Americans.
" And what did Randy Borland say? He said if Tim kept trying to steal Carl's ideas that he'd regret it.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Miss Chong, you said that the Borlands' calls frightened you.
Did you call the police? No.
So how frightening were they? In our culture, you don't call the police.
Your family's friends, are most of them Chinese? Objection.
Relevance? The witness mentioned her culture.
Overruled.
The witness will answer.
Our closest friends are Chinese.
And your brother, did he belong to a Chinese gang? - Your Honor! - I'm going to allow this, Mr.
Stone.
He quit.
He wasn't really And what was the name of the gang? The White Tigers.
This is Defense Exhibit Three.
It's an article in last month's "Crosstown" magazine.
Would you please read the circled portion aloud? "The White Tigers, the most powerful of the heroin dealing gangs or tongs, are fighting a vicious turf war.
Two members have been shot this year.
No one thinks the war is over.
" Willis: Thank you.
No further questions.
You wouldn't vote to convict? - I'm not on the jury.
- If you were? Yes? Mrs.
Silver and her daughter are out there.
Send them in.
My daughter has something to tell you.
Please, sit down.
Go on, honey.
I didn't want to say anything.
Carl is my friend.
I like his mom and dad.
She feels guilty.
She didn't know where to put her loyalties.
Katie.
After the gunshots, we were running.
I must have looked for just a second I saw them.
You saw who? Mrs.
Borland and Randy.
You saw them on the street? In the truck.
That truck must have been going pretty fast.
You sure it was them? I recognized it.
It was the truck from the fish business.
You going to put this kid on the stand? Yeah, we don't usually exclude evidence that convicts.
Why did she wait so long? She and the Borland kid are friends.
- She was torn apart.
- You should've seen her at the precinct.
- She didn't hold anything back.
- Are you saying an 18-year-old kid lied? I'm saying I think she reads the newspapers.
Yesterday they were saying you'd need an act of God to convict the Borlands.
You didn't see her in our office.
She's not that good of an actress.
She loved the kid.
They killed him.
How good an actress does she have to be? Without anything more specific, I have to go with my instincts.
Where were you at the time? Carl and me, we went around the corner after we heard the shots.
And what did you see when you came around the corner? It was sort of a flash this white truck.
And it had two people in it.
Randy was behind the wheel and Mrs.
Borland was sitting next to him.
They were coming towards me, and I looked down, and I saw the license plate.
I'd seen it before, when Carl's brother had picked him up after school.
What was on the license plate? It's one of those you have made special.
It says "Fishhook.
" Stone: You've known about this ever since Tim died.
Why did you wait till now to say anything? I tried to forget it.
I didn't even want to believe it happened.
I told my mom and she said I had to tell the truth.
Stone: No further questions.
In the People versus Marian Borland and Randall Borland, on the sole count of the indictment, murder in the second degree, how does the jury find on Randall Borland? We find the defendant guilty.
Judge: On the sole count of the indictment against Marian Borland, murder in the second degree, how does the jury find? We find the defendant guilty.
Hi, Phil.
Mike.
What's up? I'd like to verify something.
The girl's testimony as it's described here, is this accurate? Everything in quotation marks, yes.
Okay, she says she came running around the corner and saw the license plate.
Does she have eyes in the back of her head? She said the truck was coming toward her.
The only way she sees a license plate is if she stops dead in her tracks, turns around, goes back to the corner, - and watches the back of the truck as it pulls away.
- She saw the front plate? That's been missing for months.
There is no front plate.
Borland ordered a new one.
The State never sent it.
God bless bureaucracy.
We have instincts, too, Ben.
It was a shocking reversal in the science-prize murder case today.
Marian and Randall Borland, convicted three days ago of murdering Timothy Chong, were released from custody following the District Attorney's request for a mistrial.
What do you want to do? Indict a 17-year-old girl for perjury? The amount of publicity you want a new trial, where do you find an untainted jury? Upstate.
I don't care if we have to go to the Canadian border.
Next time we'll get the gun in.
she has admitted inventing the story.
In a similar, bizarre incident in California today, a father was charged with shooting a boy who had taken his son's place on a high school tennis team.
" I think I liked it better when the criminals were doing the killing.
The whole world has gone mad.
"A counselor at the Board of Education today said pressure on children is creating an epidemic "