Bull (2016) s03e12 Episode Script
Split Hairs
1 MAN: There's another one, down by the spa.
You asked me how to get ahead at the firm.
That's how you do it.
What about merit? W-What about hard work? [CHUCKLES.]
Let me explain something to you.
For you to rise in the ranks, someone has to make room for you.
They have to give up something, maybe a raise or part of a bonus.
Now why is someone going to be giving up something unless they get something? [GAGS.]
Oh, geez.
It's behind you, corner of the bar.
[SHUSHING.]
M.
E.
HENSON: January 5th, 9:40 p.
m.
Postmortem examination.
External search: Negative.
Internal trunk exploration: Negative.
Forensic evidence discovered: None.
How is that possible? Excuse me? This man's killed four women in a year and a half.
How is it he can hide in women's bathrooms, chloroform his victims, undress them, undress himself, have sex with them, strangle them to death, and still not leave one bit of forensic evidence? Not one drop of semen? Not one fleck of skin? Listen, I know you're new here, but, uh, Dr? Martin.
Julia Martin.
We're talking public bathrooms.
They're a convention center of forensic evidence.
The victims' bodies, that's another story.
That's how we'll get him.
PETER: Dr.
Martin, you're still here? I'd like to take another look at Emily Baker's body.
Eh, kind of late.
Everyone's gone.
That's okay.
I'll be fine.
I'll put everything back the way I found it.
HOLLOWAY: We're obviously thrilled that this afternoon, a jury of his peers convicted John Malford, otherwise known as the "Bathroom Stall Butcher," for the murder of young Emily Baker.
Special thanks to the New York City Medical Examiner's Office, in particular to Julia Martin, whose tireless work led to the discovery of the pivotal piece of evidence against John Malford.
[SOFT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING.]
Hi.
Welcome to Billy's.
If you're gonna be a successful attorney in Manhattan, this is a place you need to know about.
Oh, I didn't even know there was a Billy's.
Well, consider tonight as a part of your legal education.
Thanks.
As a matter of fact, FDR used to settle cases at that table right there - in the back.
- Oh, I don't care about all that.
Show me where the Benny Colón booth is.
[LAUGHS.]
No, this ain't Dunkin' Donuts.
- [CHUCKLES.]
- Why don't you find us a table.
I'll grab us some drinks.
STELLA: Benjamin Colón.
Stella! - And Ryan.
- [BOTH LAUGH.]
[LAUGHS.]
: Wow What is the occasion? You two look like a pair of breathalyzer tests waiting to happen.
Well, truth is I have a pretty good shot at getting a client out of prison.
Guy was put away for life, so So what'd you do? You bake him a cake with a hacksaw in it? [LAUGHTER.]
- One better.
- Ah.
I discovered the evidence that got him convicted may have been tampered with.
- Seriously? - Yeah.
By, uh, the police, or? Medical Examiner's Office.
Yeah.
I petitioned to have a client's DNA evidence retested and it came back no match, not even close.
Well, who's the medical examiner? You know Julia Martin? No, no, no, no.
That must be a mistake.
She was picked up this morning.
D.
A.
's office thinks it was intentional.
Who is your client? Remember the "Bathroom Stall Butcher," John Malford? BULL: I hate trolling for cases.
I like to be asked.
I like to be the one who can say no.
We are not trolling.
We are offering our services.
And trust me, so is every other A-list criminal firm in town.
I mean, this is Julia Martin.
Chief Medical Examiner for the City of New York.
These are the kinds of cases that get the town talking.
Plus, I know her.
There's no way she'd tamper with evidence.
Well, obviously the D.
A.
doesn't agree with you or he wouldn't have arrested her.
Plus, I know she has a big title, but at the end of the day she's just a civil servant.
What are you trying to say? Well, is this another pro bono situation? Because, frankly, I've become such a pro at bono, I'm getting ready to start my own Irish rock band.
You wake up in the morning and you go over in your head all those hundreds of things that you have to do this week.
It just doesn't occur to you that you might get arrested.
You might spend your first night in jail.
I'm the Chief Medical Examiner for the City of New York.
We want to help you, Julia.
You know I can't afford to pay top-shelf guys like you.
We'll be fine.
Will I be? I also can't afford for you to do a half-assed job because you're just in it for the free press.
Keep in mind the best press for everyone is about your ultimate acquittal.
You keep that in mind.
All right then, I guess it's the two of you.
Lucky us.
So here's what I know.
Six years ago, when I found that hair in the back of a woman's throat, it was a perfect match to John Malford's hair, perfect.
100%.
I still have the evidence that says so, so I'm not clear exactly why we're here.
The problem is Malford's attorney was running out of appeals, so he decided to throw a Hail Mary and petitioned for a new analysis of the hair, an outside analysis of the hair.
And when an outside lab tested it, it came back negative.
And after they popped their champagne, they sent it to three more labs, and it also came back negative.
It didn't match Malford's hair at all.
That's not plausible.
Someone switched the hairs, or they tested the wrong hair.
Julia, it's completely plausible.
You don't have to agree with it, but it's certainly plausible.
No.
You're wrong.
It isn't.
There's no circumstance under which I would ever tamper with evidence in any case.
Everyone knows this about me.
No.
Everyone does not.
Think about it.
You performed the examination sometime after midnight.
You were alone in the autopsy room, and lack of plausibility is not the argument that's gonna win the case for you.
Okay.
You know that it was a pubic hair.
Right? It was a man's pubic hair.
I found it in the deepest recesses of her esophagus.
So let's say that I am going to plant a hair.
Where would I have gotten a male pubic hair from? Oh, come on.
Those can't be that hard to come by in the morgue.
Is it possible you made a mistake? - Excuse me? - I mean, maybe you thought you found evidence that was relevant to the case, but it wasn't.
Emily might've indulged in oral sex with someone else, consensual contact.
You did an autopsy.
You found this hair.
It was a mistake.
No, that's not possible.
I ran every test that there was.
I ran every test myself.
That was his hair.
Keep in mind, if it was truly a mistake, then there is no criminal intent.
If there is no criminal intent, then there's no crime.
Mistakes.
Everybody makes them.
So you're telling me, if I say that I made a mistake, the charges might be withdrawn? Well, it's certainly something I'd like to take to the D.
A.
I can't imagine that they would want to go forward with this trial.
- I can't.
- You can't what? I can't say that because I don't make mistakes, not when it comes to forensic science.
Does that change anything for the two of you? Just makes the job harder, but we didn't take up the offer because we thought it was gonna be easy.
We told you we wanted to defend you, and we mean it.
So what's the plan? Well, to get you out on bail, for starters.
I'll talk to the D.
A.
in the morning, get a lay of the land and see what they think they have on you.
Dr.
Martin.
Julia.
- [KNOCKING.]
- [LOCK BUZZES.]
Thank you.
- Did you say - Thank you.
You're welcome.
The truth is you know she couldn't have done this.
She'd rather cut off her own arm than give you a false report.
And yet, she did.
You think I'm looking to take down a medical examiner? We work with them every day.
I've had these results checked and rechecked with four different labs.
She screwed up, which makes all of us look bad.
Have you actually considered the repercussions of this? You convict the Chief Medical Examiner for the City of New York, and you are handing a "get out of jail free" card to everyone you've ever put behind bars.
You will have a mile-long line of attorneys out your door claiming that their clients were falsely convicted.
Is that what you want? Your discovery packet.
Assuming you're still gonna want the case once you see what's in there.
Okay, what's in there? Julia's first examination of Emily Baker's corpse, she came up with nothing.
Okay, so she found the evidence the second time through.
And that's fine, except she completely deleted the first report.
The one where she came up empty, just plucked it out of the system like it never happened.
That's a big no-no.
Okay.
You know it's a breach of protocol to delete any reports.
Even ones that are later replaced by updated results, and you know why.
Because it can be construed as consciousness of guilt.
Julia's the best there is.
Do you think she'd accidentally forget protocol? She couldn't find any evidence on the dead girl, she decided to take matters into her own hands and create some.
Oh, here's the bail agreement.
- Is she on her way? - Already here.
She and Benny are waiting in your office.
Assistant District Attorney Williams is not your friend.
I never said that he was.
He's claiming you destroyed an official autopsy report.
Did you write an official report stating that you didn't find any physical evidence after your examination of Emily Baker and then delete that report from the official citywide records? Yes.
It was years ago.
I mean You have to know how bad that's gonna look to a jury.
That first report was useless.
It only said that I didn't find anything.
Yes, but in a court of law, it's going to look like a prior inconsistent statement.
You weren't supposed to delete it.
You were supposed to keep it and turn it over in discovery.
No, I wasn't gonna do that.
Malford's lawyers would've just used it to-to call in to question the evidence that I did find.
I know how these people operate.
Julia, that first report is still evidence.
You can't just destroy evidence because it doesn't suit your needs.
Okay, technically, that first report was about an absence of evidence, which isn't really evidence.
Okay, all right.
The bottom line is, and-and I know you couldn't see the future from where you were standing, you didn't do yourself any favors.
The D.
A.
's office is gonna say that you intentionally deleted that report to make it easier for you to intentionally plant the evidence.
But that isn't what actually happened.
Even if it looks like that's what happened.
It really boils down to this: either you made a mistake, or someone, quite possibly you, is guilty of malfeasance.
BENNY: Well, Danny's already looking into malfeasance.
She's trying to find anyone with the means and motive to have switched out the hairs.
Which in the meantime leaves us with: mistake.
As I've already explained to you, I don't make those kinds of mistakes.
Well, then someone else did.
In either event, we need to follow chain of custody.
I need to know everyone who had access to that hair.
Julia, can you talk to my investigator, talk to her about how evidence is catalogued and stored, who had access, how they get access? - Of course.
- Excellent.
Well, then, Mr.
Colón and I will see you in court later this afternoon.
Everything all right? I guess.
I just realized I don't know where to go.
And what to do until court.
You know, my first instinct is to rush back to the morgue and then I remembered that I can't.
Not to worry.
It is gonna be tough to find jurors who aren't put off by our client.
Mm.
Maybe we should look for people who only see the best in others.
Actually, I was thinking just the opposite.
What? People who only see the worst? You ever heard of Hanlon's razor? No.
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
" We need people who will look at this situation Julia's gotten into and think, "This isn't some big conspiracy.
This is probably just someone's stupid mistake.
" Good afternoon.
So let's say you send an e-mail to your boss asking him for time off.
A day goes by and he doesn't respond.
What do you make of that? He's busy.
I like her.
Tell me why I shouldn't.
MARISSA: Jennifer Thomas, single mom, 43 years old, two kids and you are going to hate this: she works at an insurance company as a claims manager.
Can I pick 'em or can I pick 'em? Probably spends her days looking at inflated insurance claims.
She's the very definition of what we don't want.
We'd like to thank and excuse this juror, Your Honor.
Personally? I hate it when people don't respond to my e-mails.
Why is that? Well, they're trying to tell me that I don't matter.
I guess I figured he didn't get the e-mail, or maybe he deleted it by accident.
Because anyone can make an honest mistake, right? Sure.
This juror's acceptable to the defense, Your Honor.
Then, ladies and gentlemen, we have our jury.
Trial will commence tomorrow morning.
Court is adjourned.
This thing that you're doing, it's not gonna work.
I didn't make a mistake.
I don't make mistakes.
You're making one now.
DANNY: So you were the lab tech on the Malford autopsies? It made my career.
Julia's, too.
I hear she's a tough boss.
She's a little uptight.
But honestly, that's what you need around here.
And who handled the evidence besides Julia? No one.
Really? Julia insisted on doing it all herself.
All of it? She was certified to test DNA? She's kind of a control freak.
So she put the hair in the bag, tested it, sealed it, signed it into the storage locker all by herself? WILLIAMS: Dr.
Henson, you were the defendant's supervisor during the Malford investigation.
There was a team of us working on it, looking for something of forensic value.
And you didn't find anything, did you? No.
But then, something happened.
Dr.
Martin stayed on after we completed the autopsy.
A few hours later, she notified me, said she found a hair.
We were all stunned.
Why? Well, we had searched every inch of the victim's body.
- But you were pleased.
- Of course.
We all wanted to put an end to this horrible string of sexual attacks and murders.
So you were proud of Dr.
Martin? I was proud of our unit.
I sense some hesitation on your behalf with regard to Dr.
Martin.
She has always been very diligent.
Very determined.
But frankly, she was very hard on people.
She could be quite arrogant.
[GALLERY MURMURING.]
Thank you.
Nothing further.
[SIGHS, CLEARS THROAT.]
Good morning, Dr.
Henson.
I just need you to clear something up.
You know, in the whole time that you ran the medical examiner's office, you never once did complain about my client's job performance, did you? Not in any performance review, not even casually, in a face-to-face with her, say, in your office? No.
And isn't it true that she replaced you? That she went from being your subordinate to your supervisor? That's not how I would describe it.
Ah, well, how would you describe it? I mean, uh, one day, she's working for you, and the next day, she's your boss.
It stands to reason that you probably harbor some resentment towards Dr.
Martin, wouldn't you say? Objection.
Ask another question.
I mean, she fired you.
- Didn't she? - Objection.
What's the relevance? It goes to bias, Your Honor.
Dr.
Henson is using this courtroom to settle a score.
JUDGE: Overruled.
Please answer the question.
We had differences of opinion on a number of cases.
But she has the right to work with whomever she chooses.
I will admit that I did not like the way she operated the unit.
In my opinion, she was obsessive.
Determined to solve any case, no matter what.
Sometimes even if the forensics did not bear her out.
BENNY: But again, that is your opinion.
The opinion of the man she replaced and ultimately fired.
Just my opinion.
No further questions, Your Honor.
This is the last of it.
Every piece of information about the hair that exists.
Your original analysis, your second analysis, the independent analysis, photos, storage data.
Anything jumping out at you? Not yet.
I'm not trying to get out of anything, but honestly, I have no idea what I'm reading here.
Just give it to me.
You, too.
Give me yours.
[EXHALES.]
You don't have to sit here.
I don't need a babysitter.
I'll be in my office.
I'll be in my bed.
[DOOR OPENS.]
Should I come back? Of course not.
What's up? Pollen.
Excuse me? The hair all the outside labs have been testing is covered with pollen.
And that matters because? Well, to begin with, it makes me wonder whether the hair is actually a pubic hair at all.
And if so, how it possibly came into contact with pollen.
Well, I'm sure, with a little imagination, someone will come up with a scenario.
Emily was murdered in the dead of winter.
And in the dead of winter, there is no pollen.
This is not the hair I found on Emily's body.
CHUNK: Dr.
Martin, isn't it true that the night that you found the sole piece of DNA evidence against Mr.
Malford, that everyone had gone home and you were completely alone with the victim's body? - Yes.
- And do you regularly perform autopsies alone, late at night, when everyone's gone home for the day? Yes.
And why is that? I have a really particular skill set, and I find that skill set works best when there's just two of us in the room.
Myself, and the cadaver.
Other people really just end up being distractions.
All right.
Let's talk about that.
When you say that other people are distractions, it sounds very negative.
Very dismissive.
One could easily get the impression that you just don't like people.
And we want the jurors to like you.
And it helps if they think you might like them.
[EXHALES.]
I don't know them.
Of course.
Okay, um, let's forget that line of thinking.
Here's another reason why saying you find other people distracting might not serve your best interests: anything that makes it sound like you don't like having people around when you do your work might make the jurors think that you don't want company because it makes it harder to manipulate evidence.
You see that, right? - I don't manipulate evidence.
- I know that.
But you're-you're talking to people who don't know you.
So how would you suggest I answer that? Well, maybe there's another reason you work late that wouldn't lead them to the same conclusion.
Maybe you find it impossible to sleep when there are grieving friends and relatives out there waiting for answers as to what happened to their loved ones? I can't say that.
That's-that's not the truth.
Maybe there's a truth that's more palatable to the jury.
Mr.
Palmer, I'm a scientist, and scientists deal with facts.
There is one truth, there's one right answer.
If you ask me a question, I am going to give you that truth.
As to whether it's palatable, that's not something I've ever concerned myself with.
Well, it ought to be, because you're gonna be spending ten years in prison for something that you didn't do if we can't make the jury understand your side of the story.
Okay, again, there is no "my side" of the story.
There is what happened, and there is what did not happen.
There is truth and fact, and there is falsehood.
You can't spin the truth, you cannot polish it up or put lipstick on a pig, which is what I feel like you're trying to do to me right now.
I am what I am.
I did what I did, and I don't regret a minute of it because I did it all by the book.
So are we done here? It certainly seems that way.
- You talk to Chunk? - Sure did.
You still want to put her on the stand? I do.
He said that she's fundamentally incapable of shading her answers even one iota.
Even at the risk of sending herself to prison.
I'm waiting for the bad news.
I'm pretty sure I just gave you the bad news.
So the truth is, this woman can't even fudge the facts to keep herself out of jail.
Now we just have to get a jury to understand that that means she couldn't possibly have fudged them to put someone else behind bars.
BENNY: We've heard a lot about the fact that you like to work alone and often late at night.
Can you please tell us why that's your practice, Dr.
Martin? I'm not good with people.
I know how that sounds.
Trust me, it's not made me a lot of friends.
[SOFT LAUGHTER.]
But I am good at my job.
I'm great at my job.
And in order to be the best at my job, I have to be able to concentrate.
I have to know that every single step of that process was done with precision and care.
And if I do every step myself, I don't have to worry that it wasn't done properly.
I don't have to worry that I offended someone because I criticized them for making a mistake.
Or that I forgot to praise someone for just doing their job.
So what do you say to the allegations that you falsified evidence in order to get a conviction against John Malford? I would say that's ridiculous.
I don't care about John Malford.
I have never cared about who gets convicted.
That's not a win for me.
A win for me is finding the right answer.
It's solving the puzzle, it's making the crime stop.
I do crosswords a lot.
And they have these new apps now.
If you get stuck, you can prompt it, and it'll give you a word, or it will give you a letter.
And I would I would just never do that.
I would never want to do that, because having a filled-out crossword, that does nothing for me.
But solving it myself, that's the part that's satisfying.
So no, I would never falsify evidence to get a conviction, because then I would never really know who did it.
I wouldn't solve the puzzle.
If you cheat, you never find the truth.
Marissa? MARISSA: No movement yet, but they clearly want to believe her.
Baby steps.
I'm starting to think Chunk doesn't know his own strength.
Kept telling me she was hopeless, but he actually turned her into a very effective witness.
- Ah, speak of the devil.
- Oh What have we here? TAYLOR: Well, I wasn't able to connect Malford directly to any of the people who worked at the medical examiner's office, - but then Danny had a great idea.
- DANNY: Serial killers like Malford tend to attract obsessive fans.
Total strangers who begin to believe they have an intimate relationship with these killers.
Excessive adoration disorder.
Oh, yeah.
I've heard of this.
Crazy ladies who marry prisoners they've never met before.
Well, they're not all ladies and they don't all get married, but yes, that's what we're talking about.
Malford hasn't had a jailhouse wedding yet, but he does have quite the fan club.
TAYLOR: Our guy's gotten thousands of letters, and he's responded to hundreds of them.
CHUNK: The good news is, Sing Sing keeps a scan of all incoming and outgoing mail, and they gave Taylor access.
Any one of these admirers sound like they'd be willing to help Malford break out of prison? TAYLOR: Oh, yeah.
There's no shortage of those.
But we're still talking about over two dozen people.
The math is not encouraging.
More than 80 people had access to the evidence storage facility.
More than two dozen crazies writing love letters.
BENNY: That's a lot of leads to be running down in the middle of a trial.
We don't have the time.
I'm betting a day, maybe two, before the judge forces us to rest our case.
Maybe we should just go right to the source.
Excuse me? See how early Benny and I can get into Sing Sing tomorrow to talk with John Malford.
Uh John Malford? Seriously? Yeah.
Sometimes the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
We need to figure out who's helping this guy break out of prison; why don't we just go ask him? So what's the game plan here, boss? I just want to look him in the eye, see what I see.
Maybe he'll offer something useful, maybe he won't.
Serial killers tend to be outsized narcissists.
Nothing they like to talk about more than themselves.
I just want to get him talking.
Ryan, good to see you.
I didn't know you'd be joining us.
Benny, Dr.
Bull, pleasure.
When the prison informed me you'd requested a meeting, I thought it wise to sit in.
BULL: Of course.
Just to be clear, this was all very last minute.
Nobody's trying to pull a fast one Never even crossed my mind.
Just want to be certain everyone remembers, my client isn't on trial.
Yours is.
Oh, I think we're all very clear about that.
You must be Mr.
Malford.
Yeah.
John.
Who are you? RYAN: These are the gentlemen representing the medical examiner who falsified the evidence that got you locked up, John.
Hmm.
RYAN: So what can we do for you? Well, we just wanted to get a look at the man who's at the center of our case.
How you holding up in here, John? Holding up good.
Working out, food's okay.
How's your head? You lonely? You have any friends? Oh, yeah.
I got friends.
[LAUGHS SOFTLY.]
Inside and outside.
BULL: Aha.
How do you mean, "outside"? Oh, you know.
I get letters, pictures.
People want to visit.
Want to, um, make friends.
- Women.
- Mm.
Oh.
That sounds like a great life.
Some of those pictures are naked.
RYAN: So, you two working for the prison now? Hmm? Conducting a customer satisfaction survey? The point is, John here's been a model prisoner, he's adapted to prison life flawlessly.
Not a black mark on his record to hinder his appeal.
Ah.
Right.
John's appeal.
Hey, I-I've got to ask, why even bother with the appeal? You seem so content.
Because he's innocent.
JOHN: What do I care if this guy wants to push some papers around? No skin off my back.
I mean, what's the worst thing that happens? I actually get out? You're right.
No harm, no foul.
This has been great.
Really helpful.
Mr.
Vance.
Mr.
Malford.
Hey, why'd you cut bait like that? The guy was just warming up.
Maybe we could've gotten a name, maybe found our inside man at the morgue.
There is no name.
There is no inside man at the morgue.
How do you mean? [SIGHS.]
Did Malford seem like he'd even contemplated life outside of prison? No.
It didn't seem like he actually cared much about his appeal at all.
Exactly.
He also showed very little interest in Julia's case.
Now, if this guy spent the last six years hatching this scheme and manipulating some admirer to do his bidding, don't you think he'd be a little more invested in the fruits of his labor? So, Malford didn't do it? Malford didn't change the evidence? Back to square one? Maybe not.
Malford might have no interest in Julia's case, but someone put this thing in motion.
Who do you mean? Ryan? No.
Ryan's his lawyer.
He's just doing his job.
You don't think it strange that he was there at that meeting just now, or that he has been in court every day of Julia's trial? I don't know, Bull.
Ryan is not my favorite guy, but what does he care if Julia goes down? I'm not sure.
I'm just telling you what I see.
Since we moved off the fangirl theory and onto Malford's lawyer, I circled back to the 80 people who had access to the evidence storage facility at the medical examiner's office to see if I could try to find some kind of link.
We never did do a deep dive into any of their finances, because Malford was broke, so it didn't seem particularly relevant.
But Malford's attorney, Mr.
Ryan Vance, Esquire, is not.
He has plenty of money to pay off an overworked, underpaid lab tech.
Like Skylar Brown.
Skylar was wrestling with a significant amount of debt.
She maxed out four credit cards and has two delinquent homeowner loans.
But, coincidentally, Skylar seems to have had a financial windfall, just three weeks prior to the independent analysis of Malford's hair.
A cash deposit, $60,000, straight into her personal checking account.
Hmm.
Okay, $60,000 question.
Can we tie any of this cash back to Ryan Vance? Not yet, but we are gonna keep at it.
I feel the heat all the way over here.
Something not clicking for you? I got everything but the "why.
" Why would a successful attorney like Ryan Vance put his entire livelihood, his entire legacy on the line for a rapist and a murderer like John Malford? So why frame Julia? Why go to all the trouble? Why risk putting a homicidal sexual predator back on the street, earn the enmity of the D.
A.
's office by forcing them to reopen every case where Julia's evidence put someone away? Why? What are you thinking? Taylor, how long do you think it'd take to get a list of Ryan Vance's other clients? The other clients that are currently incarcerated? I'm kind of in the middle of something I don't care.
I want that list.
BENNY: With Your Honor's approval, we'd like to call the person sitting in the third row, John Malford's attorney Ryan Vance, to the stand.
JUDGE: Has the defense subpoenaed Mr.
Vance? We don't typically allow those seated in the gallery to testify.
Yes, we're aware of that, Your Honor.
But we're hoping that the court will see fit - to grant us this approval.
- RYAN: Your Honor, I'm sorry, I this is the first I'm hearing of this.
BENNY: Mr.
Vance's petition for the independent analysis of the Malford evidence initiated this whole trial.
I'd merely like him to speak to the history of how that new analysis came to be.
All right.
I'll allow it.
BENNY: So Mr.
Vance, when you requested an independent examination of the evidence in the John Malford case, did you know a negative match would call into question the professional conduct and scientific expertise of my client, Dr.
Julia Martin? That would be a natural consequence.
She did perform the original analysis.
Isn't it true that other cases will be reexamined as a result of Dr.
Martin's prosecution? Countless other criminals, murderers, rapists and thieves are going to file for dismissal of their sentences.
As well they should be, yes.
Ah.
I-Isn't it also true that you are the sole owner of Barnaby Bank account number 00403010? I don't know, I It very well could be.
I don't have my account number memorized.
I do bank at Barnaby, so yes, I suppose.
A-And isn't it also true that you withdrew $60,000 in cash on September 21st from this account? Again, it's months ago.
I don't have every transaction memorized, so yes, it's possible, it sounds possible.
[LAUGHS.]
: If you say so.
Well, it's not me saying it.
Your Honor, these are Mr.
Vance's bank records for the month of September.
I'd ask that you mark them as defense exhibit number 14.
So marked.
And lastly, do you know a Skylar Brown? RYAN: Uh Uh, name rings a bell.
I-I can't be certain, though.
Well, she's an employee of the medical examiner's office with full access to all evidence storage.
- Including DNA samples.
- Objection, Your Honor.
Relevance? I'm moments away, Your Honor, I promise.
I certainly hope so.
Overruled.
Isn't it strange that just two days after you made your withdrawal, Skylar Brown paid off all of her credit cards, her delinquent loans? All of her outstanding debts? Following a deposit of exactly $60,000 in cash into her checking account? I wouldn't say strange.
I might say coincidental.
Ah.
How old were you when your brother was convicted of murder? I really don't think that has anything to do with the business at hand.
I-Isn't your brother Trevor one of your clients? And wasn't the evidence in his case also assessed by my client, Dr.
Julia Martin? And if Dr.
Martin is found guilty, isn't Trevor's conviction likely to be overturned, just like John Malford's? And isn't that why you paid Skylar Brown $60,000, to replace the hair that was used to convict your client, John Malford? JUDGE: Mr.
Vance, do you need the question repeated? Oh, that's all right, Your Honor.
I think the jury already has their answer.
No further questions.
Is the prosecution prepared to cross-examine the witness? Actually, no.
But we are prepared, based on Ryan Vance's testimony and the evidence presented by Mr.
Colón, to withdraw our charges - against Dr.
Martin - [GALLERY MURMURING.]
and offer our apologies.
[GAVEL BANGING.]
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
[LAUGHS SOFTLY.]
Oh, Dr.
Martin, it's 2:00 in the morning, and I heard a noise.
No one else is here, you know, and I was just about to leave.
You gonna be okay? I'm going to be perfect.
You asked me how to get ahead at the firm.
That's how you do it.
What about merit? W-What about hard work? [CHUCKLES.]
Let me explain something to you.
For you to rise in the ranks, someone has to make room for you.
They have to give up something, maybe a raise or part of a bonus.
Now why is someone going to be giving up something unless they get something? [GAGS.]
Oh, geez.
It's behind you, corner of the bar.
[SHUSHING.]
M.
E.
HENSON: January 5th, 9:40 p.
m.
Postmortem examination.
External search: Negative.
Internal trunk exploration: Negative.
Forensic evidence discovered: None.
How is that possible? Excuse me? This man's killed four women in a year and a half.
How is it he can hide in women's bathrooms, chloroform his victims, undress them, undress himself, have sex with them, strangle them to death, and still not leave one bit of forensic evidence? Not one drop of semen? Not one fleck of skin? Listen, I know you're new here, but, uh, Dr? Martin.
Julia Martin.
We're talking public bathrooms.
They're a convention center of forensic evidence.
The victims' bodies, that's another story.
That's how we'll get him.
PETER: Dr.
Martin, you're still here? I'd like to take another look at Emily Baker's body.
Eh, kind of late.
Everyone's gone.
That's okay.
I'll be fine.
I'll put everything back the way I found it.
HOLLOWAY: We're obviously thrilled that this afternoon, a jury of his peers convicted John Malford, otherwise known as the "Bathroom Stall Butcher," for the murder of young Emily Baker.
Special thanks to the New York City Medical Examiner's Office, in particular to Julia Martin, whose tireless work led to the discovery of the pivotal piece of evidence against John Malford.
[SOFT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING.]
Hi.
Welcome to Billy's.
If you're gonna be a successful attorney in Manhattan, this is a place you need to know about.
Oh, I didn't even know there was a Billy's.
Well, consider tonight as a part of your legal education.
Thanks.
As a matter of fact, FDR used to settle cases at that table right there - in the back.
- Oh, I don't care about all that.
Show me where the Benny Colón booth is.
[LAUGHS.]
No, this ain't Dunkin' Donuts.
- [CHUCKLES.]
- Why don't you find us a table.
I'll grab us some drinks.
STELLA: Benjamin Colón.
Stella! - And Ryan.
- [BOTH LAUGH.]
[LAUGHS.]
: Wow What is the occasion? You two look like a pair of breathalyzer tests waiting to happen.
Well, truth is I have a pretty good shot at getting a client out of prison.
Guy was put away for life, so So what'd you do? You bake him a cake with a hacksaw in it? [LAUGHTER.]
- One better.
- Ah.
I discovered the evidence that got him convicted may have been tampered with.
- Seriously? - Yeah.
By, uh, the police, or? Medical Examiner's Office.
Yeah.
I petitioned to have a client's DNA evidence retested and it came back no match, not even close.
Well, who's the medical examiner? You know Julia Martin? No, no, no, no.
That must be a mistake.
She was picked up this morning.
D.
A.
's office thinks it was intentional.
Who is your client? Remember the "Bathroom Stall Butcher," John Malford? BULL: I hate trolling for cases.
I like to be asked.
I like to be the one who can say no.
We are not trolling.
We are offering our services.
And trust me, so is every other A-list criminal firm in town.
I mean, this is Julia Martin.
Chief Medical Examiner for the City of New York.
These are the kinds of cases that get the town talking.
Plus, I know her.
There's no way she'd tamper with evidence.
Well, obviously the D.
A.
doesn't agree with you or he wouldn't have arrested her.
Plus, I know she has a big title, but at the end of the day she's just a civil servant.
What are you trying to say? Well, is this another pro bono situation? Because, frankly, I've become such a pro at bono, I'm getting ready to start my own Irish rock band.
You wake up in the morning and you go over in your head all those hundreds of things that you have to do this week.
It just doesn't occur to you that you might get arrested.
You might spend your first night in jail.
I'm the Chief Medical Examiner for the City of New York.
We want to help you, Julia.
You know I can't afford to pay top-shelf guys like you.
We'll be fine.
Will I be? I also can't afford for you to do a half-assed job because you're just in it for the free press.
Keep in mind the best press for everyone is about your ultimate acquittal.
You keep that in mind.
All right then, I guess it's the two of you.
Lucky us.
So here's what I know.
Six years ago, when I found that hair in the back of a woman's throat, it was a perfect match to John Malford's hair, perfect.
100%.
I still have the evidence that says so, so I'm not clear exactly why we're here.
The problem is Malford's attorney was running out of appeals, so he decided to throw a Hail Mary and petitioned for a new analysis of the hair, an outside analysis of the hair.
And when an outside lab tested it, it came back negative.
And after they popped their champagne, they sent it to three more labs, and it also came back negative.
It didn't match Malford's hair at all.
That's not plausible.
Someone switched the hairs, or they tested the wrong hair.
Julia, it's completely plausible.
You don't have to agree with it, but it's certainly plausible.
No.
You're wrong.
It isn't.
There's no circumstance under which I would ever tamper with evidence in any case.
Everyone knows this about me.
No.
Everyone does not.
Think about it.
You performed the examination sometime after midnight.
You were alone in the autopsy room, and lack of plausibility is not the argument that's gonna win the case for you.
Okay.
You know that it was a pubic hair.
Right? It was a man's pubic hair.
I found it in the deepest recesses of her esophagus.
So let's say that I am going to plant a hair.
Where would I have gotten a male pubic hair from? Oh, come on.
Those can't be that hard to come by in the morgue.
Is it possible you made a mistake? - Excuse me? - I mean, maybe you thought you found evidence that was relevant to the case, but it wasn't.
Emily might've indulged in oral sex with someone else, consensual contact.
You did an autopsy.
You found this hair.
It was a mistake.
No, that's not possible.
I ran every test that there was.
I ran every test myself.
That was his hair.
Keep in mind, if it was truly a mistake, then there is no criminal intent.
If there is no criminal intent, then there's no crime.
Mistakes.
Everybody makes them.
So you're telling me, if I say that I made a mistake, the charges might be withdrawn? Well, it's certainly something I'd like to take to the D.
A.
I can't imagine that they would want to go forward with this trial.
- I can't.
- You can't what? I can't say that because I don't make mistakes, not when it comes to forensic science.
Does that change anything for the two of you? Just makes the job harder, but we didn't take up the offer because we thought it was gonna be easy.
We told you we wanted to defend you, and we mean it.
So what's the plan? Well, to get you out on bail, for starters.
I'll talk to the D.
A.
in the morning, get a lay of the land and see what they think they have on you.
Dr.
Martin.
Julia.
- [KNOCKING.]
- [LOCK BUZZES.]
Thank you.
- Did you say - Thank you.
You're welcome.
The truth is you know she couldn't have done this.
She'd rather cut off her own arm than give you a false report.
And yet, she did.
You think I'm looking to take down a medical examiner? We work with them every day.
I've had these results checked and rechecked with four different labs.
She screwed up, which makes all of us look bad.
Have you actually considered the repercussions of this? You convict the Chief Medical Examiner for the City of New York, and you are handing a "get out of jail free" card to everyone you've ever put behind bars.
You will have a mile-long line of attorneys out your door claiming that their clients were falsely convicted.
Is that what you want? Your discovery packet.
Assuming you're still gonna want the case once you see what's in there.
Okay, what's in there? Julia's first examination of Emily Baker's corpse, she came up with nothing.
Okay, so she found the evidence the second time through.
And that's fine, except she completely deleted the first report.
The one where she came up empty, just plucked it out of the system like it never happened.
That's a big no-no.
Okay.
You know it's a breach of protocol to delete any reports.
Even ones that are later replaced by updated results, and you know why.
Because it can be construed as consciousness of guilt.
Julia's the best there is.
Do you think she'd accidentally forget protocol? She couldn't find any evidence on the dead girl, she decided to take matters into her own hands and create some.
Oh, here's the bail agreement.
- Is she on her way? - Already here.
She and Benny are waiting in your office.
Assistant District Attorney Williams is not your friend.
I never said that he was.
He's claiming you destroyed an official autopsy report.
Did you write an official report stating that you didn't find any physical evidence after your examination of Emily Baker and then delete that report from the official citywide records? Yes.
It was years ago.
I mean You have to know how bad that's gonna look to a jury.
That first report was useless.
It only said that I didn't find anything.
Yes, but in a court of law, it's going to look like a prior inconsistent statement.
You weren't supposed to delete it.
You were supposed to keep it and turn it over in discovery.
No, I wasn't gonna do that.
Malford's lawyers would've just used it to-to call in to question the evidence that I did find.
I know how these people operate.
Julia, that first report is still evidence.
You can't just destroy evidence because it doesn't suit your needs.
Okay, technically, that first report was about an absence of evidence, which isn't really evidence.
Okay, all right.
The bottom line is, and-and I know you couldn't see the future from where you were standing, you didn't do yourself any favors.
The D.
A.
's office is gonna say that you intentionally deleted that report to make it easier for you to intentionally plant the evidence.
But that isn't what actually happened.
Even if it looks like that's what happened.
It really boils down to this: either you made a mistake, or someone, quite possibly you, is guilty of malfeasance.
BENNY: Well, Danny's already looking into malfeasance.
She's trying to find anyone with the means and motive to have switched out the hairs.
Which in the meantime leaves us with: mistake.
As I've already explained to you, I don't make those kinds of mistakes.
Well, then someone else did.
In either event, we need to follow chain of custody.
I need to know everyone who had access to that hair.
Julia, can you talk to my investigator, talk to her about how evidence is catalogued and stored, who had access, how they get access? - Of course.
- Excellent.
Well, then, Mr.
Colón and I will see you in court later this afternoon.
Everything all right? I guess.
I just realized I don't know where to go.
And what to do until court.
You know, my first instinct is to rush back to the morgue and then I remembered that I can't.
Not to worry.
It is gonna be tough to find jurors who aren't put off by our client.
Mm.
Maybe we should look for people who only see the best in others.
Actually, I was thinking just the opposite.
What? People who only see the worst? You ever heard of Hanlon's razor? No.
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
" We need people who will look at this situation Julia's gotten into and think, "This isn't some big conspiracy.
This is probably just someone's stupid mistake.
" Good afternoon.
So let's say you send an e-mail to your boss asking him for time off.
A day goes by and he doesn't respond.
What do you make of that? He's busy.
I like her.
Tell me why I shouldn't.
MARISSA: Jennifer Thomas, single mom, 43 years old, two kids and you are going to hate this: she works at an insurance company as a claims manager.
Can I pick 'em or can I pick 'em? Probably spends her days looking at inflated insurance claims.
She's the very definition of what we don't want.
We'd like to thank and excuse this juror, Your Honor.
Personally? I hate it when people don't respond to my e-mails.
Why is that? Well, they're trying to tell me that I don't matter.
I guess I figured he didn't get the e-mail, or maybe he deleted it by accident.
Because anyone can make an honest mistake, right? Sure.
This juror's acceptable to the defense, Your Honor.
Then, ladies and gentlemen, we have our jury.
Trial will commence tomorrow morning.
Court is adjourned.
This thing that you're doing, it's not gonna work.
I didn't make a mistake.
I don't make mistakes.
You're making one now.
DANNY: So you were the lab tech on the Malford autopsies? It made my career.
Julia's, too.
I hear she's a tough boss.
She's a little uptight.
But honestly, that's what you need around here.
And who handled the evidence besides Julia? No one.
Really? Julia insisted on doing it all herself.
All of it? She was certified to test DNA? She's kind of a control freak.
So she put the hair in the bag, tested it, sealed it, signed it into the storage locker all by herself? WILLIAMS: Dr.
Henson, you were the defendant's supervisor during the Malford investigation.
There was a team of us working on it, looking for something of forensic value.
And you didn't find anything, did you? No.
But then, something happened.
Dr.
Martin stayed on after we completed the autopsy.
A few hours later, she notified me, said she found a hair.
We were all stunned.
Why? Well, we had searched every inch of the victim's body.
- But you were pleased.
- Of course.
We all wanted to put an end to this horrible string of sexual attacks and murders.
So you were proud of Dr.
Martin? I was proud of our unit.
I sense some hesitation on your behalf with regard to Dr.
Martin.
She has always been very diligent.
Very determined.
But frankly, she was very hard on people.
She could be quite arrogant.
[GALLERY MURMURING.]
Thank you.
Nothing further.
[SIGHS, CLEARS THROAT.]
Good morning, Dr.
Henson.
I just need you to clear something up.
You know, in the whole time that you ran the medical examiner's office, you never once did complain about my client's job performance, did you? Not in any performance review, not even casually, in a face-to-face with her, say, in your office? No.
And isn't it true that she replaced you? That she went from being your subordinate to your supervisor? That's not how I would describe it.
Ah, well, how would you describe it? I mean, uh, one day, she's working for you, and the next day, she's your boss.
It stands to reason that you probably harbor some resentment towards Dr.
Martin, wouldn't you say? Objection.
Ask another question.
I mean, she fired you.
- Didn't she? - Objection.
What's the relevance? It goes to bias, Your Honor.
Dr.
Henson is using this courtroom to settle a score.
JUDGE: Overruled.
Please answer the question.
We had differences of opinion on a number of cases.
But she has the right to work with whomever she chooses.
I will admit that I did not like the way she operated the unit.
In my opinion, she was obsessive.
Determined to solve any case, no matter what.
Sometimes even if the forensics did not bear her out.
BENNY: But again, that is your opinion.
The opinion of the man she replaced and ultimately fired.
Just my opinion.
No further questions, Your Honor.
This is the last of it.
Every piece of information about the hair that exists.
Your original analysis, your second analysis, the independent analysis, photos, storage data.
Anything jumping out at you? Not yet.
I'm not trying to get out of anything, but honestly, I have no idea what I'm reading here.
Just give it to me.
You, too.
Give me yours.
[EXHALES.]
You don't have to sit here.
I don't need a babysitter.
I'll be in my office.
I'll be in my bed.
[DOOR OPENS.]
Should I come back? Of course not.
What's up? Pollen.
Excuse me? The hair all the outside labs have been testing is covered with pollen.
And that matters because? Well, to begin with, it makes me wonder whether the hair is actually a pubic hair at all.
And if so, how it possibly came into contact with pollen.
Well, I'm sure, with a little imagination, someone will come up with a scenario.
Emily was murdered in the dead of winter.
And in the dead of winter, there is no pollen.
This is not the hair I found on Emily's body.
CHUNK: Dr.
Martin, isn't it true that the night that you found the sole piece of DNA evidence against Mr.
Malford, that everyone had gone home and you were completely alone with the victim's body? - Yes.
- And do you regularly perform autopsies alone, late at night, when everyone's gone home for the day? Yes.
And why is that? I have a really particular skill set, and I find that skill set works best when there's just two of us in the room.
Myself, and the cadaver.
Other people really just end up being distractions.
All right.
Let's talk about that.
When you say that other people are distractions, it sounds very negative.
Very dismissive.
One could easily get the impression that you just don't like people.
And we want the jurors to like you.
And it helps if they think you might like them.
[EXHALES.]
I don't know them.
Of course.
Okay, um, let's forget that line of thinking.
Here's another reason why saying you find other people distracting might not serve your best interests: anything that makes it sound like you don't like having people around when you do your work might make the jurors think that you don't want company because it makes it harder to manipulate evidence.
You see that, right? - I don't manipulate evidence.
- I know that.
But you're-you're talking to people who don't know you.
So how would you suggest I answer that? Well, maybe there's another reason you work late that wouldn't lead them to the same conclusion.
Maybe you find it impossible to sleep when there are grieving friends and relatives out there waiting for answers as to what happened to their loved ones? I can't say that.
That's-that's not the truth.
Maybe there's a truth that's more palatable to the jury.
Mr.
Palmer, I'm a scientist, and scientists deal with facts.
There is one truth, there's one right answer.
If you ask me a question, I am going to give you that truth.
As to whether it's palatable, that's not something I've ever concerned myself with.
Well, it ought to be, because you're gonna be spending ten years in prison for something that you didn't do if we can't make the jury understand your side of the story.
Okay, again, there is no "my side" of the story.
There is what happened, and there is what did not happen.
There is truth and fact, and there is falsehood.
You can't spin the truth, you cannot polish it up or put lipstick on a pig, which is what I feel like you're trying to do to me right now.
I am what I am.
I did what I did, and I don't regret a minute of it because I did it all by the book.
So are we done here? It certainly seems that way.
- You talk to Chunk? - Sure did.
You still want to put her on the stand? I do.
He said that she's fundamentally incapable of shading her answers even one iota.
Even at the risk of sending herself to prison.
I'm waiting for the bad news.
I'm pretty sure I just gave you the bad news.
So the truth is, this woman can't even fudge the facts to keep herself out of jail.
Now we just have to get a jury to understand that that means she couldn't possibly have fudged them to put someone else behind bars.
BENNY: We've heard a lot about the fact that you like to work alone and often late at night.
Can you please tell us why that's your practice, Dr.
Martin? I'm not good with people.
I know how that sounds.
Trust me, it's not made me a lot of friends.
[SOFT LAUGHTER.]
But I am good at my job.
I'm great at my job.
And in order to be the best at my job, I have to be able to concentrate.
I have to know that every single step of that process was done with precision and care.
And if I do every step myself, I don't have to worry that it wasn't done properly.
I don't have to worry that I offended someone because I criticized them for making a mistake.
Or that I forgot to praise someone for just doing their job.
So what do you say to the allegations that you falsified evidence in order to get a conviction against John Malford? I would say that's ridiculous.
I don't care about John Malford.
I have never cared about who gets convicted.
That's not a win for me.
A win for me is finding the right answer.
It's solving the puzzle, it's making the crime stop.
I do crosswords a lot.
And they have these new apps now.
If you get stuck, you can prompt it, and it'll give you a word, or it will give you a letter.
And I would I would just never do that.
I would never want to do that, because having a filled-out crossword, that does nothing for me.
But solving it myself, that's the part that's satisfying.
So no, I would never falsify evidence to get a conviction, because then I would never really know who did it.
I wouldn't solve the puzzle.
If you cheat, you never find the truth.
Marissa? MARISSA: No movement yet, but they clearly want to believe her.
Baby steps.
I'm starting to think Chunk doesn't know his own strength.
Kept telling me she was hopeless, but he actually turned her into a very effective witness.
- Ah, speak of the devil.
- Oh What have we here? TAYLOR: Well, I wasn't able to connect Malford directly to any of the people who worked at the medical examiner's office, - but then Danny had a great idea.
- DANNY: Serial killers like Malford tend to attract obsessive fans.
Total strangers who begin to believe they have an intimate relationship with these killers.
Excessive adoration disorder.
Oh, yeah.
I've heard of this.
Crazy ladies who marry prisoners they've never met before.
Well, they're not all ladies and they don't all get married, but yes, that's what we're talking about.
Malford hasn't had a jailhouse wedding yet, but he does have quite the fan club.
TAYLOR: Our guy's gotten thousands of letters, and he's responded to hundreds of them.
CHUNK: The good news is, Sing Sing keeps a scan of all incoming and outgoing mail, and they gave Taylor access.
Any one of these admirers sound like they'd be willing to help Malford break out of prison? TAYLOR: Oh, yeah.
There's no shortage of those.
But we're still talking about over two dozen people.
The math is not encouraging.
More than 80 people had access to the evidence storage facility.
More than two dozen crazies writing love letters.
BENNY: That's a lot of leads to be running down in the middle of a trial.
We don't have the time.
I'm betting a day, maybe two, before the judge forces us to rest our case.
Maybe we should just go right to the source.
Excuse me? See how early Benny and I can get into Sing Sing tomorrow to talk with John Malford.
Uh John Malford? Seriously? Yeah.
Sometimes the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
We need to figure out who's helping this guy break out of prison; why don't we just go ask him? So what's the game plan here, boss? I just want to look him in the eye, see what I see.
Maybe he'll offer something useful, maybe he won't.
Serial killers tend to be outsized narcissists.
Nothing they like to talk about more than themselves.
I just want to get him talking.
Ryan, good to see you.
I didn't know you'd be joining us.
Benny, Dr.
Bull, pleasure.
When the prison informed me you'd requested a meeting, I thought it wise to sit in.
BULL: Of course.
Just to be clear, this was all very last minute.
Nobody's trying to pull a fast one Never even crossed my mind.
Just want to be certain everyone remembers, my client isn't on trial.
Yours is.
Oh, I think we're all very clear about that.
You must be Mr.
Malford.
Yeah.
John.
Who are you? RYAN: These are the gentlemen representing the medical examiner who falsified the evidence that got you locked up, John.
Hmm.
RYAN: So what can we do for you? Well, we just wanted to get a look at the man who's at the center of our case.
How you holding up in here, John? Holding up good.
Working out, food's okay.
How's your head? You lonely? You have any friends? Oh, yeah.
I got friends.
[LAUGHS SOFTLY.]
Inside and outside.
BULL: Aha.
How do you mean, "outside"? Oh, you know.
I get letters, pictures.
People want to visit.
Want to, um, make friends.
- Women.
- Mm.
Oh.
That sounds like a great life.
Some of those pictures are naked.
RYAN: So, you two working for the prison now? Hmm? Conducting a customer satisfaction survey? The point is, John here's been a model prisoner, he's adapted to prison life flawlessly.
Not a black mark on his record to hinder his appeal.
Ah.
Right.
John's appeal.
Hey, I-I've got to ask, why even bother with the appeal? You seem so content.
Because he's innocent.
JOHN: What do I care if this guy wants to push some papers around? No skin off my back.
I mean, what's the worst thing that happens? I actually get out? You're right.
No harm, no foul.
This has been great.
Really helpful.
Mr.
Vance.
Mr.
Malford.
Hey, why'd you cut bait like that? The guy was just warming up.
Maybe we could've gotten a name, maybe found our inside man at the morgue.
There is no name.
There is no inside man at the morgue.
How do you mean? [SIGHS.]
Did Malford seem like he'd even contemplated life outside of prison? No.
It didn't seem like he actually cared much about his appeal at all.
Exactly.
He also showed very little interest in Julia's case.
Now, if this guy spent the last six years hatching this scheme and manipulating some admirer to do his bidding, don't you think he'd be a little more invested in the fruits of his labor? So, Malford didn't do it? Malford didn't change the evidence? Back to square one? Maybe not.
Malford might have no interest in Julia's case, but someone put this thing in motion.
Who do you mean? Ryan? No.
Ryan's his lawyer.
He's just doing his job.
You don't think it strange that he was there at that meeting just now, or that he has been in court every day of Julia's trial? I don't know, Bull.
Ryan is not my favorite guy, but what does he care if Julia goes down? I'm not sure.
I'm just telling you what I see.
Since we moved off the fangirl theory and onto Malford's lawyer, I circled back to the 80 people who had access to the evidence storage facility at the medical examiner's office to see if I could try to find some kind of link.
We never did do a deep dive into any of their finances, because Malford was broke, so it didn't seem particularly relevant.
But Malford's attorney, Mr.
Ryan Vance, Esquire, is not.
He has plenty of money to pay off an overworked, underpaid lab tech.
Like Skylar Brown.
Skylar was wrestling with a significant amount of debt.
She maxed out four credit cards and has two delinquent homeowner loans.
But, coincidentally, Skylar seems to have had a financial windfall, just three weeks prior to the independent analysis of Malford's hair.
A cash deposit, $60,000, straight into her personal checking account.
Hmm.
Okay, $60,000 question.
Can we tie any of this cash back to Ryan Vance? Not yet, but we are gonna keep at it.
I feel the heat all the way over here.
Something not clicking for you? I got everything but the "why.
" Why would a successful attorney like Ryan Vance put his entire livelihood, his entire legacy on the line for a rapist and a murderer like John Malford? So why frame Julia? Why go to all the trouble? Why risk putting a homicidal sexual predator back on the street, earn the enmity of the D.
A.
's office by forcing them to reopen every case where Julia's evidence put someone away? Why? What are you thinking? Taylor, how long do you think it'd take to get a list of Ryan Vance's other clients? The other clients that are currently incarcerated? I'm kind of in the middle of something I don't care.
I want that list.
BENNY: With Your Honor's approval, we'd like to call the person sitting in the third row, John Malford's attorney Ryan Vance, to the stand.
JUDGE: Has the defense subpoenaed Mr.
Vance? We don't typically allow those seated in the gallery to testify.
Yes, we're aware of that, Your Honor.
But we're hoping that the court will see fit - to grant us this approval.
- RYAN: Your Honor, I'm sorry, I this is the first I'm hearing of this.
BENNY: Mr.
Vance's petition for the independent analysis of the Malford evidence initiated this whole trial.
I'd merely like him to speak to the history of how that new analysis came to be.
All right.
I'll allow it.
BENNY: So Mr.
Vance, when you requested an independent examination of the evidence in the John Malford case, did you know a negative match would call into question the professional conduct and scientific expertise of my client, Dr.
Julia Martin? That would be a natural consequence.
She did perform the original analysis.
Isn't it true that other cases will be reexamined as a result of Dr.
Martin's prosecution? Countless other criminals, murderers, rapists and thieves are going to file for dismissal of their sentences.
As well they should be, yes.
Ah.
I-Isn't it also true that you are the sole owner of Barnaby Bank account number 00403010? I don't know, I It very well could be.
I don't have my account number memorized.
I do bank at Barnaby, so yes, I suppose.
A-And isn't it also true that you withdrew $60,000 in cash on September 21st from this account? Again, it's months ago.
I don't have every transaction memorized, so yes, it's possible, it sounds possible.
[LAUGHS.]
: If you say so.
Well, it's not me saying it.
Your Honor, these are Mr.
Vance's bank records for the month of September.
I'd ask that you mark them as defense exhibit number 14.
So marked.
And lastly, do you know a Skylar Brown? RYAN: Uh Uh, name rings a bell.
I-I can't be certain, though.
Well, she's an employee of the medical examiner's office with full access to all evidence storage.
- Including DNA samples.
- Objection, Your Honor.
Relevance? I'm moments away, Your Honor, I promise.
I certainly hope so.
Overruled.
Isn't it strange that just two days after you made your withdrawal, Skylar Brown paid off all of her credit cards, her delinquent loans? All of her outstanding debts? Following a deposit of exactly $60,000 in cash into her checking account? I wouldn't say strange.
I might say coincidental.
Ah.
How old were you when your brother was convicted of murder? I really don't think that has anything to do with the business at hand.
I-Isn't your brother Trevor one of your clients? And wasn't the evidence in his case also assessed by my client, Dr.
Julia Martin? And if Dr.
Martin is found guilty, isn't Trevor's conviction likely to be overturned, just like John Malford's? And isn't that why you paid Skylar Brown $60,000, to replace the hair that was used to convict your client, John Malford? JUDGE: Mr.
Vance, do you need the question repeated? Oh, that's all right, Your Honor.
I think the jury already has their answer.
No further questions.
Is the prosecution prepared to cross-examine the witness? Actually, no.
But we are prepared, based on Ryan Vance's testimony and the evidence presented by Mr.
Colón, to withdraw our charges - against Dr.
Martin - [GALLERY MURMURING.]
and offer our apologies.
[GAVEL BANGING.]
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
[LAUGHS SOFTLY.]
Oh, Dr.
Martin, it's 2:00 in the morning, and I heard a noise.
No one else is here, you know, and I was just about to leave.
You gonna be okay? I'm going to be perfect.