Law & Order (1990) s03e20 Episode Script
Securitate
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.
Man, that toilet didn't even have a guest list.
Well, those other people got in.
Yeah, you come in a limo, you get in.
So, uh, we try the Milk Bar.
I think I did the doorman.
Well, that's who he said he was.
Whoever did it was in a hurry.
Left his wallet.
Name's Nicolas lliescu.
Lives on 28th St.
What'd they kill him with, a cheese grater? Dragged on the pavement.
High speed.
Hit and run? Hit someone accidentally, you don't need to shoot them twice in the head.
We got some witnesses? Yeah.
You girls see what happened? This car just came out of nowhere with this guy draggir alongside.
Came from where? There.
Wrong way up 13th.
It tore down here and kept going.
Did you get a look at who was driving? White? Black? Male? Female? No.
How about the car? I don't know cars.
I mean, it wasrt real new.
Was it a two-door or a four-door? Light? Dark? Don't know.
I'm gonna give you my card.
If you remember anything, I want you to call me, okay? What do you got? Nada.
Could be the mob.
Could be a carjacking.
Could be a hack who didn't like his tip.
"Glass fragments from the accident site inconclusive.
"Autopsy shows two close contact entry wounds to the head.
"A 9-millimeter slug found at the base of the skull.
" Lands and grooves make it a Beretta.
92.
Any ballistics match on the computer? So with hot water and a shoe, we could make soup.
Okay.
D.
M.
V.
Shows our Mr.
Iliescu owned an '88 Pontiac Bonneville, burgundy.
It's hardly a color won'th dying for.
The wife is due at the morgue in 15 minutes.
Let's see what she knows.
My family and I left Hungary 30 years ago.
We wanted to get away of oppression.
Nicolas and I left Bucharest 10 years ago To get away of the violence.
You said he was working late on the books.
Did he ever call? Yes, around, uh, 12:30.
Leon doesn't sleep well.
He answered.
I I was too tired to talk to him.
All right, all right.
What did your father say, Leon? He's not my father, he's my uncle.
He said he was on his way home.
Just take a minute, all right? It's a mistake.
Sometimes you read about mistakes.
I'm afraid it's not, ma'am.
We found your husband's ID on the body.
No.
I'm sorry.
Car's been found.
Lower East Side.
Piranas leave more.
Piranas don't need a daily C-note for crack.
Were you able to I.
D.
The car that did this? The paint pyrogram matched a white acrylic enamel.
Very widely used.
The trunk was hit pretty high, huh? Yeah.
Probably a truck or a van.
It hits him.
Before he even has a chance to get out and check the damage, the bad guy comes in the passenger side, and Mr.
Iliescu is looking at the business end of a Beretta.
Bang bang.
Autopsy says one was a clear-through.
We found the slug up here.
It was right there.
We sent it to ballistics.
Thanks.
So he pushes Nick's body out of the car and he drives off with his prize.
Yeah.
Problem is, Nick gets caught in the seatbelt and dragged for half a block.
That's a lot of trouble, for what? Blue Book, this is $2,000, minus a fencer's discount.
Hey, people get knocked off for subway change.
Maybe the guys who stripped the car know how it got into that alley.
Yeah.
Those seats have to be in a chop shop somewhere.
Yeah, all right.
Well, thanks, anyway.
Auto Crimes gave us a list of auto parts dealers with priors.
Must be over 400 auto body shops in New York.
Any that didn't make the list? Pontiac Bonneville, '88.
Yeah.
No, no, not the 1-120s, the 40-90s with the armrest.
No? Thank you.
Yeah, I'm looking for a 1988 Pontiac Bonneville.
Grey velour, driver's side front bucket seats.
Yeah, model 40-90 with armrests.
Is that too much to ask? Well, how about the seats? You do? Wait a second, are you sure? Because I called you the day before yesterday, and you didn't have any.
Just came in? I'm interested.
I'm gonna be right down.
Thank you.
What have you got? Morrie's Auto Wreckers, They also fit the '86 and '87 models.
Here, they're right over here.
Came in this morning.
Bring the vehicle in, I'll install them cheap.
How much to wipe off the blood? Blood? Come on.
That's, uh, ice cream or ketchup, uh.
They had kids.
Those kids would be orphans.
Hey, the car was stripped last night eight blocks from here.
The owner's dead.
I knew you were blue the minute you walked in.
Be my guest.
Take them.
I'm gonna want some names.
Who'd you buy it from? I don't send these guys Christmas cards.
The deal's strictly cash for parts.
Listen, you start poking around here or your deal's gonna be making license plates for cigarette money.
I don't know their names.
They only come in a couple of times.
I worked on one guy's van.
Long hair.
All right, come on, what else? You know, scars, tattoos, what? The other guy, uh, leather jacket with, uh, safety pins and studs.
On the back, says "No Bozo Jam.
" d Any situation d d Jump, you know what I'm saying, boys d d Don't tell me what you call your foursome d d That's your label, you know what I mean d d You're emotionally unstable, all you do is watch cable d d Your papa was a loser, a stone-cold loser d d At least he never kissed ass dd I can hear it in my fillings.
Doesrt anybody jitterbug anymore? Hey, what's a guy do to get served around here? Put a hole in his nose? Miss, you ever hear of No Bozo Jam? This is the Dog and Razor Club.
You like loser groups, try Tuesday amateur night at Shriek.
Uh, maybe from some, uh, earlier gig? Here's their flier.
Great.
Where do we find them? Oh, yeah.
You know, Ronda used to play sets with them.
Where's Ronda? On percussion at The Hole.
dd You know, I don't want it around that I played with No Bozo, because things are happenir for me.
We'll try to keep it out of Rolling Stone.
Two super dysfunctionals.
They, uh, give a new meaning to the word clueless.
We want names.
What about the guy who wears the leather jacket? Skank.
Wayne Jeffers, the lead singer.
Then there was, um I I don't I don't remember.
He played bass.
Any idea where we can find them? Uh, if they haven't won the lotto, they're squattir in the Belmont Building over on Avenue D and Sixth.
That's the same block as where we found the car.
Get your hands behind your head! Lace the fingers together! Spread your legs apart! Don't even think about it.
Wayne Jeffers, you're under arrest.
What about the equipment? You're travelir light.
No, he's not.
Look, I told you.
The car was just there.
We took what we could.
End of story.
After you killed Nicolas lliescu.
I found the gun on the front seat, passenger side.
You found the gun on the front seat and you didn't see his brains splattered all over the dashboard? Yeah, yeah, I saw the blood and the meat.
It's a tough neighborhood.
Someone ditched the car.
What do you want from me? We stripped the car seats and the cassette decks for money, but we didn't kill anyone.
Oh, sure.
And where did you get this? Come on, Skank, you can't be as dumb as your haircut! We found this in your pants pocket! It was under the seat.
I thought it might be good for something.
Yeah, like grand larceny, which we're gonna add to the theft and murder charge.
How many times I gotta tell you? We didn't kill anybody.
We just needed some cash.
Slugs in the vic's skull match the Beretta.
His are the only prints on it.
If I was gonna kill a guy, you think I'd do it for a Bonneville? I think you'd do it for a shoelace.
Your buddy's prints are on the gun.
My guess is right now he's in the other room rollir on you.
That's a lie! I told you, we was performing.
Let's try a little remedial math, Skank.
There's two of you, but there's only one deal.
Now, who's gonna get the deal, you or him? Their alibi sings, even if they can't.
Uh, from midnight to 6:00 a.
m.
, Moe and Larry were poppir eardrums at a club called Dreck.
Who would've thought these clowns were tellir the truth? Hey, you're lookir for a patsy, what could be better than dumpir the car and weapon in the middle of Junkieville? Yeah.
The first vulture that comes along gets booked for murder.
The first vulture without an alibi gets locked in a cage for a very long time.
These guys are smart.
Well, but maybe they werert so tidy.
Righteous brother number one claims he found this in the car.
Mr.
Brian Hollingswon'th.
What, you think he was in a hurry to get out and dropped it? So much for leaving home without it.
Check him out.
Last week we came in low bid on office space for a midtown law firm.
Architect's dream.
Bought a round of Stoli at P.
J.
's to celebrate and I paid for it with this.
Yeah, well, your name is also on this.
That's my old number.
I had to cancel that card.
Someone charged $7,000 in merchandise.
They said someone had gotten my number and made a phony card.
Have you ever heard of lliescu Antique Furniture Store? Yes.
My wife and I bought a credenza, a French provincial, only our decorator said it was actually Hungarian.
And you bought it with a credit card? No, they wouldn't take cards.
I had to pay by check.
I don't I don't see the connection.
Nicolas lliescu, the owner, was murdered and this card was found in his car.
Well, I'm not in any kind of danger, am I? So he bought the credenza from the guy who fakes his card? Yeah.
But how did he fake the card without seeir it? You know, I bought a jacket two weeks ago, but my card was loaded, so I wrote him a check.
And you know what else? You had to give two forms of I.
D.
Your driver's license and your credit card.
So we checked the bank that issued Hollingswon'th's credit card.
In the last six months, they had a dozen customers complain of fraudulent charges.
And of those 12, four of them bought furniture from lliescu's store.
All by check, and they all gave him two forms of I.
D.
, one of which was a credit card.
So lliescu copies the number, prints up a phony card, and runs up a tab all over town.
What, you figure the murder's related? Successful at one felony, why not branch out? Could be he had a partner and one of them got greedy.
Okay, talk to his wife.
Five years ago, we went back to Europe for eight weeks.
We sublet the apartment.
Nickie wanted to declare the income on our taxes.
I said, "Who is gonna know?" He says, "I will.
" So there is no way Nickie was involved in this.
I know I knew him.
Did he gamble, or did he have any other hobbies? He worked.
He came home.
That's all.
Ma'am, we do know the crime originated in your store.
Well, it was Nickie's store, but other people worked there.
Mrs.
Iliescu, If you'd give us your permission, uh, we can look around the store.
Nickie's brother, Alex, should be there.
Just tell him I said it was okay.
It was much easier for the police in my country.
Here, the police need things like warrants.
Well, we don't need one when the owner consents.
Ah, Karen.
She's doing very well now, under the circumstances.
You worked for Nick for a long time, didn't you? Mmm-hmm.
You know, I was like you in my country.
A policeman.
Now I fix chairs for my baby brother.
Detective, there's a safe back here.
Sometimes we are paid in cash.
You mind? Tommy, open the safe for these gentlemen.
Tommy's a hard worker, an honest man, something else you don't find many of back home.
Yeah, there's not many here either.
You really think Nick was involved with this, uh, credit card thing? Do you? Well, sometimes business wasrt so great.
See what I mean? What are these, corporate ledgers? You're the cop.
We checked the signatures on the time cards in lliescu's store.
And? That Jerry down the hall? He'll tell you a mars fingerprint will divulge his entire personality You ask me, that's a bunch of crap.
Signature, that's a horse of a different color.
We just want to know if any of these match.
Well, look for yourself.
See the "y" at the end of Tommy? The angle of the upstroke and how it's cut short? Now look at the "y" in O'Malley.
Close.
You get that close at the track, you retire early.
So you're saying that Tommy Zanescu forged these? Looks like it.
Give me a full exemplar, I'll know for sure.
Thanks.
Hey, we can pick him up now on grand theft.
And what, squeeze him till he confesses to murder? Forensics says that lliescu's car was rammed by a truck.
Furniture stores make deliveries.
Are you kidding me? These guys are slave drivers.
Me and Julio, sometimes up to 10 deliveries a day.
That's why I eat so healthy, guys.
A slice with some sausage is one of your three basic food groups.
Hey, you and Julio, they don't make you lug pianos uptown on your backs.
Do me a favor.
Don't give them any ideas, all right? To save a buck, these guys'll probably ditch the truck.
What kind of truck, Hector? Ford.
White.
Anybody, uh, fix the bumper lately? Hey, I haven't even seen it in a couple of days.
Tommy took it, um, last Tuesday.
And he never brought it back? Hey, do me a favor.
You find it, I'm in no rush, all right.
Know what I mean? O'Malley, Hollingswon'th, Ford, Cohen.
I don't know these people.
That's funny, 'cause you ran up over $80,000 on their cards.
I don't see my client's name anywhere.
Our handwriting expert tells us that he signed every one of those.
Handwriting expert? What's next? Maybe you want to read his palm? Or how about some tea leaves? I hear they're very good for telling the future.
Hey, you want to know the future? Try 25 years in Attica.
Hey, I don't know what F.
Lee Yahoo here told you, Tommy, but we got you for forgery and grand larceny and that adds up to a lot of years all by itself.
And then when you add murder two You cannot tie me to any murder.
The delivery man told us you took the truck.
It's only a matter of time until we find it and if we find any paint from Nick's car on the bumper Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, Lennie.
Let Mr.
Forrelli here explain it to him.
That's what you're paying him for, right? We know there were two.
Just tell us who the other person was.
Maybe we can work something out here.
I don't know if they give out gold stars for loyalty in your country, but over here, all you get is a set of striped pajamas and the word "schmo" stamped on your forehead.
The world's not as big as you think it is, Tommy.
We're gonna find your partner.
The question you have to ask yourself, will he be this loyal to you? You have authority to deal? We have the D.
A.
's ear.
Alex.
Nick's brother? Nick found out.
He searched the store, found the forged cards And you killed Nick to keep him from going to the police? I thought we were just going to get the cards back.
I never thought he'd kill his own brother.
Where's the truck? In a rent-a-garage on Corona, 108th St.
You sure this is okay? The guy gave us the key, didn't he? You know, I thought something was wrong.
Guy has a business in Manattan.
Why does he want a garage in Queens? White Ford van! Those two guys, a guy could tell.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, thanks.
Lennie! I wonder if he reported that to his insurance agent.
Burgundy paint.
Just like his brother's Bonneville.
What's Romanian for "You're under arrest"? This is a mistake.
Sounds just like English.
Alex lliescu, you're under arrest for the murder of Nicolas lliescu.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law "Docket number 651328.
"People v.
Alexei Iliescu on the charge "of murder in the second degree, "robbery in the first degree, and scheme to defraud in the first degree.
" How does the defendant plead? I plead not guilty to all counts.
And the State's response to Mr.
Iliescu's sweeping declaration of innocence? As a Romanian national, we feel Mr.
Iliescu represents a strong risk of flight.
We ask he be held without bail.
That's the message you send to the emerging democracies? Bail is set at $500,000.
Your Honor, Mr.
Iliescu struggles to earn a living in a small furniture store.
I appreciate his efforts in pursuit of the American dream, but murder simply is the wrong approach.
I begged Nick not to let Alex into the business.
He could not refuse his brother.
This is how he repays Nick.
I assure you, Alex will pay for what he did.
I read the papers, Mr.
Stone.
I see how difficult it is to convict a criminal.
I will help you.
I will testify on behalf of the State.
But unless you have specific evidence relating to the crime My Nickie wasrt the first he killed! You have knowledge of other crimes? In Romania, Alex was an officer in the Securitate, the secret police.
He killed hundreds.
I understand, but the court may rule that inadmissible.
Now, if Leon Leon has nothing to do with this.
Nickie and I kept him away.
We taught him that here in America, the laws mean something.
I hope we didn't taught him wrong, Mr.
Stone.
Mrs.
Iliescu, please listen to me.
In my opinion, we have sufficient evidence to convict Alex.
Hope you're not making hollow promises.
Kaplan just brought this motion to suppress all the evidence found in the garage.
I'm a little surprised, Mr.
Stone.
No warrant.
It wasrt necessary, Your Honor.
They had consent.
From the wrong person.
You'll see on the lease Alex lliescu is the sole renter of the storage garage.
Tommy Zanescu didn't have authority to consent.
They had joint authority, Your Honor.
I don't see any reference to joint authority in this lease.
Mr.
Zanescu gave the officers the keys.
So what? The janitor probably has keys to this office.
He can't consent to a search.
Well, even if the officers had made a technical mistake, under Illinois v.
Rodriguez they still could search with a good faith belief that Mr.
Zanescu had the apparent authority to consent.
If Justice Rehnquist conducted the search instead of the New York Police, you'd be right.
But this state requires some inquiry as to whether the consenting party controls the property.
So what should the police have done? Reasonable inquiry was easily available in a file cabinet in the rental office just 100 feet away.
Your Honor Mr.
Stone, I don't much fancy the thought of the police searching my home because a suspected felon may give out keys and a say-so.
I'm declaring the truck and all of the other evidence found in the garage inadmissible.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Considering the paucity of evidence against my client I'm one step ahead of you, Mr.
Kaplan.
The case against Mr.
Iliescu is dismissed.
I don't get it, Ben.
Don't you talk to our cops? Apprise them of the law? They acted well within the boundaries of normal procedure.
They can't anticipate the call of every judge.
We still have Tommy Zanescu's statement.
The uncorroborated testimony of a felon? Feeling masochistic this week? Judge Kleinfeldt is not the only judge that likes evidence in her courtroom.
The manager of the garage can ID Alex.
Yes? When? Yes, they're in my office.
Well, we're off the hook, boys.
Alex lliescu has been called to answer before a higher court.
These three deep wounds to the upper back should have been fatal.
And the rest were just for fun? Man likes work, hard to get him out of the office.
This guy really got into it.
Broken tip of the blade was protruding from where it hit his rib.
Looks like a boning knife was the weapon of choice.
You know, he might have took a few swings with this.
I want you to check all the shards for prints, blood, whatever.
It's obvious the man was security conscious.
Whoever got in was let in.
Probably someone he knew.
Kitchen knife.
Sounds domestic.
Mrs.
Iliescu, we'd like to ask you some questions.
It's about Alex lliescu's death.
You promised us justice.
You released him.
Aunt Karen.
Leon, call the lawyer.
He's expecting it.
Come on, Ben, let's share a little responsibility here.
Responsibility, Jonathan? I didn't stab anyone.
Your life wasrt in danger from a stone-cold killer that you released.
He was killed in his apartment, not breaking into her house.
Texas, Ben.
The Burning Bed.
The law has held that self-defense can be pre-emptive.
The danger doesn't have to be imminent.
For a battered wife killing an abusive husband.
Alex lliescu never laid a hand on her.
He made her a widow.
They will also hear how this woman pleaded with this prosecutor for protection.
Mrs.
Iliescu, if you were so afraid, why didn't you call us? You let him go.
Why should I believe you would have helped us? If you were so anxious to help her then, help her now.
Man two with a suspended sentence.
Man two, she serves the maximum.
She'll never serve a day, Ben.
I'll see you in court.
Unless they rewrite the statute, self-defense requires imminent danger.
Juries deal in equities, not statutes.
This guy killed thousands.
Shapiro will talk the jury into thinking the killing was a public service.
We have a problem.
Karen lliescu's confession doesn't match the evidence.
What evidence? The blood on the bottle Alex used to defend himself doesn't match his or Karers.
So she confessed to a crime she didn't commit.
She's protecting someone.
Who's left? The boy.
Call Briscoe and Logan.
When we brought Leon back from Romania, he lived with us like a son.
I wanted him to have a normal life.
He deserved it.
He murdered his father, Mrs.
Iliescu.
In terms of a normal life, he's off to a bad start.
Take into account what his father was, the fear his father inspired in him.
I'm going to plead Leon not guilty by reason of mental defect.
Insanity? Come on, Jonathan.
Based on what? His family, specifically Leon.
He's been haunted, severely damaged by a very terrifying past.
Back to Romania.
You were not there.
You haven't seen what I've seen.
And what he saw, the jury will see.
And they'll know that Leon did what his life in Romania conditioned him to do.
It's cultural insanity.
No judge is gonna buy that.
Well, look, you're so sure, make a motion to preclude.
You think he actually has a chance with this cultural insanity defense? I think he has a knack for creating things.
There's nothing he likes better than making new law.
But taken to the extreme, this defense would mean that nobody's responsible for anything.
Yeah, and that's exactly where the law's heading.
Something wrong, someone to sue.
That's civil law, not criminal.
You think anyone knows the difference or cares? Shapiro's raising the defense.
Translation, we take it seriously.
Now, what about Liz? She talk to the boy? No.
This afternoon.
Well, if she has any doubts, cut a deal.
I remember my mother.
She take me to the State Building.
She, uh, has to see the physician, so she, uh, leave me with my father.
He worked for the State.
How old were you, Leon? Um, maybe 11, 10.
The sergeant, he, uh, take me to my father.
He was in the quadrangle outside the cell block.
The prisoners, they were chained together at the ankles and they had to watch, or the guards would beat them.
What did they have to watch? Another prisoner on the ground.
He, uh The guards stand on his arms so he cannot move.
His feet are tied to a post.
A big man, he is beating on the soles of the prisoner's feet with a club.
The big man turn around.
It was my father.
How did you feel about that? I was proud.
Proud of his brutality? We got respect.
We live well because of what my father did.
Every time Ceausescu give an address, there is my father, the fourth man on his right.
He said when I am grown, that would be me.
He was raised with violence and brutality as a fact of life.
It had to have an effect.
I wasrt exactly invited to the Queers tea when I was a kid.
I didn't kill anybody, and I don't think I'm insane.
But figuratively, Leon was invited to the palace ball.
He saw his father's cruelty, and he also saw him get rewarded for it.
He became what his culture prescribed.
He couldn't reject his father's life.
So Shapiro's theory is valid? In theory, yes.
What bothers me is not so much what Leon says, but the way in which he says it.
He's reciting a litany of horrors he experienced as a youth, but there's a weird enthusiasm as if he's describing the actualization of some fantasy.
Does he have a mental defect? I'd be able to testify that although he may have been traumatized as a youth, he knew exactly what he was doing when he killed his father.
You will hear a taped confession in which Leon lliescu describes plunging a knife repeatedly into his father's back.
And he doesn't say that his act is justified.
What he does say is that because of his youth in a violent police state he cannot be held legally responsible for his acts.
He is legally insane.
In short, Leon is saying, "I'm not guilty.
Society made me do it.
" I only ask that when you are confronted with this mountain of psychoanalytic verbiage that you keep in mind the real victim of this crime found on the floor of his own apartment with the blade of a boning knife broken in his back, murdered by his own son.
Only then can you determine whether Leon is the victim of society or society is the victim of Leon.
My father, God bless him, had a little tailor shop right down here on Church St.
When I was 5 years old, he made me sit behind a counter and talk to the customers.
When I was 10, he taught me to use the press.
At 12, the sewing machine.
To him, there would be nothing greater in this world than to hang a sign, "Shapiro and Son.
" You will see that it was the same for Leon lliescu.
Only his father made him watch public executions.
He taught him how to use a pistol and a whip.
The only path to success for Leon was State-sanctioned brutality.
Then suddenly, he was brought to this country.
His aunt and uncle tried to salvage the human being in him.
They taught him that his father's way of life was wrong.
But then his uncle was murdered by his father, and the State said it was okay.
And something inside of Leon went snap.
He lived with us the last seven years.
Please describe anything in Leors behavior that would lead you to believe that he had a mental problem.
He did not sleep well.
And that's all? I don't want to talk about Leon.
I don't want to be here! Did any of his teachers Did they complain about his behavior? He had trouble in school.
But I helped him.
Mrs.
Iliescu, that is not an answer to my question.
Did his teachers complain about his behavior? Answer the question.
No.
And did he ever get into any fights in the neighborhood? No.
Was there anything in his behavior that would lead you to believe that he needed psychiatric treatment? No.
Thank you.
At what point in the seven years that he lived with you did Leon begin to need help with his schoolwork? He was a good student until his father came over from Romania.
Was that about the time he started having trouble sleeping? Yes.
He had nightmares.
His friends would call, and he would not speak to them.
Mrs.
Iliescu, you never consulted a psychiatrist about Leors condition.
Did you consult anyone? Yes, I spoke to Father Popescu.
I begged Leon to come with me to church, but he refused.
He said he was cursed.
God didn't want him.
I would have done anything for him.
He lived with us like our own son.
But when Alex came, I just felt him to to slip away.
He speaks of being almost constantly at his father's side, of witnessing interrogations in which prisoners were severely beaten.
He saw executions.
He also saw his father rewarded for his actions.
Unconsciously, he equated cruelty with success, achievement, and power.
And in your expert opinion, were these acts of violence, which he described vividly, were they the result of his upbringing? His childhood probably was traumatic, but it did not compel him to kill his father.
And does the defendant suffer from any mental defect? No.
So in your opinion he is not legally insane? No, he's not.
Thank you.
Dr.
Olivet.
Would you, uh, consider psychology an exact science? Psychological evaluation offers a certain accuracy within certain parameters, yes.
You described the effect of Leors youth as traumatic, didn't you? I said it was probably traumatic.
Probably.
In other words, it could be as little or as much as anyone in your profession cares to make it.
No.
We're not talking about black magic, Mr.
Shapiro.
The evaluation process is based on very specific criteria.
I see.
How many Romanians have you evaluated in your career? None.
How many sons of mass murderers? Objection, Your Honor.
We have already established Dr.
Olivet's credentials as an expert.
I am not challenging her expertise.
I am questioning the basis for her opinion.
I'll allow it.
Answer the question.
None.
So tell us, Doctor, what in your past qualifies you to form an opinion about the effect of these horrors when you admittedly have no experience? Objection.
Withdrawn.
It wasrt easy, Adam, but I thought Liz held her ground as best she could.
Yeah.
The problem is juries go with the expert with the most letters after his name.
And Shapiro's putting Dr.
Melvin Diener on the stand.
A curriculum vitae like B.
F.
Skinner.
The man coined the term "cultural insanity" in his 500-page treatise on the subject.
And Jonathan Shapiro's slick enough to beat you through a revolving door.
You actually think a jury'll buy that? Well, if it does, we'll have to triple the budget to prosecute all the culturally-insane defendants.
But if I cut a deal with the boy now, it'll open the same floodgates.
The boy says he's a product of a screwed-up culture.
Since when do we take the statement of a known felon as gospel? The only way to get a witness to discredit him is to fly one over from Romania.
I doubt the State will spring for that.
It may cost us only cab fare.
Tommy Zanescu hasn't been transferred out of Rikers yet.
In my country, a can'ton of cigarettes would get you a wool sweater.
The problem is, I don't smoke, and I'm not cold.
We are willing to reduce the sentence.
How much? That depends on what you tell us.
What do you want to hear? Enjoy the next 15 years in jail, sir.
Hold it.
I'll tell you what I know.
Yeah, I knew Alex back in Bucharest.
I worked with him in Securitate.
I was what you people call his right-hand man.
Then you saw him around Leon? Hardly ever.
Alex had no use for Leon.
He called him a mouse.
How did Leon react when his father brought him to the prison? The prison? Is that what the boy told you? Alex wouldn't bring him anywhere.
When he was 5 years old, he sent him to the country to live with servants.
When Leon asked him to come live with him in Bucharest, Alex shipped him off to New York to his brother.
So Leon always hated his father? No.
He was weak and stupid and desperate.
He'd do anything to please Alex.
What could he do? Alex didn't want to know him.
But Leon still tried.
You know, it was him who told us that Nicolas was going to turn Alex in to the police.
Alex laughed and said, "See? You even squeal like a mouse.
" By telling Alex that Nick was onto the credit card scam, he was trying to buy his way into his father's life.
He knew Alex would do something to stop his uncle.
Which means the death of his uncle wasrt traumatic.
It was expected.
This whole insanity defense is a hoax.
So call Shapiro and set up a meeting.
Zanescu is lying.
He's lying.
Um, Leon, did you know Tommy Zanescu when you were both in Romania? He says he was your father's right-hand man in the Securitate.
He was just a chauffeur.
My father had many chauffeurs.
Others who could tell you he wanted me to be with him, and none of them would betray me or my father like this Tommy Zanescu.
Your father was not an easy man to betray, was he? That's right.
But your uncle? You found it easy to betray him, didn't you? You went to your father, and you told him that your uncle was going to turn him in.
No.
Leon, tell them you didn't.
And you knew that your father killed betrayers, didn't you? I didn't know he would kill Uncle Nickie.
You knew, Leon.
How could you? He was my father! But you loved Nickie! Yes.
I loved him.
If you had come to us, your uncle would be alive today.
After Uncle Nickie died, my father he put his arm on my shoulder.
He talked to me like a son.
Until the charges were dismissed against him.
I went to his apartment.
He was drinking, celebrating.
He We talked about me moving in with him.
But he didn't want you, did he? He loved me.
He didn't love you, he used you.
You don't know anything.
I know he called you mouse.
Is that because you're a coward? I wasrt afraid of him.
He was eating sausage like a pig.
There was a knife.
I pick it up.
He just look at me and laugh.
He call me a snitch and then he turn away, like I'm nothing! But I just keep stabbing until he doesn't move anymore.
I'm not a coward.
Extreme emotional disturbance, Ben.
Man one.
Leon went a long way trying to win his father's love.
From the sound of it, it wasrt won'th winning.
They say a boy doesn't become a man until his father passes away.
Leon took care of it in one fell swoop.
These are their stories.
Man, that toilet didn't even have a guest list.
Well, those other people got in.
Yeah, you come in a limo, you get in.
So, uh, we try the Milk Bar.
I think I did the doorman.
Well, that's who he said he was.
Whoever did it was in a hurry.
Left his wallet.
Name's Nicolas lliescu.
Lives on 28th St.
What'd they kill him with, a cheese grater? Dragged on the pavement.
High speed.
Hit and run? Hit someone accidentally, you don't need to shoot them twice in the head.
We got some witnesses? Yeah.
You girls see what happened? This car just came out of nowhere with this guy draggir alongside.
Came from where? There.
Wrong way up 13th.
It tore down here and kept going.
Did you get a look at who was driving? White? Black? Male? Female? No.
How about the car? I don't know cars.
I mean, it wasrt real new.
Was it a two-door or a four-door? Light? Dark? Don't know.
I'm gonna give you my card.
If you remember anything, I want you to call me, okay? What do you got? Nada.
Could be the mob.
Could be a carjacking.
Could be a hack who didn't like his tip.
"Glass fragments from the accident site inconclusive.
"Autopsy shows two close contact entry wounds to the head.
"A 9-millimeter slug found at the base of the skull.
" Lands and grooves make it a Beretta.
92.
Any ballistics match on the computer? So with hot water and a shoe, we could make soup.
Okay.
D.
M.
V.
Shows our Mr.
Iliescu owned an '88 Pontiac Bonneville, burgundy.
It's hardly a color won'th dying for.
The wife is due at the morgue in 15 minutes.
Let's see what she knows.
My family and I left Hungary 30 years ago.
We wanted to get away of oppression.
Nicolas and I left Bucharest 10 years ago To get away of the violence.
You said he was working late on the books.
Did he ever call? Yes, around, uh, 12:30.
Leon doesn't sleep well.
He answered.
I I was too tired to talk to him.
All right, all right.
What did your father say, Leon? He's not my father, he's my uncle.
He said he was on his way home.
Just take a minute, all right? It's a mistake.
Sometimes you read about mistakes.
I'm afraid it's not, ma'am.
We found your husband's ID on the body.
No.
I'm sorry.
Car's been found.
Lower East Side.
Piranas leave more.
Piranas don't need a daily C-note for crack.
Were you able to I.
D.
The car that did this? The paint pyrogram matched a white acrylic enamel.
Very widely used.
The trunk was hit pretty high, huh? Yeah.
Probably a truck or a van.
It hits him.
Before he even has a chance to get out and check the damage, the bad guy comes in the passenger side, and Mr.
Iliescu is looking at the business end of a Beretta.
Bang bang.
Autopsy says one was a clear-through.
We found the slug up here.
It was right there.
We sent it to ballistics.
Thanks.
So he pushes Nick's body out of the car and he drives off with his prize.
Yeah.
Problem is, Nick gets caught in the seatbelt and dragged for half a block.
That's a lot of trouble, for what? Blue Book, this is $2,000, minus a fencer's discount.
Hey, people get knocked off for subway change.
Maybe the guys who stripped the car know how it got into that alley.
Yeah.
Those seats have to be in a chop shop somewhere.
Yeah, all right.
Well, thanks, anyway.
Auto Crimes gave us a list of auto parts dealers with priors.
Must be over 400 auto body shops in New York.
Any that didn't make the list? Pontiac Bonneville, '88.
Yeah.
No, no, not the 1-120s, the 40-90s with the armrest.
No? Thank you.
Yeah, I'm looking for a 1988 Pontiac Bonneville.
Grey velour, driver's side front bucket seats.
Yeah, model 40-90 with armrests.
Is that too much to ask? Well, how about the seats? You do? Wait a second, are you sure? Because I called you the day before yesterday, and you didn't have any.
Just came in? I'm interested.
I'm gonna be right down.
Thank you.
What have you got? Morrie's Auto Wreckers, They also fit the '86 and '87 models.
Here, they're right over here.
Came in this morning.
Bring the vehicle in, I'll install them cheap.
How much to wipe off the blood? Blood? Come on.
That's, uh, ice cream or ketchup, uh.
They had kids.
Those kids would be orphans.
Hey, the car was stripped last night eight blocks from here.
The owner's dead.
I knew you were blue the minute you walked in.
Be my guest.
Take them.
I'm gonna want some names.
Who'd you buy it from? I don't send these guys Christmas cards.
The deal's strictly cash for parts.
Listen, you start poking around here or your deal's gonna be making license plates for cigarette money.
I don't know their names.
They only come in a couple of times.
I worked on one guy's van.
Long hair.
All right, come on, what else? You know, scars, tattoos, what? The other guy, uh, leather jacket with, uh, safety pins and studs.
On the back, says "No Bozo Jam.
" d Any situation d d Jump, you know what I'm saying, boys d d Don't tell me what you call your foursome d d That's your label, you know what I mean d d You're emotionally unstable, all you do is watch cable d d Your papa was a loser, a stone-cold loser d d At least he never kissed ass dd I can hear it in my fillings.
Doesrt anybody jitterbug anymore? Hey, what's a guy do to get served around here? Put a hole in his nose? Miss, you ever hear of No Bozo Jam? This is the Dog and Razor Club.
You like loser groups, try Tuesday amateur night at Shriek.
Uh, maybe from some, uh, earlier gig? Here's their flier.
Great.
Where do we find them? Oh, yeah.
You know, Ronda used to play sets with them.
Where's Ronda? On percussion at The Hole.
dd You know, I don't want it around that I played with No Bozo, because things are happenir for me.
We'll try to keep it out of Rolling Stone.
Two super dysfunctionals.
They, uh, give a new meaning to the word clueless.
We want names.
What about the guy who wears the leather jacket? Skank.
Wayne Jeffers, the lead singer.
Then there was, um I I don't I don't remember.
He played bass.
Any idea where we can find them? Uh, if they haven't won the lotto, they're squattir in the Belmont Building over on Avenue D and Sixth.
That's the same block as where we found the car.
Get your hands behind your head! Lace the fingers together! Spread your legs apart! Don't even think about it.
Wayne Jeffers, you're under arrest.
What about the equipment? You're travelir light.
No, he's not.
Look, I told you.
The car was just there.
We took what we could.
End of story.
After you killed Nicolas lliescu.
I found the gun on the front seat, passenger side.
You found the gun on the front seat and you didn't see his brains splattered all over the dashboard? Yeah, yeah, I saw the blood and the meat.
It's a tough neighborhood.
Someone ditched the car.
What do you want from me? We stripped the car seats and the cassette decks for money, but we didn't kill anyone.
Oh, sure.
And where did you get this? Come on, Skank, you can't be as dumb as your haircut! We found this in your pants pocket! It was under the seat.
I thought it might be good for something.
Yeah, like grand larceny, which we're gonna add to the theft and murder charge.
How many times I gotta tell you? We didn't kill anybody.
We just needed some cash.
Slugs in the vic's skull match the Beretta.
His are the only prints on it.
If I was gonna kill a guy, you think I'd do it for a Bonneville? I think you'd do it for a shoelace.
Your buddy's prints are on the gun.
My guess is right now he's in the other room rollir on you.
That's a lie! I told you, we was performing.
Let's try a little remedial math, Skank.
There's two of you, but there's only one deal.
Now, who's gonna get the deal, you or him? Their alibi sings, even if they can't.
Uh, from midnight to 6:00 a.
m.
, Moe and Larry were poppir eardrums at a club called Dreck.
Who would've thought these clowns were tellir the truth? Hey, you're lookir for a patsy, what could be better than dumpir the car and weapon in the middle of Junkieville? Yeah.
The first vulture that comes along gets booked for murder.
The first vulture without an alibi gets locked in a cage for a very long time.
These guys are smart.
Well, but maybe they werert so tidy.
Righteous brother number one claims he found this in the car.
Mr.
Brian Hollingswon'th.
What, you think he was in a hurry to get out and dropped it? So much for leaving home without it.
Check him out.
Last week we came in low bid on office space for a midtown law firm.
Architect's dream.
Bought a round of Stoli at P.
J.
's to celebrate and I paid for it with this.
Yeah, well, your name is also on this.
That's my old number.
I had to cancel that card.
Someone charged $7,000 in merchandise.
They said someone had gotten my number and made a phony card.
Have you ever heard of lliescu Antique Furniture Store? Yes.
My wife and I bought a credenza, a French provincial, only our decorator said it was actually Hungarian.
And you bought it with a credit card? No, they wouldn't take cards.
I had to pay by check.
I don't I don't see the connection.
Nicolas lliescu, the owner, was murdered and this card was found in his car.
Well, I'm not in any kind of danger, am I? So he bought the credenza from the guy who fakes his card? Yeah.
But how did he fake the card without seeir it? You know, I bought a jacket two weeks ago, but my card was loaded, so I wrote him a check.
And you know what else? You had to give two forms of I.
D.
Your driver's license and your credit card.
So we checked the bank that issued Hollingswon'th's credit card.
In the last six months, they had a dozen customers complain of fraudulent charges.
And of those 12, four of them bought furniture from lliescu's store.
All by check, and they all gave him two forms of I.
D.
, one of which was a credit card.
So lliescu copies the number, prints up a phony card, and runs up a tab all over town.
What, you figure the murder's related? Successful at one felony, why not branch out? Could be he had a partner and one of them got greedy.
Okay, talk to his wife.
Five years ago, we went back to Europe for eight weeks.
We sublet the apartment.
Nickie wanted to declare the income on our taxes.
I said, "Who is gonna know?" He says, "I will.
" So there is no way Nickie was involved in this.
I know I knew him.
Did he gamble, or did he have any other hobbies? He worked.
He came home.
That's all.
Ma'am, we do know the crime originated in your store.
Well, it was Nickie's store, but other people worked there.
Mrs.
Iliescu, If you'd give us your permission, uh, we can look around the store.
Nickie's brother, Alex, should be there.
Just tell him I said it was okay.
It was much easier for the police in my country.
Here, the police need things like warrants.
Well, we don't need one when the owner consents.
Ah, Karen.
She's doing very well now, under the circumstances.
You worked for Nick for a long time, didn't you? Mmm-hmm.
You know, I was like you in my country.
A policeman.
Now I fix chairs for my baby brother.
Detective, there's a safe back here.
Sometimes we are paid in cash.
You mind? Tommy, open the safe for these gentlemen.
Tommy's a hard worker, an honest man, something else you don't find many of back home.
Yeah, there's not many here either.
You really think Nick was involved with this, uh, credit card thing? Do you? Well, sometimes business wasrt so great.
See what I mean? What are these, corporate ledgers? You're the cop.
We checked the signatures on the time cards in lliescu's store.
And? That Jerry down the hall? He'll tell you a mars fingerprint will divulge his entire personality You ask me, that's a bunch of crap.
Signature, that's a horse of a different color.
We just want to know if any of these match.
Well, look for yourself.
See the "y" at the end of Tommy? The angle of the upstroke and how it's cut short? Now look at the "y" in O'Malley.
Close.
You get that close at the track, you retire early.
So you're saying that Tommy Zanescu forged these? Looks like it.
Give me a full exemplar, I'll know for sure.
Thanks.
Hey, we can pick him up now on grand theft.
And what, squeeze him till he confesses to murder? Forensics says that lliescu's car was rammed by a truck.
Furniture stores make deliveries.
Are you kidding me? These guys are slave drivers.
Me and Julio, sometimes up to 10 deliveries a day.
That's why I eat so healthy, guys.
A slice with some sausage is one of your three basic food groups.
Hey, you and Julio, they don't make you lug pianos uptown on your backs.
Do me a favor.
Don't give them any ideas, all right? To save a buck, these guys'll probably ditch the truck.
What kind of truck, Hector? Ford.
White.
Anybody, uh, fix the bumper lately? Hey, I haven't even seen it in a couple of days.
Tommy took it, um, last Tuesday.
And he never brought it back? Hey, do me a favor.
You find it, I'm in no rush, all right.
Know what I mean? O'Malley, Hollingswon'th, Ford, Cohen.
I don't know these people.
That's funny, 'cause you ran up over $80,000 on their cards.
I don't see my client's name anywhere.
Our handwriting expert tells us that he signed every one of those.
Handwriting expert? What's next? Maybe you want to read his palm? Or how about some tea leaves? I hear they're very good for telling the future.
Hey, you want to know the future? Try 25 years in Attica.
Hey, I don't know what F.
Lee Yahoo here told you, Tommy, but we got you for forgery and grand larceny and that adds up to a lot of years all by itself.
And then when you add murder two You cannot tie me to any murder.
The delivery man told us you took the truck.
It's only a matter of time until we find it and if we find any paint from Nick's car on the bumper Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, Lennie.
Let Mr.
Forrelli here explain it to him.
That's what you're paying him for, right? We know there were two.
Just tell us who the other person was.
Maybe we can work something out here.
I don't know if they give out gold stars for loyalty in your country, but over here, all you get is a set of striped pajamas and the word "schmo" stamped on your forehead.
The world's not as big as you think it is, Tommy.
We're gonna find your partner.
The question you have to ask yourself, will he be this loyal to you? You have authority to deal? We have the D.
A.
's ear.
Alex.
Nick's brother? Nick found out.
He searched the store, found the forged cards And you killed Nick to keep him from going to the police? I thought we were just going to get the cards back.
I never thought he'd kill his own brother.
Where's the truck? In a rent-a-garage on Corona, 108th St.
You sure this is okay? The guy gave us the key, didn't he? You know, I thought something was wrong.
Guy has a business in Manattan.
Why does he want a garage in Queens? White Ford van! Those two guys, a guy could tell.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, thanks.
Lennie! I wonder if he reported that to his insurance agent.
Burgundy paint.
Just like his brother's Bonneville.
What's Romanian for "You're under arrest"? This is a mistake.
Sounds just like English.
Alex lliescu, you're under arrest for the murder of Nicolas lliescu.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law "Docket number 651328.
"People v.
Alexei Iliescu on the charge "of murder in the second degree, "robbery in the first degree, and scheme to defraud in the first degree.
" How does the defendant plead? I plead not guilty to all counts.
And the State's response to Mr.
Iliescu's sweeping declaration of innocence? As a Romanian national, we feel Mr.
Iliescu represents a strong risk of flight.
We ask he be held without bail.
That's the message you send to the emerging democracies? Bail is set at $500,000.
Your Honor, Mr.
Iliescu struggles to earn a living in a small furniture store.
I appreciate his efforts in pursuit of the American dream, but murder simply is the wrong approach.
I begged Nick not to let Alex into the business.
He could not refuse his brother.
This is how he repays Nick.
I assure you, Alex will pay for what he did.
I read the papers, Mr.
Stone.
I see how difficult it is to convict a criminal.
I will help you.
I will testify on behalf of the State.
But unless you have specific evidence relating to the crime My Nickie wasrt the first he killed! You have knowledge of other crimes? In Romania, Alex was an officer in the Securitate, the secret police.
He killed hundreds.
I understand, but the court may rule that inadmissible.
Now, if Leon Leon has nothing to do with this.
Nickie and I kept him away.
We taught him that here in America, the laws mean something.
I hope we didn't taught him wrong, Mr.
Stone.
Mrs.
Iliescu, please listen to me.
In my opinion, we have sufficient evidence to convict Alex.
Hope you're not making hollow promises.
Kaplan just brought this motion to suppress all the evidence found in the garage.
I'm a little surprised, Mr.
Stone.
No warrant.
It wasrt necessary, Your Honor.
They had consent.
From the wrong person.
You'll see on the lease Alex lliescu is the sole renter of the storage garage.
Tommy Zanescu didn't have authority to consent.
They had joint authority, Your Honor.
I don't see any reference to joint authority in this lease.
Mr.
Zanescu gave the officers the keys.
So what? The janitor probably has keys to this office.
He can't consent to a search.
Well, even if the officers had made a technical mistake, under Illinois v.
Rodriguez they still could search with a good faith belief that Mr.
Zanescu had the apparent authority to consent.
If Justice Rehnquist conducted the search instead of the New York Police, you'd be right.
But this state requires some inquiry as to whether the consenting party controls the property.
So what should the police have done? Reasonable inquiry was easily available in a file cabinet in the rental office just 100 feet away.
Your Honor Mr.
Stone, I don't much fancy the thought of the police searching my home because a suspected felon may give out keys and a say-so.
I'm declaring the truck and all of the other evidence found in the garage inadmissible.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Considering the paucity of evidence against my client I'm one step ahead of you, Mr.
Kaplan.
The case against Mr.
Iliescu is dismissed.
I don't get it, Ben.
Don't you talk to our cops? Apprise them of the law? They acted well within the boundaries of normal procedure.
They can't anticipate the call of every judge.
We still have Tommy Zanescu's statement.
The uncorroborated testimony of a felon? Feeling masochistic this week? Judge Kleinfeldt is not the only judge that likes evidence in her courtroom.
The manager of the garage can ID Alex.
Yes? When? Yes, they're in my office.
Well, we're off the hook, boys.
Alex lliescu has been called to answer before a higher court.
These three deep wounds to the upper back should have been fatal.
And the rest were just for fun? Man likes work, hard to get him out of the office.
This guy really got into it.
Broken tip of the blade was protruding from where it hit his rib.
Looks like a boning knife was the weapon of choice.
You know, he might have took a few swings with this.
I want you to check all the shards for prints, blood, whatever.
It's obvious the man was security conscious.
Whoever got in was let in.
Probably someone he knew.
Kitchen knife.
Sounds domestic.
Mrs.
Iliescu, we'd like to ask you some questions.
It's about Alex lliescu's death.
You promised us justice.
You released him.
Aunt Karen.
Leon, call the lawyer.
He's expecting it.
Come on, Ben, let's share a little responsibility here.
Responsibility, Jonathan? I didn't stab anyone.
Your life wasrt in danger from a stone-cold killer that you released.
He was killed in his apartment, not breaking into her house.
Texas, Ben.
The Burning Bed.
The law has held that self-defense can be pre-emptive.
The danger doesn't have to be imminent.
For a battered wife killing an abusive husband.
Alex lliescu never laid a hand on her.
He made her a widow.
They will also hear how this woman pleaded with this prosecutor for protection.
Mrs.
Iliescu, if you were so afraid, why didn't you call us? You let him go.
Why should I believe you would have helped us? If you were so anxious to help her then, help her now.
Man two with a suspended sentence.
Man two, she serves the maximum.
She'll never serve a day, Ben.
I'll see you in court.
Unless they rewrite the statute, self-defense requires imminent danger.
Juries deal in equities, not statutes.
This guy killed thousands.
Shapiro will talk the jury into thinking the killing was a public service.
We have a problem.
Karen lliescu's confession doesn't match the evidence.
What evidence? The blood on the bottle Alex used to defend himself doesn't match his or Karers.
So she confessed to a crime she didn't commit.
She's protecting someone.
Who's left? The boy.
Call Briscoe and Logan.
When we brought Leon back from Romania, he lived with us like a son.
I wanted him to have a normal life.
He deserved it.
He murdered his father, Mrs.
Iliescu.
In terms of a normal life, he's off to a bad start.
Take into account what his father was, the fear his father inspired in him.
I'm going to plead Leon not guilty by reason of mental defect.
Insanity? Come on, Jonathan.
Based on what? His family, specifically Leon.
He's been haunted, severely damaged by a very terrifying past.
Back to Romania.
You were not there.
You haven't seen what I've seen.
And what he saw, the jury will see.
And they'll know that Leon did what his life in Romania conditioned him to do.
It's cultural insanity.
No judge is gonna buy that.
Well, look, you're so sure, make a motion to preclude.
You think he actually has a chance with this cultural insanity defense? I think he has a knack for creating things.
There's nothing he likes better than making new law.
But taken to the extreme, this defense would mean that nobody's responsible for anything.
Yeah, and that's exactly where the law's heading.
Something wrong, someone to sue.
That's civil law, not criminal.
You think anyone knows the difference or cares? Shapiro's raising the defense.
Translation, we take it seriously.
Now, what about Liz? She talk to the boy? No.
This afternoon.
Well, if she has any doubts, cut a deal.
I remember my mother.
She take me to the State Building.
She, uh, has to see the physician, so she, uh, leave me with my father.
He worked for the State.
How old were you, Leon? Um, maybe 11, 10.
The sergeant, he, uh, take me to my father.
He was in the quadrangle outside the cell block.
The prisoners, they were chained together at the ankles and they had to watch, or the guards would beat them.
What did they have to watch? Another prisoner on the ground.
He, uh The guards stand on his arms so he cannot move.
His feet are tied to a post.
A big man, he is beating on the soles of the prisoner's feet with a club.
The big man turn around.
It was my father.
How did you feel about that? I was proud.
Proud of his brutality? We got respect.
We live well because of what my father did.
Every time Ceausescu give an address, there is my father, the fourth man on his right.
He said when I am grown, that would be me.
He was raised with violence and brutality as a fact of life.
It had to have an effect.
I wasrt exactly invited to the Queers tea when I was a kid.
I didn't kill anybody, and I don't think I'm insane.
But figuratively, Leon was invited to the palace ball.
He saw his father's cruelty, and he also saw him get rewarded for it.
He became what his culture prescribed.
He couldn't reject his father's life.
So Shapiro's theory is valid? In theory, yes.
What bothers me is not so much what Leon says, but the way in which he says it.
He's reciting a litany of horrors he experienced as a youth, but there's a weird enthusiasm as if he's describing the actualization of some fantasy.
Does he have a mental defect? I'd be able to testify that although he may have been traumatized as a youth, he knew exactly what he was doing when he killed his father.
You will hear a taped confession in which Leon lliescu describes plunging a knife repeatedly into his father's back.
And he doesn't say that his act is justified.
What he does say is that because of his youth in a violent police state he cannot be held legally responsible for his acts.
He is legally insane.
In short, Leon is saying, "I'm not guilty.
Society made me do it.
" I only ask that when you are confronted with this mountain of psychoanalytic verbiage that you keep in mind the real victim of this crime found on the floor of his own apartment with the blade of a boning knife broken in his back, murdered by his own son.
Only then can you determine whether Leon is the victim of society or society is the victim of Leon.
My father, God bless him, had a little tailor shop right down here on Church St.
When I was 5 years old, he made me sit behind a counter and talk to the customers.
When I was 10, he taught me to use the press.
At 12, the sewing machine.
To him, there would be nothing greater in this world than to hang a sign, "Shapiro and Son.
" You will see that it was the same for Leon lliescu.
Only his father made him watch public executions.
He taught him how to use a pistol and a whip.
The only path to success for Leon was State-sanctioned brutality.
Then suddenly, he was brought to this country.
His aunt and uncle tried to salvage the human being in him.
They taught him that his father's way of life was wrong.
But then his uncle was murdered by his father, and the State said it was okay.
And something inside of Leon went snap.
He lived with us the last seven years.
Please describe anything in Leors behavior that would lead you to believe that he had a mental problem.
He did not sleep well.
And that's all? I don't want to talk about Leon.
I don't want to be here! Did any of his teachers Did they complain about his behavior? He had trouble in school.
But I helped him.
Mrs.
Iliescu, that is not an answer to my question.
Did his teachers complain about his behavior? Answer the question.
No.
And did he ever get into any fights in the neighborhood? No.
Was there anything in his behavior that would lead you to believe that he needed psychiatric treatment? No.
Thank you.
At what point in the seven years that he lived with you did Leon begin to need help with his schoolwork? He was a good student until his father came over from Romania.
Was that about the time he started having trouble sleeping? Yes.
He had nightmares.
His friends would call, and he would not speak to them.
Mrs.
Iliescu, you never consulted a psychiatrist about Leors condition.
Did you consult anyone? Yes, I spoke to Father Popescu.
I begged Leon to come with me to church, but he refused.
He said he was cursed.
God didn't want him.
I would have done anything for him.
He lived with us like our own son.
But when Alex came, I just felt him to to slip away.
He speaks of being almost constantly at his father's side, of witnessing interrogations in which prisoners were severely beaten.
He saw executions.
He also saw his father rewarded for his actions.
Unconsciously, he equated cruelty with success, achievement, and power.
And in your expert opinion, were these acts of violence, which he described vividly, were they the result of his upbringing? His childhood probably was traumatic, but it did not compel him to kill his father.
And does the defendant suffer from any mental defect? No.
So in your opinion he is not legally insane? No, he's not.
Thank you.
Dr.
Olivet.
Would you, uh, consider psychology an exact science? Psychological evaluation offers a certain accuracy within certain parameters, yes.
You described the effect of Leors youth as traumatic, didn't you? I said it was probably traumatic.
Probably.
In other words, it could be as little or as much as anyone in your profession cares to make it.
No.
We're not talking about black magic, Mr.
Shapiro.
The evaluation process is based on very specific criteria.
I see.
How many Romanians have you evaluated in your career? None.
How many sons of mass murderers? Objection, Your Honor.
We have already established Dr.
Olivet's credentials as an expert.
I am not challenging her expertise.
I am questioning the basis for her opinion.
I'll allow it.
Answer the question.
None.
So tell us, Doctor, what in your past qualifies you to form an opinion about the effect of these horrors when you admittedly have no experience? Objection.
Withdrawn.
It wasrt easy, Adam, but I thought Liz held her ground as best she could.
Yeah.
The problem is juries go with the expert with the most letters after his name.
And Shapiro's putting Dr.
Melvin Diener on the stand.
A curriculum vitae like B.
F.
Skinner.
The man coined the term "cultural insanity" in his 500-page treatise on the subject.
And Jonathan Shapiro's slick enough to beat you through a revolving door.
You actually think a jury'll buy that? Well, if it does, we'll have to triple the budget to prosecute all the culturally-insane defendants.
But if I cut a deal with the boy now, it'll open the same floodgates.
The boy says he's a product of a screwed-up culture.
Since when do we take the statement of a known felon as gospel? The only way to get a witness to discredit him is to fly one over from Romania.
I doubt the State will spring for that.
It may cost us only cab fare.
Tommy Zanescu hasn't been transferred out of Rikers yet.
In my country, a can'ton of cigarettes would get you a wool sweater.
The problem is, I don't smoke, and I'm not cold.
We are willing to reduce the sentence.
How much? That depends on what you tell us.
What do you want to hear? Enjoy the next 15 years in jail, sir.
Hold it.
I'll tell you what I know.
Yeah, I knew Alex back in Bucharest.
I worked with him in Securitate.
I was what you people call his right-hand man.
Then you saw him around Leon? Hardly ever.
Alex had no use for Leon.
He called him a mouse.
How did Leon react when his father brought him to the prison? The prison? Is that what the boy told you? Alex wouldn't bring him anywhere.
When he was 5 years old, he sent him to the country to live with servants.
When Leon asked him to come live with him in Bucharest, Alex shipped him off to New York to his brother.
So Leon always hated his father? No.
He was weak and stupid and desperate.
He'd do anything to please Alex.
What could he do? Alex didn't want to know him.
But Leon still tried.
You know, it was him who told us that Nicolas was going to turn Alex in to the police.
Alex laughed and said, "See? You even squeal like a mouse.
" By telling Alex that Nick was onto the credit card scam, he was trying to buy his way into his father's life.
He knew Alex would do something to stop his uncle.
Which means the death of his uncle wasrt traumatic.
It was expected.
This whole insanity defense is a hoax.
So call Shapiro and set up a meeting.
Zanescu is lying.
He's lying.
Um, Leon, did you know Tommy Zanescu when you were both in Romania? He says he was your father's right-hand man in the Securitate.
He was just a chauffeur.
My father had many chauffeurs.
Others who could tell you he wanted me to be with him, and none of them would betray me or my father like this Tommy Zanescu.
Your father was not an easy man to betray, was he? That's right.
But your uncle? You found it easy to betray him, didn't you? You went to your father, and you told him that your uncle was going to turn him in.
No.
Leon, tell them you didn't.
And you knew that your father killed betrayers, didn't you? I didn't know he would kill Uncle Nickie.
You knew, Leon.
How could you? He was my father! But you loved Nickie! Yes.
I loved him.
If you had come to us, your uncle would be alive today.
After Uncle Nickie died, my father he put his arm on my shoulder.
He talked to me like a son.
Until the charges were dismissed against him.
I went to his apartment.
He was drinking, celebrating.
He We talked about me moving in with him.
But he didn't want you, did he? He loved me.
He didn't love you, he used you.
You don't know anything.
I know he called you mouse.
Is that because you're a coward? I wasrt afraid of him.
He was eating sausage like a pig.
There was a knife.
I pick it up.
He just look at me and laugh.
He call me a snitch and then he turn away, like I'm nothing! But I just keep stabbing until he doesn't move anymore.
I'm not a coward.
Extreme emotional disturbance, Ben.
Man one.
Leon went a long way trying to win his father's love.
From the sound of it, it wasrt won'th winning.
They say a boy doesn't become a man until his father passes away.
Leon took care of it in one fell swoop.