Bull (2016) s04e18 Episode Script
Off the Rails
1
[THUNDER RUMBLING.]
Want to see what you're gonna look like in 30 years? Honey, don't you know no woman wants to see what she's gonna look like when she's older? - Come on.
- It's just an app.
I take your picture and then it makes you look old.
- I really don't want - [SHUTTER CLICKS.]
You closed your eyes.
One more.
And then you'll let me read my book in peace? [LAUGHS SOFTLY.]
Probably not.
[SCREAMING.]
[PEOPLE PANTING, GROANING.]
WOMAN: Welcome back.
Happy you finally decided to join us.
All right, careful.
Don't look directly at the light.
Look above the light.
Look at the tip of my nose.
Good.
Tell me your name.
Uh, Walt Mora.
What day is it today, Mr.
Mora? I have no idea.
Well, what's the last thing you can remember? Being at work.
Piloting a train out of Grand Central, heading towards, uh, Westchester County.
Where am I? [INDISTINCT ANNOUNCEMENT OVER P.
A.
.]
Am I in the hospital? St.
Benjamin's, honey.
This is Dr.
Medawar.
She's been taking great care of you.
What kind of care? You've been here six days, Mr.
Mora.
There was an accident.
Huh.
I don't remember any accident.
Are you sure? Completely sure.
You ran headfirst into another train that was parked on the tracks.
Four people died.
This true, Gloria? CT scans of your brain show that you suffered a traumatic brain injury.
With traumatic brain injury, it's quite common to lose memories associated with the incident in which the injury occurred.
In this case, the crash.
Will I ever remember what happened, how it happened? It's possible.
But not terribly likely.
BULL: I guess most of all, we're looking for more space.
We just had a baby girl and, uh, it would be great if the building had a playroom - or maybe a pool.
- [KNOCKING.]
Not right now.
Come back in half an hour.
Why wouldn't you want your baby welcomed into the Catholic faith? I'm gonna have to call you back.
A religious fanatic just walked into my office.
He's foaming at the mouth and speaking in tongues.
It's not pretty.
This is not healthy, Benny.
Your sister getting you involved in our private business It is not good for my home life and it is not good for your professional life, if you follow my drift.
You know, Bull [CLEARS THROAT.]
Baptism is a holy sacrament.
It frees your child from original sin.
It cleanses her soul.
Really? You think my daughter's soul needs cleansing? Hmm.
What do you think she does after we put her down at night? Maybe she sneaks out, robs a bank? Maybe she's having a torrid affair with the neighbor's husband.
Go ahead and make fun.
Okay, I will.
Okay, I won't.
Look I respect how devout you are, Benny.
In fact, I even find it somewhat inspiring.
But not everyone feels the way you do, uh, esp including your sister.
Really? And you know that? [SOFT CHUCKLE.]
Benjamin Colón, your sister is the living definition of a C.
E.
O.
Catholic.
A C.
E.
O.
Catholic? Christmas, Easter only.
Bull every single member of the Colón family has been baptized.
E-Every single one.
W-Why would you want to prevent that tradition from continuing? You know what else has been a family tradition of yours? Being married when you have a baby.
And unless the Vatican put out a memo that I missed, that's still one of the sacraments, too.
What does that have to do with anything? I'm just saying, I asked your sister to marry me, she said no.
How come she's the one who gets to pick and choose the sacraments that matter? [KNOCKING.]
- Go away.
- Go away.
This a bad time? Okay, then.
Uh, your next appointment is here.
Walter and Gloria Mora.
WALTER: The truth is I can't remember anything about the accident.
I just can't.
They say I fell asleep, and I can't say that I didn't.
You know All I know is that four people are dead.
And I was the one driving the train.
Hmm.
And you came to us through The locomotive operator's union.
They gave us a list of lawyers.
And, uh, they said you two were very good.
Uh, they told me to give you this letter.
Okay, so the union will pay your legal bills.
Well, u-uh, can you tell me anything about the moments before? You were going to work.
Did you maybe have a drink beforehand? Take any cold medicine? Maybe any other drugs? Were you unusually tired? I mean, sure, I was tired.
Yeah, it was midnight when my shift started.
Any body'd be tired.
Yeah, um uh, normally, I try to work days.
Yeah.
Well, the problem is, uh, when we get into court, the other side is gonna ask, "If you were so tired, why did you go to work and agree to drive a train?" That's my job.
You know? Uh, any time I work nights, I'm tired.
Everybody is, but it doesn't stop me from working.
Doesn't stop me from doing a good job.
The truth is my husband hasn't been sleeping well for a while.
We Our daughter passed away six months ago from leukemia.
Neither of us have been sleeping well for a while.
I'm so sorry.
I can only imagine how painful that must have been.
It was a long battle, and she fought hard, but the good Lord needed her in Heaven.
And on top of that, the train company is working Walter to the bone.
Long hours.
Sometimes days, sometimes nights.
Anytime they call, he goes, no questions asked.
Feels like he can't say no.
'Cause if he does, then they start scheduling him for fewer hours.
It's their way of keeping you in line.
He was back on a train three days after we buried our daughter.
[ELEVATOR BELL DINGS.]
Okay, boss, how do we convince a jury our client didn't do it when even our client isn't sure he didn't to it? I honestly don't know, but that man's looking at spending the rest of his life in prison.
Four lives have already been lost.
We just have to try and not make it five.
You know, even if Walter did fall asleep, it doesn't necessarily mean the crash was his fault.
Really? Well we may have to agree to disagree on that one.
Do you follow tennis, Benny? I've, uh, watched a couple of matches here and there.
Well, you know, in tennis there are two types of errors: there's forced error sand unforced errors.
Okay.
So, say you serve the ball, you hit it out of bounds that is an unforced error.
But if you're hitting it back and forth and the other guy hits a great shot and you chase the ball, you barely reach it, but you hit it out of bounds that's a forced error.
You hit it out of bounds' cause of the position the other guy put you in.
And what, if anything, does that have to do with our client? You remember what Walter's wife said about the way the company scheduled Walter's work? Very last-minute.
How if he said no to a shift, they'd often retaliate by not offering him another one for a long time.
Well what if we argued that if Walter did fall asleep it was because of the way the company scheduled his work, and they forced the error by working him to the point of exhaustion and making it impossible for him to maintain a predictable or healthy sleep schedule.
[GAVEL BANGS.]
We are in the business of moving people and things from one point to another, safely, in a timely way.
Unfortunately, no matter how many safety measures are put in place, we can't fully control the human element.
Trains are piloted by people, and people are fallible.
We did a thorough and comprehensive internal investigation.
The NTSB did its own independent investigation.
We all came to the same conclusion: the fault lies with the man piloting the train.
The fault lies with the engineer.
Objection.
Your Honor, isn't that for the jury to decide? The witness has been qualified as an expert, counselor.
Overruled.
Nothing further, Your Honor.
ROBINSON: Your witness, Mr.
Colón.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Mr.
Peterman let's talk about Mr.
Mora's work schedule.
Are you familiar with it? Specifically? No.
But I can assure you our company follows all national railway regulatory standards for hours worked.
Be that as it may, we should take a look at Mr.
Mora's work schedule just prior to the accident.
Ah, I have it right here.
Okay.
So Mr.
Mora worked Monday from 8:00 a.
m.
to 8:00 p.
m.
12 hours the maximum allowed by law.
Then, 12 hours later, he was back at work.
Tuesday, from 8:00 a.
m.
to 8:00 p.
m.
Again, the maximum allowed by law.
Luckily, Mr.
Mora had off on Wednesday.
Was told he wouldn't be needed again until Thursday.
But at 10:00 p.
m.
Wednesday night, your company contacted him to pull an emergency shift, midnight until noon.
So the man works all day Monday, all day Tuesday, then, was ready for bed on Wednesday night, maybe even already asleep, when you called him with less than two hours notice, told him to get out of bed and come to work for 12 hours.
In darkness and inclement weather.
Remind me of what you said earlier about your commitment to safety? Objection, Your Honor.
Counsel is badgering the witness.
I'd like to answer the question, if that's okay with the court.
Objection overruled.
You may answer the question.
What you don't seem to understand is that if Mr.
Mora felt that he wasn't rested enough to take the shift, he could have simply said no.
Mr.
Mora was not forced to work.
But isn't it true that when an engineer is offered last-minute or less-desirable shifts, if he or she makes a habit of turning them down, your company reciprocates by offering him less and less hours overall? - Mr.
Peterman? - The witness will answer the question.
Our company never put any pressure on any employee to accept additional shifts.
And in the case of Mr.
Mora, he himself asked for extra shifts.
[GALLERY MURMURING.]
In fact, Mr.
Mora put in a request to work the maximum amount of shifts available.
He volunteered for the relief list, and to be contacted whenever there was a last-minute shift opening.
By the way, I have those requests in writing.
I'd be happy to share them if it would be any help whatsoever.
[GALLERY MURMURING.]
Is there anyone on our side in this? MARISSA: Not in the jury box.
Mm.
- You talk to him? - Who's that? Walter.
About what? Abo [SIGHS.]
Bull, the man sat in our conference room.
He and his wife told us, plain as day, that the company made him work.
That they demanded it.
Even after his daughter's funeral.
We built our entire case around that, and the railroad just blew it out the water.
And our client let us walk right into it.
I know.
And no, I haven't talked to him yet.
I will.
Though I don't think it's gonna do any good.
What are you talking about? Walter doesn't care.
In fact I'm willing to bet, deep down, he just wants it all to be over with.
The trial? His life.
Oh.
Man's still in mourning.
For the people that died on his train.
For his little girl.
The man is a walking wake.
He has no will to survive, no will to live.
He believes he's guilty of all of it.
And even if he isn't, he believes he deserves to be.
So where does that leave us? Same place we were before we had this conversation.
We have to defend the man.
Whether he wants us to or not.
TAYLOR: You know, just because Walter asked for those shifts doesn't mean the company should have let him take them.
And what about the thousands of people who ride the trains every day? Doesn't the railroad have an obligation to them? You're not wrong, but think about it from the jury's perspective.
All they see is four dead people and a tired engineer who asked to drive the train.
Okay.
Don't laugh.
I've been poking around a bunch of conspiracy theory websites.
Different ones about catastrophic accidents.
Boeing Max 737, the Challenger explosion.
That kind of thing.
CHUNK [SING-SONGY.]
: I'm telling Bull.
Taylor's a nut job.
Okay, make fun.
But let mere mind you that in the case of the Challenger and the case of the Boeing airline crashes, it was the conspiracy theorists who blew the whistle first.
I can only imagine what kind of crackpots you've been talking to.
The thing is I may have found something.
There's this one Internet forum where this anonymous poster has been ranting and raving ever since Walter's train crash made the news.
He's telling anyone who will listen that the railroad is covering up what really happened.
He says pardon the pun that they're railroading Walter.
You think he's legit? I do, actually.
You have a name? I have a name.
I have a background file.
And I may even have a point of contact.
Well, this sounds like a job for Danny James.
MAN: Ms.
James? One of those for me? I'm Frank Uzarski.
Mr.
Uzarski, thank you for coming.
So you working for Walter? For his defense team, yeah.
Well, good luck.
You're up against a very formidable adversary.
Oh, no thanks, never before, uh, 9:00 a.
m.
for me.
You were saying? I was saying this whole situation with your client got a very déjà vu quality to it for me.
I was a engineer for almost 14 years at the same railroad.
I had a very similar experience to his about six months back.
Wait, you hit a train? No.
But I came awfully close.
Tell me.
Just what I said.
One day, I was driving a train on the northern line, I almost collided with another one.
Luckily for me, there was no weather, it was 2:00 in the afternoon, so I could see what was coming and I got on the brake in time.
So, wait, you didn't hit a train, but they fired you anyway? That's my point.
Whole reason I almost hit that train is because when I approached the switch I was given a green signal.
Green means go.
So I went.
And did you tell the company that? I sure did.
How did they respond? They drug tested me.
What did they find? Exactly what they wanted to find.
Exactly what they were hoping to find.
Which is fascinating to me, because, to the best of my knowledge, I didn't have anything in my system that could have tested positive.
Look I'm no saint.
But I don't drink or drug when I work, and I certainly don't drink or drug when I'm trying to convince somebody I saw a green light when they're insisting I saw a red one.
[GAVEL BANGS.]
DONOGHUE: Now, can you please tell the court how it is you know Walter Mora? We attend the same church.
Saint Catherine's of Brooklyn.
And then we've been getting to know each other even better these past few months.
DONOGHUE: And why is that? We've both been attending a grief group at church.
My husband passed away about a year ago.
And Walter lost his daughter to cancer.
DONOGHUE: My condolences.
To both of you.
Now, Ms.
Combs, you contacted the district attorney's office yesterday afternoon, did you not? I did.
I've been following the trial on the Internet and in the paper.
And there are just some things that Walter said when we were in grief group together, things that well, they made me uncomfortable.
And can you share with us what those things were? Objection.
I have to believe that these conversations are protected under the therapist-patient privilege, and are afforded the same protections as those between an attorney and his client.
DONOGHUE: Actually, Your Honor, to qualify for that privilege, the group must be moderated by a licensed therapist, psychologist or social worker.
None of which were present at this church-sponsored gathering.
Do you have proof to the contrary, Mr.
Colón? I do not, Your Honor.
Objection overruled.
The witness may answer the question.
I like Walter.
I really do.
And he and Gloria have been through so much.
But there was a grief group meeting three days before the train wreck.
And after the meeting, we were leaving together, and Walter was saying that he was having a tough week.
Tougher than most.
He said his pain was so great he was thinking about ending it all.
[GALLERY MURMURING.]
That some days, living felt like it was too much to bear.
DONOGHUE: It sounds like you're saying Walter Mora saw the red light signal and knew a train was parked on the tracks in front of him.
That perhaps instead of seeing it as an obstruction on the tracks, he saw it as an opportunity.
An opportunity to, to use his own words, "end it all.
" Is that what you're trying to tell us? Your Honor, objection.
Speculation.
Counsel is testifying.
DONOGHUE: I withdraw the question, Your Honor.
- And, in fact, - I have no further questions.
How bad is it, Marissa? The jury finds this witness extremely credible.
They no longer appear to be questioning whether or not it was Walter's fault.
They're only questioning whether or not he crashed the train on purpose.
Either way, my monitors look like Carrie on prom night.
How did it go today? It went.
Well, ask me about my meeting with Frank Uzarski.
What, the, uh, disgruntled engineer that Taylor found online? Yes, indeed.
Turns out he, too, had a run-in with a train he had no idea would be there.
Only, in his case, he was able to avoid a collision.
Did he report it to the railroad? Uh, he sure did.
And then they drug tested him and then fired him for his efforts.
Um, I'm-I'm confused.
Sounds like they fired a cannon to kill a flea.
Uh, there was no crash.
There was no accident.
Why fire him? Well, he claims that the signal that's supposed to alert an engineer to stop when there's a train in his path told him to go.
I'm not sure how that applies to our case.
Well, in our case, Walter was dealing with bad weather.
Extremely low visibility.
So if there was a signal malfunction, if he saw green, that would explain why he didn't brake.
And with all the rain and fog, by the time he saw the parked freight train, it would have been too late.
Well, that's an interesting theory, but need to remind you that the NTSB investigation found no such signal malfunction.
Okay.
I'll play devil's advocate.
What if this signal malfunction only happened once? The same signal performed perfectly immediately after Frank's encounter with it and right up until Walter's.
An intermittent error.
How about an incident report? Did he at least file an incident report after his near miss? I didn't ask that specific question, but I know he went to the railroad and reported the signal problem.
Then they should have a record of it.
Which would prove they were on notice about a potential signal malfunction.
BENNY: Maybe you can just do it for me.
What's that? Agree to let Astrid be baptized.
[SIGHS.]
You don't want to put yourself in the middle of this.
I already am.
She's my niece.
Benny, I have nothing against baptism.
In fact, knowing that it would make Izzy happy, make you happy It's just [EXHALES.]
Even though we're not married, it's a marriage, except when your sister decides it isn't.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
It's okay, 'cause it's not for you to understand.
It's really between Izzy and me.
All right.
I'll keep my nose out of it.
Thank you.
BENNY: Would you think any less of me if I confessed to you I wasn't looking forward to this? You mean you're not excited to present our case? Not excited to put Walter on the stand? Yeah.
I have my concerns as well.
Maybe I'll have a little pep talk with our client.
[KNOCKING.]
Come in.
[DOOR OPENS.]
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING.]
So, you understand you're about to be called to testify.
Yes, sir.
This will be your chance to tell your story.
Your chance to convince that jury that you are not responsible for what happened that night.
Okay.
Um But I can't swear that I'm not responsible.
I just can't.
I see.
Hmm.
Well, then I've come to a decision.
What's that? Mr.
Colón and I will go right to the judge and withdraw from this case.
You, sir, do not want to win.
You want to use the justice system to help you punish yourself.
For what, I'm not sure.
Maybe it's your child's cancer.
Maybe it's those people who died on that train.
Which is fine.
It's your life.
But I am not gonna let the fact that you have so little regard for your wife, so little regard for life itself, blemish my record in the legal community.
Wait.
Wait, wait, wait.
What-what would you like me to do? You want me to lie? I want you to care.
I want you to give a damn.
I'd even consider staying on board if you'd just be honest.
What do you mean, be honest? You don't know what happened that night.
So, for God's sake, stop guessing.
Testify to who you are and what you do know, not what might have been.
And stop doing the other side's job for them.
So what's it gonna be? BENNY: Now, the prosecution would have this jury believe that you were suicidal on the night of the accident, that you allowed your train to collide with the freight train on purpose.
Is that true, Mr.
Mora? Of course it's not true.
BENNY: And why should this jury believe that? Well, because, if you know me, you know that I believe in God.
You know that I believe in the church's teachings.
I go to church every week.
My wife and I took our little girl every week.
So I know that she's in heaven.
I know that the good Lord has welcomed her soul.
And I know if I were to commit suicide, I'd never see heaven.
Which means that I wouldn't ever see my little girl again.
BENNY: Thank you, Mr.
Mora.
- No further questions, - Your Honor.
He's a pretty good witness.
What'd you say to him? Nothing much.
I just lied.
Smart.
I guess.
DONOGHUE: Thank you for your testimony, Mr.
Mora.
It was very moving.
But the fact remains that four people are dead.
And despite what you've said, an investigation concluded that it was human error that killed them.
Your error.
Even if you didn't cause the collision intentionally, can you say with 100% certainty that you didn't fall asleep at that wheel? In over 14 years and 25,000 hours, I've never nodded off.
Not once.
Not for a single second.
Really? And how do we prove that? Or do we just accept it, because you've never crashed a train before? Just like we're supposed to accept the fact that you can't remember anything.
BENNY: Objection.
Your Honor, counsel is testifying and badgering the witness.
Sustained.
Ask a question, please.
That's all right, Your Honor.
I have no further questions.
Talk to me.
They were moved, but not enough to change their minds.
Yeah.
We got to their hearts but not their heads.
I can see it from here.
They want someone to hold accountable, and he was the man at the controls.
Do me a favor.
Call Izzy.
Tell her I'm gonna be home late.
I need to get measured for a new suit.
Sure.
What's the occasion? Baptism.
The baby, not me.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, "I'm sure you've all heard that old saying, "'If a tree falls in the forest "'but there's no one there to hear it, "does it make a sound?' "Likewise, if a man is driving a train "and it has a fatal accident "but the man can't remember what happened, "does it automatically make him the cause of that accident? - Because, at - [KNOCKING.]
Hey.
How's the closing argument coming? Well, I'm not convinced, and I'm the guy writing it.
Yeah.
Oh, hey.
I hear we're having a baptism.
Oh, yeah.
It suddenly occurred to me last night none of my teams - are playing three Sundays from now.
- Mm.
I'll take it.
God moves people in strange ways.
Thank you.
Oh, don't thank me.
Thank the NBA.
TAYLOR: I couldn't help myself.
I spent the night working from home.
You want the good news, the bad news or the good news? Is this a trick question? Okay, I'll start with the good news.
Don't ask me how, but I was able to locate the incident report Danny said you wanted me to find.
The one that was filed when Frank Uzarski complained to the company that he was given a green signal instead of a red and almost ran into a train.
That is good news.
So what's the bad news? Well, nowhere in it does it say anything about a signal malfunction.
The thing is, whether Frank was drunk, stoned or just lying, his statements should have been included in that report.
And they aren't.
You have a theory about why? Maybe the company deleted any mention of signal failures from their records in the wake of Walter's crash.
They heard about his brain injury, heard he couldn't remember anything.
It's kind of perfect.
If you can make it look like there's never been a signal problem, you can blame the whole thing on Walter.
Interesting theory.
How are you gonna prove it? Ask me about the good news.
Oh.
You have any good news? I see no additional names on the witness list today.
Does that mean the defense is prepared to rest and we can commence with closing arguments? Actually, Your Honor, the defense is not quite ready to rest yet.
In fact, we'd like to recall a witness.
If it pleases the court, the defense would like to call Ray Peterman back to the stand.
Mr.
Peterman, I've just got a couple of brief follow-up questions.
Now, uh, you told the court previously that there was no evidence of a mechanical failure on any of the railroad safety systems.
Do you still believe that to be true? I do.
Okay.
All right.
Oh, and let me remind the court that you are certified as an expert witness.
Now, with that in mind, let me ask a hypothetical.
Let's say my client, Walter Mora, is piloting a train late at night, and there is another train stopped on the track in front of him.
The weather is bad, it's really dark outside, so he really can't see that train.
But the rail signal The railroad stop light The one he depends on, is green.
And it was supposed to be red to tell him to stop, because there was another train in front of him, but it doesn't.
It's just a steady green.
Now, could something like that happen? This is my favorite part.
Coyote first sees the Road Runner and thinks, "Dinner.
" PETERMAN: Honestly, rail signal malfunctions are extremely rare.
Got it, got it.
Extremely rare.
Now as I understand it, the way it works is the rail signal apparatus senses when there's a train up ahead of it, so it knows to display the red light and stop the train behind it from proceeding.
Do I have it right? Yes.
The weight of the train serves to stop the circuit, which triggers the red light.
- And the chase begins.
- BENNY: Okay.
So if there was a signal malfunction, which you already testified is extremely rare, the light would just stay green - instead of turning red, right? - PETERMAN: Again, kind of like a snowstorm in the Mojave Desert, but yes, that is what would happen.
BENNY: So Mr.
Mora would be driving the train, he would see that green light and believe he was supposed to keep right on going, but the signal malfunction would actually be leading him to a head-on collision with another train, wouldn't it? Objection.
Relevance? Why are we spending this kind of time with a witness we've already heard from to offer an opinion on a hypothetical when we've tasked this jury with making a decision about a very real, very deadly accident? And now is when the Road Runner gets the Coyote to chase him really fast.
So fast the Coyote doesn't even realize the Road Runner's tricked him into running right off the edge of a cliff.
Beep-beep.
BENNY: I apologize, Your Honor.
He's right.
Forget what I said about this being a hypothetical.
Let's talk about the real signal, the one that was supposed to separate the train my client was piloting with the one he hit.
Let's talk about that signal.
And, of course, now the Coyote looks down, realizes there's nothing but air beneath him, and goes falling hundreds of feet into the canyon below.
That particular signal was tested by the NTSB and our own investigators.
To be clear, the signal that Mr.
Mora ignored - was working properly.
- Yeah, but these signals are machines, right? Uh, they're capable of failure, aren't they? I mean, isn't it possible that the signal could have failed intermittently? Isn't it possible that the signal could have malfunctioned this one time despite working properly every other time? I'm not sure I understand the question.
If you're asking if anything is possible, well, then yes, of course, anything is possible.
But if you're asking if that's what happened here, let me repeat myself.
According to the NTSB and our own investigators, that is not what happened here.
Okay.
Well, then can you explain this to me? Now, this here is a maintenance report for work ordered after the accident that we would like to enter into evidence as defense exhibit A.
Now, do you recognize this maintenance report, Mr.
Peterman? Sure.
It's a routine report.
We put them out whenever repairs or maintenance need to be done.
Okay.
And-and can you explain to the court what maintenance was ordered? [CLEARS THROAT.]
It says that the signal at marker 264 needed to be replaced.
BENNY: And isn't the signal - at marker 264 - [MOUTHING.]
The same signal that was supposed to separate the train Walter was driving from the train he collided with? [GALLERY MURMURING.]
Yes, I believe it was.
BENNY: Mr.
Pete man, if the signal wasn't faulty then why are you replacing it? Well we aren't just replacing that one signal.
We're replacing all the signals on that line.
It's part of a routine system upgrade.
But according to this report, those signals are only ten months old.
I mean, does your company routinely replace entire lines of signals after only ten months? Never mind.
Never mind.
I have another question.
Uh Mr.
Peterman, you see this heavy file folder here? There's a bunch of work orders in here.
Work orders to replace the same type of signal on a freight line in Missouri, on a passenger line just outside of D.
C.
, and a line in Canada.
These are all lines that are owned by your railroad company.
Coincidence? I'm sorry, Mr.
Peterman, I can't hear you.
I'm gonna need you to speak up.
I wouldn't want this jury to misunderstand.
No.
I wouldn't want them to think that you knew this wreck wasn't Walter Mora's fault.
That you and the railroad you work for covered up an earlier incident involving faulty signals.
Objection.
Counsel is testifying.
- And by ignoring that earlier incident, - Your Honor.
You and the railroad you work for are actually directly responsible for this disaster.
Or that you and the company you work for are more than willing to send an innocent man to prison if it means you'd bear no responsibility for your mistakes.
I wouldn't want the jury to jump to that conclusion, - Objection.
- So speak up.
Objection! - Objection! - Quiet.
I need order.
Quiet.
Mm.
Okay.
I see he doesn't want to discuss it.
Your Honor, a little help, please.
Objection overruled.
The witness will answer the question.
Questions.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to plead the Fifth.
[GALLERY MURMURING.]
[SIGHS.]
[GROANS.]
Oh.
[CHUCKLES.]
What a great concept, Bull.
What a great idea.
A-A victory dinner.
We should do that after every case we win.
Yeah.
But in order to be a dinner, you have to actually eat something.
Mm-hmm.
Damn, I knew we forgot something.
- Well, next time.
- [GRUNTS.]
Here's a little something for you.
- From me.
- What? - Yeah.
- Oh I have never received a gift after winning a case, Bull.
Thank you.
- No, that's not what it's for.
- Go ahead, open it.
Wha [CHUCKLES.]
I don't get it.
What is it? How are you gonna be a godfather without watching The Godfather? Uh, g godfather? You want me to be Astrid's godfather? Yes, I do.
And so does Izzy.
And maybe it's the liquor talking, but I'm pretty sure I heard Astrid say that she wanted you, too.
Wow.
I could not be more honored, Bull.
- Thank you.
- Eh.
Thank you.
This is [IMITATES MARLON BRANDO.]
: You made me an offer I can't refuse.
Please don't do that.
[IMITATES AL PACINO.]
: Just when I thought I was out, you pull me right back in.
No, no, no, you're not even doing the same charac Attica! Attica! - Pull over.
- I'm gonna take an Uber.
[IMITATES ROBERT DE NIRO.]
: Hey.
You talkin' to me? MAN: What? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here.
Right?
Want to see what you're gonna look like in 30 years? Honey, don't you know no woman wants to see what she's gonna look like when she's older? - Come on.
- It's just an app.
I take your picture and then it makes you look old.
- I really don't want - [SHUTTER CLICKS.]
You closed your eyes.
One more.
And then you'll let me read my book in peace? [LAUGHS SOFTLY.]
Probably not.
[SCREAMING.]
[PEOPLE PANTING, GROANING.]
WOMAN: Welcome back.
Happy you finally decided to join us.
All right, careful.
Don't look directly at the light.
Look above the light.
Look at the tip of my nose.
Good.
Tell me your name.
Uh, Walt Mora.
What day is it today, Mr.
Mora? I have no idea.
Well, what's the last thing you can remember? Being at work.
Piloting a train out of Grand Central, heading towards, uh, Westchester County.
Where am I? [INDISTINCT ANNOUNCEMENT OVER P.
A.
.]
Am I in the hospital? St.
Benjamin's, honey.
This is Dr.
Medawar.
She's been taking great care of you.
What kind of care? You've been here six days, Mr.
Mora.
There was an accident.
Huh.
I don't remember any accident.
Are you sure? Completely sure.
You ran headfirst into another train that was parked on the tracks.
Four people died.
This true, Gloria? CT scans of your brain show that you suffered a traumatic brain injury.
With traumatic brain injury, it's quite common to lose memories associated with the incident in which the injury occurred.
In this case, the crash.
Will I ever remember what happened, how it happened? It's possible.
But not terribly likely.
BULL: I guess most of all, we're looking for more space.
We just had a baby girl and, uh, it would be great if the building had a playroom - or maybe a pool.
- [KNOCKING.]
Not right now.
Come back in half an hour.
Why wouldn't you want your baby welcomed into the Catholic faith? I'm gonna have to call you back.
A religious fanatic just walked into my office.
He's foaming at the mouth and speaking in tongues.
It's not pretty.
This is not healthy, Benny.
Your sister getting you involved in our private business It is not good for my home life and it is not good for your professional life, if you follow my drift.
You know, Bull [CLEARS THROAT.]
Baptism is a holy sacrament.
It frees your child from original sin.
It cleanses her soul.
Really? You think my daughter's soul needs cleansing? Hmm.
What do you think she does after we put her down at night? Maybe she sneaks out, robs a bank? Maybe she's having a torrid affair with the neighbor's husband.
Go ahead and make fun.
Okay, I will.
Okay, I won't.
Look I respect how devout you are, Benny.
In fact, I even find it somewhat inspiring.
But not everyone feels the way you do, uh, esp including your sister.
Really? And you know that? [SOFT CHUCKLE.]
Benjamin Colón, your sister is the living definition of a C.
E.
O.
Catholic.
A C.
E.
O.
Catholic? Christmas, Easter only.
Bull every single member of the Colón family has been baptized.
E-Every single one.
W-Why would you want to prevent that tradition from continuing? You know what else has been a family tradition of yours? Being married when you have a baby.
And unless the Vatican put out a memo that I missed, that's still one of the sacraments, too.
What does that have to do with anything? I'm just saying, I asked your sister to marry me, she said no.
How come she's the one who gets to pick and choose the sacraments that matter? [KNOCKING.]
- Go away.
- Go away.
This a bad time? Okay, then.
Uh, your next appointment is here.
Walter and Gloria Mora.
WALTER: The truth is I can't remember anything about the accident.
I just can't.
They say I fell asleep, and I can't say that I didn't.
You know All I know is that four people are dead.
And I was the one driving the train.
Hmm.
And you came to us through The locomotive operator's union.
They gave us a list of lawyers.
And, uh, they said you two were very good.
Uh, they told me to give you this letter.
Okay, so the union will pay your legal bills.
Well, u-uh, can you tell me anything about the moments before? You were going to work.
Did you maybe have a drink beforehand? Take any cold medicine? Maybe any other drugs? Were you unusually tired? I mean, sure, I was tired.
Yeah, it was midnight when my shift started.
Any body'd be tired.
Yeah, um uh, normally, I try to work days.
Yeah.
Well, the problem is, uh, when we get into court, the other side is gonna ask, "If you were so tired, why did you go to work and agree to drive a train?" That's my job.
You know? Uh, any time I work nights, I'm tired.
Everybody is, but it doesn't stop me from working.
Doesn't stop me from doing a good job.
The truth is my husband hasn't been sleeping well for a while.
We Our daughter passed away six months ago from leukemia.
Neither of us have been sleeping well for a while.
I'm so sorry.
I can only imagine how painful that must have been.
It was a long battle, and she fought hard, but the good Lord needed her in Heaven.
And on top of that, the train company is working Walter to the bone.
Long hours.
Sometimes days, sometimes nights.
Anytime they call, he goes, no questions asked.
Feels like he can't say no.
'Cause if he does, then they start scheduling him for fewer hours.
It's their way of keeping you in line.
He was back on a train three days after we buried our daughter.
[ELEVATOR BELL DINGS.]
Okay, boss, how do we convince a jury our client didn't do it when even our client isn't sure he didn't to it? I honestly don't know, but that man's looking at spending the rest of his life in prison.
Four lives have already been lost.
We just have to try and not make it five.
You know, even if Walter did fall asleep, it doesn't necessarily mean the crash was his fault.
Really? Well we may have to agree to disagree on that one.
Do you follow tennis, Benny? I've, uh, watched a couple of matches here and there.
Well, you know, in tennis there are two types of errors: there's forced error sand unforced errors.
Okay.
So, say you serve the ball, you hit it out of bounds that is an unforced error.
But if you're hitting it back and forth and the other guy hits a great shot and you chase the ball, you barely reach it, but you hit it out of bounds that's a forced error.
You hit it out of bounds' cause of the position the other guy put you in.
And what, if anything, does that have to do with our client? You remember what Walter's wife said about the way the company scheduled Walter's work? Very last-minute.
How if he said no to a shift, they'd often retaliate by not offering him another one for a long time.
Well what if we argued that if Walter did fall asleep it was because of the way the company scheduled his work, and they forced the error by working him to the point of exhaustion and making it impossible for him to maintain a predictable or healthy sleep schedule.
[GAVEL BANGS.]
We are in the business of moving people and things from one point to another, safely, in a timely way.
Unfortunately, no matter how many safety measures are put in place, we can't fully control the human element.
Trains are piloted by people, and people are fallible.
We did a thorough and comprehensive internal investigation.
The NTSB did its own independent investigation.
We all came to the same conclusion: the fault lies with the man piloting the train.
The fault lies with the engineer.
Objection.
Your Honor, isn't that for the jury to decide? The witness has been qualified as an expert, counselor.
Overruled.
Nothing further, Your Honor.
ROBINSON: Your witness, Mr.
Colón.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Mr.
Peterman let's talk about Mr.
Mora's work schedule.
Are you familiar with it? Specifically? No.
But I can assure you our company follows all national railway regulatory standards for hours worked.
Be that as it may, we should take a look at Mr.
Mora's work schedule just prior to the accident.
Ah, I have it right here.
Okay.
So Mr.
Mora worked Monday from 8:00 a.
m.
to 8:00 p.
m.
12 hours the maximum allowed by law.
Then, 12 hours later, he was back at work.
Tuesday, from 8:00 a.
m.
to 8:00 p.
m.
Again, the maximum allowed by law.
Luckily, Mr.
Mora had off on Wednesday.
Was told he wouldn't be needed again until Thursday.
But at 10:00 p.
m.
Wednesday night, your company contacted him to pull an emergency shift, midnight until noon.
So the man works all day Monday, all day Tuesday, then, was ready for bed on Wednesday night, maybe even already asleep, when you called him with less than two hours notice, told him to get out of bed and come to work for 12 hours.
In darkness and inclement weather.
Remind me of what you said earlier about your commitment to safety? Objection, Your Honor.
Counsel is badgering the witness.
I'd like to answer the question, if that's okay with the court.
Objection overruled.
You may answer the question.
What you don't seem to understand is that if Mr.
Mora felt that he wasn't rested enough to take the shift, he could have simply said no.
Mr.
Mora was not forced to work.
But isn't it true that when an engineer is offered last-minute or less-desirable shifts, if he or she makes a habit of turning them down, your company reciprocates by offering him less and less hours overall? - Mr.
Peterman? - The witness will answer the question.
Our company never put any pressure on any employee to accept additional shifts.
And in the case of Mr.
Mora, he himself asked for extra shifts.
[GALLERY MURMURING.]
In fact, Mr.
Mora put in a request to work the maximum amount of shifts available.
He volunteered for the relief list, and to be contacted whenever there was a last-minute shift opening.
By the way, I have those requests in writing.
I'd be happy to share them if it would be any help whatsoever.
[GALLERY MURMURING.]
Is there anyone on our side in this? MARISSA: Not in the jury box.
Mm.
- You talk to him? - Who's that? Walter.
About what? Abo [SIGHS.]
Bull, the man sat in our conference room.
He and his wife told us, plain as day, that the company made him work.
That they demanded it.
Even after his daughter's funeral.
We built our entire case around that, and the railroad just blew it out the water.
And our client let us walk right into it.
I know.
And no, I haven't talked to him yet.
I will.
Though I don't think it's gonna do any good.
What are you talking about? Walter doesn't care.
In fact I'm willing to bet, deep down, he just wants it all to be over with.
The trial? His life.
Oh.
Man's still in mourning.
For the people that died on his train.
For his little girl.
The man is a walking wake.
He has no will to survive, no will to live.
He believes he's guilty of all of it.
And even if he isn't, he believes he deserves to be.
So where does that leave us? Same place we were before we had this conversation.
We have to defend the man.
Whether he wants us to or not.
TAYLOR: You know, just because Walter asked for those shifts doesn't mean the company should have let him take them.
And what about the thousands of people who ride the trains every day? Doesn't the railroad have an obligation to them? You're not wrong, but think about it from the jury's perspective.
All they see is four dead people and a tired engineer who asked to drive the train.
Okay.
Don't laugh.
I've been poking around a bunch of conspiracy theory websites.
Different ones about catastrophic accidents.
Boeing Max 737, the Challenger explosion.
That kind of thing.
CHUNK [SING-SONGY.]
: I'm telling Bull.
Taylor's a nut job.
Okay, make fun.
But let mere mind you that in the case of the Challenger and the case of the Boeing airline crashes, it was the conspiracy theorists who blew the whistle first.
I can only imagine what kind of crackpots you've been talking to.
The thing is I may have found something.
There's this one Internet forum where this anonymous poster has been ranting and raving ever since Walter's train crash made the news.
He's telling anyone who will listen that the railroad is covering up what really happened.
He says pardon the pun that they're railroading Walter.
You think he's legit? I do, actually.
You have a name? I have a name.
I have a background file.
And I may even have a point of contact.
Well, this sounds like a job for Danny James.
MAN: Ms.
James? One of those for me? I'm Frank Uzarski.
Mr.
Uzarski, thank you for coming.
So you working for Walter? For his defense team, yeah.
Well, good luck.
You're up against a very formidable adversary.
Oh, no thanks, never before, uh, 9:00 a.
m.
for me.
You were saying? I was saying this whole situation with your client got a very déjà vu quality to it for me.
I was a engineer for almost 14 years at the same railroad.
I had a very similar experience to his about six months back.
Wait, you hit a train? No.
But I came awfully close.
Tell me.
Just what I said.
One day, I was driving a train on the northern line, I almost collided with another one.
Luckily for me, there was no weather, it was 2:00 in the afternoon, so I could see what was coming and I got on the brake in time.
So, wait, you didn't hit a train, but they fired you anyway? That's my point.
Whole reason I almost hit that train is because when I approached the switch I was given a green signal.
Green means go.
So I went.
And did you tell the company that? I sure did.
How did they respond? They drug tested me.
What did they find? Exactly what they wanted to find.
Exactly what they were hoping to find.
Which is fascinating to me, because, to the best of my knowledge, I didn't have anything in my system that could have tested positive.
Look I'm no saint.
But I don't drink or drug when I work, and I certainly don't drink or drug when I'm trying to convince somebody I saw a green light when they're insisting I saw a red one.
[GAVEL BANGS.]
DONOGHUE: Now, can you please tell the court how it is you know Walter Mora? We attend the same church.
Saint Catherine's of Brooklyn.
And then we've been getting to know each other even better these past few months.
DONOGHUE: And why is that? We've both been attending a grief group at church.
My husband passed away about a year ago.
And Walter lost his daughter to cancer.
DONOGHUE: My condolences.
To both of you.
Now, Ms.
Combs, you contacted the district attorney's office yesterday afternoon, did you not? I did.
I've been following the trial on the Internet and in the paper.
And there are just some things that Walter said when we were in grief group together, things that well, they made me uncomfortable.
And can you share with us what those things were? Objection.
I have to believe that these conversations are protected under the therapist-patient privilege, and are afforded the same protections as those between an attorney and his client.
DONOGHUE: Actually, Your Honor, to qualify for that privilege, the group must be moderated by a licensed therapist, psychologist or social worker.
None of which were present at this church-sponsored gathering.
Do you have proof to the contrary, Mr.
Colón? I do not, Your Honor.
Objection overruled.
The witness may answer the question.
I like Walter.
I really do.
And he and Gloria have been through so much.
But there was a grief group meeting three days before the train wreck.
And after the meeting, we were leaving together, and Walter was saying that he was having a tough week.
Tougher than most.
He said his pain was so great he was thinking about ending it all.
[GALLERY MURMURING.]
That some days, living felt like it was too much to bear.
DONOGHUE: It sounds like you're saying Walter Mora saw the red light signal and knew a train was parked on the tracks in front of him.
That perhaps instead of seeing it as an obstruction on the tracks, he saw it as an opportunity.
An opportunity to, to use his own words, "end it all.
" Is that what you're trying to tell us? Your Honor, objection.
Speculation.
Counsel is testifying.
DONOGHUE: I withdraw the question, Your Honor.
- And, in fact, - I have no further questions.
How bad is it, Marissa? The jury finds this witness extremely credible.
They no longer appear to be questioning whether or not it was Walter's fault.
They're only questioning whether or not he crashed the train on purpose.
Either way, my monitors look like Carrie on prom night.
How did it go today? It went.
Well, ask me about my meeting with Frank Uzarski.
What, the, uh, disgruntled engineer that Taylor found online? Yes, indeed.
Turns out he, too, had a run-in with a train he had no idea would be there.
Only, in his case, he was able to avoid a collision.
Did he report it to the railroad? Uh, he sure did.
And then they drug tested him and then fired him for his efforts.
Um, I'm-I'm confused.
Sounds like they fired a cannon to kill a flea.
Uh, there was no crash.
There was no accident.
Why fire him? Well, he claims that the signal that's supposed to alert an engineer to stop when there's a train in his path told him to go.
I'm not sure how that applies to our case.
Well, in our case, Walter was dealing with bad weather.
Extremely low visibility.
So if there was a signal malfunction, if he saw green, that would explain why he didn't brake.
And with all the rain and fog, by the time he saw the parked freight train, it would have been too late.
Well, that's an interesting theory, but need to remind you that the NTSB investigation found no such signal malfunction.
Okay.
I'll play devil's advocate.
What if this signal malfunction only happened once? The same signal performed perfectly immediately after Frank's encounter with it and right up until Walter's.
An intermittent error.
How about an incident report? Did he at least file an incident report after his near miss? I didn't ask that specific question, but I know he went to the railroad and reported the signal problem.
Then they should have a record of it.
Which would prove they were on notice about a potential signal malfunction.
BENNY: Maybe you can just do it for me.
What's that? Agree to let Astrid be baptized.
[SIGHS.]
You don't want to put yourself in the middle of this.
I already am.
She's my niece.
Benny, I have nothing against baptism.
In fact, knowing that it would make Izzy happy, make you happy It's just [EXHALES.]
Even though we're not married, it's a marriage, except when your sister decides it isn't.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
It's okay, 'cause it's not for you to understand.
It's really between Izzy and me.
All right.
I'll keep my nose out of it.
Thank you.
BENNY: Would you think any less of me if I confessed to you I wasn't looking forward to this? You mean you're not excited to present our case? Not excited to put Walter on the stand? Yeah.
I have my concerns as well.
Maybe I'll have a little pep talk with our client.
[KNOCKING.]
Come in.
[DOOR OPENS.]
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING.]
So, you understand you're about to be called to testify.
Yes, sir.
This will be your chance to tell your story.
Your chance to convince that jury that you are not responsible for what happened that night.
Okay.
Um But I can't swear that I'm not responsible.
I just can't.
I see.
Hmm.
Well, then I've come to a decision.
What's that? Mr.
Colón and I will go right to the judge and withdraw from this case.
You, sir, do not want to win.
You want to use the justice system to help you punish yourself.
For what, I'm not sure.
Maybe it's your child's cancer.
Maybe it's those people who died on that train.
Which is fine.
It's your life.
But I am not gonna let the fact that you have so little regard for your wife, so little regard for life itself, blemish my record in the legal community.
Wait.
Wait, wait, wait.
What-what would you like me to do? You want me to lie? I want you to care.
I want you to give a damn.
I'd even consider staying on board if you'd just be honest.
What do you mean, be honest? You don't know what happened that night.
So, for God's sake, stop guessing.
Testify to who you are and what you do know, not what might have been.
And stop doing the other side's job for them.
So what's it gonna be? BENNY: Now, the prosecution would have this jury believe that you were suicidal on the night of the accident, that you allowed your train to collide with the freight train on purpose.
Is that true, Mr.
Mora? Of course it's not true.
BENNY: And why should this jury believe that? Well, because, if you know me, you know that I believe in God.
You know that I believe in the church's teachings.
I go to church every week.
My wife and I took our little girl every week.
So I know that she's in heaven.
I know that the good Lord has welcomed her soul.
And I know if I were to commit suicide, I'd never see heaven.
Which means that I wouldn't ever see my little girl again.
BENNY: Thank you, Mr.
Mora.
- No further questions, - Your Honor.
He's a pretty good witness.
What'd you say to him? Nothing much.
I just lied.
Smart.
I guess.
DONOGHUE: Thank you for your testimony, Mr.
Mora.
It was very moving.
But the fact remains that four people are dead.
And despite what you've said, an investigation concluded that it was human error that killed them.
Your error.
Even if you didn't cause the collision intentionally, can you say with 100% certainty that you didn't fall asleep at that wheel? In over 14 years and 25,000 hours, I've never nodded off.
Not once.
Not for a single second.
Really? And how do we prove that? Or do we just accept it, because you've never crashed a train before? Just like we're supposed to accept the fact that you can't remember anything.
BENNY: Objection.
Your Honor, counsel is testifying and badgering the witness.
Sustained.
Ask a question, please.
That's all right, Your Honor.
I have no further questions.
Talk to me.
They were moved, but not enough to change their minds.
Yeah.
We got to their hearts but not their heads.
I can see it from here.
They want someone to hold accountable, and he was the man at the controls.
Do me a favor.
Call Izzy.
Tell her I'm gonna be home late.
I need to get measured for a new suit.
Sure.
What's the occasion? Baptism.
The baby, not me.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, "I'm sure you've all heard that old saying, "'If a tree falls in the forest "'but there's no one there to hear it, "does it make a sound?' "Likewise, if a man is driving a train "and it has a fatal accident "but the man can't remember what happened, "does it automatically make him the cause of that accident? - Because, at - [KNOCKING.]
Hey.
How's the closing argument coming? Well, I'm not convinced, and I'm the guy writing it.
Yeah.
Oh, hey.
I hear we're having a baptism.
Oh, yeah.
It suddenly occurred to me last night none of my teams - are playing three Sundays from now.
- Mm.
I'll take it.
God moves people in strange ways.
Thank you.
Oh, don't thank me.
Thank the NBA.
TAYLOR: I couldn't help myself.
I spent the night working from home.
You want the good news, the bad news or the good news? Is this a trick question? Okay, I'll start with the good news.
Don't ask me how, but I was able to locate the incident report Danny said you wanted me to find.
The one that was filed when Frank Uzarski complained to the company that he was given a green signal instead of a red and almost ran into a train.
That is good news.
So what's the bad news? Well, nowhere in it does it say anything about a signal malfunction.
The thing is, whether Frank was drunk, stoned or just lying, his statements should have been included in that report.
And they aren't.
You have a theory about why? Maybe the company deleted any mention of signal failures from their records in the wake of Walter's crash.
They heard about his brain injury, heard he couldn't remember anything.
It's kind of perfect.
If you can make it look like there's never been a signal problem, you can blame the whole thing on Walter.
Interesting theory.
How are you gonna prove it? Ask me about the good news.
Oh.
You have any good news? I see no additional names on the witness list today.
Does that mean the defense is prepared to rest and we can commence with closing arguments? Actually, Your Honor, the defense is not quite ready to rest yet.
In fact, we'd like to recall a witness.
If it pleases the court, the defense would like to call Ray Peterman back to the stand.
Mr.
Peterman, I've just got a couple of brief follow-up questions.
Now, uh, you told the court previously that there was no evidence of a mechanical failure on any of the railroad safety systems.
Do you still believe that to be true? I do.
Okay.
All right.
Oh, and let me remind the court that you are certified as an expert witness.
Now, with that in mind, let me ask a hypothetical.
Let's say my client, Walter Mora, is piloting a train late at night, and there is another train stopped on the track in front of him.
The weather is bad, it's really dark outside, so he really can't see that train.
But the rail signal The railroad stop light The one he depends on, is green.
And it was supposed to be red to tell him to stop, because there was another train in front of him, but it doesn't.
It's just a steady green.
Now, could something like that happen? This is my favorite part.
Coyote first sees the Road Runner and thinks, "Dinner.
" PETERMAN: Honestly, rail signal malfunctions are extremely rare.
Got it, got it.
Extremely rare.
Now as I understand it, the way it works is the rail signal apparatus senses when there's a train up ahead of it, so it knows to display the red light and stop the train behind it from proceeding.
Do I have it right? Yes.
The weight of the train serves to stop the circuit, which triggers the red light.
- And the chase begins.
- BENNY: Okay.
So if there was a signal malfunction, which you already testified is extremely rare, the light would just stay green - instead of turning red, right? - PETERMAN: Again, kind of like a snowstorm in the Mojave Desert, but yes, that is what would happen.
BENNY: So Mr.
Mora would be driving the train, he would see that green light and believe he was supposed to keep right on going, but the signal malfunction would actually be leading him to a head-on collision with another train, wouldn't it? Objection.
Relevance? Why are we spending this kind of time with a witness we've already heard from to offer an opinion on a hypothetical when we've tasked this jury with making a decision about a very real, very deadly accident? And now is when the Road Runner gets the Coyote to chase him really fast.
So fast the Coyote doesn't even realize the Road Runner's tricked him into running right off the edge of a cliff.
Beep-beep.
BENNY: I apologize, Your Honor.
He's right.
Forget what I said about this being a hypothetical.
Let's talk about the real signal, the one that was supposed to separate the train my client was piloting with the one he hit.
Let's talk about that signal.
And, of course, now the Coyote looks down, realizes there's nothing but air beneath him, and goes falling hundreds of feet into the canyon below.
That particular signal was tested by the NTSB and our own investigators.
To be clear, the signal that Mr.
Mora ignored - was working properly.
- Yeah, but these signals are machines, right? Uh, they're capable of failure, aren't they? I mean, isn't it possible that the signal could have failed intermittently? Isn't it possible that the signal could have malfunctioned this one time despite working properly every other time? I'm not sure I understand the question.
If you're asking if anything is possible, well, then yes, of course, anything is possible.
But if you're asking if that's what happened here, let me repeat myself.
According to the NTSB and our own investigators, that is not what happened here.
Okay.
Well, then can you explain this to me? Now, this here is a maintenance report for work ordered after the accident that we would like to enter into evidence as defense exhibit A.
Now, do you recognize this maintenance report, Mr.
Peterman? Sure.
It's a routine report.
We put them out whenever repairs or maintenance need to be done.
Okay.
And-and can you explain to the court what maintenance was ordered? [CLEARS THROAT.]
It says that the signal at marker 264 needed to be replaced.
BENNY: And isn't the signal - at marker 264 - [MOUTHING.]
The same signal that was supposed to separate the train Walter was driving from the train he collided with? [GALLERY MURMURING.]
Yes, I believe it was.
BENNY: Mr.
Pete man, if the signal wasn't faulty then why are you replacing it? Well we aren't just replacing that one signal.
We're replacing all the signals on that line.
It's part of a routine system upgrade.
But according to this report, those signals are only ten months old.
I mean, does your company routinely replace entire lines of signals after only ten months? Never mind.
Never mind.
I have another question.
Uh Mr.
Peterman, you see this heavy file folder here? There's a bunch of work orders in here.
Work orders to replace the same type of signal on a freight line in Missouri, on a passenger line just outside of D.
C.
, and a line in Canada.
These are all lines that are owned by your railroad company.
Coincidence? I'm sorry, Mr.
Peterman, I can't hear you.
I'm gonna need you to speak up.
I wouldn't want this jury to misunderstand.
No.
I wouldn't want them to think that you knew this wreck wasn't Walter Mora's fault.
That you and the railroad you work for covered up an earlier incident involving faulty signals.
Objection.
Counsel is testifying.
- And by ignoring that earlier incident, - Your Honor.
You and the railroad you work for are actually directly responsible for this disaster.
Or that you and the company you work for are more than willing to send an innocent man to prison if it means you'd bear no responsibility for your mistakes.
I wouldn't want the jury to jump to that conclusion, - Objection.
- So speak up.
Objection! - Objection! - Quiet.
I need order.
Quiet.
Mm.
Okay.
I see he doesn't want to discuss it.
Your Honor, a little help, please.
Objection overruled.
The witness will answer the question.
Questions.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to plead the Fifth.
[GALLERY MURMURING.]
[SIGHS.]
[GROANS.]
Oh.
[CHUCKLES.]
What a great concept, Bull.
What a great idea.
A-A victory dinner.
We should do that after every case we win.
Yeah.
But in order to be a dinner, you have to actually eat something.
Mm-hmm.
Damn, I knew we forgot something.
- Well, next time.
- [GRUNTS.]
Here's a little something for you.
- From me.
- What? - Yeah.
- Oh I have never received a gift after winning a case, Bull.
Thank you.
- No, that's not what it's for.
- Go ahead, open it.
Wha [CHUCKLES.]
I don't get it.
What is it? How are you gonna be a godfather without watching The Godfather? Uh, g godfather? You want me to be Astrid's godfather? Yes, I do.
And so does Izzy.
And maybe it's the liquor talking, but I'm pretty sure I heard Astrid say that she wanted you, too.
Wow.
I could not be more honored, Bull.
- Thank you.
- Eh.
Thank you.
This is [IMITATES MARLON BRANDO.]
: You made me an offer I can't refuse.
Please don't do that.
[IMITATES AL PACINO.]
: Just when I thought I was out, you pull me right back in.
No, no, no, you're not even doing the same charac Attica! Attica! - Pull over.
- I'm gonna take an Uber.
[IMITATES ROBERT DE NIRO.]
: Hey.
You talkin' to me? MAN: What? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here.
Right?