Law & Order (1990) s08e09 Episode Script
Burned
NARRATOR: In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups, the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
(LAUGHING) I've been lied to by experts.
Like I said, no wife, no roommates, no live-ins.
No problems, baby.
(LAUGHING) (MOANING) Oh.
Red lipstick? (SIGHING) My mother's.
(BOTH CHUCKLING) You want a drink, baby? Wine? Uh-huh.
A glass of red wine would be nice.
All right.
Are you sure you're not married? Last time I checked.
(FRIDGE DOOR OPENING) (FRIDGE DOOR CLOSING) (BOTTLES CLINKING) (BEEPING) WOMAN OVER SPEAKER: I did it.
You don't have to worry anymore.
I killed Dee-Dee.
(BEEPS) Here we go.
I just remembered, there's someplace I gotta be.
Oh, Come on, baby.
What's the matter? RATTINGER: No.
Stop it! Stop it! Come on.
What? (GASPS) Come on.
Hey, what did I do? Come on, now! (SIGHS) The message said, "I killed her.
" Are you sure you heard right? (CLEARING THROAT) I mean, you said yourself, you'd had a few drinks.
This guy had someone killed.
It said so on the machine.
And where can we find him? You know that big building on the corner of Riverside and 114th? Well, that's where he lives.
Okay.
What's his name? Stanley.
He said he was a fashion photographer, but I don't know where.
Okay, let me see if I got this straight.
Stanley somebody, who's a fashion photographer someplace, lives in some apartment, probably in a building at 114th and Riverside and has a message about the murder of somebody who might be named Dee-Dee.
That's right.
Yeah, thanks for coming in.
You think you could describe him to our sketch artist? Yes.
Good.
You wait here.
We'll bring someone.
Oh, this is gonna be a slam dunk, Rey.
CRISPIN: I got Stan Arnold, Stan Hudson, except he's in New Mexico till the end of October.
Stan Kaminski Why don't you take a look at the picture.
Our Stanley is a photographer.
About my height, dark hair, likes to pick up women in bars Kaminski.
Did you see him with anyone last night? When the Rangers play, I don't see anything except the television.
Where can we find him? He works in a lumber store, West 88th.
She had dark hair, skinny.
I don't remember her name.
Does the name "Ellen" ring a bell? Something happen to her? Just tell us what went on.
We go back to my place.
One minute she's warming up, next thing it's a no-hitter.
But I didn't touch her.
She saying I touched her? No.
You return all the calls you got on your answering machine last night? I haven't checked the messages.
CURTIS: Do you know a girl by the name of "Dee-Dee"? What's this got to do with my answering machine? She says someone left a message on your machine about Dee-Dee.
This chick listens to my answering machine, invading my privacy, and I'm the one getting the third degree? Who's Dee-Dee, Stan? (LAUGHS) I don't know any Dee-Dee.
Good, then you won't mind us listening to your messages, we'll clear this up, and we'll be on our way.
Come on, man, I'm working here.
What do you want from me? We'll square it with your boss.
And I'm leaving with two cops? Well, look at the bright side, Stan, you're not wearing handcuffs.
(ANSWERING MACHINE BEEPING) AUTOMATED VOICE: Number of messages received, two.
(BEEPING) Hi, this is Kristin, from the clam house last Friday.
I'm off the whole weekend.
Have bikini, will travel, if you still wanna go to your place in Jamaica.
The number's 555-0137.
Bye.
(BEEPING) AUTOMATED VOICE: Friday, 11:20 a.
m.
You're a busy man.
(BEEPING) Mr.
Kaminski, this is Mr.
Lee from OK Cable.
Could you give us a call regarding your outstanding balance? (BEEPING) AUTOMATED VOICE: Friday, 12:47 p.
m.
End of final message.
So, which one of these is supposed to be from Dee-Dee? (TAPE REWINDING) The tape rewinds after the last message plays? Yeah.
Then, we're gonna need to take the tape with us.
Let me just get a pen.
What? Have bikini, will travel, 555-0137.
(CLEARS THROAT) The loudness of the original message and the high-frequency left a print-through.
(TAPE REWINDING) (BEEPING) WOMAN: (DISTORTED) I did it.
You don't have to worry anymore.
I killed Dee-Dee.
(BEEPING) KRISTIN: The number is 555 AUTOMATED VOICE: Thursday, 7:37 p.
m.
Sounds young.
Probably female.
Early 20s.
Maybe he got one of his girlfriends to kill Dee-Dee.
This guy's good-looking, but not that good-looking.
Thanks.
Don't you have crimes with actual bodies to investigate? It could be, she just wants to rattle his chain.
Hey, if she just wanted to make trouble for him, she could've yelled "rape.
" (DOOR OPENING) Okay.
Stanley Kaminski, 1995, assault three, probation.
And last April, a Dina Perucci got an order of protection against him.
Dina Dee-Dee? Go see if Dina's still alive and kicking.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR) Miss Perucci? Who are you? I'm Detective Briscoe, this is Detective Curtis.
I'm Theresa Green.
Dina's not home.
Do you know when she'll be back? She hasn't been around since Monday.
Is that unusual for her? We're flight attendants.
Do you know her boyfriend, Stan Kaminski? Oh, that guy? What did he do now? Well, she had a protection order against him.
Dina breaks up with him, one week later, 2:00 in the morning, he comes banging on our door.
When's the last time you saw her? Monday morning.
I had a flight, and when I got back, she wasn't here.
How many times do I have to tell you, I don't know this Dee-Dee.
How about Dina Perucci.
You know who she is, don't you? What's she got to do with this? She had an order of protection against you.
Dina overreacted.
You like playing rough with women, Stan? (LAUGHS) I knocked on Dina's door.
What's the big deal? The big deal is the murder confession on your answering machine.
Where's Dina? I haven't seen her in months.
She jammed you up with that restraining order.
Maybe you wanted to jam her, too? (SIGHING) Maybe the message was a mistake, a wrong number.
When I first got this number, I used to get a lot of calls for some other guy.
This other guy got a name? Ray or Roy.
"Ray or Roy," that's all you got? Come on.
Let's go.
What about this other guy, Ray? When you remember anything more about him, like his last name, tell lock-up, they'll let us know.
Hey, we heard from Worldwide Dina Perucci's in Athens on a layover.
So, Dina's not Dee-Dee.
Or she is, and the phone call was just a prank.
Or she isn't, and the call was for this guy, Roy.
Listen, send Mr.
Kaminski home.
Uh-huh.
We don't have the budget for this.
Do you have a current address? All right.
Thanks.
Roy Lawlor, he had the number before Kaminski.
(SIGHS) WOMAN OVER SPEAKER: I did it.
You don't have to worry anymore.
I killed Dee-Dee.
Do you recognize the voice? No idea.
You don't know anybody named Dee-Dee, huh? No.
Diane? Dina? Doris? Maybe somebody you met along your route? The only people I meet are named Roberto and Jacques.
Oh, yeah, and Joe the barber.
And they're not killing each other over me.
Hey, two packs a day? Ever since I quit drinking.
You a friend of Bill W.
? Yeah, when I quit, I went half nuts.
I went into the program when my marriage broke up.
It's still a struggle.
One day at a time, huh? Sure.
One long day.
Roy's out in the field most of the time.
What does he cover? The Bronx, uptown Manhattan to Lincoln Center, East Side to 86th Street.
You guys are from the 15? No, 21.
You know anybody at the 15? I got parking problems.
Four tickets in the past month.
My guys pull up outside, double-park for two minutes to restock, by the time they get back to the car, there's a ticket.
Listen, is Lawlor close with any of the other salesmen? No, he doesn't spend much time with the other guys.
Most of them work out of town, the tri-state area.
Lawlor has to stay pretty much in the city.
CURTIS: How come? I couldn't get insurance on him.
Our carrier said he was a liability.
What's his problem? DUIs? HESS: Something under the influence.
Two years ago, he got drunk, passed out, and started a fire.
Killed somebody.
Who? His daughter, Diane.
Dee-Dee.
So, what should I do with the parking tickets? (SIGHING) Pay them, like we do.
Five-year-old kid asleep on a daybed in a corner of the room.
Fire company got there in the early stages, but the windows were shut.
Smoke inhalation.
Father recovered.
Kid didn't.
EMTs worked on her for 45 minutes, but she was already dead.
How did it start? With a cigarette in the living room, near the couch where we found Lawlor.
Says here it started three feet from the couch.
Now usually, if someone drops a cigarette, doesn't the fire start on or near them? That's a good point.
There were cigarette butts all over the floor.
I guess the investigator figured one of them hit some newspapers.
Who called it in? Neighbor's dog started going crazy.
She went into the hall, smelled the smoke.
And Lawlor says he started the fire? After he came to.
He was out when they found him.
Because of the smoke inhalation? That, and his blood alcohol was .
25.
He was loaded.
Where was the mother at the time? Upstate, Saratoga.
Awfully big memory lapse, Roy.
You try dealing with something like this.
Who made the phone call? I don't know.
Somebody's trying to spook me.
Now who'd do that? I don't know.
You want a list of the people I've pissed off, pull up a seat.
Why don't we start with your ex-wife.
ROY: (SIGHING) Come on.
Don't go re-hashing it with her.
She's been through enough.
She a drinker, too, Roy? You wanna tell us where to find her? I don't know where she is.
Oh, you don't keep in touch with her? Like I said, she's been through enough.
You used my Social Security number to look up where I work? And your boss sent us here.
(SCOFFS) Can't even drink in peace anymore.
(SIGHING) Mrs.
Lawlor Call me Sandra.
And you can call me Sandy.
Mrs.
Lawlor, we need to ask you some questions about your daughter's death.
What? We're just following up.
The report said you were up in Saratoga.
I was at a conference.
What about last Thursday, around Do you remember where you were? I was still asleep.
I didn't get up till 1:00.
It's my day off.
Sleeping off a late night? (LAUGHS) All my nights are late.
Did you try calling your ex-husband that day? No, why? Somebody left him a message at his old number.
Why would I call his old number? Last time I spoke to him was September 25th.
You remember the exact date? It would've been Dee-Dee's seventh birthday.
I pulled the IUDs off Sandra Lawlor's phone.
No calls to Kaminski, but she did make some late night calls to Roy's new number.
Hmm.
All calls were a minute long.
BRISCOE: Yeah, just long enough to get the answering machine and hang up.
Lawlor was screening his calls.
Yeah, and she also made about a dozen one-minute late night calls to another number.
Get this, this number is registered to an Elaine Anderton Lawlor.
Another Mrs.
Lawlor? This one's on Park Avenue.
Could be a sister, or an aunt.
Well, whoever it is, I pulled their IUDs, too.
The confession was made from their phone.
ELAINE: Roy? We got divorced eight years ago.
He moved to the West Side six, seven months ago.
I haven't talked to him since.
What about Sandra Lawlor? His second wife? That drunk calls at all hours, complaining about me, complaining about him.
Is Roy in some kind of trouble? We're looking into the death of his daughter, Diane.
Uh-huh.
And? Someone left a message on an answering machine confessing to the arson.
Well, what does that have to do with me? The call came from this apartment.
That's impossible.
Introduce me to your friends, Elaine.
Daddy, these are police detectives.
Oh, is there a problem? They're saying someone used our phone to confess to killing Roy's daughter.
Well, someone's pulling your leg.
Be that as it may, the phone records show the call In my business, I only trust records that I can prove haven't been tampered with.
Well, why would somebody want to tamper with your phone records? (CLICKING TONGUE) My daughter is no longer married to that drunk.
If you have questions about the fire, talk to him.
He set it.
He destroyed one life, he nearly destroyed my daughter's.
Now, this is my lawyer.
You can talk to him to your heart's content.
Now, if you'll please leave, I'd appreciate it.
Thank you.
Who works for the Andertons? Yeah, you got two housekeepers, Elsie Ruiz and Anne Ryan, the cook, Emma Hooper, the chauffeur, a secretary, people going in and out all the time.
Ages? Ruiz is around 60.
And Ryan? maybe 40, 45.
Anybody else? No, just Mr.
Anderton, his daughter and her kid.
Her kid? Yeah, Terry.
Him and his mother have lived with Mr.
Anderton since her divorce.
How old is Terry? Teenager, like 14, 15.
High-pitched voice? Yeah.
Where is he now? He's at school.
Their chauffeur brings him home around 4:00.
All right, thanks.
Sure.
The kid? The kid.
I doubt the Andertons are gonna volunteer him for a voice sample.
Maybe he'll volunteer one himself.
Hey, kid! We're looking for the Metropolitan Museum.
Yeah, take a left right there, go three blocks over, and go straight up Fifth.
Okay, right there, and then three blocks over? No, no, no.
First left.
Go to Fifth and go all the way up to the 80s.
You can't miss it.
Oh, thanks, nice talking to you.
The kid's voice barely registers 50 decibels.
Even with a filter, 60% match is what I can do.
Thanks.
of an arrest warrant.
Let's take a look at the arson evidence.
BRISCOE: Five cigarette butts, some newspapers, a couple of matchbooks.
CURTIS: The Connaught Hotel, London.
Yeah, my first wife wanted to stay there one night.
I figured out we could afford one hour.
That seem like Roy Lawlor's kind of place? Not the Roy Lawlor I saw, but it's right up Carl Anderton's alley.
Where was it found? On the floor, in the hallway.
Was it ever checked for prints? No.
Huh.
Geniuses.
The cardboard has an acetate finish.
It's not too damaged.
They should have been able to lift a print.
Maybe they still can.
Latent found a print on the matchbook.
It's not Roy's.
Whose? Well, the size of the print looks like it could belong to a kid.
What else do you got? A 60% voice match on the phone call.
Only 60%? Carl Anderton sits on the Mayor's re-election committee.
Hey, if he sat in a booth collecting tolls for the Lincoln Tunnel, we'd be arresting his grandson by now.
What's that supposed to mean? You've got BRISCOE: We've got a print, we've got a confession.
Motive? It's the kid's half-sister.
You don't have to be a genius to come up with something.
Then come up with something.
What about the father? He's had plenty of opportunities to implicate his son, but he hasn't.
The little girl's mother? If she had anything to say about Terry and the fire, she would've said it by now.
What about the people who live with the boy? I'm sure there's no shortage of household help at the Andertons'.
Yeah.
If they worked there two years ago, if we can find them, and if they'll talk to us.
I have confidence in you.
When I worked for Mr.
Anderton, he had me sign a confidentiality agreement.
Well, he can't stop you from talking to us.
A little girl died in a fire we think Terry might've set.
He makes all his employees sign one.
This girl was five years old.
Come on.
You gonna wait for a subpoena? Sooner or later, you're gonna have to talk to us.
After the fire, Terry stayed in his room, drawing pictures of that poor little girl.
CURTIS: Did he talk about her? Only to his father.
Terry would call him in the middle of the night.
I could hear him from the other room, talking on and on.
BRISCOE: About what? Well, Terry could only see his father on the weekends.
He blamed the little girl.
What else did he say about her? He said she was trying to turn his father against him.
A little girl.
It was crazy.
I thought maybe he was on drugs.
After the fire, Terry stopped calling him.
Did Terry use drugs? I don't think so.
Do you know where he was the night of the fire? I don't know.
Two weeks after the fire, I checked through a bag of clothes for The Salvation Army.
Why would you do that? Well, they throw things out.
Lots of stuff is still good.
So, you looked in the bag (SCHOOL BELL RINGING) I found a shirt.
CURTIS: And? You could still smell the smoke.
Was it one of Terry's shirts? WOMAN: Come on, sweetie.
CURTIS: Terry Lawlor.
What do you think you're doing? We have a warrant for your son, ma'am.
Terry Lawlor, you're under arrest for the murder of Diane Lawlor.
Mom It's okay.
It's a misunderstanding.
You have the right to remain silent.
You have the right to an attorney.
You can talk to my lawyer about this.
We'll be happy to talk to you and your lawyer down at the precinct.
Getting in? You bastards.
Well, I don't like it, my grandson having to wear some sort of electronic monitoring device while he's out on bail.
All due respect, if he weren't your grandson, he might not even be out on bail.
With all due respect, Mr.
McCoy, if he weren't my grandson, he wouldn't even have been charged with the crime.
Mr.
McCoy, Terry Lawlor's a good kid.
Whose prints were found at an arson that killed another good kid.
Well, that's not enough to prove that my grand We have enough for a trial.
Or could we talk about a plea? No, no.
We're here to talk about dropping the charges.
We'll talk about a plea with the boy's mother.
I'm his guardian.
I make all decisions concerning him.
You'll talk to me, Mr.
McCoy.
The arson squad closed this case two years ago.
A drunk named Roy Lawlor did it.
This case is not about Roy Lawlor.
Nor, for that matter, is it about you, Mr.
Anderton.
Oh, it certainly is about me.
No way you'll prove Terry set that fire.
We have his confession on tape.
Not for long.
It's a motion for an audibility hearing.
A 60% voice match is crap, and you know it.
WEAVER: Six reports from three different nationally recognized experts comparing the tape to my client's voice and to five random samples.
My wife's voice was a 50% match.
We're not offering a conclusive match, Your Honor, but a probable one in light of the other evidence.
Your Honor, the tape was altered in the lab.
The call to the answering machine came from his client's home.
That may be so, but whether or not my client made the call is the issue.
JUDGE SIMONS: Mr.
McCoy, the tape was enhanced, and produced a voice match disputed by experts.
By defense experts.
I also heard your experts.
I listened to the tapes and I can't tell that the two voices are from the same person.
Given the inflammatory nature of the tape's content, I'm going to suppress it.
Carl Anderton's grandson.
Carl's a good man.
We worked on the Lindsay campaign together.
We're not prosecuting him.
The boy obviously feels repentant for what he did.
He called his father, didn't he? You offered a plea? We got turned down.
What kind of plea? We didn't get that far.
He turned down the idea of a plea.
Adam, why are we pussyfooting around? The man has a $4 billion war chest.
Three years ago, the Atlantic-Star Cable merger, he took on the SEC and won.
He's rich, he's powerful.
Maybe we should let Robin Leach try the case.
Carl Anderton brought down a governor, put senators in office, and now he's fighting for his grandson.
I'm not kissing his ass, Adam.
I want you to treat him with respect.
He gets the same from me as everybody else.
I don't care who he is.
(DOOR OPENING) Bobby Kennedy sat right in that chair over there, smoking Monte Cruise, right after we signed the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Agreement.
Remember? Yeah.
You were sitting at I stood right over there.
Yeah.
That's right.
You want something, Adam? No, thank you.
You know why I'm here.
We've been through some rough times together, Carl.
This is gonna be another one.
It's just gonna end up a bloody mess.
Adam, if you wanted to, you could make it go away.
(SIGHING) Your grandson confessed.
No, that was no confession.
Terry was just trying to make his father feel better.
The boy has a good heart.
There's other evidence.
A plea bargain is the best way to go.
When is your term up? Is it next spring, what? What are you implying? Don't misunderstand me.
We go back a long way.
It was a different city.
But you know, the important things, loyalty and friendship, they haven't changed.
No, they haven't.
He's my only grandson, Adam, and you were at his mother's wedding.
I've got pictures of you holding the boy when he was a baby.
I'm sorry, Carl.
There's a plea offer on the table.
Take it, don't take it, it's up to you.
Adam, you deny me this personal request? I can't do this, my friend.
I won't.
(INHALES DEEPLY) A fingerprint on an old matchbook and a smelly shirt, not the strongest case I've ever taken to trial.
It might help if we could tell a jury what turned Terry into an arsonist.
He was angry at his father.
That's an emotion I can understand.
Something pushed him over the edge.
The nanny suspected drugs.
It'd be nice to be able to prove it.
I checked the school records, medical records, insurance, there's no sign he ever had a drug problem.
What about friends? I haven't found any.
And I can't get anybody at his school to say anything bad about him.
They're afraid of losing a future endowment.
What about other schools the boy attended? Selwyn Academy.
The prep he was at when the fire occurred.
They won't talk to me either.
That their yearbook? Mmm-hmm.
Looks pretty harmless in a jacket and tie.
You all do.
Yeah.
Oh, look, here.
They had a school counselor.
If the kid was doing drugs, maybe she'll know about it.
Drugs weren't his problem.
Maybe he would've been better off if they were.
What was his problem? His real problem? I never got the chance to find out.
But his behavior in school was something else.
A handful? Depending on when you caught him.
He could be a charmer one week, and then an absolute monster the next.
He'd get in these funks, and I could hardly get a word out of him.
Given his home life, wouldn't you expect him to be moody? It wasn't about that.
He decided to run for Student President of the middle school.
He had a very well-articulated platform, posters, the whole bit.
A week before the election, he withdrew.
I asked him why.
He went into a diatribe about the other candidate sabotaging his campaign, planting spies.
Was it true? He said he could hear them whispering through the walls.
Paranoia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder You expect me to make a diagnosis based on the observations of an amateur? Yeah.
You got a problem with that? Okay.
He can't relate to others, has low tolerance for frustration, he's unpredictable So far, that's my kid.
Now, the fear and suspicion, the whispering through the walls, sounds like he's in the early stages of bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder.
Alternating cycles of depression and mania.
Periods of feeling better than normal, brighter and more energetic and charming, hyper-sexuality and poor judgment.
Then, suddenly irritability, aggression, delusions of persecution, hearing voices.
That's what's going on with this kid? It's a third-hand diagnosis.
Take it for what it's worth.
But it might explain why the kid's a fire bug.
If he's crazy, why isn't his lawyer going for an insanity defense? Good question.
Bipolar disorder? I think you need your head examined, Mr.
McCoy.
We didn't just pull this out of thin air.
We talked to a former school counselor, to his friends People with impeccable credentials in the field of psychiatry.
The behavior they observed can't be explained any other way.
Mr.
Anderton, I don't have any interest in prosecuting your grandson if he has a mental disease.
There is nothing wrong with Terry.
Then, you won't mind if our psychiatrist examines him.
WEAVER: So you can gather evidence against him? I don't think so.
JACK: It would be off the record.
You have nothing to lose.
Mr.
Anderton, your grandson needs treatment, not prison.
The way your case is going, he doesn't have to worry about prison.
Sir, your grandson killed that little girl.
Either in prison or in a psychiatric hospital, he's going to answer for it.
At the end of this, Mr.
McCoy, my grandson is coming home with me.
We'll see what a judge has to say about that.
I'm moving for a 730 exam.
Your Honor, I've brought this motion in the interest of justice.
Aren't the defendant's best interests served by his counsel? Unless counsel refuses to acknowledge the obvious.
What obvious? Your Honor, the defendant hasn't been howling at the moon or ripping his hair out.
He's not crazy.
If there's nothing wrong with his client, then a 730 exam can't A pointless proceeding that can only be to my client's detriment.
The prosecutors can question him in violation of his rights.
Mr.
McCoy, if his client's mental condition is so obvious, then it should be apparent if I talk to him.
I'll question him in chambers and decide if your motion has merit.
I'd like our psychiatrist to observe.
Absolutely not.
I'll decide what goes on in my chambers, Mr.
Weaver.
Mr.
McCoy's psychiatrist can observe, but I'll be the one asking the questions.
BAILIFF: The court is back in session.
Judge Jane JUDGE SIMONS: So you understand everything that's happened in this case so far? Yes, ma'am.
And how do you feel about all this? Scared.
Understandable.
And how is it for you, at home? Well, I've been playing a lot of Nintendo.
I can't really rollerblade with this thing on.
Thank you for coming in.
You can wait for Mr.
Weaver outside.
(DOOR OPENING) (DOOR CLOSING) He seems like a normal teenager to me.
With all due respect, Your Honor, I would have asked different questions.
That's why you were allowed here only as an observer.
Your Honor, Dr.
Skoda's point is Mr.
McCoy, I don't care what his point is.
I'm satisfied that the defendant is of sound mind.
Your motion for a 730 exam is denied.
DR.
SKODA: I'm not a mind reader, Jack.
"Hi, how are you?" is not a diagnostic question.
You can't tell me anything? He likes rollerblading and Nintendo.
So do I.
I don't get it.
They should've jumped at a chance for the exam.
They think they're going to win.
The way things are going, they're probably right.
So now what? We go to trial.
If they won't use his mental state to get him acquitted, fine, we'll use it to convict him.
He set the fire because he's deluded.
If he has a mental disease, he doesn't belong in prison, Jack.
Maybe it won't come down to that.
And what if it does? That's what they pay us for.
After Dee-Dee was born, Terry became aggressive with her.
JACK: In what way? Squeezing her too hard, for one thing.
Did you discuss this with your husband? I told Roy I didn't want Terry around her.
I was afraid he might do something.
We cut his visits to just weekends, when I could be there.
Why didn't you tell the police any of this before? I didn't think it mattered.
Roy said the fire was his fault.
Thank you.
Nothing further.
Mrs.
Lawlor, were there any witnesses, other than yourself, who saw Terry hug Diane? (SCOFFS) No.
Do you drink? Objection.
Relevance.
Goes to credibility.
Overruled.
Answer the question.
I have a few drinks every day.
And isn't it true that on two occasions you and your husband got into a fight so severe neighbors had to call the police? Yes, but That this was an example of the kind of home you and Roy Lawlor kept, and it was Terry's mother and grandfather JACK: Objection.
who curtailed Terry's visits, not you, because they feared for his safety? He's testifying, Your Honor.
Sustained.
The jury will disregard Mr.
Weaver's last remark.
WEAVER: No further questions.
On certain occasions Terry told me he thought he was being persecuted.
For example, toward the end of the school year, Terry was convinced that the other students were conspiring against him.
Did he tell you how he knew this? Objection.
Hearsay.
The testimony isn't offered to prove the truth of the statement, but to demonstrate the defendant's state of mind at the time.
JUDGE SIMONS: Overruled.
The witness will answer.
GAREY: He said he could hear the other students Your Honor, may we approach the bench? This witness is a high school counselor.
She's not accredited by any graduate school of psychiatry or psychology She isn't being asked to offer a professional diagnosis, but only to describe observed behavior, which any lay person can do.
He's right, Mr.
Weaver.
Your Honor, in her capacity as school counselor, anything she was told by my client falls under patient privilege.
He can't have it both ways.
Either she's a qualified mental health practitioner or she isn't.
You really can't, Mr.
Weaver.
Now step back.
Ms.
Garey, please answer Mr.
McCoy's question.
GAREY: He told me he could hear the other students whispering about him through the walls.
What, if any, other behavior did you notice around this time? Your Honor, we request a recess.
For what purpose? To consult with the District Attorney.
Mr.
McCoy? We have no objection.
Very well.
Court is now in recess.
We will reconvene at 10:00 a.
m.
tomorrow.
(GAVEL POUNDS) We're prepared to plead to second degree manslaughter.
That fire was an accident.
There was no premeditation.
And Terry certainly didn't mean to hurt anyone.
You'd let him go to jail? We're talking minimum time in a juvenile facility.
Prison is prison.
Mr.
Anderton, do you really think that's where your grandson belongs? That's where you want to send him.
You heard the testimony.
Your grandson needs psychiatric help.
Absolutely not! I don't understand you, Mr.
Anderton.
We're offering him What? The chance to stay in a loony bin till some state employee decides he can leave? I know what this is really all about, Mr.
McCoy.
You're going after my grandson to embarrass me.
Yes! Personally, professionally, publicly.
I know your type.
You think that to bring down a man who's accomplished something in life, it builds you up.
You're not gonna get away with it.
I put a fair offer on the table.
You turn it down, I'll go public and I'll expose you for the vindictive, envious little man you really are.
FEMALE REPORTER: Mr.
Anderton? Can you give us a statement? MALE REPORTER: What were you talking to the D.
A.
about, Mr.
Anderton? Tell Mr.
Anderton we'll think about his offer.
(REPORTERS CLAMORING) I don't get it.
Is he waiting for a better offer? Is he setting us up for an appeal? What did Skoda say? Charming one minute, aggressive and paranoid the next.
Sound familiar? Carl Anderton.
Like grandfather, like grandson? Maybe that's the conclusion he's afraid of.
Get everything you can on him.
In 1951, he was taken out of Andover in the middle of the school year.
Got homesick.
He finished out the rest of the year at Austen Riggs, the Boy's Town of the rich and famous.
He spent the next two years at home with tutors.
Carl was always high-spirited.
This wasn't high spirits, Adam.
I've tracked his press clippings over the last 30 years.
There are unexplained absences, or he checked himself into a hospital, suffering from exhaustion.
Next.
Last April, he made a surprise take-over bid for Commonwealth Airlines.
One week later, he withdrew the bid and accused the FAA and the stockholders of conspiring against him.
It's classic manic-depressive behavior.
Doesn't make sense.
Runs a Fortune 500 company.
So did Howard Hughes.
He could be fully functional, if he's medicated.
I don't want you to humiliate him.
He's standing between his own grandson and an appropriate disposition.
I want him to get out of the way.
Maybe his daughter can talk some sense into him.
My father loves my son.
If Terry were sick, don't you think he'd get him help? Unless he's afraid it'd trace back to him.
Trace what? The mental illness.
I told you, my father's in perfect mental health.
He's a public figure.
People would've noticed.
Not if he's taking medication.
JACK: And maybe they have noticed, Mrs.
Lawlor.
Look at how the media describes him.
Colorful, eccentric, mercurial, unpredictable.
This is not a smear.
To a psychiatrist it's code for unstable.
See for yourself.
Check his medicine cabinet.
If he's taking Tegretol, Risperdal, valproic acid, lithium My father only takes medication to help him sleep, to calm him down.
His days are very stressful.
Or to control his unpredictable mood swings.
Look, did your father tell you that he offered to let Terry plead to Manslaughter in the Second Degree? Our offer is, he pleads not guilty by reason of mental disease, he goes to a psychiatric facility instead of to prison.
My father is Terry's guardian.
I don't have any authority.
I can't I don't know what to do.
What are you doing here? Adam, what is this, some kind of I invited her, on the off-chance that someone in your family would act in your grandson's best interests.
What's that supposed to mean? Mr.
Anderton, let's just find out what McCoy decided.
You thought about our offer? (DOOR CLOSING) Man two? Out of the question.
The choice is man one or not guilty by reason of mental disease.
Back to that? When are you going to get it through your thick skull.
My grandson doesn't belong in a hospital.
Daddy, he does need help.
You wait outside until we're through.
She's staying.
Outside.
ELAINE: No.
It doesn't matter what she thinks.
I'm his guardian.
JACK: That can change, Mr.
Anderton.
You've got to agree to this, Carl.
We're gonna petition to have her appointed Guardian ad Litem of your grandson.
What? On what basis? Mental competency.
Whose? Yours.
We know about your stay at Austen Riggs, the private tutors, hospitals It was exhaustion.
That's all.
Once we start proceedings, issue subpoenas, everyone'll know.
I'm sorry, Carl.
You trust these people over me? Huh? Oh, they finally got to you, didn't they, Adam? After all these years, you finally caved, huh? Ah, this thing, this accusation Don't you see they've used it before, the newspapers, the networks You've seen the hints, the way Commonwealth tried to smear me.
You know why? Because they were always afraid of me.
'Cause of my energy.
It's the way I got things done! You let them do this, it will never stop.
Once it starts Starts! It never stops.
And then It's okay.
And then It's okay, Daddy.
Adam, Adam, please, please, please, don't let them do this to me.
Please.
Please.
I remember thinking that my step-sister had some kind of a demon inside her.
JUDGE SIMONS: A demon? It had to do with why my dad was an alcoholic.
I had this idea that if I built a fire, I could scare the demon away.
I read in some book that Native Americans use fire to purify the innocent.
I just wanted my dad to stop drinking.
I wanted that more than anything.
Why didn't you tell anyone you set the fire? I did.
I told my grandfather when I got home.
He told me not to talk about it.
That he'd make sure that I wouldn't get in trouble.
JUDGE SIMONS: Mr.
McCoy? (CLEARING THROAT) The People are satisfied, Your Honor.
Very well.
Terence Lawlor, you're hereby remanded to a secure facility to be designated by the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Hygiene until such time as a panel of doctors has determined you're no longer a danger to yourself or to society.
We're adjourned.
(GAVEL POUNDS) Sorry about your friend.
Save your sympathy.
We haven't heard the last of him.
Living with that secret all these years, it must have taken enormous will power.
Yeah.
Carl always had that.
Whenever he did something bold, the Lindsay campaign, take-over bids, the op-ed pundits would call him crazy, and Carl would just smile.
(CHUCKLES)
These are their stories.
(LAUGHING) I've been lied to by experts.
Like I said, no wife, no roommates, no live-ins.
No problems, baby.
(LAUGHING) (MOANING) Oh.
Red lipstick? (SIGHING) My mother's.
(BOTH CHUCKLING) You want a drink, baby? Wine? Uh-huh.
A glass of red wine would be nice.
All right.
Are you sure you're not married? Last time I checked.
(FRIDGE DOOR OPENING) (FRIDGE DOOR CLOSING) (BOTTLES CLINKING) (BEEPING) WOMAN OVER SPEAKER: I did it.
You don't have to worry anymore.
I killed Dee-Dee.
(BEEPS) Here we go.
I just remembered, there's someplace I gotta be.
Oh, Come on, baby.
What's the matter? RATTINGER: No.
Stop it! Stop it! Come on.
What? (GASPS) Come on.
Hey, what did I do? Come on, now! (SIGHS) The message said, "I killed her.
" Are you sure you heard right? (CLEARING THROAT) I mean, you said yourself, you'd had a few drinks.
This guy had someone killed.
It said so on the machine.
And where can we find him? You know that big building on the corner of Riverside and 114th? Well, that's where he lives.
Okay.
What's his name? Stanley.
He said he was a fashion photographer, but I don't know where.
Okay, let me see if I got this straight.
Stanley somebody, who's a fashion photographer someplace, lives in some apartment, probably in a building at 114th and Riverside and has a message about the murder of somebody who might be named Dee-Dee.
That's right.
Yeah, thanks for coming in.
You think you could describe him to our sketch artist? Yes.
Good.
You wait here.
We'll bring someone.
Oh, this is gonna be a slam dunk, Rey.
CRISPIN: I got Stan Arnold, Stan Hudson, except he's in New Mexico till the end of October.
Stan Kaminski Why don't you take a look at the picture.
Our Stanley is a photographer.
About my height, dark hair, likes to pick up women in bars Kaminski.
Did you see him with anyone last night? When the Rangers play, I don't see anything except the television.
Where can we find him? He works in a lumber store, West 88th.
She had dark hair, skinny.
I don't remember her name.
Does the name "Ellen" ring a bell? Something happen to her? Just tell us what went on.
We go back to my place.
One minute she's warming up, next thing it's a no-hitter.
But I didn't touch her.
She saying I touched her? No.
You return all the calls you got on your answering machine last night? I haven't checked the messages.
CURTIS: Do you know a girl by the name of "Dee-Dee"? What's this got to do with my answering machine? She says someone left a message on your machine about Dee-Dee.
This chick listens to my answering machine, invading my privacy, and I'm the one getting the third degree? Who's Dee-Dee, Stan? (LAUGHS) I don't know any Dee-Dee.
Good, then you won't mind us listening to your messages, we'll clear this up, and we'll be on our way.
Come on, man, I'm working here.
What do you want from me? We'll square it with your boss.
And I'm leaving with two cops? Well, look at the bright side, Stan, you're not wearing handcuffs.
(ANSWERING MACHINE BEEPING) AUTOMATED VOICE: Number of messages received, two.
(BEEPING) Hi, this is Kristin, from the clam house last Friday.
I'm off the whole weekend.
Have bikini, will travel, if you still wanna go to your place in Jamaica.
The number's 555-0137.
Bye.
(BEEPING) AUTOMATED VOICE: Friday, 11:20 a.
m.
You're a busy man.
(BEEPING) Mr.
Kaminski, this is Mr.
Lee from OK Cable.
Could you give us a call regarding your outstanding balance? (BEEPING) AUTOMATED VOICE: Friday, 12:47 p.
m.
End of final message.
So, which one of these is supposed to be from Dee-Dee? (TAPE REWINDING) The tape rewinds after the last message plays? Yeah.
Then, we're gonna need to take the tape with us.
Let me just get a pen.
What? Have bikini, will travel, 555-0137.
(CLEARS THROAT) The loudness of the original message and the high-frequency left a print-through.
(TAPE REWINDING) (BEEPING) WOMAN: (DISTORTED) I did it.
You don't have to worry anymore.
I killed Dee-Dee.
(BEEPING) KRISTIN: The number is 555 AUTOMATED VOICE: Thursday, 7:37 p.
m.
Sounds young.
Probably female.
Early 20s.
Maybe he got one of his girlfriends to kill Dee-Dee.
This guy's good-looking, but not that good-looking.
Thanks.
Don't you have crimes with actual bodies to investigate? It could be, she just wants to rattle his chain.
Hey, if she just wanted to make trouble for him, she could've yelled "rape.
" (DOOR OPENING) Okay.
Stanley Kaminski, 1995, assault three, probation.
And last April, a Dina Perucci got an order of protection against him.
Dina Dee-Dee? Go see if Dina's still alive and kicking.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR) Miss Perucci? Who are you? I'm Detective Briscoe, this is Detective Curtis.
I'm Theresa Green.
Dina's not home.
Do you know when she'll be back? She hasn't been around since Monday.
Is that unusual for her? We're flight attendants.
Do you know her boyfriend, Stan Kaminski? Oh, that guy? What did he do now? Well, she had a protection order against him.
Dina breaks up with him, one week later, 2:00 in the morning, he comes banging on our door.
When's the last time you saw her? Monday morning.
I had a flight, and when I got back, she wasn't here.
How many times do I have to tell you, I don't know this Dee-Dee.
How about Dina Perucci.
You know who she is, don't you? What's she got to do with this? She had an order of protection against you.
Dina overreacted.
You like playing rough with women, Stan? (LAUGHS) I knocked on Dina's door.
What's the big deal? The big deal is the murder confession on your answering machine.
Where's Dina? I haven't seen her in months.
She jammed you up with that restraining order.
Maybe you wanted to jam her, too? (SIGHING) Maybe the message was a mistake, a wrong number.
When I first got this number, I used to get a lot of calls for some other guy.
This other guy got a name? Ray or Roy.
"Ray or Roy," that's all you got? Come on.
Let's go.
What about this other guy, Ray? When you remember anything more about him, like his last name, tell lock-up, they'll let us know.
Hey, we heard from Worldwide Dina Perucci's in Athens on a layover.
So, Dina's not Dee-Dee.
Or she is, and the phone call was just a prank.
Or she isn't, and the call was for this guy, Roy.
Listen, send Mr.
Kaminski home.
Uh-huh.
We don't have the budget for this.
Do you have a current address? All right.
Thanks.
Roy Lawlor, he had the number before Kaminski.
(SIGHS) WOMAN OVER SPEAKER: I did it.
You don't have to worry anymore.
I killed Dee-Dee.
Do you recognize the voice? No idea.
You don't know anybody named Dee-Dee, huh? No.
Diane? Dina? Doris? Maybe somebody you met along your route? The only people I meet are named Roberto and Jacques.
Oh, yeah, and Joe the barber.
And they're not killing each other over me.
Hey, two packs a day? Ever since I quit drinking.
You a friend of Bill W.
? Yeah, when I quit, I went half nuts.
I went into the program when my marriage broke up.
It's still a struggle.
One day at a time, huh? Sure.
One long day.
Roy's out in the field most of the time.
What does he cover? The Bronx, uptown Manhattan to Lincoln Center, East Side to 86th Street.
You guys are from the 15? No, 21.
You know anybody at the 15? I got parking problems.
Four tickets in the past month.
My guys pull up outside, double-park for two minutes to restock, by the time they get back to the car, there's a ticket.
Listen, is Lawlor close with any of the other salesmen? No, he doesn't spend much time with the other guys.
Most of them work out of town, the tri-state area.
Lawlor has to stay pretty much in the city.
CURTIS: How come? I couldn't get insurance on him.
Our carrier said he was a liability.
What's his problem? DUIs? HESS: Something under the influence.
Two years ago, he got drunk, passed out, and started a fire.
Killed somebody.
Who? His daughter, Diane.
Dee-Dee.
So, what should I do with the parking tickets? (SIGHING) Pay them, like we do.
Five-year-old kid asleep on a daybed in a corner of the room.
Fire company got there in the early stages, but the windows were shut.
Smoke inhalation.
Father recovered.
Kid didn't.
EMTs worked on her for 45 minutes, but she was already dead.
How did it start? With a cigarette in the living room, near the couch where we found Lawlor.
Says here it started three feet from the couch.
Now usually, if someone drops a cigarette, doesn't the fire start on or near them? That's a good point.
There were cigarette butts all over the floor.
I guess the investigator figured one of them hit some newspapers.
Who called it in? Neighbor's dog started going crazy.
She went into the hall, smelled the smoke.
And Lawlor says he started the fire? After he came to.
He was out when they found him.
Because of the smoke inhalation? That, and his blood alcohol was .
25.
He was loaded.
Where was the mother at the time? Upstate, Saratoga.
Awfully big memory lapse, Roy.
You try dealing with something like this.
Who made the phone call? I don't know.
Somebody's trying to spook me.
Now who'd do that? I don't know.
You want a list of the people I've pissed off, pull up a seat.
Why don't we start with your ex-wife.
ROY: (SIGHING) Come on.
Don't go re-hashing it with her.
She's been through enough.
She a drinker, too, Roy? You wanna tell us where to find her? I don't know where she is.
Oh, you don't keep in touch with her? Like I said, she's been through enough.
You used my Social Security number to look up where I work? And your boss sent us here.
(SCOFFS) Can't even drink in peace anymore.
(SIGHING) Mrs.
Lawlor Call me Sandra.
And you can call me Sandy.
Mrs.
Lawlor, we need to ask you some questions about your daughter's death.
What? We're just following up.
The report said you were up in Saratoga.
I was at a conference.
What about last Thursday, around Do you remember where you were? I was still asleep.
I didn't get up till 1:00.
It's my day off.
Sleeping off a late night? (LAUGHS) All my nights are late.
Did you try calling your ex-husband that day? No, why? Somebody left him a message at his old number.
Why would I call his old number? Last time I spoke to him was September 25th.
You remember the exact date? It would've been Dee-Dee's seventh birthday.
I pulled the IUDs off Sandra Lawlor's phone.
No calls to Kaminski, but she did make some late night calls to Roy's new number.
Hmm.
All calls were a minute long.
BRISCOE: Yeah, just long enough to get the answering machine and hang up.
Lawlor was screening his calls.
Yeah, and she also made about a dozen one-minute late night calls to another number.
Get this, this number is registered to an Elaine Anderton Lawlor.
Another Mrs.
Lawlor? This one's on Park Avenue.
Could be a sister, or an aunt.
Well, whoever it is, I pulled their IUDs, too.
The confession was made from their phone.
ELAINE: Roy? We got divorced eight years ago.
He moved to the West Side six, seven months ago.
I haven't talked to him since.
What about Sandra Lawlor? His second wife? That drunk calls at all hours, complaining about me, complaining about him.
Is Roy in some kind of trouble? We're looking into the death of his daughter, Diane.
Uh-huh.
And? Someone left a message on an answering machine confessing to the arson.
Well, what does that have to do with me? The call came from this apartment.
That's impossible.
Introduce me to your friends, Elaine.
Daddy, these are police detectives.
Oh, is there a problem? They're saying someone used our phone to confess to killing Roy's daughter.
Well, someone's pulling your leg.
Be that as it may, the phone records show the call In my business, I only trust records that I can prove haven't been tampered with.
Well, why would somebody want to tamper with your phone records? (CLICKING TONGUE) My daughter is no longer married to that drunk.
If you have questions about the fire, talk to him.
He set it.
He destroyed one life, he nearly destroyed my daughter's.
Now, this is my lawyer.
You can talk to him to your heart's content.
Now, if you'll please leave, I'd appreciate it.
Thank you.
Who works for the Andertons? Yeah, you got two housekeepers, Elsie Ruiz and Anne Ryan, the cook, Emma Hooper, the chauffeur, a secretary, people going in and out all the time.
Ages? Ruiz is around 60.
And Ryan? maybe 40, 45.
Anybody else? No, just Mr.
Anderton, his daughter and her kid.
Her kid? Yeah, Terry.
Him and his mother have lived with Mr.
Anderton since her divorce.
How old is Terry? Teenager, like 14, 15.
High-pitched voice? Yeah.
Where is he now? He's at school.
Their chauffeur brings him home around 4:00.
All right, thanks.
Sure.
The kid? The kid.
I doubt the Andertons are gonna volunteer him for a voice sample.
Maybe he'll volunteer one himself.
Hey, kid! We're looking for the Metropolitan Museum.
Yeah, take a left right there, go three blocks over, and go straight up Fifth.
Okay, right there, and then three blocks over? No, no, no.
First left.
Go to Fifth and go all the way up to the 80s.
You can't miss it.
Oh, thanks, nice talking to you.
The kid's voice barely registers 50 decibels.
Even with a filter, 60% match is what I can do.
Thanks.
of an arrest warrant.
Let's take a look at the arson evidence.
BRISCOE: Five cigarette butts, some newspapers, a couple of matchbooks.
CURTIS: The Connaught Hotel, London.
Yeah, my first wife wanted to stay there one night.
I figured out we could afford one hour.
That seem like Roy Lawlor's kind of place? Not the Roy Lawlor I saw, but it's right up Carl Anderton's alley.
Where was it found? On the floor, in the hallway.
Was it ever checked for prints? No.
Huh.
Geniuses.
The cardboard has an acetate finish.
It's not too damaged.
They should have been able to lift a print.
Maybe they still can.
Latent found a print on the matchbook.
It's not Roy's.
Whose? Well, the size of the print looks like it could belong to a kid.
What else do you got? A 60% voice match on the phone call.
Only 60%? Carl Anderton sits on the Mayor's re-election committee.
Hey, if he sat in a booth collecting tolls for the Lincoln Tunnel, we'd be arresting his grandson by now.
What's that supposed to mean? You've got BRISCOE: We've got a print, we've got a confession.
Motive? It's the kid's half-sister.
You don't have to be a genius to come up with something.
Then come up with something.
What about the father? He's had plenty of opportunities to implicate his son, but he hasn't.
The little girl's mother? If she had anything to say about Terry and the fire, she would've said it by now.
What about the people who live with the boy? I'm sure there's no shortage of household help at the Andertons'.
Yeah.
If they worked there two years ago, if we can find them, and if they'll talk to us.
I have confidence in you.
When I worked for Mr.
Anderton, he had me sign a confidentiality agreement.
Well, he can't stop you from talking to us.
A little girl died in a fire we think Terry might've set.
He makes all his employees sign one.
This girl was five years old.
Come on.
You gonna wait for a subpoena? Sooner or later, you're gonna have to talk to us.
After the fire, Terry stayed in his room, drawing pictures of that poor little girl.
CURTIS: Did he talk about her? Only to his father.
Terry would call him in the middle of the night.
I could hear him from the other room, talking on and on.
BRISCOE: About what? Well, Terry could only see his father on the weekends.
He blamed the little girl.
What else did he say about her? He said she was trying to turn his father against him.
A little girl.
It was crazy.
I thought maybe he was on drugs.
After the fire, Terry stopped calling him.
Did Terry use drugs? I don't think so.
Do you know where he was the night of the fire? I don't know.
Two weeks after the fire, I checked through a bag of clothes for The Salvation Army.
Why would you do that? Well, they throw things out.
Lots of stuff is still good.
So, you looked in the bag (SCHOOL BELL RINGING) I found a shirt.
CURTIS: And? You could still smell the smoke.
Was it one of Terry's shirts? WOMAN: Come on, sweetie.
CURTIS: Terry Lawlor.
What do you think you're doing? We have a warrant for your son, ma'am.
Terry Lawlor, you're under arrest for the murder of Diane Lawlor.
Mom It's okay.
It's a misunderstanding.
You have the right to remain silent.
You have the right to an attorney.
You can talk to my lawyer about this.
We'll be happy to talk to you and your lawyer down at the precinct.
Getting in? You bastards.
Well, I don't like it, my grandson having to wear some sort of electronic monitoring device while he's out on bail.
All due respect, if he weren't your grandson, he might not even be out on bail.
With all due respect, Mr.
McCoy, if he weren't my grandson, he wouldn't even have been charged with the crime.
Mr.
McCoy, Terry Lawlor's a good kid.
Whose prints were found at an arson that killed another good kid.
Well, that's not enough to prove that my grand We have enough for a trial.
Or could we talk about a plea? No, no.
We're here to talk about dropping the charges.
We'll talk about a plea with the boy's mother.
I'm his guardian.
I make all decisions concerning him.
You'll talk to me, Mr.
McCoy.
The arson squad closed this case two years ago.
A drunk named Roy Lawlor did it.
This case is not about Roy Lawlor.
Nor, for that matter, is it about you, Mr.
Anderton.
Oh, it certainly is about me.
No way you'll prove Terry set that fire.
We have his confession on tape.
Not for long.
It's a motion for an audibility hearing.
A 60% voice match is crap, and you know it.
WEAVER: Six reports from three different nationally recognized experts comparing the tape to my client's voice and to five random samples.
My wife's voice was a 50% match.
We're not offering a conclusive match, Your Honor, but a probable one in light of the other evidence.
Your Honor, the tape was altered in the lab.
The call to the answering machine came from his client's home.
That may be so, but whether or not my client made the call is the issue.
JUDGE SIMONS: Mr.
McCoy, the tape was enhanced, and produced a voice match disputed by experts.
By defense experts.
I also heard your experts.
I listened to the tapes and I can't tell that the two voices are from the same person.
Given the inflammatory nature of the tape's content, I'm going to suppress it.
Carl Anderton's grandson.
Carl's a good man.
We worked on the Lindsay campaign together.
We're not prosecuting him.
The boy obviously feels repentant for what he did.
He called his father, didn't he? You offered a plea? We got turned down.
What kind of plea? We didn't get that far.
He turned down the idea of a plea.
Adam, why are we pussyfooting around? The man has a $4 billion war chest.
Three years ago, the Atlantic-Star Cable merger, he took on the SEC and won.
He's rich, he's powerful.
Maybe we should let Robin Leach try the case.
Carl Anderton brought down a governor, put senators in office, and now he's fighting for his grandson.
I'm not kissing his ass, Adam.
I want you to treat him with respect.
He gets the same from me as everybody else.
I don't care who he is.
(DOOR OPENING) Bobby Kennedy sat right in that chair over there, smoking Monte Cruise, right after we signed the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Agreement.
Remember? Yeah.
You were sitting at I stood right over there.
Yeah.
That's right.
You want something, Adam? No, thank you.
You know why I'm here.
We've been through some rough times together, Carl.
This is gonna be another one.
It's just gonna end up a bloody mess.
Adam, if you wanted to, you could make it go away.
(SIGHING) Your grandson confessed.
No, that was no confession.
Terry was just trying to make his father feel better.
The boy has a good heart.
There's other evidence.
A plea bargain is the best way to go.
When is your term up? Is it next spring, what? What are you implying? Don't misunderstand me.
We go back a long way.
It was a different city.
But you know, the important things, loyalty and friendship, they haven't changed.
No, they haven't.
He's my only grandson, Adam, and you were at his mother's wedding.
I've got pictures of you holding the boy when he was a baby.
I'm sorry, Carl.
There's a plea offer on the table.
Take it, don't take it, it's up to you.
Adam, you deny me this personal request? I can't do this, my friend.
I won't.
(INHALES DEEPLY) A fingerprint on an old matchbook and a smelly shirt, not the strongest case I've ever taken to trial.
It might help if we could tell a jury what turned Terry into an arsonist.
He was angry at his father.
That's an emotion I can understand.
Something pushed him over the edge.
The nanny suspected drugs.
It'd be nice to be able to prove it.
I checked the school records, medical records, insurance, there's no sign he ever had a drug problem.
What about friends? I haven't found any.
And I can't get anybody at his school to say anything bad about him.
They're afraid of losing a future endowment.
What about other schools the boy attended? Selwyn Academy.
The prep he was at when the fire occurred.
They won't talk to me either.
That their yearbook? Mmm-hmm.
Looks pretty harmless in a jacket and tie.
You all do.
Yeah.
Oh, look, here.
They had a school counselor.
If the kid was doing drugs, maybe she'll know about it.
Drugs weren't his problem.
Maybe he would've been better off if they were.
What was his problem? His real problem? I never got the chance to find out.
But his behavior in school was something else.
A handful? Depending on when you caught him.
He could be a charmer one week, and then an absolute monster the next.
He'd get in these funks, and I could hardly get a word out of him.
Given his home life, wouldn't you expect him to be moody? It wasn't about that.
He decided to run for Student President of the middle school.
He had a very well-articulated platform, posters, the whole bit.
A week before the election, he withdrew.
I asked him why.
He went into a diatribe about the other candidate sabotaging his campaign, planting spies.
Was it true? He said he could hear them whispering through the walls.
Paranoia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder You expect me to make a diagnosis based on the observations of an amateur? Yeah.
You got a problem with that? Okay.
He can't relate to others, has low tolerance for frustration, he's unpredictable So far, that's my kid.
Now, the fear and suspicion, the whispering through the walls, sounds like he's in the early stages of bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder.
Alternating cycles of depression and mania.
Periods of feeling better than normal, brighter and more energetic and charming, hyper-sexuality and poor judgment.
Then, suddenly irritability, aggression, delusions of persecution, hearing voices.
That's what's going on with this kid? It's a third-hand diagnosis.
Take it for what it's worth.
But it might explain why the kid's a fire bug.
If he's crazy, why isn't his lawyer going for an insanity defense? Good question.
Bipolar disorder? I think you need your head examined, Mr.
McCoy.
We didn't just pull this out of thin air.
We talked to a former school counselor, to his friends People with impeccable credentials in the field of psychiatry.
The behavior they observed can't be explained any other way.
Mr.
Anderton, I don't have any interest in prosecuting your grandson if he has a mental disease.
There is nothing wrong with Terry.
Then, you won't mind if our psychiatrist examines him.
WEAVER: So you can gather evidence against him? I don't think so.
JACK: It would be off the record.
You have nothing to lose.
Mr.
Anderton, your grandson needs treatment, not prison.
The way your case is going, he doesn't have to worry about prison.
Sir, your grandson killed that little girl.
Either in prison or in a psychiatric hospital, he's going to answer for it.
At the end of this, Mr.
McCoy, my grandson is coming home with me.
We'll see what a judge has to say about that.
I'm moving for a 730 exam.
Your Honor, I've brought this motion in the interest of justice.
Aren't the defendant's best interests served by his counsel? Unless counsel refuses to acknowledge the obvious.
What obvious? Your Honor, the defendant hasn't been howling at the moon or ripping his hair out.
He's not crazy.
If there's nothing wrong with his client, then a 730 exam can't A pointless proceeding that can only be to my client's detriment.
The prosecutors can question him in violation of his rights.
Mr.
McCoy, if his client's mental condition is so obvious, then it should be apparent if I talk to him.
I'll question him in chambers and decide if your motion has merit.
I'd like our psychiatrist to observe.
Absolutely not.
I'll decide what goes on in my chambers, Mr.
Weaver.
Mr.
McCoy's psychiatrist can observe, but I'll be the one asking the questions.
BAILIFF: The court is back in session.
Judge Jane JUDGE SIMONS: So you understand everything that's happened in this case so far? Yes, ma'am.
And how do you feel about all this? Scared.
Understandable.
And how is it for you, at home? Well, I've been playing a lot of Nintendo.
I can't really rollerblade with this thing on.
Thank you for coming in.
You can wait for Mr.
Weaver outside.
(DOOR OPENING) (DOOR CLOSING) He seems like a normal teenager to me.
With all due respect, Your Honor, I would have asked different questions.
That's why you were allowed here only as an observer.
Your Honor, Dr.
Skoda's point is Mr.
McCoy, I don't care what his point is.
I'm satisfied that the defendant is of sound mind.
Your motion for a 730 exam is denied.
DR.
SKODA: I'm not a mind reader, Jack.
"Hi, how are you?" is not a diagnostic question.
You can't tell me anything? He likes rollerblading and Nintendo.
So do I.
I don't get it.
They should've jumped at a chance for the exam.
They think they're going to win.
The way things are going, they're probably right.
So now what? We go to trial.
If they won't use his mental state to get him acquitted, fine, we'll use it to convict him.
He set the fire because he's deluded.
If he has a mental disease, he doesn't belong in prison, Jack.
Maybe it won't come down to that.
And what if it does? That's what they pay us for.
After Dee-Dee was born, Terry became aggressive with her.
JACK: In what way? Squeezing her too hard, for one thing.
Did you discuss this with your husband? I told Roy I didn't want Terry around her.
I was afraid he might do something.
We cut his visits to just weekends, when I could be there.
Why didn't you tell the police any of this before? I didn't think it mattered.
Roy said the fire was his fault.
Thank you.
Nothing further.
Mrs.
Lawlor, were there any witnesses, other than yourself, who saw Terry hug Diane? (SCOFFS) No.
Do you drink? Objection.
Relevance.
Goes to credibility.
Overruled.
Answer the question.
I have a few drinks every day.
And isn't it true that on two occasions you and your husband got into a fight so severe neighbors had to call the police? Yes, but That this was an example of the kind of home you and Roy Lawlor kept, and it was Terry's mother and grandfather JACK: Objection.
who curtailed Terry's visits, not you, because they feared for his safety? He's testifying, Your Honor.
Sustained.
The jury will disregard Mr.
Weaver's last remark.
WEAVER: No further questions.
On certain occasions Terry told me he thought he was being persecuted.
For example, toward the end of the school year, Terry was convinced that the other students were conspiring against him.
Did he tell you how he knew this? Objection.
Hearsay.
The testimony isn't offered to prove the truth of the statement, but to demonstrate the defendant's state of mind at the time.
JUDGE SIMONS: Overruled.
The witness will answer.
GAREY: He said he could hear the other students Your Honor, may we approach the bench? This witness is a high school counselor.
She's not accredited by any graduate school of psychiatry or psychology She isn't being asked to offer a professional diagnosis, but only to describe observed behavior, which any lay person can do.
He's right, Mr.
Weaver.
Your Honor, in her capacity as school counselor, anything she was told by my client falls under patient privilege.
He can't have it both ways.
Either she's a qualified mental health practitioner or she isn't.
You really can't, Mr.
Weaver.
Now step back.
Ms.
Garey, please answer Mr.
McCoy's question.
GAREY: He told me he could hear the other students whispering about him through the walls.
What, if any, other behavior did you notice around this time? Your Honor, we request a recess.
For what purpose? To consult with the District Attorney.
Mr.
McCoy? We have no objection.
Very well.
Court is now in recess.
We will reconvene at 10:00 a.
m.
tomorrow.
(GAVEL POUNDS) We're prepared to plead to second degree manslaughter.
That fire was an accident.
There was no premeditation.
And Terry certainly didn't mean to hurt anyone.
You'd let him go to jail? We're talking minimum time in a juvenile facility.
Prison is prison.
Mr.
Anderton, do you really think that's where your grandson belongs? That's where you want to send him.
You heard the testimony.
Your grandson needs psychiatric help.
Absolutely not! I don't understand you, Mr.
Anderton.
We're offering him What? The chance to stay in a loony bin till some state employee decides he can leave? I know what this is really all about, Mr.
McCoy.
You're going after my grandson to embarrass me.
Yes! Personally, professionally, publicly.
I know your type.
You think that to bring down a man who's accomplished something in life, it builds you up.
You're not gonna get away with it.
I put a fair offer on the table.
You turn it down, I'll go public and I'll expose you for the vindictive, envious little man you really are.
FEMALE REPORTER: Mr.
Anderton? Can you give us a statement? MALE REPORTER: What were you talking to the D.
A.
about, Mr.
Anderton? Tell Mr.
Anderton we'll think about his offer.
(REPORTERS CLAMORING) I don't get it.
Is he waiting for a better offer? Is he setting us up for an appeal? What did Skoda say? Charming one minute, aggressive and paranoid the next.
Sound familiar? Carl Anderton.
Like grandfather, like grandson? Maybe that's the conclusion he's afraid of.
Get everything you can on him.
In 1951, he was taken out of Andover in the middle of the school year.
Got homesick.
He finished out the rest of the year at Austen Riggs, the Boy's Town of the rich and famous.
He spent the next two years at home with tutors.
Carl was always high-spirited.
This wasn't high spirits, Adam.
I've tracked his press clippings over the last 30 years.
There are unexplained absences, or he checked himself into a hospital, suffering from exhaustion.
Next.
Last April, he made a surprise take-over bid for Commonwealth Airlines.
One week later, he withdrew the bid and accused the FAA and the stockholders of conspiring against him.
It's classic manic-depressive behavior.
Doesn't make sense.
Runs a Fortune 500 company.
So did Howard Hughes.
He could be fully functional, if he's medicated.
I don't want you to humiliate him.
He's standing between his own grandson and an appropriate disposition.
I want him to get out of the way.
Maybe his daughter can talk some sense into him.
My father loves my son.
If Terry were sick, don't you think he'd get him help? Unless he's afraid it'd trace back to him.
Trace what? The mental illness.
I told you, my father's in perfect mental health.
He's a public figure.
People would've noticed.
Not if he's taking medication.
JACK: And maybe they have noticed, Mrs.
Lawlor.
Look at how the media describes him.
Colorful, eccentric, mercurial, unpredictable.
This is not a smear.
To a psychiatrist it's code for unstable.
See for yourself.
Check his medicine cabinet.
If he's taking Tegretol, Risperdal, valproic acid, lithium My father only takes medication to help him sleep, to calm him down.
His days are very stressful.
Or to control his unpredictable mood swings.
Look, did your father tell you that he offered to let Terry plead to Manslaughter in the Second Degree? Our offer is, he pleads not guilty by reason of mental disease, he goes to a psychiatric facility instead of to prison.
My father is Terry's guardian.
I don't have any authority.
I can't I don't know what to do.
What are you doing here? Adam, what is this, some kind of I invited her, on the off-chance that someone in your family would act in your grandson's best interests.
What's that supposed to mean? Mr.
Anderton, let's just find out what McCoy decided.
You thought about our offer? (DOOR CLOSING) Man two? Out of the question.
The choice is man one or not guilty by reason of mental disease.
Back to that? When are you going to get it through your thick skull.
My grandson doesn't belong in a hospital.
Daddy, he does need help.
You wait outside until we're through.
She's staying.
Outside.
ELAINE: No.
It doesn't matter what she thinks.
I'm his guardian.
JACK: That can change, Mr.
Anderton.
You've got to agree to this, Carl.
We're gonna petition to have her appointed Guardian ad Litem of your grandson.
What? On what basis? Mental competency.
Whose? Yours.
We know about your stay at Austen Riggs, the private tutors, hospitals It was exhaustion.
That's all.
Once we start proceedings, issue subpoenas, everyone'll know.
I'm sorry, Carl.
You trust these people over me? Huh? Oh, they finally got to you, didn't they, Adam? After all these years, you finally caved, huh? Ah, this thing, this accusation Don't you see they've used it before, the newspapers, the networks You've seen the hints, the way Commonwealth tried to smear me.
You know why? Because they were always afraid of me.
'Cause of my energy.
It's the way I got things done! You let them do this, it will never stop.
Once it starts Starts! It never stops.
And then It's okay.
And then It's okay, Daddy.
Adam, Adam, please, please, please, don't let them do this to me.
Please.
Please.
I remember thinking that my step-sister had some kind of a demon inside her.
JUDGE SIMONS: A demon? It had to do with why my dad was an alcoholic.
I had this idea that if I built a fire, I could scare the demon away.
I read in some book that Native Americans use fire to purify the innocent.
I just wanted my dad to stop drinking.
I wanted that more than anything.
Why didn't you tell anyone you set the fire? I did.
I told my grandfather when I got home.
He told me not to talk about it.
That he'd make sure that I wouldn't get in trouble.
JUDGE SIMONS: Mr.
McCoy? (CLEARING THROAT) The People are satisfied, Your Honor.
Very well.
Terence Lawlor, you're hereby remanded to a secure facility to be designated by the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Hygiene until such time as a panel of doctors has determined you're no longer a danger to yourself or to society.
We're adjourned.
(GAVEL POUNDS) Sorry about your friend.
Save your sympathy.
We haven't heard the last of him.
Living with that secret all these years, it must have taken enormous will power.
Yeah.
Carl always had that.
Whenever he did something bold, the Lindsay campaign, take-over bids, the op-ed pundits would call him crazy, and Carl would just smile.
(CHUCKLES)