Law & Order (1990) s09e09 Episode Script
True North
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.
What've we got? Neighbor heard three shots about 10 minutes ago.
It's quiet now.
You call ESU? Yeah, we're going in.
Shooter could still be in there.
Like behind the door.
I got a white male down in the master bedroom! OFFICER: Over here! Detective, this is Mr.
Peterson.
He's the one who flagged us down.
I live over there.
I was on my way out about 9:00.
I saw Mrs.
Harker go in the door.
She lives there? Yeah.
A minute later, bang bang bang.
Did you talk to her? No.
I only saw her from the back.
I think she shot her husband and the little girl? Right now we just need to find her.
Did you happen to notice what she was wearing? Yeah.
Dark pants, white blouse.
How about any friends or relatives we can contact you know of? No.
They've only lived here maybe a year.
I think they're from Buffalo.
Wait here.
The neighbor saw the wife coming in.
She's not here now.
Usually, they just stand around waiting for us.
Or shoot themselves.
I wish this one had.
Get this to repro services for copying.
Patch it up with the APB.
Ronald Harker, Stephanie Harker, Caitlin Harker.
Happier days.
Rich ones, too.
He's Harker Data.
Computer software.
CSU found navy blue fabric hooked on the fence in the backyard.
Ah, family calendar.
Today 8:30 p.
m.
, Emma.
It wasn't his date.
He was here.
Charge card statements.
Checkbook.
Passport.
Hers.
Canadian.
She's not flying off to South America.
Monthly garage bill.
Third Avenue Parking.
She has a Mercedes E60.
He has a Jaguar XJR.
They have a Volvo wagon, too.
It's in the Hamptons right now.
Three spaces at $450 a month? Ain't it great to be rich? Here they are.
Yeah, she's not back yet.
She went out about 8:00.
Yeah, for her date with Emma.
Did she pop back in around 9:00? Nope.
Got a license plate number? AXP 1424.
You know any of Mrs.
Harker's friends? I see her with her lady friends sometimes.
They get in her car, they go places ladies go.
Well, who's in this other space? They let a friend park there.
What friend is that? I'm not sure.
That sign on your office says no substitutions.
Now, would it be possible somebody tossed a few bucks to somebody? Oh, now, I go by the book.
Christmas gratuities only.
Really? Guy's name is Petoskey.
He's a friend of hers.
Police, Mr.
Petoskey.
We want to talk to you.
PETOSKEY: Police? Yeah, police.
Open the door.
PETOSKEY: What's it about? When we see you, we'll tell you.
PETOSKEY: Okay.
Just a minute.
Now, Mr.
Petoskey! PETOSKEY: Okay, I'm coming.
Anybody with you? What are you doing? You seen Stephanie Harker tonight? No.
Why? Then why'd you take five minutes to open the door? I was in the crapper.
What do you want with Stephanie? Somebody shot her husband and their little girl.
Shot them? Who? I guess we rushed him, Lennie.
He forgot to flush.
In the tank.
Cocaine.
You didn't show me a warrant.
You know, there's enough weight here for criminal possession, First Degree.
That's 15 years, minimum.
Look, I don't know where Stephanie is.
BRISCOE: Who were her friends? She has lots of friends.
Name three.
CURTIS: We're looking for Doris Nichols.
She's my roommate.
She isn't home.
You sure? The extra guy's for her.
She got a phone call after the second inning.
Slammed out of here.
And that'd be, what, about a little after 8:00? Yeah.
She say where she was going? No.
She doesn't tell me.
Who called? I don't know.
Is she in trouble? No.
We're looking for a friend of hers, Stephanie Harker.
Stephanie.
Next best thing to a rich boyfriend is a rich girlfriend.
What, you mean Doris and Stephanie Spend money together.
Stephanie's.
Her husband's rich.
Why you looking for her? Her rich husband's dead.
Wow.
What about Doris and Mr.
Harker? Anything going on there? I don't know.
If you had to guess.
She thought he wasn't half-bad.
She's always on the lookout for special friends.
She have any lately? Last week she paid her back rent.
Bought two pairs of Prada shoes.
When she left here tonight, what was she wearing? Slacks, white blouse.
What color slacks? Mmm, navy blue.
We got Doris Nichols' drivers license photo.
We're putting out a bulletin.
You think she could be the shooter? Well, Mrs.
Harker left home at 8:00.
Right after that, Doris Nichols gets a phone call.
Maybe it's Ron Harker saying, "Hey, come on over.
The coast is clear.
" The neighbor saw Mrs.
Harker? From the back.
But this one had the right clothes.
She knew Ron Harker.
She liked rich men.
Liked to shoot them? Lennie, some cab driver just called 9-1-1 about a passenger he picked up about a half-block from your crime scene.
She was shaking and very upset.
I thought she wasn't well.
What time did you pick her up, exactly? Madison and 68th Street.
Is this one of them? This one.
She was bleeding from her leg.
When I drop her, she get out without her purse.
I pick it up, call her back, and there was a gun in it.
You saw a gun? Through the zipper.
I thought I should tell somebody.
Where did you drop her? She said she needed a drink.
She was right.
Definitely coming down from something.
How bad was she bleeding? Not too much.
But her pants were torn.
She went into the bathroom to clean up.
I found her a safety pin.
She say how it happened? Tripped on the subway stairs.
What else she say? That New York sucked and she was heading out.
She had a few drinks.
She made a phone call.
She left.
When? Maybe a half hour ago.
She tell you where she was going? She had some hundreds.
She asked for change for a cab.
Now what? Big tipping's a crime? Did you put her in a cab? Ah, there weren't any around.
The theater crowd was getting out, so I snared her a limo on a break.
Those guys got nerve.
What do you mean? He says it'll be 30 bucks for a 10-minute ride.
She was just going up Third.
Where to? Chez Nous.
The restaurant.
Thanks.
What's going on? MAN: Woman down.
That one did it.
Mrs.
Harker? She tried to kill me.
She said she killed my husband.
Is she dead? CURTIS: Lennie.
At least two shots.
It's Doris Nichols.
She said she killed Ron.
I'm sorry, Mrs.
Harker.
He was shot around Oh, my God.
Did she hurt Caitlin? Yes.
Is she I'm sorry.
Please.
(SOBBING) Listen, you want to take a few minutes? Maybe call somebody? No.
No, I want to know what happened.
Why did Doris do it? (SIGHS) We don't know.
How well did she know your husband? We were friends.
CURTIS: Is there any possibility that they were more than friends? No.
I don't know.
(SIGHS) Ron was having an affair.
He told me it was over.
We were making a new start.
Do you think it was Doris? Tonight, you were out with somebody named Emma? It was in your calendar.
Emma.
It's a book.
Um, my book group met at that restaurant.
Jane Austen.
How late did that go? I left at midnight.
Doris was waiting for me on the sidewalk.
She pulled a gun out of her purse.
She said she was going to kill me.
BRISCOE: Did your friends from the book group see this? I don't know.
They left before me.
I was finishing a drink.
What happened after Doris pulled the gun? I tried to reason with her but she was crazed.
I grabbed the gun, she scratched me, the gun went off.
Okay, we're gonna need to talk to some of your husband's friends.
Can you tell us who he was close to? WEXMAN: I heard it on the news.
I mean, even if someone wanted to kill Ron, his daughter? She probably walked in on it.
A witness.
It's just beyond imagining.
Mr.
Wexman, do you know a woman named Doris Nichols, a friend of Mrs.
Harker's? Her friends were involved? You think they could have been? Ron was a brilliant and successful businessman.
Her friends were people who picked each other up in nightclubs.
How do you know? Ron told me.
He asked my wife to invite Stephanie into her book group.
Something cultural that didn't involve drugs and mirrored balls.
Did Mr.
Harker ever mention Doris Nichols to you? Not that I remember.
Think it's possible he was having an affair with her? No.
Ron? His wife said that he was having an affair.
I don't believe it.
If the upstanding Ronald Harker was having an affair with a party girl, he might not have mentioned it to his friends.
Yeah, or his friends might not mention it if they were in on the party.
There's no Doris Nichols in Harker's datebook.
And this guy wrote down what kind of bread he took his sandwiches on.
Little black book? Big electronic book.
No Doris Nichols.
Charge receipts for stays at local hotels? BRISCOE: Nope.
Business checks to Victoria's Secret? Nothing.
Here's the register.
Well, here's one for 20 grand to a Pat Sinclair.
No ID.
You said the guy wrote down everything.
Sinclair? Yeah.
Sinclair, Patrick.
Attorney.
Matrimonial Law.
It was a retainer.
Mr.
Harker wanted a divorce.
Why? Where do you want to start? Mrs.
Harker used drugs.
Mrs.
Harker ran around with a bunch of low-lifes.
Mrs.
Harker was a lousy mother to Mr.
Harker's daughter.
The girl wasn't hers? No.
From his first marriage.
Mrs.
Harker spent his money like water.
Mrs.
Harker was having an affair.
But she baked delicious oatmeal cookies.
She told us that he was stepping out on her.
She's lying.
You'd think she'd be a little grateful.
Five years ago, she was selling postcards out of her father's souvenir stand in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Harker stopped by for a souvenir? She moved to Buffalo.
Started at Harker Data as a receptionist.
Did she know her husband wanted a divorce? Oh, yeah.
First thing she did was forge his signature on a letter, tried to withdraw two million dollars out of his account in a cashier's check.
She told us she and her husband were trying to make a new start.
Start of a long and expensive litigation.
Stephanie got to the restaurant at 8:30.
I noticed.
She usually comes late.
Did Mrs.
Harker leave you at all during the evening? She just got up to take a phone call for a few minutes.
You don't think she was involved with shooting her husband and that sweet child? We just need to know exactly what happened, Mrs.
Wexman.
Did she say who the call was from? Nobody.
She said they'd hung up by the time she got to the phone.
Uh, what time was that? Around 11:30.
Usually she's gone by 10:00.
Not a real book lover, huh? Before we decided to read Emma I don't think she'd heard of Jane Austen.
She was just trying to please her husband.
So last night, you left.
She was finishing her drink.
What drink? She told us that's why she stayed behind.
Stephanie usually has a few so her book evenings wouldn't be a total loss.
But last night, nothing but coffee.
So she went on the wagon.
That's not a crime.
Last night, of all nights? Her husband was having an affair.
He and the girlfriend ended up dead.
If that's all we knew, we'd be booking the wife right now.
For shooting the husband and the daughter while she was three miles away? Hey, she never stayed around for a whole book discussion once.
And last night, she practically punches a time clock establishing an alibi.
She doesn't need an alibi.
Doris Nichols' pants match the scrap on the fence.
The M.
E.
Just told me that she has a matching laceration on her leg.
She shot Ron Harker and his daughter.
Okay, Doris Nichols made a phone call from that hotel bar.
Then Mrs.
Harker got a call.
Then she gave some phony excuse and waited around.
Waited for what? For Doris Nichols to come and shoot her? The absent-minded homicidal maniac? On her way to kill Mrs.
Harker, she leaves her gun in the cab.
Look, this is going before a grand jury no matter what.
You find something solid, I'll present it.
Or we could just arrest her.
Gentlemen, there is nothing here but hunches.
BRISCOE: So what you got, a hot line to the new D.
A.
? I gave her what I had at the time.
What, I'm supposed to ask, "Did Lennie say it was okay for me to talk to you?" What do you have now? Final report.
Two slugs in Ron Harker.
One in Caitlin Harker.
Two in Doris Nichols.
All from the Colt.
38 recovered outside the restaurant.
Nichols got one in the gut and one in the back.
So she was running away.
Yeah, or the first shot spun her around.
Prelim tox scan shows Doris Nichols had cocaine in her system.
A lot.
You look under her nails? There was blood.
Some tissue.
Like she scratched Stephanie Harker? Hmm.
Who's doing the analysis? I just got that report.
Blood type is O.
Same as Doris Nichols.
Yeah, and about half the population.
Could it be a match for Mrs.
Harker? Lts PGM enzyme is Type Two, same as Doris Nichols.
That narrows it down to 2% of the population.
Keep going.
Kel system antigen is KK.
Like Doris Nichols.
Yeah.
And exactly one citizen in 900,000.
So unless they're clones and we don't know it, that's Doris Nichols' own blood.
Stephanie Harker must have self-inflicted her scratches.
It sure made a nice story.
Here are the LUDs from the pay phone at the hotel bar where Doris Nichols regrouped.
She called the restaurant where the book group was meeting.
Just to make sure Mrs.
Harker was there? She made sure for 11 minutes.
Harker told her friends the caller hung up.
Go get her.
You want us to check with Carmichael again? No.
Somebody did some fast packing.
There's clothes and suitcases thrown all around.
I checked the garage.
She left at 6:00 a.
m.
You know, we do know what we're doing.
Anita, we have confidence in your detectives.
Hunches? Apparently you still don't.
What do the Canadian authorities say? We asked them to look around Collingwood.
It's an Ontario ski resort, off-season.
Mrs.
Harker waiting for the snow? We sent out a bulletin and found an account of hers in the Commonwealth Bank of Canada.
She drew on it with an ATM card in Collingwood last night.
Keep us posted.
Oh, I will.
(DOOR OPENING) Jack, do we have Doris Nichols' bank records? The Ontario Provincial Police picked her up this morning.
What are you indicting her for? Man one, extreme emotional disturbance, or murder two? Murder one.
Murder one? How do you come to murder one? The police found Stephanie Harker because of an account she has at the Muskoka branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Canada.
Two weeks before the murders, Doris Nichols received a wire transfer, $50,000 from the Muskoka branch of the Commonwealth Bank.
From Stephanie Harker's account? We can't confirm that until we get the paperwork from Canada.
But we also traced the call that Doris Nichols got just before she shot up the Harker house to a pay phone in a garage where Stephanie Harker was picking up her car.
She told the Nichols woman to shoot her husband? And paid her for it.
The $50,000 was probably just up-front money.
She had the motive.
Stop the divorce.
Wife kills girlfriend to shut her up.
Multiple murders, murder for hire.
Get the indictment.
Get her shipped down from Canada.
ST.
JOHN: You're planning on trying Mrs.
Harker on a charge of Murder in the First Degree? That's right.
That's a capital offense.
It can be.
We have 120 days to decide whether or not to pursue the death penalty.
Well, you are aware that Canada has a moral objection to capital punishment.
That's your prerogative.
These crimes took place in the United States.
Yes.
But our extradition treaty with the United States says that unless assurances are provided that the death penalty won't be imposed, extradition may be refused.
It may be.
It doesn't have to be.
You extradited Charles Ng to California.
Joseph Kindler to Pennsylvania.
They were Americans.
As a matter of policy we didn't want non-Canadian killers seeking haven among us.
Your own Supreme Court ruled that you can extradite anyone you want to without any assurances.
I've spoken to the Minister of Justice.
In this case, we're going to insist.
Isn't that a little presumptuous of one country to tell another country how to enforce their own laws? Well, we don't think it's presumptuous when your government lectures the Chinese about Tiananmen Square.
That was a massive violation of basic human rights.
So is strapping a person to a table and killing her.
We will not extradite Mrs.
Harker under these circumstances.
Take the death penalty off the table, they'll send her back to us in a gift box with a bow.
One less decision for us.
Yes.
But it should be our decision.
It's our citizens getting murdered in our city.
Do you want to execute this woman? I don't know yet.
I sure as hell want the death penalty chip to leverage a plea bargain if I need it.
You're not gonna get anything at all unless you give them what they want.
Adam.
Tell them no death penalty.
Your case against her for killing her husband and the child is guesswork.
And she killed Doris Nichols in self-defense.
She shot her in the back.
I lost my head.
She had just killed everyone that I loved.
The husband you loved was dumping you.
No, we'd made up.
His lawyer said he was filing for divorce.
Ron changed his mind.
When did he tell you that? Half an hour after whenever his lawyer said he talked to him last.
You're not even bothering to make your lies specific.
We were in love, Mr.
McCoy.
We talked all the time.
We might take Criminally Negligent Homicide.
Time served, she pays a fine.
Pass.
Explain it to me.
How do men fall for women like that? Well, you have to be there, Abbie.
She'll smile and pout and explain everything away.
We fill in all the gaps between her and Doris Nichols.
Who knew them both? (BUZZER BUZZING) First of all, I'm not a drug dealer.
CARMICHAEL: Right.
You just collect rare cocaine.
Tell us, Mr.
Petoskey.
How friendly was Stephanie with Doris Nichols? What's in this for my client? His drug case can go hard or it can go easy.
It's going away.
The police didn't have a warrant.
The cocaine was in plain sight.
You want to try to prove two detectives are lying? All right.
What? Did you ever hear Stephanie and Doris talk about Ron Harker? Yeah, about how rich he was.
It made Doris scream.
I mean, she was so broke I had to cut off her supply.
Yeah, not that you're a drug dealer or anything.
BRISCOE: She was coked up when she killed those people.
The police found five grams in her purse.
How'd she afford that? Stephanie treated her.
CARMICHAEL: Did Stephanie treat her to any other illicit goods? Like what? Like this gun.
Fifteen years in Attica, Mr.
Petoskey.
They're making your bed now.
Yeah, Stephanie asked me to get her a gun.
I got her this gun.
CARMICHAEL: When? About two weeks before.
And you handed it to Stephanie, not to Doris.
Right.
Did she tell you what she wanted it for? No.
I figured it was for protection.
BRISCOE: From what? Well, you know, things happen.
Harker's first wife got killed.
Mrs.
Rhonda Harker, age 39, was crossing a street in downtown Buffalo when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver.
She died two hours later.
Skid marks on the pavement? No.
From paint chips and plastic found at the scene, the police figured the death car was a red Ford Escort, late '80s.
They never found it.
Where was Stephanie Harker at the time? On vacation from her receptionist job.
We checked old credit card statements.
Found some purchases made in her hometown in Canada.
Any record she owned a red Escort? No.
And no record she rented one.
We need to talk to people who knew her then.
Old friends.
Nothing more I can do for Stephie right now.
I just hope you people are big enough to apologize to her when you realize your mistake.
If you think we're wrong about your daughter, Mr.
Stevens, I'm all ears.
Anytime a working class girl makes good, there's gotta be something crooked about her, eh? I thought this was the land of opportunity.
Well, that's what the ads used to say.
A year before your daughter married Ron Harker, she came home for a week.
I don't remember.
In October, around Canadian Thanksgiving.
We know she was there.
So what? Did she borrow a car from anyone in your family? No.
What are you accusing her of now? We're going to need names and addresses of her friends.
The hell with you.
I had the police pull your hotel bill.
You've made four calls to a coffee shop on the Upper East Side.
Do you order your coffee from across town? Who did you call, Mr.
Stevens? Your boss said the calls were for you, Wendy.
It was my boyfriend.
He knows your boyfriend's voice.
Are you a friend of Stephanie's? Look, I don't have time for this.
I gotta get back to work.
If it's free time you need, I can have the INS.
Come down here and check your work visa.
You'll be on a bus back to Niagara Falls by tomorrow morning.
You can't do that.
I got a life here.
Then talk to me about Stephanie.
I've known her since kindergarten.
She always treated me nice.
Nice for Stephanie seems to mean she hasn't killed you.
Nice means she paid for me to come down here so she could have one person to be normal with.
Or someone who could appreciate how far she'd come.
Did she ever talk to you about Ron Harker? Sometimes.
I never met him.
Stephie said he wasn't much fun.
But she went to a lot of trouble to meet him, right? Did she ever talk to you about that? Stephie always knew what she wanted.
Did any of her friends own a red Escort? Stephie had a boyfriend that owned a used car lot.
He used to let her drive whatever she wanted.
Hey, you mean you fellas didn't stop and see the Falls? Nah.
Too painful.
They remind me of my honeymoons.
(LAUGHING) I'm still not clear why you came all this way.
We understand you used to be a friend of Stephanie Harker's.
Her last name used to be Stevens.
Who told you that? Friend of hers.
She says you used to let Stephanie drive cars from your lot.
What's this about, huh? Well, you know she was arrested for murder in New York.
Yeah, I read about it.
It's hard to believe.
Why? She spend all her time up here doing community service? (LAUGHS) Nah, she's just a kid, you know.
A little wild maybe, but nothing serious.
CURTIS: Well, her friend says she used to be a little wild with you.
And you were a married man.
So did you let her use your cars or not? Yeah, sometimes.
We gonna be discreet about this? That's up to you.
Two years ago, October, did you lend Stephanie Harker a red Ford Escort? Yes.
You don't have to look it up? You remember? Sure.
Came back with the front end smashed in.
She was driving at night and hit a deer.
It can't be coincidence.
She did it.
Nobody ever looked at this woman for the hit-and-run? Her motive wasn't apparent until she married Ron Harker a year later.
So she murders the first Mrs.
Harker, then Mr.
Harker and his daughter, then this Doris Nichols.
She's a cold-blooded serial killer.
If anybody deserves it Yeah.
File the notice, Ms.
Carmichael.
We're seeking the death penalty.
We told the Canadians we wouldn't.
I changed my mind.
It's a breach of protocol, not to mention integrity.
As soon as she's convicted in Erie County of the murder of the first Mrs.
Harker, I'm putting her on trial here for the other murders under our death penalty statute.
She killed four people.
That doesn't diminish my government's objection.
The facts have changed.
The crime has changed.
What facts? That Stephanie Harker borrowed a car similar to the one that killed the first Mrs.
Harker? There are hundreds of such cars.
CARMICHAEL: Well, we'll know for sure as soon as the Buffalo Police get that car and its repair records.
Yes.
I'm aware that you've asked our Ministry of Justice for those items and for documentation of a bank wire transfer from Stephanie Harker to Doris Nichols.
Standard cooperation.
Not in this case.
Those requests will not be honored.
You'd sit on evidence of four murders? We're not going to help you kill her.
(DOOR OPENING) I take it without the car, Buffalo has no case? Yes.
And without the bank records we have no case.
Except that Canadian bank has a branch on 57th Street.
I believe you're aware the Canadian government has instructed me not to comply with this subpoena.
That's nice.
Are they going to send the Canadian Army down here to help you carry your money and computers home? I beg your pardon? This bank is in New York County.
Those detectives are going to take it apart brick by brick to look for the documentation we've subpoenaed.
That doesn't make sense.
The transfer you're interested in originated in Ontario.
These detectives are about to search every account file, every computer disk.
It'll take a couple of weeks.
You can close the bank down now.
We got Stephanie Harker's letter request to transfer $50,000 to Doris Nichols.
It came by courier from Muskoka.
They caved.
Well, morals are morals.
Money is money.
Who you gonna shake down to get her car, the Royal Auto Club? So she only goes up for the murders here.
With this bank record, she still qualifies for the death penalty.
PETOSKEY: Yes, this is the gun I got for Stephanie.
You placed it in her hand? Yes.
So if Doris Nichols had it, she must have received it from Stephanie Harker? Objection.
JUDGE: Sustained.
Mr.
Petoskey, did you have a sexual relationship with Mrs.
Harker? Yes.
Who initiated it? Stephanie kind of picked me up at the gym.
She said I had nice eyes.
Did she get anything from you in return for her sexual favors? Well, she got something out of it in bed, you know.
Anything of value beside you? Well, if I had drugs around she'd expect to get some of those, too.
What kind of drugs? Cocaine.
And when I had poppers, amyl nitrate.
She'd take a hit of that.
Why? For the sex.
To make it more intense.
To your knowledge, did she have sex with other men? Yeah.
At a couple of parties, if she got high enough.
If she got high enough what? She'd grab a guy, she'd go into a room.
She liked sex.
She said her husband couldn't get it up.
Did the defendant ever tell you that she was in love with you? Yeah.
A few times.
In bed.
Did you believe her? Well, she got this look.
You know, I believed her for as long as it lasted.
But an hour later, it was like it never happened.
Thank you.
You had drugs around because you were a drug dealer, isn't that right? Yes.
But I've mainly been doing some conceptualizing.
Computer games.
Computer games? Well, you knew who my client's husband was, didn't you? Yes.
Didn't you pester my client until she introduced you to him? Thought his company might be interested.
So isn't it a fact that you were using Stephanie Harker, not the other way around? Well, I guess there was something in it for both of us.
Well, what's in it for you to testify against her today? What do you mean? How much cocaine did the police find in your apartment? About half a kilo.
But they Are you currently facing any criminal charges relating to that cocaine? No.
So isn't it a fact that your testimony today is filled with lies and exaggerations in exchange for the police letting you off? Objection.
Overruled.
Isn't it, Mr.
Petoskey? Isn't that the truth? No.
I wouldn't do anything like that.
Stephanie's a friend.
I like her.
Stephanie always talked about getting out of Niagara Falls.
She said she'd do it in a barrel if she had to.
She even sent some Polaroids to Playboy once.
Did she ever talk about meeting a rich man and moving away? I guess.
You're under oath, Miss Naughton.
Sometimes she would (SIGHS) Get celebrity magazines or the gossip papers and make lists of rich men, like for a joke.
Her affair with Peter Barnett, the used car king, was that for a joke? No, I guess that was to get cars to drive.
Did the defendant have an expression she used to describe men in general? Sometimes, yeah.
What was it? Do I have to say? It's embarrassing.
Tell us anyway.
(SIGHS) "Penises with wallets.
" That's what her husband was to her? I don't know.
It was just a way of talking.
She had some bad experiences.
Don't we all, Miss Naughton? There was this rich kid in high school.
She got pregnant.
He was supposed to marry her.
Just answer my questions.
He treated her like trash.
She had to have an abortion.
Just answer the questions, Miss Naughton.
When did you see the defendant last before the murders in this case? A few nights before we had a couple of drinks.
Did she say anything to you as she was leaving? She said she might not see me for a while, but she'd be in touch.
What did you think was happening? I was worried.
She said not to believe anything bad I heard about her.
Like that she'd murdered several people.
No.
No.
Of course not.
Thank you.
Well, she didn't tell you what you might hear, did she? No.
For all you knew, she was worried you'd hear she gained some weight? Right.
Wendy, did Stephanie ever give you money? Yes, she paid for me to come down here.
She helped me out with an apartment, she bought me a watch.
How much, all together? At least $10,000.
American dollars.
The watch was a Breguet.
And after giving you all that money, did she ever ask you to do anything illegal? No.
She was very lonely.
She just wanted to have me around.
And you were her best friend, weren't you? The one person she could really talk to? Yeah.
Did she ever tell you she wanted her husband dead? No, never.
Nothing like that.
Well, you really nailed her.
Good thing we almost went to war with Canada.
I got all the facts I need in evidence.
The gun, the money, the men, the attitude.
Well, they must think we've scored points.
They're putting Stephanie on the stand.
To explain everything away.
Let her try.
Yeah, you're gonna be the first man to get the better of her.
I lent Doris the money, that's all.
She needed help, and I could afford it.
What kind of help did she need? To get into a rehab program.
She had a problem with cocaine.
She was having delusions, paranoid attacks, fits of violence.
Did she enter rehab? No, she lied to me.
She just bought more drugs.
Mr.
Petoskey told the police that you gave her drugs.
He's lying.
Mrs.
Harker, did you ever ask Doris Nichols to kill your husband? No.
Did you want your husband dead? No.
I loved him.
I loved Caitlin.
I can't believe Doris killed them.
Thank you, Mrs.
Harker.
You wanted to help her, so you gave a drug addict suffering violent paranoid fits $50,000 in cash? That's how much some of these programs cost.
It never occurred to you to write a check to the program? I thought Doris was responsible.
In between her paranoid fits? Why did you give her a gun? I didn't.
She must have taken it from my house.
Did you report it stolen? No, I I didn't know it was gone.
Why did you call her a half an hour before the murders? To make sure she was all right.
And she was so comforted by your call that she went right out and killed your husband and your stepchild? Objection.
Sustained.
Why do you think she killed them? She was crazy.
It seems like everything was crazy, doesn't it? What do you mean? You loaned $50,000 to a mad woman.
You went to your book group even though you hated it.
Doris stole your gun, but you never noticed.
She killed your family for no reason.
Then she came to kill you for no reason, but she forgot the gun.
Scratches appeared on your body by magic.
Doris did call you at the restaurant, but she never spoke.
Is that the best story you can make up? I didn't make it up.
Do you consider yourself intelligent? Yes.
The other women in your book club said you couldn't even read the books.
So I had better things to do.
Like get stoned and jump from bed to bed.
I made some mistakes I had a problem with drugs.
That doesn't mean I killed anybody.
I loved my husband.
He didn't love you.
He was divorcing you.
No, he wasn't.
Is his divorce lawyer lying? Did he file legal papers for fun? LAWYER: Objection.
JUDGE: Sustained.
Save it for your summation, Mr.
McCoy.
Your good friend Wendy told us that you'd been dumped before, is that right? It happens.
By a rich boy who treated you like trash.
Your father owned a souvenir stand, right? Yes.
Is that why the boy dumped you? There is nothing wrong with a souvenir stand.
Then why were you so desperate to get out of there? I had some bad memories.
Of being dumped because you were poor trash? Look, I was an idiot.
He wanted one thing, my body, and he got it.
You weren't going to let that happen again, were you? No.
From then on, you were going to be the one using people.
I don't use people.
How about the used car king? How about your husband? I helped my husband in a lot of ways.
The chairman of a multi-million dollar software company? How exactly does a drug-whacked daughter of a souvenir stand owner help him? There were plenty of things my husband didn't understand.
Him and his friends.
Jane Austen, like that matters.
He understood you, though, didn't he? What do you mean? He finally understood that you were just a hick town party girl who didn't belong here.
Objection.
He's harassing the witness.
Sustained.
Watch it, Mr.
McCoy.
I belong here as much as any of them.
Did he tell you he was shipping you out? Nobody ships me anywhere.
He'd be able to face his friends again, wouldn't he? Bunch of snobs.
Your Honor, may we have a recess? It's not being a snob if they're really better than you.
The women were jealous of me! The men all wanted to get me in bed! And you were happy to oblige.
No.
Not anymore.
Nobody takes advantage of me anymore.
You were on your way back to that souvenir stand, weren't you, where you belong? I am smarter than all of them! They had it handed to them! I had to work for it.
They think I was trash.
They don't know anything! JUDGE: Members of the jury, on the first count of the indictment, Murder in the First Degree in the death of Ronald Harker, has the jury reached a verdict? We have, Your Honor.
We find the defendant, Stephanie Harker, guilty.
On the second count of the indictment, Murder in the First Degree in the death of Caitlin Harker, have you reached a verdict? JURY FOREWOMAN: We find the defendant, Stephanie Harker, guilty.
On the third count of the indictment, Murder in the First Degree in the death of Doris Nichols, has the jury reached a verdict? We find the defendant guilty.
JUDGE: This court will reconvene in two weeks to adjudicate sentence upon the defendant.
Counsel are instructed to submit sentence reports one week prior to that date.
We are adjourned.
(GAVEL POUNDING) (WHISPERING INAUDIBLY) SCHIFF: Just the kind of publicity the State Department likes.
I don't think either Canada or Great Britain has anything to teach us about human rights.
Did you read their Official Secrets Act? Until a few years ago, Canada didn't even have a bill of rights.
Thanks for the America First speech.
Not too late to back off.
It's up to the jury.
That's not an answer.
Her crimes fit the death penalty statute.
We've got nothing to apologize for.
The death penalty may be statutory.
It's not mandatory.
JACK: In some cases it really is, Adam.
Killing four people, killing a child.
Stephanie Harker doesn't push my pity button.
It's a dirty business, my friends.
A dirty business.
I want to say how sorry I am to all the people that I hurt.
I lied to my friends.
Used them.
I'm so sorry, Wendy.
(SIGHS) I lied in this courtroom.
I asked Doris to kill Ronnie.
I didn't mean for Caitlin to get hurt, but that is my fault, too.
I shot Doris.
And Ronnie's first wife, I killed her, too.
I wanted things, all the wrong things, so bad.
I was afraid of losing it all.
When I was a little girl, I used to see the Americans come to Niagara Falls.
They acted like everything was just for them.
They were so confident.
I used to imagine that I was the secret daughter of some millionaire.
And that some day he would come and he would find me, and everybody would know how special I was.
But my father told me not to pretend that I was something special.
Don't Don't try and stand out.
"You're just Stephie Stevens, and your Daddy sells plastic souvenirs.
" And that boy, that boy that got me pregnant, he treated me like I was trash.
I am not excusing what I did.
I am just so scared.
I am really not a bad person.
I just I want a chance.
I always just wanted a chance.
I can change.
Please Don't kill me.
Please.
Just give me a chance.
JUDGE: Madam Forewoman, have you reached a unanimous verdict as to the sentence? JURY FOREWOMAN: We have.
JUDGE: Go ahead.
We find the defendant, Stephanie Harker, shall be remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections to await execution, as prescribed by Article 22-B of the Correction Law of the State of New York.
The one time she was truthful.
Too little, too late.
The truth doesn't always set you free.
The switchboard told me they got over 500 calls from Canada.
Nine to one against killing Stephanie Harker.
Maybe we should post warning signs at the Canadian border.
SCHIFF: Yeah.
"Enter at your own risk.
"
These are their stories.
What've we got? Neighbor heard three shots about 10 minutes ago.
It's quiet now.
You call ESU? Yeah, we're going in.
Shooter could still be in there.
Like behind the door.
I got a white male down in the master bedroom! OFFICER: Over here! Detective, this is Mr.
Peterson.
He's the one who flagged us down.
I live over there.
I was on my way out about 9:00.
I saw Mrs.
Harker go in the door.
She lives there? Yeah.
A minute later, bang bang bang.
Did you talk to her? No.
I only saw her from the back.
I think she shot her husband and the little girl? Right now we just need to find her.
Did you happen to notice what she was wearing? Yeah.
Dark pants, white blouse.
How about any friends or relatives we can contact you know of? No.
They've only lived here maybe a year.
I think they're from Buffalo.
Wait here.
The neighbor saw the wife coming in.
She's not here now.
Usually, they just stand around waiting for us.
Or shoot themselves.
I wish this one had.
Get this to repro services for copying.
Patch it up with the APB.
Ronald Harker, Stephanie Harker, Caitlin Harker.
Happier days.
Rich ones, too.
He's Harker Data.
Computer software.
CSU found navy blue fabric hooked on the fence in the backyard.
Ah, family calendar.
Today 8:30 p.
m.
, Emma.
It wasn't his date.
He was here.
Charge card statements.
Checkbook.
Passport.
Hers.
Canadian.
She's not flying off to South America.
Monthly garage bill.
Third Avenue Parking.
She has a Mercedes E60.
He has a Jaguar XJR.
They have a Volvo wagon, too.
It's in the Hamptons right now.
Three spaces at $450 a month? Ain't it great to be rich? Here they are.
Yeah, she's not back yet.
She went out about 8:00.
Yeah, for her date with Emma.
Did she pop back in around 9:00? Nope.
Got a license plate number? AXP 1424.
You know any of Mrs.
Harker's friends? I see her with her lady friends sometimes.
They get in her car, they go places ladies go.
Well, who's in this other space? They let a friend park there.
What friend is that? I'm not sure.
That sign on your office says no substitutions.
Now, would it be possible somebody tossed a few bucks to somebody? Oh, now, I go by the book.
Christmas gratuities only.
Really? Guy's name is Petoskey.
He's a friend of hers.
Police, Mr.
Petoskey.
We want to talk to you.
PETOSKEY: Police? Yeah, police.
Open the door.
PETOSKEY: What's it about? When we see you, we'll tell you.
PETOSKEY: Okay.
Just a minute.
Now, Mr.
Petoskey! PETOSKEY: Okay, I'm coming.
Anybody with you? What are you doing? You seen Stephanie Harker tonight? No.
Why? Then why'd you take five minutes to open the door? I was in the crapper.
What do you want with Stephanie? Somebody shot her husband and their little girl.
Shot them? Who? I guess we rushed him, Lennie.
He forgot to flush.
In the tank.
Cocaine.
You didn't show me a warrant.
You know, there's enough weight here for criminal possession, First Degree.
That's 15 years, minimum.
Look, I don't know where Stephanie is.
BRISCOE: Who were her friends? She has lots of friends.
Name three.
CURTIS: We're looking for Doris Nichols.
She's my roommate.
She isn't home.
You sure? The extra guy's for her.
She got a phone call after the second inning.
Slammed out of here.
And that'd be, what, about a little after 8:00? Yeah.
She say where she was going? No.
She doesn't tell me.
Who called? I don't know.
Is she in trouble? No.
We're looking for a friend of hers, Stephanie Harker.
Stephanie.
Next best thing to a rich boyfriend is a rich girlfriend.
What, you mean Doris and Stephanie Spend money together.
Stephanie's.
Her husband's rich.
Why you looking for her? Her rich husband's dead.
Wow.
What about Doris and Mr.
Harker? Anything going on there? I don't know.
If you had to guess.
She thought he wasn't half-bad.
She's always on the lookout for special friends.
She have any lately? Last week she paid her back rent.
Bought two pairs of Prada shoes.
When she left here tonight, what was she wearing? Slacks, white blouse.
What color slacks? Mmm, navy blue.
We got Doris Nichols' drivers license photo.
We're putting out a bulletin.
You think she could be the shooter? Well, Mrs.
Harker left home at 8:00.
Right after that, Doris Nichols gets a phone call.
Maybe it's Ron Harker saying, "Hey, come on over.
The coast is clear.
" The neighbor saw Mrs.
Harker? From the back.
But this one had the right clothes.
She knew Ron Harker.
She liked rich men.
Liked to shoot them? Lennie, some cab driver just called 9-1-1 about a passenger he picked up about a half-block from your crime scene.
She was shaking and very upset.
I thought she wasn't well.
What time did you pick her up, exactly? Madison and 68th Street.
Is this one of them? This one.
She was bleeding from her leg.
When I drop her, she get out without her purse.
I pick it up, call her back, and there was a gun in it.
You saw a gun? Through the zipper.
I thought I should tell somebody.
Where did you drop her? She said she needed a drink.
She was right.
Definitely coming down from something.
How bad was she bleeding? Not too much.
But her pants were torn.
She went into the bathroom to clean up.
I found her a safety pin.
She say how it happened? Tripped on the subway stairs.
What else she say? That New York sucked and she was heading out.
She had a few drinks.
She made a phone call.
She left.
When? Maybe a half hour ago.
She tell you where she was going? She had some hundreds.
She asked for change for a cab.
Now what? Big tipping's a crime? Did you put her in a cab? Ah, there weren't any around.
The theater crowd was getting out, so I snared her a limo on a break.
Those guys got nerve.
What do you mean? He says it'll be 30 bucks for a 10-minute ride.
She was just going up Third.
Where to? Chez Nous.
The restaurant.
Thanks.
What's going on? MAN: Woman down.
That one did it.
Mrs.
Harker? She tried to kill me.
She said she killed my husband.
Is she dead? CURTIS: Lennie.
At least two shots.
It's Doris Nichols.
She said she killed Ron.
I'm sorry, Mrs.
Harker.
He was shot around Oh, my God.
Did she hurt Caitlin? Yes.
Is she I'm sorry.
Please.
(SOBBING) Listen, you want to take a few minutes? Maybe call somebody? No.
No, I want to know what happened.
Why did Doris do it? (SIGHS) We don't know.
How well did she know your husband? We were friends.
CURTIS: Is there any possibility that they were more than friends? No.
I don't know.
(SIGHS) Ron was having an affair.
He told me it was over.
We were making a new start.
Do you think it was Doris? Tonight, you were out with somebody named Emma? It was in your calendar.
Emma.
It's a book.
Um, my book group met at that restaurant.
Jane Austen.
How late did that go? I left at midnight.
Doris was waiting for me on the sidewalk.
She pulled a gun out of her purse.
She said she was going to kill me.
BRISCOE: Did your friends from the book group see this? I don't know.
They left before me.
I was finishing a drink.
What happened after Doris pulled the gun? I tried to reason with her but she was crazed.
I grabbed the gun, she scratched me, the gun went off.
Okay, we're gonna need to talk to some of your husband's friends.
Can you tell us who he was close to? WEXMAN: I heard it on the news.
I mean, even if someone wanted to kill Ron, his daughter? She probably walked in on it.
A witness.
It's just beyond imagining.
Mr.
Wexman, do you know a woman named Doris Nichols, a friend of Mrs.
Harker's? Her friends were involved? You think they could have been? Ron was a brilliant and successful businessman.
Her friends were people who picked each other up in nightclubs.
How do you know? Ron told me.
He asked my wife to invite Stephanie into her book group.
Something cultural that didn't involve drugs and mirrored balls.
Did Mr.
Harker ever mention Doris Nichols to you? Not that I remember.
Think it's possible he was having an affair with her? No.
Ron? His wife said that he was having an affair.
I don't believe it.
If the upstanding Ronald Harker was having an affair with a party girl, he might not have mentioned it to his friends.
Yeah, or his friends might not mention it if they were in on the party.
There's no Doris Nichols in Harker's datebook.
And this guy wrote down what kind of bread he took his sandwiches on.
Little black book? Big electronic book.
No Doris Nichols.
Charge receipts for stays at local hotels? BRISCOE: Nope.
Business checks to Victoria's Secret? Nothing.
Here's the register.
Well, here's one for 20 grand to a Pat Sinclair.
No ID.
You said the guy wrote down everything.
Sinclair? Yeah.
Sinclair, Patrick.
Attorney.
Matrimonial Law.
It was a retainer.
Mr.
Harker wanted a divorce.
Why? Where do you want to start? Mrs.
Harker used drugs.
Mrs.
Harker ran around with a bunch of low-lifes.
Mrs.
Harker was a lousy mother to Mr.
Harker's daughter.
The girl wasn't hers? No.
From his first marriage.
Mrs.
Harker spent his money like water.
Mrs.
Harker was having an affair.
But she baked delicious oatmeal cookies.
She told us that he was stepping out on her.
She's lying.
You'd think she'd be a little grateful.
Five years ago, she was selling postcards out of her father's souvenir stand in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Harker stopped by for a souvenir? She moved to Buffalo.
Started at Harker Data as a receptionist.
Did she know her husband wanted a divorce? Oh, yeah.
First thing she did was forge his signature on a letter, tried to withdraw two million dollars out of his account in a cashier's check.
She told us she and her husband were trying to make a new start.
Start of a long and expensive litigation.
Stephanie got to the restaurant at 8:30.
I noticed.
She usually comes late.
Did Mrs.
Harker leave you at all during the evening? She just got up to take a phone call for a few minutes.
You don't think she was involved with shooting her husband and that sweet child? We just need to know exactly what happened, Mrs.
Wexman.
Did she say who the call was from? Nobody.
She said they'd hung up by the time she got to the phone.
Uh, what time was that? Around 11:30.
Usually she's gone by 10:00.
Not a real book lover, huh? Before we decided to read Emma I don't think she'd heard of Jane Austen.
She was just trying to please her husband.
So last night, you left.
She was finishing her drink.
What drink? She told us that's why she stayed behind.
Stephanie usually has a few so her book evenings wouldn't be a total loss.
But last night, nothing but coffee.
So she went on the wagon.
That's not a crime.
Last night, of all nights? Her husband was having an affair.
He and the girlfriend ended up dead.
If that's all we knew, we'd be booking the wife right now.
For shooting the husband and the daughter while she was three miles away? Hey, she never stayed around for a whole book discussion once.
And last night, she practically punches a time clock establishing an alibi.
She doesn't need an alibi.
Doris Nichols' pants match the scrap on the fence.
The M.
E.
Just told me that she has a matching laceration on her leg.
She shot Ron Harker and his daughter.
Okay, Doris Nichols made a phone call from that hotel bar.
Then Mrs.
Harker got a call.
Then she gave some phony excuse and waited around.
Waited for what? For Doris Nichols to come and shoot her? The absent-minded homicidal maniac? On her way to kill Mrs.
Harker, she leaves her gun in the cab.
Look, this is going before a grand jury no matter what.
You find something solid, I'll present it.
Or we could just arrest her.
Gentlemen, there is nothing here but hunches.
BRISCOE: So what you got, a hot line to the new D.
A.
? I gave her what I had at the time.
What, I'm supposed to ask, "Did Lennie say it was okay for me to talk to you?" What do you have now? Final report.
Two slugs in Ron Harker.
One in Caitlin Harker.
Two in Doris Nichols.
All from the Colt.
38 recovered outside the restaurant.
Nichols got one in the gut and one in the back.
So she was running away.
Yeah, or the first shot spun her around.
Prelim tox scan shows Doris Nichols had cocaine in her system.
A lot.
You look under her nails? There was blood.
Some tissue.
Like she scratched Stephanie Harker? Hmm.
Who's doing the analysis? I just got that report.
Blood type is O.
Same as Doris Nichols.
Yeah, and about half the population.
Could it be a match for Mrs.
Harker? Lts PGM enzyme is Type Two, same as Doris Nichols.
That narrows it down to 2% of the population.
Keep going.
Kel system antigen is KK.
Like Doris Nichols.
Yeah.
And exactly one citizen in 900,000.
So unless they're clones and we don't know it, that's Doris Nichols' own blood.
Stephanie Harker must have self-inflicted her scratches.
It sure made a nice story.
Here are the LUDs from the pay phone at the hotel bar where Doris Nichols regrouped.
She called the restaurant where the book group was meeting.
Just to make sure Mrs.
Harker was there? She made sure for 11 minutes.
Harker told her friends the caller hung up.
Go get her.
You want us to check with Carmichael again? No.
Somebody did some fast packing.
There's clothes and suitcases thrown all around.
I checked the garage.
She left at 6:00 a.
m.
You know, we do know what we're doing.
Anita, we have confidence in your detectives.
Hunches? Apparently you still don't.
What do the Canadian authorities say? We asked them to look around Collingwood.
It's an Ontario ski resort, off-season.
Mrs.
Harker waiting for the snow? We sent out a bulletin and found an account of hers in the Commonwealth Bank of Canada.
She drew on it with an ATM card in Collingwood last night.
Keep us posted.
Oh, I will.
(DOOR OPENING) Jack, do we have Doris Nichols' bank records? The Ontario Provincial Police picked her up this morning.
What are you indicting her for? Man one, extreme emotional disturbance, or murder two? Murder one.
Murder one? How do you come to murder one? The police found Stephanie Harker because of an account she has at the Muskoka branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Canada.
Two weeks before the murders, Doris Nichols received a wire transfer, $50,000 from the Muskoka branch of the Commonwealth Bank.
From Stephanie Harker's account? We can't confirm that until we get the paperwork from Canada.
But we also traced the call that Doris Nichols got just before she shot up the Harker house to a pay phone in a garage where Stephanie Harker was picking up her car.
She told the Nichols woman to shoot her husband? And paid her for it.
The $50,000 was probably just up-front money.
She had the motive.
Stop the divorce.
Wife kills girlfriend to shut her up.
Multiple murders, murder for hire.
Get the indictment.
Get her shipped down from Canada.
ST.
JOHN: You're planning on trying Mrs.
Harker on a charge of Murder in the First Degree? That's right.
That's a capital offense.
It can be.
We have 120 days to decide whether or not to pursue the death penalty.
Well, you are aware that Canada has a moral objection to capital punishment.
That's your prerogative.
These crimes took place in the United States.
Yes.
But our extradition treaty with the United States says that unless assurances are provided that the death penalty won't be imposed, extradition may be refused.
It may be.
It doesn't have to be.
You extradited Charles Ng to California.
Joseph Kindler to Pennsylvania.
They were Americans.
As a matter of policy we didn't want non-Canadian killers seeking haven among us.
Your own Supreme Court ruled that you can extradite anyone you want to without any assurances.
I've spoken to the Minister of Justice.
In this case, we're going to insist.
Isn't that a little presumptuous of one country to tell another country how to enforce their own laws? Well, we don't think it's presumptuous when your government lectures the Chinese about Tiananmen Square.
That was a massive violation of basic human rights.
So is strapping a person to a table and killing her.
We will not extradite Mrs.
Harker under these circumstances.
Take the death penalty off the table, they'll send her back to us in a gift box with a bow.
One less decision for us.
Yes.
But it should be our decision.
It's our citizens getting murdered in our city.
Do you want to execute this woman? I don't know yet.
I sure as hell want the death penalty chip to leverage a plea bargain if I need it.
You're not gonna get anything at all unless you give them what they want.
Adam.
Tell them no death penalty.
Your case against her for killing her husband and the child is guesswork.
And she killed Doris Nichols in self-defense.
She shot her in the back.
I lost my head.
She had just killed everyone that I loved.
The husband you loved was dumping you.
No, we'd made up.
His lawyer said he was filing for divorce.
Ron changed his mind.
When did he tell you that? Half an hour after whenever his lawyer said he talked to him last.
You're not even bothering to make your lies specific.
We were in love, Mr.
McCoy.
We talked all the time.
We might take Criminally Negligent Homicide.
Time served, she pays a fine.
Pass.
Explain it to me.
How do men fall for women like that? Well, you have to be there, Abbie.
She'll smile and pout and explain everything away.
We fill in all the gaps between her and Doris Nichols.
Who knew them both? (BUZZER BUZZING) First of all, I'm not a drug dealer.
CARMICHAEL: Right.
You just collect rare cocaine.
Tell us, Mr.
Petoskey.
How friendly was Stephanie with Doris Nichols? What's in this for my client? His drug case can go hard or it can go easy.
It's going away.
The police didn't have a warrant.
The cocaine was in plain sight.
You want to try to prove two detectives are lying? All right.
What? Did you ever hear Stephanie and Doris talk about Ron Harker? Yeah, about how rich he was.
It made Doris scream.
I mean, she was so broke I had to cut off her supply.
Yeah, not that you're a drug dealer or anything.
BRISCOE: She was coked up when she killed those people.
The police found five grams in her purse.
How'd she afford that? Stephanie treated her.
CARMICHAEL: Did Stephanie treat her to any other illicit goods? Like what? Like this gun.
Fifteen years in Attica, Mr.
Petoskey.
They're making your bed now.
Yeah, Stephanie asked me to get her a gun.
I got her this gun.
CARMICHAEL: When? About two weeks before.
And you handed it to Stephanie, not to Doris.
Right.
Did she tell you what she wanted it for? No.
I figured it was for protection.
BRISCOE: From what? Well, you know, things happen.
Harker's first wife got killed.
Mrs.
Rhonda Harker, age 39, was crossing a street in downtown Buffalo when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver.
She died two hours later.
Skid marks on the pavement? No.
From paint chips and plastic found at the scene, the police figured the death car was a red Ford Escort, late '80s.
They never found it.
Where was Stephanie Harker at the time? On vacation from her receptionist job.
We checked old credit card statements.
Found some purchases made in her hometown in Canada.
Any record she owned a red Escort? No.
And no record she rented one.
We need to talk to people who knew her then.
Old friends.
Nothing more I can do for Stephie right now.
I just hope you people are big enough to apologize to her when you realize your mistake.
If you think we're wrong about your daughter, Mr.
Stevens, I'm all ears.
Anytime a working class girl makes good, there's gotta be something crooked about her, eh? I thought this was the land of opportunity.
Well, that's what the ads used to say.
A year before your daughter married Ron Harker, she came home for a week.
I don't remember.
In October, around Canadian Thanksgiving.
We know she was there.
So what? Did she borrow a car from anyone in your family? No.
What are you accusing her of now? We're going to need names and addresses of her friends.
The hell with you.
I had the police pull your hotel bill.
You've made four calls to a coffee shop on the Upper East Side.
Do you order your coffee from across town? Who did you call, Mr.
Stevens? Your boss said the calls were for you, Wendy.
It was my boyfriend.
He knows your boyfriend's voice.
Are you a friend of Stephanie's? Look, I don't have time for this.
I gotta get back to work.
If it's free time you need, I can have the INS.
Come down here and check your work visa.
You'll be on a bus back to Niagara Falls by tomorrow morning.
You can't do that.
I got a life here.
Then talk to me about Stephanie.
I've known her since kindergarten.
She always treated me nice.
Nice for Stephanie seems to mean she hasn't killed you.
Nice means she paid for me to come down here so she could have one person to be normal with.
Or someone who could appreciate how far she'd come.
Did she ever talk to you about Ron Harker? Sometimes.
I never met him.
Stephie said he wasn't much fun.
But she went to a lot of trouble to meet him, right? Did she ever talk to you about that? Stephie always knew what she wanted.
Did any of her friends own a red Escort? Stephie had a boyfriend that owned a used car lot.
He used to let her drive whatever she wanted.
Hey, you mean you fellas didn't stop and see the Falls? Nah.
Too painful.
They remind me of my honeymoons.
(LAUGHING) I'm still not clear why you came all this way.
We understand you used to be a friend of Stephanie Harker's.
Her last name used to be Stevens.
Who told you that? Friend of hers.
She says you used to let Stephanie drive cars from your lot.
What's this about, huh? Well, you know she was arrested for murder in New York.
Yeah, I read about it.
It's hard to believe.
Why? She spend all her time up here doing community service? (LAUGHS) Nah, she's just a kid, you know.
A little wild maybe, but nothing serious.
CURTIS: Well, her friend says she used to be a little wild with you.
And you were a married man.
So did you let her use your cars or not? Yeah, sometimes.
We gonna be discreet about this? That's up to you.
Two years ago, October, did you lend Stephanie Harker a red Ford Escort? Yes.
You don't have to look it up? You remember? Sure.
Came back with the front end smashed in.
She was driving at night and hit a deer.
It can't be coincidence.
She did it.
Nobody ever looked at this woman for the hit-and-run? Her motive wasn't apparent until she married Ron Harker a year later.
So she murders the first Mrs.
Harker, then Mr.
Harker and his daughter, then this Doris Nichols.
She's a cold-blooded serial killer.
If anybody deserves it Yeah.
File the notice, Ms.
Carmichael.
We're seeking the death penalty.
We told the Canadians we wouldn't.
I changed my mind.
It's a breach of protocol, not to mention integrity.
As soon as she's convicted in Erie County of the murder of the first Mrs.
Harker, I'm putting her on trial here for the other murders under our death penalty statute.
She killed four people.
That doesn't diminish my government's objection.
The facts have changed.
The crime has changed.
What facts? That Stephanie Harker borrowed a car similar to the one that killed the first Mrs.
Harker? There are hundreds of such cars.
CARMICHAEL: Well, we'll know for sure as soon as the Buffalo Police get that car and its repair records.
Yes.
I'm aware that you've asked our Ministry of Justice for those items and for documentation of a bank wire transfer from Stephanie Harker to Doris Nichols.
Standard cooperation.
Not in this case.
Those requests will not be honored.
You'd sit on evidence of four murders? We're not going to help you kill her.
(DOOR OPENING) I take it without the car, Buffalo has no case? Yes.
And without the bank records we have no case.
Except that Canadian bank has a branch on 57th Street.
I believe you're aware the Canadian government has instructed me not to comply with this subpoena.
That's nice.
Are they going to send the Canadian Army down here to help you carry your money and computers home? I beg your pardon? This bank is in New York County.
Those detectives are going to take it apart brick by brick to look for the documentation we've subpoenaed.
That doesn't make sense.
The transfer you're interested in originated in Ontario.
These detectives are about to search every account file, every computer disk.
It'll take a couple of weeks.
You can close the bank down now.
We got Stephanie Harker's letter request to transfer $50,000 to Doris Nichols.
It came by courier from Muskoka.
They caved.
Well, morals are morals.
Money is money.
Who you gonna shake down to get her car, the Royal Auto Club? So she only goes up for the murders here.
With this bank record, she still qualifies for the death penalty.
PETOSKEY: Yes, this is the gun I got for Stephanie.
You placed it in her hand? Yes.
So if Doris Nichols had it, she must have received it from Stephanie Harker? Objection.
JUDGE: Sustained.
Mr.
Petoskey, did you have a sexual relationship with Mrs.
Harker? Yes.
Who initiated it? Stephanie kind of picked me up at the gym.
She said I had nice eyes.
Did she get anything from you in return for her sexual favors? Well, she got something out of it in bed, you know.
Anything of value beside you? Well, if I had drugs around she'd expect to get some of those, too.
What kind of drugs? Cocaine.
And when I had poppers, amyl nitrate.
She'd take a hit of that.
Why? For the sex.
To make it more intense.
To your knowledge, did she have sex with other men? Yeah.
At a couple of parties, if she got high enough.
If she got high enough what? She'd grab a guy, she'd go into a room.
She liked sex.
She said her husband couldn't get it up.
Did the defendant ever tell you that she was in love with you? Yeah.
A few times.
In bed.
Did you believe her? Well, she got this look.
You know, I believed her for as long as it lasted.
But an hour later, it was like it never happened.
Thank you.
You had drugs around because you were a drug dealer, isn't that right? Yes.
But I've mainly been doing some conceptualizing.
Computer games.
Computer games? Well, you knew who my client's husband was, didn't you? Yes.
Didn't you pester my client until she introduced you to him? Thought his company might be interested.
So isn't it a fact that you were using Stephanie Harker, not the other way around? Well, I guess there was something in it for both of us.
Well, what's in it for you to testify against her today? What do you mean? How much cocaine did the police find in your apartment? About half a kilo.
But they Are you currently facing any criminal charges relating to that cocaine? No.
So isn't it a fact that your testimony today is filled with lies and exaggerations in exchange for the police letting you off? Objection.
Overruled.
Isn't it, Mr.
Petoskey? Isn't that the truth? No.
I wouldn't do anything like that.
Stephanie's a friend.
I like her.
Stephanie always talked about getting out of Niagara Falls.
She said she'd do it in a barrel if she had to.
She even sent some Polaroids to Playboy once.
Did she ever talk about meeting a rich man and moving away? I guess.
You're under oath, Miss Naughton.
Sometimes she would (SIGHS) Get celebrity magazines or the gossip papers and make lists of rich men, like for a joke.
Her affair with Peter Barnett, the used car king, was that for a joke? No, I guess that was to get cars to drive.
Did the defendant have an expression she used to describe men in general? Sometimes, yeah.
What was it? Do I have to say? It's embarrassing.
Tell us anyway.
(SIGHS) "Penises with wallets.
" That's what her husband was to her? I don't know.
It was just a way of talking.
She had some bad experiences.
Don't we all, Miss Naughton? There was this rich kid in high school.
She got pregnant.
He was supposed to marry her.
Just answer my questions.
He treated her like trash.
She had to have an abortion.
Just answer the questions, Miss Naughton.
When did you see the defendant last before the murders in this case? A few nights before we had a couple of drinks.
Did she say anything to you as she was leaving? She said she might not see me for a while, but she'd be in touch.
What did you think was happening? I was worried.
She said not to believe anything bad I heard about her.
Like that she'd murdered several people.
No.
No.
Of course not.
Thank you.
Well, she didn't tell you what you might hear, did she? No.
For all you knew, she was worried you'd hear she gained some weight? Right.
Wendy, did Stephanie ever give you money? Yes, she paid for me to come down here.
She helped me out with an apartment, she bought me a watch.
How much, all together? At least $10,000.
American dollars.
The watch was a Breguet.
And after giving you all that money, did she ever ask you to do anything illegal? No.
She was very lonely.
She just wanted to have me around.
And you were her best friend, weren't you? The one person she could really talk to? Yeah.
Did she ever tell you she wanted her husband dead? No, never.
Nothing like that.
Well, you really nailed her.
Good thing we almost went to war with Canada.
I got all the facts I need in evidence.
The gun, the money, the men, the attitude.
Well, they must think we've scored points.
They're putting Stephanie on the stand.
To explain everything away.
Let her try.
Yeah, you're gonna be the first man to get the better of her.
I lent Doris the money, that's all.
She needed help, and I could afford it.
What kind of help did she need? To get into a rehab program.
She had a problem with cocaine.
She was having delusions, paranoid attacks, fits of violence.
Did she enter rehab? No, she lied to me.
She just bought more drugs.
Mr.
Petoskey told the police that you gave her drugs.
He's lying.
Mrs.
Harker, did you ever ask Doris Nichols to kill your husband? No.
Did you want your husband dead? No.
I loved him.
I loved Caitlin.
I can't believe Doris killed them.
Thank you, Mrs.
Harker.
You wanted to help her, so you gave a drug addict suffering violent paranoid fits $50,000 in cash? That's how much some of these programs cost.
It never occurred to you to write a check to the program? I thought Doris was responsible.
In between her paranoid fits? Why did you give her a gun? I didn't.
She must have taken it from my house.
Did you report it stolen? No, I I didn't know it was gone.
Why did you call her a half an hour before the murders? To make sure she was all right.
And she was so comforted by your call that she went right out and killed your husband and your stepchild? Objection.
Sustained.
Why do you think she killed them? She was crazy.
It seems like everything was crazy, doesn't it? What do you mean? You loaned $50,000 to a mad woman.
You went to your book group even though you hated it.
Doris stole your gun, but you never noticed.
She killed your family for no reason.
Then she came to kill you for no reason, but she forgot the gun.
Scratches appeared on your body by magic.
Doris did call you at the restaurant, but she never spoke.
Is that the best story you can make up? I didn't make it up.
Do you consider yourself intelligent? Yes.
The other women in your book club said you couldn't even read the books.
So I had better things to do.
Like get stoned and jump from bed to bed.
I made some mistakes I had a problem with drugs.
That doesn't mean I killed anybody.
I loved my husband.
He didn't love you.
He was divorcing you.
No, he wasn't.
Is his divorce lawyer lying? Did he file legal papers for fun? LAWYER: Objection.
JUDGE: Sustained.
Save it for your summation, Mr.
McCoy.
Your good friend Wendy told us that you'd been dumped before, is that right? It happens.
By a rich boy who treated you like trash.
Your father owned a souvenir stand, right? Yes.
Is that why the boy dumped you? There is nothing wrong with a souvenir stand.
Then why were you so desperate to get out of there? I had some bad memories.
Of being dumped because you were poor trash? Look, I was an idiot.
He wanted one thing, my body, and he got it.
You weren't going to let that happen again, were you? No.
From then on, you were going to be the one using people.
I don't use people.
How about the used car king? How about your husband? I helped my husband in a lot of ways.
The chairman of a multi-million dollar software company? How exactly does a drug-whacked daughter of a souvenir stand owner help him? There were plenty of things my husband didn't understand.
Him and his friends.
Jane Austen, like that matters.
He understood you, though, didn't he? What do you mean? He finally understood that you were just a hick town party girl who didn't belong here.
Objection.
He's harassing the witness.
Sustained.
Watch it, Mr.
McCoy.
I belong here as much as any of them.
Did he tell you he was shipping you out? Nobody ships me anywhere.
He'd be able to face his friends again, wouldn't he? Bunch of snobs.
Your Honor, may we have a recess? It's not being a snob if they're really better than you.
The women were jealous of me! The men all wanted to get me in bed! And you were happy to oblige.
No.
Not anymore.
Nobody takes advantage of me anymore.
You were on your way back to that souvenir stand, weren't you, where you belong? I am smarter than all of them! They had it handed to them! I had to work for it.
They think I was trash.
They don't know anything! JUDGE: Members of the jury, on the first count of the indictment, Murder in the First Degree in the death of Ronald Harker, has the jury reached a verdict? We have, Your Honor.
We find the defendant, Stephanie Harker, guilty.
On the second count of the indictment, Murder in the First Degree in the death of Caitlin Harker, have you reached a verdict? JURY FOREWOMAN: We find the defendant, Stephanie Harker, guilty.
On the third count of the indictment, Murder in the First Degree in the death of Doris Nichols, has the jury reached a verdict? We find the defendant guilty.
JUDGE: This court will reconvene in two weeks to adjudicate sentence upon the defendant.
Counsel are instructed to submit sentence reports one week prior to that date.
We are adjourned.
(GAVEL POUNDING) (WHISPERING INAUDIBLY) SCHIFF: Just the kind of publicity the State Department likes.
I don't think either Canada or Great Britain has anything to teach us about human rights.
Did you read their Official Secrets Act? Until a few years ago, Canada didn't even have a bill of rights.
Thanks for the America First speech.
Not too late to back off.
It's up to the jury.
That's not an answer.
Her crimes fit the death penalty statute.
We've got nothing to apologize for.
The death penalty may be statutory.
It's not mandatory.
JACK: In some cases it really is, Adam.
Killing four people, killing a child.
Stephanie Harker doesn't push my pity button.
It's a dirty business, my friends.
A dirty business.
I want to say how sorry I am to all the people that I hurt.
I lied to my friends.
Used them.
I'm so sorry, Wendy.
(SIGHS) I lied in this courtroom.
I asked Doris to kill Ronnie.
I didn't mean for Caitlin to get hurt, but that is my fault, too.
I shot Doris.
And Ronnie's first wife, I killed her, too.
I wanted things, all the wrong things, so bad.
I was afraid of losing it all.
When I was a little girl, I used to see the Americans come to Niagara Falls.
They acted like everything was just for them.
They were so confident.
I used to imagine that I was the secret daughter of some millionaire.
And that some day he would come and he would find me, and everybody would know how special I was.
But my father told me not to pretend that I was something special.
Don't Don't try and stand out.
"You're just Stephie Stevens, and your Daddy sells plastic souvenirs.
" And that boy, that boy that got me pregnant, he treated me like I was trash.
I am not excusing what I did.
I am just so scared.
I am really not a bad person.
I just I want a chance.
I always just wanted a chance.
I can change.
Please Don't kill me.
Please.
Just give me a chance.
JUDGE: Madam Forewoman, have you reached a unanimous verdict as to the sentence? JURY FOREWOMAN: We have.
JUDGE: Go ahead.
We find the defendant, Stephanie Harker, shall be remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections to await execution, as prescribed by Article 22-B of the Correction Law of the State of New York.
The one time she was truthful.
Too little, too late.
The truth doesn't always set you free.
The switchboard told me they got over 500 calls from Canada.
Nine to one against killing Stephanie Harker.
Maybe we should post warning signs at the Canadian border.
SCHIFF: Yeah.
"Enter at your own risk.
"