CSI: Crime Scene Investigation s09e14 Episode Script
Miscarriage of Justice
I responded to a recovered missing person's vehicle at the Orpheus Casino.
When I oped the trunk, I observed a rolled up carpet with a large dark stain, which appeared to be blood.
Inside the carpet, I discovered the body of Amber Jones.
I also observed three gunshot wounds.
One to the right shoulder.
Two to the abdomen.
The Medical Examiner was able to recover all three of the bullets.
They were nine millimeter caliber, six lands and grooves, right hand twist.
Consistent with the following four firearms.
******* ******* A Ruger, Luger, Walther and Beretta.
Dr.
Langston, did you recover a murder weapon at the scene? No.
Has it ever been found? No, the weapon is still missing.
Can you tell us if the defendant owns a gun? Yes.
Congressman Griffin has one firearm registered in his name.
A Beretta 92.
Were you able to compare the congressman's Beretta against the coroner's bullets? No.
Why not? The congressman stated that his gun had been stolen.
So, he must've filed a police report? The congressman claimed that he didn't know his gun was missing until CSI asked him to produce it.
LVPD! Drop the gun! Drop it! Drop the weapon now! Everybody stay down.
Catherine! There was just one shot.
It came from right outside the door.
What happened here? He had a gun.
He was headed for the courtroom.
I tried to get him to stop, but he just looked at me and blew his brains out.
I did not fire my weapon.
That's Dominic Humphreys, the congressman's Chief of Staff.
The prosecution's key witness.
And that is a Beretta 92.
proudly presents sync:ßÇÈâÈâ µ°¸â¸â Episode14 Miscarriage of Justice Congressman! Congressman, how do you feel about Dominic Humphreys' suicide? Why do you think he did it? Dominic Humphreys was my friend.
His death is not only a great loss to me, but to the people of the state.
Then why was he a witness for the prosecution? - That's all I want to say.
- That's enough, no more questions! The only reason a guy eats his gun in a courthouse is to make a statement.
Bullet looks like a through-and-through.
A lot of times, you'll find the bullet in clotted blood and brain matter.
So, that's where you want to start.
Nine millimeter hollow point.
That'll get the job done.
Nick, this was in his pocket.
Looks like it's signed by Dominic Humphreys.
I'm the congressman's Chief of Staff.
On that day, he called me around 5:00.
And he said, "Oh, my God, "Amber's dead.
Please help me.
" So, I drove to her house.
When I got there, she was She was on the kitchen floor.
Dead.
I saw that she was shot.
There was a lot of blood.
So much blood; it was everywhere.
Just tell me what happened next.
I asked him what happened and he swore he didn't kill her.
That he found her like that, he had just come over to apologize, and she was already dead.
I believed him because there was no gun.
Then I told him to leave.
That I would take care of it.
This was given in exchange for reduced sentence.
Counsel, obviously, this plea testimony is no longer admissible.
Mr.
Whitten can't cross-examine a dead man.
That doesn't preclu the people om presenting the physical evidence.
Your Honor, the congressman just wants to clear his name.
If the state's not going to drop the charges, we'd like to proceed as quickly as possible.
Miss Willows, you said the suicide gun might also be the missing murder weapon? How long will you need to confirm that? Eight minutes? Eight hours? Depends on how well the bullets are marked.
Plus, we are still processing the crime scene.
All right, then, I'll give you till tomorrow morning.
Got anything? - Found fibers on your gun.
- Where? Bottom of the slide.
The bottom of the slide is exposed only when you're loading or firing the gun.
Did you identify the fibers? Uh, yes.
Blue-black dyed wool cashmere blend.
Dominic Humphreys was wearing a khaki suit when he shot himself.
So, they're not from the suicide.
Fibers must've got caught in there some time before that.
Which means that if this is the gun that killed Amber Jones, and you can match those fibers to the congressman's clothes, we've got a slam dunk.
So, get the gun to Ballistics.
I'll get a search warrant.
Vic left the keys in the ignition.
I wouldn't call a suicide a "vic".
All I'm saying is, he knew he wasn't coming back.
This must've been the last thing he looked at.
Which makes him even more selfish.
If he really loved her, he wouldn't have killed himself.
My husband was convinced he was going to die in prison.
He was terrified.
He wrote a will, took out life insurance.
I should have seen it coming.
Why? Did Dominic talk about what was going on? No.
He just kept talking about what he had lost.
How his life was over.
Dom graduated top of his class fr law school.
He wanted to change the world.
They were going to do it together.
He idolized Edward.
So, you'd say the congressman was more than just his boss? He would've done anything for that man.
I blame him.
This is Edward's fault.
Mrs.
Humphreys, did your husnd ever say anything about Amber Jones, talk about the murder? No.
- Did you know your husband had a gun? - No.
If it had been in the house, I would've known about it.
Fire two! Gun's registered to the congressman.
It's his missing Beretta.
This is the gun that killed Amber Jones.
Humphreys said there was no gun at the scene.
He lied under oath.
"Dear Edward, I'm sorry.
"Sorry I wasn't a better man.
Sorry that I put you through this.
" "I was just trying to protect you.
Amber was going to destroy all our dreams.
" "That's why I I shot her.
I killed Amber Jones.
" "Forgive me.
Please tell my wife that I love her.
" What does that say about my conclusions? The ones I testified to in court that are part of the public record? There's nothing wrong with your conclusions, Ray.
They were based on valid, scientific investigation.
And they were signed off by me, your supervisor.
But Humphreys had the gun.
He confessed.
My experience as a doctor tells me, Catherine, that people tend to tell the truth when they know they're going to die.
Humphreys lied under oath.
And his confession is just words.
And the gun is equivocal.
I mean, we know that he cleaned up the crime scene.
Maybe the gun was there, too, and he lied about that.
Or maybe he stole it from the congressman's apartment, killed Amber with it, and the congressman is telling the truth.
Well the A.
D.
A.
is moving forward with the case.
They haven't declared a mistrial? The judge is going to allow the jury to hear about the gun as well as Humphreys' suicide confession.
Which means I'll be back on the stand.
Ray, you testified that congressman Griffin was the most likely suspect.
Which was true based on the evidence that we had at the time.
And now, we have new evidence.
And when the evidence changes, we modify our theory to make it fit.
All right.
What's our theory now? I don't know yet.
Dr.
Langston, I want to revisit the autopsy results.
The defendant claims he never had intercourse with Miss Jones.
Did you find any evidence to the contrary? Objection! Leading.
Sustained.
But the witness may answer the question.
Yes.
We discovered that the victim had occluded fallopian tubes.
Our tests confirmed that Miss Jones had advanced chlamydia.
Because chlamydia is highly contagious, it provided us with a method to confirm whether orot there had been sexual contact.
The congressman tested positive for the same strain of chlamydia as the victim.
Which means he lied again.
- Objection.
- Withdrawn.
There were dark fibers found in the gun slide.
No match to what Humphreys was wearing when he killed himself.
- So they could be from Amber Jones' shooter? - Yep.
That'll be a good thing to know before the trial's over.
We searched the congressman's apartment before, but we weren't looking for fibers.
The judge has limited this warrant to just his clothing.
One of his attorneys will be there for you.
Great.
So, I get a baby shark as a chaperone.
That'll be fun.
Let me guess, I get the suicide closet.
No lawyer.
Just the widow.
I'd rather have the lawyer.
Nick.
This is going to take a while.
Well, we don't have a while.
Langston is back on the stand.
So, you got some fresh eyes on this one.
Could Dominic Humphreys have killed Amber Jones? Let's start with opportunity.
Did he have time to kill her? We've only got approximate T.
O.
D.
We found her body on a Saturday.
And she died someti Wednesday.
Okay, here's what I got.
Amber's last phone call was at 10:07.
She called in sick to The Tassel Room.
She's a dancer.
Now, phone records also confirm that the congressman called Humphreys at 5:03 PM.
And the ca lasted three minutes.
And according to both men, the congressman made the call after he discovered Amber's body.
I need your help.
No, Amber's dead! Oh, my God.
I'm at her house.
What do I do? That puts T.
O.
D.
sometime between 10:07 AM and 5:03 PM.
Humphreys was at a high school with the congressman from 9:30 AM until noon.
Okay, and then, he chaired a hearing from 2:30 till 5:00.
He has no alibi from noon to 2:30.
He claimed he went to lunch.
Alone.
Well, then he had plenty of time to kill her.
So, how much do they pay you to stand in a closet? I get it, they don't pay you to talk.
What the hell is going on here? This is harassment.
Ma'am, I gave the search warrant to your attorney.
I'm here looking for evidence.
You don't have enough evidence? Well, you're not going to find anything here because my husband isn't guilty.
Ma'am, if you don't let me do my job, I'm going to have to get a uniform to remove you.
From my own apartment? You people never stop.
You've already destroyed our lives.
Haven't I lost enough? I'm all done here, Mrs.
Humphreys.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Do you think Dom killed her? Please.
My husband's already dead.
I need to know.
Look, I'm sorry, I can't talk to you about the case.
No one will talk to me.
Not the police, not my friends.
They don't know what to say, what to think.
My advice, get out of this house.
Go stay with your family.
Dom was my family.
On the news, they said there was a note.
What did it say? He said he loved you.
Did he say why? - Mrs.
Humphreys - Please.
You don't understand.
Actually, I do.
Your husband's note whatever it says, it's it's not going to take away your doubts or your questions.
Some people just can't be saved.
Dr.
Langston, you testified that you discovered Miss Jones was killed in her kitchen.
Now, how did you figure that out again? I searched for latent and cleaned up blood stains using luminol.
Thluminol revealed a torso-shaped blood pool that was on the floor and had recently been cleaned up.
It also revealed high velocity blood spatter on the walls that was consistent with a gunshot Thank you, but I'm not interested in that right now.
Let's move on, shall we? Now, you testified you found one fingerprint from my client.
Where did you find that? I found the congressman's print on the tilt rod of the blinds covering the front wdow.
Now, wasn't that in the living room? But the murder happened in the kitchen, so aren't the two unrelated? Which question would you like me to answer? Can you tell the jury what chemical you used to determine when my client touched the tilt rod? - There isn't one.
- There isn't one.
So are you saying that that one print proves my client pulled the trigger? No, but it does prove he lied.
Until I found that print, the ngressman denied he was ever in the house.
Okay, Humphreys admitted cleaning up the scene, but why a casino parking lot? Why would Humphreys dump Amber's body there? He had to know about surveillance.
I mean, that's how you caught him, right? He was setting up a fall guy.
Figured it was worth the risk.
Humphreys was trying to frame Amber's stalker ex-boyfriend.
Tommy Ruby.
He's a limo driver at the casino.
Now, he was our prime suspect.
But we couldn't talk to him.
He blew town right after the murder.
How did Humphreys know about him? Because Humphreys helped Amber file a T.
R.
O.
against Tommy a few weeks before she died.
All right, I get the picture.
Humphreys was the congressman's little bitch.
One of Humphreys' jobs is party planning for the congressman.
The night before Amber died, Humphreys called her up.
Amber, he wants to see you.
Get over here as soon as you can.
Get this-- the congressman keeps two apartments in his building.
One is for him and the Missus, the other is for "entertaining".
So we know they had a date that night, buit wasn't all fun and games.
I mean he even admits they had an argument.
Now he claims he got so drunk he passed out.
But he saw her trying to steal his wallet, so he hit her so hard he split her eye open.
Which he only owned up to because Langston found Amber's blood in the apartment.
Now,Humphreys drove her to the emergency room,and he signed her out.
He did everything the congressman asked him to do, so if the congressman ordered Humphreys to kill Amber, then why did he show up at her house that afternoon? He wouldn't.
So,killing Amber is all Humphreys' idea? Is that what we're concluding? Are you familiar with a suicide note left by Dominic Humphreys? Yes.
But I can't testify to it,because II didn't process the scene.
No,that's right.
You're still a rookie,aren't you? That has nothing to do with it.
I'm handing you a copy of the note,which is marked as defense exhibit M.
Allow me to summarize the contents.
Mr.
Humphreys confessed to the murder of Amber Jones.
Now,didn't you testify that my client was the most likely suspect in her murder? Yes,I did-- however You still stand by your own conclusion? In light of the new evidence Yes or no? NoI can't.
All right,settle down,quiet.
Thank you.
hello,Matty.
My name is Ray,Ray Langston.
I know.
Seen you on the stand.
You're a very brave girl,you know.
I think your mother would be very proud of you.
I'm not even sure who my mom really was.
She always used to say she was a real dancer,an artist.
First,she dies,and then I find out she's full of crap.
She was just a stripper.
Well,whatever the tru is about your mother's life,she didn't deserve to die.
You must be hungry.
Would you,uh,care for this? Oh,no.
Really,I can get another one.
I probably shouldn't be eating this anyway.
My stomach's upset.
How long have you had that rash on your arm? I don't know,a couple days.
May I see if you have a fever? Just need to touch your neck.
I'm a doctor-- it's okay.
Matty,I'm going to ask you a question,and I apologize if it seems a bit awkward.
Um,have you noticed that you haven't been urinati a lot lately? I'm not like my mother.
I don't have any diseases.
I know,I know,but I think you may be very sick.
We should get you to a hospital as soon as possible.
Tommy,Tommy,Tommy,Tommy,my man! Bad idea to get in a bar fight when every cop in the county is looking for you.
I've been out of town.
All right,I just got back yesterday.
Look,I just stopped by the club to say hey to my girls.
The Tassel Room.
Amber Jones was one of your girls-- remember her? You left town the day she was murdered.
Kind of makes you look guilty.
Yeah,but they caught the guy that shot her.
That,uhthe congressman.
Look,I didn't do nothing.
You were stalking her.
That's her side of the story.
According to Amber's daughter,you were parked outside her house the day before her mother was murdered.
Amber filed a temporary restraining order against you.
She was afraid for her life.
Leave my mom alone! You're not supposed to be here! I'm calling the cops and getting your ass arrested! Matty's got it all wrong.
All right,I was just trying to make amends.
See,I'm in the 12-step program.
Making amends is part of my recovery.
Okay,I'm on step nine.
Oh,I think you missed a couple of steps there,Tommy,'cause you're drunk.
You smell like a brewery.
Can't walk in a straight line.
I took Amber's death really hard.
All right,it set me back.
See,I never got a chance to tell her that I truly forgave her for ruining my life.
you're either a stalker or you're the best eyewitness ever.
What's it going to be? Oh,that's easy.
What do you want to know? When was the last time you saw her? The day after her kid kicked the crap out of my limo.
I was in between pickups,and she received a package from Worldwide WorldWorld-Send.
That's when I saw her.
She looked like hell.
She was always such a tease.
Got a kick out of making guys want her.
It was 4:01 P.
M.
I remember,because I got a call from my dispatcher.
Uh,I had to bounce 'cause I was running late.
That's the last time I saw her.
what about me? Can I go? No.
You're not going anywhere.
What do you think? Well,we never found a World-Send package, but we didn't process the house until four days after the fact.
If we can confirm that she got a delivery just after 4:00, that narrows the T.
O.
D.
to between 4:00 and 5:00.
That means that Dominic Humphreys didn't kill her.
Brings us back to the congressman.
Amber Jones was a single mom,struggling to support her teenage daughter.
Congressman Edward Griffinis a married man.
He seduced her.
Took advantage of her.
He admits being physically violent.
And when Amber became a liability to his marriage and his career,he murdered her.
The defense would have you believe that Dominic Humphreys committed this crime.
After all,Mr.
Humphreys confessed to it before taking his own life.
But that's another lie in a giant web of lies.
The evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt Mr.
Humphreys had an alibi and could not have killed Amber Jones.
The defendant needs to be held accountable for his actions.
Find him guilty.
Amber Jones lost her life,and that's a tragedy.
But she's not the only victim here.
My client lost his life,too.
Now,this man is not perfect.
He had an affair.
He and his wife have dealt with that privately,and she's forgiven him.
But I'm going to tell you what really happened.
My client went to Amber Jones' house to apologize for losing his temper and to end the affair.
He found her body.
And that's when he made a mistake he will regret for the rest of his life.
He didn't call 911.
He called Dominic Humphreys.
He made a mistake.
But he's not killer.
Well,your suspicions are correct.
Matty was being poisoned.
Boric acid.
ALT levels over a 1,000.
BUN levels 86.
Her kidneys are shutting down.
Based on the level of organ damage,I'd say that she's been ingesting it for about eight weeks.
Do you know the source? Not yet.
You're putting her on dialysis? That's about all we can do at this point.
****permanent organ damage? Not yet.
Thank you.
Okay.
How's Matty? She'll live,but they haven't ruled out permanent damage.
Langston.
I found trace levels of boric acid in Amber Jones' blood and organs.
Consistent with a one-time dose.
Well,low levels don't rule out chronic poisoning.
Right,the only way to confirm how long she was being poisoned is through hair analysis.
And the only way to do that is for us to get some of her hair.
I'll get a warrant to exhume the body.
I think Amber was the target and her daughter was collateral damage.
Well,if poisoning was the weapon of choice,why change weapons and shoot her? All right,let's say I'm the killer.
I decide to poison Amber.
She doesn't die,so I panic.
And I shoot her.
Okay.
Amber's been dead eight weeks,yet her daughter is still being exposed to the poison, so the source has got to be in their house.
Got to be hard to sleep in the same house where your mom was killed.
Well,they say kids are resilient.
Nobody's that resilient.
She's probably blaming herself.
Voice of experience? Boric acid can be ingested or absorbed through the skin.
I'm gonna go check out the shampoos and body washes.
All right.
Is Riley all right? I think this whole case has,uh,hit a nerve.
Well,she's not shy.
If she wanted to talk about it,she would.
Source of the poison has to be something that's been around for at least two months.
I'll start with any open items.
We have a winner.
Looks like somebody tampered with their drink mix.
Purchased at Skadden Pharmacy.
Well,it looks like she usually shopped at Nathan's Market.
You don't buy food at a pharmacy unless you're there picking something else up.
Hey,did you find any,uh,prescription meds? Just an antibiotic and a hydrocodone.
You got something? Yeah.
This prescription was filled the night before Amber was murdered.
Thank you.
David,would you hand me a rubber band,please? Yeah.
Thank you.
I'll get this to Henry stat.
Matty looks just like her mother.
Did you note this at autopsy? If I had,no way I would have cut through it.
It must have developed later.
Embalming fluid can enhance discoloration.
Contusion had to have occurred perimortem.
Otherwise,the bruise would have blossomed earlier.
It's a shoe impression.
Jury, have you reached a verdict? Yes,Your Honor,we have.
Will the defendant please rise? "In the matter of State of Nevada v.
Edward Griffin," "we the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree.
" Settle down.
Quiet! Please remand the defendant into custody.
We're live at the courthouse,where,just moments ago, Congressman Griffin was remanded into custody after he was convicted in the murder of local resident Amber Oh,we got a conviction.
Jury came back quick.
Well,this case isn't over yet.
I called the pharmacist at Skadden's.
On the night before Amber died,the emergency room doc called in two prescriptions-- an antibiotic and a painkiller.
They were picked up and paid for by Dominic Humphreys.
Well,he took her to the E.
R.
and then drove her home.
Yeah,but the meds weren't the only thing he picked up.
Check it out.
Bandages,medical tape,antibiotic ointment,energy drink mix,crackers,soup.
Roach poison? Humphreys was the one trying to poison her? And then the congressman decided to shoot her? That's what it looks like.
Obviously,he didn't care that he poisoned her daughter,too.
We found new evidence on Amber Jones' body.
You got to be kidding me.
Shoe impression bruise.
Developed after the embalming.
Its only seven inches long.
Well,it has to belong to the killer.
Can't be the congressman's.
Seven inches-- that's got to be female.
The only female with access to the murder weapon is Mrs.
Griffin.
Did the wife have an alibi from 4:00 to 5:00? I remember Mrs.
Griffin telling Brass that she was in bed recovering from a miscarriage.
Her hormones are already in overdrive,and then she catches her husband cheating.
She might have caught more than that.
Amber gave the congressman chlamydia.
I think he gave it to his wife.
Chlamya can cause a miscarriage.
Well,that's one hell of a motive.
This bruise is not specific enough to identify the shoe.
No,but we can get a warrant for her clothes.
Maybe we can match the fibers from the gun slide.
Call the A.
D.
A.
Let her know that she won't be taking tomorrow off.
All right.
We found these gloves in your closet.
Blue-black dye,wool and cashmere blend.
It proves you killed Amber Jones.
You two need to watch the news.
Her husband was just found guilty.
Hey,I get it.
You lost your baby because he couldn't keep it in his pants.
Your husband's conviction will be overturned.
That's the good news.
The bad news is,unless you talk to us,you'll be the one on trial.
You don't have to say a word to these people.
I can't go through this again.
I hadjust come back from seeing my doctor, and I needed to talk to my husband.
But he wasn't home.
I saw his wallet on the dresser.
That meant he was downstairs.
He had cheated before.
But when he ran for office,we made a deal.
He could look,but not touch.
I'm the one who hit the little bitch,not him.
But you didn't stop there,right? The next morning my doctor called and told me I had chlamydia.
That's what killed my baby.
I'm 40 years old.
We had been trying to get pregnant for over three years.
It was my last chance.
My last chance to be a mother.
Then II found my husband's cell phone bill, and I just started calling numbers until I found hers.
Do you want something to drink? Yeah,thank you.
I told her I was there to apologize.
That I'd been thinking about it all night.
No! Please.
Please don't kill me.
Please.
Please! I have a daughter! Because of you,my daughter is dead.
So you left,but you forgot the gun? You figured Dominic would clean up after you,too.
No,Dominic didn't know anything about it.
He would never help me.
He always thought I was a liability to my husband's career.
So when did your husband realize that youkilled Amber? As soon as you told him his gun was missing.
You have an STD.
You should go to the doctor.
I don't know.
I would have killed him,not her.
All right.
Matty's going to be all right.
No permanentamage.
Glad to hear it.
Ray.
You deserve this.
Thank you,Catherine.
Talk about baptism by fire.
Yeah,but you made it through it.
You never quit.
Do you think she really dropped the gun? Or do you think she left it there to frame him? My money's on the frame.
I think she dropped it.
Heat of the moment.
Or maybe both things are true.
She accidentally dropped the gun,and then decided to leave it there to punish him.
Well,we'll never know.
But what we do know-- Ray got it right.
Yeah.
Ray had a lot of help.
Cheers.
A lot of help.
Teamwork.
Makes the dream work.
When I oped the trunk, I observed a rolled up carpet with a large dark stain, which appeared to be blood.
Inside the carpet, I discovered the body of Amber Jones.
I also observed three gunshot wounds.
One to the right shoulder.
Two to the abdomen.
The Medical Examiner was able to recover all three of the bullets.
They were nine millimeter caliber, six lands and grooves, right hand twist.
Consistent with the following four firearms.
******* ******* A Ruger, Luger, Walther and Beretta.
Dr.
Langston, did you recover a murder weapon at the scene? No.
Has it ever been found? No, the weapon is still missing.
Can you tell us if the defendant owns a gun? Yes.
Congressman Griffin has one firearm registered in his name.
A Beretta 92.
Were you able to compare the congressman's Beretta against the coroner's bullets? No.
Why not? The congressman stated that his gun had been stolen.
So, he must've filed a police report? The congressman claimed that he didn't know his gun was missing until CSI asked him to produce it.
LVPD! Drop the gun! Drop it! Drop the weapon now! Everybody stay down.
Catherine! There was just one shot.
It came from right outside the door.
What happened here? He had a gun.
He was headed for the courtroom.
I tried to get him to stop, but he just looked at me and blew his brains out.
I did not fire my weapon.
That's Dominic Humphreys, the congressman's Chief of Staff.
The prosecution's key witness.
And that is a Beretta 92.
proudly presents sync:ßÇÈâÈâ µ°¸â¸â Episode14 Miscarriage of Justice Congressman! Congressman, how do you feel about Dominic Humphreys' suicide? Why do you think he did it? Dominic Humphreys was my friend.
His death is not only a great loss to me, but to the people of the state.
Then why was he a witness for the prosecution? - That's all I want to say.
- That's enough, no more questions! The only reason a guy eats his gun in a courthouse is to make a statement.
Bullet looks like a through-and-through.
A lot of times, you'll find the bullet in clotted blood and brain matter.
So, that's where you want to start.
Nine millimeter hollow point.
That'll get the job done.
Nick, this was in his pocket.
Looks like it's signed by Dominic Humphreys.
I'm the congressman's Chief of Staff.
On that day, he called me around 5:00.
And he said, "Oh, my God, "Amber's dead.
Please help me.
" So, I drove to her house.
When I got there, she was She was on the kitchen floor.
Dead.
I saw that she was shot.
There was a lot of blood.
So much blood; it was everywhere.
Just tell me what happened next.
I asked him what happened and he swore he didn't kill her.
That he found her like that, he had just come over to apologize, and she was already dead.
I believed him because there was no gun.
Then I told him to leave.
That I would take care of it.
This was given in exchange for reduced sentence.
Counsel, obviously, this plea testimony is no longer admissible.
Mr.
Whitten can't cross-examine a dead man.
That doesn't preclu the people om presenting the physical evidence.
Your Honor, the congressman just wants to clear his name.
If the state's not going to drop the charges, we'd like to proceed as quickly as possible.
Miss Willows, you said the suicide gun might also be the missing murder weapon? How long will you need to confirm that? Eight minutes? Eight hours? Depends on how well the bullets are marked.
Plus, we are still processing the crime scene.
All right, then, I'll give you till tomorrow morning.
Got anything? - Found fibers on your gun.
- Where? Bottom of the slide.
The bottom of the slide is exposed only when you're loading or firing the gun.
Did you identify the fibers? Uh, yes.
Blue-black dyed wool cashmere blend.
Dominic Humphreys was wearing a khaki suit when he shot himself.
So, they're not from the suicide.
Fibers must've got caught in there some time before that.
Which means that if this is the gun that killed Amber Jones, and you can match those fibers to the congressman's clothes, we've got a slam dunk.
So, get the gun to Ballistics.
I'll get a search warrant.
Vic left the keys in the ignition.
I wouldn't call a suicide a "vic".
All I'm saying is, he knew he wasn't coming back.
This must've been the last thing he looked at.
Which makes him even more selfish.
If he really loved her, he wouldn't have killed himself.
My husband was convinced he was going to die in prison.
He was terrified.
He wrote a will, took out life insurance.
I should have seen it coming.
Why? Did Dominic talk about what was going on? No.
He just kept talking about what he had lost.
How his life was over.
Dom graduated top of his class fr law school.
He wanted to change the world.
They were going to do it together.
He idolized Edward.
So, you'd say the congressman was more than just his boss? He would've done anything for that man.
I blame him.
This is Edward's fault.
Mrs.
Humphreys, did your husnd ever say anything about Amber Jones, talk about the murder? No.
- Did you know your husband had a gun? - No.
If it had been in the house, I would've known about it.
Fire two! Gun's registered to the congressman.
It's his missing Beretta.
This is the gun that killed Amber Jones.
Humphreys said there was no gun at the scene.
He lied under oath.
"Dear Edward, I'm sorry.
"Sorry I wasn't a better man.
Sorry that I put you through this.
" "I was just trying to protect you.
Amber was going to destroy all our dreams.
" "That's why I I shot her.
I killed Amber Jones.
" "Forgive me.
Please tell my wife that I love her.
" What does that say about my conclusions? The ones I testified to in court that are part of the public record? There's nothing wrong with your conclusions, Ray.
They were based on valid, scientific investigation.
And they were signed off by me, your supervisor.
But Humphreys had the gun.
He confessed.
My experience as a doctor tells me, Catherine, that people tend to tell the truth when they know they're going to die.
Humphreys lied under oath.
And his confession is just words.
And the gun is equivocal.
I mean, we know that he cleaned up the crime scene.
Maybe the gun was there, too, and he lied about that.
Or maybe he stole it from the congressman's apartment, killed Amber with it, and the congressman is telling the truth.
Well the A.
D.
A.
is moving forward with the case.
They haven't declared a mistrial? The judge is going to allow the jury to hear about the gun as well as Humphreys' suicide confession.
Which means I'll be back on the stand.
Ray, you testified that congressman Griffin was the most likely suspect.
Which was true based on the evidence that we had at the time.
And now, we have new evidence.
And when the evidence changes, we modify our theory to make it fit.
All right.
What's our theory now? I don't know yet.
Dr.
Langston, I want to revisit the autopsy results.
The defendant claims he never had intercourse with Miss Jones.
Did you find any evidence to the contrary? Objection! Leading.
Sustained.
But the witness may answer the question.
Yes.
We discovered that the victim had occluded fallopian tubes.
Our tests confirmed that Miss Jones had advanced chlamydia.
Because chlamydia is highly contagious, it provided us with a method to confirm whether orot there had been sexual contact.
The congressman tested positive for the same strain of chlamydia as the victim.
Which means he lied again.
- Objection.
- Withdrawn.
There were dark fibers found in the gun slide.
No match to what Humphreys was wearing when he killed himself.
- So they could be from Amber Jones' shooter? - Yep.
That'll be a good thing to know before the trial's over.
We searched the congressman's apartment before, but we weren't looking for fibers.
The judge has limited this warrant to just his clothing.
One of his attorneys will be there for you.
Great.
So, I get a baby shark as a chaperone.
That'll be fun.
Let me guess, I get the suicide closet.
No lawyer.
Just the widow.
I'd rather have the lawyer.
Nick.
This is going to take a while.
Well, we don't have a while.
Langston is back on the stand.
So, you got some fresh eyes on this one.
Could Dominic Humphreys have killed Amber Jones? Let's start with opportunity.
Did he have time to kill her? We've only got approximate T.
O.
D.
We found her body on a Saturday.
And she died someti Wednesday.
Okay, here's what I got.
Amber's last phone call was at 10:07.
She called in sick to The Tassel Room.
She's a dancer.
Now, phone records also confirm that the congressman called Humphreys at 5:03 PM.
And the ca lasted three minutes.
And according to both men, the congressman made the call after he discovered Amber's body.
I need your help.
No, Amber's dead! Oh, my God.
I'm at her house.
What do I do? That puts T.
O.
D.
sometime between 10:07 AM and 5:03 PM.
Humphreys was at a high school with the congressman from 9:30 AM until noon.
Okay, and then, he chaired a hearing from 2:30 till 5:00.
He has no alibi from noon to 2:30.
He claimed he went to lunch.
Alone.
Well, then he had plenty of time to kill her.
So, how much do they pay you to stand in a closet? I get it, they don't pay you to talk.
What the hell is going on here? This is harassment.
Ma'am, I gave the search warrant to your attorney.
I'm here looking for evidence.
You don't have enough evidence? Well, you're not going to find anything here because my husband isn't guilty.
Ma'am, if you don't let me do my job, I'm going to have to get a uniform to remove you.
From my own apartment? You people never stop.
You've already destroyed our lives.
Haven't I lost enough? I'm all done here, Mrs.
Humphreys.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Do you think Dom killed her? Please.
My husband's already dead.
I need to know.
Look, I'm sorry, I can't talk to you about the case.
No one will talk to me.
Not the police, not my friends.
They don't know what to say, what to think.
My advice, get out of this house.
Go stay with your family.
Dom was my family.
On the news, they said there was a note.
What did it say? He said he loved you.
Did he say why? - Mrs.
Humphreys - Please.
You don't understand.
Actually, I do.
Your husband's note whatever it says, it's it's not going to take away your doubts or your questions.
Some people just can't be saved.
Dr.
Langston, you testified that you discovered Miss Jones was killed in her kitchen.
Now, how did you figure that out again? I searched for latent and cleaned up blood stains using luminol.
Thluminol revealed a torso-shaped blood pool that was on the floor and had recently been cleaned up.
It also revealed high velocity blood spatter on the walls that was consistent with a gunshot Thank you, but I'm not interested in that right now.
Let's move on, shall we? Now, you testified you found one fingerprint from my client.
Where did you find that? I found the congressman's print on the tilt rod of the blinds covering the front wdow.
Now, wasn't that in the living room? But the murder happened in the kitchen, so aren't the two unrelated? Which question would you like me to answer? Can you tell the jury what chemical you used to determine when my client touched the tilt rod? - There isn't one.
- There isn't one.
So are you saying that that one print proves my client pulled the trigger? No, but it does prove he lied.
Until I found that print, the ngressman denied he was ever in the house.
Okay, Humphreys admitted cleaning up the scene, but why a casino parking lot? Why would Humphreys dump Amber's body there? He had to know about surveillance.
I mean, that's how you caught him, right? He was setting up a fall guy.
Figured it was worth the risk.
Humphreys was trying to frame Amber's stalker ex-boyfriend.
Tommy Ruby.
He's a limo driver at the casino.
Now, he was our prime suspect.
But we couldn't talk to him.
He blew town right after the murder.
How did Humphreys know about him? Because Humphreys helped Amber file a T.
R.
O.
against Tommy a few weeks before she died.
All right, I get the picture.
Humphreys was the congressman's little bitch.
One of Humphreys' jobs is party planning for the congressman.
The night before Amber died, Humphreys called her up.
Amber, he wants to see you.
Get over here as soon as you can.
Get this-- the congressman keeps two apartments in his building.
One is for him and the Missus, the other is for "entertaining".
So we know they had a date that night, buit wasn't all fun and games.
I mean he even admits they had an argument.
Now he claims he got so drunk he passed out.
But he saw her trying to steal his wallet, so he hit her so hard he split her eye open.
Which he only owned up to because Langston found Amber's blood in the apartment.
Now,Humphreys drove her to the emergency room,and he signed her out.
He did everything the congressman asked him to do, so if the congressman ordered Humphreys to kill Amber, then why did he show up at her house that afternoon? He wouldn't.
So,killing Amber is all Humphreys' idea? Is that what we're concluding? Are you familiar with a suicide note left by Dominic Humphreys? Yes.
But I can't testify to it,because II didn't process the scene.
No,that's right.
You're still a rookie,aren't you? That has nothing to do with it.
I'm handing you a copy of the note,which is marked as defense exhibit M.
Allow me to summarize the contents.
Mr.
Humphreys confessed to the murder of Amber Jones.
Now,didn't you testify that my client was the most likely suspect in her murder? Yes,I did-- however You still stand by your own conclusion? In light of the new evidence Yes or no? NoI can't.
All right,settle down,quiet.
Thank you.
hello,Matty.
My name is Ray,Ray Langston.
I know.
Seen you on the stand.
You're a very brave girl,you know.
I think your mother would be very proud of you.
I'm not even sure who my mom really was.
She always used to say she was a real dancer,an artist.
First,she dies,and then I find out she's full of crap.
She was just a stripper.
Well,whatever the tru is about your mother's life,she didn't deserve to die.
You must be hungry.
Would you,uh,care for this? Oh,no.
Really,I can get another one.
I probably shouldn't be eating this anyway.
My stomach's upset.
How long have you had that rash on your arm? I don't know,a couple days.
May I see if you have a fever? Just need to touch your neck.
I'm a doctor-- it's okay.
Matty,I'm going to ask you a question,and I apologize if it seems a bit awkward.
Um,have you noticed that you haven't been urinati a lot lately? I'm not like my mother.
I don't have any diseases.
I know,I know,but I think you may be very sick.
We should get you to a hospital as soon as possible.
Tommy,Tommy,Tommy,Tommy,my man! Bad idea to get in a bar fight when every cop in the county is looking for you.
I've been out of town.
All right,I just got back yesterday.
Look,I just stopped by the club to say hey to my girls.
The Tassel Room.
Amber Jones was one of your girls-- remember her? You left town the day she was murdered.
Kind of makes you look guilty.
Yeah,but they caught the guy that shot her.
That,uhthe congressman.
Look,I didn't do nothing.
You were stalking her.
That's her side of the story.
According to Amber's daughter,you were parked outside her house the day before her mother was murdered.
Amber filed a temporary restraining order against you.
She was afraid for her life.
Leave my mom alone! You're not supposed to be here! I'm calling the cops and getting your ass arrested! Matty's got it all wrong.
All right,I was just trying to make amends.
See,I'm in the 12-step program.
Making amends is part of my recovery.
Okay,I'm on step nine.
Oh,I think you missed a couple of steps there,Tommy,'cause you're drunk.
You smell like a brewery.
Can't walk in a straight line.
I took Amber's death really hard.
All right,it set me back.
See,I never got a chance to tell her that I truly forgave her for ruining my life.
you're either a stalker or you're the best eyewitness ever.
What's it going to be? Oh,that's easy.
What do you want to know? When was the last time you saw her? The day after her kid kicked the crap out of my limo.
I was in between pickups,and she received a package from Worldwide WorldWorld-Send.
That's when I saw her.
She looked like hell.
She was always such a tease.
Got a kick out of making guys want her.
It was 4:01 P.
M.
I remember,because I got a call from my dispatcher.
Uh,I had to bounce 'cause I was running late.
That's the last time I saw her.
what about me? Can I go? No.
You're not going anywhere.
What do you think? Well,we never found a World-Send package, but we didn't process the house until four days after the fact.
If we can confirm that she got a delivery just after 4:00, that narrows the T.
O.
D.
to between 4:00 and 5:00.
That means that Dominic Humphreys didn't kill her.
Brings us back to the congressman.
Amber Jones was a single mom,struggling to support her teenage daughter.
Congressman Edward Griffinis a married man.
He seduced her.
Took advantage of her.
He admits being physically violent.
And when Amber became a liability to his marriage and his career,he murdered her.
The defense would have you believe that Dominic Humphreys committed this crime.
After all,Mr.
Humphreys confessed to it before taking his own life.
But that's another lie in a giant web of lies.
The evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt Mr.
Humphreys had an alibi and could not have killed Amber Jones.
The defendant needs to be held accountable for his actions.
Find him guilty.
Amber Jones lost her life,and that's a tragedy.
But she's not the only victim here.
My client lost his life,too.
Now,this man is not perfect.
He had an affair.
He and his wife have dealt with that privately,and she's forgiven him.
But I'm going to tell you what really happened.
My client went to Amber Jones' house to apologize for losing his temper and to end the affair.
He found her body.
And that's when he made a mistake he will regret for the rest of his life.
He didn't call 911.
He called Dominic Humphreys.
He made a mistake.
But he's not killer.
Well,your suspicions are correct.
Matty was being poisoned.
Boric acid.
ALT levels over a 1,000.
BUN levels 86.
Her kidneys are shutting down.
Based on the level of organ damage,I'd say that she's been ingesting it for about eight weeks.
Do you know the source? Not yet.
You're putting her on dialysis? That's about all we can do at this point.
****permanent organ damage? Not yet.
Thank you.
Okay.
How's Matty? She'll live,but they haven't ruled out permanent damage.
Langston.
I found trace levels of boric acid in Amber Jones' blood and organs.
Consistent with a one-time dose.
Well,low levels don't rule out chronic poisoning.
Right,the only way to confirm how long she was being poisoned is through hair analysis.
And the only way to do that is for us to get some of her hair.
I'll get a warrant to exhume the body.
I think Amber was the target and her daughter was collateral damage.
Well,if poisoning was the weapon of choice,why change weapons and shoot her? All right,let's say I'm the killer.
I decide to poison Amber.
She doesn't die,so I panic.
And I shoot her.
Okay.
Amber's been dead eight weeks,yet her daughter is still being exposed to the poison, so the source has got to be in their house.
Got to be hard to sleep in the same house where your mom was killed.
Well,they say kids are resilient.
Nobody's that resilient.
She's probably blaming herself.
Voice of experience? Boric acid can be ingested or absorbed through the skin.
I'm gonna go check out the shampoos and body washes.
All right.
Is Riley all right? I think this whole case has,uh,hit a nerve.
Well,she's not shy.
If she wanted to talk about it,she would.
Source of the poison has to be something that's been around for at least two months.
I'll start with any open items.
We have a winner.
Looks like somebody tampered with their drink mix.
Purchased at Skadden Pharmacy.
Well,it looks like she usually shopped at Nathan's Market.
You don't buy food at a pharmacy unless you're there picking something else up.
Hey,did you find any,uh,prescription meds? Just an antibiotic and a hydrocodone.
You got something? Yeah.
This prescription was filled the night before Amber was murdered.
Thank you.
David,would you hand me a rubber band,please? Yeah.
Thank you.
I'll get this to Henry stat.
Matty looks just like her mother.
Did you note this at autopsy? If I had,no way I would have cut through it.
It must have developed later.
Embalming fluid can enhance discoloration.
Contusion had to have occurred perimortem.
Otherwise,the bruise would have blossomed earlier.
It's a shoe impression.
Jury, have you reached a verdict? Yes,Your Honor,we have.
Will the defendant please rise? "In the matter of State of Nevada v.
Edward Griffin," "we the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree.
" Settle down.
Quiet! Please remand the defendant into custody.
We're live at the courthouse,where,just moments ago, Congressman Griffin was remanded into custody after he was convicted in the murder of local resident Amber Oh,we got a conviction.
Jury came back quick.
Well,this case isn't over yet.
I called the pharmacist at Skadden's.
On the night before Amber died,the emergency room doc called in two prescriptions-- an antibiotic and a painkiller.
They were picked up and paid for by Dominic Humphreys.
Well,he took her to the E.
R.
and then drove her home.
Yeah,but the meds weren't the only thing he picked up.
Check it out.
Bandages,medical tape,antibiotic ointment,energy drink mix,crackers,soup.
Roach poison? Humphreys was the one trying to poison her? And then the congressman decided to shoot her? That's what it looks like.
Obviously,he didn't care that he poisoned her daughter,too.
We found new evidence on Amber Jones' body.
You got to be kidding me.
Shoe impression bruise.
Developed after the embalming.
Its only seven inches long.
Well,it has to belong to the killer.
Can't be the congressman's.
Seven inches-- that's got to be female.
The only female with access to the murder weapon is Mrs.
Griffin.
Did the wife have an alibi from 4:00 to 5:00? I remember Mrs.
Griffin telling Brass that she was in bed recovering from a miscarriage.
Her hormones are already in overdrive,and then she catches her husband cheating.
She might have caught more than that.
Amber gave the congressman chlamydia.
I think he gave it to his wife.
Chlamya can cause a miscarriage.
Well,that's one hell of a motive.
This bruise is not specific enough to identify the shoe.
No,but we can get a warrant for her clothes.
Maybe we can match the fibers from the gun slide.
Call the A.
D.
A.
Let her know that she won't be taking tomorrow off.
All right.
We found these gloves in your closet.
Blue-black dye,wool and cashmere blend.
It proves you killed Amber Jones.
You two need to watch the news.
Her husband was just found guilty.
Hey,I get it.
You lost your baby because he couldn't keep it in his pants.
Your husband's conviction will be overturned.
That's the good news.
The bad news is,unless you talk to us,you'll be the one on trial.
You don't have to say a word to these people.
I can't go through this again.
I hadjust come back from seeing my doctor, and I needed to talk to my husband.
But he wasn't home.
I saw his wallet on the dresser.
That meant he was downstairs.
He had cheated before.
But when he ran for office,we made a deal.
He could look,but not touch.
I'm the one who hit the little bitch,not him.
But you didn't stop there,right? The next morning my doctor called and told me I had chlamydia.
That's what killed my baby.
I'm 40 years old.
We had been trying to get pregnant for over three years.
It was my last chance.
My last chance to be a mother.
Then II found my husband's cell phone bill, and I just started calling numbers until I found hers.
Do you want something to drink? Yeah,thank you.
I told her I was there to apologize.
That I'd been thinking about it all night.
No! Please.
Please don't kill me.
Please.
Please! I have a daughter! Because of you,my daughter is dead.
So you left,but you forgot the gun? You figured Dominic would clean up after you,too.
No,Dominic didn't know anything about it.
He would never help me.
He always thought I was a liability to my husband's career.
So when did your husband realize that youkilled Amber? As soon as you told him his gun was missing.
You have an STD.
You should go to the doctor.
I don't know.
I would have killed him,not her.
All right.
Matty's going to be all right.
No permanentamage.
Glad to hear it.
Ray.
You deserve this.
Thank you,Catherine.
Talk about baptism by fire.
Yeah,but you made it through it.
You never quit.
Do you think she really dropped the gun? Or do you think she left it there to frame him? My money's on the frame.
I think she dropped it.
Heat of the moment.
Or maybe both things are true.
She accidentally dropped the gun,and then decided to leave it there to punish him.
Well,we'll never know.
But what we do know-- Ray got it right.
Yeah.
Ray had a lot of help.
Cheers.
A lot of help.
Teamwork.
Makes the dream work.