Law & Order (1990) s12e17 Episode Script

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.
So I said, "As long as you're living under my roof, "you're not putting a hole through your tongue.
" This younger generation.
Piercing this, tattooing that.
Next day, she come home with a ring in she belly button.
I said, "What's this?" And she said, "Well, Mama, it's not my tongue.
" Lord knows, there are worse places.
(LAUGHING) Girl, I'm not even going there.
What's this on the washer? Looks like blood.
(GASPS) Oh, my Lord.
Couple of housekeepers found her around 9:00.
Looks like her skull's fractured.
Can we get in for a look? Not yet.
There's a partial shoe print and some dust we want to preserve.
BRISCOE: Looks like she got clocked pretty good.
You find a weapon? Probably the corner of that washing machine.
Well, maybe she just fell and hit her head.
Doubtful.
The damage was pretty extensive.
Plus dust indicates somebody dragged the body under here to hide it.
We know her name yet? No ID.
But the super's over there.
Says he recognizes her.
Thanks.
Thanks, Reed.
Excuse me.
You know this girl? (SIGHS) Her name's Julie Cade.
Lives in 3C.
Nice family.
Who's gonna tell 'em? We'll take care of it.
Was anybody from the building working down here this morning? Maintenance guys don't get in till 9:00.
What about the service entrance? Stays locked up till my guys get in.
He could've come through the front door.
You have cameras in the building? Just a doorman, 2417.
No money in the reserve fund for more security.
Pay now or pay later.
(CRYING) We moved here last fall from Boston.
They said this was a good neighborhood.
Do you feel up to answering a few questions? (EXHALES) Uh, what time did Julie leave this morning? She, uh, went downstairs to the laundry room about 7:30.
She spilled some water on her sweater.
She wanted to throw it into the dryer for a few minutes before school.
ED: And that was the last time you saw her? I went to work out.
I figured she was just going to school from there.
Did Julie know anybody in the building? Just a few people to say hello to, I guess.
BRISCOE: We're gonna need their names.
My God.
Do you think it was someone My husband told her just to put on something else, but you know how teenage girls are.
I still have to call his office (SOBBING) and tell him.
I take over from the night man at 6:00 a.
m.
Stay till 2:00 WOMAN: Thanks, Bill.
So, do you remember anybody unusual in the building? Say around 7:30, Oh, that's my busy time.
Tenants walking their dogs, kids going to school, people going to work.
Half the time, I'm out here hailing somebody a cab.
So, it's possible that somebody could've slipped in and out and you didn't see them? (LAUGHS) You know, if they expect me to keep track of everybody who comes and goes, they need to hire a second guy.
We're just trying to figure out what happened here.
Yeah.
Only thing comes to mind when I was helping Brian Becker on the school bus, someone went in past me wearing sweats.
Hood was up.
Couldn't see who it was.
Short? Tall? Average.
Man, woman, black, white, young, old? Couldn't tell.
Like I said, couldn't see the face.
They were wearing a jacket on over the sweats.
What kind of jacket.
You know, a jacket.
Dark.
Stripes on the sleeves.
Gold, or tan maybe.
Why didn't you stop this person? I was busy.
And they seemed to know where they were going.
So, you think it might have been somebody who lives in the building? Like I said, couldn't say one way or another.
The body was found at 9:00.
The M.
E.
estimated that she'd been dead for about an hour? Yeah.
Julie's mother said she went downstairs at 7:30 to dry a sweater.
Yeah, we found it in one of the dryers.
What about this person who slipped past the doorman? Well, the description's sketchy at best.
And the shoe print? It's just a partial.
How partial? Not enough to determine size, but they're pretty sure that it's from a running shoe.
Yeah, Latent thinks they got some good lifts off the washer.
We'll run 'em through the system.
Well, how about her tox screen? It came back clean.
But they did find traces of something on her sweater.
It looks like sodium thiosulfate.
Sodium what? Well, the lab says it's used for a variety of different things, like dechlorinating pools or photographic immersion.
That's developing pictures.
Thank you.
Now, why would this stuff be in a laundry room? It's not something you'd want to wash your clothes with.
Well, she got it on herself somehow.
We're gonna go back and canvass the building, see if anybody saw her there this morning.
All right.
I was waiting for the, uh, elevator in the basement, and she got off.
Poor thing.
To think a thing like that could happen in this building.
What were you doing down there so early, Mrs.
Quinn? Well, I like to do my laundry early, before the cleaning women come and hog all the dryers.
Was anyone with the Cade girl when you saw her? Not that I recall.
Was there anybody else doing laundry downstairs? The only other person I saw in the basement was Mark.
Mark somebody.
Nice-looking young man.
Lives on 11.
Mark's still at work.
What time did he go out this morning? Early.
I was still in bed.
Is this about that girl who was killed in the basement? It's possible that your husband may have been one of the last people to see her alive.
How's that? Someone thinks they saw your husband doing laundry in the basement this morning.
(SCOFFS) Mark doing laundry? Believe me, whoever it is, they're mistaken.
What other reason could he have for being down there at that hour? I don't know.
But I'm sure he'll be happy to answer your questions when he gets home.
When will that be? Later tonight.
Maybe it'd be better if we just, uh, talked to him at his job.
I'm not sure he'll be in the office.
Mark's a photographer for Metro City Magazine.
Really? He take all these? WOMAN: Every one.
Oh, they're really nice.
Does he develop his own prints? He's very picky about processing.
He even turned the maid's room into a darkroom.
You mind if I get quick look? I'm a bit of an amateur photographer myself.
He doesn't like me to go in there.
I ruined a batch of pictures once.
But I guess he wouldn't mind.
Just don't touch anything.
Oh, my God, they're all of that girl.
Maybe he was freelancing for Vogue.
Look, I told you, the first I heard about Julie was when my wife called and told me you guys were coming down.
So what were you doing in the basement this morning, Mr.
Knapp? I keep my, uh, bike in the storeroom.
Sometimes I bike to work.
What time'd you leave for work? Around 7:30.
You can check with the doorman.
He saw me leave.
We will.
Did you run into Julie down there? Um, no, the last time I saw Julie was yesterday.
She came by my apartment to check out her prints.
Just the two of you in your darkroom? It's not what it looks like.
Those photos were for her yearbook.
Pretty slick yearbook.
The seniors at her school design their own yearbook pages.
She asked me to take them.
So you were just helping her out? She told me that, um, everyone at her school thought that she was plain and uptight.
She asked me to make her look hip, sophisticated.
Look, the last thing that this kid needed was some middle-aged man hitting on her.
What do you mean, the last thing she needed? Was Julie having problems? Some relationship with a kid at her school.
It wasn't going so well.
BRISCOE: She say who? I asked her once if she wanted to talk about it, but she said that she couldn't.
As far as I know, Julie wasn't going with anybody.
How well did you know her? Well, she was new, and I was supposed to be her sponsor for a semester, but we didn't really connect.
Who did she connect with? Monica Heath, Alicia Milford.
Matty Helder.
The Dream Team.
Like the elite, you know? Pretty fast crowd for the new kid.
I think she was like their science project.
ED: Who was she the tightest with? Mostly Alicia.
ED: We heard that you and Julie were pretty close friends.
I just tried to look out for her.
Was there anybody in particular who gave her a hard time? A hard time? We heard that the kids thought she might have been a little uptight.
She wasn't even going to go to the Spring Dance.
Said it was sexist.
Stuff like that.
Julie wasn't uptight.
It's just, it's hard being new.
ED: Did she mention anything? I mean, anything she might have been worried about recently? (BELL RINGS) That's the end of second period.
Okay, you girls go ahead to class.
Thanks.
I got a lock cutter in the car.
Ed.
Check out the jackets.
Yeah, gold stripes.
I got a feeling somebody knows her combination.
are on varsity teams and wear those jackets.
Yeah, and 43 of them are girls.
What about the photographer? The school yearbook advisor confirmed that Julie submitted some of Knapp's proofs for her yearbook page.
Now, maybe he was getting some cheap thrills, but his story seems to check out.
The doorman said Knapp left on his bike around 7:30.
Julie wasn't killed till around 8:00, so that pretty much gets him off the hook.
The doorman also ID'd a Polaroid of the varsity jacket that he said slipped by him a few minutes later.
Yeah, we're thinking that's who the shoe print in the laundry room belongs to.
VAN BUREN: So, what are we doing to find Cinderfella? Mrs.
Cade gave us Julie's laptop.
Anything interesting? Well, I'm checking her e-mails.
There's no mention of a boyfriend yet.
But she wrote these last week.
"People think it's all about sex, but it's not.
"Why can't anyone understand that?" And, "This is their problem, not my problem.
" Who'd she send these to? The screen name of the recipient was A-Mil at Strickland.
Someone at school.
You track it down? A-Mil.
Her best friend is Alicia Milford.
(ALL CHEERING) Okay, that's good.
But next time, everything needs to be much tighter.
More energy, girls, all right? Leesh Okay, why don't you guys practice the toss? Is everything all right? We think there's something you forgot to tell us, Alicia.
What do you mean? Well You said that, uh, Julie wasn't upset about anything.
She wasn't.
Not as far as I know.
Where'd you get these? ED: We printed 'em off her laptop.
What's this "problem" she's referring to? Alicia, look, if you know something, now is the time to say so.
Maybe you should talk to Headmaster Marsh.
BRISCOE: What about? Was she seeing a teacher or something? Is that what this is about? These aren't about a guy.
Matty, don't They're gonna find out anyway.
Find out what? These e-mails are about Cherry.
"Cherry" was an Internet message board created by two of our students.
Girls in the school were rated sexually.
Details about what they would or wouldn't do.
A list of who the virgins supposedly were.
Sort of a new version of the bathroom wall, huh? Was Julie Cade written up on the site? WOMAN: No, she wasn't.
Why was she so concerned about the message board? Julie was a very serious girl.
She found the whole thing offensive.
Demeaning to women.
It was demeaning.
A couple of weeks ago someone left an anonymous note on my desk naming the students who were running it.
One of our faculty members identified the handwriting as Julie's.
Did you talk to her? She admitted writing the note.
Did anybody contact the police? We consulted a lawyer.
We were told that no crime had been committed, but we suspended the two students for a week and we shut down the message board.
Sounds like a slap on the wrist.
WOMAN: Not at Strickland.
Believe me, this won't look good on their college applications.
Look, we're not talking Columbine here.
Just very poor judgment.
Do the students know about that note? We tried to keep it quiet, but as you can imagine, it's hard to keep a secret in high school.
We're going to need to talk to these two cyber-gen I uses.
Peter Grimes and John Lucero.
The students are at lunch right now.
Peter Grimes? John Lucero? Yeah.
As soon as you're done stuffing you faces, we need to talk to you.
About what? Oh, putting mayo on corned beef, for openers.
Hey Lunch is over.
Get up, John boy.
Yo, I know my rights.
You can't put your hands on students.
I'm gonna file a complaint.
Aw, stick it on your message board, Lurch.
Nobody was supposed to know about the board.
It was a secret.
If nobody was supposed to know, then why do it in the first place? It was a goof, that's all.
We only told people we thought we could trust.
So you must've been pretty pissed off when you found out somebody dropped a dime on you.
I wasn't mad.
Oh, come on, bro, you got suspended.
Don't tell me you didn't want to know who busted you.
I was curious, maybe.
But I didn't go looking.
You and John didn't make a few phone calls asking around? No.
I didn't.
But John did, didn't he? Tell him what you know.
He's my best friend.
FATHER: Oh, for God sakes, Peter, stand up for yourself for once.
One of your classmates is dead, bro.
This ain't no goof no more.
He wouldn't have hurt her.
Yeah, but he knew that it was Julie that got you guys suspended, right? Right? (SIGHS) After we got busted, he freaked.
It was like he was obsessed with finding out who turned us in.
Well, why was it so important to him? He's got coaches calling him from Colgate, Dartmouth.
He was going to play college ball.
This is going to mess up his whole life.
Last Friday he found out it was Julie.
How did he find out? I don't know.
But he said he was just going to tell the bitch off, that's all.
I mean, scare her a little.
We weren't hurting anybody.
Calling your classmates whores? You know, if the truth hurts, I'm sorry.
I see your son's got a lot of remorse for this, huh? Hey, he's here and he's cooperating.
What more do you want? How did you find out Julie Cade was the one who busted you? (STAMMERS) I didn't even know that it was Julie.
(LAUGHS) That's not what your friend Peter told me.
FATHER: Are you calling my son a liar? Hey, if the truth hurts.
We don't have to sit here and listen to your insults.
As a matter of fact, you do.
Now, where were you I was Home eating breakfast with me.
Now, look, unless my son is under arrest, we're through answering any more of these questions.
We're through.
For now.
Well, I just got off with the D.
A.
Apparently there's no crime we can hold them on for the message board.
If we cut Lucero loose, we're not going to get his prints.
No judge is going to give us a warrant based on what his cyber-pal says.
Especially if his father's his alibi.
Well, maybe if there was some other way we could prove Lucero knew it was Julie who turned him in.
How did she find out about this message board? The webmaster gave us a list of all the students who logged onto Cherry.
We can cross-reference that list with her e-mail addresses.
Could be whoever told her told Lucero.
Okay.
Julie and I were doing a computer science project together in the library, and I had Cherry up on the back window.
When I came back from the bathroom, she was staring at it.
I take it she wasn't amused.
No, man, she was really pissed.
I told her she wasn't even on the damned thing, but she didn't care.
She thought it was really gross and degrading.
How did she know it was Lucero and Grimes? You tell her? What else could I do? I mean, she was right.
The whole thing was kind of twisted.
You didn't happen to tell John Lucero you were the one who gave him up? Yeah, right.
You think I have a death wish? What do you mean? John's a state-ranked wrestler.
He, like, hurts people recreationally.
So how did he find out Julie was the one who turned him in? I don't know.
But I heard he and Julie got into this big thing at some party Friday night.
What party? Melissa Gelson's.
John's girlfriend.
Ask anybody.
The argument that Julie had wasn't with John.
So who was it with? Denny Cannon.
He's on the wrestling team with John.
This argument have anything to do with the message boards? Cherry? No, totally not.
It had to do with Alicia Milford.
What about her? Well, Alicia was with Denny at the party.
With her? You know, like kissing and stuff, making out.
ED: Well, how did this cause a problem for Julie? Well, Julie didn't really like jocks.
She thought she was, like, better than them, you know.
Maybe she just didn't like her friend hooking up with jocks who post sex rumors on the Internet.
(LAUGHS) Or maybe she just didn't like the fact that nobody thought she was hot enough to post anything about her.
Look, when she saw Denny with Alicia, she went ballistic.
She went up to Denny and told him to leave her alone.
BRISCOE: And then what happened? Well, then Denny called her a bitch, and blah, blah, blah, but that's really all that happened.
And you saw all this? I heard about it later, okay? BRISCOE: So, where was John when all this was going on? With me.
In my bedroom.
Coach said you guys want to talk to me? Yeah, Denny.
Take a seat.
We hear, uh, you had a little problem with Julie Cade last week at a party? I wouldn't call it a problem.
No? What happened? Nothing.
I was with a friend of hers, Alicia.
Julie wasn't cool with it, that's all.
Now, why would she care that you were with Alicia? I don't know.
You know how freaky girls get sometimes.
Oh, you gotta beat 'em off with a stick? DENNY: I didn't say that.
We heard that you called Julie a bitch? She was a bitch.
Look, I had a couple of beers.
It was wrong, okay? I know.
Where were you before school the morning Julie got killed? Running in Central Park.
I'm trying to make weight for a match next week.
You run in these? I have running shoes.
ED: You got 'em with you? They're at home.
Look, I really have to get back to practice.
BRISCOE: Yeah, you run along.
Just don't run too far.
Latent's processing all the prints from the laundry room.
So far, none of them are in the system.
So, for all we know, one of them could be Denny Cannon's.
IUDs from Julie Cade's cell phone finally came in.
Look.
Morning of the murder, she got a three-minute call at 7:51.
We tracked down the number.
Came from a pay phone on 87th and Park.
That's a block away from Denny Cannon's apartment.
He said he was out running.
Forgot to mention it was from a crime scene.
Now we can get that warrant.
What's this about? ls Denny in some kind of trouble? We're not sure yet.
Well, then why do you have a search warrant? You can read it yourself.
In the meantime, we need to know where your son keeps his shoes.
His shoes? All over the apartment.
Ma'am, you can either point us in the right direction, or we can make a real mess of this place.
Mostly in his bedroom closet.
Thank you.
What's going on, Mom? MOTHER: Maybe if you tell me what you're looking for.
ED: Hey, Lennie, there's blood on his sleeve.
Yeah, I bet that jacket goes real nice with these sneakers, huh? I didn't do anything.
Yeah, and I guess that's chocolate ice cream, right? You know, the next time you're in a laundry room, you might want to try doing some laundry.
I told you, I was running.
So somebody else just happened to use a pay phone a block from your house to call Julie Cade? Look, I don't know her cell phone number.
I don't even know where Julie lives.
Lived.
What happened, Denny? Your boy Lucero put you up to this after Julie blew the whistle on him? It wasn't like that.
Or were you cheating on Julie with Alicia? What are you talking about? People at the party said Julie got all up in your face when you started making out with Alicia.
And there was blood on your jacket.
That's from a nosebleed I got after practice.
ED: We found your shoe print in her laundry room.
No way.
Way.
That's a Nike tread, dude.
Same as yours.
Lab results just came in.
The blood isn't consistent with Julie Cade's.
I told you, I had a nosebleed.
But that still doesn't explain why the lab found strands of Julie's hair on the inside of your jacket.
I think it's time for an explanation.
I want to talk to my parents.
Mom and Daddy can't bail you out now.
Then I want to see a lawyer.
What've we got on him? At this point, it's all circumstantial.
Strong or weak? A varsity jacket which Julie's doorman ID'd, with her hair on it, a pay phone call to Julie a block from Denny's apartment shortly before she was killed, and a partial shoe print consistent with his running shoe.
Consistent? Every high school kid in America has a pair of running shoes.
His fingerprints don't match any of the sets we lifted from the washer.
I'm not even sure we have enough for conviction.
We've done it with less.
And we have witnesses who saw Julie and Denny arguing at a party a few nights before she was killed.
What's your theory on motive? Payback.
Either for blowing the whistle on his friend, John Lucero, or trying to break up a budding romance with Alicia Milford.
Well, you better nail it down.
With only a fragment of a shoe print tying him to the scene, motive's all we've got.
ALICIA: I really don't know why Julie was so upset that night.
The girl who threw the party thought it was because you and Denny were together.
Alicia's known Denny since they were in grade school.
Now, why would that upset Julie? SERENA: I was hoping your daughter could explain that.
I really don't know.
Melissa said you and Denny were kissing, and that Julie told him to leave you alone.
You were kissing Denny Cannon? Dad, we were just playing around.
So there was nothing more between you? You mean, like, were we dating? We're friends.
Then why did Julie get upset? Look, Julie thought Denny and his friends were jerks, you know, because of all those things they posted on that message board.
Cherry? (LAUGHS) It was mostly a joke, Julie just didn't get it.
How you can defend that awful website, or whatever that thing was called I'm not defending it, I'm just not getting all worked up about it, that's all.
Somebody told the police that Denny called Julie a bitch.
He'd had a few beers.
They were serving beer at this party? I didn't have any.
Now, Denny was a little buzzed.
Julie just didn't want him hanging all over me.
That's all that happened, I swear.
MONICA: I already talked with the police.
Then why didn't you mention Julie's argument with Denny Cannon? Other kids saw it, too.
What does that have to do with anything? Well, what did Alicia say? That Julie was angry about the message board.
Look, I don't want to get anyone in any trouble.
A girl's been killed, Monica.
One of your classmates.
I know that, okay? Then talk to me.
At the end of the night, Julie was really upset.
She was crying and she wouldn't stop.
What was she crying about? At first, I thought she was just drunk, but But she wasn't.
Alicia took her into the kitchen, and she was trying to talk to her, you know, trying to get her to stop crying.
And that's when Julie said something about Denny assaulting her.
You mean verbally? I know they had a disagreement.
She meant physically.
What makes you say that? Because I heard Julie say that she wanted to go to a crisis center.
I spoke to a girl named Julie on the 15th.
What did she tell you? Well, first of all, she called, she didn't come in, so I really have no way of confirming that we're talking about the same person.
I traced the call from Julie Cade's cell phone records.
Oh.
I guess it was her, then.
Well, this Julie told me that she was at a party.
That a boy cornered her in a bedroom, pushed her down, and a friend came in and they both tried to kiss her.
Stick their hands up her shirt.
Did they rape her? They threatened to, but apparently someone came in and broke it up.
Did she tell you who? I got the impression that it was a girl.
A friend of hers.
What about the names of the boys who attacked her? Just one name, Denny.
She didn't have the chance to give me the other boy's name.
Do you know if she was planning to press charges? Well, I certainly urged her to.
But like I was saying, before I could refer her to the police, she hung up.
I was hoping that she'd call back.
(KNOCK ON DOOR) I think Alicia Milford is protecting Denny Cannon.
By not telling you about the assault.
I finally got a hold of Denny Cannon's phone records.
He called Julie Cade the night before she was killed.
It's a little odd to be calling a girl you just sexually assaulted.
Not if you're trying to convince her not to press charges.
Yeah, but if she refused, it certainly gives us motive.
(STAMMERING) It's not like we hurt her or anything.
Two guys in a bedroom, touching her against her will.
Not letting her go when she said stop.
What do you call that? The point is, Julie Cade told you she was going to the police.
I tried to explain to her that we were just kidding.
And when she wouldn't listen, you got scared.
Of course, I got scared.
Everything had gotten way out of hand.
JACK: Which is why you called her again the morning she was killed.
I never called anyone that morning.
If your client's not willing to tell the truth, we can start picking a jury this afternoon.
We were We were just trying to teach her a lesson.
That is the truth.
Look, that night at the party, John came and found me and said that Julie was in the bedroom, that she was alone, and that this was our chance to get her back.
So, I went with him.
John started to grab her.
We were both pretty wasted.
We both started kissing her, and John lifted up her sweater.
That's when she started saying no and everything.
John pushed her on the bed and said, "What's the matter? You saving yourself for someone?" She tried to get up, so I held her down.
John got on top of her and was saying, like, "What are you, frigid? You got a problem with sex? Is that it?" She tried to scratch him.
John got really pissed so He grabbed her hair hard.
She just lay there quiet I got right next to her, and I was like, "Maybe you just don't like guys.
" At first, she didn't say anything.
She just lay there, like Like with this With this look on her face.
This weird look, like Almost like she was calm.
She said no, she didn't like guys.
She liked girls.
She was gay.
Why didn't we know Julie Cade was gay before now? I'm not sure we do know.
We have no idea why she said it, or even if she said it.
Still, it's the kind of red herring that can turn a trial into a circus.
SERENA: If the defense can attack the sexuality of the victim, they can cast doubt on our motive.
Which is that Julie Cade was murdered to stop her from filing assault charges.
I don't see how it matters whether she was gay or not.
What about the other boy, Lucero? Can he confirm Denny's account? Well, Lucero's retained counsel.
He refuses to talk unless we give him a free pass.
JACK: Making a deal with Lucero to substantiate an allegation by Denny Cannon benefits them, not us.
LEWIN: Well, we have to find out the truth one way or another.
Yeah, but none of her friends ever mentioned anything about Julie being gay.
Maybe no one knew.
In 2002? In a high school in New York City? When I was in high school I had a very close friend, and I had no idea she was gay until she came out in college.
She always said she was too afraid until then.
I'm not sure much has changed.
Why don't we re-interview everybody who was at the party? This is serious, Melissa.
Look, I know this is serious.
Then tell me what happened.
Otherwise, you're going to find yourself facing charges of your own.
Charges? Obstruction.
Accessory after the fact to sexual assault.
Why do you keep calling this an assault? They were just messing around.
Then you did know what happened.
You are dating one of these guys.
Is that how you would want him to treat you? They were drunk.
And that makes it okay? Every girl that I've talked to is defending these boys.
How is that possible? We've known them since, like, elementary school.
Your boyfriend wasn't fooling around, or playing around, or messing around.
He and Denny Cannon were assaulting Julie Cade.
A girl just like you, Melissa.
Just like you.
They would never have raped her.
You can't know that.
Look, they had her on the bed.
When she said she was gay, they stopped.
You were there then, weren't you? I walked in at the end.
When I came in, they were all sitting on the bed, and Julie was crying.
Did you talk to her? No.
She left the room.
John told me what happened.
He made me promise not to tell anyone.
Did you? No.
No one.
ALICIA: I've never heard anyone say Julie was gay.
And she didn't tell you about it after the assault? No.
What did she tell you? Nothing.
She just wanted to go back home.
I talked to Monica Heath, Alicia.
I know that Denny Cannon assaulted Julie that night.
And I also know that she told you about it.
Look, I'm sorry.
I was trying to protect Julie's privacy.
She didn't want people to know what happened.
She made me promise.
Monica says that Julie wanted to talk to a crisis counselor.
I don't remember that.
SERENA: Right now, it's all just speculation.
I don't understand.
I thought Julie was killed over this message board.
What difference does it make if she was gay or not? We just want to make sure we've considered every possibility.
(SIGHS) I tried to broach the subject with her once or twice.
I always thought we had an open relationship with our daughter.
It's going to be pretty hard to accept the fact that she thought she had to hide it from us.
Ms.
Southerlyn just said that none of this has been substantiated yet.
What do the other kids say? That your daughter was principled.
That she stood up for what she believed in.
But nothing about being gay? No.
What about Alicia Milford? She and Julie were so close.
Perhaps Julie confided in her.
Unfortunately, Alicia Milford has been less than forthcoming about what happened at that party.
I don't understand.
Why would Alicia lie? Because she and that whole bunch of spoiled bastards care more about their image than they care I told Julie to forget about 'em.
To find her own crowd.
She wouldn't listen to me.
I'm sorry.
It just doesn't make any sense.
Alicia and Julie were best friends.
She never told her parents? I think her mother suspected.
Coming out's got to be a pretty tough thing to do, no matter how understanding your parents are.
Alicia Milford was her best friend.
She had no idea either.
She had to have had an idea, Jack.
I mean, look at these e-mails Julie sent her.
"People think it's all about sex, but it's not.
"Why can't anyone understand that?" I don't think she's talking about the message board at all.
I think Julie's talking about being gay.
JACK: We can offer you the same deal we offered Melissa Gelson.
Immunity from prosecution.
MRS.
MILFORD: Prosecution from what? Obstruction of justice.
Accessory after the fact.
You knew about a sexual assault and you never came forward.
Julie didn't want anyone to know.
I gave her my word.
I told you that.
Did you know Julie Cade was gay? What did you just ask her? SERENA: Julie's parents say you were her best friend.
We saw the e-mails she sent you.
This has gone far enough.
We're here to trying to assure it doesn't go any further.
Julie wasn't a lesbian.
That's crazy.
Have you ever been in Julie Cade's apartment? We were friends.
What about the laundry room in her building? ALICIA: No, don't think so.
You're not sure? She just said she didn't think so.
Were you having a relationship with Julie Cade? (GASPS) What the hell do you mean, a relationship? Are you calling our daughter a pervert? I'm not gay.
Are you people sick? MR.
MILFORD: Who the hell are you to come in here with these disgusting accusations? Can she account for her whereabouts on the morning of the murder? She doesn't have to.
I'm getting a lawyer, and you two can get the hell out of my house! SERENA: Alicia Milford's one of the prettiest girls in that school.
Captain of the cheerleading squad, honors student, and according to her teachers, a finalist for the Dana Stokely Award.
What's that? Basically, a ticket into the college of your choice.
Not exactly a standard resume for a murderer.
Maybe not.
But it's still someone with a lot to lose.
If Julie Cade was going to press charges against Denny for the assault The statements she made about being gay would have been made public.
Coffee.
And Alicia was her best friend.
Her very close best friend.
Wouldn't be long before the other students put two and two together.
The thought of being outed seems to terrify her.
Enough to commit murder? Well, I was a teacher.
I've seen a lot of very scared, very desperate kids.
There's an enormous pressure to conform at that age.
We lifted prints from her locker at school.
They match a set we found on the washer.
So, we can put Alicia Milford in the laundry room.
We just can't pin down the time.
Does she have an alibi? Her parents didn't provide one.
She was also on the cheerleading squad, which means she owns the same school jacket that the doorman ID'd.
What about the shoe print? Briscoe and Green executed a search warrant this morning.
They recovered a pair of her Nike running shoes.
Tread pattern's consistent.
She can still point the finger at Denny Cannon.
Especially since we don't have anybody who can testify that Alicia was involved with Julie Cade.
But without that, we don't have fear of being outed as a motive.
Maybe there's another way.
Get Alicia Milford to tell the truth.
What are you thinking? If our theory about her fear of being outed is true, maybe we can use that fear.
If it could drive her to commit murder, it could be strong enough to make her take a plea.
You can't seriously be considering outing her into a guilty plea.
Well, but we manipulate the system every day.
Threaten to take children from parents, to embarrass spouses with their partner's infidelities.
This is different, Jack.
JACK: Why? Well, it plays into the notion that there really is something wrong with being gay.
We run the risk of seeming like bigots.
I don't see how we can abandon a viable negotiating tactic because it's politically incorrect.
Not if she's guilty.
Yeah, but that's assuming she'd rather serve time in prison than have people find out she's a lesbian, and that's a pretty big gamble.
Really? She already killed to keep it a secret.
What would you offer her, Jack? Man one.
As to sentence, let's hear what happened first.
Better for her to have to answer the question in a conference room than on a witness stand.
A kinder, gentler plea bargain? JACK: What we do is make a deal using whatever we have for leverage.
And right now, what we have for leverage is Alicia Milford's fear.
We're here to offer her a plea.
Man one.
A Plea? We thought you might be more comfortable discussing it without your parents here.
She hasn't even been charged yet.
And once she is, the offer's withdrawn.
I have a model witness A girl who never in her life even jaywalked.
She's also a girl who fled the scene and lied at every turn.
HAMILTON: And your evidence of this is what? A set of her fingerprints found in the laundry room.
A Strickland varsity jacket, and a shoe print.
HAMILTON: All of this is circumstantial.
You've already brought these charges against Denny Cannon based on the same evidence.
Your motive is what? Your client's fully aware of what we think her motive was.
I told you, I'm not a lesbian.
JACK: You're certainly free to take that position on the witness stand.
And, of course, I'd be within my rights to cross-examine you on the issue.
She doesn't have to testify.
I'll bring her relationship with Julie Cade to light.
I'll put Denny Cannon, John Lucero, on the stand.
You'll let that go unrefuted? HAMILTON: I'll make a motion to preclude.
And you'll lose.
Your client's sexual relationship with the victim is our theory of the case.
Your classmates, your teachers, everyone you know in the city will be able to Judge that for themselves, including your parents.
Why are you doing this to me? This is blackmail.
You're using the threat of outing her to coerce a plea.
I'm not.
I'm simply previewing our case so your client can consider the ramifications of refusing our offer.
SERENA: There's no judgment here, Alicia.
Just tell us the truth.
What if what happened in the laundry room was an accident? You're going to have to be more specific.
An argument.
Julie slipped, she fell.
Our forensics indicates quite a lot of force was necessary to account for the fatal head injury.
Well, worst-case scenario, we get the trial judge to instruct the jury as to extreme emotional disturbance.
In reality, you're offering her nothing.
Except the opportunity to keep her sexual identity under wraps.
Have you thought about the publicity this trial is going to receive, especially from the gay press? Or the lesbian support groups who will be out in force on the courthouse steps? No trial.
HAMILTON: Alicia Whatever they want to do I just can't deal with that.
We have a shot at this.
I don't care.
You don't know what it's like to have to wake up and be perfect every day.
Nobody wants me to be gay.
Not my parents, not my friends, nobody.
I just (CRYING) I just wanted to talk to her.
To make her understand she couldn't press charges against Denny without ruining everything, but she wouldn't listen.
She said she was going to the police that afternoon.
Before meeting Julie, I never even thought about being So I told her, "You can't do this to me.
"You can't do this to me," and I pushed her, and she screamed, really mad.
She slapped me, and I pushed her again hard, and she hit her head against the washing machine.
So, I got on the floor with her.
She wasn't breathing.
She was just lying there with this soft look on her face.
I remember thinking, this must be the way she looks when she's asleep.
I just finished with the probation officer for Denny and Lucero.
Well, hopefully fear of the felony conviction will convince them to keep their hands to themselves.
I wonder if Alicia will ever come to terms with who she really is.
She'll have to face herself sooner or later.
And when she does, she'll realize she killed the only person who really knew her.