Law & Order (1990) s17e10 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.
(REPORTERS CLAMORING) FEMALE REPORTER: Mr.
Dillon, Mr.
Dillon! Can you confirm that Halligan-Webb was eavesdropping on its own employees? How about members of the press? No comment.
Is Samantha Weaver gonna resign her position as CEO? Why don't you ask her? Please.
What is your position Look, I have nothing to say! Do you have any comment, any statement (CLAMORING CONTINUES) Hands tied around the bedpost.
One shot, close range, side of the head.
ED: You got atimeframe? Mmm, sometime between Name's Charles Dillon.
Livingston, New Jersey.
He's got awedding ring.
If there was any cash in here, it's gone now.
So what is this, like, a sex romp gone bad? If it was, it went bad pretty fast.
There's no fluids on his underwear or the sheets.
All right.
Thanks.
Hi.
Detectives Cassady and Green.
Adrienne Harding.
Was Mr.
Dillon staying here? He wasn't supposed to be.
Who has access to this suite? Anyone from Halligan-Webb's executive offices could get a key.
And does that include Mr.
Dillon? He was our General Counsel.
What can you tell us about him? I didn't know him personally, just what I read in papers.
He was in the news? You must have heard about the eavesdropping scandal at my company.
The Halligan-Webb bigwigs spying on their employees.
It's a huge federal investigation now.
And Mr.
Dillon is in the middle of it.
He was supposed to testify before Congress on Friday.
LYNDA: I was here with our children.
Charles said he had to work late to prepare for his trip to Washington.
He was going to stay in the city, at the company apartment.
Do you know who your husband was supposed to be working with? The CEO, Samantha Weaver.
Do you know if your husband received any threats? No, not that I'm aware of.
He was just trying to get through this whole scandal thing with some dignity.
(SOBBING) How am I supposed to tell my children? We brought Charles over from Cravath in '02.
He was an excellent lawyer.
I'm sure his family is devastated.
Can I get flowers for the Dillons? Now, Erica.
His wife said that he was working late with you.
Yes.
We had a meeting at around 5:00.
About what? As I'm sure you know, my company is under investigation.
So that's what the meeting was about? I admire your persistence.
But how is what we talked about relevant to what happened? Why don't you let us decide what's relevant, Miss Weaver? You know, I am happy to cooperate with you, but I am not prepared to give NYPD an agenda of our discussion.
His wife told us that he was involved in this scandal.
I would call it an issue more than a scandal.
Congress is obviously a little bit bored right now.
Look, if this is what you're here to ask me about, then I'm going to have to insist on having an attorney present.
I'm sure you can understand that.
Okay.
Okay.
If you could just tell us when and where you last saw Mr.
Dillon? He left my office at 5:35.
He said that he was going to meet with his attorney.
Great.
Thank you.
Charles got here a little bit before 6:00.
We discussed the testimony for about half an hour.
CASSADY: When he left, did he say where he was going? Yeah, to have a drink.
Where, I don't know.
He looked like he needed one.
Why do you say that? He was the fall guy for the entire eavesdropping debacle.
Right.
Can you walk us through that? I can give you the basics, but I'm skirting with some privilege issues here.
Well, that's understandable, Counselor, but your client was murdered last night.
So you think Charles was killed over this? (sums) Somebody inside H-W was leaking information to the press, questioning management's competence.
There were articles suggesting that the company's newly designed database management software was already obsolete.
Samantha Weaver wanted to plug the leak.
And knowing Samantha, destroy whoever was betraying her.
Well, if Samantha Weaver ordered the surveillance, how did General Counsel get blamed for it? Weaver tasked Charles to find the leak.
He hired a corporate security firm, and unfortunately, they went a little crazy.
What's the name of this security firm he was using? I could tell you this.
They ponied up a 150k to wire up the corporate offices.
I had taps out on everybody except the CEO and the GB.
How did that go down, exactly? Middle of the night, in-house security lets my tech guys into the executive suite, they're out by dawn.
Did they ever find the leak? All I did was collect the data and send it to Dillon.
Are you saying you don't know if they found the leak? You're gonna have to talk to the company.
You think they're talkin' to us? They're neck-deep in a Congressional investigation.
ED: Not to mention a homicide.
Understood.
I was on the job 20 years, but I'm neck-deep in this crap myself.
All right.
How about you point us in the right direction? If this were my case, I'd be looking at who's not showin' up for work these days at Halligan-Webb.
CALDWELL: Yeah, yeah, I'm pissed off.
Those bastards tapped my phones, they put spyware on my computers, they premexted 'min my persona“ accounts.
They were even spying on the reporter I was talkin' to.
Well, why did you go to the press in the first place, Mr.
Caldwell? Halligan-Webb is a public company.
If management's makin' questionable decisions, the stockholders have a right to know.
Management being Samantha Weaver? Yeah, the one and only.
Sounds like you two don't get along.
She is the most horrible woman I have ever met.
So you blame her for losing your job? Yeah, her and Dillon.
So where were you Tuesday night around 8:00? BOY: Daddy, can we go? Yeah, we're goin'.
Tuesday, that was Parent-Teacher Night at my daughter's school.
I was lookin' at fetal pigs in the biology lab with Mr.
Johnson.
Okay? Dillon was the point man for this Halligan-Webb eavesdropping scandal.
And the guy taking the fall.
Yeah, we looked at all the usual suspects, but none of those executives are talking.
Because of the Congressional investigation.
And the head of the company, she seems like kind of a bitch.
Kind of a bitch? I just mean that I think some of her employees are a little intimidated.
Yeah? That's possible.
Anyway, Ballistics says the slug they pulled from Dillon was from a .
38 Smith & Wesson, which they can't trace so far.
And CSU didn't recover any forensic evidence from the apartment? Nothing.
But Latent lifted about 200 prints they need to sift through.
Detective.
What's the next move? We talk to the outsiders, like Dillon's secretary.
Good.
I've been with Mr.
Dillon for five years.
He brought me with him from Cravath when he took this job.
I know they're gonna fire me now.
They'd let you go because your boss died? Have you heard of Samantha Weaver? It's only a matter of time before we get a memo saying how many squares of toilet paper we can use.
Hey, listen, do you have any ideas about who Mr.
Dillon might have been meeting with the night he died? His last appointment was with his lawyer.
We already talked to him.
Any unusual phone calls that day? Well, a man named Mike Owens called several times that day.
About what? He wouldn't say.
And Mr.
Dillon wouldn't take his calls.
I think he was still angry about an argument they had.
CASSADY: An argument? Mr.
Owens showed up here last week without an appointment.
He barged into Mr.
Dillon's office, slammed the door behind him and they were yelling at each other.
Do you know what they were yellin' about? Not really.
It only lasted two or three minutes, Owen stormed out, and Mr.
Dillon said if he ever came back here to call Security.
I come down here to help you guys out and you treat me like a perp? Well, maybe you should have told us you had bad blood with Dillon! Maybe you should have asked! Okay.
Where the hell were you Tuesday night? I gotta take this from Little Miss Beauty Queen here? Little Miss Beauty Queen might just kick your ass.
How about you have a seat and answer the question? I was at home, watchin' the Nets-Pistons, Vince Carter dropped 36! Oh, come on, man, you know better, that ain't no alibi.
Anybody can read the back of a paper! Now, what was this argument with you and Dillon about? What do you think? The job I did for him at Halligan-Webb.
You found the leak, the dude got fired! Thank you! Look, Dillon says to me to do whatever I gotta do.
I give 'em what they're lookin' for on a silver platter, and then he complains about how I got it.
Says I I crossed the line.
Mmm, I'm sure that's not the first time you had an unhappy customer.
Tells me he's gonna call the D.
A.
because what I did up there was illegal.
Can you believe that? He gets caught with his pants down, and now he's gonna try to make it like it's my fault! Typical lawyer.
I told him to go screw himself, that's all.
(KNOCK AT DOOR) Something you should see.
Charles Dillon's cell phone records.
Four calls the night he was murdered.
The first one's from his boss, then he calls his wife.
But the next one is from a high-end escort service.
I bet the last one's to the high-end hooker herself.
Any financial remuneration that I receive from my clients is for companionship, not sex.
Right.
We read the disclaimer on your agency's website.
You know, it would be too bad if your negative attitude brought down the whole operation.
You're not gonna bust me, are you? It depends.
Tell me what you know about Charles Dillon.
He's a regular client.
He dates three or four girls at the agency.
Busy man.
So besides variety, what's he into? Nothing too kinky.
A little light B&D if he's feeling frisky.
That's not a crime, is it? Stop it.
You were the last person to see Charles alive on Tuesday night.
But I didn't see him! He called your agency and then called your cell phone! Charles booked me.
I was on my way over, but he called to cancel.
Really? My driver was with me when he called.
We turned around and he drove me home.
Okay, well, we're gonna need your driver's contact information.
Where were you supposed to meet up with Charles? The bar at the Atlantique Hotel.
He liked to hang out there.
Did he say why he was canceling? He said that he didn't need my services, that he was with somebody that's gonna rock his world.
VILLA: Yeah, Charlie.
Some kinda big-shot lawyer, he's here a lot.
Grey Goose up with a twist.
Was he here this Tuesday? That's right.
Came in by himself.
(LAUGHS) I couldn't believe who he left with.
A woman? Gorgeous.
Tall, well-dressed, maybe a model.
Orders a glass of our primo Cab, she's got an accent.
What kind of accent? Is sexy a country? From her coloring, I'm guessin' South American or something.
So one of my regulars sits down next to her, throws down his rap, but gets nowhere.
This guy's good, too.
Does regular have a name? Brent Sullivan.
So after five or ten minutes of fending him off, Charlie-boy walks in, she goes and sits down with him.
Half an hour later, they're leavin' together.
So they knew each other? Hard to say.
Did this woman charge her drink? Trust me.
It's been a long time since this lady paid for her own drink.
All right, where can we find this Brent Sullivan? SULLIVAN: Miss Brazil.
Let's see, I bought her a $28 glass of wine.
I told her about my job here as Creative Director of the hottest advertising boutique in the city, my ski house in Aspen.
Okay, that's great.
But what did she tell you? She was from Rio, she said she lived in the West Village, had some kind of home design business.
Or maybe it was clothes.
She spent a lot of time doing yoga.
She told you that? I'm observant and a good listener.
So, how long you been a cop? Okay, drop it.
Did she give you her name? Well, I got a number.
WOMAN ON PHONE: What's up, player? The woman who gave you this phone number thought you were a total dork.
If you approach her again, she'll call the police and report you as a stalker.
Have a nice day.
And buy some mouthwash, loser.
(MACHINE BEEPS) That's nice! A 1.
99 a month, you get your very own number.
You're kidding.
ED: Hey! This Brazilian woman who left the Atlantique with Dillon? She charged that service on her Am Ex card.
Her name is Julia Veloso.
What's her sheet say? She's got two priors for solicitation.
So all of this high-level corporate intrigue, and our best suspect is a prostitute? It sounds about right to me.
We'll let you know.
All right.
JULIA: I was just getting ready to go out.
Don't worry, this won't take long.
Do you recognize this man? about 40 years old? Hmm.
Ah, yes, of course.
I had a drink with him the other night.
Why? Did something happen? He's dead.
Dead.
Did you leave with him? I never met him before.
I joined him to get away from an obnoxious guy at the other end of the bar.
This gentleman was nice enough to walk me out and wait until I hailed a taxi.
Did he get in the cab with you? No.
Is there a Dr.
Covington living here? That's my ex-husband.
We're not together anymore.
Any idea how we can contact him? I haven't seen him in awhile.
I'm not sure where he is.
All right, how about the last place he worked? I was married to Julia for 10 months.
It was the biggest mistake of my life.
Do you mind tellin' us about that? (SIGHS) Look, I'm trying to put this part of my life behind me.
Look, Dr.
Covington, we would not be here if it wasn't important.
So All right.
Come over here.
Before I met Julia, I was married for 11 years.
Jane and I have two wonderful kids.
But I got bored, I guess.
And I started using call girls.
That's how you met Julia.
Right.
Don't laugh, okay, but I fell in love with her.
She was beautiful, smart, exciting.
She had me convinced that she was only doing this temporarily to make ends meet.
Let me guess.
She was working her way through NYU.
Columbia.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I left my family for her.
She said if I married her, she'd stop doin' the escort thing.
I did.
And she never stopped.
Pretty soon, she met some other pathetic sucker who had a lot more money than I did.
Is there anything you can tell us about him? When I first started to suspect that Julia was turning tricks again, I looked at her phone bills which, like an idiot, I was still paying.
She made a lot of calls to Halligan-Webb.
I knew that Charles used our corporate suite from time to time.
But I cannot believe he was taking prostitutes there.
We were wondering if your company had surveillance placed in that apartment.
Is that supposed to be some kind of joke? No, and we were thinking that you removed it once this whole eavesdropping issue broke.
Believe it or not, Detective, I had very little to do with the eavesdropping.
Except to order it.
Come back and talk to me when you've made Captain.
Maybe then you'll have a better understanding of the world we live in.
You still haven't said whether you had surveillance placed in that apartment building.
I don't know.
But I can't believe that Charles would be stupid enough to bug his little love nest.
Julia Veloso started calling this company three years ago, and it just so happens the last time she calls was the week that Dillon was murdered.
So Dillon was her new sugar daddy? And a big upgrade from the last two she was with.
The townhouse she's in rents for $9,500 a month.
She's got a state-of-the-art kitchen, she's got expensive furniture.
Does this woman have any other source of income? Let's just say I'm lookin' into her finances.
Well, did anyone at the corporate apartment building pick her out of an array? There was no doorman.
But the bellman's positive that he saw her and Dillon get into a taxi at 8:30, which she lied about.
But what about motive? Why kill Dillon when he's picking up the tab? Maybe he was about to cut off that fancy lifestyle of hers.
Latent just matched prints from a lamp at the crime scene to Julia Veloso.
Pick her up.
WOMAN: These are from our Milan collection.
Oh, I want these.
Miss Veloso? What do you want? You need to come with us.
Excuse us.
This is very rude.
Can I please finish what I'm doing here? Girl to girl, where you're going, you're gonna need some much more sensible shoes.
Julia Veloso, you're under arrest for the murder of Charles Dillon.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law.
"Docket numbers 41506, People v.
Julia Veloso, "charge is Murder in the Second Degree.
" How does the defendant plead? Not guilty.
JUDGE PINSKY: Bail? People request $1 million.
The defendant is a citizen of Brazil, has no direct ties to New York and has a criminal record for prostitution.
YourHonon the People's case is purely circumstantial.
They have no physical evidence connecting my client to the crime.
The defendant's fingerprint was found at the crime scene.
TINDELL: As Miss Rubirosa indicated, my client was formerly an escort.
Who knows how many lonely out-of-town businessmen stayed in this corporate apartment? She may very well have been there on a previous occasion.
We have an eyewitness who puts the defendant and the victim in a cab together at 8:30 on the night of the murder.
People's request is granted.
Bail is set at $1 million.
YourHonon given the level of proof in this case $1 million.
Next case.
You know, a hooker's fingerprint in the bedroom is not exactly a smoking gun.
I'm not saying it's a slam dunk, but it's a solid circumstantial case.
What about the motive? Kept woman thinks the goose laying the golden egg is gonna cut her off.
Begs him to stay, he says no, she kills him.
Why not just find another goose? This city's full of rich men lookin' for trophies.
Who knows? Maybe they were in love.
It's possible.
Yeah, I saw Pretty Woman too, Connie.
So you're saying that a beautiful young woman can't fall in love with a pudgy, middle-aged man who is losing his hair.
I'm just saying as much as I might regret it, it's highly unlikely.
I don't like these circumstantial cases without an obvious motive.
Feel out the defense.
Maybe they're willing to make a deal.
JACK: If there's more to your client's story than simple greed, we'd be happy to listen.
Are you here for some informal discovery, Jack, or to make an offer? So you're interested in a plea? Sure.
Misdemeanor solicitation, and let's say a modest fine.
We're willing to make a reasonable offer, not You're fishing for information because you have no evidence.
JACK: Your client was the last person seen with the victim on the night of the murder.
She lied to the police about getting into a cab with him.
Her fingerprint was found at the crime scene, not to mention a compelling motive.
I'd say that's a pretty good narrative for a jury, wouldn't you? If it were true.
Try this narrative, Jack.
My client never met Dillon until that night.
Never even laid eyes on him.
Tindell might be right.
We have no direct evidence establishing a prior relationship between Dillon and Julia.
What about the phone calls to H-W? They were all to the general number.
None to his cell phone or direct line.
E-mails? None.
Who was paying her $9,500 a month rent? I'm not sure where she was getting the money, but she was the one writing the checks.
There must be some financial link between them.
Closest thing I could find was this.
Julia Veloso owns 10,000 shares of Vulcan, Inc.
stock.
It's a microchip company spun off from H-W.
How much is it worth? As of today, about 300,000.
When did she purchase the shares? The day the company went public, at the IPO price.
Talk to the investment banker that took the company public.
GLEACHER: It was a hot deaf.
First trade was 25% over the IPO price.
So insiders made 25% right off the bat? With no risk.
Good business, huh? How does someone get on the list? Have to be a friend of the company.
Meaning what? Meaning someone with somejuice puts your name on the list.
Who at H-W has juice? Only one person.
Samantha Weaver.
She calls all the shots.
The insiders' list is comprised of friends and family members.
There's no real science to it.
Who put Julia Veloso on the list? I'm the CEO of a publicly traded company, Mr.
McCoy.
So I'm sure you know that everything I say, no matter how trivial it may seem, has legal and financial ramifications.
Is that your way of saying you're not going to tell us? It's my way of saying you need to consult my attorney.
We just wanna know if Dillon asked you to put her on the list.
That's it.
Speak to Senior Counsel.
Peter Harris.
The subpoena's pretty broad, Mr.
McCoy.
Broad? I'd say it's overreaching and abuse of power.
The D.
A.
's office has no business sniffing around in Halligan-Webb's corporate affairs.
JACK: The victim worked for this company, we need Mr.
Dillon's e-mails, his phone records.
And how is our company's internal investigation related to some hooker killing Charles Dillon? It's quite possible that the murder is connected to Dillon's role in the illegal surveillance operation.
That's crap and you know it.
This is a fishing expedition.
If Mr.
Harris prefers, we'd be happy to procure the requested items pursuant to an indictment of the company for felony eavesdropping.
The federal authorities are already investigating this.
So are we.
We convened a grand jury this morning.
Judge, that's a bootstrap to get something that he's not entitled to.
And a damn good one, Mr.
Harris.
Halligan-Webb will comply with the people's subpoena.
If you wanna survive this Congressional investigation, you'd better come through.
I'm having a meeting tomorrow with the Board about your severance package.
I'm thinking 10 million sounds about right.
Given the circumstances.
WEAVER: No.
We are under very tight scrutiny right now.
That is not gonna be easy.
Figure it out! I didn't have anything to do with this, you know that.
Look, I don't give a damn.
The Feds like to flip up, not down.
You know what? I think I'll take my chances.
And I know about your Brazilian whore.
Press is gonna love a story like that, don't you think? Big-shot CEO shacking up with a long-legged hooker? Hah.
I get hot just thinkin' about that.
Fine.
I will have another word with our compensation consultant.
See if there's any flexibility in the numbers.
You do that.
How in the heck did you get that? Halligan-Webb's new General Counsel turned over everything in Dillon's office.
Including the surveillance tapes.
Interesting fodder for page six, but what about for our trial? Dillon was threatening to give up Weaver to the Feds, tell the press about her lesbian relationship with an ex-prostitute.
You think she was involved in the murder? Certainly she had the most to gain from his death.
Well, that doesn't mean she killed him.
She was paranoid enough to make sure that nobody leaked any negative information about her company or her to the press or anyone.
Weaver's a tough CEO, everybody knows that.
There's nothing wrong with it.
Why don't we stop theorizing and start tryin' to find some proof tying Weaver to the murder? Samantha Weaver was funneling $20,000 a month into her girlfriend's interior design company.
For how long? The last two years.
Anything else? Her credit card receipts put her at an espresso bar two blocks from H-W headquarters, and the barmaid picked out a photo of her and the woman she was with, Julia Veloso.
So that's where Weaver puts everything in motion.
She knows where Dillon's headed that night, she tells Julia to put on something sexy and do her thing.
Think we can prove that? We can infer it.
Here's the kicker.
Samantha Weaver purchased a Smith & Wesson .
38 in Houston in 1999.
Is that enough for an arrest? And a search warrant.
WEAVER: These past few weeks have been trying.
But we need to move forward and ignore the negative press.
We owe that to the stockholders of this great company.
ED: Excuse us! Sorry to interrupt.
We need to speak with you outside.
I'll be right back.
I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding.
(MEN MURMURING) This better be important.
Oh, it is.
We searched your residence.
We couldn't find that .
38 you bought in Houston.
That gun is legally licensed.
Fine.
Then tell us where it is, we'll do a quick ballistics check, and maybe you can walk away from all this.
(CLEARS THROAT) I wanna speak to my lawyer immediately.
I think that's a great idea.
Because you're under arrest for the murder of Charles Dillon.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law.
Have to be pretty damn ambitious to murder somebody over a job, don't ya? Ambitious? You should read her book, Making it to the Comer Office.
Hundred-hour weeks, nonstop networking, cutthroat office politics.
This wasn't just a job, this was her life.
Her identity.
(KNOCK AT DOOR) Defensejust filed a motion to suppress the videotaped conversation between Dillon and Weaver.
JACK: Based on what? Attorney-client privilege.
The Court of Appeals' position is quite clear.
Corporate officers may rely on attorney-client privilege to protect confidential communications with their corporate counsel.
But the communication must be legal in nature.
Predominantly legal, not exclusively.
Mr.
Dillon was attempting to extort the defendant.
They were discussing a severance agreement, a legal document.
A contract between employer and employee.
I'm not buying it, Mr.
Tepper.
If Dillon was giving legal advice, he was doing it with a gun pointed at Miss Weaver's head.
Well, it's illegal to videotape someone without their consent.
The defendant is the one who ordered the surveillance.
If you spy on yourself and get caught, consent is implicit.
The conversation took place in a men's room, Your Honor.
The General Business Law doesn't allow much wiggle room for admitting evidence secretly recorded in the toilet.
Why should Samantha Weaver benefit from a law she intentionally broke in the first place? I admit it's paradoxical, Mr.
McCoy, but there are certain places cameras can't go.
I'm excluding the videotape.
JACK: Call TindeH.
Tell him we want to make a deal with Julia Veloso.
A deal? We need someone to testify that Dillon was extorting Weaver.
You really think she's credible? She's no Condoleezza Rice, but she's all we got.
(sums) What's in it for me? A favorable plea-bargain.
I like to know all the terms before I enter into an arrangement.
Mmm-mmm.
No promises until after your testimony.
I can't go along with that.
I can speak for myself.
If I do what you want, you promise to take care of me? This isn't about what I want, Miss Veloso.
We're looking for the truth.
Samantha asked me to kill this man for her.
Your motive was just as strong as hers.
Dillon was going to destroy her career.
And she didn't have the courage to take care of the problem on her own.
It seems to me the one thing Samantha Weaver does not lack is courage.
Okay, let's say she did want Dillon dead.
Why would she entrust that job to you? Because I proved my loyalty to her.
She knew that her biggest secret was safe with me.
How do I know what you're saying is really what happened? I guess you have to trust me.
JULIA: Samantha said that Charles Dillon was trying to get her in trouble with the law.
Ruin her reputation.
Cost her lots of money.
HOW? He was going to lie, tell Congress that it was Samantha's idea to wiretap phones, spy on executives.
He was also going to tell the press about us unless Samantha paid him off.
Paid him off? He was going to resign because of the wiretapping thing.
But he wanted $10 million.
A severance package.
What else did the defendant tell you about Charles Dillon? That things would be better if he were dead.
JACK: What happened on the night in question? Samantha met me for coffee.
She told me that Dillon would be at the bar at the Atlantique.
Then she gave me a picture of him, so I'd know what he looked like.
Then what happened? She told me to go to her house and get a gun.
A .
38 from her bedroom closet.
And you agreed to go along with this? Samantha said if Dillon got her fired, she'd lose all her stock options.
It was everything she worked for.
If I didn't help her keep it, she'd end our arrangement.
What did you do after you got the gun? Iwent to the Atlantique.
I saw Dillon.
I flirted with him.
Then what? We went back to his apartment.
I pretended I was going to have sex with him.
Itied him up, and then I shot him.
What did you do with Samantha Weaver's gun after you shot him? I threw it away in a garbage can near my apartment.
Nothing further.
In exchange for your testimony, the prosecution has offered you a favorable deal, correct? They told me to tell the truth.
The truth or whatever is necessary to convict Samantha Weaver? Objection! JUDGE MASON: Sustained.
You pled guilty to a prostitution charge four years ago, correct? I don't do that anymore.
Right.
Now you're a legitimate kept woman.
You have awealthy girlfriend, and a $9,500 a month apartment.
Yes.
That's not bad.
No, it's not bad.
Do you like having someone pay your bills for you? Wouldn't you? Me? No, I have too much self-respect for that.
Your Honor! JUDGE MASON: Please.
Next question, Mr.
Tepper.
You had the key to Samantha Weaver's brownstone and the password for her security system? Yes.
And you knew she had a gun? Yes.
Isn't it a fact that you killed Charles Dillon on your own because you were worried that you might have to move out of your swanky apartment and go back to working the streets like a regular old whore? Objection! TEPPER: Withdrawn.
Nothing further.
How would you describe yourself, Samantha? I'm driven, controlling, aggressive, insensitive.
Any positive qualities? I'm sure there are a few, but I don't dwell on them.
Did you ever tell Julia Veloso about your problems at work? Every once in a while.
Our relationship wasn't very intimate.
It was more functional.
Sexual? Yes.
Did you ever mention the name Charles Dillon to her? I vented a few times about Charles' role in the eavesdropping matter, how he put the company at risk.
I'd also mentioned that he was trying to pressure me into supporting an unreasonable severance plan.
What do you mean by pressure you? Well, he threatened to tell the press about my relationship with Julia.
He also threatened to lie to Congress and the U.
S.
Attorney's Office about me.
How did Julia react to that? She was upset.
Enraged, actually.
She thought that if I was gonna go broke, that she'd end up on the streets again.
Itried to calm her down, assure her that wasn't the case, but I don't think she really believed me.
Did you ever tell Julia to kill Charles Dillon? No.
No, of course not.
Nothing further.
If you were indicted in the eavesdropping scandal, your employment contract would have been terminated, correct? Yes.
You'd lose one million shares of stock, currently valued at $75 million? Correct.
So it was just a stroke of good luck that your girlfriend murdered the one man who could cost you your job and $75 million, is that what you're saying? I'm saying it's a tragedy.
Atragedy engineered by you? I had nothing to do with it.
So Juliajust killed Charles Dillon on her own? Risked life in prison to protect you? She was trying to protect herself.
She thought that if I were fired, lwouldn't support her anymore.
You pu rchased a .
38 caliber handgun in 1999.
The same model used to kill Charles Dillon? Yes.
But there are probably thousands, maybe millions, of .
38s out there.
But your .
38 is currently missing? I threw it away a few years ago after watching a PBS documentary on handguns.
Despite the NRA bumper sticker on my father's pickup truck.
So where did Julia get the exact same type of gun, Miss Weaver? I have no idea.
Her testimony that she used your gun was a lie? Yes.
I am a businesswoman, Mr.
McCoy, not a criminal.
I solve problems through negotiation and compromise.
Even when someone has wronged you? As a young, female CEO, I have been the victim of false press reports, negative rumors, failed coup attempts, and I never take them personally.
Never.
And I don't react emotionally, or try to exact revenge.
That only plays into the hands of the men that are trying to take me down.
You solve disputes peacefully, is that what you're saying? I'm pragmatic, Mr.
McCoy, not vindictive.
She doth protest a little too much.
About what? About not being vindictive.
You're saying you're going to call rebuttal witnesses to prove she is? She told the jury that she didn't believe in revenge.
I intend to prove otherwise.
How? By calling every male disgruntled employee and asking him to testify that Samantha Weaver is the devil? What's wrong with that? It has nothing to do with the merits of this case.
She made character an issue, Connie, not me.
Character? Or persona? What's the difference? Look, I know she's tough, but, you know, maybe it's a choice.
A management style she's adopted to motivate the men working underneath her.
Or maybe she's just a sociopath who murdered her General Counsel 'cause he was gonna ruin her life.
The facts cut both ways, Jack.
Is it so hard to believe that a hooker from the slums of Rio killed someone she thought was trying to ruin her life of luxury? What's hard to believe is the ruthless CEO having absolutely nothing to do with a murder she had everything to gain from.
Okay, then focus on her motivation.
Or is her reputation for being a hard ass relevant just because she's a woman? Man or woman, it's relevant because she misrepresented herself to the jury.
Get the H-W executives ready for trial.
CALDWELL: I gave an anonymous interview to The Wall Street Journal three months ago.
I told the reporter I thought senior management was doing a satisfactoryjob, but made some questionable decisions.
Was that article the precipitant for the illegal eavesdropping? Yeah.
Samantha was outraged that the anonymous source, me, used the word "satisfactory" rather than "spectacular.
" What did she do when she found out you were the source? She called me into her office, she fired me, and then she told me she was going to destroy my career.
Are you currently employed? No.
Every time I get close to a new job, Samantha puts the kibosh on it.
TEPPER: You started at H-W three years before Samantha Weaver.
Correct? CALDWELL: Yes.
And you're 10 years older than she is? Yeah, I believe so.
And yet she's been your boss for the past five years and made three times the money you did.
Did that bother you? Oh, sure.
Why? Because she's a woman? No, because she's manipulative.
And selfish.
Is that why you leaked confidential information to The Wall Street Journal? I gave an anonymous interview.
Thafsit I didn't disclose trade secrets.
It's against company policy to communicate with the press in any way without the authorization of the CEO, correct? Yes.
So let me get this straight.
You betrayed your boss and the company you worked for and you're complaining that you got fired? Nothing further.
I wasn't disrespectful.
I just said I thought her financial projections were a little too aggressive.
Then what happened? She fired me.
For disagreeing with her? She didn't say that was the reason, but that was the reason.
What did she say in your exit interview? That I wasn't spending enough time at the office.
Which was true.
I was working at home two days a week, but I was still putting in my 70 hours.
Why were you working from home? My wife had breast cancer.
She was undergoing some pretty intense chemo.
And the defendant was aware of this? Yes.
And she fired you anyway? Yes.
I begged her for another chance, but it was a waste of time.
She said that my career at H-W was over.
And that no one makes her look bad in front of the Board of Directors.
No one.
Nothing further.
It's not easy for a woman to become CEO of a Fortune 500 company at the age of 35.
You make lots of enemies, you bruise lots of egos, that's just the way it is.
What's your point? Well, despite the testimony of my bitter ex-employees, I had nothing to do with Charles Dillon's death.
Right.
Your lover acted on her own.
I know that's hard for you to believe, Mr.
McCoy, but it's true.
Julia had a tough, a very tough upbringing.
Clearly, there's still a lot of anger there, especially toward men.
What do you want, Miss Weaver? A plea-bargain.
You just testified you were innocent.
I am.
But I make my decisions based on numbers, fact, perceived risk, and I am guessing that juries don't like over-achieving women who fire men whose wives are dying of cancer.
Murder Two, Man Two, five- to-15.
Forget it! Why would I kill someone over a half-assed federal eavesdropping indictment? Or because someone was threatening to out me? I'm a very wealthy woman.
Who'd never work for a Fortune 500 company the rest of her life.
Ah.
You are just like everyone else.
You think that I am guilty because I am a woman who has power.
No.
Miss Weaver, I think you're guilty for the same reason you bugged your corporate headquarters.
You're a person with power who couldn't bear to lose it.
Have you reached a verdict? We have, Your Honor.
We find the defendant, Samantha Weaver, guilty of murder in the Second Degree.
(GAVEL BANGS) (PEOPLE MURMURING) (WHISPERING) Let's go, ma'am.
Night.
Ask me how I sleep at night.
How do you sleep at night? Like a baby.