Law & Order (1990) s18e01 Episode Script
Called Home
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.
(TOY BEEPING) Tell your mother I'll see her next week.
I'll see you tonight, Tommy.
Bye, kiddo.
Bye, Dad! (KEYPAD BEEPING) (BREATHING DEEPLY) Okay.
Here we go.
I'm really doing this.
(BREATHES DEEPLY) THORNE: We got pulmonary edema.
Injection site on his left arm.
I'm gonna go with an IV drug overdose.
Tan lines here.
He's missing awedding band and a wristwatch.
Just a driver's license and credit card on the dresser.
Thomas Lupo, 36.
He checked in yesterday at 2:00 p.
m.
At 2:30, the housekeeper saw a young lady enter the room.
Brunette, Caucasian, mid-20s.
Maybe Mr.
Lupo ordered in a Sunday matinee.
Hey, there was that other hooker rip-off two weeks ago at the McGarrigle on Twelfth.
It's almost enough to make a guy swear off infidelity.
(LAUGHS) You losing your nerve, Cormack? I did say "almost.
" I was at my mother's with the kids.
(SIGHS) I don't know why he was at that hotel.
Do you? I don't know for sure.
We need to check the phone calls your husband made.
Can you give me his number? (sums) I never remember it.
I got it on speed dial.
Can I? GIRL: Get back! Stop it! Mom! How were things with you and your husband? Last couple of weeks, it's like he pushed back from the table.
He wasn't talking to me.
You know, you guys should talk to his brother Cyrus.
Uh, it's here.
Cyrus Lupo.
Yeah.
He's flying in today from Somewhere.
Uh, Tommy had a Awedding band.
Platinum wedding band.
It's missing, along with his watch.
GIRL: Mom, tell him to stop it! Mom! I gotta see to my kids.
You talk to his brother.
Cyrus? ED: Mmm-hmm.
I hope he's got more to say than the wife did.
That lady just didn't want to deal.
Anyway, the M.
E.
's promised me a tox report by tomorrow morning.
Ah.
Here we go.
Detective Cyrus Lupo.
Next of kin, his brother, Thomas Lupo.
He's assigned to NYPD Intel.
Cyrus has been overseas the last four years.
You just happened to know to look for him in the Personnel Index System? No, no, no.
Detective Lupo was a patrolman in this precinct before your time.
Sorry about your brother.
Boss says take all the time you need.
Detective Green from the 27.
He caught the case.
(CHATTERING ON P.
A.
) Welcome home, bro.
See you at the Ponderosa.
All right.
Got anything? Just a general description ofawoman who went into his room.
Coffee.
LUPO: Hookers and dope.
That's I mean.
That's not my brother.
He He wouldn't cheat on his wife.
He wasn't a weak person.
He beat cancer five years ago.
When's the last time you talked to him? I don't know, uh He called me a couple of weeks ago.
I was into a situation.
I couldn't get back to him.
Here.
Thank you.
So, if it wasn't a pay date or a girlfriend, who else would have wanted your brother dead? Look, man.
Don't think I don't know what's going through your head.
But you can forget about working on this case, okay? LUPO: Her name is Lale.
She comes from a place called Izmir.
She's beautiful.
Thank you, Uncle Cyrus.
You're welcome.
Hey.
You're going to be okay, sweetheart.
Your daddy's watching over you.
Carly, time for bed.
Say good night.
Give me a kiss.
Good night.
JENNY: Why did he leave his ring here? (sums) Oh, God.
(SOBBING) (SHUSHING) Hey.
Ah.
Your hunch was on the money.
My hunch? The message you left last night.
I didn't leave a message.
No, uh, I did.
Nobody knows me, so I used your name.
Sorry.
Anyway, I looked for the melanoma and found tumors in Mr.
Lupo's lungs and liver, stage four, he had maybe three months.
Yeah, it was the uh It was the cancer he He beat five years ago.
It came back.
I found the pain-killers he was taking.
RODGERS: Well, going by the looks of these tumors, he needed them.
And I also have a cause of death for you.
Paralysis of the heart brought by an overdose of potassium chloride.
What was he doing, trying some home-made cancer treatment? In these quantities you don't see it used much outside of death row.
It's the drug of choice for lethal injections.
How about suicides? In combination with other drugs, as a matter of fact, yes.
It fits.
The bank said he borrowed against his business to pay off his mortgage.
He put his affairs in order.
I'm so sorry, Detective.
All right, let's change the classification on the blue to a suspected suicide.
Lieutenant, if you do that, you know this goes to the bottom of the pile.
Maybe my brother suicided, but he wouldn't know where to get these drugs.
Somebody helped him, maybe that woman.
We'll look for her.
But be real, man, we got open murder cases here, and all due respect, your brother was You don't know anything about my brother, all right? If this woman had tried to help him instead of handing him a loaded syringe Look, I will give this the time it deserves.
But maybe your brother had good reasons to take a short-cut to the exit.
Maybe if you'd called him back and talked to him, you'd know why.
Let me work the case.
Please.
I can find this woman.
My C.
O.
at Intel won't mind.
I'm out of there in three months anyway.
Not only is this against policy for you to work on this case, it's a bad idea all around.
(PHONE RINGING) Van Buren.
Yeah, what's up? Yeah.
Thanks.
Grab your hat.
Someone else just took "a shortcut to the exit.
" HAI XIONG: Mr.
Driscoll was confined to a wheel chair.
The driver who takes him to his physical therapy came in and found him.
How'd he get in? The door was unlocked.
There are burns at the injection site.
Typical of potassium chloride injection.
Same MO as Mr.
Lupo.
Maybe with the same little helper.
A serial suicide artist.
Try not to look so excited.
The tox exam showed the same three drugs in Mr.
Lupo and Mr.
Driscoll.
It took three to kill them? Secobarbital puts the victim to sleep, pancuronium paralyzes them, and then potassium chloride stops the heart.
Someone had to rig an IV to deliver all three drugs in a timed sequence.
This sounds familiar.
It should.
The last time this MO was used was 10 years ago by Doctor David Lingard in an assisted suicide.
Doctor Death.
He was convicted of murder.
After admitting on TV that he administered the drug that killed his victim.
He got out of jail a month ago.
Pay him a visit.
Thanks for coming in, Doc.
He's been wearing down the linoleum for the last couple of hours.
I talked to his boss at Intel.
Lupo broke some big cases in some very unfriendly corners of the world, and he did it with no back-up, no warrants, no weapon.
You making a sales pitch? We got a second assisted suicide with a victim he's not related to.
It wouldn't be policy violation for him to work that case.
I had nothing to do with those suicides.
Somebody must have borrowed my recipe.
Thing is, Doctor Lingard, no one's used your recipe since you went to prison.
But now, a month after you're out I know the terms of my parole.
I am not allowed to help anyone commit suicide.
I'm not even allowed to give advice, or it is back to prison for me.
A lot of people have asked you for advice since you've been out? Lots.
And I tell them all the same thing.
Sorry, can't help.
Don't blame me.
Blame the tyrant that made the rules.
Who's this tyrant? Your government that has been stealing your natural rights.
Must be frustrating for you, not being able to help people.
So if you can't help kill them, you don't care what happens to them.
Of course I still care what happens.
The people I helped before I went to prison are better off dead, believe me.
You decide that? These people, they come to you, maybe they're confused.
What do you know about my patients? They all had awful pain and debilitation.
What a miserable existence.
Then you would do it, even now.
You would help them die.
No.
It's against the law.
And as long as the sheep are happy to allow the nuts and fanatics to tell them how to live and how to die, nothing will change.
But that is not my problem anymore.
NOLAN: What are you doing now? I'm giving her potassium chloride.
The interview that nailed Lingard.
You do the time-line for Driscoll? Uh, yeah.
NOLAN: Is she dead now? Yes.
NOLAN: She's dead because you gave her a lethal injection? Come on, Doctor, don't be coy.
She wanted to die, so you gave her a drug and killed her.
Yes, I did.
That was a big scoop for Bill Nolan.
Hey, this trip that Driscoll took to the 200 block of First Avenue.
Yeah.
There was a receipt from the handicapped van that took him there.
Your brother got a call from a pay phone in a restaurant on the same block.
Wait a minute.
Here.
Three days before he died.
NICK: Him, I've seen a few times.
He's in a wheelchair.
ED: He came in by himself? No.
He has coffee, with this girl.
Girlfriend? Naw, come on, he's too old for her.
She's a nurse.
They probably talk about medical stuff.
Medical stuff usually happens in a medical place, not a diner, Nick.
How'd you know she's a nurse? She have a uniform and a little white hat? No You know because you talked to her.
You like her, don't you? (CHUCKLES) All right.
What's her name and where do we find her? Mila.
She works at a hospice on Avenue A.
Larry Driscoll had a friend who passed away here.
That's how I met him.
When Larry decided to terminate his life, he came to me for advice.
I work with the dying and Larry thought I might be able to help him.
So did you help him? I told him don't expect any help from the straight medical community.
They're like everybody else.
They think like sheep.
Sheep? Are you a Doctor Death groupie, Ms.
Hames? Doctor David Lingard? No.
I'm not a groupie.
M.
H.
L.
Mila Hames Lingard? When I went into nursing, my father said it would go easier if I used my mother's name.
What about Tom Lupo? Were you the one that called him from the diner? I was returning his call.
He heard about me from Larry.
They met on a right-to-die website.
Were you the one that went to his hotel room and hooked him up to an IV? You're not going to trick me, like they did my father.
Those guys committed suicide all by themselves.
There are videos to prove it.
Videos of what, the suicides? Bill Nolan has them.
He's doing a special on my father for his show.
MILA: He's got the videos.
I'm not trying to give you the bum's rush, fellows, but I have to get this Lingard segment ready to air on Sunday.
Those videos are evidence in two homicides, Mr.
Nolan, so if you're thinking of concealing them That would be pretty dumb of me, since the whole world's going to see them on Sunday.
Artie, be a good man and burn a DVD of Driscoll and that other fellow Tom Lupo.
You should work with us, Mr.
Nolan.
(CHUCKLES) We saw how you got Lingard to confess on camera 10 years ago.
That's pretty smooth.
Smooth enough for an Emmy.
Larry, you've been sick for years, so why now? My condition was getting worse month by month.
I came to believe that the doctors, and my family, were keeping the truth about my disease from me.
But now, thanks to you, Bill, I got my real medical report.
That's right.
Thanks to you, I now know I have ALS.
Lou Gehrig's disease.
Ifs a slow, certain, agonizing death.
So this is my response.
No one helped me.
I rigged it myself.
NOLAN: Should someone check his pulse? Whatever role Lingard's daughter played in the suicide, Larry Driscoll basically exonerated her.
But it's bull.
It doesn't matter.
It's a dying declaration.
Prosecuting her would be a waste of time.
Hold on a minute.
Driscoll said he had Lou Gehrig's.
The autopsy says he had something called spinal muscular atrophy.
What? And Driscoll thought he had Lou Gehrig's because of a medical report that Nolan gave him, right? Since he committed suicide thinking he had Lou Gehrig's, I suggest we get the M.
E.
to sort this out.
Driscoll was diagnosed with type IV spinal muscular atrophy 20 years ago.
It's non-lethal, people with SMA can maintain a fulfilling quality of life, it's nothing like the horror-show of Lou Gehrig's.
The video mentioned a medical report that said Driscoll had Lou Gehrig's.
(SIGHS) Three weeks ago, Driscoll had himself checked out at St.
Fabian's Hospital.
They misdiagnosed him with Lou Gehrig's.
The original report stayed in his file.
And that's what ended up in Bill Nolan's hands.
Somebody dropped the ball.
Maybe our little angel of mercy can tell us how that happened.
CONNIE: We accept that Mr.
Driscoll and Mr.
Lupo chose to commit suicide, and we're willing to give you immunity for helping them.
In exchange, you'll tell us how Mr.
Driscoll learned he had Lou Gehrig's disease.
Bill Nolan gave Larry the medical report.
CONNIE: And how did Mr.
Nolan come to be involved? After my father got out of jail, Mr.
Nolan kept hounding him for an interview.
I thought I could help my father.
I told Nolan about this man, Tom Lupo.
I told him I was there when he committed suicide.
He got very excited.
He wanted to witness a suicide, he said it would help my father's cause.
I introduced him to Larry.
Larry was thinking of suicide.
He thought he was a lot sicker than what the doctors were telling him.
But he couldn't make up his mind.
What did he do? Did he ask Mr.
Nolan for help? Nolan just kept talking about a deadline.
So he used a source at the hospital to get Larry's report.
When the report said Larry had Lou Gehrig's, Larry made up his mind.
Mila, the report was wrong.
Larry didn't have Lou Gehrig's.
Well, if they don't take away Nolan's Emmy for this Why stop at his Emmy? He was after ratings.
He had a suicidal victim, an unchecked report.
He had motive, it was a substantial risk and a reckless act.
Full house.
Let's go.
Ms.
Hames, I'm Michael Cutter.
I work with Ms.
Rubirosa.
Now, uh Before he died, you got to know Mr.
Driscoll pretty well? He talked to you about his life, about suicide.
But for the fact he was told he had Lou Gehrig's, do you think he'd be alive today? He said as long as there was hope, he couldn't bring himself to end his life.
He told Mr.
Nolan this? You go pick up Nolan.
We're charging Man Two.
This looks like trouble.
You mind getting up, Mr.
Nolan? I have to get ready to tape a segment for Sunday's show.
You're pretty enough now for your mug shot, now get up! Mug shot? You're under arrest for murder.
Artie, call Gerard, now! (REPORTERS CLAMORING) Mr.
Nolan was charged with second degree manslaughter.
He pled not guilty and the judge set bail at $250,000.
These charges are an attack on the press, on the First Amendment.
Our new District Attorney, Jack McCoy, was appointed to serve out Arthur Branch's term less than two weeks ago, and by the looks of it, our civil liberties are in for a very rough ride.
Mike, are you aware of the storm of crap you stirred up? I'm in this job three minutes and already I'm being crucified.
And making a deal with a woman who assisted in two suicides? The victims exonerated her.
I mean, even if I So indicting Bill Nolan is some kind of consolation prize? The First Amendment is not a license to be reckless.
But it is the First Amendment.
The next time you decide to charge a member of the press with a felony, call me.
Sacred cows are for barbecuing, Jack.
You may have had Woodward and Bernstein, but I grew up with Geraldo and then Judith Miller.
I mean, reporters, they'rejust more clowns to the circus now.
A fine sentiment.
I hope you have an actual legal theory to back it up, because simple negligence won't get you there.
Unless you can prove malice.
(CELL PHONE BEEPING) Jack, it's Ru bi rosa.
Nolan just filed a motion to dismiss.
What do you want me to do? Duffy.
Look that one up on your gadget.
Your Honor, the statute is crystal clear a person must cause the death of another person.
Mr.
Driscoll was the cause of his own death.
The only role that my client played was that of a journalist conveying a fact to an interview subject.
What he conveyed was an erroneous report, knowing the devastating impact that it would have.
That report is what caused Mr.
Driscoll to take his life.
Say whatever you want about that report.
My client's hand wasn't on the syringe.
Well, that's a hair-thin definition of causation.
People v.
Duffy.
The Court of Appeals upheld the manslaughter conviction of a man who gave a gun to his distraught friend.
The Court ruled that the defendant may be convicted for engaging in reckless conduct that results in another person's suicide.
Your Honor, I asking you to weigh this one fact-checking error against my client's life-long commitment to journalistic excellence.
And I would ask Your Honor to weigh Mr.
Driscoll's life against Mr.
Nolan's craven pursuit of ratings.
If he hadn't been in a rush to televise a suicide, he might have checked his facts.
Amen to that, Mr.
Cutter.
The motion to dismiss is denied.
My client would like to close the book on this and move on.
The damage to his reputation is incalculable.
I don't think they care, Gerard.
Mr.
Cutter, knock it down to Criminally Negligent Homicide, suspended sentence, community service, and a fine.
Oh, uh, you write a check and Larry Driscoll becomes what, a footnote in an ethics class at the School of Journalism? I didn't do anything wrong! It wasn't my source at the hospital.
It was Larry's.
He put me in touch with this person at the hospital.
This source never gave me any reason to believe there was anything wrong with the report.
This story wasn't even my idea.
Mila Hames came to me.
I stayed within the ethics of my profession every damn step of the way.
Before we consider a plea, we have to verify your story.
CONNIE: We'll need the name of your source.
I didn't know there were two reports on the same test.
Nolan was all over me, so I just sent him the first report that came up on my computer.
When did you realize the report had the misdiagnosis of Lou Gehrig's disease? The next day, when I found the second report, with the corrected diagnosis.
Listen, ltried to get in touch with Nolan.
I left him a message on his voice-mail at his TV station, but I never heard from him.
You called him? You sure, Rick? Yeah.
I'm sure.
Okay? The more I hear about Mr.
Nolan, the less I want to make a deal with him.
You're not going to like this.
Detective Lupo did some digging on our hospital lab rat Rick Odell.
When he rented an apartment two years ago, Odell used Mila Hames as a reference.
Doctor Lingard's daughter.
Small world.
Yeah, well, you'd think Mila would've mentioned that she knew the kid who gave Nolan the wrong medical report.
Either she didn't know or it was no accident that Nolan got the wrong report.
Ajournalist is doing a program on assisted suicide that will rehabilitate your father, and the centerpiece is an on-camera suicide.
But what if your would-be suicide gets cold feet? So Mila had her friend give Nolan the wrong diagnosis.
This is a news story that benefits Doctor Lingard.
It shows people are still following in his footsteps.
I wouldn't be surprised if he put his daughter up to this.
He's that kind of guy.
This is ridiculous.
I already told your goons that I've been a good boy.
Besides, Mila and I don't talk very much.
CONNIE: Really? She said she got involved with Nolan to vindicate you.
LINGARD: How annoying.
Your daughter's devotion is annoying? I always felt that the whole paternity thing was a distraction from my work.
ED: Connie.
These are letters that Mila sent him in prison.
This one she wrote from a camp when she was 17.
She included this picture.
Check out the dude with the crutches.
It's Driscoll.
"My counselor Larry is such a cool guy.
"He knows all about you, Daddy, and he thinks it's unjust that you're in jail.
"He has a disease called spinal muscular atrophy.
"But he told me if he ever ends up in a wheelchair and miserable, "he would end his life "and he hopes there'll be someone like you to help him.
" It sounds like Larry was ready to commit suicide because of his SMA.
The mistaken diagnosis wasn't a factor.
Sounds like it.
"I'm trying to stop being angry at how unfair the world is.
"You'rejust trying to help people, Daddy.
"But they take advantage of your honesty.
"You gave an interview, and what did you get? "Ten years in prison.
"And that creep? He got an Emmy.
" That creep.
She blames Nolan for sending her dad to prison.
And now she's trying to send him to prison for manslaughter.
Payback.
Call the detectives.
We're arresting Mila Hames for murder.
MILA: There you go, Danny.
Look what I got you.
Just in time for the ball game.
Mustard, right? Ms.
Hames, we need you to come with us.
We have a warrant for your arrest.
Let's do this out here.
GRUBMAN: You have there an agreement, Your Honor, signed by the District Attorney giving my client immunity for any role she had assisting the suicides.
This looks like a get-out-of- jail-free card to me, Mr.
Cutter.
You gave her a walk on suicide and that's what these victims did.
I agree, Judge.
For Tom Lupo and Larry Driscoll, it was a suicide.
But Mila Hames assisted their deaths in order to frame Bill Nolan for manslaughter.
Her intent makes those deaths murder.
And her immunity doesn't cover murder.
Mr.
Cutter is alleging an intent that is not supported by the facts.
That would be for a jury to decide, Ms.
Grubman.
I intend to give them that opportunity.
Your motion's denied.
The two murder counts stand.
Tyrant! Tyrant! You can't keep me in jail so you attack my daughter! Quiet! Quiet! Officers, remove that man! Yourjustice is a perversion! REISMAN: Order! It's immoral! REISMAN: Get him out of here! Nice tap-dance today.
Uh, well, thank you for not mentioning that I shouldn't have given her immunity in the first place.
You're welcome.
And no matter what you call it, you're still prosecuting her for assisting two suicides.
She used those men, for her own needs, not theirs.
Anyway, the judge said I could prosecute, so I will.
Can I see your witness list? There's nobody here testifying on behalf of the victims.
Larry Driscoll has no immediate family, and we're still waiting to hear from Tommy Lupo's wife.
I don't want Mike going off on a tangent.
This is not a crusade against assisted suicide.
Jack, don't put me on the spot.
Anything you have to say to him Your case is all brain and no heart.
Better put a human face on the victims.
The whole reason that Larry got a check-up at Saint Fabians was because I worked in the lab.
Mila told me to tweak his tests so they came up for Lou Gehrig's.
CUTTER: Then what happened? Bill Nolan called me.
I gave him the phony report, like Mila asked me to.
Thank you.
Mr.
Odell, far as you know, Larry Driscoll was an informed and willing participant in his own death? Sure.
He said that, uh, suicide was a relief.
That taking down Nolan gave his death a purpose, and he was happy to do it.
Thank you.
No more questions.
Mila Hames proposed to me that I film an actual assisted suicide for my report about her father.
I was reluctant, but she kept after me.
She showed me a tape of Mr.
Lupo's suicide to demonstrate that everything would be done in a clinical manner.
I wanted to present a fair and truthful picture of her father and his beliefs.
Anyway I relented, and Mila introduced me to Larry Driscoll.
He gave me a song and dance about being undecided.
He put me in touch with a young man who gave me a phony report.
At no time did I pressure anyone into doing anything.
I don't make the news, I just report it.
Thank you, Mr.
Nolan.
Mr.
Nolan, at any time, did you witness my client cause the death of Mr.
Lupo or Mr.
Driscoll, either by injecting them with a drug, or connecting them to a drug-delivery apparatus or procuring drugs? No, but Ms.
Hames is a nurse and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to imagine I didn't ask you to imagine the facts, Mr.
Nolan, just to report them.
No more questions.
We're getting nowhere fast with the jury.
Someone has to speak for the victims.
Yeah.
We need Tommy Lupo's wife on the stand.
She hasn't responded to the subpoena.
You know, we could threaten her with contempt.
Well, that's a little unseemly, don't you think? No.
Get Detective Lupo to lean on her.
I don't have time to sit around a courthouse.
It's only one day.
This girl used him.
You want me to get up in front of all those people and tell them my husband preferred to kill himself instead of having a conversation with me? You have any idea how humiliating that is? (sums) You want somebody to speak for Tommy? Why don't you do it? Huh? Why don't you get up there and tell everybody you were too busy to talk to your sick, dying brother.
And then you can tell them it's because of me.
CONNIE: Well, Lupo struck out with his sister-in-law.
What do you think of him testifying? On behalf of the victim? It would taint his role as an investigator.
Then that's it, the People rest.
The defense will put Mila on the stand, a sympathetic defendant, a hospice nurse caring for the suffering Hey, Connie, check out this website, noexecutions.
org.
It's an anti-death penalty group.
(TYPING) I think we found a blemish in Mila's halo.
Larry had already decided he wanted to end his life.
When Mr.
Nolan started talking about doing a show about my father, Larry and I came up with the idea of letting him film his suicide.
GRUBMAN: Why? Because it would show that people still believed in my father's work, that he didn't go to jail for nothing.
And then what happened? Larry and I came up with the idea of embarrassing Mr.
Nolan.
It was stupid and I regret it.
I blamed him for the loss of my father for 10 years.
GRUBMAN: Tell us about your participation in the suicides.
I told them where to get the drugs and the plans to build the drug-delivery device.
I showed them how to work it and how to set up an IV in their arm, how to end their life safely, without pain, in the same spirit as my father would've helped them.
GRUBMAN: No further questions.
As a nurse in a hospice for the dying, you know something about pain, correct? Yes.
So when you told Mr.
Lupo and Mr.
Driscoll that this method developed by your father, the cocktail of the three drugs, was safe and painless, they trusted you, because of your training? Yes, they did.
Now you advocate that people should have the right to end their life with the help of medical professionals, correct? Yes.
Where do you stand on other life-and-death issues, say abortion? I haven't made up my mind.
Well, let's try an easy one.
The death penalty? I'm opposed to the death penalty.
On what grounds? It's cruel.
Cruel? Why? Because of Because of what? The manner of execution? Specifically, lethal injection, Ms.
Hames? People's 41 through 45.
Records from No Executions, an anti-death penalty advocacy group.
The records show you've been a paying member for the last four years.
These are petitions.
Is this your electronic signature? Yes.
You signed these petitions opposing the use of lethal injections because, and I quote, "the three drugs used in lethal injections "silence the prisoner so he cannot scream, "paralyze him so he cannot move "and then subject him to extreme and intolerable pain.
" Ms.
Hames, what is the drug commonly used in lethal injections that causes such extreme and intolerable pain? Potassium chloride.
Potassium chloride.
The same drug, the same cocktail, used in your father's suicide device, correct? Yes.
The device you told Tom Lupo and Larry Driscoll was safe and painless? They trusted you and you told them to inject this poison into their veins, didn't you? I didn't think Tell me, Ms.
Hames, why is it your concern for the suffering of prisoners didn't extend to these two innocent men? Is it because you didn't care for their welfare? No, they wanted Is it because you were so focused on your own feelings your own vengeance? No! I didn't know.
My father told me it was safe.
You're a nurse.
You knew better.
(STAMMERING) No, I I didn't mean My My father JACK: The right-to-die and the death penalty.
That's not a connection that would've occurred to me.
Well, on occasion, Jack.
Branch used to fill his shelves with knick-knacks and awards.
It's a working office now, not a showroom.
The defense just sprung another witness on us.
The heavy artillery this time.
Doctor David Lingard.
LINGARD: Everybody has it backwards.
We're not trying to help people die.
We're relieving them of their unbearable pain.
Hippocrates said that doctors are the servant of the patient, and not the master.
But doesn't potassium chloride inflict pain on the patients? Not if it's administered by a doctor.
But it's against the law.
So we have to use these home-made machines that are unreliable.
GRUBMAN: Are you familiar with the design of the device your daughter helped Lupo and Driscoll build Just a minute.
My daughter had nothing to do with those suicides.
I built the device, I set up the IV.
Mila only took the blame because she didn't want to see her old man going back to prison.
GRUBMAN: You take full responsibility for assisting their suicides? Yes.
Mila didn't wanna have anything to do with it.
And Bill Nolan was my idea.
I wanted to see that son-of-a-gun choke on his Emmy.
GRUBMAN: Thank you, Doctor Lingard.
No more questions.
Doctor Lingard, yesterday we heard your daughter take full responsibility for her roles in these crimes.
She was trying to protect me.
Not that I deserve it.
Then let me ask you, how did you meet Mr.
Driscoll and Mr.
Lupo? Let's talk about something else.
Let's talk about our natural right to decide how and when to die.
It's a right we were born with, and Doctor it's a right this tyrannical I asked you a question.
government has taken away from us.
The Ninth Amendment of the Constitution says that any right not mentioned in the Constitution reverts back to the individual, to you and me.
Doctor, where did you get the drugs you claim you gave to Driscoll and Lupo? It's a right we have and it's up to us to take it back.
Your Honor, I ask that this witness's testimony be stricken from the record.
Doctor Lingard, I'm directing you to answer his questions.
It's the right of every American to live and to die as they see fit.
And I choose here, and now.
What are you talking about? My pulse is down to 20.
My God, what did you do? Beta-blockers, Pmpranol, about an hour ago I'm almost there MILA: Daddy? It's okay, sweetheart.
You'll be all right.
REISMAN: Officers, get an ambulance! Call 9-1-1! Daddy! GRUBMAN: Your Honor! I move for a mistrial! Daddy, no! REISMAN: Clear the courtroom! (ALL CLAMORING) LUPO: Not like this.
Put him on his back! On his back! REISMAN: Order! Order in the court! FREEMAN: Get the 'wry out oi here new:! I want this court room cleared now! Court officers, clear the courtroom! Get a medic in here! The judge declared a mistrial.
She wants to set a date for a new trial.
What's the point? Her father exonerated her with a dying declaration.
Well, given the conditions of his parole, Lingard must've figured his life's work was at an end.
He had nothing to lose.
Now his daughter gets to learn the downside of the right to die.
Grief.
The doctor told me I got six months.
Already the pain I can't take it.
There's no hope.
My family didn't tell my wife, because she would have tried to stop me.
So it's just me.
(BREATHING DEEPLY) Okay.
Here we go.
I'm really doing this.
(TOMMY slsl-ls)
These are their stories.
(TOY BEEPING) Tell your mother I'll see her next week.
I'll see you tonight, Tommy.
Bye, kiddo.
Bye, Dad! (KEYPAD BEEPING) (BREATHING DEEPLY) Okay.
Here we go.
I'm really doing this.
(BREATHES DEEPLY) THORNE: We got pulmonary edema.
Injection site on his left arm.
I'm gonna go with an IV drug overdose.
Tan lines here.
He's missing awedding band and a wristwatch.
Just a driver's license and credit card on the dresser.
Thomas Lupo, 36.
He checked in yesterday at 2:00 p.
m.
At 2:30, the housekeeper saw a young lady enter the room.
Brunette, Caucasian, mid-20s.
Maybe Mr.
Lupo ordered in a Sunday matinee.
Hey, there was that other hooker rip-off two weeks ago at the McGarrigle on Twelfth.
It's almost enough to make a guy swear off infidelity.
(LAUGHS) You losing your nerve, Cormack? I did say "almost.
" I was at my mother's with the kids.
(SIGHS) I don't know why he was at that hotel.
Do you? I don't know for sure.
We need to check the phone calls your husband made.
Can you give me his number? (sums) I never remember it.
I got it on speed dial.
Can I? GIRL: Get back! Stop it! Mom! How were things with you and your husband? Last couple of weeks, it's like he pushed back from the table.
He wasn't talking to me.
You know, you guys should talk to his brother Cyrus.
Uh, it's here.
Cyrus Lupo.
Yeah.
He's flying in today from Somewhere.
Uh, Tommy had a Awedding band.
Platinum wedding band.
It's missing, along with his watch.
GIRL: Mom, tell him to stop it! Mom! I gotta see to my kids.
You talk to his brother.
Cyrus? ED: Mmm-hmm.
I hope he's got more to say than the wife did.
That lady just didn't want to deal.
Anyway, the M.
E.
's promised me a tox report by tomorrow morning.
Ah.
Here we go.
Detective Cyrus Lupo.
Next of kin, his brother, Thomas Lupo.
He's assigned to NYPD Intel.
Cyrus has been overseas the last four years.
You just happened to know to look for him in the Personnel Index System? No, no, no.
Detective Lupo was a patrolman in this precinct before your time.
Sorry about your brother.
Boss says take all the time you need.
Detective Green from the 27.
He caught the case.
(CHATTERING ON P.
A.
) Welcome home, bro.
See you at the Ponderosa.
All right.
Got anything? Just a general description ofawoman who went into his room.
Coffee.
LUPO: Hookers and dope.
That's I mean.
That's not my brother.
He He wouldn't cheat on his wife.
He wasn't a weak person.
He beat cancer five years ago.
When's the last time you talked to him? I don't know, uh He called me a couple of weeks ago.
I was into a situation.
I couldn't get back to him.
Here.
Thank you.
So, if it wasn't a pay date or a girlfriend, who else would have wanted your brother dead? Look, man.
Don't think I don't know what's going through your head.
But you can forget about working on this case, okay? LUPO: Her name is Lale.
She comes from a place called Izmir.
She's beautiful.
Thank you, Uncle Cyrus.
You're welcome.
Hey.
You're going to be okay, sweetheart.
Your daddy's watching over you.
Carly, time for bed.
Say good night.
Give me a kiss.
Good night.
JENNY: Why did he leave his ring here? (sums) Oh, God.
(SOBBING) (SHUSHING) Hey.
Ah.
Your hunch was on the money.
My hunch? The message you left last night.
I didn't leave a message.
No, uh, I did.
Nobody knows me, so I used your name.
Sorry.
Anyway, I looked for the melanoma and found tumors in Mr.
Lupo's lungs and liver, stage four, he had maybe three months.
Yeah, it was the uh It was the cancer he He beat five years ago.
It came back.
I found the pain-killers he was taking.
RODGERS: Well, going by the looks of these tumors, he needed them.
And I also have a cause of death for you.
Paralysis of the heart brought by an overdose of potassium chloride.
What was he doing, trying some home-made cancer treatment? In these quantities you don't see it used much outside of death row.
It's the drug of choice for lethal injections.
How about suicides? In combination with other drugs, as a matter of fact, yes.
It fits.
The bank said he borrowed against his business to pay off his mortgage.
He put his affairs in order.
I'm so sorry, Detective.
All right, let's change the classification on the blue to a suspected suicide.
Lieutenant, if you do that, you know this goes to the bottom of the pile.
Maybe my brother suicided, but he wouldn't know where to get these drugs.
Somebody helped him, maybe that woman.
We'll look for her.
But be real, man, we got open murder cases here, and all due respect, your brother was You don't know anything about my brother, all right? If this woman had tried to help him instead of handing him a loaded syringe Look, I will give this the time it deserves.
But maybe your brother had good reasons to take a short-cut to the exit.
Maybe if you'd called him back and talked to him, you'd know why.
Let me work the case.
Please.
I can find this woman.
My C.
O.
at Intel won't mind.
I'm out of there in three months anyway.
Not only is this against policy for you to work on this case, it's a bad idea all around.
(PHONE RINGING) Van Buren.
Yeah, what's up? Yeah.
Thanks.
Grab your hat.
Someone else just took "a shortcut to the exit.
" HAI XIONG: Mr.
Driscoll was confined to a wheel chair.
The driver who takes him to his physical therapy came in and found him.
How'd he get in? The door was unlocked.
There are burns at the injection site.
Typical of potassium chloride injection.
Same MO as Mr.
Lupo.
Maybe with the same little helper.
A serial suicide artist.
Try not to look so excited.
The tox exam showed the same three drugs in Mr.
Lupo and Mr.
Driscoll.
It took three to kill them? Secobarbital puts the victim to sleep, pancuronium paralyzes them, and then potassium chloride stops the heart.
Someone had to rig an IV to deliver all three drugs in a timed sequence.
This sounds familiar.
It should.
The last time this MO was used was 10 years ago by Doctor David Lingard in an assisted suicide.
Doctor Death.
He was convicted of murder.
After admitting on TV that he administered the drug that killed his victim.
He got out of jail a month ago.
Pay him a visit.
Thanks for coming in, Doc.
He's been wearing down the linoleum for the last couple of hours.
I talked to his boss at Intel.
Lupo broke some big cases in some very unfriendly corners of the world, and he did it with no back-up, no warrants, no weapon.
You making a sales pitch? We got a second assisted suicide with a victim he's not related to.
It wouldn't be policy violation for him to work that case.
I had nothing to do with those suicides.
Somebody must have borrowed my recipe.
Thing is, Doctor Lingard, no one's used your recipe since you went to prison.
But now, a month after you're out I know the terms of my parole.
I am not allowed to help anyone commit suicide.
I'm not even allowed to give advice, or it is back to prison for me.
A lot of people have asked you for advice since you've been out? Lots.
And I tell them all the same thing.
Sorry, can't help.
Don't blame me.
Blame the tyrant that made the rules.
Who's this tyrant? Your government that has been stealing your natural rights.
Must be frustrating for you, not being able to help people.
So if you can't help kill them, you don't care what happens to them.
Of course I still care what happens.
The people I helped before I went to prison are better off dead, believe me.
You decide that? These people, they come to you, maybe they're confused.
What do you know about my patients? They all had awful pain and debilitation.
What a miserable existence.
Then you would do it, even now.
You would help them die.
No.
It's against the law.
And as long as the sheep are happy to allow the nuts and fanatics to tell them how to live and how to die, nothing will change.
But that is not my problem anymore.
NOLAN: What are you doing now? I'm giving her potassium chloride.
The interview that nailed Lingard.
You do the time-line for Driscoll? Uh, yeah.
NOLAN: Is she dead now? Yes.
NOLAN: She's dead because you gave her a lethal injection? Come on, Doctor, don't be coy.
She wanted to die, so you gave her a drug and killed her.
Yes, I did.
That was a big scoop for Bill Nolan.
Hey, this trip that Driscoll took to the 200 block of First Avenue.
Yeah.
There was a receipt from the handicapped van that took him there.
Your brother got a call from a pay phone in a restaurant on the same block.
Wait a minute.
Here.
Three days before he died.
NICK: Him, I've seen a few times.
He's in a wheelchair.
ED: He came in by himself? No.
He has coffee, with this girl.
Girlfriend? Naw, come on, he's too old for her.
She's a nurse.
They probably talk about medical stuff.
Medical stuff usually happens in a medical place, not a diner, Nick.
How'd you know she's a nurse? She have a uniform and a little white hat? No You know because you talked to her.
You like her, don't you? (CHUCKLES) All right.
What's her name and where do we find her? Mila.
She works at a hospice on Avenue A.
Larry Driscoll had a friend who passed away here.
That's how I met him.
When Larry decided to terminate his life, he came to me for advice.
I work with the dying and Larry thought I might be able to help him.
So did you help him? I told him don't expect any help from the straight medical community.
They're like everybody else.
They think like sheep.
Sheep? Are you a Doctor Death groupie, Ms.
Hames? Doctor David Lingard? No.
I'm not a groupie.
M.
H.
L.
Mila Hames Lingard? When I went into nursing, my father said it would go easier if I used my mother's name.
What about Tom Lupo? Were you the one that called him from the diner? I was returning his call.
He heard about me from Larry.
They met on a right-to-die website.
Were you the one that went to his hotel room and hooked him up to an IV? You're not going to trick me, like they did my father.
Those guys committed suicide all by themselves.
There are videos to prove it.
Videos of what, the suicides? Bill Nolan has them.
He's doing a special on my father for his show.
MILA: He's got the videos.
I'm not trying to give you the bum's rush, fellows, but I have to get this Lingard segment ready to air on Sunday.
Those videos are evidence in two homicides, Mr.
Nolan, so if you're thinking of concealing them That would be pretty dumb of me, since the whole world's going to see them on Sunday.
Artie, be a good man and burn a DVD of Driscoll and that other fellow Tom Lupo.
You should work with us, Mr.
Nolan.
(CHUCKLES) We saw how you got Lingard to confess on camera 10 years ago.
That's pretty smooth.
Smooth enough for an Emmy.
Larry, you've been sick for years, so why now? My condition was getting worse month by month.
I came to believe that the doctors, and my family, were keeping the truth about my disease from me.
But now, thanks to you, Bill, I got my real medical report.
That's right.
Thanks to you, I now know I have ALS.
Lou Gehrig's disease.
Ifs a slow, certain, agonizing death.
So this is my response.
No one helped me.
I rigged it myself.
NOLAN: Should someone check his pulse? Whatever role Lingard's daughter played in the suicide, Larry Driscoll basically exonerated her.
But it's bull.
It doesn't matter.
It's a dying declaration.
Prosecuting her would be a waste of time.
Hold on a minute.
Driscoll said he had Lou Gehrig's.
The autopsy says he had something called spinal muscular atrophy.
What? And Driscoll thought he had Lou Gehrig's because of a medical report that Nolan gave him, right? Since he committed suicide thinking he had Lou Gehrig's, I suggest we get the M.
E.
to sort this out.
Driscoll was diagnosed with type IV spinal muscular atrophy 20 years ago.
It's non-lethal, people with SMA can maintain a fulfilling quality of life, it's nothing like the horror-show of Lou Gehrig's.
The video mentioned a medical report that said Driscoll had Lou Gehrig's.
(SIGHS) Three weeks ago, Driscoll had himself checked out at St.
Fabian's Hospital.
They misdiagnosed him with Lou Gehrig's.
The original report stayed in his file.
And that's what ended up in Bill Nolan's hands.
Somebody dropped the ball.
Maybe our little angel of mercy can tell us how that happened.
CONNIE: We accept that Mr.
Driscoll and Mr.
Lupo chose to commit suicide, and we're willing to give you immunity for helping them.
In exchange, you'll tell us how Mr.
Driscoll learned he had Lou Gehrig's disease.
Bill Nolan gave Larry the medical report.
CONNIE: And how did Mr.
Nolan come to be involved? After my father got out of jail, Mr.
Nolan kept hounding him for an interview.
I thought I could help my father.
I told Nolan about this man, Tom Lupo.
I told him I was there when he committed suicide.
He got very excited.
He wanted to witness a suicide, he said it would help my father's cause.
I introduced him to Larry.
Larry was thinking of suicide.
He thought he was a lot sicker than what the doctors were telling him.
But he couldn't make up his mind.
What did he do? Did he ask Mr.
Nolan for help? Nolan just kept talking about a deadline.
So he used a source at the hospital to get Larry's report.
When the report said Larry had Lou Gehrig's, Larry made up his mind.
Mila, the report was wrong.
Larry didn't have Lou Gehrig's.
Well, if they don't take away Nolan's Emmy for this Why stop at his Emmy? He was after ratings.
He had a suicidal victim, an unchecked report.
He had motive, it was a substantial risk and a reckless act.
Full house.
Let's go.
Ms.
Hames, I'm Michael Cutter.
I work with Ms.
Rubirosa.
Now, uh Before he died, you got to know Mr.
Driscoll pretty well? He talked to you about his life, about suicide.
But for the fact he was told he had Lou Gehrig's, do you think he'd be alive today? He said as long as there was hope, he couldn't bring himself to end his life.
He told Mr.
Nolan this? You go pick up Nolan.
We're charging Man Two.
This looks like trouble.
You mind getting up, Mr.
Nolan? I have to get ready to tape a segment for Sunday's show.
You're pretty enough now for your mug shot, now get up! Mug shot? You're under arrest for murder.
Artie, call Gerard, now! (REPORTERS CLAMORING) Mr.
Nolan was charged with second degree manslaughter.
He pled not guilty and the judge set bail at $250,000.
These charges are an attack on the press, on the First Amendment.
Our new District Attorney, Jack McCoy, was appointed to serve out Arthur Branch's term less than two weeks ago, and by the looks of it, our civil liberties are in for a very rough ride.
Mike, are you aware of the storm of crap you stirred up? I'm in this job three minutes and already I'm being crucified.
And making a deal with a woman who assisted in two suicides? The victims exonerated her.
I mean, even if I So indicting Bill Nolan is some kind of consolation prize? The First Amendment is not a license to be reckless.
But it is the First Amendment.
The next time you decide to charge a member of the press with a felony, call me.
Sacred cows are for barbecuing, Jack.
You may have had Woodward and Bernstein, but I grew up with Geraldo and then Judith Miller.
I mean, reporters, they'rejust more clowns to the circus now.
A fine sentiment.
I hope you have an actual legal theory to back it up, because simple negligence won't get you there.
Unless you can prove malice.
(CELL PHONE BEEPING) Jack, it's Ru bi rosa.
Nolan just filed a motion to dismiss.
What do you want me to do? Duffy.
Look that one up on your gadget.
Your Honor, the statute is crystal clear a person must cause the death of another person.
Mr.
Driscoll was the cause of his own death.
The only role that my client played was that of a journalist conveying a fact to an interview subject.
What he conveyed was an erroneous report, knowing the devastating impact that it would have.
That report is what caused Mr.
Driscoll to take his life.
Say whatever you want about that report.
My client's hand wasn't on the syringe.
Well, that's a hair-thin definition of causation.
People v.
Duffy.
The Court of Appeals upheld the manslaughter conviction of a man who gave a gun to his distraught friend.
The Court ruled that the defendant may be convicted for engaging in reckless conduct that results in another person's suicide.
Your Honor, I asking you to weigh this one fact-checking error against my client's life-long commitment to journalistic excellence.
And I would ask Your Honor to weigh Mr.
Driscoll's life against Mr.
Nolan's craven pursuit of ratings.
If he hadn't been in a rush to televise a suicide, he might have checked his facts.
Amen to that, Mr.
Cutter.
The motion to dismiss is denied.
My client would like to close the book on this and move on.
The damage to his reputation is incalculable.
I don't think they care, Gerard.
Mr.
Cutter, knock it down to Criminally Negligent Homicide, suspended sentence, community service, and a fine.
Oh, uh, you write a check and Larry Driscoll becomes what, a footnote in an ethics class at the School of Journalism? I didn't do anything wrong! It wasn't my source at the hospital.
It was Larry's.
He put me in touch with this person at the hospital.
This source never gave me any reason to believe there was anything wrong with the report.
This story wasn't even my idea.
Mila Hames came to me.
I stayed within the ethics of my profession every damn step of the way.
Before we consider a plea, we have to verify your story.
CONNIE: We'll need the name of your source.
I didn't know there were two reports on the same test.
Nolan was all over me, so I just sent him the first report that came up on my computer.
When did you realize the report had the misdiagnosis of Lou Gehrig's disease? The next day, when I found the second report, with the corrected diagnosis.
Listen, ltried to get in touch with Nolan.
I left him a message on his voice-mail at his TV station, but I never heard from him.
You called him? You sure, Rick? Yeah.
I'm sure.
Okay? The more I hear about Mr.
Nolan, the less I want to make a deal with him.
You're not going to like this.
Detective Lupo did some digging on our hospital lab rat Rick Odell.
When he rented an apartment two years ago, Odell used Mila Hames as a reference.
Doctor Lingard's daughter.
Small world.
Yeah, well, you'd think Mila would've mentioned that she knew the kid who gave Nolan the wrong medical report.
Either she didn't know or it was no accident that Nolan got the wrong report.
Ajournalist is doing a program on assisted suicide that will rehabilitate your father, and the centerpiece is an on-camera suicide.
But what if your would-be suicide gets cold feet? So Mila had her friend give Nolan the wrong diagnosis.
This is a news story that benefits Doctor Lingard.
It shows people are still following in his footsteps.
I wouldn't be surprised if he put his daughter up to this.
He's that kind of guy.
This is ridiculous.
I already told your goons that I've been a good boy.
Besides, Mila and I don't talk very much.
CONNIE: Really? She said she got involved with Nolan to vindicate you.
LINGARD: How annoying.
Your daughter's devotion is annoying? I always felt that the whole paternity thing was a distraction from my work.
ED: Connie.
These are letters that Mila sent him in prison.
This one she wrote from a camp when she was 17.
She included this picture.
Check out the dude with the crutches.
It's Driscoll.
"My counselor Larry is such a cool guy.
"He knows all about you, Daddy, and he thinks it's unjust that you're in jail.
"He has a disease called spinal muscular atrophy.
"But he told me if he ever ends up in a wheelchair and miserable, "he would end his life "and he hopes there'll be someone like you to help him.
" It sounds like Larry was ready to commit suicide because of his SMA.
The mistaken diagnosis wasn't a factor.
Sounds like it.
"I'm trying to stop being angry at how unfair the world is.
"You'rejust trying to help people, Daddy.
"But they take advantage of your honesty.
"You gave an interview, and what did you get? "Ten years in prison.
"And that creep? He got an Emmy.
" That creep.
She blames Nolan for sending her dad to prison.
And now she's trying to send him to prison for manslaughter.
Payback.
Call the detectives.
We're arresting Mila Hames for murder.
MILA: There you go, Danny.
Look what I got you.
Just in time for the ball game.
Mustard, right? Ms.
Hames, we need you to come with us.
We have a warrant for your arrest.
Let's do this out here.
GRUBMAN: You have there an agreement, Your Honor, signed by the District Attorney giving my client immunity for any role she had assisting the suicides.
This looks like a get-out-of- jail-free card to me, Mr.
Cutter.
You gave her a walk on suicide and that's what these victims did.
I agree, Judge.
For Tom Lupo and Larry Driscoll, it was a suicide.
But Mila Hames assisted their deaths in order to frame Bill Nolan for manslaughter.
Her intent makes those deaths murder.
And her immunity doesn't cover murder.
Mr.
Cutter is alleging an intent that is not supported by the facts.
That would be for a jury to decide, Ms.
Grubman.
I intend to give them that opportunity.
Your motion's denied.
The two murder counts stand.
Tyrant! Tyrant! You can't keep me in jail so you attack my daughter! Quiet! Quiet! Officers, remove that man! Yourjustice is a perversion! REISMAN: Order! It's immoral! REISMAN: Get him out of here! Nice tap-dance today.
Uh, well, thank you for not mentioning that I shouldn't have given her immunity in the first place.
You're welcome.
And no matter what you call it, you're still prosecuting her for assisting two suicides.
She used those men, for her own needs, not theirs.
Anyway, the judge said I could prosecute, so I will.
Can I see your witness list? There's nobody here testifying on behalf of the victims.
Larry Driscoll has no immediate family, and we're still waiting to hear from Tommy Lupo's wife.
I don't want Mike going off on a tangent.
This is not a crusade against assisted suicide.
Jack, don't put me on the spot.
Anything you have to say to him Your case is all brain and no heart.
Better put a human face on the victims.
The whole reason that Larry got a check-up at Saint Fabians was because I worked in the lab.
Mila told me to tweak his tests so they came up for Lou Gehrig's.
CUTTER: Then what happened? Bill Nolan called me.
I gave him the phony report, like Mila asked me to.
Thank you.
Mr.
Odell, far as you know, Larry Driscoll was an informed and willing participant in his own death? Sure.
He said that, uh, suicide was a relief.
That taking down Nolan gave his death a purpose, and he was happy to do it.
Thank you.
No more questions.
Mila Hames proposed to me that I film an actual assisted suicide for my report about her father.
I was reluctant, but she kept after me.
She showed me a tape of Mr.
Lupo's suicide to demonstrate that everything would be done in a clinical manner.
I wanted to present a fair and truthful picture of her father and his beliefs.
Anyway I relented, and Mila introduced me to Larry Driscoll.
He gave me a song and dance about being undecided.
He put me in touch with a young man who gave me a phony report.
At no time did I pressure anyone into doing anything.
I don't make the news, I just report it.
Thank you, Mr.
Nolan.
Mr.
Nolan, at any time, did you witness my client cause the death of Mr.
Lupo or Mr.
Driscoll, either by injecting them with a drug, or connecting them to a drug-delivery apparatus or procuring drugs? No, but Ms.
Hames is a nurse and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to imagine I didn't ask you to imagine the facts, Mr.
Nolan, just to report them.
No more questions.
We're getting nowhere fast with the jury.
Someone has to speak for the victims.
Yeah.
We need Tommy Lupo's wife on the stand.
She hasn't responded to the subpoena.
You know, we could threaten her with contempt.
Well, that's a little unseemly, don't you think? No.
Get Detective Lupo to lean on her.
I don't have time to sit around a courthouse.
It's only one day.
This girl used him.
You want me to get up in front of all those people and tell them my husband preferred to kill himself instead of having a conversation with me? You have any idea how humiliating that is? (sums) You want somebody to speak for Tommy? Why don't you do it? Huh? Why don't you get up there and tell everybody you were too busy to talk to your sick, dying brother.
And then you can tell them it's because of me.
CONNIE: Well, Lupo struck out with his sister-in-law.
What do you think of him testifying? On behalf of the victim? It would taint his role as an investigator.
Then that's it, the People rest.
The defense will put Mila on the stand, a sympathetic defendant, a hospice nurse caring for the suffering Hey, Connie, check out this website, noexecutions.
org.
It's an anti-death penalty group.
(TYPING) I think we found a blemish in Mila's halo.
Larry had already decided he wanted to end his life.
When Mr.
Nolan started talking about doing a show about my father, Larry and I came up with the idea of letting him film his suicide.
GRUBMAN: Why? Because it would show that people still believed in my father's work, that he didn't go to jail for nothing.
And then what happened? Larry and I came up with the idea of embarrassing Mr.
Nolan.
It was stupid and I regret it.
I blamed him for the loss of my father for 10 years.
GRUBMAN: Tell us about your participation in the suicides.
I told them where to get the drugs and the plans to build the drug-delivery device.
I showed them how to work it and how to set up an IV in their arm, how to end their life safely, without pain, in the same spirit as my father would've helped them.
GRUBMAN: No further questions.
As a nurse in a hospice for the dying, you know something about pain, correct? Yes.
So when you told Mr.
Lupo and Mr.
Driscoll that this method developed by your father, the cocktail of the three drugs, was safe and painless, they trusted you, because of your training? Yes, they did.
Now you advocate that people should have the right to end their life with the help of medical professionals, correct? Yes.
Where do you stand on other life-and-death issues, say abortion? I haven't made up my mind.
Well, let's try an easy one.
The death penalty? I'm opposed to the death penalty.
On what grounds? It's cruel.
Cruel? Why? Because of Because of what? The manner of execution? Specifically, lethal injection, Ms.
Hames? People's 41 through 45.
Records from No Executions, an anti-death penalty advocacy group.
The records show you've been a paying member for the last four years.
These are petitions.
Is this your electronic signature? Yes.
You signed these petitions opposing the use of lethal injections because, and I quote, "the three drugs used in lethal injections "silence the prisoner so he cannot scream, "paralyze him so he cannot move "and then subject him to extreme and intolerable pain.
" Ms.
Hames, what is the drug commonly used in lethal injections that causes such extreme and intolerable pain? Potassium chloride.
Potassium chloride.
The same drug, the same cocktail, used in your father's suicide device, correct? Yes.
The device you told Tom Lupo and Larry Driscoll was safe and painless? They trusted you and you told them to inject this poison into their veins, didn't you? I didn't think Tell me, Ms.
Hames, why is it your concern for the suffering of prisoners didn't extend to these two innocent men? Is it because you didn't care for their welfare? No, they wanted Is it because you were so focused on your own feelings your own vengeance? No! I didn't know.
My father told me it was safe.
You're a nurse.
You knew better.
(STAMMERING) No, I I didn't mean My My father JACK: The right-to-die and the death penalty.
That's not a connection that would've occurred to me.
Well, on occasion, Jack.
Branch used to fill his shelves with knick-knacks and awards.
It's a working office now, not a showroom.
The defense just sprung another witness on us.
The heavy artillery this time.
Doctor David Lingard.
LINGARD: Everybody has it backwards.
We're not trying to help people die.
We're relieving them of their unbearable pain.
Hippocrates said that doctors are the servant of the patient, and not the master.
But doesn't potassium chloride inflict pain on the patients? Not if it's administered by a doctor.
But it's against the law.
So we have to use these home-made machines that are unreliable.
GRUBMAN: Are you familiar with the design of the device your daughter helped Lupo and Driscoll build Just a minute.
My daughter had nothing to do with those suicides.
I built the device, I set up the IV.
Mila only took the blame because she didn't want to see her old man going back to prison.
GRUBMAN: You take full responsibility for assisting their suicides? Yes.
Mila didn't wanna have anything to do with it.
And Bill Nolan was my idea.
I wanted to see that son-of-a-gun choke on his Emmy.
GRUBMAN: Thank you, Doctor Lingard.
No more questions.
Doctor Lingard, yesterday we heard your daughter take full responsibility for her roles in these crimes.
She was trying to protect me.
Not that I deserve it.
Then let me ask you, how did you meet Mr.
Driscoll and Mr.
Lupo? Let's talk about something else.
Let's talk about our natural right to decide how and when to die.
It's a right we were born with, and Doctor it's a right this tyrannical I asked you a question.
government has taken away from us.
The Ninth Amendment of the Constitution says that any right not mentioned in the Constitution reverts back to the individual, to you and me.
Doctor, where did you get the drugs you claim you gave to Driscoll and Lupo? It's a right we have and it's up to us to take it back.
Your Honor, I ask that this witness's testimony be stricken from the record.
Doctor Lingard, I'm directing you to answer his questions.
It's the right of every American to live and to die as they see fit.
And I choose here, and now.
What are you talking about? My pulse is down to 20.
My God, what did you do? Beta-blockers, Pmpranol, about an hour ago I'm almost there MILA: Daddy? It's okay, sweetheart.
You'll be all right.
REISMAN: Officers, get an ambulance! Call 9-1-1! Daddy! GRUBMAN: Your Honor! I move for a mistrial! Daddy, no! REISMAN: Clear the courtroom! (ALL CLAMORING) LUPO: Not like this.
Put him on his back! On his back! REISMAN: Order! Order in the court! FREEMAN: Get the 'wry out oi here new:! I want this court room cleared now! Court officers, clear the courtroom! Get a medic in here! The judge declared a mistrial.
She wants to set a date for a new trial.
What's the point? Her father exonerated her with a dying declaration.
Well, given the conditions of his parole, Lingard must've figured his life's work was at an end.
He had nothing to lose.
Now his daughter gets to learn the downside of the right to die.
Grief.
The doctor told me I got six months.
Already the pain I can't take it.
There's no hope.
My family didn't tell my wife, because she would have tried to stop me.
So it's just me.
(BREATHING DEEPLY) Okay.
Here we go.
I'm really doing this.
(TOMMY slsl-ls)