Law & Order (1990) s18e13 Episode Script
Angelgrove
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.
AUDREY: Good use of negative space.
Nice composition.
Karina has real talent.
You pay for her class, Mrs.
Audrey.
She find her happiness, gracias.
Karina will have a great portfolio when she applies for art school.
(WIND GUSHING) (BOTH EXCLAIMING) Oh, Gilda! Oh, I'm so sorry.
I'll pay for them.
It'll be Karina's first sale.
Okay.
See you tomorrow, Mrs.
Audrey.
CHRIS: You can really notice! The doctor said the scars would be invisible.
The next time you're thinking about cosmetic surgery, just ask me first.
(BANGING) Ah! Chris! Oh, my God! (PEOPLE SHOUTING) We got a pedestrian with a skull fracture.
The door was wide open when my guys got up here.
Then they found her.
Her name's Audrey Lortell, 42.
This is a work number for the husband.
Okay.
We're going to need a canvass of all the surrounding buildings.
Anybody that has a view onto this terrace.
Her head feels like a bag of broken china.
Looks like they started throwing rocks at her over there, cornered her back here.
One direct hit would have put her down.
Any one of these tools would have done the job a whole lot quicker, not to mention the 10-story drop.
Maybe quick wasn't the point.
RODGERS: I count over 30 major contusions on her head, face, and upper torso.
Most were inflicted post-mortem.
Overkill.
Someone was venting.
Or practicing their fastball.
I've never seen this MO before.
I have, in Pakistan, in the tribal areas.
The man I saw killed was an opium addict.
A dope-head stoned to death.
Those mullahs have a sense of humor.
I seem to remember some stonings in the Bible, too.
Thanks.
Her husband, what's his story? He was at his office downtown when we notified him.
He was appropriately upset.
His co-workers confirmed that he was there all afternoon.
Well, what about his religious background? MATTHEW: We don't really have a religion.
We haven't been to church in years.
Sundays were for being with our kids.
Do you have any neighbors or friends with strong religious views? I don't really see your point.
Audrey was very accepting of all people.
LUPO: You waiting for something? My son.
He's driving down from Oneonta, he goes to college there.
Mrs.
Lortell have any enemies? No.
Audrey was awonderful mother, a great wife.
She owned an art gallery.
It doesn't really make any sense.
We understand, Mr.
Lortell.
When was the last time you spoke to her? This morning, around 11:00.
How did she sound? A little stressed.
There was some crisis at the gallery.
Your housekeeper said that your wife came here at 12:00.
Well, that doesn't sound like Audrey.
It was all I could do to tear her away from the place.
I'm ready, Dad.
How long before we can move back in? It will be a couple of days.
We'll give you a call.
LAUREN: Jason! Oh, God! Mom's dead.
We're so glad you're here.
It seemed like a big crisis yesterday, but now I can't believe, Audrey, just like that Okay.
Let's just deal with yesterday.
Maybe you noticed, there's no art in the art gallery.
Yeah, if you say so.
We were going to open Konstandin Vassinsky's new show tomorrow night.
Yesterday morning, before Audrey came in, Konstandin came and tore down all his paintings.
What was his beef? He kept saying she was a child playing with dynamite.
The dynamite, is that him? He's Albanian, and an artist.
Handle with care.
She called him when she came in.
They got into it, I think he hung up on her.
Then she told me the show was cancelled and she was going home.
Fatima's Jihad.
He's an Albanian Muslim, yeah? MADISON: I think so.
ED: Religious dynamite.
KONSTANDIN: I liked Audrey.
She was nice lady.
I took my paintings away because I decide they're no good.
I think they're pretty good.
Look, you told Audrey she was a child playing with dynamite.
My partner thinks you're the dynamite, but I think it might be your paintings.
Like this one, Fatima's Jihad.
The Prophet's daughter, and her struggle.
It's against the oppression of women in some Muslim countries.
It's not the religion, it's men.
Some ignorant men who twist the religion to keep women down.
Didn't some artists in Europe get killed for saying the same thing? So? This is America.
I can say anything, right? You know how she was killed? Rocks.
Lots of them.
Somebody didn't want her showing your paintings, right? I warned her.
But she say if we cancel the show, the brutes win.
She was so American.
What brutes are we talking about? They own an Albanian bakery in the Bronx.
They say cancel the show or they cancel me.
You've been lied to, my friends.
I don't threaten anyone.
That's not what your local precinct said, Mr.
Vasic.
They're looking at you for the strip club arson four blocks away.
Good riddance.
My family had to pass that dump every week on our way to the mosque.
Listen, we need to know where you and your men were yesterday.
We've been here.
All of us.
Baking.
Uh, what size shoes do you wear? VASIC: What are you doing? Nothing, just taking some pictures.
(CAMERA CLICKS) We can match that against the footprints we found in Soho yesterday.
Hold still, fellow.
This is bull.
Riza! This is my nephew Riza.
Summa cum laude from Brooklyn Law.
Any questions you have for my uncle, you can put in writing for my review.
Otherwise, we'll consider this visit part of a pattern of harassment, and you may be called upon to testify in our civil suit against the NYPD.
Hey, we'll let you know how those pictures turn out.
Gangsters masquerading as good Muslims.
Yeah.
I was raised by gangsters masquerading as good Catholics.
What are you talking about, the Mob? No, the nuns at my parochial school.
(LAUGHING) They could carve out your liver with a 12 inch ruler.
What is that? It says, "Look across the street.
" The Bureau's had Vasic and his bakery under surveillance for the past six months.
Why are you talking to Vasic? We're investigating threats against an artist whose paintings might be considered offensive to Muslims.
These threats are credible? Yeah, we think so.
We've got a dead art gallery owner.
We're looking at Vasic for interstate weapons trafficking.
Wow.
You've been doing surveillance 2417? Yeah.
You got a 3-0-2 for yesterday? Yeah.
What's the, uh, name of your murder victim? ED: Audrey Lortell.
L-O-R-T-E-L-L.
Well, our bakery crew is present and accounted for.
Their alibi holds up for now.
Lortell, Audrey on Green Street? LUPO: Mmm-hmm.
What are all those entries? These are wiretap logs and e-mail surveillance on Audrey Lortell.
You have wiretap warrants for her? We don't need warrants.
We've got a National Security Letter out on her.
How do you figure she's a security threat? Your murder victim, Ms.
Lortell, is suspected of giving material support to a terrorist organization.
The NSA automatically monitors calls to and from the US.
The system sends up a flare whenever certain keywords are used.
A National Security Letter is issued, the callers are put on a watch list and all their communications get recorded.
Can we hear the call that landed Audrey Lortell on the watch list? Uh-huh.
It was two months ago, from her cell phone to a number in Germany.
AUDREY: It's a work in progress, but Fatima's Jihad wlll make people take notice.
MAN: I trust your judgment, Audrey.
Jihad? Is that the keyword that sent a flare up? That's how the program is designed to work.
Fatima's Jihad is the name of a painting done by an artist who was represented by Mrs.
Lortell.
But we also have her using the words suicide bomber in another conversation.
That's the name of another painting by the same artist.
Mind if I listen to this? Yeah, it's read-only.
No copying.
The guy in Germany, he's probably an art collector.
Yeah, well, obviously somebody goofed.
Uh, if we'd known the context of the calls (CELL PHONE RINGING) I got to take this.
Excuse me.
Somebody goofed? No wonder they call it a "secret program.
" It's not a total waste.
Check this out.
A call to Konstandin five days before she died.
AUDREY: You can't charm me anymore, Konstandin.
I used to be weak but now l KONSTANDIN: I don't make you weak right now? (CHUCKLES) Matthew's in the next room.
I'll see you tomorrow at the gallery.
Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the context of that.
Question is, did the husband figure it out? At that point of her life, Audrey needed the attention of a younger man.
LUPO: I'm not sure I could be that forgiving.
Twenty-two years of marriage, a lot happens.
And it keeps happening, right? How could you ever trust her again? I did.
I did trust her.
Look, I know what you're trying to do, but I did not murder my wife.
Those last couple of months we had together were good.
We felt like a family.
A happy family.
FESTEN: Jason's not here.
He moved out, like, a month ago.
I don't know where to.
These are his books? Yeah.
He just took his clothes, left the rest of his stuff.
He even gave me his iPod.
Sweet, huh? They've hardly been cracked.
What's he been doing, partying? Maybe.
The guy was here six weeks, but I never saw him go to a class or study.
Dude was weird.
Hey, man, you know this girl, Brenda, on this menu? Uh, she's a townie.
She works at that pizza place next to Savings Mart.
I saw Jason hitting on her once.
College guys always hit on me.
Maybe they get extra credit for doing a townie, I don't know.
Look, this is Jason.
He had your cell phone number.
You sure you didn't give it to him? I don't know him.
I got to get home, please? She talks to everybody.
She might've talked to this guy.
We'll need Brenda's address.
She lives with her parents.
I get that they're not the type of folks who'd let her have guys sleeping over.
And you know her friends? Maybe Jason's crashing with them.
I don't know them.
But there's an address we've been making a lot of deliveries to the past couple of weeks.
Brenda pays for the pies herself.
All right, we'll take that.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR) (ROCK MUSIC PLAYING) Police.
Nobody move.
Dude Hey.
Easy, cowboy.
Listen up.
We're looking for a kid named Jason Lortell.
He's from the college.
(DOORKNOB CLICKS) Whoa, whoa! Don't move! Jason, down on the ground.
Down on the ground, now.
I meant like this.
Care to comment? React? Maybe shed a tear for your poor mother? Look, whoever did this couldn't help but step in the blood.
We're going to find that on your shoes, aren't we? LUPO: What happened? You came home, what, maybe you didn't expect your mother to be there? You were looking for dope money, right? That's why you dropped out? I'm not a druggie.
Come on, Jason, we found you living with a bunch of tweakers.
You wouldn't understand.
LUPO: Try us.
Still nothing to say about your mother? She committed adultery.
She destroyed herself.
What, you're saying, she had it coming? We all have it coming.
Evil thoughts come from the heart.
But not from my heart.
Jason, did you kill your mother? I didn't need to.
This is Jason's counsel, Mr.
Hensley.
He'd like a moment with his client.
That kid was just about to give it up.
Well, maybe this will nudge him in the right direction.
Blood on his shoes, O positive, the same as his mother.
Rage and drugs, bad combination.
I don't know.
He said his mother destroyed herself.
He said, evil thoughts come from the heart.
He's talking scripture, Old and New Testament.
Sounds like God, not drugs.
Hey, did Hensley say he was Jason's lawyer? Check this out.
Are you his attorney, Mr.
Hensley? I already told you, I'm his counsel.
Are you a lawyer, sir? Any kind of lawyer? I'm Jason's pastor.
Step out of the room, sir.
Jason, stand up.
Jason Lortell, you're under arrest for murder.
Evil will slay the wicked.
The foes of the righteous will be condemned.
Get him out of here.
You have the right to remain silent.
Remember, Jason.
They can't lay a hand on those anointed by the Lord.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to an attorney CLERK: Docket number 21255, "People v.
Jason LorteH Murder in the Second Degree.
" Who's your counsel, Mr.
Lortell? Jesus Christ is my counsel.
Who's your local counsel? Mike Jeffers for the defense, YourHonoL We enter a plea of not guilty.
Additionally, I move for a I have serious reservations about my client's competency to stand trial.
You don't say.
So ordered.
People on bail? The People request remand.
My client's father is willing to ensure his appearance in court.
Jason was found living in a drug den.
If that's an example of Mr.
Lortell's parental supervision Point taken, Ms.
Rubirosa.
Defendant is remanded for psychiatric evaluation.
(GAVEL BANGS) JASON: I know about your judges and your lawyers.
But they don't know what's best for me.
You were living with drug addicts.
Do you think that's what was best for you? I was ministering to them, doing the work that God has revealed to me.
Revealed how? It's not voices.
But these revelations just become present inside of me.
Pastor Hensley helped me do this.
He helped me realize how special I am to God's plan.
How do you know for sure that these revelations come from God? I know it as clearly as I know that I'm sitting here talking to you.
Was it God's plan to kill your mother? My mother's flesh was sacrificed to cleanse her of her sin.
My mother died in a state of grace because God is merciful.
Isn't it beautiful? God, in his infinite mercy, spared her soul.
He's oriented as to time, place and identity.
He understands the role of judges and lawyers, though he doesn't recognize their authority over him.
Well, he wouldn't, not if he's trying to get off on a claim of insanity.
I didn't sense that he was trying anything.
Except that a revelation told him to stone his mom because she cheated on his dad.
Whatever these revelations are, he sincerely believes they're coming from God.
So what's your diagnosis? Labeling religious fanatics as mentally ill is extremely controversial.
The manual doesn't recognize religion as a Delusional Personality Disorder.
He's not hallucinatory, he doesn't hear voices.
Great! Is he competent to stand trial? In my opinion, yes.
(COMPUTER BEEPS) CONNIE: Take a look at this.
Jeffers has filed a motion to do some kind of MRI scan on Jason's brain, an FMRI scan.
A Functional MRI scan.
It measures blood oxygenation in the brain.
Beats me what it has to do with Jason's competency.
DR.
SURUX: This is a scan of Jason LorteWs brain during what he described as a divine revelation.
Now, as you can see, the activity in his prefrontal cortex is extremely vibrant and indicated in red.
I recorded 19 such episodes over a 48 hour period.
YourHonon we again object to this testimony.
This science is experimental and And again your objection's overruled.
Doctor, were all 19 episodes during what Jason described as divine revelations? Yes.
That area is referred to as the "God Spot.
" A study of Carmelite nuns showed similar activities during what the nuns descfibed as periods of religious ecstasy.
And what impact, if any, does this brain activity have on rational thought? The subject's capacity for rational thought is highly compromised.
Given the frequency of his episodes, in my opinion, Jason Lortell would be unable to rationally assist with his defense.
JEFFERS: Nothing further.
Thank you, Doctor.
So according to you, Doctor, every religious zealot who claims his God Spot has been lit up by a mystical experience should be found not competent to stand trial? I'm here to testify about Jason Lortell.
CUTTER: But that's the implication of your testimony, isn't it? You would excuse any terrorist who claims he's inspired by visions of martyrdom, or paradise, or any other Objection, argumentative.
JUDGE AMBROSIUS: Sustained.
And unless you have something pertinent to add, Mr.
Cutter, I'm ready to rule on the motion.
In light of the compelling evidence presented by the Defense, I find Jason Lortell not competent to stand trial at this time.
(GAVEL POUNDS) She doesn't realize what she's done.
She just created a new legal status for religious mystics.
I'll start preparing the appeal.
Didn't Jason tell Olivet he'd always had revelations? Yeah, he just wasn't aware of them.
Let's find out if he started being incompetent before or after he killed his mother.
Revelations.
(SCOFFS) He had nosebleeds when he was nine, fainting spells.
The doctor said it was normal for his age.
And when he left for college, did you talk to him often? A little.
He was homesick at first.
Then a few weeks before Audrey died, he stopped calling, he stopped answering his phone.
The court psychiatrist said that he was ministering to a group of drug addicts.
Ministering? Yeah.
He was actually living with them.
He was always a caring kid.
He must have had some kind of impact on them.
Why do you say that? One of them's been calling at home for him.
A rough-sounding girl.
Her name was, uh, Brenda.
The caller ID said it was an Oneonta number, some place called Angelgrove Camp.
MAN: We have Brenda in the truck.
We're on our way.
Won't be long now.
You run this place? Yeah, for Christian kids.
Do you have a lot of drug-addicted kids staying here? Brenda's not a drug addict.
She actually ministers to them, like Jason.
Does she have revelations, too? No.
Jason is a very special young man.
I've been praying for him.
(CHILDREN SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY) What is that? What're they saying? It's just children playing.
CHILDREN: (CHANTING) This means war! This means war! Hi.
Brenda, I'm Connie with the New York DA's office.
We have a material witness order to take you back to New York City.
Don't be afraid, Brenda.
Here, I'll take this for you.
No, that's going to go with her.
Thank you.
Looks like you and Connie have been doing all the talking.
We had better luck with Brenda's camera.
Here's how Jason spent the last four weeks before he killed his mother.
You hold the key to the second coming of our Lord and Savior.
Now, you young people A day in the life of Christian warriors! HENSLEY: for Jesus Christ.
Let's pray for our Christian leader! Let's tell him that we are one nation CHILDREN: Under God! One nation CHILDREN: Under God! How many of you will be willing to die for Jesus? CHILDREN: Amen! All right.
And how many of you are phony martyrs? How many of you claim to be members of God's army, when you're in here, but are hypocrites in your daily life? And there's no room for hypocrites in God's army.
(KIDS CRYING) Hypocrites are deniers of Christ.
What do we say to the Muslim infidels who murder Christians? CHILDREN: This means war! What do we say to blasphemers who pollute the kingdom of God? CHILDREN: This means war! What do we say? This means war! What do we say? This means war! My God, it's a school for fanatics.
And one that isn't in the Middle East.
CHILDREN: This means war! HENSLEY: What do we say to the Muslim infidels who kill Christians? CHILDREN: This means war! If you're a denier, come clean.
Call out your hypocrisy! (CHILDREN CRYING) Hypocrites are deniers of Christ.
Here's what we thought was interesting.
Okay, you guys are playing real nicely.
Paul, that was a great shot down there.
I really like what you're doing.
Keep passing.
It's great.
It's just like we did in practice.
Billy, I want you to take it at the top of the key and hold it, and no hitting, okay? This was recorded the day before the murder.
There's other video of him conducting a prayer group, working in the camp kitchen.
He appears competent, rational.
Exactly.
I'll prepare a report.
Thanks, Liz.
JEFFERS: The issue's not whether Jason was competent when the video was shot, but whether he's competent now.
Presumably he experienced at least one of his frequent divine revelations while the video was shot, with no noticeable effect on his behavior.
I agree, he seems entirely coherent.
In view of this new evidence and Dr.
Olivet's report, I'm reversing my previous ruling.
Jason Lortell is competent to stand trial.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Mr.
Cutter, in good conscience I cannot let this kid go to trial.
He truly believes that he is doing God's will.
What do you suggest? Just hear what he has to say, off the record.
I saved my mother.
I saved her soul.
That's not how the State of New York seesit Well, if it serves God's purpose for me to go to jail, then he'll allow it to happen.
You knew for months your mother was having an affair.
Why did you wait so long to save her soul? Because I didn't know yet what God wanted me to do.
When did you find out what he wanted you to do? After Pastor Hensley taught me how to listen to my revelations.
Let's stick to why you went to see your mother that day.
I realized that I was a hypocrite.
I'd turned a blind eye to the sin in my own house.
That I was a phony, a denier of Christ.
This is something that came from God, or from Pastor Hensley? Sometimes, God speaks to me through Pastor Hensley.
Was it through Pastor Hensley that God told you to go visit your mother? I just knew that I had to save her.
What did you do? How did you get to the city? We drove down in Brenda's car.
We? You and Brenda? No, Brenda was working that day.
It was me, Noah and Billy.
We drove down after a prayer meeting at Angelgrove.
Who did the driving? Well, me.
Noah's 10 and Billy's 12.
My son is a God-fearing Christian.
Your son may have taken part in a murder, Mr.
Boone.
It's okay, Dad.
They'rejust persecuting us like they're persecuting Jason.
Hey.
Jason admitted to killing his mother.
He said you and Noah were with him.
Billy, is this true? She was a Jezebel.
She was trapped in the filth of herein.
Did Pastor Hensley tell you that? He told us that her sin was a stain on God's prophet.
God's prophet? You talking about Jason? He speaks the word of the Lord.
He was chosen by God.
The day of judgment is coming.
Save your souls by This is one of God's warriors? All 80 pounds of him.
CONNIE: Surely, when it was just Jason and his God Spot, but three kids hear Hensley, and then they all go stone a woman to death? It's time to take the horse out of the barn and saddle up, Jack.
You want to charge Hensley as an accomplice in Audrey Lortell's murder? Who are your witnesses? This kid? No.
I offered Jason He's honest and guileless.
If I put him on the stand and ask the right questions, I think he'll tell the truth about Hensley.
Still a three-legged dog of a case.
Repent.
Repent and join us, or die with the infidels and burn in the fires of hell for all eternity.
Repent! Go with God.
Repent and be saved! Repent! Repent and be saved! GIRL: Pastor! Pray, children.
Pray for me.
Most of all, pray for Jason.
CHILDREN: (CHANTING) This means war! This means war! This means war! This means war! I talked to Pastor Hensley about my mother's adultery.
He counseled me to pray and that an answer would come.
Did an answer come? Yes, from God.
He told me to go to my mother's house and God would put the tools in my hands to cast out her sin and save her soul.
What tools, Jason? The stones I used to sacrifice her flesh.
And did this answer come directly from God, or did he speak through someone else? Sometimes God speaks to me through other people.
He could even speak to me through you.
We're all God's servants.
Your Honor, permission to treat the witness as hostile.
Objection.
Just because he isn't getting the answer he wants Overruled.
Go ahead, Mr.
Cutter.
Jason, did God's answer come to you through Pastor Hensley? Yes.
What did Pastor Hensley say? He said that we were engaged in a great battle with Muslim infidels.
God told him that the time would come when I'll be a general in Christ's Army.
God bless the prophet! God bless you, Jason! JUDGE LANDSBERG: Order.
Officer, get her out of here.
You'll burn in Hell for this.
Go on, Jason, what else did Pastor Hensley say? He said that before I could face the blasphemers and suicide killers on the battlefield, I had to set order in my own house.
CUTTER: Did he mean your mother's infidelity? JASON: Yes.
He said that I was facing a great test and that I had to be strong before God.
And was it Pastor Hensley's idea to send the two boys Billy Boone and Noah Fielding with you to your mother's? Yes.
He said the innocents should witness the rising up of their general.
CROWD: Praise the Lord! Praise Jesus! (GAVEL POUNDING) JUDGE LANDSBERG: Enough.
Quiet or I'll clear the room.
Nothing further.
Jason, did Pastor Hensley tell you to kill your mother, to end her life? No.
He didn't say that.
Did you tell him what you were planning to do to your mother? Just that I was going to help her cast out her sin.
God did the rest.
Jason was deeply troubled by his mother's adultery.
I encouraged him to help his mother find her way back to God.
Did you ever suggest he stone her to death or harm her in any way? No.
That was God's will.
Jason had the purity of heart to listen when God spoke to him.
He put his love of God ahead of his love for his own mother.
I can't even imagine how difficult that must have been for him.
Thank you, Pastor.
I take it you approve of what Jason did, correct? I accept it as a manifestation of God's will.
You think Audrey Lortell's punishment was just? Well, I don't call it punishment, but it was just.
Because she was unfaithful, or because she had a Muslim lover? Either one put her Christian soul in peril.
And that's why you told Jason he had to set his house in order? Yes.
You told him he was being tested, that he had to be strong, correct? Yes, strong in his faith.
I didn't advocate violence.
No? Then what are you advocating? A non-violent war? You're taking that out of context.
We saw the context on the video, Pastor.
Weren't you exhorting children to die for Christ? Sacrifice for Christ.
Sacrifice, you mean martyrs.
Isn't that what you tell these children to aspire to? You're trying to make it sound like I'm one of those mullahs who fills their boys with visions of dancing virgins so they'll drive bombs into buildings.
If only you offered such enticements.
Instead you use humiliation, isn't that right? You berate your warriors in front of their friends, you call them phony martyrs, hypocrites.
You force them to make public confessions.
It cleanses their soul.
It breaks their will.
It makes them strong.
In case you haven't noticed, we are at war.
A war of religions.
Our enemies understand that.
They use their religious schools, their madrassas, to churn out hundreds of suicide murderers every day.
And what do we do? We raise spoiled weak kids who turn away from God.
We can't wait for another wave of terror to roll over us.
We must raise up a Christian army just as extreme in its faith as our Jihadist enemy.
Then you do advocate violence? They force violence on us.
An eye for an eye? So says the Bible.
And stones for adulterers? The Bible says that, too.
Death for women who have sex with Muslims? Yes.
She let herself be defiled by his blasphemous seed.
That's their plan! They want to take over the world and install a new Caliphate.
Their plan, you mean to sleep with Christian women? Yes.
And if they can't seduce them, they'll rape them.
That is how they wage war! Look at Darfur! That's why you told Jason, your star pupil, he had to sacrifice the sinful flesh? My Pupil? You've got it backwards, Mr.
Cutter.
If anything, lam Jason's pupil.
Jason has been called by God, like Joan of Arc before him, to lead a Great Army of Christ.
Jason is a saint.
Even science says so! Jason Lortell will end up saving us all, saving our Christian civilization.
Jason Lortell marches to the beat of a different drummer.
We have the MRls of his brain to prove it.
He hears what he wants to hear, whether the message comes from God or Pastor Hensley, Mr.
Cutter, or that painting on the wall.
But you heard what my client told Jason.
Pastor Hensley told him to make peace with his mother's sin, to minister to her as Jesus ministered to Mary Magdalene.
No rational person could take that as a call to murder.
Now you may not like some of the things that Pastor Hensley said in that video, but he has an absolute First Amendment right to say it.
The law is clear.
Unless he intentionally soHcHed or encouraged Jason to kill his mother, there's only one verdict here.
Not guilty.
And there's no room for hypocrites in God's army.
Hypocrites are deniers of Christ.
If you're a denier, come clean.
Call out your hypocrisy.
(CHILDREN SOBBING) Jason.
(JURY MURMURING) They say confession's good for the soul.
But these These public confessions serve another purpose.
Brainwashing.
Breaking down a person's dignity and individuality, in an environment of fear.
That's what Pastor Hensley does to these vulnerable children.
He replaces their free will with a theology of violence.
He twists their capacity for love into a thirst for vengeance.
He whips up their childish exuberance and exhorts them to prove themselves as warriors, and then he commands them to clean house.
An eye for an eye.
He puts all that in the hands of a hurt and lost boy, a boy he's filled with delusions of being the leader of a great army, the next Joan of Arc.
And then he sends him on the road with two other boys, all charged up with raw anger, eager to be strong and worthy in the eyes of their beloved pastor.
And then he pronounces himself surprised at the results? No rational person could have expected any other result.
And now the good pastor hides behind the First Amendment, Freedom of religion.
But this is not about God.
This is about the power of an adult over adolescent minds, and the abuse of that power.
And what do we say to blasphemers who pollute God's kingdom? CHILDREN: This means war! What do we say? This means war! What do we say? This means war! War, war on blasphemers.
That's the mission he gave Jason when he put him on the road to his mother's house.
Erasing already? Making room to plan our response to Hensley's appeal.
A little early to count your chickens.
The jury's been out two days.
The jury's probably split between Murder Two Depraved Indifference and Man Two.
They'd probably all agree on Criminal Solicitation Two.
I didn't think you charged that.
I didn't.
That's my point exactly.
Pessimist.
Thejudge wants to see us.
A court officer found a Bible in the jury room.
Somebody was consulting it during deliberations.
Looks like one of your chickens just got run over.
I was reading it for guidance, sir.
But you understand your deliberations were to be guided by my instructions and by the laws of New York State? Yes, sir, I do.
This is a hard case.
I wanted to do the right thing.
Very well, you're excused.
Thank you.
I'll order that this juror be dismissed and that an alternate take his place.
Your Honor, the People move for a mistrial.
We don't know how manyjurors consulted that Bible.
BARRACADO: And yet witnesses are sworn in on the Bible.
"In God We Trust" is emblazoned across the courtroom wall.
It's hypocritical to expect jurors to check their religious beliefs at the jury room door.
But that's precisely what they swore an oath to do, to apply the laws of men, not the law of God, to this case.
The jury's deliberations have been tainted I don't agree.
Even if consulting the Bible during deliberations can be deemed juror misconduct, I'm satisfied it had no substantial and injurious effect or influence.
I'm not granting a mistrial, Mr.
Cutter.
JUDGE LANDSBERG: On the first count of the indictment, murder in the second degree, how does the jury find? We find the defendant not guilty.
On the second count, manslaughter in the second degree, how do you find? We find the defendant not guilty.
(PEOPLE EXCLAIMING) Wejust didn't prove our case.
Or the jury didn't care.
They liked Hensley's message.
I'd prefer to think we didn't prove our case.
Optimist.
Small comfort, Hensley will have to wait 15 years for Jason to come out of jail to lead his troops.
Then our fanatics can fight their fanatics.
Let's hope the man's over by then.
These are their stories.
AUDREY: Good use of negative space.
Nice composition.
Karina has real talent.
You pay for her class, Mrs.
Audrey.
She find her happiness, gracias.
Karina will have a great portfolio when she applies for art school.
(WIND GUSHING) (BOTH EXCLAIMING) Oh, Gilda! Oh, I'm so sorry.
I'll pay for them.
It'll be Karina's first sale.
Okay.
See you tomorrow, Mrs.
Audrey.
CHRIS: You can really notice! The doctor said the scars would be invisible.
The next time you're thinking about cosmetic surgery, just ask me first.
(BANGING) Ah! Chris! Oh, my God! (PEOPLE SHOUTING) We got a pedestrian with a skull fracture.
The door was wide open when my guys got up here.
Then they found her.
Her name's Audrey Lortell, 42.
This is a work number for the husband.
Okay.
We're going to need a canvass of all the surrounding buildings.
Anybody that has a view onto this terrace.
Her head feels like a bag of broken china.
Looks like they started throwing rocks at her over there, cornered her back here.
One direct hit would have put her down.
Any one of these tools would have done the job a whole lot quicker, not to mention the 10-story drop.
Maybe quick wasn't the point.
RODGERS: I count over 30 major contusions on her head, face, and upper torso.
Most were inflicted post-mortem.
Overkill.
Someone was venting.
Or practicing their fastball.
I've never seen this MO before.
I have, in Pakistan, in the tribal areas.
The man I saw killed was an opium addict.
A dope-head stoned to death.
Those mullahs have a sense of humor.
I seem to remember some stonings in the Bible, too.
Thanks.
Her husband, what's his story? He was at his office downtown when we notified him.
He was appropriately upset.
His co-workers confirmed that he was there all afternoon.
Well, what about his religious background? MATTHEW: We don't really have a religion.
We haven't been to church in years.
Sundays were for being with our kids.
Do you have any neighbors or friends with strong religious views? I don't really see your point.
Audrey was very accepting of all people.
LUPO: You waiting for something? My son.
He's driving down from Oneonta, he goes to college there.
Mrs.
Lortell have any enemies? No.
Audrey was awonderful mother, a great wife.
She owned an art gallery.
It doesn't really make any sense.
We understand, Mr.
Lortell.
When was the last time you spoke to her? This morning, around 11:00.
How did she sound? A little stressed.
There was some crisis at the gallery.
Your housekeeper said that your wife came here at 12:00.
Well, that doesn't sound like Audrey.
It was all I could do to tear her away from the place.
I'm ready, Dad.
How long before we can move back in? It will be a couple of days.
We'll give you a call.
LAUREN: Jason! Oh, God! Mom's dead.
We're so glad you're here.
It seemed like a big crisis yesterday, but now I can't believe, Audrey, just like that Okay.
Let's just deal with yesterday.
Maybe you noticed, there's no art in the art gallery.
Yeah, if you say so.
We were going to open Konstandin Vassinsky's new show tomorrow night.
Yesterday morning, before Audrey came in, Konstandin came and tore down all his paintings.
What was his beef? He kept saying she was a child playing with dynamite.
The dynamite, is that him? He's Albanian, and an artist.
Handle with care.
She called him when she came in.
They got into it, I think he hung up on her.
Then she told me the show was cancelled and she was going home.
Fatima's Jihad.
He's an Albanian Muslim, yeah? MADISON: I think so.
ED: Religious dynamite.
KONSTANDIN: I liked Audrey.
She was nice lady.
I took my paintings away because I decide they're no good.
I think they're pretty good.
Look, you told Audrey she was a child playing with dynamite.
My partner thinks you're the dynamite, but I think it might be your paintings.
Like this one, Fatima's Jihad.
The Prophet's daughter, and her struggle.
It's against the oppression of women in some Muslim countries.
It's not the religion, it's men.
Some ignorant men who twist the religion to keep women down.
Didn't some artists in Europe get killed for saying the same thing? So? This is America.
I can say anything, right? You know how she was killed? Rocks.
Lots of them.
Somebody didn't want her showing your paintings, right? I warned her.
But she say if we cancel the show, the brutes win.
She was so American.
What brutes are we talking about? They own an Albanian bakery in the Bronx.
They say cancel the show or they cancel me.
You've been lied to, my friends.
I don't threaten anyone.
That's not what your local precinct said, Mr.
Vasic.
They're looking at you for the strip club arson four blocks away.
Good riddance.
My family had to pass that dump every week on our way to the mosque.
Listen, we need to know where you and your men were yesterday.
We've been here.
All of us.
Baking.
Uh, what size shoes do you wear? VASIC: What are you doing? Nothing, just taking some pictures.
(CAMERA CLICKS) We can match that against the footprints we found in Soho yesterday.
Hold still, fellow.
This is bull.
Riza! This is my nephew Riza.
Summa cum laude from Brooklyn Law.
Any questions you have for my uncle, you can put in writing for my review.
Otherwise, we'll consider this visit part of a pattern of harassment, and you may be called upon to testify in our civil suit against the NYPD.
Hey, we'll let you know how those pictures turn out.
Gangsters masquerading as good Muslims.
Yeah.
I was raised by gangsters masquerading as good Catholics.
What are you talking about, the Mob? No, the nuns at my parochial school.
(LAUGHING) They could carve out your liver with a 12 inch ruler.
What is that? It says, "Look across the street.
" The Bureau's had Vasic and his bakery under surveillance for the past six months.
Why are you talking to Vasic? We're investigating threats against an artist whose paintings might be considered offensive to Muslims.
These threats are credible? Yeah, we think so.
We've got a dead art gallery owner.
We're looking at Vasic for interstate weapons trafficking.
Wow.
You've been doing surveillance 2417? Yeah.
You got a 3-0-2 for yesterday? Yeah.
What's the, uh, name of your murder victim? ED: Audrey Lortell.
L-O-R-T-E-L-L.
Well, our bakery crew is present and accounted for.
Their alibi holds up for now.
Lortell, Audrey on Green Street? LUPO: Mmm-hmm.
What are all those entries? These are wiretap logs and e-mail surveillance on Audrey Lortell.
You have wiretap warrants for her? We don't need warrants.
We've got a National Security Letter out on her.
How do you figure she's a security threat? Your murder victim, Ms.
Lortell, is suspected of giving material support to a terrorist organization.
The NSA automatically monitors calls to and from the US.
The system sends up a flare whenever certain keywords are used.
A National Security Letter is issued, the callers are put on a watch list and all their communications get recorded.
Can we hear the call that landed Audrey Lortell on the watch list? Uh-huh.
It was two months ago, from her cell phone to a number in Germany.
AUDREY: It's a work in progress, but Fatima's Jihad wlll make people take notice.
MAN: I trust your judgment, Audrey.
Jihad? Is that the keyword that sent a flare up? That's how the program is designed to work.
Fatima's Jihad is the name of a painting done by an artist who was represented by Mrs.
Lortell.
But we also have her using the words suicide bomber in another conversation.
That's the name of another painting by the same artist.
Mind if I listen to this? Yeah, it's read-only.
No copying.
The guy in Germany, he's probably an art collector.
Yeah, well, obviously somebody goofed.
Uh, if we'd known the context of the calls (CELL PHONE RINGING) I got to take this.
Excuse me.
Somebody goofed? No wonder they call it a "secret program.
" It's not a total waste.
Check this out.
A call to Konstandin five days before she died.
AUDREY: You can't charm me anymore, Konstandin.
I used to be weak but now l KONSTANDIN: I don't make you weak right now? (CHUCKLES) Matthew's in the next room.
I'll see you tomorrow at the gallery.
Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the context of that.
Question is, did the husband figure it out? At that point of her life, Audrey needed the attention of a younger man.
LUPO: I'm not sure I could be that forgiving.
Twenty-two years of marriage, a lot happens.
And it keeps happening, right? How could you ever trust her again? I did.
I did trust her.
Look, I know what you're trying to do, but I did not murder my wife.
Those last couple of months we had together were good.
We felt like a family.
A happy family.
FESTEN: Jason's not here.
He moved out, like, a month ago.
I don't know where to.
These are his books? Yeah.
He just took his clothes, left the rest of his stuff.
He even gave me his iPod.
Sweet, huh? They've hardly been cracked.
What's he been doing, partying? Maybe.
The guy was here six weeks, but I never saw him go to a class or study.
Dude was weird.
Hey, man, you know this girl, Brenda, on this menu? Uh, she's a townie.
She works at that pizza place next to Savings Mart.
I saw Jason hitting on her once.
College guys always hit on me.
Maybe they get extra credit for doing a townie, I don't know.
Look, this is Jason.
He had your cell phone number.
You sure you didn't give it to him? I don't know him.
I got to get home, please? She talks to everybody.
She might've talked to this guy.
We'll need Brenda's address.
She lives with her parents.
I get that they're not the type of folks who'd let her have guys sleeping over.
And you know her friends? Maybe Jason's crashing with them.
I don't know them.
But there's an address we've been making a lot of deliveries to the past couple of weeks.
Brenda pays for the pies herself.
All right, we'll take that.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR) (ROCK MUSIC PLAYING) Police.
Nobody move.
Dude Hey.
Easy, cowboy.
Listen up.
We're looking for a kid named Jason Lortell.
He's from the college.
(DOORKNOB CLICKS) Whoa, whoa! Don't move! Jason, down on the ground.
Down on the ground, now.
I meant like this.
Care to comment? React? Maybe shed a tear for your poor mother? Look, whoever did this couldn't help but step in the blood.
We're going to find that on your shoes, aren't we? LUPO: What happened? You came home, what, maybe you didn't expect your mother to be there? You were looking for dope money, right? That's why you dropped out? I'm not a druggie.
Come on, Jason, we found you living with a bunch of tweakers.
You wouldn't understand.
LUPO: Try us.
Still nothing to say about your mother? She committed adultery.
She destroyed herself.
What, you're saying, she had it coming? We all have it coming.
Evil thoughts come from the heart.
But not from my heart.
Jason, did you kill your mother? I didn't need to.
This is Jason's counsel, Mr.
Hensley.
He'd like a moment with his client.
That kid was just about to give it up.
Well, maybe this will nudge him in the right direction.
Blood on his shoes, O positive, the same as his mother.
Rage and drugs, bad combination.
I don't know.
He said his mother destroyed herself.
He said, evil thoughts come from the heart.
He's talking scripture, Old and New Testament.
Sounds like God, not drugs.
Hey, did Hensley say he was Jason's lawyer? Check this out.
Are you his attorney, Mr.
Hensley? I already told you, I'm his counsel.
Are you a lawyer, sir? Any kind of lawyer? I'm Jason's pastor.
Step out of the room, sir.
Jason, stand up.
Jason Lortell, you're under arrest for murder.
Evil will slay the wicked.
The foes of the righteous will be condemned.
Get him out of here.
You have the right to remain silent.
Remember, Jason.
They can't lay a hand on those anointed by the Lord.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to an attorney CLERK: Docket number 21255, "People v.
Jason LorteH Murder in the Second Degree.
" Who's your counsel, Mr.
Lortell? Jesus Christ is my counsel.
Who's your local counsel? Mike Jeffers for the defense, YourHonoL We enter a plea of not guilty.
Additionally, I move for a I have serious reservations about my client's competency to stand trial.
You don't say.
So ordered.
People on bail? The People request remand.
My client's father is willing to ensure his appearance in court.
Jason was found living in a drug den.
If that's an example of Mr.
Lortell's parental supervision Point taken, Ms.
Rubirosa.
Defendant is remanded for psychiatric evaluation.
(GAVEL BANGS) JASON: I know about your judges and your lawyers.
But they don't know what's best for me.
You were living with drug addicts.
Do you think that's what was best for you? I was ministering to them, doing the work that God has revealed to me.
Revealed how? It's not voices.
But these revelations just become present inside of me.
Pastor Hensley helped me do this.
He helped me realize how special I am to God's plan.
How do you know for sure that these revelations come from God? I know it as clearly as I know that I'm sitting here talking to you.
Was it God's plan to kill your mother? My mother's flesh was sacrificed to cleanse her of her sin.
My mother died in a state of grace because God is merciful.
Isn't it beautiful? God, in his infinite mercy, spared her soul.
He's oriented as to time, place and identity.
He understands the role of judges and lawyers, though he doesn't recognize their authority over him.
Well, he wouldn't, not if he's trying to get off on a claim of insanity.
I didn't sense that he was trying anything.
Except that a revelation told him to stone his mom because she cheated on his dad.
Whatever these revelations are, he sincerely believes they're coming from God.
So what's your diagnosis? Labeling religious fanatics as mentally ill is extremely controversial.
The manual doesn't recognize religion as a Delusional Personality Disorder.
He's not hallucinatory, he doesn't hear voices.
Great! Is he competent to stand trial? In my opinion, yes.
(COMPUTER BEEPS) CONNIE: Take a look at this.
Jeffers has filed a motion to do some kind of MRI scan on Jason's brain, an FMRI scan.
A Functional MRI scan.
It measures blood oxygenation in the brain.
Beats me what it has to do with Jason's competency.
DR.
SURUX: This is a scan of Jason LorteWs brain during what he described as a divine revelation.
Now, as you can see, the activity in his prefrontal cortex is extremely vibrant and indicated in red.
I recorded 19 such episodes over a 48 hour period.
YourHonon we again object to this testimony.
This science is experimental and And again your objection's overruled.
Doctor, were all 19 episodes during what Jason described as divine revelations? Yes.
That area is referred to as the "God Spot.
" A study of Carmelite nuns showed similar activities during what the nuns descfibed as periods of religious ecstasy.
And what impact, if any, does this brain activity have on rational thought? The subject's capacity for rational thought is highly compromised.
Given the frequency of his episodes, in my opinion, Jason Lortell would be unable to rationally assist with his defense.
JEFFERS: Nothing further.
Thank you, Doctor.
So according to you, Doctor, every religious zealot who claims his God Spot has been lit up by a mystical experience should be found not competent to stand trial? I'm here to testify about Jason Lortell.
CUTTER: But that's the implication of your testimony, isn't it? You would excuse any terrorist who claims he's inspired by visions of martyrdom, or paradise, or any other Objection, argumentative.
JUDGE AMBROSIUS: Sustained.
And unless you have something pertinent to add, Mr.
Cutter, I'm ready to rule on the motion.
In light of the compelling evidence presented by the Defense, I find Jason Lortell not competent to stand trial at this time.
(GAVEL POUNDS) She doesn't realize what she's done.
She just created a new legal status for religious mystics.
I'll start preparing the appeal.
Didn't Jason tell Olivet he'd always had revelations? Yeah, he just wasn't aware of them.
Let's find out if he started being incompetent before or after he killed his mother.
Revelations.
(SCOFFS) He had nosebleeds when he was nine, fainting spells.
The doctor said it was normal for his age.
And when he left for college, did you talk to him often? A little.
He was homesick at first.
Then a few weeks before Audrey died, he stopped calling, he stopped answering his phone.
The court psychiatrist said that he was ministering to a group of drug addicts.
Ministering? Yeah.
He was actually living with them.
He was always a caring kid.
He must have had some kind of impact on them.
Why do you say that? One of them's been calling at home for him.
A rough-sounding girl.
Her name was, uh, Brenda.
The caller ID said it was an Oneonta number, some place called Angelgrove Camp.
MAN: We have Brenda in the truck.
We're on our way.
Won't be long now.
You run this place? Yeah, for Christian kids.
Do you have a lot of drug-addicted kids staying here? Brenda's not a drug addict.
She actually ministers to them, like Jason.
Does she have revelations, too? No.
Jason is a very special young man.
I've been praying for him.
(CHILDREN SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY) What is that? What're they saying? It's just children playing.
CHILDREN: (CHANTING) This means war! This means war! Hi.
Brenda, I'm Connie with the New York DA's office.
We have a material witness order to take you back to New York City.
Don't be afraid, Brenda.
Here, I'll take this for you.
No, that's going to go with her.
Thank you.
Looks like you and Connie have been doing all the talking.
We had better luck with Brenda's camera.
Here's how Jason spent the last four weeks before he killed his mother.
You hold the key to the second coming of our Lord and Savior.
Now, you young people A day in the life of Christian warriors! HENSLEY: for Jesus Christ.
Let's pray for our Christian leader! Let's tell him that we are one nation CHILDREN: Under God! One nation CHILDREN: Under God! How many of you will be willing to die for Jesus? CHILDREN: Amen! All right.
And how many of you are phony martyrs? How many of you claim to be members of God's army, when you're in here, but are hypocrites in your daily life? And there's no room for hypocrites in God's army.
(KIDS CRYING) Hypocrites are deniers of Christ.
What do we say to the Muslim infidels who murder Christians? CHILDREN: This means war! What do we say to blasphemers who pollute the kingdom of God? CHILDREN: This means war! What do we say? This means war! What do we say? This means war! My God, it's a school for fanatics.
And one that isn't in the Middle East.
CHILDREN: This means war! HENSLEY: What do we say to the Muslim infidels who kill Christians? CHILDREN: This means war! If you're a denier, come clean.
Call out your hypocrisy! (CHILDREN CRYING) Hypocrites are deniers of Christ.
Here's what we thought was interesting.
Okay, you guys are playing real nicely.
Paul, that was a great shot down there.
I really like what you're doing.
Keep passing.
It's great.
It's just like we did in practice.
Billy, I want you to take it at the top of the key and hold it, and no hitting, okay? This was recorded the day before the murder.
There's other video of him conducting a prayer group, working in the camp kitchen.
He appears competent, rational.
Exactly.
I'll prepare a report.
Thanks, Liz.
JEFFERS: The issue's not whether Jason was competent when the video was shot, but whether he's competent now.
Presumably he experienced at least one of his frequent divine revelations while the video was shot, with no noticeable effect on his behavior.
I agree, he seems entirely coherent.
In view of this new evidence and Dr.
Olivet's report, I'm reversing my previous ruling.
Jason Lortell is competent to stand trial.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Mr.
Cutter, in good conscience I cannot let this kid go to trial.
He truly believes that he is doing God's will.
What do you suggest? Just hear what he has to say, off the record.
I saved my mother.
I saved her soul.
That's not how the State of New York seesit Well, if it serves God's purpose for me to go to jail, then he'll allow it to happen.
You knew for months your mother was having an affair.
Why did you wait so long to save her soul? Because I didn't know yet what God wanted me to do.
When did you find out what he wanted you to do? After Pastor Hensley taught me how to listen to my revelations.
Let's stick to why you went to see your mother that day.
I realized that I was a hypocrite.
I'd turned a blind eye to the sin in my own house.
That I was a phony, a denier of Christ.
This is something that came from God, or from Pastor Hensley? Sometimes, God speaks to me through Pastor Hensley.
Was it through Pastor Hensley that God told you to go visit your mother? I just knew that I had to save her.
What did you do? How did you get to the city? We drove down in Brenda's car.
We? You and Brenda? No, Brenda was working that day.
It was me, Noah and Billy.
We drove down after a prayer meeting at Angelgrove.
Who did the driving? Well, me.
Noah's 10 and Billy's 12.
My son is a God-fearing Christian.
Your son may have taken part in a murder, Mr.
Boone.
It's okay, Dad.
They'rejust persecuting us like they're persecuting Jason.
Hey.
Jason admitted to killing his mother.
He said you and Noah were with him.
Billy, is this true? She was a Jezebel.
She was trapped in the filth of herein.
Did Pastor Hensley tell you that? He told us that her sin was a stain on God's prophet.
God's prophet? You talking about Jason? He speaks the word of the Lord.
He was chosen by God.
The day of judgment is coming.
Save your souls by This is one of God's warriors? All 80 pounds of him.
CONNIE: Surely, when it was just Jason and his God Spot, but three kids hear Hensley, and then they all go stone a woman to death? It's time to take the horse out of the barn and saddle up, Jack.
You want to charge Hensley as an accomplice in Audrey Lortell's murder? Who are your witnesses? This kid? No.
I offered Jason He's honest and guileless.
If I put him on the stand and ask the right questions, I think he'll tell the truth about Hensley.
Still a three-legged dog of a case.
Repent.
Repent and join us, or die with the infidels and burn in the fires of hell for all eternity.
Repent! Go with God.
Repent and be saved! Repent! Repent and be saved! GIRL: Pastor! Pray, children.
Pray for me.
Most of all, pray for Jason.
CHILDREN: (CHANTING) This means war! This means war! This means war! This means war! I talked to Pastor Hensley about my mother's adultery.
He counseled me to pray and that an answer would come.
Did an answer come? Yes, from God.
He told me to go to my mother's house and God would put the tools in my hands to cast out her sin and save her soul.
What tools, Jason? The stones I used to sacrifice her flesh.
And did this answer come directly from God, or did he speak through someone else? Sometimes God speaks to me through other people.
He could even speak to me through you.
We're all God's servants.
Your Honor, permission to treat the witness as hostile.
Objection.
Just because he isn't getting the answer he wants Overruled.
Go ahead, Mr.
Cutter.
Jason, did God's answer come to you through Pastor Hensley? Yes.
What did Pastor Hensley say? He said that we were engaged in a great battle with Muslim infidels.
God told him that the time would come when I'll be a general in Christ's Army.
God bless the prophet! God bless you, Jason! JUDGE LANDSBERG: Order.
Officer, get her out of here.
You'll burn in Hell for this.
Go on, Jason, what else did Pastor Hensley say? He said that before I could face the blasphemers and suicide killers on the battlefield, I had to set order in my own house.
CUTTER: Did he mean your mother's infidelity? JASON: Yes.
He said that I was facing a great test and that I had to be strong before God.
And was it Pastor Hensley's idea to send the two boys Billy Boone and Noah Fielding with you to your mother's? Yes.
He said the innocents should witness the rising up of their general.
CROWD: Praise the Lord! Praise Jesus! (GAVEL POUNDING) JUDGE LANDSBERG: Enough.
Quiet or I'll clear the room.
Nothing further.
Jason, did Pastor Hensley tell you to kill your mother, to end her life? No.
He didn't say that.
Did you tell him what you were planning to do to your mother? Just that I was going to help her cast out her sin.
God did the rest.
Jason was deeply troubled by his mother's adultery.
I encouraged him to help his mother find her way back to God.
Did you ever suggest he stone her to death or harm her in any way? No.
That was God's will.
Jason had the purity of heart to listen when God spoke to him.
He put his love of God ahead of his love for his own mother.
I can't even imagine how difficult that must have been for him.
Thank you, Pastor.
I take it you approve of what Jason did, correct? I accept it as a manifestation of God's will.
You think Audrey Lortell's punishment was just? Well, I don't call it punishment, but it was just.
Because she was unfaithful, or because she had a Muslim lover? Either one put her Christian soul in peril.
And that's why you told Jason he had to set his house in order? Yes.
You told him he was being tested, that he had to be strong, correct? Yes, strong in his faith.
I didn't advocate violence.
No? Then what are you advocating? A non-violent war? You're taking that out of context.
We saw the context on the video, Pastor.
Weren't you exhorting children to die for Christ? Sacrifice for Christ.
Sacrifice, you mean martyrs.
Isn't that what you tell these children to aspire to? You're trying to make it sound like I'm one of those mullahs who fills their boys with visions of dancing virgins so they'll drive bombs into buildings.
If only you offered such enticements.
Instead you use humiliation, isn't that right? You berate your warriors in front of their friends, you call them phony martyrs, hypocrites.
You force them to make public confessions.
It cleanses their soul.
It breaks their will.
It makes them strong.
In case you haven't noticed, we are at war.
A war of religions.
Our enemies understand that.
They use their religious schools, their madrassas, to churn out hundreds of suicide murderers every day.
And what do we do? We raise spoiled weak kids who turn away from God.
We can't wait for another wave of terror to roll over us.
We must raise up a Christian army just as extreme in its faith as our Jihadist enemy.
Then you do advocate violence? They force violence on us.
An eye for an eye? So says the Bible.
And stones for adulterers? The Bible says that, too.
Death for women who have sex with Muslims? Yes.
She let herself be defiled by his blasphemous seed.
That's their plan! They want to take over the world and install a new Caliphate.
Their plan, you mean to sleep with Christian women? Yes.
And if they can't seduce them, they'll rape them.
That is how they wage war! Look at Darfur! That's why you told Jason, your star pupil, he had to sacrifice the sinful flesh? My Pupil? You've got it backwards, Mr.
Cutter.
If anything, lam Jason's pupil.
Jason has been called by God, like Joan of Arc before him, to lead a Great Army of Christ.
Jason is a saint.
Even science says so! Jason Lortell will end up saving us all, saving our Christian civilization.
Jason Lortell marches to the beat of a different drummer.
We have the MRls of his brain to prove it.
He hears what he wants to hear, whether the message comes from God or Pastor Hensley, Mr.
Cutter, or that painting on the wall.
But you heard what my client told Jason.
Pastor Hensley told him to make peace with his mother's sin, to minister to her as Jesus ministered to Mary Magdalene.
No rational person could take that as a call to murder.
Now you may not like some of the things that Pastor Hensley said in that video, but he has an absolute First Amendment right to say it.
The law is clear.
Unless he intentionally soHcHed or encouraged Jason to kill his mother, there's only one verdict here.
Not guilty.
And there's no room for hypocrites in God's army.
Hypocrites are deniers of Christ.
If you're a denier, come clean.
Call out your hypocrisy.
(CHILDREN SOBBING) Jason.
(JURY MURMURING) They say confession's good for the soul.
But these These public confessions serve another purpose.
Brainwashing.
Breaking down a person's dignity and individuality, in an environment of fear.
That's what Pastor Hensley does to these vulnerable children.
He replaces their free will with a theology of violence.
He twists their capacity for love into a thirst for vengeance.
He whips up their childish exuberance and exhorts them to prove themselves as warriors, and then he commands them to clean house.
An eye for an eye.
He puts all that in the hands of a hurt and lost boy, a boy he's filled with delusions of being the leader of a great army, the next Joan of Arc.
And then he sends him on the road with two other boys, all charged up with raw anger, eager to be strong and worthy in the eyes of their beloved pastor.
And then he pronounces himself surprised at the results? No rational person could have expected any other result.
And now the good pastor hides behind the First Amendment, Freedom of religion.
But this is not about God.
This is about the power of an adult over adolescent minds, and the abuse of that power.
And what do we say to blasphemers who pollute God's kingdom? CHILDREN: This means war! What do we say? This means war! What do we say? This means war! War, war on blasphemers.
That's the mission he gave Jason when he put him on the road to his mother's house.
Erasing already? Making room to plan our response to Hensley's appeal.
A little early to count your chickens.
The jury's been out two days.
The jury's probably split between Murder Two Depraved Indifference and Man Two.
They'd probably all agree on Criminal Solicitation Two.
I didn't think you charged that.
I didn't.
That's my point exactly.
Pessimist.
Thejudge wants to see us.
A court officer found a Bible in the jury room.
Somebody was consulting it during deliberations.
Looks like one of your chickens just got run over.
I was reading it for guidance, sir.
But you understand your deliberations were to be guided by my instructions and by the laws of New York State? Yes, sir, I do.
This is a hard case.
I wanted to do the right thing.
Very well, you're excused.
Thank you.
I'll order that this juror be dismissed and that an alternate take his place.
Your Honor, the People move for a mistrial.
We don't know how manyjurors consulted that Bible.
BARRACADO: And yet witnesses are sworn in on the Bible.
"In God We Trust" is emblazoned across the courtroom wall.
It's hypocritical to expect jurors to check their religious beliefs at the jury room door.
But that's precisely what they swore an oath to do, to apply the laws of men, not the law of God, to this case.
The jury's deliberations have been tainted I don't agree.
Even if consulting the Bible during deliberations can be deemed juror misconduct, I'm satisfied it had no substantial and injurious effect or influence.
I'm not granting a mistrial, Mr.
Cutter.
JUDGE LANDSBERG: On the first count of the indictment, murder in the second degree, how does the jury find? We find the defendant not guilty.
On the second count, manslaughter in the second degree, how do you find? We find the defendant not guilty.
(PEOPLE EXCLAIMING) Wejust didn't prove our case.
Or the jury didn't care.
They liked Hensley's message.
I'd prefer to think we didn't prove our case.
Optimist.
Small comfort, Hensley will have to wait 15 years for Jason to come out of jail to lead his troops.
Then our fanatics can fight their fanatics.
Let's hope the man's over by then.