Law & Order (1990) s22e08 Episode Script
Chain of Command
1
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.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
[LOW TONE]
[DOOR SLAMS]
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]
I'm sorry.
[GUNSHOT]
That's bold,
killing somebody
with all these windows here.
This time of night, this neighborhood,
everybody's asleep by the 10:00 news.
Bet you anything not a single witness.
I'll take that bet. What you got?
DOA is Alexander Lockett,
owner of the house.
911 call came in at 12:09
from a neighbor,
who heard multiple gunshots.
- Any witnesses?
- None so far.
CSU found a wallet and cell
phone inside his suit jacket.
Anything missing from inside the house?
Not that we could tell.
It doesn't seem like a robbery.
Unless the killer was looking
for something specific.
What do you got?
Shot three times in the chest
at close range.
Shell casings are here, 9-millimeter.
Alexander Lockett,
chief revenue officer
at Finley & Madison.
The department store.
I was just there
buying a present for my wife.
- It's our anniversary.
- Oh, yeah?
- Place was a ghost town.
- Yeah.
Brick and mortar retail is dead.
No offense.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
Alexander Lockett was divorced.
Got a grown daughter, Melinda.
She's living in Ohio. She's en route.
What about the ex-wife?
They split up a decade ago.
She's a diplomat posted in Australia.
Confirmed with the state department
that she hasn't been back home all year.
The guy was a boy scout,
former colonel in the army.
Served in Iraq.
Moved into the private sector
ten years ago.
Hit it big as an executive
at a mall brand department
store, Finley & Madison.
Neighbors all say he was a stand-up guy.
Lived alone, but he was
friendly and respectful.
Well, somebody wanted him dead.
I mean, a swanky place like that,
he must have had
Fort Knox-level security.
He's got cameras covering the backyard,
but the security system's log
shows the footage was deleted
via the app on Lockett's phone
at 12:10 a.m.
Right after his neighbors heard shots.
Do we have anything on the gun?
We're canvassing the area
for the murder weapon,
and we're also looking
for any video we can find.
You know, that guy is awfully dressed up
for a midnight smoke under the stars.
I wonder where he came from,
who he was with.
Financial workup just came in.
Shows where Lockett's
credit card was last used.
Alex is a regular.
Great guy. Really generous tipper.
He lives
Lived in the neighborhood.
Do you know who he was here
with that night?
Yeah, the woman
he's been seeing for a while.
- What time did they leave?
- Which one?
They left at different times.
Different times?
None of my business,
but something was off.
They're usually very lovey-dovey,
but a place like this, you can't help
but notice raised voices.
They definitely argued
until she ran out.
And Lockett didn't go after her?
No, he sulked over
his whiskey and then paid.
This girlfriend, you got a name?
Yeah, she's the one
that made the reservation.
I can't believe he's dead.
Who would do something like that to him?
Can I ask you
how long you two had
been seeing each other?
Four months, but it felt like longer.
We were making life plans together.
He was gonna introduce me
to his daughter.
Does Melinda know?
She's been notified. Yes, ma'am.
I understand you and Alexander
got in a fight last night.
We had an argument.
Disagreement in a relationship
is normal.
It's healthy even.
Well, I guess that depends
on what the argument is about, right?
Well, Alex had been
under a lot of stress lately,
and last night, he was
in a particularly dark mood.
But when I asked him what was
wrong, he refused to tell me.
I chose to remove myself
from the situation.
Obviously, I regret that now.
I know you said that Mr. Lockett
didn't share his feelings
with you last night,
but do you have a theory
about what was bothering him?
Not specifically, but it
It definitely had something
to do with work.
Employees all loved Alex.
He was tough but fair.
And he cared, like, for real.
He worked hard to keep people employed,
but not his fault
the company is failing.
So you don't know anybody who
would have wanted to hurt him?
[SCOFFS] Well, I didn't say that.
Yesterday, Sonya Chakrabarti,
the CFO, ripped him
Had words with him.
- What kind of words?
- Excessively harsh ones.
It was more like
a verbal MMA fight, really.
Here's Alex's office.
- [WHISTLES]
- Looks more than verbal to me.
Before Sonya stormed out of his office,
she grabbed a glass paperweight
and threw it at him.
Just missed his head.
What do you think she was so mad about?
I think they were having an affair.
- Why do you say that?
- She kept yelling at him.
"I'm sick of all the secrets,"
or something like that.
This Sonya Chakrabarti,
where's her office?
Second door on the right, but
she's working from home today.
- Sonia Chakrabarti.
- Where are you headed?
I have a plane to catch.
What's this all about?
We need to ask you some questions
about Alexander Lockett.
I'm not saying a word without my lawyer.
In that case, it looks like
you're missing your flight.
I assure you, I was not having an affair
with Alex Lockett.
Yeah, we saw the crater
you left in his office wall.
You've got a good arm.
You were tired
of being his little secret.
You wanted to go public,
but he broke it off.
That would make anybody angry.
Why must men always
reduce a woman down to sex?
My client is the chief financial officer
of a Fortune 500 company, Detective.
A position I take very seriously.
So why the yelling match?
Fraud.
I discovered that Alex had secured
a $300 million bank loan
from the company.
As CFO, isn't that something
you should have handled?
Exactly. That's why I was upset.
He went behind my back.
Any reason why?
He inflated the company's
earning projections,
wanted to make sure the bank said yes.
So you were upset?
Upset enough
to throw a heavy object at him?
That's correct.
But I didn't kill him, for God's sake.
But the truth is,
I really liked Alex.
He was a good man.
Just in over his head, if you ask me.
Meaning what?
Meaning he wasn't cut out
for the corporate world.
Didn't like all the politics.
Just did what the CEO told him.
Why on Earth would I murder Alex?
To cover up financial crimes
that you made him commit.
Any exposure could lead
to an SEC investigation, fines.
Maybe you're looking at jail time.
Guy like you, you don't want.
Except there was no crime.
We found video of you
on Alexander's block
less than an hour before he ended up
with three bullets in his chest.
You just couldn't be sure
he'd keep his mouth shut.
I went there to calm Alex down,
assure him Sonya's hysterics
had no merit.
You scammed $300 million
with made up numbers.
You call that no merit?
Projections are
made up numbers by definition.
What we did was perfectly legal.
There's no law against being optimistic.
So why cut your CFO out of the loop?
Because she has
no financial imagination.
So I told Alex to handle it.
Simple as that.
So Alexander had the imagination.
No, but he followed orders.
He was former army, a good soldier.
I knew I could count on him.
Alex was alive and well
when I left his house
a little before midnight.
Feel free to verify with my driver.
Now, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen,
I have a company to run.
[PHONE BUZZES]
It's Dixon.
We need to get back to the crime scene.
What's up?
Alexander's daughter just got there.
She says something is missing
from his brownstone.
I'm not the kind of person
who can just sit around and wallow,
so I figured I'd start putting together
the outfit my father
would want to be buried in.
That's when I discovered it was missing.
You're saying it was a medal.
A Distinguished Service Cross.
That's one of the highest
commendations there is.
It was in honor of his service
as the base commander
of Camp Victory in Iraq.
It meant a lot to him.
And you're sure it was stolen?
Yes, it was framed
on the wall right here.
Nothing else is missing or out of place?
No, just that.
Do you know of any reason
why someone would want to take that?
No, it wasn't worth
a lot of money or anything.
It doesn't make any sense.
So if the medal was stolen
by whoever murdered Lockett,
that must mean his death
is somehow related
to his military career.
Yeah, and we think we know how.
Yee went through traffic cam videos
from Lockett's neighborhood
from around the time of the murder.
Now, she cross-referenced
veteran records
with vehicle registration
records and got a hit.
A brown and tan truck
shows up multiple times
in the 20-minute window
before Lockett was shot.
Just circling the block
while the CEO is inside with Lockett.
It's registered to a Shane Risner.
36. Single. Spotty employment records.
Spotty because Risner
was dishonorably discharged
from the army back in 2008.
And guess what?
The court martial was signed
by none other than U.S. Army
Colonel Alexander T. Lockett.
So our vic DD'ed this guy?
And that stain
follows you around for life.
You lose your VA benefits,
don't qualify for unemployment,
can't get a loan.
So this Shane Risner
is just looking for revenge.
Mm.
Let's go find him.
[KNOCKS AT DOOR]
Police. Open up.
What's going on?
We'll looking for Shane Risner.
You're a little late.
Why is that? He take off somewhere?
No, he died three days ago.
Shane Risner died by suicide
a day before Lockett was murdered.
The system hadn't updated yet.
That's why we didn't know.
He OD'd on meds and left a note.
So who the hell is
driving around in the truck?
Don't know. The traffic cams
didn't get a clear shot
of the driver's face.
I'm guessing it was
somebody close to Risner,
who blamed Lockett for the suicide.
And took Risner's truck
to go and kill him?
Well, how else do you
explain the coincidence?
I've got something.
I was able to access
the anti-theft device
on Risner's truck.
It's on the move, heading east
onto 80 outside Newark.
All right, I'll contact
Jersey State Police
and Essex County Sheriff's Department.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
Target vehicle has parked
in the Saint Teresa's
parking lot on 44th.
Hold on.
I know that guy.
That's Shane Risner's associate.
They served together in Iraq.
Vincent Martinez.
It's got to be him.
This has got to be Risner's funeral.
- Oh, we need to grab him now.
- No. Hey, Frank.
Frank, no, no, no.
Look, you and I can go in there
and keep eyes on Martinez,
and we can wait for a discreet
moment to approach after.
- Discreet?
- Yeah.
This guy is murder suspect number one.
We don't know if he's armed,
whether he's going in there
to shoot up the place.
He's not gonna shoot up the place.
It's a veteran's funeral.
- So?
- So?
Frank, my brother's in the military.
My father was.
These funerals matter,
so let's just try
to show them some respect, huh?
- Discreet.
- Discreet.
[GENTLE MUSIC]
♪
Damn it.
NYPD! Stop!
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
Sergeant Martinez, you're under arrest
for the murder of Alexander Lockett.
Discreet enough for you?
I'm telling you, I had nothing to do
with Colonel Lockett's death.
Shane Risner's father said
you bought Shane's truck from him.
The same truck that was parked
outside the colonel's house
the night he was killed
Your former commanding officer.
Sergeant, you're looking at murder two.
25 to life.
I'm telling you, it wasn't me.
The night before last, I was at a bar
with some buddies from the unit.
Millie's.
We used to go there with Shane
before his lungs were so shredded
he could barely leave the house.
Shane was sick?
He was dying.
Pulmonary fibrosis.
Suicide was just a shortcut,
but you can't put that in the obit.
You guys were in Iraq.
Burn pits.
Army burned
all kinds of nasty-ass stuff.
And we'd just breathe in the smoke,
day in and day out.
And now, we all got problems.
You blame Lockett for that?
I don't blame anybody for anything.
And I was at the bar till closing.
Look, I know you guys
got a raw deal over there,
but, Sergeant, it was your truck.
If you weren't driving, who was?
I don't know anything about that.
CSU found blood in the truck.
It's a DNA match. Alexander Lockett.
Well, that explains why Martinez ran.
No, his alibi is airtight.
He was at that bar, Millie's, all night.
There's video of him.
He couldn't have killed Lockett.
I bet he knows who did.
I've been running the prints CSU lifted
from the interior of the truck.
Three latents
from the driver's side door
belonged to a Luke Fallon.
He served in the same unit
as Risner and Martinez.
At the funeral, there was
a picture at the entrance.
There was three guys:
Martinez, Risner, and the third guy.
That's the third guy.
Fallon has a registered gun,
a SIG Sauer P365.
That's a 9-mil.
Same caliber used to kill Lockett.
All right. Let's bring this guy in.
His address is in New Jersey,
but his Metro card
was just used 19 minutes ago to
board a Q39 bus in Sunnyside.
Queens.
Where's he going?
I think I know.
Luke Fallon, NYPD. Show me your hands.
Show me your hands!
Keep them up.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, put that hand up.
Put that hand up.
What do you know?
Lockett's medal.
I just got a call
from the Office of
the Undersecretary of Defense
looking for a status report
on the case against Colonel
Alexander Lockett's killer.
That's an impressive level
of investment.
Lockett retired almost a decade ago.
Active service or not,
the army notices
when a decorated war hero
is brutally murdered.
What did you tell them?
That justice will be served.
- I assume you agree.
- I do.
Even though you can't place
Fallon at the murder scene.
I can come close.
I can put him in the truck,
where Lockett's blood was found
on the night of the murder.
How?
I'm gonna call Vincent Martinez.
I thought Martinez wasn't
interested in cooperating.
He wasn't
until I threatened to charge
him with accomplice to murder.
He'll be a hostile witness.
Mr. Martinez,
how do you know the defendant?
We were stationed together in Iraq.
Camp Victory, just outside Baghdad.
We served on the same unit
from 2006 to 2008.
And did you see the defendant
on September 27,
the day that Alexander Lockett
was murdered?
I don't know.
You don't know if you saw him or not?
I don't know.
Yeah, I guess I saw him that day.
And did Luke Fallon ask
if he could borrow your truck
that evening?
Mr. Martinez?
I have nothing to say.
Answer the question, Mr. Martinez.
I'm sorry, but no.
Answer the question,
or you'll be held in contempt of court.
- Mr. Martinez
- You do what you have to do.
- Please, Your Honor
- I'm serious, Mr. Martinez.
And so am I.
Then I find you in contempt.
Officer, take charge.
So what exactly
are we hoping to find here?
Anything to salvage this case.
Oh, just that?
If we could find video or a witness
that saw Luke Fallon
in Risner's truck that night,
then we could at least
place him at Lockett's house
- when the murder occurred.
- We tried.
The only video that we could recover,
other than the traffic cam that
was near Lockett's brownstone,
was off of an exit of Garden
State Parkway at 12:58 a.m.
But the visor was down, so we
couldn't see who was driving.
Well, that's less
than an hour after the murder.
Is the exit the truck got off
the one closest to Fallon's house?
No, it's actually not.
It's four earlier.
That means, presuming
Fallon was the one driving,
that he didn't go directly home
after killing Lockett.
- Why?
- Our theory:
that's when he was
ditching the murder weapon.
It's close to the hospital
where Shane Risner
was getting treatment
for his pulmonary fibrosis.
His father told us
that Fallon and Martinez
took turns taking him
to his appointments
because he wasn't feeling well
enough to drive himself, so
When I was prepping Vincent Martinez,
he told me
that sometimes after treatments
Risner asked to go
to a park in the area.
Branch Brook Park?
That's it. That's the one.
He said Risner had difficulty breathing,
so he liked to sit on a bench
and enjoy the fresh air
coming off the lake.
Detective, were you able
to run a ballistics test
on the gun you recovered from the lake?
We were.
The striations on the bullets retrieved
from Colonel Lockett's body
matched the rifling
and characteristics of that firearm.
Confirming that this is the gun
that was used
to murder Alexander Lockett?
That's correct.
And is the gun registered?
Yes.
To Luke Fallon, the defendant.
Thank you, Detective.
We have no questions
for this witness at this time.
Detective Shaw, you may step down.
- Thank you, Your Honor.
- Prosecution rests.
Your Honor, the defense
would like to inform the court
that we're filing a motion
to change our plea.
To what?
Not guilty by reason of insanity.
Fallon now admits
he shot Alexander Lockett,
just claims he wasn't in his right mind
when it actually happened.
They're going with
a temporary insanity defense.
A variation thereof.
It turns out Fallon has a glioblastoma,
a brain tumor on his frontal lobe.
The defense is arguing it
impacted his impulse control.
How did we not know about this?
It was diagnosed
only a week before the murder.
He hadn't received treatment yet,
and by their account,
hadn't told anyone,
including his attorney, until now.
That's strains credulity.
Judge thought so too
but ultimately accepted
their change of plea.
Studies have linked glioblastomas
specifically to toxic exposure
from burn pits.
So from Fallon's perspective,
Colonel Lockett was not only responsible
for his best friend's suicide
but also for his own diagnosis.
That only strengthens
his motive to kill Lockett.
But the defense has a neurooncologist
who will testify that the tumor
is to blame for the murder
and impaired Fallon's ability
to control his actions
and distinguish
right from wrong in the moment.
That's not true, but it's good strategy.
Allows them to introduce the burn pits
and the tragic aftermath.
Paint the defendant as the victim.
In a way, he is.
Whether Lockett knew the
burn pits were harmful or not,
he refused to get rid of them.
Now these guys are sick.
I mean, real sick.
If I'm on the jury, I wouldn't convict
the soldier who got a
brain tumor he didn't deserve.
You saying we should offer a plea?
No, absolutely not.
This murder was premeditated.
I agree.
But Ms. Maroun's right.
The jury is gonna eat this up,
so make it clear to them
what the defense is doing,
using the defendant's brain tumor
to emotionally manipulate them
into ignoring the facts.
Glioblastoma is one
of the most aggressive types
of brain cancer.
Unfortunately,
it's almost always terminal.
And Dr. Simon, do we know
what causes glioblastoma?
Likely a combination of factors.
Genetic predisposition,
exposure to carcinogens.
Exposure like
that inflicted upon soldiers
forced to inhale toxic smoke
from burn pits?
Yes, studies have shown
a clear correlation.
Glioblastoma incidence
is very low among cancer types,
about 1 per 10,000 cases.
But for those who spent
significant amounts of time
around the burn pits,
it's astronomically higher.
During your evaluation of Luke Fallon,
what did he tell you happened
on the evening of September 27?
He reported an upsetting conversation
with his former base commander
and then experiencing a total blackout.
When he emerged, he had no memory
of pulling out or firing his weapon.
Dr. Simon, in your professional opinion,
was Luke Fallon's tumor responsible
for his shooting Alexander Lockett?
Yes, I believe Mr. Fallon
had no ability to control
or understand the consequences
of his actions at the time.
Thank you. No further questions.
Dr. Simon,
you testified that the
defendant's tumor was to blame
for his losing control in the moment.
Is it also responsible
for Mr. Fallon asking Vincent Martinez
if he could borrow his truck
on the night in question?
No, I can't see how it would be.
Is it responsible
for his driving
to Alexander Lockett's home
with a loaded semiautomatic pistol?
No.
Did it make him drive around
the block for 20 minutes,
waiting for Lockett to be alone,
and sneak onto his property
with said gun?
No.
Thank you.
No further questions.
We knew those burn pits were deadly.
We'd wake up in the middle
of the night unable to breathe,
choking on this thick cloud
that smelled like
They were burning medical waste,
chemicals.
We begged Colonel Lockett
to do something.
I mean, guys were coughing up blood.
But the colonel's residence
is on the north end of the base,
upwind from the smoke,
so why should he care, right?
What happened
on the night of September 27?
Shane had just killed himself.
I was upset.
This is Shane Risner?
The two of you were close, weren't you?
Closer than brothers.
There wasn't a day in the last two years
he wasn't in excruciating pain
from the pulmonary fibrosis.
And he was wracked with guilt
about putting his family
in debt with medical bills
because you lose your VA benefits
when you're dishonorably discharged.
His esophagus disintegrated.
It literally hurt for him to breathe,
so he
[CLEARS THROAT]
I went over to the colonel's house
because I wanted him to know
what happened because of him.
And what did you do when you got there?
I confronted him. I wanted an apology.
I wanted him to say he was wrong,
but he refused.
He wouldn't even say
the burn pits were bad.
I got angry,
and the next thing I remember,
I was standing over him holding my gun.
But I swear,
I never went there
intending to hurt him.
Then why bring your gun?
I always have it on me.
After so many years in the
service, it's second nature.
But I've never fired it
outside of combat
and never would.
No further questions.
Let's break here for the day.
We'll resume in the morning
for cross-examination.
[GAVEL SLAMS]
Excuse me, Counselors.
Sergeant Major Bryce Crawford,
Army Office of Public Affairs.
Do you have a moment?
I have been tasked
with keeping tabs on this case,
for obvious reasons.
I can imagine.
I have something you need to see.
What am I looking at?
It's an after-incident report from 2008
involving Sergeant Luke Fallon.
Involving how?
The details of it are in there,
but the gist of it
During a routine night patrol
in an area just outside of Baghdad,
Sergeant Fallon got in an argument
with three unarmed Iraqi civilians.
The fight got physical.
Sergeant Fallon discharged his firearm,
killing one of the civilians.
He's killed someone before?
Why wasn't this report
in Fallon's military personnel file?
Due to the sensitive nature
of the army's presence
in that particular region at that time,
it was deemed classified.
Was he ever formally charged
with anything?
He was sent home.
His time in the army was over.
And for reasons of national security,
the report was never
made public knowledge.
But given its value in this case,
I've been authorized to declassify it.
This is helpful.
This directly refutes his claim
he'd never fired his weapon
outside of active combat
prior to having the tumor.
It also conveniently
shifts the focus away
from the army's culpability
surrounding the burn pits.
With all due respect, ma'am,
operational decisions are easy
to criticize with hindsight.
At the time, the army had been
using burn pits for over 100 years.
But when the kind of waste
you were burning changed,
your procedure for burning it
should have changed too.
We know that now.
That's why we transitioned to
using industrial incinerators.
What's important right now
is winning the case
and using this document
to prove that Fallon
isn't some noble martyr.
He's a trigger happy hothead
who responds to conflict with violence,
tumor or no tumor.
We got him, Sam.
That report details how Luke Fallon shot
and killed an unarmed
I know what it says.
Why are you showing it to me?
I know that you feel
a sense of duty to Luke,
but he's a murderer
who belongs in prison.
I'm sorry, Mr. Price, but that,
it's a bunch of crap.
I was there.
It wasn't a routine patrol.
Fallon was sent on a mission
to recover stolen ordnance.
He was instructed to use deadly force
because the insurgents were armed.
But the intel was bad,
even worse that
an innocent civilian was killed
because they were wrong
about who took them.
You're saying they just wholesale lied?
Standard procedure.
Disavow.
Regardless of what that report says,
Luke Fallon was just following orders.
I don't feel comfortable
using that report.
Because one soldier called
its veracity into question?
Because I believe him.
For all we know, Vincent Martinez
could be the one lying,
trying, yet again, to protect
his fellow unit member.
I'm pretty good at telling
when someone is lying to me.
Don't you think
it's a little too convenient
that this perfect piece of evidence
just fell from the sky
at exactly the right moment?
Gift horses, Ms. Maroun.
The army failed
to protect Fallon back then,
and now they're trying
to distract from that fact
by impeaching his character with lies.
And they want to use us to do it.
The tragedy of his cancer diagnosis
doesn't change the fact that
Luke Fallon committed murder.
I agree, but getting a
guilty verdict with evidence
We have no proof
that the report is a lie.
I don't trust
Nolan, this conversation is over.
If you can get the conviction
another way, be my guest.
If not, you're using the report.
[CHUCKLES]
Are you pulling rank, Jack?
Damn right I am!
Understood.
You find anything?
Negative.
You?
Maybe.
I've been looking through
Alexander Lockett's
military personnel file,
and I found something odd.
The week before he retired from service,
the army offered him a position
back here in New York.
Cushy deal too. Title bump, good pay.
But he turned it down.
Maybe he'd already gotten a better offer
in the private sector.
No, I don't think so.
Mr. Fallon, yesterday you testified
that you never fired
your weapon outside of combat.
Why did you make that distinction,
between using a weapon
in combat versus not?
Because in combat,
I'm operating under orders.
So if you're ordered to shoot someone,
you believe it changes your culpability
in whatever the outcome is?
Yes, because I don't have a choice.
I'm following the chain of command.
But you held
Alexander Lockett responsible
for the negative impacts of the burn pit
suffered by you
and your fellow soldiers.
That's different.
He was the one insisting
that they be used.
He wasn't following orders.
He was giving them.
Your Honor, the prosecution
is entering into evidence
People's Exhibit 27.
This is the official paperwork
submitted by Alexander Lockett
when he retired from the army.
Were you aware why he left?
No, it happened
after my tours were over.
He submitted a written statement
detailing his reasons for leaving.
"It has been my honor
to serve our great nation,
"and I have nothing
but the utmost respect
"for the brave men and women
with whom I have served.
"It is on their behalf
"that I must leave the institution
"I have dedicated my life to.
"For four years, I have requested
"that my base be allowed
"to cease the utilization of burn pits
"for the disposing of waste,
"but repeatedly,
"these requests have been denied
"and I have been ordered
to maintain protocol."
Can you please read this
passage aloud for the court?
"I have been forced
"to do something
that I believe is harmful,
"and I can no longer in good conscience
"participate in a system
that does not protect those
who so valiantly protect us."
You claimed that
on the night of September 27th,
you confronted Lockett,
and he refused to apologize,
but that's not what happened, is it?
I didn't know.
Objection.
Overruled. Sit down, Ms. Knight.
If you had confronted him,
he would have given you the
apology you claim you wanted
And explained
that he tried to honor
his duty to protect you.
But you didn't even give him
a chance to talk, did you?
You just did what you went
there specifically to do.
Murder him.
I'm sorry.
I thought
[SOBBING]
I'm so, so sorry.
[SOLEMN MUSIC]
♪
Mr. Foreman, has the jury
reached a verdict?
We have, Your Honor.
On the charge of murder
in the second degree,
we find the defendant,
Luke Fallon, guilty.
♪
I can't thank you enough
for clearing my father's name.
Well, now that the trial is over,
we'll make sure
his Distinguished Service Cross
is returned to you.
I appreciate that.
If you'll excuse me.
Of course.
You were right.
Alexander Lockett tried
to protect his men,
but he chose to follow
the chain of command
and ended up dying for it.
He was a soldier,
and he was following orders.
I get it.
Still not sure that makes it right.
No one ever said it did.
♪
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.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
[LOW TONE]
[DOOR SLAMS]
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]
I'm sorry.
[GUNSHOT]
That's bold,
killing somebody
with all these windows here.
This time of night, this neighborhood,
everybody's asleep by the 10:00 news.
Bet you anything not a single witness.
I'll take that bet. What you got?
DOA is Alexander Lockett,
owner of the house.
911 call came in at 12:09
from a neighbor,
who heard multiple gunshots.
- Any witnesses?
- None so far.
CSU found a wallet and cell
phone inside his suit jacket.
Anything missing from inside the house?
Not that we could tell.
It doesn't seem like a robbery.
Unless the killer was looking
for something specific.
What do you got?
Shot three times in the chest
at close range.
Shell casings are here, 9-millimeter.
Alexander Lockett,
chief revenue officer
at Finley & Madison.
The department store.
I was just there
buying a present for my wife.
- It's our anniversary.
- Oh, yeah?
- Place was a ghost town.
- Yeah.
Brick and mortar retail is dead.
No offense.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
Alexander Lockett was divorced.
Got a grown daughter, Melinda.
She's living in Ohio. She's en route.
What about the ex-wife?
They split up a decade ago.
She's a diplomat posted in Australia.
Confirmed with the state department
that she hasn't been back home all year.
The guy was a boy scout,
former colonel in the army.
Served in Iraq.
Moved into the private sector
ten years ago.
Hit it big as an executive
at a mall brand department
store, Finley & Madison.
Neighbors all say he was a stand-up guy.
Lived alone, but he was
friendly and respectful.
Well, somebody wanted him dead.
I mean, a swanky place like that,
he must have had
Fort Knox-level security.
He's got cameras covering the backyard,
but the security system's log
shows the footage was deleted
via the app on Lockett's phone
at 12:10 a.m.
Right after his neighbors heard shots.
Do we have anything on the gun?
We're canvassing the area
for the murder weapon,
and we're also looking
for any video we can find.
You know, that guy is awfully dressed up
for a midnight smoke under the stars.
I wonder where he came from,
who he was with.
Financial workup just came in.
Shows where Lockett's
credit card was last used.
Alex is a regular.
Great guy. Really generous tipper.
He lives
Lived in the neighborhood.
Do you know who he was here
with that night?
Yeah, the woman
he's been seeing for a while.
- What time did they leave?
- Which one?
They left at different times.
Different times?
None of my business,
but something was off.
They're usually very lovey-dovey,
but a place like this, you can't help
but notice raised voices.
They definitely argued
until she ran out.
And Lockett didn't go after her?
No, he sulked over
his whiskey and then paid.
This girlfriend, you got a name?
Yeah, she's the one
that made the reservation.
I can't believe he's dead.
Who would do something like that to him?
Can I ask you
how long you two had
been seeing each other?
Four months, but it felt like longer.
We were making life plans together.
He was gonna introduce me
to his daughter.
Does Melinda know?
She's been notified. Yes, ma'am.
I understand you and Alexander
got in a fight last night.
We had an argument.
Disagreement in a relationship
is normal.
It's healthy even.
Well, I guess that depends
on what the argument is about, right?
Well, Alex had been
under a lot of stress lately,
and last night, he was
in a particularly dark mood.
But when I asked him what was
wrong, he refused to tell me.
I chose to remove myself
from the situation.
Obviously, I regret that now.
I know you said that Mr. Lockett
didn't share his feelings
with you last night,
but do you have a theory
about what was bothering him?
Not specifically, but it
It definitely had something
to do with work.
Employees all loved Alex.
He was tough but fair.
And he cared, like, for real.
He worked hard to keep people employed,
but not his fault
the company is failing.
So you don't know anybody who
would have wanted to hurt him?
[SCOFFS] Well, I didn't say that.
Yesterday, Sonya Chakrabarti,
the CFO, ripped him
Had words with him.
- What kind of words?
- Excessively harsh ones.
It was more like
a verbal MMA fight, really.
Here's Alex's office.
- [WHISTLES]
- Looks more than verbal to me.
Before Sonya stormed out of his office,
she grabbed a glass paperweight
and threw it at him.
Just missed his head.
What do you think she was so mad about?
I think they were having an affair.
- Why do you say that?
- She kept yelling at him.
"I'm sick of all the secrets,"
or something like that.
This Sonya Chakrabarti,
where's her office?
Second door on the right, but
she's working from home today.
- Sonia Chakrabarti.
- Where are you headed?
I have a plane to catch.
What's this all about?
We need to ask you some questions
about Alexander Lockett.
I'm not saying a word without my lawyer.
In that case, it looks like
you're missing your flight.
I assure you, I was not having an affair
with Alex Lockett.
Yeah, we saw the crater
you left in his office wall.
You've got a good arm.
You were tired
of being his little secret.
You wanted to go public,
but he broke it off.
That would make anybody angry.
Why must men always
reduce a woman down to sex?
My client is the chief financial officer
of a Fortune 500 company, Detective.
A position I take very seriously.
So why the yelling match?
Fraud.
I discovered that Alex had secured
a $300 million bank loan
from the company.
As CFO, isn't that something
you should have handled?
Exactly. That's why I was upset.
He went behind my back.
Any reason why?
He inflated the company's
earning projections,
wanted to make sure the bank said yes.
So you were upset?
Upset enough
to throw a heavy object at him?
That's correct.
But I didn't kill him, for God's sake.
But the truth is,
I really liked Alex.
He was a good man.
Just in over his head, if you ask me.
Meaning what?
Meaning he wasn't cut out
for the corporate world.
Didn't like all the politics.
Just did what the CEO told him.
Why on Earth would I murder Alex?
To cover up financial crimes
that you made him commit.
Any exposure could lead
to an SEC investigation, fines.
Maybe you're looking at jail time.
Guy like you, you don't want.
Except there was no crime.
We found video of you
on Alexander's block
less than an hour before he ended up
with three bullets in his chest.
You just couldn't be sure
he'd keep his mouth shut.
I went there to calm Alex down,
assure him Sonya's hysterics
had no merit.
You scammed $300 million
with made up numbers.
You call that no merit?
Projections are
made up numbers by definition.
What we did was perfectly legal.
There's no law against being optimistic.
So why cut your CFO out of the loop?
Because she has
no financial imagination.
So I told Alex to handle it.
Simple as that.
So Alexander had the imagination.
No, but he followed orders.
He was former army, a good soldier.
I knew I could count on him.
Alex was alive and well
when I left his house
a little before midnight.
Feel free to verify with my driver.
Now, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen,
I have a company to run.
[PHONE BUZZES]
It's Dixon.
We need to get back to the crime scene.
What's up?
Alexander's daughter just got there.
She says something is missing
from his brownstone.
I'm not the kind of person
who can just sit around and wallow,
so I figured I'd start putting together
the outfit my father
would want to be buried in.
That's when I discovered it was missing.
You're saying it was a medal.
A Distinguished Service Cross.
That's one of the highest
commendations there is.
It was in honor of his service
as the base commander
of Camp Victory in Iraq.
It meant a lot to him.
And you're sure it was stolen?
Yes, it was framed
on the wall right here.
Nothing else is missing or out of place?
No, just that.
Do you know of any reason
why someone would want to take that?
No, it wasn't worth
a lot of money or anything.
It doesn't make any sense.
So if the medal was stolen
by whoever murdered Lockett,
that must mean his death
is somehow related
to his military career.
Yeah, and we think we know how.
Yee went through traffic cam videos
from Lockett's neighborhood
from around the time of the murder.
Now, she cross-referenced
veteran records
with vehicle registration
records and got a hit.
A brown and tan truck
shows up multiple times
in the 20-minute window
before Lockett was shot.
Just circling the block
while the CEO is inside with Lockett.
It's registered to a Shane Risner.
36. Single. Spotty employment records.
Spotty because Risner
was dishonorably discharged
from the army back in 2008.
And guess what?
The court martial was signed
by none other than U.S. Army
Colonel Alexander T. Lockett.
So our vic DD'ed this guy?
And that stain
follows you around for life.
You lose your VA benefits,
don't qualify for unemployment,
can't get a loan.
So this Shane Risner
is just looking for revenge.
Mm.
Let's go find him.
[KNOCKS AT DOOR]
Police. Open up.
What's going on?
We'll looking for Shane Risner.
You're a little late.
Why is that? He take off somewhere?
No, he died three days ago.
Shane Risner died by suicide
a day before Lockett was murdered.
The system hadn't updated yet.
That's why we didn't know.
He OD'd on meds and left a note.
So who the hell is
driving around in the truck?
Don't know. The traffic cams
didn't get a clear shot
of the driver's face.
I'm guessing it was
somebody close to Risner,
who blamed Lockett for the suicide.
And took Risner's truck
to go and kill him?
Well, how else do you
explain the coincidence?
I've got something.
I was able to access
the anti-theft device
on Risner's truck.
It's on the move, heading east
onto 80 outside Newark.
All right, I'll contact
Jersey State Police
and Essex County Sheriff's Department.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
Target vehicle has parked
in the Saint Teresa's
parking lot on 44th.
Hold on.
I know that guy.
That's Shane Risner's associate.
They served together in Iraq.
Vincent Martinez.
It's got to be him.
This has got to be Risner's funeral.
- Oh, we need to grab him now.
- No. Hey, Frank.
Frank, no, no, no.
Look, you and I can go in there
and keep eyes on Martinez,
and we can wait for a discreet
moment to approach after.
- Discreet?
- Yeah.
This guy is murder suspect number one.
We don't know if he's armed,
whether he's going in there
to shoot up the place.
He's not gonna shoot up the place.
It's a veteran's funeral.
- So?
- So?
Frank, my brother's in the military.
My father was.
These funerals matter,
so let's just try
to show them some respect, huh?
- Discreet.
- Discreet.
[GENTLE MUSIC]
♪
Damn it.
NYPD! Stop!
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
Sergeant Martinez, you're under arrest
for the murder of Alexander Lockett.
Discreet enough for you?
I'm telling you, I had nothing to do
with Colonel Lockett's death.
Shane Risner's father said
you bought Shane's truck from him.
The same truck that was parked
outside the colonel's house
the night he was killed
Your former commanding officer.
Sergeant, you're looking at murder two.
25 to life.
I'm telling you, it wasn't me.
The night before last, I was at a bar
with some buddies from the unit.
Millie's.
We used to go there with Shane
before his lungs were so shredded
he could barely leave the house.
Shane was sick?
He was dying.
Pulmonary fibrosis.
Suicide was just a shortcut,
but you can't put that in the obit.
You guys were in Iraq.
Burn pits.
Army burned
all kinds of nasty-ass stuff.
And we'd just breathe in the smoke,
day in and day out.
And now, we all got problems.
You blame Lockett for that?
I don't blame anybody for anything.
And I was at the bar till closing.
Look, I know you guys
got a raw deal over there,
but, Sergeant, it was your truck.
If you weren't driving, who was?
I don't know anything about that.
CSU found blood in the truck.
It's a DNA match. Alexander Lockett.
Well, that explains why Martinez ran.
No, his alibi is airtight.
He was at that bar, Millie's, all night.
There's video of him.
He couldn't have killed Lockett.
I bet he knows who did.
I've been running the prints CSU lifted
from the interior of the truck.
Three latents
from the driver's side door
belonged to a Luke Fallon.
He served in the same unit
as Risner and Martinez.
At the funeral, there was
a picture at the entrance.
There was three guys:
Martinez, Risner, and the third guy.
That's the third guy.
Fallon has a registered gun,
a SIG Sauer P365.
That's a 9-mil.
Same caliber used to kill Lockett.
All right. Let's bring this guy in.
His address is in New Jersey,
but his Metro card
was just used 19 minutes ago to
board a Q39 bus in Sunnyside.
Queens.
Where's he going?
I think I know.
Luke Fallon, NYPD. Show me your hands.
Show me your hands!
Keep them up.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, put that hand up.
Put that hand up.
What do you know?
Lockett's medal.
I just got a call
from the Office of
the Undersecretary of Defense
looking for a status report
on the case against Colonel
Alexander Lockett's killer.
That's an impressive level
of investment.
Lockett retired almost a decade ago.
Active service or not,
the army notices
when a decorated war hero
is brutally murdered.
What did you tell them?
That justice will be served.
- I assume you agree.
- I do.
Even though you can't place
Fallon at the murder scene.
I can come close.
I can put him in the truck,
where Lockett's blood was found
on the night of the murder.
How?
I'm gonna call Vincent Martinez.
I thought Martinez wasn't
interested in cooperating.
He wasn't
until I threatened to charge
him with accomplice to murder.
He'll be a hostile witness.
Mr. Martinez,
how do you know the defendant?
We were stationed together in Iraq.
Camp Victory, just outside Baghdad.
We served on the same unit
from 2006 to 2008.
And did you see the defendant
on September 27,
the day that Alexander Lockett
was murdered?
I don't know.
You don't know if you saw him or not?
I don't know.
Yeah, I guess I saw him that day.
And did Luke Fallon ask
if he could borrow your truck
that evening?
Mr. Martinez?
I have nothing to say.
Answer the question, Mr. Martinez.
I'm sorry, but no.
Answer the question,
or you'll be held in contempt of court.
- Mr. Martinez
- You do what you have to do.
- Please, Your Honor
- I'm serious, Mr. Martinez.
And so am I.
Then I find you in contempt.
Officer, take charge.
So what exactly
are we hoping to find here?
Anything to salvage this case.
Oh, just that?
If we could find video or a witness
that saw Luke Fallon
in Risner's truck that night,
then we could at least
place him at Lockett's house
- when the murder occurred.
- We tried.
The only video that we could recover,
other than the traffic cam that
was near Lockett's brownstone,
was off of an exit of Garden
State Parkway at 12:58 a.m.
But the visor was down, so we
couldn't see who was driving.
Well, that's less
than an hour after the murder.
Is the exit the truck got off
the one closest to Fallon's house?
No, it's actually not.
It's four earlier.
That means, presuming
Fallon was the one driving,
that he didn't go directly home
after killing Lockett.
- Why?
- Our theory:
that's when he was
ditching the murder weapon.
It's close to the hospital
where Shane Risner
was getting treatment
for his pulmonary fibrosis.
His father told us
that Fallon and Martinez
took turns taking him
to his appointments
because he wasn't feeling well
enough to drive himself, so
When I was prepping Vincent Martinez,
he told me
that sometimes after treatments
Risner asked to go
to a park in the area.
Branch Brook Park?
That's it. That's the one.
He said Risner had difficulty breathing,
so he liked to sit on a bench
and enjoy the fresh air
coming off the lake.
Detective, were you able
to run a ballistics test
on the gun you recovered from the lake?
We were.
The striations on the bullets retrieved
from Colonel Lockett's body
matched the rifling
and characteristics of that firearm.
Confirming that this is the gun
that was used
to murder Alexander Lockett?
That's correct.
And is the gun registered?
Yes.
To Luke Fallon, the defendant.
Thank you, Detective.
We have no questions
for this witness at this time.
Detective Shaw, you may step down.
- Thank you, Your Honor.
- Prosecution rests.
Your Honor, the defense
would like to inform the court
that we're filing a motion
to change our plea.
To what?
Not guilty by reason of insanity.
Fallon now admits
he shot Alexander Lockett,
just claims he wasn't in his right mind
when it actually happened.
They're going with
a temporary insanity defense.
A variation thereof.
It turns out Fallon has a glioblastoma,
a brain tumor on his frontal lobe.
The defense is arguing it
impacted his impulse control.
How did we not know about this?
It was diagnosed
only a week before the murder.
He hadn't received treatment yet,
and by their account,
hadn't told anyone,
including his attorney, until now.
That's strains credulity.
Judge thought so too
but ultimately accepted
their change of plea.
Studies have linked glioblastomas
specifically to toxic exposure
from burn pits.
So from Fallon's perspective,
Colonel Lockett was not only responsible
for his best friend's suicide
but also for his own diagnosis.
That only strengthens
his motive to kill Lockett.
But the defense has a neurooncologist
who will testify that the tumor
is to blame for the murder
and impaired Fallon's ability
to control his actions
and distinguish
right from wrong in the moment.
That's not true, but it's good strategy.
Allows them to introduce the burn pits
and the tragic aftermath.
Paint the defendant as the victim.
In a way, he is.
Whether Lockett knew the
burn pits were harmful or not,
he refused to get rid of them.
Now these guys are sick.
I mean, real sick.
If I'm on the jury, I wouldn't convict
the soldier who got a
brain tumor he didn't deserve.
You saying we should offer a plea?
No, absolutely not.
This murder was premeditated.
I agree.
But Ms. Maroun's right.
The jury is gonna eat this up,
so make it clear to them
what the defense is doing,
using the defendant's brain tumor
to emotionally manipulate them
into ignoring the facts.
Glioblastoma is one
of the most aggressive types
of brain cancer.
Unfortunately,
it's almost always terminal.
And Dr. Simon, do we know
what causes glioblastoma?
Likely a combination of factors.
Genetic predisposition,
exposure to carcinogens.
Exposure like
that inflicted upon soldiers
forced to inhale toxic smoke
from burn pits?
Yes, studies have shown
a clear correlation.
Glioblastoma incidence
is very low among cancer types,
about 1 per 10,000 cases.
But for those who spent
significant amounts of time
around the burn pits,
it's astronomically higher.
During your evaluation of Luke Fallon,
what did he tell you happened
on the evening of September 27?
He reported an upsetting conversation
with his former base commander
and then experiencing a total blackout.
When he emerged, he had no memory
of pulling out or firing his weapon.
Dr. Simon, in your professional opinion,
was Luke Fallon's tumor responsible
for his shooting Alexander Lockett?
Yes, I believe Mr. Fallon
had no ability to control
or understand the consequences
of his actions at the time.
Thank you. No further questions.
Dr. Simon,
you testified that the
defendant's tumor was to blame
for his losing control in the moment.
Is it also responsible
for Mr. Fallon asking Vincent Martinez
if he could borrow his truck
on the night in question?
No, I can't see how it would be.
Is it responsible
for his driving
to Alexander Lockett's home
with a loaded semiautomatic pistol?
No.
Did it make him drive around
the block for 20 minutes,
waiting for Lockett to be alone,
and sneak onto his property
with said gun?
No.
Thank you.
No further questions.
We knew those burn pits were deadly.
We'd wake up in the middle
of the night unable to breathe,
choking on this thick cloud
that smelled like
They were burning medical waste,
chemicals.
We begged Colonel Lockett
to do something.
I mean, guys were coughing up blood.
But the colonel's residence
is on the north end of the base,
upwind from the smoke,
so why should he care, right?
What happened
on the night of September 27?
Shane had just killed himself.
I was upset.
This is Shane Risner?
The two of you were close, weren't you?
Closer than brothers.
There wasn't a day in the last two years
he wasn't in excruciating pain
from the pulmonary fibrosis.
And he was wracked with guilt
about putting his family
in debt with medical bills
because you lose your VA benefits
when you're dishonorably discharged.
His esophagus disintegrated.
It literally hurt for him to breathe,
so he
[CLEARS THROAT]
I went over to the colonel's house
because I wanted him to know
what happened because of him.
And what did you do when you got there?
I confronted him. I wanted an apology.
I wanted him to say he was wrong,
but he refused.
He wouldn't even say
the burn pits were bad.
I got angry,
and the next thing I remember,
I was standing over him holding my gun.
But I swear,
I never went there
intending to hurt him.
Then why bring your gun?
I always have it on me.
After so many years in the
service, it's second nature.
But I've never fired it
outside of combat
and never would.
No further questions.
Let's break here for the day.
We'll resume in the morning
for cross-examination.
[GAVEL SLAMS]
Excuse me, Counselors.
Sergeant Major Bryce Crawford,
Army Office of Public Affairs.
Do you have a moment?
I have been tasked
with keeping tabs on this case,
for obvious reasons.
I can imagine.
I have something you need to see.
What am I looking at?
It's an after-incident report from 2008
involving Sergeant Luke Fallon.
Involving how?
The details of it are in there,
but the gist of it
During a routine night patrol
in an area just outside of Baghdad,
Sergeant Fallon got in an argument
with three unarmed Iraqi civilians.
The fight got physical.
Sergeant Fallon discharged his firearm,
killing one of the civilians.
He's killed someone before?
Why wasn't this report
in Fallon's military personnel file?
Due to the sensitive nature
of the army's presence
in that particular region at that time,
it was deemed classified.
Was he ever formally charged
with anything?
He was sent home.
His time in the army was over.
And for reasons of national security,
the report was never
made public knowledge.
But given its value in this case,
I've been authorized to declassify it.
This is helpful.
This directly refutes his claim
he'd never fired his weapon
outside of active combat
prior to having the tumor.
It also conveniently
shifts the focus away
from the army's culpability
surrounding the burn pits.
With all due respect, ma'am,
operational decisions are easy
to criticize with hindsight.
At the time, the army had been
using burn pits for over 100 years.
But when the kind of waste
you were burning changed,
your procedure for burning it
should have changed too.
We know that now.
That's why we transitioned to
using industrial incinerators.
What's important right now
is winning the case
and using this document
to prove that Fallon
isn't some noble martyr.
He's a trigger happy hothead
who responds to conflict with violence,
tumor or no tumor.
We got him, Sam.
That report details how Luke Fallon shot
and killed an unarmed
I know what it says.
Why are you showing it to me?
I know that you feel
a sense of duty to Luke,
but he's a murderer
who belongs in prison.
I'm sorry, Mr. Price, but that,
it's a bunch of crap.
I was there.
It wasn't a routine patrol.
Fallon was sent on a mission
to recover stolen ordnance.
He was instructed to use deadly force
because the insurgents were armed.
But the intel was bad,
even worse that
an innocent civilian was killed
because they were wrong
about who took them.
You're saying they just wholesale lied?
Standard procedure.
Disavow.
Regardless of what that report says,
Luke Fallon was just following orders.
I don't feel comfortable
using that report.
Because one soldier called
its veracity into question?
Because I believe him.
For all we know, Vincent Martinez
could be the one lying,
trying, yet again, to protect
his fellow unit member.
I'm pretty good at telling
when someone is lying to me.
Don't you think
it's a little too convenient
that this perfect piece of evidence
just fell from the sky
at exactly the right moment?
Gift horses, Ms. Maroun.
The army failed
to protect Fallon back then,
and now they're trying
to distract from that fact
by impeaching his character with lies.
And they want to use us to do it.
The tragedy of his cancer diagnosis
doesn't change the fact that
Luke Fallon committed murder.
I agree, but getting a
guilty verdict with evidence
We have no proof
that the report is a lie.
I don't trust
Nolan, this conversation is over.
If you can get the conviction
another way, be my guest.
If not, you're using the report.
[CHUCKLES]
Are you pulling rank, Jack?
Damn right I am!
Understood.
You find anything?
Negative.
You?
Maybe.
I've been looking through
Alexander Lockett's
military personnel file,
and I found something odd.
The week before he retired from service,
the army offered him a position
back here in New York.
Cushy deal too. Title bump, good pay.
But he turned it down.
Maybe he'd already gotten a better offer
in the private sector.
No, I don't think so.
Mr. Fallon, yesterday you testified
that you never fired
your weapon outside of combat.
Why did you make that distinction,
between using a weapon
in combat versus not?
Because in combat,
I'm operating under orders.
So if you're ordered to shoot someone,
you believe it changes your culpability
in whatever the outcome is?
Yes, because I don't have a choice.
I'm following the chain of command.
But you held
Alexander Lockett responsible
for the negative impacts of the burn pit
suffered by you
and your fellow soldiers.
That's different.
He was the one insisting
that they be used.
He wasn't following orders.
He was giving them.
Your Honor, the prosecution
is entering into evidence
People's Exhibit 27.
This is the official paperwork
submitted by Alexander Lockett
when he retired from the army.
Were you aware why he left?
No, it happened
after my tours were over.
He submitted a written statement
detailing his reasons for leaving.
"It has been my honor
to serve our great nation,
"and I have nothing
but the utmost respect
"for the brave men and women
with whom I have served.
"It is on their behalf
"that I must leave the institution
"I have dedicated my life to.
"For four years, I have requested
"that my base be allowed
"to cease the utilization of burn pits
"for the disposing of waste,
"but repeatedly,
"these requests have been denied
"and I have been ordered
to maintain protocol."
Can you please read this
passage aloud for the court?
"I have been forced
"to do something
that I believe is harmful,
"and I can no longer in good conscience
"participate in a system
that does not protect those
who so valiantly protect us."
You claimed that
on the night of September 27th,
you confronted Lockett,
and he refused to apologize,
but that's not what happened, is it?
I didn't know.
Objection.
Overruled. Sit down, Ms. Knight.
If you had confronted him,
he would have given you the
apology you claim you wanted
And explained
that he tried to honor
his duty to protect you.
But you didn't even give him
a chance to talk, did you?
You just did what you went
there specifically to do.
Murder him.
I'm sorry.
I thought
[SOBBING]
I'm so, so sorry.
[SOLEMN MUSIC]
♪
Mr. Foreman, has the jury
reached a verdict?
We have, Your Honor.
On the charge of murder
in the second degree,
we find the defendant,
Luke Fallon, guilty.
♪
I can't thank you enough
for clearing my father's name.
Well, now that the trial is over,
we'll make sure
his Distinguished Service Cross
is returned to you.
I appreciate that.
If you'll excuse me.
Of course.
You were right.
Alexander Lockett tried
to protect his men,
but he chose to follow
the chain of command
and ended up dying for it.
He was a soldier,
and he was following orders.
I get it.
Still not sure that makes it right.
No one ever said it did.
♪