Law & Order (1990) s24e13 Episode Script
In God We Trust
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.
I wanna thank you all
for coming out today
to support Alternative Justice
in New York, an organization
working hard to find
novel ways to reduce crime
and strengthen our communities.
Before I introduce Suzanne Forrester,
the dynamo attorney behind
this visionary nonprofit,
I want to acknowledge
Suzanne's latest report,
which shows a rise in prison deaths.
Incarceration shouldn't be
a de facto death sentence,
and putting felons in
prison can't be the endpoint
of our justice system.
And now, without further
ado, Suzanne Forrester.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you, everybody.
Good afternoon.
Eli here is so committed
to his latest pro bono case,
he's forgotten what it is
to actually bill a client.
I'm not gonna let some
charter elementary school
in New York City post
the Ten Commandments.
First Louisiana, now Spanish Harlem?
It stops here.
Thou shalt not question
Eli's passion for this case.
Religion has no place in
a state-funded building.
I agree.
I just don't like angering zealots.
Oh, I can handle zealots.
Speaking of, I've got a 2:00 meeting.
[OMINOUS MUSIC]
♪
Who's the vic?
Eli Freeman, age 26, lives alone.
Landlord says he's been
renting for two years.
Apparently, he's a lawyer.
Okay. Who found him?
I did.
A work colleague called in a
wellness check a few hours ago.
- Cause of death?
- Blunt force trauma.
Looks like he got his
forehead bashed into
- this marble kitchen counter.
- Ooh. We got a time?
Given temp and rigidity, I'd peg
between 7:00 and 11:00 p.m. last night.
Well, he obviously put up a fight,
so why don't you bag his hands, huh?
I'm seeing a phone and a wallet,
so likely not a robbery.
No music on, no food out.
Doesn't look like he was entertaining.
He is wearing a nice suit though.
All dressed up and no place to go.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
Does he have any family
that we can notify?
His landlord didn't have any
emergency contacts listed.
No. Eli said he was orphaned.
Put himself through
Queens Community College,
tutored his way through Fordham Law.
I took him under my wing here.
Within a year, he was
the firm's MVP associate.
And when's the last time you saw him?
He left here around 6:00 yesterday.
- Any idea where he was headed?
- No.
I was on a client call
when he ducked out.
Eli was very private.
I really don't know
much about him other than
where he went to law school.
All right, thanks.
Fordham Law confirms
the vic's photo and name.
He has a law degree.
Queens Community College has no record
of Eli Freeman ever attending class.
If you're gonna lie about
where you went to school,
Queens Community College
is kind of an odd choice.
Go big, right? Go Ivy League.
He could have legit went there
and changed his name.
Well, okay, I'll follow up with Fordham
and see if I can track
down his application.
Wow, this kid was a workhorse though.
I mean, I found a bunch of
social media pics of him,
and he's clerking at the law library,
late night study sessions,
winning the moot court competition.
I mean, as far as I can tell,
this kid cut loose one time
at something called the Barrister's Ball
and took a girl named Angie Marliss,
who is now a sustainable
lingerie designer.
What is that, like bras
made from plastic bottles?
[CHUCKLES] You know,
if I'm not mistaken,
the vic got a text from an Angie
the night of the
murder. Yeah, here it is.
She said, "I'm really getting
tired of this nonsense."
I'd go find Angie.
DNA analysis from the hairs
found on Eli's jacket are back.
They're from a woman.
So you were dating Eli?
How long were you two involved?
On and off, couple years.
How well did you know his past?
He said he was on his
own, had lost his family.
Did he ever use any
aliases or a different name?
What? No.
When was the last time you saw Eli?
Four, five months ago?
And then in August,
he called things off.
He said he was gonna mail
me some of my stuff back,
- and he never did.
- How about that?
You didn't speak to him since August.
Yet two nights ago, the
night he was murdered,
you hate text him?
He kept blowing me off.
And then the other night,
my friend saw him having dinner
at Union Cafe with some woman.
You mind telling us where you were
two nights ago between the
hours of 7:00 and 11:00 p.m.?
I was hosting a private
bachelorette viewing
right here for 20 liquored-up women
from Greenwich trying on
everything in the studio.
Our vic didn't use any dating apps,
and we couldn't find any digital trace
about any new girlfriend.
We did find some calls
to a burner phone,
and we've got some techs
going through those right now.
What did the restaurant say?
Confirmed a reservation
for two at 6:30 p.m.
They sent us video of the front door.
He entered alone.
Hour later, at 7:30 p.m.,
he leaves with a mystery brunette,
and she's got a file folder
that reads "Pathway Forward."
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
You mean that halfway
house in Hell's Kitchen?
- The one and only.
- Whoa, hey, guys!
Harold from Pathway Forward
says that the woman that
I described is named Martha
and that she volunteers
there once a week.
- Got an address?
- No.
But he said that she's a member
of the Baylor Church community,
which is upstate near Hudson.
You gentlemen got a full tank of gas?
[CHURCH BELL RINGING]
They broke with the Mennonite Church
about 100 years ago,
consider themselves a utopian sect.
I'm Pastor John. This is my son, Jacob.
- Can we help you?
- Afternoon, gentlemen.
We're detectives with the
New York Police Department.
We're looking for this woman.
That's Martha.
Martha Fairchild is our schoolteacher
and my son's fiancée.
Why is she with Elijah Penner?
His name is Elijah Penner?
Yes, he grew up here.
Abandoned our church years ago.
His parents live a few doors down.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Thanks.
All right. Thank you.
Murder?
I can't believe it.
[SOMBER MUSIC]
I told him it was dangerous out there.
He he never should have left.
But there was no talking to him.
He wanted something
different, something more.
Please sit.
Uh
when he was, um, about 17,
he turned defiant,
hated our sheltered ways.
See, we don't use phones,
email, or the Internet.
- Because they're
- Evil? No.
There are only a couple hundred of us,
but we value being
present for each other.
A gadget that weakens
our community bonds?
No, thank you.
But Eli?
He was a curious, passionate boy.
When the time came,
he refused his baptism,
so the church asked Eli to leave.
We hadn't spoken to him since.
We were forbidden.
I'm very sorry.
We believe that your son
was with another member
of the church on the night that he died.
Martha Fairchild. Do
you have any idea why?
Martha told us she
ran into him last year
in the city for her volunteer work,
said he'd changed his name,
but she wouldn't have seen him again.
Communication with those
who leave the church,
it's not done.
And Martha is practically
the pastor's daughter-in-law.
If she saw him, it must have
been something very urgent.
Where can we find Martha?
You saw Eli a few nights ago?
I help to rehabilitate
men released from prison
living at Pathway Forward.
When I bumped into Eli, he told me
he'd gone to law school, so I asked him
if he could help me with some paperwork
for one of my parolees.
He was helping me ever since.
You guys had dinner Thursday, right?
To talk about the case.
Then Eli walked me
back to Pathway Forward.
- What time was that?
- It had to have been 7:45.
I had to turn in the
parole termination petition
and talk to the case manager.
And Eli went home to
prepare for a work meeting
the next morning.
By 8:00, I raced to catch the bus.
I always meet my fiancé at a set time.
We'll look into that.
In the meantime, if you
can think of anything else.
I wouldn't be able to
call you, Detective.
We're not allowed to use phones here.
I don't know.
No Internet thing sounds kind of nice.
No texts, no emails, no social media.
Yeah.
I mean, my kids would run away
and never speak to me again, but
[CHUCKLES] Yeah, I get it.
The simple life thing
seems pretty appealing
for about a minute
Maybe two minutes.
Hey.
Pathway Forward finally
got us that video.
Let's see if Martha's story checks out.
There she is with Eli.
She goes inside,
and he goes down the street.
That guy sitting on the stoop,
it looks like he makes
sure she was inside.
- And then he
- Chases our vic.
Yeah, and then they get
into it on the street.
Run his face.
[KEYBOARD CLACKING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Marcus Wright, did 17 in Fishkill
- for bludgeoning his girlfriend.
- All right.
Call his parole officer
and find out where he is.
Yeah.
♪
Hey.
We're looking for Marcus Wright.
Over there.
Stay put.
♪
Marcus Wright, got a
few questions for you.
You don't need that to talk, do you?
Hey, I'm I'm a new man, officers.
How can I help you?
Eli is dead?
You think I killed him?
Because I'm an ex-con?
That and we got video of
you arguing with the guy
right before he died.
He and Martha were helping me,
which is more than I could
say for anyone in your system.
All you guys did was lock
me up and leave me to fester.
- You killed your girl, Marcus.
- Yeah, I did.
I was a different man back then.
Martha's church group believes in me.
I mean, that young lady
has been my lifeline.
She gives me purpose.
She even helped me get this lawyer.
- Why why would I hurt him?
- Great question.
But you did chase the
lawyer, and it did get heated,
and that doesn't seem like
gratitude to me, my friend.
I was worked up. All right?
He filed a petition without asking me
for early termination
of my parole supervision.
The problem is, my petition could
still be denied because
the system is such a mess.
- I just wanted an explanation.
- So you what?
So I peeled off on 59th and 9th
on my way to my evening custodial job.
- I called Martha.
- At Pathway Forward?
No, her cell phone.
- But I couldn't reach her.
- Wait, hold on.
Stop, stop, stop.
You're telling me
Martha has a cell phone?
Yeah, I mean, her church group
has something against it,
but a few months back, she'd come to me
and asked me if I could get her one.
She said that it was important,
so I got her a burner.
♪
Wright's evening supervisor
confirmed his alibi.
He worked the 8:00 to midnight shift,
so not our guy.
The store that Wright bought
Martha's burner phone at
gave me the EIN and
confirmed the number.
Remember all those
untraceable phone calls
to the vic's phone log?
Martha?
All hours and late hours.
That's a lot of talk
about parolee petitions.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
♪
Martha.
You lied to us.
Yeah, you left out the
part about the burner phone
you used to call Eli, didn't you?
And on our way here, we stopped by
the county hospital,
checked the records room.
- Your blood type's AB negative.
- Yeah.
And guess what blood
type matches the hairs
found on Eli's clothing
the night of the murder
and in the kitchen?
- AB negative.
- I'm not feeling well.
Did you go to Eli's house
that night instead of the bus?
- Is that what happened?
- I'm engaged to Jake.
I don't spend time with other men.
Please, people will hear you.
Martha, if you do not come clean,
there will be consequences.
Do you understand that?
I don't like the
questions you're asking.
- I'd like you to go now.
- It doesn't work that way.
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
Martha, stop.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
We need an ambulance at the
Baylor Church immediately.
Good news is that the paramedics said
that Martha is gonna be fine.
Bad news well, at least for her
we pulled her prints
off of the soda can,
and they are all over the apartment.
I'm talking bathroom,
nightstand, headboard.
Okay, so maybe it started
with Eli doing legal work,
and then they got close,
and then they got too close,
and then Martha lost
her good girl senses,
but ultimately fears the wrath of God,
so she goes to Eli's
apartment to end it.
And then he threatens
to tell the church.
I got the video back from
the bus stop near the church.
Looks like Martha's alibi holds up.
There she is getting
off the 8:00 p.m. bus.
All right, back to square one.
Wait a minute. Hold on now.
Didn't Martha say that her fiancé
picks her up at the bus stop?
- Yeah.
- Well, keep looking.
I mean, who's she looking for?
She's looking up and down,
left and right, for somebody.
And then she walks off alone.
Hmm.
Maybe Jake found out about the affair,
went into the city on his own?
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Bring them both in.
♪
I was raised to obey the rules.
My parents were very strict,
and I remember how hard it was
to always have to be the good girl
Resist things you wanted.
When did you fall in love with Eli?
I mean, her fingerprints
are all over that apartment.
All over.
Which kind of makes it
seem like maybe she did it.
- That's ridiculous.
- Is it?
Maybe you can help us out
because we're trying
to figure out exactly
why her fingerprints would
be all over his apartment.
Unless
- Yeah, I can think of one thing.
- Affair.
That's exactly what I was thinking.
This guy ditches your church.
- He steals your girl.
- Stop.
Your childhood friend was
living this wildly free life.
He took a huge risk, started
over in New York City.
I'm sure he swept you off your feet.
I prayed.
For what?
To not be in love, to not feel so
so happy, so alive with
him, but it wouldn't stop.
And Jake found out about it.
It's actually starting to
look like you got motive.
In the first degree.
So Jake realized you were seeing Eli?
No, I was careful.
Because what you did, Martha,
would make a man jealous.
Jake's not like that.
Even pastors' sons are human.
He wasn't there when you
got off the bus on Thursday,
was he?
So where were you Thursday night, Jake?
- Home.
- Really?
'Cause you didn't pick
up Martha from the bus.
- We saw the video.
- Yeah.
So, you know, the bus stop
has surveillance cameras.
And we watched that, and it proves
that you were a no-show,
so tell us what's going on.
I think he found out about you and Eli,
- and he went into the city.
- No.
[SOBS SOFTLY]
I was late.
I picked her up a ways down the road.
Okay.
[SIGHS]
[SIGHS]
♪
She's a good kid that
set a bad thing in motion.
And she's covering
for Jake out of guilt.
I don't know if we're gonna
be able to make her cave.
These two are so sheltered,
they don't even realize
the magic of two-way glass.
[DOOR CLICKS]
Are you okay?
Um, I'm so sorry about all of this.
We messed up.
I apologize, but these things happen.
We know that you two weren't involved,
and you'll be free to go in a moment,
so just sit tight.
Oh, um, you know Marcus Wright, correct?
Yes, I've been helping him. Why?
Unfortunately, he followed Eli home
- on Thursday and killed him.
- Marcus?
That's not possible. He's reformed.
Evidence is evidence.
We're launching a manhunt as I speak.
I just I hope he
doesn't resist because,
you know, things get
messy when they resist.
We can't let them arrest Marcus.
Martha, Martha, sit. Sit.
Hey, we'll find some way to help him.
Let's pray for guidance.
But you know he didn't do this.
- Martha.
- You weren't at the bus stop.
- Jacob, how could you?
- I found your phone.
You betrayed me, defied our church.
And so, yes, I went to see him.
I told him to leave you alone.
But Eli said that you
two were in love
No, no.
And that you were gonna
leave me and leave the church.
I told him that wasn't possible,
but he said that you'd been scared,
but you'd finally decided
and made preparations,
and I, uh
♪
[SIGHS] I lost my mind.
I raised my hand against him.
[CRYING]
[DOOR CLICKS]
- Jacob Albrecht, on your feet.
- What are you doing?
Get up.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
You're under arrest for
the murder of Eli Freeman.
Was it true? Were you in love with him?
[EXHALES SHARPLY] No, it
Come on. Move.
[SOBS]
Calling docket ending in 1638,
People v. Jacob Albrecht.
Charge is murder in the second degree.
- How does the defendant plead?
- Not guilty, Your Honor.
Your thoughts on bail, Ms. Maroun?
The people seek remand.
The defendant bashed
in the skull of a man
having an affair with his fiancée.
The defendant lives
outside of New York City,
but went to great lengths
to track the victim down,
then kill him.
Police have a recorded admission.
They also found boots in his home
that had glass fragments
from the crime scene
stuck to the soles.
Your Honor, my client lives in a small,
conservative, religious
community upstate.
He has no access to
computers or telephones
to make travel arrangements.
He is the furthest
thing from a flight risk.
Bail is set at 500,000.
[GAVEL BANGS]
Ms. Maroun, we're Eli's parents.
Is it true Jacob confessed?
You're sure?
Well, we have it on video.
I can't believe that he
we don't hurt other people.
That's not who we are.
We lost Eli years ago,
but at least we knew
he was living the life that he wanted.
We never thought that he would
- How dare Jacob.
- Amelia.
- How dare he?
- Amelia, calm down.
And to think I saw him that night,
Jacob at the brush
pile, burning something.
- What time?
- Late.
I was asleep, but smelled
smoke and looked out.
What was he burning?
It looked like fabric, clothing,
maybe a scarf, a jacket.
It was strange, but I had
no reason to think that
did those things have
my son's blood on them?
It's okay. You you didn't know.
You didn't know.
But you can tell the jury what you saw.
You can hold Jacob accountable.
[TENSE MUSIC]
I'm so sorry for your loss.
We will do everything we can
to get justice for your son.
Ms. Maroun, motion to
suppress the confession.
♪
The defendant is a minister?
An ordained minister
in the Baylor Church.
Yet police recorded his protected
and privileged conversation
with his parishioner.
This conversation took place
in a police interrogation room,
and the defendant was speaking
to her as her boyfriend.
The conversation began with
a parishioner seeking counsel.
My client, her minister,
guided her in prayer,
at which point, the conversation,
every side of it, every word of it,
was off-limits to police.
In Mockaitas versus Harcleroad
Now, that is a federal case.
It has no bearing on this matter.
Whether it does or doesn't,
I'm excluding the admission.
I don't want to impede
free communications
between those seeking religious counsel.
End of story.
Can we win without the confession?
[SIGHS] It's not a slam dunk.
We're going after a
minister with a few pieces
of suggestive forensic evidence
to tie him to the crime scene.
- Do we have fingerprints?
- Nope. It was cold.
He was probably wearing gloves.
Can we put him near the victim's home
at the time of the murder?
We're trying, but like I said,
it was a cold night.
Everyone was wrapped
up in hats and scarves,
so we don't have any
obvious video of him
near the victim's building.
We do have trace evidence
on the defendant's shoes
that matches the glass shards
that were found at the crime scene.
And we also have records of Martha's
late night calls to the victim.
Plus, police found her
phone in Jacob's house,
so we certainly have motive.
And a video from the bus stop will prove
that the defendant wasn't
there to pick up Martha
on the night of the murder.
Right, and the victim's mother
will testify that she saw the defendant
burning clothing later that night.
So our case is good, not great?
We sure we wanna stick with murder two?
Well, Jacob Albrecht
killed an innocent man,
I mean, someone who gave
up everything to be free,
to live the life that he wanted.
I agree. This is murder, Nick.
Well, the judge may have ruled
that the recording of the
confession is inadmissible,
but since Martha's the parishioner,
she can still speak
to what Jacob told her.
Let's persuade her to testify.
Put the screws to her if necessary.
No, I don't want to do that.
Well, he killed the man
that you loved, Martha.
- That's not true.
- What part?
I love Jake, always have.
Now, that may be true,
but he killed Eli.
Not only that, he admitted
to you that he killed Eli.
We need you to tell the
jury what he told you.
I can't send the man I love to prison.
He's all I have. This
community is all I have.
It might be all you have right now,
but it seems to me that
you wanted something else.
If I testify against my fiancé,
the pastor's son, to
get justice for a man
who turned his back
on this whole church,
I'd be shunned. And then what?
I can't drive.
I don't know how to use a computer.
How do I support myself?
What happens to me?
I know this is difficult, but you know,
we can subpoena you.
We can force you to take the stand.
No, you all tricked me
once at the police station,
but I won't let that happen again.
You won't get me to utter
another word on this matter.
Mrs. Penner, thank you for coming today.
Where do you live?
The Baylor Church compound.
Do you know the
defendant, Jacob Albrecht?
Yes.
Can you tell the court
the night of December 5th,
in the hours after your son
was killed, here in the city,
did you observe the defendant
at the church compound?
- Yes.
- Around what time?
It was dark, past sunset.
And what specifically was he doing?
Nothing specific that I recall.
Did you see him burning anything?
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
No.
♪
[SIGHS] Didn't
didn't you tell the
district attorney's office
that you witnessed the
defendant burning items
that appeared to be clothing?
- Objection, argumentative.
- I'll allow.
Answer the question, Mrs. Penner.
I can't.
I won't.
I will not sit in judgment.
And neither should you.
♪
I will not participate in this trial,
nor will anyone else from our church.
And that is the whole
truth, so help me God.
♪
So the victim's mother
was planning to help us?
She was on board?
Yes, she volunteered to tell the court
what she saw that night.
And we went over it all in prep
I mean, not even a hint of doubt.
Which means someone got to her.
Someone changed her mind.
Makes sense, I suppose.
These people are they
live by their own rules,
their own customs. They're
circling the wagons.
They don't want outsiders to sit
in judgment of their people.
And crazy as it sounds,
she's trying to protect Jacob,
regardless of the fact
that he killed her own son.
That's not circling the wagons.
That's obstruction of justice.
- [KNOCKING]
- Suzanne, hey. Sorry.
I'm running a few minutes
late for our lunch.
Nolan, Sam, this is Suzanne Forrester,
head of Alternative Justice in New York.
We're just wrapping up.
Well, maybe they could stick
around for a few minutes.
I know you're trying to put
Jacob Albrecht behind bars,
but I have a better idea.
The Baylor Church would like to initiate
a restorative justice circle.
What exactly are you talking about?
No trial, no verdict.
This is a space for
collective conversation,
overseen by your office,
to focus on healing.
Whose healing?
Well, the victim's family have no desire
- to see Jacob go to jail.
- Estranged family.
You want a trial?
You won't get a single member
from the community to testify.
Hell, 50 people from the
church just marched into Rikers
with cash and property
deeds to bail out Jacob.
This community protects its own.
Sounds more like witness tampering.
You can issue subpoenas all day long.
Our threats don't hold any
weight with these people.
If I may.
For over 100 years,
our church has forged
a separate way of life.
We trust our own way to guide
us through this difficult time.
This murder occurred 100 miles
from your church in my jurisdiction.
Jacob is repentant, and
he's prepared to work
in our community as
part of that penance,
restoring homes, assisting the infirm,
compensating the victim's parents.
- Well, he is your son.
- We all have our roles.
And Jacob, Jacob is
our resident carpenter.
Losing him impacts all of us.
Why send him to prison when he can still
do so much for our society?
So what's actually on the table?
He'll plead to criminally
negligent homicide.
Probation, no jail time.
While you're at it, why
not throw him a parade?
He is a good young man who lost his way
for five horrible minutes.
He has asked for our forgiveness
and God's.
That's all well and good,
but you don't get to
forgive the perpetrator
and give him a free pass.
That's not how this works.
This meeting is over.
You're making a mistake.
God isn't just window
dressing for your courtrooms.
He is the court.
We never talked about
restorative justice for homicide,
and if you wanna bring a test case
to let someone walk on
murder, it's not gonna be this.
This was a way for your
office to save face,
Nick, not a ploy.
And given the evidence at this point,
he's probably gonna walk anyway.
What you have to do
is get me a conviction.
[SIGHS] We're grasping at straws here.
The video from the bus
stop will show that Jacob
wasn't there to pick her up.
It's not gonna show he was in
Eli's apartment committing murder.
The defense is gonna poke holes
in the trace evidence on his boots.
[CHUCKLES]
I'm not even sure we can
credibly establish motive.
And the burner calls and
fingerprints in his apartment?
Defense is gonna chalk it up to
their work on parole petitioners.
We need something
stronger to at least show
that Jacob had a reason
to kill Eli Freeman.
Wait, Nolan?
I'm looking at the
victim's call records.
It looks like a week before the murder,
he called Hedgebrook Health.
That's a women's clinic.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Well, what was the date?
Let's see if he made a
payment for an appointment.
[SIGHS] Hold on.
The same date he made the
call, there's a receipt
from a drugstore for
♪
Prenatal vitamins.
♪
So we may finally have some
leverage with Martha Fairchild.
She is pregnant.
The victim's baby?
His Internet search
history suggests he thought
he was gonna become a father.
This shows motive. This is good news.
[CHUCKLES] May I sit?
Of course. What's on your mind?
Um [SIGHS]
To win this, we're gonna
have to play hardball
with a woman the victim loved.
We're gonna have to blow
up the life of a woman
who was carrying his baby.
We're already defying
the wishes of his parents,
so [SIGHS]
I'm starting to ask myself,
is manslaughter such a horrible option?
I thought you were all
about accountability, Nolan.
Are you going soft?
I got a letter a month
ago from the mother
of a college kid that I
put away for seven years.
He had gotten into a
bar fight, punched a guy
who hit his head on the floor and died.
Those cases are tough.
And the kid got stabbed in prison.
He was trying to break up a fight.
[PENSIVE MUSIC]
Sometimes I wonder what
the right thing really is.
I mean, we just we just move on.
We get a conviction. We
jump into the next case.
But these defendants, they're
shuffled off in handcuffs.
They're led into a tiny concrete cell.
And I I wonder, like,
what is going to happen to Jacob
if we go through with this
and Martha.
♪
The system's flawed.
But there are rules that
allow us to do our job fairly,
to operate with
integrity within a system
that is meant to dispense
equal justice to all.
Do you really believe that?
Most days.
What about now?
What about with Eli Freeman?
Because if justice
is about outcomes,
who is to say whether
their version will be
any better or worse than ours?
It is tempting to go there.
But he left that
community, became a lawyer.
He chose to practice in our system,
in our church.
Let's honor that.
♪
We'll talk to Martha.
♪
Martha, we know you're
pregnant with Eli's baby.
It must be wonderful, scary.
Jake and I got married.
He's gonna raise the baby
as his own, keep my secret.
Well, we can keep your secret, too,
if you finally tell the
court what Jacob did.
And lose my husband?
Rob this child of its
last hope for a father? No.
I know what prison does to a man.
I won't send him there.
We can subpoena you, Martha.
We can force you to testify.
But you can't force
me to tell the truth.
No, we can't.
But we can present evidence in court
of the doctor's
appointment Eli made for you
and the prenatal vitamins he bought.
Your family and friends
will learn the truth.
They will know that you are
pregnant with Eli's baby.
What is wrong with you people?
- I'm sorry.
- Go to hell!
[DOOR SLAMS]
Martha told me what you're doing.
- I can't believe
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- Why are we here?
- We wanna talk about a plea.
But you have to promise
to leave Martha alone.
They can't know it's Eli's baby.
She's a good woman.
She didn't mean to sleep
with that man to get pregnant,
and I didn't plan to kill him.
Sit down and keep your mouth shut.
What my client means
to say is he's willing
to plead guilty to murder two.
You realize that comes
with mandatory prison time?
I'll do whatever it
takes to protect Martha.
She needs the church.
And that baby is gonna
need the church too.
[SOFT SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
♪
[GAVEL BANGS]
Mr. Price, I understand you've reached
an agreement on a plea.
Yes, Your Honor.
The defendant has agreed to plead guilty
to murder in the second degree.
The People recommend a
prison term of 15 years.
Mr. Albrecht, do you understand
the terms of this deal?
I do, Your Honor.
I'm deeply ashamed
♪
Of my actions.
I ask forgiveness of all
who were harmed by my sin.
Are you ready to take a plea?
Yes.
Be strong, Martha, for me.
[HANDCUFFS CLICKING]
For our child.
We're still gonna have
a great life together,
I promise you.
I love you.
♪
These people definitely walk the walk.
They sure do, for better or worse.
♪
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
[WOLF HOWLS]
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.
I wanna thank you all
for coming out today
to support Alternative Justice
in New York, an organization
working hard to find
novel ways to reduce crime
and strengthen our communities.
Before I introduce Suzanne Forrester,
the dynamo attorney behind
this visionary nonprofit,
I want to acknowledge
Suzanne's latest report,
which shows a rise in prison deaths.
Incarceration shouldn't be
a de facto death sentence,
and putting felons in
prison can't be the endpoint
of our justice system.
And now, without further
ado, Suzanne Forrester.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you, everybody.
Good afternoon.
Eli here is so committed
to his latest pro bono case,
he's forgotten what it is
to actually bill a client.
I'm not gonna let some
charter elementary school
in New York City post
the Ten Commandments.
First Louisiana, now Spanish Harlem?
It stops here.
Thou shalt not question
Eli's passion for this case.
Religion has no place in
a state-funded building.
I agree.
I just don't like angering zealots.
Oh, I can handle zealots.
Speaking of, I've got a 2:00 meeting.
[OMINOUS MUSIC]
♪
Who's the vic?
Eli Freeman, age 26, lives alone.
Landlord says he's been
renting for two years.
Apparently, he's a lawyer.
Okay. Who found him?
I did.
A work colleague called in a
wellness check a few hours ago.
- Cause of death?
- Blunt force trauma.
Looks like he got his
forehead bashed into
- this marble kitchen counter.
- Ooh. We got a time?
Given temp and rigidity, I'd peg
between 7:00 and 11:00 p.m. last night.
Well, he obviously put up a fight,
so why don't you bag his hands, huh?
I'm seeing a phone and a wallet,
so likely not a robbery.
No music on, no food out.
Doesn't look like he was entertaining.
He is wearing a nice suit though.
All dressed up and no place to go.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
Does he have any family
that we can notify?
His landlord didn't have any
emergency contacts listed.
No. Eli said he was orphaned.
Put himself through
Queens Community College,
tutored his way through Fordham Law.
I took him under my wing here.
Within a year, he was
the firm's MVP associate.
And when's the last time you saw him?
He left here around 6:00 yesterday.
- Any idea where he was headed?
- No.
I was on a client call
when he ducked out.
Eli was very private.
I really don't know
much about him other than
where he went to law school.
All right, thanks.
Fordham Law confirms
the vic's photo and name.
He has a law degree.
Queens Community College has no record
of Eli Freeman ever attending class.
If you're gonna lie about
where you went to school,
Queens Community College
is kind of an odd choice.
Go big, right? Go Ivy League.
He could have legit went there
and changed his name.
Well, okay, I'll follow up with Fordham
and see if I can track
down his application.
Wow, this kid was a workhorse though.
I mean, I found a bunch of
social media pics of him,
and he's clerking at the law library,
late night study sessions,
winning the moot court competition.
I mean, as far as I can tell,
this kid cut loose one time
at something called the Barrister's Ball
and took a girl named Angie Marliss,
who is now a sustainable
lingerie designer.
What is that, like bras
made from plastic bottles?
[CHUCKLES] You know,
if I'm not mistaken,
the vic got a text from an Angie
the night of the
murder. Yeah, here it is.
She said, "I'm really getting
tired of this nonsense."
I'd go find Angie.
DNA analysis from the hairs
found on Eli's jacket are back.
They're from a woman.
So you were dating Eli?
How long were you two involved?
On and off, couple years.
How well did you know his past?
He said he was on his
own, had lost his family.
Did he ever use any
aliases or a different name?
What? No.
When was the last time you saw Eli?
Four, five months ago?
And then in August,
he called things off.
He said he was gonna mail
me some of my stuff back,
- and he never did.
- How about that?
You didn't speak to him since August.
Yet two nights ago, the
night he was murdered,
you hate text him?
He kept blowing me off.
And then the other night,
my friend saw him having dinner
at Union Cafe with some woman.
You mind telling us where you were
two nights ago between the
hours of 7:00 and 11:00 p.m.?
I was hosting a private
bachelorette viewing
right here for 20 liquored-up women
from Greenwich trying on
everything in the studio.
Our vic didn't use any dating apps,
and we couldn't find any digital trace
about any new girlfriend.
We did find some calls
to a burner phone,
and we've got some techs
going through those right now.
What did the restaurant say?
Confirmed a reservation
for two at 6:30 p.m.
They sent us video of the front door.
He entered alone.
Hour later, at 7:30 p.m.,
he leaves with a mystery brunette,
and she's got a file folder
that reads "Pathway Forward."
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
You mean that halfway
house in Hell's Kitchen?
- The one and only.
- Whoa, hey, guys!
Harold from Pathway Forward
says that the woman that
I described is named Martha
and that she volunteers
there once a week.
- Got an address?
- No.
But he said that she's a member
of the Baylor Church community,
which is upstate near Hudson.
You gentlemen got a full tank of gas?
[CHURCH BELL RINGING]
They broke with the Mennonite Church
about 100 years ago,
consider themselves a utopian sect.
I'm Pastor John. This is my son, Jacob.
- Can we help you?
- Afternoon, gentlemen.
We're detectives with the
New York Police Department.
We're looking for this woman.
That's Martha.
Martha Fairchild is our schoolteacher
and my son's fiancée.
Why is she with Elijah Penner?
His name is Elijah Penner?
Yes, he grew up here.
Abandoned our church years ago.
His parents live a few doors down.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Thanks.
All right. Thank you.
Murder?
I can't believe it.
[SOMBER MUSIC]
I told him it was dangerous out there.
He he never should have left.
But there was no talking to him.
He wanted something
different, something more.
Please sit.
Uh
when he was, um, about 17,
he turned defiant,
hated our sheltered ways.
See, we don't use phones,
email, or the Internet.
- Because they're
- Evil? No.
There are only a couple hundred of us,
but we value being
present for each other.
A gadget that weakens
our community bonds?
No, thank you.
But Eli?
He was a curious, passionate boy.
When the time came,
he refused his baptism,
so the church asked Eli to leave.
We hadn't spoken to him since.
We were forbidden.
I'm very sorry.
We believe that your son
was with another member
of the church on the night that he died.
Martha Fairchild. Do
you have any idea why?
Martha told us she
ran into him last year
in the city for her volunteer work,
said he'd changed his name,
but she wouldn't have seen him again.
Communication with those
who leave the church,
it's not done.
And Martha is practically
the pastor's daughter-in-law.
If she saw him, it must have
been something very urgent.
Where can we find Martha?
You saw Eli a few nights ago?
I help to rehabilitate
men released from prison
living at Pathway Forward.
When I bumped into Eli, he told me
he'd gone to law school, so I asked him
if he could help me with some paperwork
for one of my parolees.
He was helping me ever since.
You guys had dinner Thursday, right?
To talk about the case.
Then Eli walked me
back to Pathway Forward.
- What time was that?
- It had to have been 7:45.
I had to turn in the
parole termination petition
and talk to the case manager.
And Eli went home to
prepare for a work meeting
the next morning.
By 8:00, I raced to catch the bus.
I always meet my fiancé at a set time.
We'll look into that.
In the meantime, if you
can think of anything else.
I wouldn't be able to
call you, Detective.
We're not allowed to use phones here.
I don't know.
No Internet thing sounds kind of nice.
No texts, no emails, no social media.
Yeah.
I mean, my kids would run away
and never speak to me again, but
[CHUCKLES] Yeah, I get it.
The simple life thing
seems pretty appealing
for about a minute
Maybe two minutes.
Hey.
Pathway Forward finally
got us that video.
Let's see if Martha's story checks out.
There she is with Eli.
She goes inside,
and he goes down the street.
That guy sitting on the stoop,
it looks like he makes
sure she was inside.
- And then he
- Chases our vic.
Yeah, and then they get
into it on the street.
Run his face.
[KEYBOARD CLACKING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Marcus Wright, did 17 in Fishkill
- for bludgeoning his girlfriend.
- All right.
Call his parole officer
and find out where he is.
Yeah.
♪
Hey.
We're looking for Marcus Wright.
Over there.
Stay put.
♪
Marcus Wright, got a
few questions for you.
You don't need that to talk, do you?
Hey, I'm I'm a new man, officers.
How can I help you?
Eli is dead?
You think I killed him?
Because I'm an ex-con?
That and we got video of
you arguing with the guy
right before he died.
He and Martha were helping me,
which is more than I could
say for anyone in your system.
All you guys did was lock
me up and leave me to fester.
- You killed your girl, Marcus.
- Yeah, I did.
I was a different man back then.
Martha's church group believes in me.
I mean, that young lady
has been my lifeline.
She gives me purpose.
She even helped me get this lawyer.
- Why why would I hurt him?
- Great question.
But you did chase the
lawyer, and it did get heated,
and that doesn't seem like
gratitude to me, my friend.
I was worked up. All right?
He filed a petition without asking me
for early termination
of my parole supervision.
The problem is, my petition could
still be denied because
the system is such a mess.
- I just wanted an explanation.
- So you what?
So I peeled off on 59th and 9th
on my way to my evening custodial job.
- I called Martha.
- At Pathway Forward?
No, her cell phone.
- But I couldn't reach her.
- Wait, hold on.
Stop, stop, stop.
You're telling me
Martha has a cell phone?
Yeah, I mean, her church group
has something against it,
but a few months back, she'd come to me
and asked me if I could get her one.
She said that it was important,
so I got her a burner.
♪
Wright's evening supervisor
confirmed his alibi.
He worked the 8:00 to midnight shift,
so not our guy.
The store that Wright bought
Martha's burner phone at
gave me the EIN and
confirmed the number.
Remember all those
untraceable phone calls
to the vic's phone log?
Martha?
All hours and late hours.
That's a lot of talk
about parolee petitions.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
♪
Martha.
You lied to us.
Yeah, you left out the
part about the burner phone
you used to call Eli, didn't you?
And on our way here, we stopped by
the county hospital,
checked the records room.
- Your blood type's AB negative.
- Yeah.
And guess what blood
type matches the hairs
found on Eli's clothing
the night of the murder
and in the kitchen?
- AB negative.
- I'm not feeling well.
Did you go to Eli's house
that night instead of the bus?
- Is that what happened?
- I'm engaged to Jake.
I don't spend time with other men.
Please, people will hear you.
Martha, if you do not come clean,
there will be consequences.
Do you understand that?
I don't like the
questions you're asking.
- I'd like you to go now.
- It doesn't work that way.
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
Martha, stop.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
We need an ambulance at the
Baylor Church immediately.
Good news is that the paramedics said
that Martha is gonna be fine.
Bad news well, at least for her
we pulled her prints
off of the soda can,
and they are all over the apartment.
I'm talking bathroom,
nightstand, headboard.
Okay, so maybe it started
with Eli doing legal work,
and then they got close,
and then they got too close,
and then Martha lost
her good girl senses,
but ultimately fears the wrath of God,
so she goes to Eli's
apartment to end it.
And then he threatens
to tell the church.
I got the video back from
the bus stop near the church.
Looks like Martha's alibi holds up.
There she is getting
off the 8:00 p.m. bus.
All right, back to square one.
Wait a minute. Hold on now.
Didn't Martha say that her fiancé
picks her up at the bus stop?
- Yeah.
- Well, keep looking.
I mean, who's she looking for?
She's looking up and down,
left and right, for somebody.
And then she walks off alone.
Hmm.
Maybe Jake found out about the affair,
went into the city on his own?
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Bring them both in.
♪
I was raised to obey the rules.
My parents were very strict,
and I remember how hard it was
to always have to be the good girl
Resist things you wanted.
When did you fall in love with Eli?
I mean, her fingerprints
are all over that apartment.
All over.
Which kind of makes it
seem like maybe she did it.
- That's ridiculous.
- Is it?
Maybe you can help us out
because we're trying
to figure out exactly
why her fingerprints would
be all over his apartment.
Unless
- Yeah, I can think of one thing.
- Affair.
That's exactly what I was thinking.
This guy ditches your church.
- He steals your girl.
- Stop.
Your childhood friend was
living this wildly free life.
He took a huge risk, started
over in New York City.
I'm sure he swept you off your feet.
I prayed.
For what?
To not be in love, to not feel so
so happy, so alive with
him, but it wouldn't stop.
And Jake found out about it.
It's actually starting to
look like you got motive.
In the first degree.
So Jake realized you were seeing Eli?
No, I was careful.
Because what you did, Martha,
would make a man jealous.
Jake's not like that.
Even pastors' sons are human.
He wasn't there when you
got off the bus on Thursday,
was he?
So where were you Thursday night, Jake?
- Home.
- Really?
'Cause you didn't pick
up Martha from the bus.
- We saw the video.
- Yeah.
So, you know, the bus stop
has surveillance cameras.
And we watched that, and it proves
that you were a no-show,
so tell us what's going on.
I think he found out about you and Eli,
- and he went into the city.
- No.
[SOBS SOFTLY]
I was late.
I picked her up a ways down the road.
Okay.
[SIGHS]
[SIGHS]
♪
She's a good kid that
set a bad thing in motion.
And she's covering
for Jake out of guilt.
I don't know if we're gonna
be able to make her cave.
These two are so sheltered,
they don't even realize
the magic of two-way glass.
[DOOR CLICKS]
Are you okay?
Um, I'm so sorry about all of this.
We messed up.
I apologize, but these things happen.
We know that you two weren't involved,
and you'll be free to go in a moment,
so just sit tight.
Oh, um, you know Marcus Wright, correct?
Yes, I've been helping him. Why?
Unfortunately, he followed Eli home
- on Thursday and killed him.
- Marcus?
That's not possible. He's reformed.
Evidence is evidence.
We're launching a manhunt as I speak.
I just I hope he
doesn't resist because,
you know, things get
messy when they resist.
We can't let them arrest Marcus.
Martha, Martha, sit. Sit.
Hey, we'll find some way to help him.
Let's pray for guidance.
But you know he didn't do this.
- Martha.
- You weren't at the bus stop.
- Jacob, how could you?
- I found your phone.
You betrayed me, defied our church.
And so, yes, I went to see him.
I told him to leave you alone.
But Eli said that you
two were in love
No, no.
And that you were gonna
leave me and leave the church.
I told him that wasn't possible,
but he said that you'd been scared,
but you'd finally decided
and made preparations,
and I, uh
♪
[SIGHS] I lost my mind.
I raised my hand against him.
[CRYING]
[DOOR CLICKS]
- Jacob Albrecht, on your feet.
- What are you doing?
Get up.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
You're under arrest for
the murder of Eli Freeman.
Was it true? Were you in love with him?
[EXHALES SHARPLY] No, it
Come on. Move.
[SOBS]
Calling docket ending in 1638,
People v. Jacob Albrecht.
Charge is murder in the second degree.
- How does the defendant plead?
- Not guilty, Your Honor.
Your thoughts on bail, Ms. Maroun?
The people seek remand.
The defendant bashed
in the skull of a man
having an affair with his fiancée.
The defendant lives
outside of New York City,
but went to great lengths
to track the victim down,
then kill him.
Police have a recorded admission.
They also found boots in his home
that had glass fragments
from the crime scene
stuck to the soles.
Your Honor, my client lives in a small,
conservative, religious
community upstate.
He has no access to
computers or telephones
to make travel arrangements.
He is the furthest
thing from a flight risk.
Bail is set at 500,000.
[GAVEL BANGS]
Ms. Maroun, we're Eli's parents.
Is it true Jacob confessed?
You're sure?
Well, we have it on video.
I can't believe that he
we don't hurt other people.
That's not who we are.
We lost Eli years ago,
but at least we knew
he was living the life that he wanted.
We never thought that he would
- How dare Jacob.
- Amelia.
- How dare he?
- Amelia, calm down.
And to think I saw him that night,
Jacob at the brush
pile, burning something.
- What time?
- Late.
I was asleep, but smelled
smoke and looked out.
What was he burning?
It looked like fabric, clothing,
maybe a scarf, a jacket.
It was strange, but I had
no reason to think that
did those things have
my son's blood on them?
It's okay. You you didn't know.
You didn't know.
But you can tell the jury what you saw.
You can hold Jacob accountable.
[TENSE MUSIC]
I'm so sorry for your loss.
We will do everything we can
to get justice for your son.
Ms. Maroun, motion to
suppress the confession.
♪
The defendant is a minister?
An ordained minister
in the Baylor Church.
Yet police recorded his protected
and privileged conversation
with his parishioner.
This conversation took place
in a police interrogation room,
and the defendant was speaking
to her as her boyfriend.
The conversation began with
a parishioner seeking counsel.
My client, her minister,
guided her in prayer,
at which point, the conversation,
every side of it, every word of it,
was off-limits to police.
In Mockaitas versus Harcleroad
Now, that is a federal case.
It has no bearing on this matter.
Whether it does or doesn't,
I'm excluding the admission.
I don't want to impede
free communications
between those seeking religious counsel.
End of story.
Can we win without the confession?
[SIGHS] It's not a slam dunk.
We're going after a
minister with a few pieces
of suggestive forensic evidence
to tie him to the crime scene.
- Do we have fingerprints?
- Nope. It was cold.
He was probably wearing gloves.
Can we put him near the victim's home
at the time of the murder?
We're trying, but like I said,
it was a cold night.
Everyone was wrapped
up in hats and scarves,
so we don't have any
obvious video of him
near the victim's building.
We do have trace evidence
on the defendant's shoes
that matches the glass shards
that were found at the crime scene.
And we also have records of Martha's
late night calls to the victim.
Plus, police found her
phone in Jacob's house,
so we certainly have motive.
And a video from the bus stop will prove
that the defendant wasn't
there to pick up Martha
on the night of the murder.
Right, and the victim's mother
will testify that she saw the defendant
burning clothing later that night.
So our case is good, not great?
We sure we wanna stick with murder two?
Well, Jacob Albrecht
killed an innocent man,
I mean, someone who gave
up everything to be free,
to live the life that he wanted.
I agree. This is murder, Nick.
Well, the judge may have ruled
that the recording of the
confession is inadmissible,
but since Martha's the parishioner,
she can still speak
to what Jacob told her.
Let's persuade her to testify.
Put the screws to her if necessary.
No, I don't want to do that.
Well, he killed the man
that you loved, Martha.
- That's not true.
- What part?
I love Jake, always have.
Now, that may be true,
but he killed Eli.
Not only that, he admitted
to you that he killed Eli.
We need you to tell the
jury what he told you.
I can't send the man I love to prison.
He's all I have. This
community is all I have.
It might be all you have right now,
but it seems to me that
you wanted something else.
If I testify against my fiancé,
the pastor's son, to
get justice for a man
who turned his back
on this whole church,
I'd be shunned. And then what?
I can't drive.
I don't know how to use a computer.
How do I support myself?
What happens to me?
I know this is difficult, but you know,
we can subpoena you.
We can force you to take the stand.
No, you all tricked me
once at the police station,
but I won't let that happen again.
You won't get me to utter
another word on this matter.
Mrs. Penner, thank you for coming today.
Where do you live?
The Baylor Church compound.
Do you know the
defendant, Jacob Albrecht?
Yes.
Can you tell the court
the night of December 5th,
in the hours after your son
was killed, here in the city,
did you observe the defendant
at the church compound?
- Yes.
- Around what time?
It was dark, past sunset.
And what specifically was he doing?
Nothing specific that I recall.
Did you see him burning anything?
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
No.
♪
[SIGHS] Didn't
didn't you tell the
district attorney's office
that you witnessed the
defendant burning items
that appeared to be clothing?
- Objection, argumentative.
- I'll allow.
Answer the question, Mrs. Penner.
I can't.
I won't.
I will not sit in judgment.
And neither should you.
♪
I will not participate in this trial,
nor will anyone else from our church.
And that is the whole
truth, so help me God.
♪
So the victim's mother
was planning to help us?
She was on board?
Yes, she volunteered to tell the court
what she saw that night.
And we went over it all in prep
I mean, not even a hint of doubt.
Which means someone got to her.
Someone changed her mind.
Makes sense, I suppose.
These people are they
live by their own rules,
their own customs. They're
circling the wagons.
They don't want outsiders to sit
in judgment of their people.
And crazy as it sounds,
she's trying to protect Jacob,
regardless of the fact
that he killed her own son.
That's not circling the wagons.
That's obstruction of justice.
- [KNOCKING]
- Suzanne, hey. Sorry.
I'm running a few minutes
late for our lunch.
Nolan, Sam, this is Suzanne Forrester,
head of Alternative Justice in New York.
We're just wrapping up.
Well, maybe they could stick
around for a few minutes.
I know you're trying to put
Jacob Albrecht behind bars,
but I have a better idea.
The Baylor Church would like to initiate
a restorative justice circle.
What exactly are you talking about?
No trial, no verdict.
This is a space for
collective conversation,
overseen by your office,
to focus on healing.
Whose healing?
Well, the victim's family have no desire
- to see Jacob go to jail.
- Estranged family.
You want a trial?
You won't get a single member
from the community to testify.
Hell, 50 people from the
church just marched into Rikers
with cash and property
deeds to bail out Jacob.
This community protects its own.
Sounds more like witness tampering.
You can issue subpoenas all day long.
Our threats don't hold any
weight with these people.
If I may.
For over 100 years,
our church has forged
a separate way of life.
We trust our own way to guide
us through this difficult time.
This murder occurred 100 miles
from your church in my jurisdiction.
Jacob is repentant, and
he's prepared to work
in our community as
part of that penance,
restoring homes, assisting the infirm,
compensating the victim's parents.
- Well, he is your son.
- We all have our roles.
And Jacob, Jacob is
our resident carpenter.
Losing him impacts all of us.
Why send him to prison when he can still
do so much for our society?
So what's actually on the table?
He'll plead to criminally
negligent homicide.
Probation, no jail time.
While you're at it, why
not throw him a parade?
He is a good young man who lost his way
for five horrible minutes.
He has asked for our forgiveness
and God's.
That's all well and good,
but you don't get to
forgive the perpetrator
and give him a free pass.
That's not how this works.
This meeting is over.
You're making a mistake.
God isn't just window
dressing for your courtrooms.
He is the court.
We never talked about
restorative justice for homicide,
and if you wanna bring a test case
to let someone walk on
murder, it's not gonna be this.
This was a way for your
office to save face,
Nick, not a ploy.
And given the evidence at this point,
he's probably gonna walk anyway.
What you have to do
is get me a conviction.
[SIGHS] We're grasping at straws here.
The video from the bus
stop will show that Jacob
wasn't there to pick her up.
It's not gonna show he was in
Eli's apartment committing murder.
The defense is gonna poke holes
in the trace evidence on his boots.
[CHUCKLES]
I'm not even sure we can
credibly establish motive.
And the burner calls and
fingerprints in his apartment?
Defense is gonna chalk it up to
their work on parole petitioners.
We need something
stronger to at least show
that Jacob had a reason
to kill Eli Freeman.
Wait, Nolan?
I'm looking at the
victim's call records.
It looks like a week before the murder,
he called Hedgebrook Health.
That's a women's clinic.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Well, what was the date?
Let's see if he made a
payment for an appointment.
[SIGHS] Hold on.
The same date he made the
call, there's a receipt
from a drugstore for
♪
Prenatal vitamins.
♪
So we may finally have some
leverage with Martha Fairchild.
She is pregnant.
The victim's baby?
His Internet search
history suggests he thought
he was gonna become a father.
This shows motive. This is good news.
[CHUCKLES] May I sit?
Of course. What's on your mind?
Um [SIGHS]
To win this, we're gonna
have to play hardball
with a woman the victim loved.
We're gonna have to blow
up the life of a woman
who was carrying his baby.
We're already defying
the wishes of his parents,
so [SIGHS]
I'm starting to ask myself,
is manslaughter such a horrible option?
I thought you were all
about accountability, Nolan.
Are you going soft?
I got a letter a month
ago from the mother
of a college kid that I
put away for seven years.
He had gotten into a
bar fight, punched a guy
who hit his head on the floor and died.
Those cases are tough.
And the kid got stabbed in prison.
He was trying to break up a fight.
[PENSIVE MUSIC]
Sometimes I wonder what
the right thing really is.
I mean, we just we just move on.
We get a conviction. We
jump into the next case.
But these defendants, they're
shuffled off in handcuffs.
They're led into a tiny concrete cell.
And I I wonder, like,
what is going to happen to Jacob
if we go through with this
and Martha.
♪
The system's flawed.
But there are rules that
allow us to do our job fairly,
to operate with
integrity within a system
that is meant to dispense
equal justice to all.
Do you really believe that?
Most days.
What about now?
What about with Eli Freeman?
Because if justice
is about outcomes,
who is to say whether
their version will be
any better or worse than ours?
It is tempting to go there.
But he left that
community, became a lawyer.
He chose to practice in our system,
in our church.
Let's honor that.
♪
We'll talk to Martha.
♪
Martha, we know you're
pregnant with Eli's baby.
It must be wonderful, scary.
Jake and I got married.
He's gonna raise the baby
as his own, keep my secret.
Well, we can keep your secret, too,
if you finally tell the
court what Jacob did.
And lose my husband?
Rob this child of its
last hope for a father? No.
I know what prison does to a man.
I won't send him there.
We can subpoena you, Martha.
We can force you to testify.
But you can't force
me to tell the truth.
No, we can't.
But we can present evidence in court
of the doctor's
appointment Eli made for you
and the prenatal vitamins he bought.
Your family and friends
will learn the truth.
They will know that you are
pregnant with Eli's baby.
What is wrong with you people?
- I'm sorry.
- Go to hell!
[DOOR SLAMS]
Martha told me what you're doing.
- I can't believe
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- Why are we here?
- We wanna talk about a plea.
But you have to promise
to leave Martha alone.
They can't know it's Eli's baby.
She's a good woman.
She didn't mean to sleep
with that man to get pregnant,
and I didn't plan to kill him.
Sit down and keep your mouth shut.
What my client means
to say is he's willing
to plead guilty to murder two.
You realize that comes
with mandatory prison time?
I'll do whatever it
takes to protect Martha.
She needs the church.
And that baby is gonna
need the church too.
[SOFT SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
♪
[GAVEL BANGS]
Mr. Price, I understand you've reached
an agreement on a plea.
Yes, Your Honor.
The defendant has agreed to plead guilty
to murder in the second degree.
The People recommend a
prison term of 15 years.
Mr. Albrecht, do you understand
the terms of this deal?
I do, Your Honor.
I'm deeply ashamed
♪
Of my actions.
I ask forgiveness of all
who were harmed by my sin.
Are you ready to take a plea?
Yes.
Be strong, Martha, for me.
[HANDCUFFS CLICKING]
For our child.
We're still gonna have
a great life together,
I promise you.
I love you.
♪
These people definitely walk the walk.
They sure do, for better or worse.
♪
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
[WOLF HOWLS]