CSI: Miami s03e06 Episode Script

Hell Night

I can't believe we're actually going to be inside his house No talking, people.
All right, folks, you all know the ground rules.
No talking to each other, no touching anything in the house.
Stay with the group.
What's he doing here? He's coming with us.
That's creepy.
Mr.
Lopez has a right to be here.
He's entitled to see any evidence presented in his case.
Follow me, please.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury in the matter of The State of Florida vs Donny Lopez, the People will show that, on the night of January 16 the defendant entered his residence at 1620 Silver Strand a residence you will be visiting during the course of this trial.
On the night in question, Donny Lopez was confronted by his wife, Miranda.
they argued about the defendant's infidelity a contention supported by a long auburn hair found on the defendant by the Crime Lab.
That argument quickly became physical And was witnessed through a window by a neighbor who will testify that she saw Miranda Lopez just moments before her brutal murder.
Miranda Lopez was stabbed twice.
She had defensive wounds on her hands.
She was fighting for her life.
A fight that she lost.
She bled to death on the kitchen floor while her children slept upstairs.
Donny Lopez waited a half hour to call 911.
First, he tried to clean up.
What happened? What's wrong with her? I think she's having some kind of seizure.
What happened? Is everyone okay? Shouldn't we call a doctor? I'll call the paramedics.
Let's give her some room, people.
In the kitchen, now! Oh, my God! Frank, what do we have here? Donny Lopez, Florida's star shortstop.
Batted left, stabbed his wife with his right.
Court-sanctioned field trip.
State Attorney wanted the jurors to see the crime scene.
Now they've seen two.
What about witness statements? So far, just a lot of confusion.
Jury only had one more week before deliberations.
No need now.
The verdict is in.
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Never saw it coming.
The lights were out, Alexx, because they were recreating the Miranda Lopez murder for the jury.
Made it easy for someone to sneak in, lie in wait.
Patrol is canvassing the neighborhood.
See if anyone witnesed suspicious activity around the house.
Sounds good.
You take the kitchen.
I'll take out front.
Thank you,Alexx Knife missing from this block.
Could be our murder weapon.
Nice work, Ryan.
I think you may have cracked the case.
Thanks.
I have a keen grasp of the obvious.
Look, I know you and Tim Speedle were close.
I know this was Speedle's case.
I'm not trying to replace him.
Good, 'cause I don't need any new friends.
All I want is to do a good job.
Okay.
Tell me what you see.
You can touch him, Honey.
He's not gonna bite.
Single blow to the head.
No defensive wounds on his hands or arms.
Means no struggle.
Good.
What else? We probably won't find the victim's blood on our killer.
And why is that? No liquid blood at the time of impact.
No second hit.
So no spatter.
Well, look at you go.
What do you see? Hair.
Killer may have been short in stature, well-groomed, possibly Persian.
Although he may have had a hard time lifting the cleaver with his paws.
Cat hair? Even killers have pets.
This is ridiculous.
Now when can we go home? I'm afraid it's going to be a while, Mr.
Tepper.
You're all witnesses to a murder.
It wasn't bad enough being locked up on this case for months.
Stuck in a hotel, seeing my kids on weekends.
They wouldn't even let me read the sports page, man.
Just tell me what you saw in the house.
There was lightning.
Juror #7 had a seizure.
People were yelling The next thing you know, Lopez was lying there, knife stuck in his head.
Poetic justice,if you ask me.
Poetic justice? Did you see the pictures of the crime scene? What that animal did to his wife He got what he deserved.
We're never getting out of here.
Find something? Actually it's the absence of something that's interesting.
Paint's faded all around that frame.
Means another picture was hanging here.
And hanging here recently.
Nobody has lived in this house for months.
Do you think someone redressed the house? I think that I want to talk to Mr.
Lopez's attorney.
All right,we dressed the house wedding pictures, family photos to enhance the jury's opinion of my client.
Your client has been accused of stabbing his wife.
You left out knives? No.
We hid 'em in a cabinet.
Somebody put 'em back.
So you may have a traitor on your team.
No.
Excuse me.
Yeah.
Horatio.
Hey, what's wrong? I'm sorry to pull you away.
It's Ray Jr.
What's going on with Ray? My mom said he never came home after school.
What does your mom have to do with this? She's watching Ray for this weekend while we're out of town.
Yelina, tonight is a big night for kids.
I'm sure he's okay.
He's been hanging out with this new group of boys.
One of them is 15.
Uh, Christopher Owens.
He just got his learner's license.
He's trouble.
I'll look into it.
I'll call you back.
Hang in there.
Give it up, Ray.
My turn.
Screw off, tool.
It's my gun.
How 'bout I just knock you the hell out, take it myself? Ray? Oh, man.
We weren't doing anything,Officer.
Well, gentlemen, that's not quite true, is it? Why are you hassling us? You should be out giving people speeding tickets.
I'm going to let that pass, son.
Which route do you drive home on? I'm not going home.
You're all going home, so get in the car and take off right now.
Not you, Ray.
I know where you live So what about some new friends for you? They're cool.
They're not cool, Ray.
Chris is a vandal.
He's had priors for disorderly conduct.
Is that what you want? You want to be like Chris? We'll talk about it in the car.
Come on.
Come on.
I heard you got a bloody print from the cleaver? Yeah.
No match to our jurors or court personnel at the scene.
I've been running it through the system.
Still, a print in the victim's blood.
Well, not exactly in the blood.
Notice the ridge detail.
What about it? Well, the blood goes around the print, not through it.
Means that the print was preexisting.
It was there before the blood.
Could still be from the killer.
It's consistent with a single blow, but blood couldn't have gotten onto the handle until after the initial hit.
No match in AFIS.
The print is not in the system.
Okay.
So we're back to square one.
Not quite.
There's one place I haven't looked yet.
These are the ten cards from the Lopez household.
Friends,family, employees people who were eliminated for the murder of Mr.
Lopez.
You're not going to believe this.
We've got a match? Yeah.
Chelsea Lopez.
Donny's daughter.
I can't believe you think I did this.
We found cat hair on your father's body.
You have a Persian tabby.
Mr.
Whiskers.
I was playing with him before I went to see him.
You saw your father yesterday? My grandparents make me see him once a week.
Did you hug him? Yeah.
I guess.
Okay.
We found your fingerprint on the murder weapon.
How do you explain that? Chelsea, I can't help you unless you're honest with me.
Did you sneak back into the house yesterday? Yes.
Why? To move things around.
I don't follow.
Dad's lawyers put out the wedding pictures, the family albums.
It was a bunch of lies.
So you took them away? They were trying to make him look like this family man.
It wasn't like that.
What was it like? Look.
My dad had a lot of girlfriends.
Tall model types.
My mom was always crying.
I hated what he did to her.
What about the knives? I just wanted that jury to know what it was really like in our house.
I mean, if they're going to judge him for murdering Mom, they should have all the facts.
Okay.
Will you make me a list of everything you moved in the house? Sure.
Hey, uh, can I borrow a piece of paper? I left mine outside.
Thank you.
Paper from the girl's binder doesn't match the killer's "Guilty" note.
Different acid content.
Paper looks similar, though.
Looks can be deceiving.
Both are 16-pound college-rule, but the similarity ends there.
Each manufacturer's process is different, individual as DNA.
What is that on the killer's note? Got some faint indentations there.
I was just about to run it through ESDA.
Wit saw ML through window.
Wit" is "witness.
ML" is "Miranda Lopez.
Looks like someone was taking notes.
Trial notes from the Miranda Lopez case Our killer is a juror.
So this is our dead defendant, Alexx.
Yeah, Donny Lopez bagged and tagged.
I dislodged the murder weapon from his skull.
Turned it over to Eric.
Okay, thank you.
Who's that? ID'd as Martin Conner.
Transient.
Picked up at the Tamiami Canal.
That's out by the airport, isn't it? Yeah.
At first blush, the assistant ME thought he was covered in blood.
Turns out it's red paint.
Red paint, like from red-paint pellets, maybe.
Like from one of those paint guns.
What was the cause of death? He didn't go quietly,tell you that.
Catecholamine levels in his blood were off the chart.
Adrenaline intoxication.
Leading to what's called contraction-band necrosis.
Heart muscles contract so severely, they rupture.
Could be shock from a paint-gun hit caused a heart attack.
Horatio, this man literally was scared to death.
On Halloween,of all nights.
You okay? I don't know yet.
Juror #3.
Jim Wilson.
Architectural engineer from Homestead.
Currently going through a divorce and he trusts the police.
Juror #4.
Dara Williams.
She's from Surfside.
Two kids in junior high.
Unsure about the death penalty.
Okay.
Um Which one trusted the police? Wilson.
Look, I am never gonna remember all of these names, so let's just do this.
Juror #3 is going to be the engineer and Juror #4 is going to be the soccer mom Physical match, but whose notebook? Juror #11.
The construction worker.
You're kidding, right? 'Fraid not, Carl.
Killer's note came from your notebook.
Care to explain that? Yeah.
At least I was taking notes.
You should've seen some of those other bozos.
So It's poetic justice.
Right? That what you said.
"Donny Lopez got what he deserved.
" With a little help from you.
Look, we weren't allowed to take the notebooks back to the hotel.
We left them in the jury box.
Anybody could've ripped a page outta mine.
Okay.
Well, let's find out.
I'm going to give you a little test.
W- What kind of test? Write your name down, in all lower-case letters.
Construction worker didn't write that note.
Are you sure? Ran a conoscopic holography on his exemplars.
Translation, please? Take a look at the "T" in his last name.
This hole is created on the cross stroke, pen tip falls into the furrow from the first stroke.
You can see it better on the mirror view.
That bump shows us directionality.
Construction worker crosses his "T"s backwards.
Killer doesn't.
So old angry Carl was telling the truth.
Thanks.
Gentlemen.
Uncle Horatio, is my mom on her way over? Can you get me out? My dad's in a meeting.
He's busy until 2 Here's what we're going to do.
You're going to follow that officer.
He's going to take your statements and we'll go from there, all right? Go ahead.
Follow him.
Ray.
You can stay right were you are.
They won't tell us why we're here.
Ray, I need to know what happened last night with the paint gun.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Ray.
What happened before I arrived? Nothing, just target practice.
Ray.
A man was killed last night.
He was shot three times with red paint within a half mile of where you guys were.
So don't tell me it was target practice.
What happened? He's dead? Mm-hmm.
But it was Halloween.
We were just messing around.
Hey! You! What do you want? We want you to dance! Hey, come on.
But it was just a paint gun.
Who shot him? We all did.
Ray, a man lost his life.
So tell me who shot him.
We all did.
Ray, here's what I want you to do.
I don't want you to speak to anybody.
Not a secretary.
Not an officer.
Nobody.
Until I tell you otherwise, you understand? Yes, sir.
You sit tight, huh? Hi.
I was just looking for you.
What's up? More like, who's up? Juror #7, the cheerleader.
The one who had the seizure? She spent the night at Miami General for observation.
She's being released this afternoon.
Well, unfortunately, that doesn't really help us, because she's the one juror we know couldn't have killed Donny Lopez.
She didn't kill him, but I think she might've helped whoever did.
Divalproex.
30 caplets.
That's a full prescription.
Filled a month ago.
She hasn't been taking her anti-seizure medication.
But even without her meds, she'd have no way of knowing exactly when she'd have a seizure.
Unless she made it happen.
Witnesses saw lightning flashes just before the cheerleader hit the ground.
What if it wasn't lightning? Epileptics can be photosensitive.
They react to flashing lights.
I really don't remember very much.
It's a side effect of the seizures.
You had the same side effect the last couple times you had seizures.
I know that because I read the pleadings from all your lawsuits.
Four seizures, four claims against businesses and county offices.
You're a bit of a scam artist, aren't you, Ginger? Those were legitimate legal problems with those facilities.
Hey, that's a cool key chain.
You mind if I take a look? That's a cute trick.
You must be fun at parties.
I think your legal problems are just beginning.
It was 5,000 bucks.
All I had to do was have another seizure.
She didn't say anything about killing anybody.
All I had to do was get kicked off the jury Get a mistrial.
Who's "she"? Kelli.
No last name.
She just gave a cell number.
I don't know anything else.
Here's what I think.
You were the defense's secret witness, Kelli.
Donny Lopez liked tall model types, and I think that you were at his house the night of the murder.
weren't you? Yeah.
And his attorneys were going to have me testify to that.
I just I-I couldn't do it.
So you paid a juror for a mistrial.
Why? Me and Donny, that was fun.
But I met a great new guy.
He's a Flagler cousin.
Old money, old family values.
We're engaged.
I just thought the quickest way to end the trial would be to pay someone off.
The quickest way to end the trial is to kill the defendant.
I didn't.
I'm gonna need a sample of your handwriting to compare to the "Guilty" note we found on Donny Lopez's body.
Okay.
Girlfriend's a bust.
There's no match to the "Guilty" note.
And the construction worker didn't write the note, either.
Cheerleader's a scam artist, but not a murderer.
So who's left? What about the dentist? Domestic violence allegation in the past year.
Mm, spousal abuser going postal on jury duty I don't think so.
I like the chef.
How do you figure? Works with knives.
That and food service- very stressful.
All right, let's go back to what we do know.
Killer had to work quickly in the dark, and he used an available weapon.
It means they knew where it was located.
Well, that jury knew where everything was located.
They had access to Speedle's crime scene photographs, sketches, inventories And they had four months to study them.
Killer knew the house intimately.
Or maybe he just thought he did.
Things change.
We've got to go back to the house.
Lieutenant Caine? Mm-hmm? Rebecca Nevins, State Attorney's office.
So, Raymond Caine Jr.
Yes, he's my nephew.
Your office really moved on this, didn't they? It's the administration.
Obviously with your brother's past, no one would want to be perceived as playing any special favors.
Well, actually, I'm more concerned that my nephew may be made an example.
The other three boys gave him up as the shooter.
I guess that puts you in a funny position, and you're gonna take their word or wait for the evidence, right? Exonerating evidence? Didn't know you had any.
Stick around.
I'm full of surprises.
Paula.
Lieutenant Caine.
The evidence from the paint gun case, has it been logged yet? Yes, finished it just a few minutes ago.
The weapon in question was found in Chris Owens' vehicle As well as a couple cartons of eggs, some spray paint cans and a digital video camera.
So maybe they taped their night out.
Okay, get that over to AV for me, please, would you? Yes, sir, right away.
Nice! Want me to speed through to anything in particular? Just play it.
Hey, watch this.
Sweet! Sweet! Guess that's it.
Go back to the point where we hear the first shot, okay? Do you hear that? That voice in the background.
There's a voice.
Isolate the audio and separate the elements.
Let's do that.
I want to hear that voice.
Yeah, well, it's gonna take time.
Stop it, Chris.
About time.
My dad out there? You are not going anywhere, my friend, because you are the subject of a murder investigation.
I told you, Ray's the one who shot at that guy.
Are you sure about that, Chris? Yeah, Michael and Dominic'll tell you the same thing.
No doubt they will.
I need to let you know that anything that you say to me now will affect the way you're treated on these charges.
I make the recommendation to the State Attorney, Chris.
Ray shot the guy.
That's not true, Chris, is it? Ray tried to stop it.
Stop it, Chris! That's not funny.
Don't do it! You shot him.
You shot the man, didn't you? Wha-What do you want? We want you to dance.
Stop it, Chris.
That's not funny.
Don't do it.
Tell Ray no hard feelings.
You know what, Chris? I think you should tell him yourself.
What are we looking for? Anything that's different.
That's different from what? Different from the night of Miranda Lopez's murder.
I'm not following.
The killer on the jury memorized the layout of the house from Speedle's sketches only he drew those sketches from the original crime scene.
Makes them almost a year old.
Exactly.
The house has been changed, but the sketches reflect the conditions of a year ago.
And if the killer didn't know that, he might have made a mistake.
This is the window, right, that the neighbor saw through? Yeah.
The state's case turned on the neighbor's testimony.
She said she saw Miranda Lopez through the window about five minutes before the murder, but the defense argued that her view was blocked.
Blocked by what? Pocket door.
But it was broken.
Stuck in the wall over there.
It's not broken anymore.
Donny Lopez's attorneys not only redecorated, they repaired.
Well Maybe they just did us a favor.
Is that what I think it is? Face print.
Sebaceous oils from the outer dermis.
May give us skin cells.
May give us the face of our killer.
Juror #3, come on down.
I don't understand.
I thought the trial was over.
Donny Lopez's trial is over; yours is just beginning.
What are you talking about? We have DNA evidence that puts you in the kitchen last night when Donny Lopez was murdered.
I had to use the bathroom.
I got lost looking for the group.
I ended up in the kitchen.
Did you flush? What? Of course I did.
Now, you see, that's a problem.
Because the water in the house has been turned off, and I checked the reservoir tank on the toilet, it was full.
If you'd flushed, it'd be empty.
You didn't go to the bathroom.
You stayed in the kitchen and waited for your chance.
Unfortunately, at the trial, you got everything you needed to plan the murder.
Crime scene photographs, diagrams of the house.
Only your route was changed.
You didn't realize that the pocket door had been fixed.
All I needed was an opportunity.
I couldn't believe it when that cheerleader bimbo went down.
It was just too easy.
Easy? To take a man's life? Hey we put everything on hold, so this guy can get, what, a million-dollar defense? His pro team just deferred his salary.
What about our jobs, hmm? Our lives.
Everyone on that jury was going through the same hardship as you.
Don't you lecture me about hardship.
I lost everything.
My wife left me.
She took my kids.
I don't have a job to go back to.
My boss gave it to my fill-in.
And there you were, Donny Lopez's mansion.
Five bedrooms, wine cellar, plasma TV Seven bedrooms, plasma TVs in each one.
He wasn't gonna miss a beat.
Unfortunately, you are.
You're under arrest for aggravated murder.
Oh, God.
What's wrong? I don't think he did it.
What are you talking about? The guy just confessed.
We got him.
No, not him.
Donny Lopez.
I don't think he killed his wife.
Then who did? Hey, got your page.
What's going on? We need to talk about Miranda Lopez.
What's left to talk about? Defendant's dead.
Case is over.
Our boss is holding a press conference in a half an hour.
You need to tell him not to.
Donny Lopez didn't kill her.
You're telling me this now? Miranda Lopez had a single defensive wound from a multiple stabbing.
When was the last time you saw that? Everything your CSI presented indicated it was the husband.
Well, he testified on the evidence, but y'all made a determination about who to charge.
Terrific.
You trying to get me sent down to traffic court? No, I think it's more important that we find the right killer, don't you, Bob? Of course.
So who is it? Currently, we don't have a suspect.
Do you know how bad that makes us look? Hey, Paula, is this all of them? Uh, two more boxes are coming from storage.
Evidence, lab reports, everything on Miranda Lopez.
There's only one thing I'm looking for.
Murder weapon.
Alexx, will you walk me through Miranda Lopez's injuries again? Sharp force wounds to the abdomen and upper torso.
Wound one was nonfatal, but two was penetrating with right hemothorax.
And how deep were the wounds? About two inches.
Deep enough to nick the superior vena cava.
She bled out.
So the stab wounds were shallow.
And these rips in the fabric, they didn't penetrate the skin.
Honey, vics don't stand still while they're being stabbed.
True, but if you take these wounds in context Hey, I deal in anatomical, unless I'm invited into the lab.
Well, consider yourself invited.
You see, we never had any hard evidence that said that Donny Lopez used the knife himself.
It was just his actions afterward.
But why'd he to clean up if he didn't kill her? Well, it's human nature.
- He just made things worse.
- Calleigh, where you going with all this? Did you know that Donny Lopez hit 40 home runs last year? And he had the third highest slugging percentage of anyone in the majors.
So? So how does a guy as big and as strong as that stab his wife, and only get two inches of blood on the end of the blade? You're talking about a killer without a lot of upper torso strength.
A woman.
A woman with motive.
And with long auburn hair.
Like the one that Speedle found on Donny Lopez the night of his wife's murder.
I didn't kill Miranda.
I didn't even know her.
But you knew her husband.
You admitted to me that you were at the house the night she was killed.
I was with Donny.
Doing what? Kelli.
Donny wasn't very discreet.
You were kissing him? You could call it a kiss.
But you never went into the house.
I have morals, okay? His kids were inside.
Yes, they were.
Will you excuse me, please? Alexx, the wound on Miranda Lopez's hand The defensive wound, yeah? What if it wasn't defensive? If her hand were upraised, wouldn't you expect a puncture? Every knife would on a stabbing victim's hand is considered defensive.
That's protocol.
Unless the hand were down here.
That means the killer was someone she trusted.
Someone she wasn't afraid of.
Tell me about the night your mother was killed.
I already told the police everything.
Except the truth.
I was asleep in my room.
I don't think so.
I think you got into a fight with your mom, didn't you? I saw him that night.
In some girl's car.
It was disgusting.
Tried to tell my mom, but she wouldn't listen.
She got so angry.
Don't you lie to me, Chelsea?! I'm not lying! I saw Dad out there with some woman! It's your fault that he has to do that.
I was afraid of her.
Afraid of what she might do.
I don't believe you! I don't believe a word that you're saying! I can't take this anymore.
I don't trust you.
You never believe me! You're making it up.
I don't know why you keep doing this.
- I'm not making it up.
- You are.
See, Chelsea, that's not what the evidence is telling me.
She had her hand open.
She was reaching out to you.
Why don't you listen to me?! Chelsea, give me the knife now.
No! Honey, give it to Mom.
Whatever it is, whatever's bothering you, we can talk about it.
Just give me the knife.
Please, honey, just give it to me.
She trusted you, and you killed her.
I just wanted them to be happy.
Be together, like they were in the magazines.
I'm sorry.
I miss her.
I miss her every day.
I feel bad for that man.
I can't stop picturing the look on his face.
Well, his name is Martin Conner, and I don't want you to stop picturing it.
You understand why? I think so.
Okay.
Your mom will be here any minute.
With Stetler.
You never come around anymore.
Well, buddy, um I guess I'm just trying to give your mom some space.
She doesn't need space.
You know what we need, you and me? We need a fishing trip.
- Really? - Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
Excuse me a minute.
Hey, buddy.
Thank you.
Anytime.
You know, we should get home.
Okay.
Thanks for stepping in, Horatio.
Well, he's my nephew, Rick.
Saturday, buddy? - We're on, Uncle Horatio.
- Okay, pal.

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