CSI: NY s08e08 Episode Script
Crossroads
Previously on CSI NY John Curtis raped another woman.
He's in New York.
The woman walked in the Flags precinct, he took the report, and then he recognized Curtis as your old DC rape case.
Who is she, the victim? Her name is Allie Rand.
I remember you telling me how in DC your colleague made a mistake in the first round of DNA testing and then destroyed the documentation.
You don't have to worry.
I'm not gonna screw this up.
I know how important this is to you.
This case eats away at me.
Serena Matthews, the senator's daughter-- you were innocent of that, right? Your DNA was planted on her underwear? I was acquitted.
You didn't think she'd report it, so you told her your name.
I got nothing to say about this.
You want to railroad me, talk to my lawyer.
What are we gonna do? Calm down.
Just calm down, okay? It was an accident.
We should just go to the police.
- Are you crazy? - He's your ex-boyfriend.
People saw me threaten him at the party.
- He came at you! - You were defending yourself! I'll go with you.
And tell them what? That-That he attacked me? That I was defending myself? You think they're gonna believe somebody like me? I'll tell them what happened.
Hey! Get back here! Criminal court judge assassinated in front of a sequestered jury, right under the nose of a half a dozen cops.
Brazen son of a bitch.
Jury asked to come out to take a look at the crime scene the same time of night as the original murder.
Wow.
This is Judge Vinny Corsica, huh? He was presiding over the Victor Markov trial.
Triple murder in front of this bakery a year ago.
Markov-- he's like the Sammy the Bull of Russian organized crime.
That's why we got a dozen bodies on him.
Looks like it just went to a baker's dozen.
Out here in the fields I fight for my meals I get my back into my living Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Shooter was kind enough to leave two casings behind.
The round I pulled out of the window-- smashed beyond recognition, probably useless.
I recovered four casings from the detective's gun.
The witnesses all had him firing a four-round burst in rapid succession.
From that distance, this is a pretty tight grouping.
One, two, three.
Looks like you're missing a bullet.
I'm thinking maybe it's in our ride-by shooter.
Witnesses said the bicycle went down the alley.
Maybe there's a blood trail.
Hey, so what do you think of this fancy getaway vehicle? Doesn't exactly seem like the expected mode of travel for a Russian hit man.
Well, the judge had a 24/7 protection detail 'cause of death threats, street was closed off to cars, so this was a good way of getting close enough to shoot him.
Guess it was no secret he was visiting the crime scene tonight.
It was all over the news.
I'm missing a bullet.
I'm thinking maybe it's in our shooter.
If you're looking for a blood trail, you're not gonna find one.
The only description we have is of a guy on a bike with a hoodie and a backpack.
Not one of those people on the street could I.
D.
the shooter.
This broken glass is from a car headlight.
Maybe the guy who was driving the car that hit this bike can.
As the mayor and commissioner have already stated, the assassination of a Criminal Court judge is an attack on our system of justice, and will not stand.
We'll use every resource available to track down those people responsible and make sure they know how powerful our system of justice is.
Detective Taylor, do you believe Victor Markov ordered the hit? I'm not going to throw Mr.
Markov's name around till we've had time to analyze the evidence.
I can tell you that we will be looking into all of Judge Corsica's cases.
Are you saying Mr.
Markov may not be behind it? No, I'm saying, uh, let us investigate so that we can give you some answers based on fact, not speculation.
That's all for now.
We got a lot of work to do.
Detective, can you give us an update on John Curtis, the D.
C.
rapist? Uh, he'll be in court tomorrow morning for a preliminary hearing.
What about the evidence? Do you think you have a good case? This is an ongoing investigation.
You know I can't discuss the evidence.
Any comment on your number two, Jo Danville, dropping the ball on the original D.
C.
rape case? The FBI lab jack who mishandled the evidence blew the case.
As for Jo Danville, I'll take her courage and integrity over official misconduct every time.
Has she been excluded from the New York case because of political pressure from Senator Matthews? The decisions I make have nothing to do with political pressure from anyone.
I do what's best for the case.
And what's best in this case is Jo Danville sits this one out.
John Curtis, you got a visitor.
What are you doing here? You know you can't talk to me without my attorney.
You won't need your attorney for what I have to say.
Well, I'm pretty sure this isn't a social visit.
So what? Did you come here to gloat? I wish I could gloat.
I wish I could take great pleasure in seeing you sit here in this cell.
But that would be at the expense of Ali Rand and the horrible way you made her suffer.
My pleasure will have to wait until I hear the guilty verdict read at your trial.
I wouldn't be so quick to convict me just yet.
You were a free man.
Makes me sick to my stomach to think that my integrity and my conviction gave you that second chance.
I came here to make you a promise.
You will not walk away this time.
I think you're gonna be disappointed, sweetheart.
I don't think this is gonna turn out the way you want it to.
Oh the people I work with are very good at what they do.
There'll be no mistakes this time.
I'll make a promise to you.
You put that bitch on the stand, your case will fall apart faster than your career did in the FBI.
Don't count on Ali Rand.
I'll see you in court, Mr.
Curtis.
Nothing's ever easy.
I've seen you put a slug together with less.
That must have caused some serious damage.
The bullet hit the sixth rib on the right side, sending fragments in three different directions.
This one ruptured the aorta, killing him almost instantly.
This one, in the kidney, though nonfatal, is most revealing.
In examining the judge's kidney, I discovered something very surprising.
Take a look at this tissue sample.
Calcium oxalate crystals? In both kidneys.
He ingested antifreeze? How long ago? His medical records say he missed a couple of days of work with a bout of food poisoning three weeks ago.
I'm betting his symptoms were caused by ingesting ethylene glycol.
So this shooting wasn't the first attempt on Judge Corsica's life.
Someone tried to poison him.
Attempted poisoning with antifreeze is simple and is easily mixed in with a sweet drink, but it doesn't exactly scream "Russian assassin.
" Polonium or ricin, maybe.
I never heard of a Russian hit man doing a drive-by on a bicycle.
I'm betting the poisoning and the shooting are related.
We have the bullet that killed the judge, now find me the gun and the man that fired it.
Done.
He'll come in and talk to you guys.
Mac, this is Senator Matthews.
Senator.
I apologize if I kept you waiting.
This is his daughter Serena.
Hello.
Hi.
I saw your press conference this morning.
The assassination of a judge is no small thing.
You've got a lot on your plate.
Hope it's not too much.
Always have a lot on my plate.
That's the nature of the business.
Detective Messer's men pulled off the Corsica case to handle the Curtis investigation.
I've seen this animal walk away from what he's done once before.
I will not tolerate any dragging of the feet on this.
No one in this lab knows how to drag their feet.
This is an active investigation and will be treated with the same priority as any other.
Lindsay can update you, but we won't be able to give you any specifics that could compromise the investigation.
Well, I can tell you that our victim's story is corroborated by the preliminary evidence.
She was drugged, taken to a hotel, and then beaten and raped, in much the same manner as your daughter and the other women in the Washington, DC, cases.
How is she doing? As well as can be expected.
But, like you, she's very brave and she's eager to testify.
I don't want her anywhere near this thing.
I already made that call.
But I want you to know it has nothing to do with Jo Danville's abilities.
If my daughter were attacked, I'd want her investigating the case.
Oh! Look who it is.
Where you been? Visiting an old friend.
Catch me up.
All right.
I pulled some partial prints off the bike.
Nothing usable.
But I found food residue on the basket.
So I'm gonna guess that it was used to make food deliveries before it was used to do the ride-by.
Also the paint transfer on the bike came from a Gray 2011 Audi A4 or A6.
Flack's got his guys running around to the body shops in the area, see if anyone came in with front end damage this morning.
Okay, you've been busy.
If Victor Markov is behind this, his hit man got a little sloppy.
I reassembled the bullet fragments Sid pulled out of the judge.
Baikal IJ-70, the Russian equivalent of our .
45.
We don't see too many of these come in through the lab.
Or the 9.
1 millimeter round it fires.
I got no hit in IBIS, and the serial number on the gun is not in any of our databases.
That'd mean it was brought in straight from Russia.
So how is that sloppy? Well, I pulled a print off one of the casings left at the scene.
Vitale Barshay.
Ex-Russian military.
U.
S.
citizen.
Been in the country for eight years.
No apparent ties to Victor Markov.
He works as a translator for an insurance company.
Probably a front for his real job.
We're about to find out.
I got a home address in Brighton Beach.
Flack's paying Mr.
Barshay a visit now.
Vitale Barshay, NYPD! Flack, we have a vehicle approaching! Get your hands where I can see 'em! Barshay, get out with your hands up! Get 'em out of the car! We're gonna need Crime Scene.
Just got back from a ten-day trip to Disney World.
Wife says they had the place cleaned the day after they left.
Cleaning lady has the key.
Yeah, I'm getting nothing.
In addition to the place being cleaned, I'm pretty sure our guy wore gloves.
Mr.
Barshay said he kept a gun, some cash and other valuables in the safe.
He swears that he and his wife were the only ones who knew it was here.
That safe was well-hidden.
Took some know-how to break into it.
This isn't some neighborhood kid.
We're looking for an experienced burglar.
Hard to buy a professional thief moonlighting as a hit man.
He may have fenced a stolen gun.
That gun might lead to our killer.
Hey, guys, look what I found.
He's got something.
Somebody left a doggie bag in the trash bin outside.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! If that's what I think that is, don't open that in here.
It's not that kind of doggie bag, Flack.
You said that they had the place cleaned the day after they left, right? Found some crumbs on the table.
I'm thinking somebody made themselves, yeah, a snack.
No mold or microbial activity.
Hasn't been in there more than a couple days.
That rules out the Barshays and the cleaning lady.
Let's hope it gets us one step closer to the guy who put a bullet in the judge.
Hi! Hey, what are you doing up here, kid? Just picking up the final lab results for the Ali Rand rape case.
How's that going? Good.
I just want to go over everything one last time before the hearing tomorrow.
I don't want any surprises up there on the stand.
No, you're going to be good.
Thanks.
These aren't like cop cars anymore, they're like spaceships.
Yep.
This one was part of the escort out at the crime scene last night.
It's got three cameras mounted on the light rack.
It takes 3,000 plate images per hour.
- Wow.
- Yeah, the plates get run through the criminal database and the images are stored in the hard drive, and if we're lucky, that Audi we're looking for had its picture taken before the shooting went down last night.
The Audi I matched to the bike may be in this computer.
Serena, what are you doing here? My father's upstairs in the D.
A.
's office throwing his weight around.
I was hoping I'd have a chance to talk to you.
I wanted to apologize.
You don't owe me an apology.
No, I I do.
Please just hear me out.
You know, for a while, I was angry at what you did.
It took me some time to get past that and realize how difficult it must have been for you, as a woman, and as a mom, to watch that monster walk away from what he did to me.
Not about me, Serena.
It is about you.
It's not fair that your life was turned upside-down because of it.
My father is an emotional guy.
He had no right to force you out of the FBI.
You know, I'm not so sure I wouldn't have done exactly what your dad did on behalf of one of my own children.
I don't regret my actions.
I do regret that my actions set John Curtis free and what that did to you and your dad but I don't, I don't sleep nights any more since he was let go.
I know that it's stupid and irrational, but I just have this fear that he's going to come after me again.
It's not stupid.
You suffered a traumatic experience.
It is highly unlikely that he will come anywhere near you.
I came because I need to see it.
I need to be in that courtroom and see him in handcuffs being taken off to jail.
Serena What are you doing? We're meeting the mayor for dinner.
We gotta go.
Thanks, Jo.
Take care of yourself.
Quite a young lady you've got there.
Yes, she is.
Okay, what do we know? Might have a line on the murder weapon.
Hawkes is trying to get a usable DNA profile off the sandwich we recovered from the burglary scene.
Wait a second, the guy who broke in the house made a sandwich? What? Your little visit to Mr.
Curtis wasn't a very good idea.
I hope you got whatever it was you had to say off your chest.
I did.
Thanks for not making a big deal about it.
Hey, I found that gray Audi that hit the bike, and I'll tell you, this is no accidental hit and run.
This guy is no witness.
One of Markov's goons rented that gray Audi two weeks ago.
Pavel Danshov.
Collars for assault, possession of a weapon.
That car picked up three parking tickets in the last two days on the same block on the West Side.
Unis found the car sitting there and they're waiting on us to come over.
Well, you better get out there.
Here we go.
All right, that's Danshov.
Get your hands on the car now! Hey, what's going on? Put your hands on the car now! Now, hands on the car! Put your hands on the car now! What's going on? You boys want to go for a ride with me? What is this here? Don't move.
Shut up! How you doing, Pavel? Not so good.
Looks like I got another parking ticket.
I think that's gonna be the least of your problems.
Huh.
Everything all right, Jo? Yeah, everything's great.
You said the bike was used for deliveries, so I'd imagine driving around the city, you'd get a bunch of flats.
Right, and-and in order to fix those flats, you'd have to patch the inner tube, which may leave a print behind.
Wow.
Jo I don't care what everybody says around here, you're good.
Well, let's see how good you are.
Do your thing and get me a good print.
Tell me about the guy on the bike.
He is a bad driver.
So you don't deny hitting him? Well, I was drinking a cup of coffee.
I looked away for a second, and then, boom! I heard shots.
I took off down 7th, and halfway down the block, ka-boom.
He got up, and ran off.
Did you get a good look at his face? I got a good look at my fender.
And you had nothing to do with those shots that were fired? A dead judge is bad for business.
A crooked judge is much better.
So you were just out there following the judge, trying to dig up dirt on him so your boss could blackmail him? Blackmail him? Nyet.
I prefer "negotiate with him.
" And let's say, your friend the judge he might not be so squeaking clean as you think.
"Squeaky.
" "Squeaky clean.
" What do you mean? Well, he makes salary of $175,000.
He has condo on Park Avenue, house in the Hamptons and Key West.
He eats at Stradello's Steakhouse four nights a week.
Has driver on call.
Two daughters at Ivy League university, and a wife who doesn't work but loves to shop.
So if we believe Danshov, he was out there trying to dig up dirt on Corsica, to affect the outcome of the trial by blackmailing him.
Yep.
And Danshov hinted there might be some dirt.
If that's true, it could help explain Corsica's extravagant lifestyle.
I'll take a closer look at the judge's finances.
This might not be about Markov at all.
Take a look at all of his cases, too.
He put a lot of people away for a very long time.
There could be an old grudge.
Hey.
So I got a beautiful three-dimensional plastic print off the patch on the inner tube.
And a hit in AFIS to go along with it.
Nicholas Albertson.
He's 22 years old, he's been in and out of jail for the last eight years.
He's got one felony assault, at age 15.
And since then, drug possession-- weed, mostly-- discon, and resisting arrest.
Not exactly the resume of a killer.
A print on a bike that might be stolen isn't enough for a search warrant.
No active bench warrants.
In fact, no arrests in the past year.
Parole says he's been holding a steady job as a busboy delivery man at Stradello's Steakhouse.
Danshov told me that Corsica was a regular at that same place.
That would give Albertson an opportunity to poison the judge.
And when that didn't work, he shot him-- but why? Could be a connection to one of Alrtson's past convictions.
Otherwise why would he want the judge dead? Let's go ask Nick Albertson.
All units to 34th Street and Grand.
Flack, he's coming your way! Hold it right there! Down! Hey, Nick? I know this may not be the best time, but is the porterhouse as good here as everybody says it is? So, Nick your bike was found lying in the street around the corner from where the judge was murdered, around the time the judge was murdered, by a guy on a bicycle who looks just like you.
Oh, you got me.
I'm the guy who was riding his bike down 7th last night and got hit by a car.
So tell me what kind of time am I looking at? You done? Look, whatever you think I did, you got the wrong guy.
Wrong guys don't run.
I don't like cops.
They come through the door looking for me, I run.
I think you had a good reason to run.
You're leaving out the part of your story where you killed the judge in front of that bakery last night.
You want to hear an amazing coincidence? Hm.
This is crazy.
Judge Corsica was a regular at the steakhouse you work at.
Oh.
We got a lot of regular customers.
But this one ate there a few weeks back, got sick, thought it was food poisoning.
It turns out somebody spiked his drink with antifreeze.
I don't know nothing about that.
Why did you do it, Nick? Why did you want the judge dead? Okay.
I give up.
It was that cheap cologne.
That's what did it-- I mean, I couldn't take it anymore.
Every time, busing that guy's table with that same horrible stench.
You think this is a joke? I think this whole thing is a joke.
So you were out there last night.
But you didn't do nothing.
You didn't shoot nobody, you didn't see or hear anybody shoot anybody.
That's your story? That's what you're going with, Nick? That's what I'm going with.
Danshov was parked here, with a perfect line of sight to the crime scene here.
All the witnesses have the shooter coming this way, firing the shots and then heading down Majestic Alley.
But Albertson says he was coming in the opposite direction, turned south on 7th, and was struck when he jumped through two parked cars, right here.
And the driver's side of Danshov's fender confirms that.
But if Albertson came down this alley, after shooting the judge, dumped out onto 7th, then how'd he get hit on the driver's side? But he didn't.
None of this makes sense.
Eight years ago, Judge Corsica was hearing Juvenile Court cases.
He sentenced Nick Albertson on that shoplifting charge when he was just 14.
A shoplifting arrest from that far back seems like a stretch for a motive.
It was listed on his rap sheet, it's listed in our NYPD computer system It is not listed in the Criminal Court computer system.
Someone erased it.
I had to go down to the basement of the courthouse, and pull the original paper file.
Kid stole a pack of gum from a bodega? It was his first offense.
Prosecutor recommends two weeks of community service.
So why would Corsica sentence Nick to three months at Forest Brook Juvenile Camp? Nick Albertson was the lookout at the bodega.
This is Tommy Hill.
He was the co-defendant in the shoplifting case.
Like Nick, no prior arrest, his prosecutor recommended community service.
He got six months at Forest Brook.
His case wasn't in the court computer, either, was it? You are catching on fast.
There's something so much bigger here at play, Mac, than a couple of harsh sentences handed out, because in 2003, a couple of weeks before these kids were supposed to go to Forest Brook, the place was in financial ruin.
So this guy, James Nelson, swoops in and buys it on the cheap.
Most of these camps are privately owned, for-profit operations.
The state pays a fee for every kid sent there.
Yes, a very generous fee.
So for the two years after Nelson buys it, Judge Corsica sends twice as many kids to Forest Brook than any other Juvenile Court judge.
More kids, more money.
So your theory is, Corsica gets kickbacks to boost enrollment at Forest Brook on behalf of James Nelson.
There's no record of any of these cases in the Criminal Court computer system.
Somebody was trying to cover their tracks.
An appointment to the Criminal Court would mean a thorough vetting of Corsica's entire judicial career.
Nick Albertson should have never gone to a place like Forest Brook.
And it turns out a lot of other kids suffered the same fate.
Gives him motive.
But how would a kid like Nick get access to those records, and that kind of information? You rang? Yes, I did.
I was able to extract a usable profile from the remnants of the sandwich-- it isn't perfect, and some of the thresholds are questionable but I think we have our burglar.
You didn't just find our burglar, Sheldon, I think you just found our killer.
Don't do anything stupid, all right? Don't move.
Don't move.
Got him? Yeah, I got him.
What do we got? Bullet hole Bullet impact mark Burglary starter kit Gun Boom.
Boom.
Ah Lindsay's missing bullet.
And our murder weapon.
Mr.
Hill, you've been through the system before; you know how this works.
Save your breath, pal.
I did it.
I put a bullet in that son of a bitch, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
How did you know, Tommy? How'd you find out what the judge did to you and Nick? I got Tommy a job at the steakhouse a few weeks ago.
Busing tables, doing deliveries I was trying to help him.
Right.
It was his second night.
The judge was a regular, and I'd bused his tables before, but this was the first time I saw Nelson.
Nelson is the warden from Forest Brook.
And they were together at the same table.
You got something on your mind, son? No, sir.
I just thought you looked like someone.
I look like someone what? Nothing.
It was my mistake.
Well, then, wipe that stupid look off your face, and go tell the waitress this gentleman needs another Manhattan.
Yes, sir.
Nick came into the kitchen and told me, so I went to see for myself.
You know who that little piece of garbage is, now.
Come on, think.
How the hell would I know the busboy? He helped you pay for that boat you have sitting at the marina.
Well, that narrows it down to a couple of thousand kids.
- Nick Albertson.
- Real pretty mother.
She hired the attorney that was snooping around his case when we first started out, remember? I mean, she almost blew up the whole thing.
Oh, yeah.
How the hell could I forget that? It cost us 1,500 bucks to get that ambulance chaser to go away.
That was money well spent.
Made us much more careful who we do our business with.
We always knew something was up.
But once Tommy heard those guys talking, it didn't take a genius to figure out what they were doing at Forest Brook.
So you and Tommy went to get a little payback.
I couldn't let it go.
Nick wanted to go to the cops.
I laughed at him.
I told him it was crazy.
I mean, who are the cops gonna believe? Couple guys like us or a judge? So you poured antifreeze into his drink? I didn't even know what the hell I was doing.
I just heard it could kill him if he drank it.
Then when that failed, you decided to shoot him.
Nick-- he tried to talk me out of it.
He really did.
Even came to my place to try to stop me.
You cannot do this! Let go of me, Nick.
Come on, man, this is my chance.
That son of a bitch is gonna be out there like a sitting duck.
Then let it go, Tommy, okay? He's gonna have a whole bunch of protection, and you're just gonna get yourself killed.
Tommy, you do not have to do this.
I said let go! I tried to get there.
Okay? I tried to stop him.
I was coming down 45th and I saw the flashes and I heard the shots.
I saw him go down the alley, and I went down 7th to try to catch up with him.
You know what happens to good kids in a place like Forest Brook? They turn bad real fast, or they get eaten alive.
When the judge remanded me to Forest Brook, I looked around the courtroom to see if there was another Nick Albertson.
I was waiting for someone to stand up and say there'd been some mistake.
But nobody did.
So, I went away-- three months.
And I get in a fight over my sneakers, and I mess a kid up, and they call it assault.
I got 12 more months.
I had a good life.
I just made the JV baseball team.
I was gonna be the starting shortstop.
I had a new glove sitting on my dresser.
And all that was taken away from me.
It's too late for me! I'm too, I'm too far gone! But that man stole my life away from me.
I think it's only fair that I took his! You don't get to make that choice.
There's a system of justice.
What's gonna happen to that bastard Nelson? 'Cause I would've got him too.
The police commissioner is expected to step to the podium at any moment.
Sources within the NYPD are reporting two men have been arrested in connection with the shooting death of Judge Vincent Corsica.
The suspects have been identified as Brooklyn residents Nicholas Albertson and Thomas Hill, both 22 years old.
James Nelson! NYPD! Open up! of Russian organized crime figure Victor Markov and may date back to Mr.
Corsica's days as a Juvenile Court judge.
One of the witnesses interviewed at the sc-- Mr.
Nelson, it's the police.
Open the door.
Go! What's up? Hey, I need your help, Don.
I need to talk to Ali Rand again.
I have some concerns about the hearing tomorrow.
What kind of concerns? Like, character stuff, because of the escort thing? No, science stuff.
Her tox report came back, and she had GHB in her system.
The date rape drug.
That's what this guy does, right? Right, but the levels of GHB in her blood are not consistent with the timeline that she told me.
So, what, you're saying you think it might be a problem that she doesn't remember what time she got raped? She was drugged.
And beat up pretty bad.
I'm saying I need to talk to her again.
Why are we doing this again? I already told you everything that happened.
Is something wrong? You don't believe me, do you? I knew this was gonna happen.
I'm so stupid.
Calm down, Ali.
I believe you, okay? I just have a few questions I need to ask you to clear something up before the hearing tomorrow, okay? Of course.
I'm sorry.
It's really important that you tell us the truth.
You can't leave out even the smallest detail.
Do you understand? Do you use drugs, prescription or otherwise? Uh, I-I drink mostly, I smoke weed every now and then, but that's it.
And have you ever tried a drug called GHB? Isn't that what John Curtis put in my drink? Yes, but I mean other than that.
No.
Never.
And did you have anything at all to eat or drink between the time you woke up from the attack and the time you came into the precinct to report it? No.
I had a bottle of water from a newsstand.
You're sure about what time you started feeling drugged at the bar? Yes.
I'm positive.
I know what time I was there.
Okay.
Thank you, Ali.
That's it? You don't have to ask me anything else? Is everything okay? Everything's fine.
You take care of yourself, okay? I'll see you at the hearing tomorrow.
Are you sure? I'll see you tomorrow.
Think she's lying about the drugs? It's not what I think, it's what the science says.
What are you going to do about the hearing tomorrow? I'm gonna tell the truth.
Based on what she just told us, the levels of GHB in her blood-- they're not improbable.
They're impossible.
So, based on the cognitive state of the victim before, during and after the alleged attack, what quantity of GHB would you estimate she ingested? Well, it's not exact, but I would say approximately 100 milligrams.
Your reports indicate you collected blood samples from Miss Rand ten hours after she alleges the defendant drugged her.
That's correct.
And what levels of GHB do your reports indicate were present in her system at that time? Two milligrams per kilogram.
Am I correct when I say that a 100 milligram dose of GHB is eliminated from the blood within about four to six hours? Yes.
Am I also correct to say that half the amount of GHB is eliminated from the blood every 30 minutes? The half-life of GHB is generally 30 minutes.
Then, based on that math, what amount of GHB would Miss Rand have ingested for a two-milligrams- per-kilogram concentration to remain in her system ten hours after the alleged incident? That's ten times the dosage you described.
Please tell the court the expected dose-related effect on a person who's ingested Death.
Death? So either your test is wrong, your report is wrong, or Miss Rand is wrong and is lying about when she was drugged, or even if she was drugged because, as we can all see, she is most certainly still alive.
Your Honor.
Thank you, Detective Messer.
Mr.
Curtis, please stand.
The purpose of this preliminary hearing today was to determine if there is probable cause for the State to continue with the case pending against you.
And based on the evidence we've heard from the witnesses here this morning, it is my opinion that there is more than sufficient evidence to merit those charges.
The defense request for a dismissal of all charges is denied.
Unfortunately, some of the testimony we've heard here this morning is cause for concern, and raises grave questions as to the credibility of the victim.
I find these discrepancies troubling enough that I have been moved to grant defense counsel's request for a reduced bail from $500,000 down to the sum of $25,000.
This court is adjourned.
We'll see everyone back here on the eighth of January.
He's in New York.
The woman walked in the Flags precinct, he took the report, and then he recognized Curtis as your old DC rape case.
Who is she, the victim? Her name is Allie Rand.
I remember you telling me how in DC your colleague made a mistake in the first round of DNA testing and then destroyed the documentation.
You don't have to worry.
I'm not gonna screw this up.
I know how important this is to you.
This case eats away at me.
Serena Matthews, the senator's daughter-- you were innocent of that, right? Your DNA was planted on her underwear? I was acquitted.
You didn't think she'd report it, so you told her your name.
I got nothing to say about this.
You want to railroad me, talk to my lawyer.
What are we gonna do? Calm down.
Just calm down, okay? It was an accident.
We should just go to the police.
- Are you crazy? - He's your ex-boyfriend.
People saw me threaten him at the party.
- He came at you! - You were defending yourself! I'll go with you.
And tell them what? That-That he attacked me? That I was defending myself? You think they're gonna believe somebody like me? I'll tell them what happened.
Hey! Get back here! Criminal court judge assassinated in front of a sequestered jury, right under the nose of a half a dozen cops.
Brazen son of a bitch.
Jury asked to come out to take a look at the crime scene the same time of night as the original murder.
Wow.
This is Judge Vinny Corsica, huh? He was presiding over the Victor Markov trial.
Triple murder in front of this bakery a year ago.
Markov-- he's like the Sammy the Bull of Russian organized crime.
That's why we got a dozen bodies on him.
Looks like it just went to a baker's dozen.
Out here in the fields I fight for my meals I get my back into my living Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Shooter was kind enough to leave two casings behind.
The round I pulled out of the window-- smashed beyond recognition, probably useless.
I recovered four casings from the detective's gun.
The witnesses all had him firing a four-round burst in rapid succession.
From that distance, this is a pretty tight grouping.
One, two, three.
Looks like you're missing a bullet.
I'm thinking maybe it's in our ride-by shooter.
Witnesses said the bicycle went down the alley.
Maybe there's a blood trail.
Hey, so what do you think of this fancy getaway vehicle? Doesn't exactly seem like the expected mode of travel for a Russian hit man.
Well, the judge had a 24/7 protection detail 'cause of death threats, street was closed off to cars, so this was a good way of getting close enough to shoot him.
Guess it was no secret he was visiting the crime scene tonight.
It was all over the news.
I'm missing a bullet.
I'm thinking maybe it's in our shooter.
If you're looking for a blood trail, you're not gonna find one.
The only description we have is of a guy on a bike with a hoodie and a backpack.
Not one of those people on the street could I.
D.
the shooter.
This broken glass is from a car headlight.
Maybe the guy who was driving the car that hit this bike can.
As the mayor and commissioner have already stated, the assassination of a Criminal Court judge is an attack on our system of justice, and will not stand.
We'll use every resource available to track down those people responsible and make sure they know how powerful our system of justice is.
Detective Taylor, do you believe Victor Markov ordered the hit? I'm not going to throw Mr.
Markov's name around till we've had time to analyze the evidence.
I can tell you that we will be looking into all of Judge Corsica's cases.
Are you saying Mr.
Markov may not be behind it? No, I'm saying, uh, let us investigate so that we can give you some answers based on fact, not speculation.
That's all for now.
We got a lot of work to do.
Detective, can you give us an update on John Curtis, the D.
C.
rapist? Uh, he'll be in court tomorrow morning for a preliminary hearing.
What about the evidence? Do you think you have a good case? This is an ongoing investigation.
You know I can't discuss the evidence.
Any comment on your number two, Jo Danville, dropping the ball on the original D.
C.
rape case? The FBI lab jack who mishandled the evidence blew the case.
As for Jo Danville, I'll take her courage and integrity over official misconduct every time.
Has she been excluded from the New York case because of political pressure from Senator Matthews? The decisions I make have nothing to do with political pressure from anyone.
I do what's best for the case.
And what's best in this case is Jo Danville sits this one out.
John Curtis, you got a visitor.
What are you doing here? You know you can't talk to me without my attorney.
You won't need your attorney for what I have to say.
Well, I'm pretty sure this isn't a social visit.
So what? Did you come here to gloat? I wish I could gloat.
I wish I could take great pleasure in seeing you sit here in this cell.
But that would be at the expense of Ali Rand and the horrible way you made her suffer.
My pleasure will have to wait until I hear the guilty verdict read at your trial.
I wouldn't be so quick to convict me just yet.
You were a free man.
Makes me sick to my stomach to think that my integrity and my conviction gave you that second chance.
I came here to make you a promise.
You will not walk away this time.
I think you're gonna be disappointed, sweetheart.
I don't think this is gonna turn out the way you want it to.
Oh the people I work with are very good at what they do.
There'll be no mistakes this time.
I'll make a promise to you.
You put that bitch on the stand, your case will fall apart faster than your career did in the FBI.
Don't count on Ali Rand.
I'll see you in court, Mr.
Curtis.
Nothing's ever easy.
I've seen you put a slug together with less.
That must have caused some serious damage.
The bullet hit the sixth rib on the right side, sending fragments in three different directions.
This one ruptured the aorta, killing him almost instantly.
This one, in the kidney, though nonfatal, is most revealing.
In examining the judge's kidney, I discovered something very surprising.
Take a look at this tissue sample.
Calcium oxalate crystals? In both kidneys.
He ingested antifreeze? How long ago? His medical records say he missed a couple of days of work with a bout of food poisoning three weeks ago.
I'm betting his symptoms were caused by ingesting ethylene glycol.
So this shooting wasn't the first attempt on Judge Corsica's life.
Someone tried to poison him.
Attempted poisoning with antifreeze is simple and is easily mixed in with a sweet drink, but it doesn't exactly scream "Russian assassin.
" Polonium or ricin, maybe.
I never heard of a Russian hit man doing a drive-by on a bicycle.
I'm betting the poisoning and the shooting are related.
We have the bullet that killed the judge, now find me the gun and the man that fired it.
Done.
He'll come in and talk to you guys.
Mac, this is Senator Matthews.
Senator.
I apologize if I kept you waiting.
This is his daughter Serena.
Hello.
Hi.
I saw your press conference this morning.
The assassination of a judge is no small thing.
You've got a lot on your plate.
Hope it's not too much.
Always have a lot on my plate.
That's the nature of the business.
Detective Messer's men pulled off the Corsica case to handle the Curtis investigation.
I've seen this animal walk away from what he's done once before.
I will not tolerate any dragging of the feet on this.
No one in this lab knows how to drag their feet.
This is an active investigation and will be treated with the same priority as any other.
Lindsay can update you, but we won't be able to give you any specifics that could compromise the investigation.
Well, I can tell you that our victim's story is corroborated by the preliminary evidence.
She was drugged, taken to a hotel, and then beaten and raped, in much the same manner as your daughter and the other women in the Washington, DC, cases.
How is she doing? As well as can be expected.
But, like you, she's very brave and she's eager to testify.
I don't want her anywhere near this thing.
I already made that call.
But I want you to know it has nothing to do with Jo Danville's abilities.
If my daughter were attacked, I'd want her investigating the case.
Oh! Look who it is.
Where you been? Visiting an old friend.
Catch me up.
All right.
I pulled some partial prints off the bike.
Nothing usable.
But I found food residue on the basket.
So I'm gonna guess that it was used to make food deliveries before it was used to do the ride-by.
Also the paint transfer on the bike came from a Gray 2011 Audi A4 or A6.
Flack's got his guys running around to the body shops in the area, see if anyone came in with front end damage this morning.
Okay, you've been busy.
If Victor Markov is behind this, his hit man got a little sloppy.
I reassembled the bullet fragments Sid pulled out of the judge.
Baikal IJ-70, the Russian equivalent of our .
45.
We don't see too many of these come in through the lab.
Or the 9.
1 millimeter round it fires.
I got no hit in IBIS, and the serial number on the gun is not in any of our databases.
That'd mean it was brought in straight from Russia.
So how is that sloppy? Well, I pulled a print off one of the casings left at the scene.
Vitale Barshay.
Ex-Russian military.
U.
S.
citizen.
Been in the country for eight years.
No apparent ties to Victor Markov.
He works as a translator for an insurance company.
Probably a front for his real job.
We're about to find out.
I got a home address in Brighton Beach.
Flack's paying Mr.
Barshay a visit now.
Vitale Barshay, NYPD! Flack, we have a vehicle approaching! Get your hands where I can see 'em! Barshay, get out with your hands up! Get 'em out of the car! We're gonna need Crime Scene.
Just got back from a ten-day trip to Disney World.
Wife says they had the place cleaned the day after they left.
Cleaning lady has the key.
Yeah, I'm getting nothing.
In addition to the place being cleaned, I'm pretty sure our guy wore gloves.
Mr.
Barshay said he kept a gun, some cash and other valuables in the safe.
He swears that he and his wife were the only ones who knew it was here.
That safe was well-hidden.
Took some know-how to break into it.
This isn't some neighborhood kid.
We're looking for an experienced burglar.
Hard to buy a professional thief moonlighting as a hit man.
He may have fenced a stolen gun.
That gun might lead to our killer.
Hey, guys, look what I found.
He's got something.
Somebody left a doggie bag in the trash bin outside.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! If that's what I think that is, don't open that in here.
It's not that kind of doggie bag, Flack.
You said that they had the place cleaned the day after they left, right? Found some crumbs on the table.
I'm thinking somebody made themselves, yeah, a snack.
No mold or microbial activity.
Hasn't been in there more than a couple days.
That rules out the Barshays and the cleaning lady.
Let's hope it gets us one step closer to the guy who put a bullet in the judge.
Hi! Hey, what are you doing up here, kid? Just picking up the final lab results for the Ali Rand rape case.
How's that going? Good.
I just want to go over everything one last time before the hearing tomorrow.
I don't want any surprises up there on the stand.
No, you're going to be good.
Thanks.
These aren't like cop cars anymore, they're like spaceships.
Yep.
This one was part of the escort out at the crime scene last night.
It's got three cameras mounted on the light rack.
It takes 3,000 plate images per hour.
- Wow.
- Yeah, the plates get run through the criminal database and the images are stored in the hard drive, and if we're lucky, that Audi we're looking for had its picture taken before the shooting went down last night.
The Audi I matched to the bike may be in this computer.
Serena, what are you doing here? My father's upstairs in the D.
A.
's office throwing his weight around.
I was hoping I'd have a chance to talk to you.
I wanted to apologize.
You don't owe me an apology.
No, I I do.
Please just hear me out.
You know, for a while, I was angry at what you did.
It took me some time to get past that and realize how difficult it must have been for you, as a woman, and as a mom, to watch that monster walk away from what he did to me.
Not about me, Serena.
It is about you.
It's not fair that your life was turned upside-down because of it.
My father is an emotional guy.
He had no right to force you out of the FBI.
You know, I'm not so sure I wouldn't have done exactly what your dad did on behalf of one of my own children.
I don't regret my actions.
I do regret that my actions set John Curtis free and what that did to you and your dad but I don't, I don't sleep nights any more since he was let go.
I know that it's stupid and irrational, but I just have this fear that he's going to come after me again.
It's not stupid.
You suffered a traumatic experience.
It is highly unlikely that he will come anywhere near you.
I came because I need to see it.
I need to be in that courtroom and see him in handcuffs being taken off to jail.
Serena What are you doing? We're meeting the mayor for dinner.
We gotta go.
Thanks, Jo.
Take care of yourself.
Quite a young lady you've got there.
Yes, she is.
Okay, what do we know? Might have a line on the murder weapon.
Hawkes is trying to get a usable DNA profile off the sandwich we recovered from the burglary scene.
Wait a second, the guy who broke in the house made a sandwich? What? Your little visit to Mr.
Curtis wasn't a very good idea.
I hope you got whatever it was you had to say off your chest.
I did.
Thanks for not making a big deal about it.
Hey, I found that gray Audi that hit the bike, and I'll tell you, this is no accidental hit and run.
This guy is no witness.
One of Markov's goons rented that gray Audi two weeks ago.
Pavel Danshov.
Collars for assault, possession of a weapon.
That car picked up three parking tickets in the last two days on the same block on the West Side.
Unis found the car sitting there and they're waiting on us to come over.
Well, you better get out there.
Here we go.
All right, that's Danshov.
Get your hands on the car now! Hey, what's going on? Put your hands on the car now! Now, hands on the car! Put your hands on the car now! What's going on? You boys want to go for a ride with me? What is this here? Don't move.
Shut up! How you doing, Pavel? Not so good.
Looks like I got another parking ticket.
I think that's gonna be the least of your problems.
Huh.
Everything all right, Jo? Yeah, everything's great.
You said the bike was used for deliveries, so I'd imagine driving around the city, you'd get a bunch of flats.
Right, and-and in order to fix those flats, you'd have to patch the inner tube, which may leave a print behind.
Wow.
Jo I don't care what everybody says around here, you're good.
Well, let's see how good you are.
Do your thing and get me a good print.
Tell me about the guy on the bike.
He is a bad driver.
So you don't deny hitting him? Well, I was drinking a cup of coffee.
I looked away for a second, and then, boom! I heard shots.
I took off down 7th, and halfway down the block, ka-boom.
He got up, and ran off.
Did you get a good look at his face? I got a good look at my fender.
And you had nothing to do with those shots that were fired? A dead judge is bad for business.
A crooked judge is much better.
So you were just out there following the judge, trying to dig up dirt on him so your boss could blackmail him? Blackmail him? Nyet.
I prefer "negotiate with him.
" And let's say, your friend the judge he might not be so squeaking clean as you think.
"Squeaky.
" "Squeaky clean.
" What do you mean? Well, he makes salary of $175,000.
He has condo on Park Avenue, house in the Hamptons and Key West.
He eats at Stradello's Steakhouse four nights a week.
Has driver on call.
Two daughters at Ivy League university, and a wife who doesn't work but loves to shop.
So if we believe Danshov, he was out there trying to dig up dirt on Corsica, to affect the outcome of the trial by blackmailing him.
Yep.
And Danshov hinted there might be some dirt.
If that's true, it could help explain Corsica's extravagant lifestyle.
I'll take a closer look at the judge's finances.
This might not be about Markov at all.
Take a look at all of his cases, too.
He put a lot of people away for a very long time.
There could be an old grudge.
Hey.
So I got a beautiful three-dimensional plastic print off the patch on the inner tube.
And a hit in AFIS to go along with it.
Nicholas Albertson.
He's 22 years old, he's been in and out of jail for the last eight years.
He's got one felony assault, at age 15.
And since then, drug possession-- weed, mostly-- discon, and resisting arrest.
Not exactly the resume of a killer.
A print on a bike that might be stolen isn't enough for a search warrant.
No active bench warrants.
In fact, no arrests in the past year.
Parole says he's been holding a steady job as a busboy delivery man at Stradello's Steakhouse.
Danshov told me that Corsica was a regular at that same place.
That would give Albertson an opportunity to poison the judge.
And when that didn't work, he shot him-- but why? Could be a connection to one of Alrtson's past convictions.
Otherwise why would he want the judge dead? Let's go ask Nick Albertson.
All units to 34th Street and Grand.
Flack, he's coming your way! Hold it right there! Down! Hey, Nick? I know this may not be the best time, but is the porterhouse as good here as everybody says it is? So, Nick your bike was found lying in the street around the corner from where the judge was murdered, around the time the judge was murdered, by a guy on a bicycle who looks just like you.
Oh, you got me.
I'm the guy who was riding his bike down 7th last night and got hit by a car.
So tell me what kind of time am I looking at? You done? Look, whatever you think I did, you got the wrong guy.
Wrong guys don't run.
I don't like cops.
They come through the door looking for me, I run.
I think you had a good reason to run.
You're leaving out the part of your story where you killed the judge in front of that bakery last night.
You want to hear an amazing coincidence? Hm.
This is crazy.
Judge Corsica was a regular at the steakhouse you work at.
Oh.
We got a lot of regular customers.
But this one ate there a few weeks back, got sick, thought it was food poisoning.
It turns out somebody spiked his drink with antifreeze.
I don't know nothing about that.
Why did you do it, Nick? Why did you want the judge dead? Okay.
I give up.
It was that cheap cologne.
That's what did it-- I mean, I couldn't take it anymore.
Every time, busing that guy's table with that same horrible stench.
You think this is a joke? I think this whole thing is a joke.
So you were out there last night.
But you didn't do nothing.
You didn't shoot nobody, you didn't see or hear anybody shoot anybody.
That's your story? That's what you're going with, Nick? That's what I'm going with.
Danshov was parked here, with a perfect line of sight to the crime scene here.
All the witnesses have the shooter coming this way, firing the shots and then heading down Majestic Alley.
But Albertson says he was coming in the opposite direction, turned south on 7th, and was struck when he jumped through two parked cars, right here.
And the driver's side of Danshov's fender confirms that.
But if Albertson came down this alley, after shooting the judge, dumped out onto 7th, then how'd he get hit on the driver's side? But he didn't.
None of this makes sense.
Eight years ago, Judge Corsica was hearing Juvenile Court cases.
He sentenced Nick Albertson on that shoplifting charge when he was just 14.
A shoplifting arrest from that far back seems like a stretch for a motive.
It was listed on his rap sheet, it's listed in our NYPD computer system It is not listed in the Criminal Court computer system.
Someone erased it.
I had to go down to the basement of the courthouse, and pull the original paper file.
Kid stole a pack of gum from a bodega? It was his first offense.
Prosecutor recommends two weeks of community service.
So why would Corsica sentence Nick to three months at Forest Brook Juvenile Camp? Nick Albertson was the lookout at the bodega.
This is Tommy Hill.
He was the co-defendant in the shoplifting case.
Like Nick, no prior arrest, his prosecutor recommended community service.
He got six months at Forest Brook.
His case wasn't in the court computer, either, was it? You are catching on fast.
There's something so much bigger here at play, Mac, than a couple of harsh sentences handed out, because in 2003, a couple of weeks before these kids were supposed to go to Forest Brook, the place was in financial ruin.
So this guy, James Nelson, swoops in and buys it on the cheap.
Most of these camps are privately owned, for-profit operations.
The state pays a fee for every kid sent there.
Yes, a very generous fee.
So for the two years after Nelson buys it, Judge Corsica sends twice as many kids to Forest Brook than any other Juvenile Court judge.
More kids, more money.
So your theory is, Corsica gets kickbacks to boost enrollment at Forest Brook on behalf of James Nelson.
There's no record of any of these cases in the Criminal Court computer system.
Somebody was trying to cover their tracks.
An appointment to the Criminal Court would mean a thorough vetting of Corsica's entire judicial career.
Nick Albertson should have never gone to a place like Forest Brook.
And it turns out a lot of other kids suffered the same fate.
Gives him motive.
But how would a kid like Nick get access to those records, and that kind of information? You rang? Yes, I did.
I was able to extract a usable profile from the remnants of the sandwich-- it isn't perfect, and some of the thresholds are questionable but I think we have our burglar.
You didn't just find our burglar, Sheldon, I think you just found our killer.
Don't do anything stupid, all right? Don't move.
Don't move.
Got him? Yeah, I got him.
What do we got? Bullet hole Bullet impact mark Burglary starter kit Gun Boom.
Boom.
Ah Lindsay's missing bullet.
And our murder weapon.
Mr.
Hill, you've been through the system before; you know how this works.
Save your breath, pal.
I did it.
I put a bullet in that son of a bitch, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
How did you know, Tommy? How'd you find out what the judge did to you and Nick? I got Tommy a job at the steakhouse a few weeks ago.
Busing tables, doing deliveries I was trying to help him.
Right.
It was his second night.
The judge was a regular, and I'd bused his tables before, but this was the first time I saw Nelson.
Nelson is the warden from Forest Brook.
And they were together at the same table.
You got something on your mind, son? No, sir.
I just thought you looked like someone.
I look like someone what? Nothing.
It was my mistake.
Well, then, wipe that stupid look off your face, and go tell the waitress this gentleman needs another Manhattan.
Yes, sir.
Nick came into the kitchen and told me, so I went to see for myself.
You know who that little piece of garbage is, now.
Come on, think.
How the hell would I know the busboy? He helped you pay for that boat you have sitting at the marina.
Well, that narrows it down to a couple of thousand kids.
- Nick Albertson.
- Real pretty mother.
She hired the attorney that was snooping around his case when we first started out, remember? I mean, she almost blew up the whole thing.
Oh, yeah.
How the hell could I forget that? It cost us 1,500 bucks to get that ambulance chaser to go away.
That was money well spent.
Made us much more careful who we do our business with.
We always knew something was up.
But once Tommy heard those guys talking, it didn't take a genius to figure out what they were doing at Forest Brook.
So you and Tommy went to get a little payback.
I couldn't let it go.
Nick wanted to go to the cops.
I laughed at him.
I told him it was crazy.
I mean, who are the cops gonna believe? Couple guys like us or a judge? So you poured antifreeze into his drink? I didn't even know what the hell I was doing.
I just heard it could kill him if he drank it.
Then when that failed, you decided to shoot him.
Nick-- he tried to talk me out of it.
He really did.
Even came to my place to try to stop me.
You cannot do this! Let go of me, Nick.
Come on, man, this is my chance.
That son of a bitch is gonna be out there like a sitting duck.
Then let it go, Tommy, okay? He's gonna have a whole bunch of protection, and you're just gonna get yourself killed.
Tommy, you do not have to do this.
I said let go! I tried to get there.
Okay? I tried to stop him.
I was coming down 45th and I saw the flashes and I heard the shots.
I saw him go down the alley, and I went down 7th to try to catch up with him.
You know what happens to good kids in a place like Forest Brook? They turn bad real fast, or they get eaten alive.
When the judge remanded me to Forest Brook, I looked around the courtroom to see if there was another Nick Albertson.
I was waiting for someone to stand up and say there'd been some mistake.
But nobody did.
So, I went away-- three months.
And I get in a fight over my sneakers, and I mess a kid up, and they call it assault.
I got 12 more months.
I had a good life.
I just made the JV baseball team.
I was gonna be the starting shortstop.
I had a new glove sitting on my dresser.
And all that was taken away from me.
It's too late for me! I'm too, I'm too far gone! But that man stole my life away from me.
I think it's only fair that I took his! You don't get to make that choice.
There's a system of justice.
What's gonna happen to that bastard Nelson? 'Cause I would've got him too.
The police commissioner is expected to step to the podium at any moment.
Sources within the NYPD are reporting two men have been arrested in connection with the shooting death of Judge Vincent Corsica.
The suspects have been identified as Brooklyn residents Nicholas Albertson and Thomas Hill, both 22 years old.
James Nelson! NYPD! Open up! of Russian organized crime figure Victor Markov and may date back to Mr.
Corsica's days as a Juvenile Court judge.
One of the witnesses interviewed at the sc-- Mr.
Nelson, it's the police.
Open the door.
Go! What's up? Hey, I need your help, Don.
I need to talk to Ali Rand again.
I have some concerns about the hearing tomorrow.
What kind of concerns? Like, character stuff, because of the escort thing? No, science stuff.
Her tox report came back, and she had GHB in her system.
The date rape drug.
That's what this guy does, right? Right, but the levels of GHB in her blood are not consistent with the timeline that she told me.
So, what, you're saying you think it might be a problem that she doesn't remember what time she got raped? She was drugged.
And beat up pretty bad.
I'm saying I need to talk to her again.
Why are we doing this again? I already told you everything that happened.
Is something wrong? You don't believe me, do you? I knew this was gonna happen.
I'm so stupid.
Calm down, Ali.
I believe you, okay? I just have a few questions I need to ask you to clear something up before the hearing tomorrow, okay? Of course.
I'm sorry.
It's really important that you tell us the truth.
You can't leave out even the smallest detail.
Do you understand? Do you use drugs, prescription or otherwise? Uh, I-I drink mostly, I smoke weed every now and then, but that's it.
And have you ever tried a drug called GHB? Isn't that what John Curtis put in my drink? Yes, but I mean other than that.
No.
Never.
And did you have anything at all to eat or drink between the time you woke up from the attack and the time you came into the precinct to report it? No.
I had a bottle of water from a newsstand.
You're sure about what time you started feeling drugged at the bar? Yes.
I'm positive.
I know what time I was there.
Okay.
Thank you, Ali.
That's it? You don't have to ask me anything else? Is everything okay? Everything's fine.
You take care of yourself, okay? I'll see you at the hearing tomorrow.
Are you sure? I'll see you tomorrow.
Think she's lying about the drugs? It's not what I think, it's what the science says.
What are you going to do about the hearing tomorrow? I'm gonna tell the truth.
Based on what she just told us, the levels of GHB in her blood-- they're not improbable.
They're impossible.
So, based on the cognitive state of the victim before, during and after the alleged attack, what quantity of GHB would you estimate she ingested? Well, it's not exact, but I would say approximately 100 milligrams.
Your reports indicate you collected blood samples from Miss Rand ten hours after she alleges the defendant drugged her.
That's correct.
And what levels of GHB do your reports indicate were present in her system at that time? Two milligrams per kilogram.
Am I correct when I say that a 100 milligram dose of GHB is eliminated from the blood within about four to six hours? Yes.
Am I also correct to say that half the amount of GHB is eliminated from the blood every 30 minutes? The half-life of GHB is generally 30 minutes.
Then, based on that math, what amount of GHB would Miss Rand have ingested for a two-milligrams- per-kilogram concentration to remain in her system ten hours after the alleged incident? That's ten times the dosage you described.
Please tell the court the expected dose-related effect on a person who's ingested Death.
Death? So either your test is wrong, your report is wrong, or Miss Rand is wrong and is lying about when she was drugged, or even if she was drugged because, as we can all see, she is most certainly still alive.
Your Honor.
Thank you, Detective Messer.
Mr.
Curtis, please stand.
The purpose of this preliminary hearing today was to determine if there is probable cause for the State to continue with the case pending against you.
And based on the evidence we've heard from the witnesses here this morning, it is my opinion that there is more than sufficient evidence to merit those charges.
The defense request for a dismissal of all charges is denied.
Unfortunately, some of the testimony we've heard here this morning is cause for concern, and raises grave questions as to the credibility of the victim.
I find these discrepancies troubling enough that I have been moved to grant defense counsel's request for a reduced bail from $500,000 down to the sum of $25,000.
This court is adjourned.
We'll see everyone back here on the eighth of January.