Law & Order: Los Angeles (2010) s01e20 Episode Script
El Sereno
NARRATOR: In the city of Los Angeles 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.
But I thought the house we're buying was in foreclosure.
The bank messed up the paperwork.
They're supposed to call me today.
I'm sorry I can't stay, Mr.
Vela.
I have to get to my church picnic.
Don't forget to buy my raffle ticket.
Okay.
What about the other house? The one with the red shutters.
We can swing the payment Yeah.
For the first year, but then you'll be in over your head before you know it.
Look, just be patient, okay? You'll get the house you want and it won't keep you up at night.
(BABY GURGLING) That's her job.
(LAUGHS) Mr.
Vela's right.
We don't want those kinds of worries.
I just want Zuleima to have her first birthday in her own backyard, you know? Lots of balloons, a big piñata.
You'd like that, hey, beautiful? (CELL PHONE RINGING) Hola.
Yeah, sure.
Hold on.
It's Mr.
Vela, he wants to talk to both of us.
Go ahead, Mr.
Vela.
(COOING) VELA: Good news.
I just called the bank officer at home, your foreclosure got straightened out.
The house is yours, muchachos.
Oh! (LOUD CLAMORING OVER PHONE) (GUN FIRING) VELA: No, no, no, no! (SPEAKING SPANISH) Get in here quick! Shut the door.
What do you want? No! (GUN FIRING) Mr.
Vela? Mr.
Vela? SERGEANT: The 911 call came in just after 4:00.
Six dead.
We got empty purses, wallets and watches missing.
Nine millimeter casings by the front door.
Suspect came in shooting.
Not your typical MO for a stick-up.
SERGEANT: People were on the phone with the owner, Mr.
Vela, when they heard it go down.
Mr.
Vela's been doing business here 14 years.
He's got a good rep in the neighborhood.
Any indication how the suspect got in the building? My guys found the doors downstairs locked.
Building manager says they keep them locked on the weekends.
Hey, somebody's bad habit is probably what let the suspect in.
Same brand as the victim's.
The shooter was watching the place, figured somebody would be coming out for a cigarette break.
Followed the smoker back in before the door closed.
It's not a great part of the neighborhood.
No, but it looks like the people in Mr.
Vela's office were doing well.
Maybe somebody up there didn't like having their nose rubbed in it.
Big shots.
Practically every day I hear them leave in their fancy cars, racing their engines.
Did you hear anything today around 4:00? Yeah.
Pop, pop, pop.
Then I heard a door slam.
I looked out and saw someone running between the buildings.
What did this person look like? Sorry.
My eyes are going.
Because of the diabetes.
Look, I'm telling you, I didn't see nothing, all right? I was out all afternoon.
Come on, miss, I know you got something for me.
You were just down in the laundry room.
You heard people talking.
(SIGHS) All right, broke-ass Eddie Ramos, he never has two nickels to rub together.
He's flashing a big roll tonight.
He's asking out every other girl in the neighborhood.
All right.
(EDDIE SPEAKING SPANISH) Hey, Eddie Ramos! You stay and the rest go.
Come on, man, what's up with this? As soon as I get a little ahead, you guys show up.
Don't sweat it, Eddie.
Just wondering where you got the stake to get in the game in the first place.
I got a little business going.
Washing cars around the corner.
Too bad you forgot to wash the blood off those bills.
Hey, man, it was like that when I found it, all right? Well, you better show us where.
Let's go.
(SIGHS) That bag right there.
There.
I found it here when I was taking a leak.
Yeah, that's it.
I count five wallets and four watches.
I didn't touch no wallets.
I just took the cash that was loose.
And that nice watch on your wrist.
Yeah.
That, too.
I'm not feeling it with Eddie.
His story holds, plus witnesses saw him out on the corner most of the afternoon.
So what are we thinking? Suspect dropped the swag by mistake? Or the whole stick-up angle's a misdirect? I go with misdirect.
The suspect tried to throw us off the scent.
The mortgage office was a mess, files everywhere, like somebody worked out their anger with a nine millimeter.
Well, who can tell us what there was to be angry about? Maybe the three brokers who weren't working this afternoon.
Mortgage brokers aren't the most popular people these days, but our office was different.
Mr.
Vela helped a lot of people get into their first homes.
Well, he had most of the staff working on a Saturday.
Was there a problem? No, we just had a lot of time sensitive applications to get out the door because of the foreclosure mess.
And you just happened to not be there? Hey, those people were my friends.
All right.
Just answer the question, Mr.
Pena.
Well, I was on my way back from seeing a client, the traffic on the Pomona Freeway was backed up, so I hopped off, grabbed some lunch and went home.
I didn't have as many deals closing as the other brokers did.
So I went home early.
Otherwise I'd be dead like the rest of them.
A lot of people trying to hold onto their homes in this market.
Some customers must get pretty emotional.
Yeah.
We get the occasional hot head.
You're thinking of one right now.
Last Friday, when I was out at lunch, everyone was talking about this Asian guy.
He went off on Mr.
V.
He was a Korean businessman.
He tried to borrow money to buy a strip mall.
You could hear him shouting even with the door shut.
Did he make a specific threat? I didn't hear, all I know is that after, Mr.
V told us to warn him if Danny Choi showed up again.
I trusted him.
I had a chance to buy a corner strip mall in El Sereno.
I thought it'd be easy through Vela, but I was wrong.
The bank rejected my application.
When I asked Vela why, he wouldn't tell me.
And that's when I started to get mad.
I didn't shoot him.
I was here all day.
Everybody saw me.
Yeah, we'll ask them.
What'd you do after you got mad? I went to the bank to ask what happened.
They said they had trouble with applications from Vela's office.
TJ: What kind of trouble? They said the mortgage applications were filled with lies.
I proved to them that my application was okay.
They said it didn't matter.
They weren't doing business with Vela anymore.
Whatever I told Mr.
Choi is beside the point.
You'll have to go through corporate in Missouri.
We're not just gonna open up our approval process.
It'd be great publicity for their banks, slowing down a homicide investigation with six victims.
Why'd you stop doing business with Vela? Five of their applications came up tilt.
Inflated income.
Hidden debt.
It looked like someone was trying to defraud us of over $2 million.
Borrowers? I don't think so.
I told Mr.
Choi that even though his application was fine, we just couldn't take the chance.
So who are you pointing the finger at? Vela or someone in his office? All I know is that's not how we do business.
I stamped the applications rejected and I sent them back.
That's the last I heard from Mr.
Vela.
My old man used to say "When it's sunny out, "banks will give you an umbrella.
"The second it starts raining, they'll take it back.
" That's why I'm happy renting.
I'm not finding the rejected applications from the bank.
They're not in here either.
Maybe it's what the shooter was after.
Loan fraud.
Only the nine people in this office could have worked on those applications.
And six of them are dead.
A $2 million loan fraud.
We don't know who prepared the bogus applications or who the borrowers were.
Well, if all the shooter wanted were those applications, why didn't he just break in? Shooting all those people, this guy's got a big time grudge.
That argues for the other co-workers.
We've got Al Hayes.
He was the rookie, worked there less than a year.
He said he was home when the shootings happened.
Then we got Debbie Beltran, she said she went to a church picnic, and then home.
You don't hear about too many women shooting up their workplace.
Felipe Pena's alibi is that he was stuck in traffic on the Pomona Freeway, then he went home to his wife and kids.
The problem is that that freeway was clear that afternoon.
But there was a sig alert on the 605 connecter between the 10 and the Pomona freeway.
Debbie Beltran, she lives in El Monte.
Right where the connector feeds into the 10.
I'm not lying.
I went home after the picnic.
Debbie, we have cell phone records that prove that Felipe called his home from your house just after 3:00.
I don't see how that's any of your business.
This is a murder investigation.
Everything is our business.
We know about the bad loan applications, Debbie.
That was a mistake and it was only that one time.
Keep talking.
I was trying to refinance my own house, and I I couldn't get the numbers to work, so I fudged it.
Felipe caught it.
And, well He showed me how to work the numbers so I could get the loan.
Why would he do that? Because he's helping me pay my mortgage.
She told you all that? Man, that's why you can't put women in charge of the CIA.
They talk too much.
Let's talk about you.
You pay a mortgage on your house, you're helping Debbie with hers.
That's a big nut every month.
I'm good at what I do.
I close a lot of deals.
You know how to work the numbers.
A magician is what Debbie called you.
I follow industry standards.
What about the loans that got rejected by Southland Pacific Bank? I never had any loans rejected because I made sure my loans never went to Southland Pacific.
Those guys make a federal case if you drop a comma.
We're going to check that.
So again, for the record, where were you between In Debbie's bed.
You don't have to tell my wife, do you? A man with two wives loses his soul.
A man with two houses loses his mind.
Tell me about it.
The timing here is pretty tight.
He made two calls on his cell from Debbie's house at 3:05 and 4:25.
An hour and 20 minutes from El Monte to El Sereno and back.
It's do-able.
Barely.
Before we take this to the D.
A.
, nail down that Felipe was the one who prepared the rejected loans, okay? We need to talk to the borrowers.
They could tell us.
Well, the first thing they do when you apply for a loan is check your credit report.
There's got to be a list of all the reports the mortgage office pulled.
You saw how bad my credit report is? I was ready to say, "Forget it," but the mortgage broker wouldn't let me quit.
Who was your broker? Al Hayes.
Did you ever deal with a Felipe Pena? No.
Uh-uh.
Just Mr.
Hayes.
I swear he needed that loan approved worse than I did.
Why do you say that? He kept saying it was hard for folks like us to get loans past his boss.
REX: Folks like you? Black people.
He said the deck was stacked, so he had to add seasoning to my loan package to make me look better.
Yeah? How'd that work out for you? The bank turned me down.
When I spoke with Mr.
Hayes, he said if his boss Mr.
Vela called, I shouldn't talk to him.
He say why? He just said he'd handle everything.
He was always handling everything.
He even had me get mortgage insurance from his girlfriend.
A lot of people in Mr.
Vela's office referred business to me, not just Al.
I lost a lot of friends that afternoon.
I'm just thankful that Al didn't You saw him that day? Yes, of course, I was having lunch at my parents' when I saw the news on the TV and I called him right away.
TJ: He wasn't with you at your parents'? No.
He stayed home.
They don't like that he's divorced with kids.
(CHUCKLES) I know that feeling.
Did Al ever complain about how the office was run? No.
He got along with everyone, but it was rough on him in the beginning, him being the odd man out.
Odd man? Why? Because he was new? (SCOFFS) You mean, because he's black.
It's embarrassing to hear my own people act like racists.
Something happened? At the office barbeque last summer, I heard someone refer to him as a mayate.
Something happen to your shredder? It got jammed up a few days ago.
Did Al know people were calling him names behind his back? I didn't tell him.
He was already frustrated thinking that they were keeping the good leads from him.
But it had all gotten so much better lately.
How's that? Well, he has a lot of closings coming up.
Just the other day, before all this happened, he said he was about ready to start his own firm.
And that then maybe we can finally get married.
So while Hayes's loans are being rejected by the bank, he's telling his fiancée he's starting his own business.
Flight into fantasy.
He was probably about to get canned.
Excuse me, sir! If you're going to throw that away, we'll take it.
Knock yourself out.
All right.
Yellow and green.
Look familiar? The shreds in the machine matched the folders in Vela's office, same material, same color.
We think the shredded folders contained the bogus loan applications that Hayes prepared.
The working theory is that Hayes felt he was being singled out for being the only black guy in the office, he thought maybe he was about to be fired, or even prosecuted for loan fraud.
So he got angry, killed his co-workers, stole the applications and shredded them at his girlfriend's office.
Love the theory.
Your evidence, not so much.
Can we prove definitively that the shredded files came from Al's office? No, not yet, but the lab found blood on some of the folders.
It might match the victims.
Hayes is clean.
No record, but he's in the database as a witness to a robbery at a bank where he worked two years ago.
And the detective who worked the case noted that Hayes was very traumatized by the incident, and asked how he could get a gun for protection.
An expressed desire to obtain a gun.
On top of everything else, I think we have probable cause for a search.
This is crazy.
Al didn't have anything to do with that massacre.
Did you have your office keys with you Saturday? No.
I left them in that bowl by the door.
Al, baby, call me back.
The police are still here.
Hey, Winters! Yeah? Nine millimeter rounds in the closet.
Half the box is empty.
Where is Al now? I don't know.
He was supposed to pick up his kids and bring them here, but he hung up on me before and now he's not answering.
(POLICE CAR SIRENS BLARING) Al, come on out! Al! What's going on, ma'am? Let me in! Please! Ma'am? Oh, my ex-husband is inside with our kids.
REX: Mr.
Hayes.
He might have taken them into the back in the bedroom.
Does he have a gun? All right.
Come on.
Get against the house.
Right there.
Here.
Dial his number.
Okay.
(PHONE RINGING) Go with him.
(CELL PHONE RINGING) Who is this? Mr.
Hayes, this is Detective Winters.
We talked a couple of days ago.
I know who you are.
Yeah, you can call me Rex.
Can I call you Al? Or Albert? Albert.
Okay, Albert, I'd like to come inside and make sure your kids are all right.
They're fine, all right? No one's getting in my house! It's my house! I paid for it! I understand, Albert.
We need to talk about how we're going to resolve this situation.
You know, it doesn't have to end badly.
Oh, so now you're going to tell me that there's a better way out of this.
I know what you think I did.
I won't lie to you, Albert, I'm sure you had your reasons.
We can talk about that later.
Why, huh? I mean, if you got your mind made up, there's no point talking to you.
No, there is.
Trust me.
I want to hear what you have to say, but it would be a hell of a lot easier if your kids weren't in the middle of this.
Albert? Albert? Albert, did you hear me? Junior, get up.
Albert? Albert, did you hear me? You know I love you, right? REX: Albert? Boys! Come on, boys! Come here! Oh, God.
That was the right call, Albert.
I got a couple of my own.
Yeah, and I suppose that makes us brothers now, like you could understand what I've been through.
You're right, I don't know.
But I'm here talking to you as a man.
That's all I've got.
Let me ask you something, as a man, if you going to hang this thing on me, why shouldn't I just end it on my terms? I don't have a good answer for you, Albert.
(SIREN WAILING) You've got two beautiful kids here.
If it was me, I wouldn't want them carrying around something like that for the rest of their lives.
Come on out! Come on, get down on your knees.
Come on.
Get out! Get down on your knees! Hands on your head! All right, let's go.
It's a.
22.
Right guy, wrong gun.
Damn it.
Six counts murder with special circumstances.
How do you plead? Not guilty, Your Honor.
People on bail.
The People ask that the defendant be held without bail, Your Honor.
He's facing the death penalty, he has no job, no meaningful ties to the community.
Your Honor, Mr.
Hayes is deeply bonded to his children.
The very same children he held hostage when the police came to question him.
I would dispute that characterization, Your Honor, and I would add that my client was arrested with a.
22 caliber handgun while the murder victims were shot with a nine millimeter weapon.
The police found nine millimeter ammunition in Mr.
Hayes's home.
Nice try, Mr.
Spicer.
The defendant will be held without bail.
Thank you.
You just have to look at the front page of the Post to see what's happening here.
The police had a cannon aimed at their head and no leads.
So they put the weight on the one black man in an all-Hispanic office.
Every step of the way, this investigation was corrupted by institutional racism.
And we intend to prove it by filing a Pitchess Motion later today to demand the personnel records of all the officers involved.
Mr.
Dekker, any comment? Did race play a role? We have nothing to fear from Mr.
Spicer's motion.
This investigation was led by the evidence, and the evidence here is color-blind.
The truth is, Mr.
Hayes is a mass murderer who just happens to be black.
Thank you.
Bold words.
Yeah, let's make sure I don't have to eat them.
So now all the big guns are getting wheeled out? When a judge grants a Pitchess Motion, allowing the defense to examine police personnel files, this office takes it seriously.
This is ridiculous.
How did we get to be the ones on trial? Never mind that.
We already have evidentiary issues.
Not the least of which is the fact that we don't have a murder weapon.
Look, we're all grownups.
We all know the history of this department.
JONAH: And if either one of you has had a problem, we need to know about it.
Winters, you were on a job during the King riots, right? Six weeks out of the academy.
It's all in my file.
I'd stand by anything I did back then.
I got nothing to hide either.
Anyone who's been on the street shouldn't answer that too quickly.
Go home and think about it.
Everybody's got something.
So why isn't the Defense pulling your file, Counselor? That was some vote of confidence you gave them.
You know, maybe we're overreacting.
Spicer's playing the race card because he's desperate.
Miss Stanton, you may have been in junior high school during the O.
J.
trials, but Joe and I were here.
Once that card is played, it infects everything, this office included.
Not to mention Spicer just needs to swing one juror.
So how do you suggest we stop him? Well, if Spicer's using racism as a shield for his client, maybe we can use it as a sword.
We show racism is what drove Hayes to murder.
LAUREN: He's facing the death penalty.
Psychological factors could make a difference in sentencing.
Something happened to Al.
I mean, it all started at his old job right before he got robbed.
At the bank? That must have been very traumatic for him.
He couldn't sleep at night.
He actually had to quit the bank.
But it didn't help.
He had always been a little thin skinned, but then after that, I mean, everything just started getting to him.
Every little insult, every look.
He saw racism everywhere.
Well, it wasn't all paranoia.
I mean, he didn't just imagine that every Spanish person got promoted ahead of him.
Or that Mr.
Vela gave all the good leads to everyone but him, but I said to Al, "Yes, it's real, but don't let that be who you are.
"Just let it roll off your back.
" What did he say to that? Nothing.
And then he got obsessed with protecting his family.
Is that when he bought the gun? The.
22? Yes.
And I started getting afraid.
I wouldn't leave him alone with the kids anymore.
You were afraid he was going to hurt them? I gave him the name of a therapist for him to go to, but he would never go.
And after that, I realized he wasn't the man I married anymore.
So I changed the locks and filed the papers.
(SIGHS) I'm very sorry.
You know, it's so funny because (CRYING) right before the cops got here, he was like the old Al again.
What do you mean by that? He was talking about how he had been to Griffith Park the other day at the merry-go-round, thinking about all the sweet times we had together with the kids.
Mmm.
(SNIFFING) Sounds like Hayes might have started with a legitimate beef.
But he ended it with a gun.
KAVANAUGH: Yo, you guys see this? So we stopped this car for driving with a broken tail light.
And I told my partner, "This isn't racial profiling, this is common sense.
" So we pulled the car over and I made that driver get out.
He didn't match our description.
In fact, he turned out to be a teacher.
But once he started giving me lip, that didn't matter, all I saw was a black face.
So we proned that guy out and we cuffed him, and we put him in the back of our cruiser.
And when I saw the scared look on his face, I realized that I liked it.
I felt good.
I felt powerful.
I was a big, bad cop.
You know what I'm talking about.
(DOOR CLOSES) Looks like Al Hayes found his racist cop.
The video appears to be heavily edited.
It's hard to know what the Lieutenant meant without knowing the context.
What context? "I saw that scared look on his face and I liked it.
" There's nothing ambiguous about that.
That video's going to be all over the local news in an hour.
The blogger who posted it on the net, Randy Hawthorne, he's had my department in his sights for the last two years.
I directed the press office to release this statement.
You're suspending her.
Putting her on administrative leave.
It seems a little quick.
Have you talked to her? She'll get a hearing in due time.
However you decide to handle it, Chief, this office will support you.
That's what I was hoping to hear.
Thanks, Jerry.
Mr.
Dekker.
I've worked with Lieutenant Gonzales on more than a dozen cases.
I've never once even picked up a hint Get over it, Joe.
Your case is in serious trouble.
You got a defendant crying racism, and you've got a cop thumping her chest about what a big, bad bigot she is.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR) Spicer just hit us with a Motion to Traverse.
He's attacking our search warrant based on racial bias.
The video is a hack job.
I was talking about something I did 20 years ago when I just got out of the academy, something I regret.
I've watched that video a number of times, and I didn't see a whole lot of regret.
It's in the rest of the speech they cut out.
I apologized to that motorist.
I'll give you his name.
And that's all besides the point.
We need to see that whole speech.
Do you know who recorded it? No.
I didn't even know I was being recorded.
Who was there? Who organized it? We'll track it down.
I'm not giving you that.
I don't have to defend myself.
This case is about the six people that Hayes killed.
How could you let them make it about me? Lieutenant, if I have to subpoena you Subpoena nothing.
She made that speech six months ago.
It has zero probative value to your case.
If you push this, I can assure you, on behalf of the union, we're gonna push back, hard.
Look, Lieutenant, I don't want to fight with you, but Mr.
Hayes's attorney is claiming that you planted evidence.
What evidence? The shredded loans papers.
They're claiming that you tampered with them while under your control at RHD.
That is a fantasy.
Yeah, well, maybe so, but Mr.
Hayes's attorney has filed for a Motion to Traverse, and as your lawyer can explain to you I know what a Motion to Traverse is, I have a law degree.
Before Hayes's lawyer can do anything, he has to prove that the warrant applications contained statements that were deliberately false and he can't.
He can.
His proof is that video and its implied racism.
Look, without the rest of that speech, our case can be nowhere by tomorrow.
No, I ran a clean investigation! We papered that evidence six ways to Sunday, and if you can't make it stick, I don't know where LOHMAN: Arleen! Guess you didn't get too much out of her.
She's hiding something.
I mean, you've worked with her.
What do you think? Well, we come from the same community.
We were brought up with the same mentality.
But, you know, blacks and Latinos have to fight it out because there's only so much pie to go around.
We work to let it go, some of us do, some of us We need to hear the rest of that speech.
And when I saw the scared look on his face, I realized that I liked it.
I felt good.
I felt powerful.
I was a big, bad cop.
As the chain-of-custody affidavit states, the paper-shredder evidence was stored in Lieutenant Gonzales's office for an hour, until the detectives could deliver it to the lab for testing.
For one hour, that evidence was in the sole control of the police officer we just saw on that video.
And this, just one day after that same officer directed her detectives to stop investigating two Hispanic suspects to focus on my client, the only African American employee of Vela Mortgage.
Your Honor, the court must draw the line and remind the police that Lieutenant Gonzales's toxic bigotry has no place in law enforcement.
Your Honor, Mr.
Spicer is asking the court to engage in wild speculation based on a cut and paste hack-job created to portray Lieutenant Gonzales and the LAPD in the worst possible light.
You're not denying that Lieutenant Gonzales said those words, are you? I'm greatly disturbed by what I heard.
And if I have to go the extra mile to remove any taint of racism from this case, so be it.
I'm granting Mr.
Spicer's motion.
The paper shreds are out.
And since those shreds were largely the basis for the search warrant, any evidence found at Mr.
Hayes's home is out as well.
The shreds and the blood evidence are out, the nine millimeter ammunition is out.
I guess we should be thankful Judge Conway didn't take away our pens and pencils.
Just stop.
Be still, regroup and focus.
Bitching about this judge isn't going to get us anywhere.
Now when Hayes was arrested, he had a.
22 caliber pistol.
Right.
But the police haven't recovered the murder weapon.
Why? Didn't Hayes's ex-wife tell you that the day before he took his kids hostage he went to Griffith Park? Yeah.
To the merry-go-round.
Check with the Autry Museum, maybe they have security cameras in their parking lot.
Nothing I like better than starting from scratch.
Have you talked to the Lieutenant? I'd sure like to hear her explanation for that video.
Well, you got a phone.
Call her.
You don't want to know? Or are you telling me you're okay with what she said? I've worked with her for six years.
There's more to her than a 30 second video.
Over here! What do you got? It's a mag from a nine millimeter Glock.
Still has a couple of rounds left in it.
The gun was found in three pieces in Griffith Park.
Hayes's fingerprints were on the bullets and the mag.
That gun is only more fruit of the poisonous tree.
My client made his statements about Griffith Park under duress from Lieutenant Gonzales's racially-motivated investigation.
Independent source, Your Honor.
We would've interviewed the ex-wife in connection to the hostage-taking anyway.
Mr.
Spicer, I'm giving this one to Mr.
Dekker.
The gun stays in.
Well, then, I want the videotape of Lieutenant Gonzales admitted into evidence.
I want the jury to see what was driving this case.
It's highly inflammatory, Your Honor.
It has no probative value.
You're free to argue that to the jury, Mr.
Dekker.
The video is in.
Thank you, Your Honor.
She's our boss.
Her signature's on every report we filed, every request for O.
T.
And then I'll ask if Lieutenant Gonzales has ever shown any racial bias on this case or any other case.
As if the word of a white cop is going to mean anything.
Yeah, a white cop who's never had a citizen's complaint filed against him.
Come on, Counselor.
End of the day, people want to send a message, they're going to send a message.
I don't understand it, you know.
She won't talk to me.
She won't tell me what she said, who was there, what the occasion was She's no bigot.
She won't put up with any jokes, any looks, she won't tolerate it.
Then why in the hell is she stone-walling? Have you talked to her? We're done.
Detective The department is about to run her out on a rail.
They're gonna go after her pension, everything.
So, if you know something You know, normally, I don't care about people's personal lives, but your silence is killing my case.
I need to put you on the stand, and have you explain why you said those things in that video and who you said them to.
Six dead people, Arleen, and justice for them.
That's all I care about.
And the truth is, that's all you should care about.
No, the person I should care about is asleep in a room down the hall.
He's eleven years old, and he has enough trouble at school.
He doesn't need to be bullied because it's all over the papers what his mother is.
You know what I think? I think your son would be proud of you if you stood up for yourself.
ARLEEN: (ON TV) And when I saw the scared look on his face, I realized that I liked it.
I felt good.
I felt powerful.
I was a big, bad cop.
Lieutenant Gonzales, could you explain the context of what we just heard? I was addressing a group of young police recruits, about 15 of them in a private room at a restaurant.
And what we just heard, those were your words.
You weren't quoting someone else or telling a joke.
No, those were my words that night.
Some of my words.
JONAH: And what was the theme of your talk? It was kind of a pep talk about what they could look forward to on the job.
And what I tried to tell them was that before we could deal with other people's prejudices against us as gay and lesbian police officers, we had to first understand the prejudices in ourselves.
JONAH: Just to be clear, this group were gay and lesbian police recruits.
Yes.
JONAH: And you were addressing them as a lesbian police officer, correct? Yes.
What, specifically, did you tell them? Objection.
We already heard what she said.
The video speaks for itself.
JONAH: The video was edited.
And Lieutenant Gonzales can testify to the entirety of her speech.
We're also prepared to present three witnesses who can corroborate her testimony.
Overruled.
Answer his question, Lieutenant.
I told them about an incident that happened three months after I got out of the academy.
I told them how I had racially profiled a black motorist, exactly as you heard on the video.
JONAH: Well, what else did you tell them? ARLEEN: I told them a couple days later, I read a story in the paper about a hate crime in New York City.
A young woman had been attacked after leaving a gay bar.
And they ran a picture of her in the paper.
The look on her face, the scared look, was exactly like the look I saw on the black motorist.
And I didn't like it.
And I didn't like the face that stared back at me in the mirror that morning.
So what did you do? I apologized to that motorist.
I called him.
I wrote him a letter.
I reported the incident to my commanding officer.
I realized that I had been practicing the same discrimination that I had been a victim of when members of my family or my community wouldn't accept me for who I was.
JONAH: The discrimination that you faced, did you share that with the recruits? Yes, I told them that even though the department actively recruits gays and lesbians that I had been harassed and even spit on by other officers.
JONAH: Well, since this incident long ago, do you still practice discrimination yourself? I try not to.
So did you direct your detectives to target Mr.
Hayes as a suspect because he's African American? No.
But I did support their decision to focus on him, because that is where the evidence was leading.
JONAH: One last question, Lieutenant, this video aired two months ago.
Why did you wait until today to explain its contents? Well, I was concerned with the privacy of some of the recruits at the meeting.
Some are out, and some aren't.
But my main concern is my 11-year-old son.
After today, my son's going to I have friends, uh, gay couples, whose kids get bullied and beaten up at school.
My son's just a little boy.
I just want to protect him.
So why did you change your mind about testifying? I realized whether I testified or not, he was gonna hear people call me names.
And I'd rather him hear them call me a dyke than a bigot.
Thank you, Lieutenant Gonzales.
No more questions, Your Honor.
JUDGE: Has the jury reached a verdict? Yes, sir, we have, Your Honor.
On the first count, as to Armando Vela, first degree murder, how do you find? We find the defendant guilty.
On the second count, as to Nancy Jimenez, first degree murder, how do you find? FOREMAN: We find the defendant guilty.
On the third count, how do you find? We find the defendant guilty.
The full, unedited video surfaced on the net yesterday.
And it's everything she said it was.
Her Come-To-Jesus moment.
No argument there.
So why hasn't she been reinstated? Jerry, explain the facts of life to them.
Personally, I don't have a problem with her.
But I'm getting pushback from some people in my department.
They're saying she's damaged goods.
Actually, Chief, I have a statement I'm gonna read that, uh, "Lieutenant Gonzales "is as fine and dedicated a professional "as anyone I've encountered in my career "in law enforcement, "and I'm looking forward to continuing "working with her in the future.
" I was hoping that you'd be there with me when I read it.
Now that "don't ask, don't tell" has been repealed, seems like the least we can do.
(CHUCKLES) Well, I guess I have to be, then.
Excuse me.
I need to call my press office and alert them.
That was old-school, Jerry Hardin.
Well, you have to show some backbone sometimes.
I don't know how else to explain my actions.
You grind a man's face in the dirt long enough, he won't recognize himself when he gets up.
FEMALE REPORTER: That was convicted murderer Albert Hayes testifying at the sentencing phase of his trial.
Earlier today, Judge Conway sentenced Hayes to death.
(KNOCKS) Welcome back.
Thanks.
Did I miss anything? They fixed the coffee machine.
Oh.
Life is good.
It's good to have you back in the saddle, Lieu.
Winters.
It was you who told Dekker, wasn't it? It's okay.
I'm good with it.
These are their stories.
But I thought the house we're buying was in foreclosure.
The bank messed up the paperwork.
They're supposed to call me today.
I'm sorry I can't stay, Mr.
Vela.
I have to get to my church picnic.
Don't forget to buy my raffle ticket.
Okay.
What about the other house? The one with the red shutters.
We can swing the payment Yeah.
For the first year, but then you'll be in over your head before you know it.
Look, just be patient, okay? You'll get the house you want and it won't keep you up at night.
(BABY GURGLING) That's her job.
(LAUGHS) Mr.
Vela's right.
We don't want those kinds of worries.
I just want Zuleima to have her first birthday in her own backyard, you know? Lots of balloons, a big piñata.
You'd like that, hey, beautiful? (CELL PHONE RINGING) Hola.
Yeah, sure.
Hold on.
It's Mr.
Vela, he wants to talk to both of us.
Go ahead, Mr.
Vela.
(COOING) VELA: Good news.
I just called the bank officer at home, your foreclosure got straightened out.
The house is yours, muchachos.
Oh! (LOUD CLAMORING OVER PHONE) (GUN FIRING) VELA: No, no, no, no! (SPEAKING SPANISH) Get in here quick! Shut the door.
What do you want? No! (GUN FIRING) Mr.
Vela? Mr.
Vela? SERGEANT: The 911 call came in just after 4:00.
Six dead.
We got empty purses, wallets and watches missing.
Nine millimeter casings by the front door.
Suspect came in shooting.
Not your typical MO for a stick-up.
SERGEANT: People were on the phone with the owner, Mr.
Vela, when they heard it go down.
Mr.
Vela's been doing business here 14 years.
He's got a good rep in the neighborhood.
Any indication how the suspect got in the building? My guys found the doors downstairs locked.
Building manager says they keep them locked on the weekends.
Hey, somebody's bad habit is probably what let the suspect in.
Same brand as the victim's.
The shooter was watching the place, figured somebody would be coming out for a cigarette break.
Followed the smoker back in before the door closed.
It's not a great part of the neighborhood.
No, but it looks like the people in Mr.
Vela's office were doing well.
Maybe somebody up there didn't like having their nose rubbed in it.
Big shots.
Practically every day I hear them leave in their fancy cars, racing their engines.
Did you hear anything today around 4:00? Yeah.
Pop, pop, pop.
Then I heard a door slam.
I looked out and saw someone running between the buildings.
What did this person look like? Sorry.
My eyes are going.
Because of the diabetes.
Look, I'm telling you, I didn't see nothing, all right? I was out all afternoon.
Come on, miss, I know you got something for me.
You were just down in the laundry room.
You heard people talking.
(SIGHS) All right, broke-ass Eddie Ramos, he never has two nickels to rub together.
He's flashing a big roll tonight.
He's asking out every other girl in the neighborhood.
All right.
(EDDIE SPEAKING SPANISH) Hey, Eddie Ramos! You stay and the rest go.
Come on, man, what's up with this? As soon as I get a little ahead, you guys show up.
Don't sweat it, Eddie.
Just wondering where you got the stake to get in the game in the first place.
I got a little business going.
Washing cars around the corner.
Too bad you forgot to wash the blood off those bills.
Hey, man, it was like that when I found it, all right? Well, you better show us where.
Let's go.
(SIGHS) That bag right there.
There.
I found it here when I was taking a leak.
Yeah, that's it.
I count five wallets and four watches.
I didn't touch no wallets.
I just took the cash that was loose.
And that nice watch on your wrist.
Yeah.
That, too.
I'm not feeling it with Eddie.
His story holds, plus witnesses saw him out on the corner most of the afternoon.
So what are we thinking? Suspect dropped the swag by mistake? Or the whole stick-up angle's a misdirect? I go with misdirect.
The suspect tried to throw us off the scent.
The mortgage office was a mess, files everywhere, like somebody worked out their anger with a nine millimeter.
Well, who can tell us what there was to be angry about? Maybe the three brokers who weren't working this afternoon.
Mortgage brokers aren't the most popular people these days, but our office was different.
Mr.
Vela helped a lot of people get into their first homes.
Well, he had most of the staff working on a Saturday.
Was there a problem? No, we just had a lot of time sensitive applications to get out the door because of the foreclosure mess.
And you just happened to not be there? Hey, those people were my friends.
All right.
Just answer the question, Mr.
Pena.
Well, I was on my way back from seeing a client, the traffic on the Pomona Freeway was backed up, so I hopped off, grabbed some lunch and went home.
I didn't have as many deals closing as the other brokers did.
So I went home early.
Otherwise I'd be dead like the rest of them.
A lot of people trying to hold onto their homes in this market.
Some customers must get pretty emotional.
Yeah.
We get the occasional hot head.
You're thinking of one right now.
Last Friday, when I was out at lunch, everyone was talking about this Asian guy.
He went off on Mr.
V.
He was a Korean businessman.
He tried to borrow money to buy a strip mall.
You could hear him shouting even with the door shut.
Did he make a specific threat? I didn't hear, all I know is that after, Mr.
V told us to warn him if Danny Choi showed up again.
I trusted him.
I had a chance to buy a corner strip mall in El Sereno.
I thought it'd be easy through Vela, but I was wrong.
The bank rejected my application.
When I asked Vela why, he wouldn't tell me.
And that's when I started to get mad.
I didn't shoot him.
I was here all day.
Everybody saw me.
Yeah, we'll ask them.
What'd you do after you got mad? I went to the bank to ask what happened.
They said they had trouble with applications from Vela's office.
TJ: What kind of trouble? They said the mortgage applications were filled with lies.
I proved to them that my application was okay.
They said it didn't matter.
They weren't doing business with Vela anymore.
Whatever I told Mr.
Choi is beside the point.
You'll have to go through corporate in Missouri.
We're not just gonna open up our approval process.
It'd be great publicity for their banks, slowing down a homicide investigation with six victims.
Why'd you stop doing business with Vela? Five of their applications came up tilt.
Inflated income.
Hidden debt.
It looked like someone was trying to defraud us of over $2 million.
Borrowers? I don't think so.
I told Mr.
Choi that even though his application was fine, we just couldn't take the chance.
So who are you pointing the finger at? Vela or someone in his office? All I know is that's not how we do business.
I stamped the applications rejected and I sent them back.
That's the last I heard from Mr.
Vela.
My old man used to say "When it's sunny out, "banks will give you an umbrella.
"The second it starts raining, they'll take it back.
" That's why I'm happy renting.
I'm not finding the rejected applications from the bank.
They're not in here either.
Maybe it's what the shooter was after.
Loan fraud.
Only the nine people in this office could have worked on those applications.
And six of them are dead.
A $2 million loan fraud.
We don't know who prepared the bogus applications or who the borrowers were.
Well, if all the shooter wanted were those applications, why didn't he just break in? Shooting all those people, this guy's got a big time grudge.
That argues for the other co-workers.
We've got Al Hayes.
He was the rookie, worked there less than a year.
He said he was home when the shootings happened.
Then we got Debbie Beltran, she said she went to a church picnic, and then home.
You don't hear about too many women shooting up their workplace.
Felipe Pena's alibi is that he was stuck in traffic on the Pomona Freeway, then he went home to his wife and kids.
The problem is that that freeway was clear that afternoon.
But there was a sig alert on the 605 connecter between the 10 and the Pomona freeway.
Debbie Beltran, she lives in El Monte.
Right where the connector feeds into the 10.
I'm not lying.
I went home after the picnic.
Debbie, we have cell phone records that prove that Felipe called his home from your house just after 3:00.
I don't see how that's any of your business.
This is a murder investigation.
Everything is our business.
We know about the bad loan applications, Debbie.
That was a mistake and it was only that one time.
Keep talking.
I was trying to refinance my own house, and I I couldn't get the numbers to work, so I fudged it.
Felipe caught it.
And, well He showed me how to work the numbers so I could get the loan.
Why would he do that? Because he's helping me pay my mortgage.
She told you all that? Man, that's why you can't put women in charge of the CIA.
They talk too much.
Let's talk about you.
You pay a mortgage on your house, you're helping Debbie with hers.
That's a big nut every month.
I'm good at what I do.
I close a lot of deals.
You know how to work the numbers.
A magician is what Debbie called you.
I follow industry standards.
What about the loans that got rejected by Southland Pacific Bank? I never had any loans rejected because I made sure my loans never went to Southland Pacific.
Those guys make a federal case if you drop a comma.
We're going to check that.
So again, for the record, where were you between In Debbie's bed.
You don't have to tell my wife, do you? A man with two wives loses his soul.
A man with two houses loses his mind.
Tell me about it.
The timing here is pretty tight.
He made two calls on his cell from Debbie's house at 3:05 and 4:25.
An hour and 20 minutes from El Monte to El Sereno and back.
It's do-able.
Barely.
Before we take this to the D.
A.
, nail down that Felipe was the one who prepared the rejected loans, okay? We need to talk to the borrowers.
They could tell us.
Well, the first thing they do when you apply for a loan is check your credit report.
There's got to be a list of all the reports the mortgage office pulled.
You saw how bad my credit report is? I was ready to say, "Forget it," but the mortgage broker wouldn't let me quit.
Who was your broker? Al Hayes.
Did you ever deal with a Felipe Pena? No.
Uh-uh.
Just Mr.
Hayes.
I swear he needed that loan approved worse than I did.
Why do you say that? He kept saying it was hard for folks like us to get loans past his boss.
REX: Folks like you? Black people.
He said the deck was stacked, so he had to add seasoning to my loan package to make me look better.
Yeah? How'd that work out for you? The bank turned me down.
When I spoke with Mr.
Hayes, he said if his boss Mr.
Vela called, I shouldn't talk to him.
He say why? He just said he'd handle everything.
He was always handling everything.
He even had me get mortgage insurance from his girlfriend.
A lot of people in Mr.
Vela's office referred business to me, not just Al.
I lost a lot of friends that afternoon.
I'm just thankful that Al didn't You saw him that day? Yes, of course, I was having lunch at my parents' when I saw the news on the TV and I called him right away.
TJ: He wasn't with you at your parents'? No.
He stayed home.
They don't like that he's divorced with kids.
(CHUCKLES) I know that feeling.
Did Al ever complain about how the office was run? No.
He got along with everyone, but it was rough on him in the beginning, him being the odd man out.
Odd man? Why? Because he was new? (SCOFFS) You mean, because he's black.
It's embarrassing to hear my own people act like racists.
Something happened? At the office barbeque last summer, I heard someone refer to him as a mayate.
Something happen to your shredder? It got jammed up a few days ago.
Did Al know people were calling him names behind his back? I didn't tell him.
He was already frustrated thinking that they were keeping the good leads from him.
But it had all gotten so much better lately.
How's that? Well, he has a lot of closings coming up.
Just the other day, before all this happened, he said he was about ready to start his own firm.
And that then maybe we can finally get married.
So while Hayes's loans are being rejected by the bank, he's telling his fiancée he's starting his own business.
Flight into fantasy.
He was probably about to get canned.
Excuse me, sir! If you're going to throw that away, we'll take it.
Knock yourself out.
All right.
Yellow and green.
Look familiar? The shreds in the machine matched the folders in Vela's office, same material, same color.
We think the shredded folders contained the bogus loan applications that Hayes prepared.
The working theory is that Hayes felt he was being singled out for being the only black guy in the office, he thought maybe he was about to be fired, or even prosecuted for loan fraud.
So he got angry, killed his co-workers, stole the applications and shredded them at his girlfriend's office.
Love the theory.
Your evidence, not so much.
Can we prove definitively that the shredded files came from Al's office? No, not yet, but the lab found blood on some of the folders.
It might match the victims.
Hayes is clean.
No record, but he's in the database as a witness to a robbery at a bank where he worked two years ago.
And the detective who worked the case noted that Hayes was very traumatized by the incident, and asked how he could get a gun for protection.
An expressed desire to obtain a gun.
On top of everything else, I think we have probable cause for a search.
This is crazy.
Al didn't have anything to do with that massacre.
Did you have your office keys with you Saturday? No.
I left them in that bowl by the door.
Al, baby, call me back.
The police are still here.
Hey, Winters! Yeah? Nine millimeter rounds in the closet.
Half the box is empty.
Where is Al now? I don't know.
He was supposed to pick up his kids and bring them here, but he hung up on me before and now he's not answering.
(POLICE CAR SIRENS BLARING) Al, come on out! Al! What's going on, ma'am? Let me in! Please! Ma'am? Oh, my ex-husband is inside with our kids.
REX: Mr.
Hayes.
He might have taken them into the back in the bedroom.
Does he have a gun? All right.
Come on.
Get against the house.
Right there.
Here.
Dial his number.
Okay.
(PHONE RINGING) Go with him.
(CELL PHONE RINGING) Who is this? Mr.
Hayes, this is Detective Winters.
We talked a couple of days ago.
I know who you are.
Yeah, you can call me Rex.
Can I call you Al? Or Albert? Albert.
Okay, Albert, I'd like to come inside and make sure your kids are all right.
They're fine, all right? No one's getting in my house! It's my house! I paid for it! I understand, Albert.
We need to talk about how we're going to resolve this situation.
You know, it doesn't have to end badly.
Oh, so now you're going to tell me that there's a better way out of this.
I know what you think I did.
I won't lie to you, Albert, I'm sure you had your reasons.
We can talk about that later.
Why, huh? I mean, if you got your mind made up, there's no point talking to you.
No, there is.
Trust me.
I want to hear what you have to say, but it would be a hell of a lot easier if your kids weren't in the middle of this.
Albert? Albert? Albert, did you hear me? Junior, get up.
Albert? Albert, did you hear me? You know I love you, right? REX: Albert? Boys! Come on, boys! Come here! Oh, God.
That was the right call, Albert.
I got a couple of my own.
Yeah, and I suppose that makes us brothers now, like you could understand what I've been through.
You're right, I don't know.
But I'm here talking to you as a man.
That's all I've got.
Let me ask you something, as a man, if you going to hang this thing on me, why shouldn't I just end it on my terms? I don't have a good answer for you, Albert.
(SIREN WAILING) You've got two beautiful kids here.
If it was me, I wouldn't want them carrying around something like that for the rest of their lives.
Come on out! Come on, get down on your knees.
Come on.
Get out! Get down on your knees! Hands on your head! All right, let's go.
It's a.
22.
Right guy, wrong gun.
Damn it.
Six counts murder with special circumstances.
How do you plead? Not guilty, Your Honor.
People on bail.
The People ask that the defendant be held without bail, Your Honor.
He's facing the death penalty, he has no job, no meaningful ties to the community.
Your Honor, Mr.
Hayes is deeply bonded to his children.
The very same children he held hostage when the police came to question him.
I would dispute that characterization, Your Honor, and I would add that my client was arrested with a.
22 caliber handgun while the murder victims were shot with a nine millimeter weapon.
The police found nine millimeter ammunition in Mr.
Hayes's home.
Nice try, Mr.
Spicer.
The defendant will be held without bail.
Thank you.
You just have to look at the front page of the Post to see what's happening here.
The police had a cannon aimed at their head and no leads.
So they put the weight on the one black man in an all-Hispanic office.
Every step of the way, this investigation was corrupted by institutional racism.
And we intend to prove it by filing a Pitchess Motion later today to demand the personnel records of all the officers involved.
Mr.
Dekker, any comment? Did race play a role? We have nothing to fear from Mr.
Spicer's motion.
This investigation was led by the evidence, and the evidence here is color-blind.
The truth is, Mr.
Hayes is a mass murderer who just happens to be black.
Thank you.
Bold words.
Yeah, let's make sure I don't have to eat them.
So now all the big guns are getting wheeled out? When a judge grants a Pitchess Motion, allowing the defense to examine police personnel files, this office takes it seriously.
This is ridiculous.
How did we get to be the ones on trial? Never mind that.
We already have evidentiary issues.
Not the least of which is the fact that we don't have a murder weapon.
Look, we're all grownups.
We all know the history of this department.
JONAH: And if either one of you has had a problem, we need to know about it.
Winters, you were on a job during the King riots, right? Six weeks out of the academy.
It's all in my file.
I'd stand by anything I did back then.
I got nothing to hide either.
Anyone who's been on the street shouldn't answer that too quickly.
Go home and think about it.
Everybody's got something.
So why isn't the Defense pulling your file, Counselor? That was some vote of confidence you gave them.
You know, maybe we're overreacting.
Spicer's playing the race card because he's desperate.
Miss Stanton, you may have been in junior high school during the O.
J.
trials, but Joe and I were here.
Once that card is played, it infects everything, this office included.
Not to mention Spicer just needs to swing one juror.
So how do you suggest we stop him? Well, if Spicer's using racism as a shield for his client, maybe we can use it as a sword.
We show racism is what drove Hayes to murder.
LAUREN: He's facing the death penalty.
Psychological factors could make a difference in sentencing.
Something happened to Al.
I mean, it all started at his old job right before he got robbed.
At the bank? That must have been very traumatic for him.
He couldn't sleep at night.
He actually had to quit the bank.
But it didn't help.
He had always been a little thin skinned, but then after that, I mean, everything just started getting to him.
Every little insult, every look.
He saw racism everywhere.
Well, it wasn't all paranoia.
I mean, he didn't just imagine that every Spanish person got promoted ahead of him.
Or that Mr.
Vela gave all the good leads to everyone but him, but I said to Al, "Yes, it's real, but don't let that be who you are.
"Just let it roll off your back.
" What did he say to that? Nothing.
And then he got obsessed with protecting his family.
Is that when he bought the gun? The.
22? Yes.
And I started getting afraid.
I wouldn't leave him alone with the kids anymore.
You were afraid he was going to hurt them? I gave him the name of a therapist for him to go to, but he would never go.
And after that, I realized he wasn't the man I married anymore.
So I changed the locks and filed the papers.
(SIGHS) I'm very sorry.
You know, it's so funny because (CRYING) right before the cops got here, he was like the old Al again.
What do you mean by that? He was talking about how he had been to Griffith Park the other day at the merry-go-round, thinking about all the sweet times we had together with the kids.
Mmm.
(SNIFFING) Sounds like Hayes might have started with a legitimate beef.
But he ended it with a gun.
KAVANAUGH: Yo, you guys see this? So we stopped this car for driving with a broken tail light.
And I told my partner, "This isn't racial profiling, this is common sense.
" So we pulled the car over and I made that driver get out.
He didn't match our description.
In fact, he turned out to be a teacher.
But once he started giving me lip, that didn't matter, all I saw was a black face.
So we proned that guy out and we cuffed him, and we put him in the back of our cruiser.
And when I saw the scared look on his face, I realized that I liked it.
I felt good.
I felt powerful.
I was a big, bad cop.
You know what I'm talking about.
(DOOR CLOSES) Looks like Al Hayes found his racist cop.
The video appears to be heavily edited.
It's hard to know what the Lieutenant meant without knowing the context.
What context? "I saw that scared look on his face and I liked it.
" There's nothing ambiguous about that.
That video's going to be all over the local news in an hour.
The blogger who posted it on the net, Randy Hawthorne, he's had my department in his sights for the last two years.
I directed the press office to release this statement.
You're suspending her.
Putting her on administrative leave.
It seems a little quick.
Have you talked to her? She'll get a hearing in due time.
However you decide to handle it, Chief, this office will support you.
That's what I was hoping to hear.
Thanks, Jerry.
Mr.
Dekker.
I've worked with Lieutenant Gonzales on more than a dozen cases.
I've never once even picked up a hint Get over it, Joe.
Your case is in serious trouble.
You got a defendant crying racism, and you've got a cop thumping her chest about what a big, bad bigot she is.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR) Spicer just hit us with a Motion to Traverse.
He's attacking our search warrant based on racial bias.
The video is a hack job.
I was talking about something I did 20 years ago when I just got out of the academy, something I regret.
I've watched that video a number of times, and I didn't see a whole lot of regret.
It's in the rest of the speech they cut out.
I apologized to that motorist.
I'll give you his name.
And that's all besides the point.
We need to see that whole speech.
Do you know who recorded it? No.
I didn't even know I was being recorded.
Who was there? Who organized it? We'll track it down.
I'm not giving you that.
I don't have to defend myself.
This case is about the six people that Hayes killed.
How could you let them make it about me? Lieutenant, if I have to subpoena you Subpoena nothing.
She made that speech six months ago.
It has zero probative value to your case.
If you push this, I can assure you, on behalf of the union, we're gonna push back, hard.
Look, Lieutenant, I don't want to fight with you, but Mr.
Hayes's attorney is claiming that you planted evidence.
What evidence? The shredded loans papers.
They're claiming that you tampered with them while under your control at RHD.
That is a fantasy.
Yeah, well, maybe so, but Mr.
Hayes's attorney has filed for a Motion to Traverse, and as your lawyer can explain to you I know what a Motion to Traverse is, I have a law degree.
Before Hayes's lawyer can do anything, he has to prove that the warrant applications contained statements that were deliberately false and he can't.
He can.
His proof is that video and its implied racism.
Look, without the rest of that speech, our case can be nowhere by tomorrow.
No, I ran a clean investigation! We papered that evidence six ways to Sunday, and if you can't make it stick, I don't know where LOHMAN: Arleen! Guess you didn't get too much out of her.
She's hiding something.
I mean, you've worked with her.
What do you think? Well, we come from the same community.
We were brought up with the same mentality.
But, you know, blacks and Latinos have to fight it out because there's only so much pie to go around.
We work to let it go, some of us do, some of us We need to hear the rest of that speech.
And when I saw the scared look on his face, I realized that I liked it.
I felt good.
I felt powerful.
I was a big, bad cop.
As the chain-of-custody affidavit states, the paper-shredder evidence was stored in Lieutenant Gonzales's office for an hour, until the detectives could deliver it to the lab for testing.
For one hour, that evidence was in the sole control of the police officer we just saw on that video.
And this, just one day after that same officer directed her detectives to stop investigating two Hispanic suspects to focus on my client, the only African American employee of Vela Mortgage.
Your Honor, the court must draw the line and remind the police that Lieutenant Gonzales's toxic bigotry has no place in law enforcement.
Your Honor, Mr.
Spicer is asking the court to engage in wild speculation based on a cut and paste hack-job created to portray Lieutenant Gonzales and the LAPD in the worst possible light.
You're not denying that Lieutenant Gonzales said those words, are you? I'm greatly disturbed by what I heard.
And if I have to go the extra mile to remove any taint of racism from this case, so be it.
I'm granting Mr.
Spicer's motion.
The paper shreds are out.
And since those shreds were largely the basis for the search warrant, any evidence found at Mr.
Hayes's home is out as well.
The shreds and the blood evidence are out, the nine millimeter ammunition is out.
I guess we should be thankful Judge Conway didn't take away our pens and pencils.
Just stop.
Be still, regroup and focus.
Bitching about this judge isn't going to get us anywhere.
Now when Hayes was arrested, he had a.
22 caliber pistol.
Right.
But the police haven't recovered the murder weapon.
Why? Didn't Hayes's ex-wife tell you that the day before he took his kids hostage he went to Griffith Park? Yeah.
To the merry-go-round.
Check with the Autry Museum, maybe they have security cameras in their parking lot.
Nothing I like better than starting from scratch.
Have you talked to the Lieutenant? I'd sure like to hear her explanation for that video.
Well, you got a phone.
Call her.
You don't want to know? Or are you telling me you're okay with what she said? I've worked with her for six years.
There's more to her than a 30 second video.
Over here! What do you got? It's a mag from a nine millimeter Glock.
Still has a couple of rounds left in it.
The gun was found in three pieces in Griffith Park.
Hayes's fingerprints were on the bullets and the mag.
That gun is only more fruit of the poisonous tree.
My client made his statements about Griffith Park under duress from Lieutenant Gonzales's racially-motivated investigation.
Independent source, Your Honor.
We would've interviewed the ex-wife in connection to the hostage-taking anyway.
Mr.
Spicer, I'm giving this one to Mr.
Dekker.
The gun stays in.
Well, then, I want the videotape of Lieutenant Gonzales admitted into evidence.
I want the jury to see what was driving this case.
It's highly inflammatory, Your Honor.
It has no probative value.
You're free to argue that to the jury, Mr.
Dekker.
The video is in.
Thank you, Your Honor.
She's our boss.
Her signature's on every report we filed, every request for O.
T.
And then I'll ask if Lieutenant Gonzales has ever shown any racial bias on this case or any other case.
As if the word of a white cop is going to mean anything.
Yeah, a white cop who's never had a citizen's complaint filed against him.
Come on, Counselor.
End of the day, people want to send a message, they're going to send a message.
I don't understand it, you know.
She won't talk to me.
She won't tell me what she said, who was there, what the occasion was She's no bigot.
She won't put up with any jokes, any looks, she won't tolerate it.
Then why in the hell is she stone-walling? Have you talked to her? We're done.
Detective The department is about to run her out on a rail.
They're gonna go after her pension, everything.
So, if you know something You know, normally, I don't care about people's personal lives, but your silence is killing my case.
I need to put you on the stand, and have you explain why you said those things in that video and who you said them to.
Six dead people, Arleen, and justice for them.
That's all I care about.
And the truth is, that's all you should care about.
No, the person I should care about is asleep in a room down the hall.
He's eleven years old, and he has enough trouble at school.
He doesn't need to be bullied because it's all over the papers what his mother is.
You know what I think? I think your son would be proud of you if you stood up for yourself.
ARLEEN: (ON TV) And when I saw the scared look on his face, I realized that I liked it.
I felt good.
I felt powerful.
I was a big, bad cop.
Lieutenant Gonzales, could you explain the context of what we just heard? I was addressing a group of young police recruits, about 15 of them in a private room at a restaurant.
And what we just heard, those were your words.
You weren't quoting someone else or telling a joke.
No, those were my words that night.
Some of my words.
JONAH: And what was the theme of your talk? It was kind of a pep talk about what they could look forward to on the job.
And what I tried to tell them was that before we could deal with other people's prejudices against us as gay and lesbian police officers, we had to first understand the prejudices in ourselves.
JONAH: Just to be clear, this group were gay and lesbian police recruits.
Yes.
JONAH: And you were addressing them as a lesbian police officer, correct? Yes.
What, specifically, did you tell them? Objection.
We already heard what she said.
The video speaks for itself.
JONAH: The video was edited.
And Lieutenant Gonzales can testify to the entirety of her speech.
We're also prepared to present three witnesses who can corroborate her testimony.
Overruled.
Answer his question, Lieutenant.
I told them about an incident that happened three months after I got out of the academy.
I told them how I had racially profiled a black motorist, exactly as you heard on the video.
JONAH: Well, what else did you tell them? ARLEEN: I told them a couple days later, I read a story in the paper about a hate crime in New York City.
A young woman had been attacked after leaving a gay bar.
And they ran a picture of her in the paper.
The look on her face, the scared look, was exactly like the look I saw on the black motorist.
And I didn't like it.
And I didn't like the face that stared back at me in the mirror that morning.
So what did you do? I apologized to that motorist.
I called him.
I wrote him a letter.
I reported the incident to my commanding officer.
I realized that I had been practicing the same discrimination that I had been a victim of when members of my family or my community wouldn't accept me for who I was.
JONAH: The discrimination that you faced, did you share that with the recruits? Yes, I told them that even though the department actively recruits gays and lesbians that I had been harassed and even spit on by other officers.
JONAH: Well, since this incident long ago, do you still practice discrimination yourself? I try not to.
So did you direct your detectives to target Mr.
Hayes as a suspect because he's African American? No.
But I did support their decision to focus on him, because that is where the evidence was leading.
JONAH: One last question, Lieutenant, this video aired two months ago.
Why did you wait until today to explain its contents? Well, I was concerned with the privacy of some of the recruits at the meeting.
Some are out, and some aren't.
But my main concern is my 11-year-old son.
After today, my son's going to I have friends, uh, gay couples, whose kids get bullied and beaten up at school.
My son's just a little boy.
I just want to protect him.
So why did you change your mind about testifying? I realized whether I testified or not, he was gonna hear people call me names.
And I'd rather him hear them call me a dyke than a bigot.
Thank you, Lieutenant Gonzales.
No more questions, Your Honor.
JUDGE: Has the jury reached a verdict? Yes, sir, we have, Your Honor.
On the first count, as to Armando Vela, first degree murder, how do you find? We find the defendant guilty.
On the second count, as to Nancy Jimenez, first degree murder, how do you find? FOREMAN: We find the defendant guilty.
On the third count, how do you find? We find the defendant guilty.
The full, unedited video surfaced on the net yesterday.
And it's everything she said it was.
Her Come-To-Jesus moment.
No argument there.
So why hasn't she been reinstated? Jerry, explain the facts of life to them.
Personally, I don't have a problem with her.
But I'm getting pushback from some people in my department.
They're saying she's damaged goods.
Actually, Chief, I have a statement I'm gonna read that, uh, "Lieutenant Gonzales "is as fine and dedicated a professional "as anyone I've encountered in my career "in law enforcement, "and I'm looking forward to continuing "working with her in the future.
" I was hoping that you'd be there with me when I read it.
Now that "don't ask, don't tell" has been repealed, seems like the least we can do.
(CHUCKLES) Well, I guess I have to be, then.
Excuse me.
I need to call my press office and alert them.
That was old-school, Jerry Hardin.
Well, you have to show some backbone sometimes.
I don't know how else to explain my actions.
You grind a man's face in the dirt long enough, he won't recognize himself when he gets up.
FEMALE REPORTER: That was convicted murderer Albert Hayes testifying at the sentencing phase of his trial.
Earlier today, Judge Conway sentenced Hayes to death.
(KNOCKS) Welcome back.
Thanks.
Did I miss anything? They fixed the coffee machine.
Oh.
Life is good.
It's good to have you back in the saddle, Lieu.
Winters.
It was you who told Dekker, wasn't it? It's okay.
I'm good with it.