Law & Order Special Victims Unit s04e08 Episode Script

Waste

In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous.
In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
Hi, we're looking for a patient, Stephanie Rawley? Hey! We don't have her.
You sure? She's a rape victim.
I haven't had one all night.
Call came from this hospital, just got it.
Well, maybe you mixed up hospitals.
Maybe you could check the computer.
Oh, well, here's your miscom.
She's not in emergency.
She's in the ICU.
Good God.
What'd this guy do to her? Put her on life support.
Beautiful girl.
He didn't touch that.
There's not a mark on her face.
No defense wounds, either.
Blitz attack from behind? Knifepoint to the throat? Let's check her chart.
She has pneumonia.
But she's out of the woods.
We brought the fever down with antibiotics.
Somebody called in a rape.
That was me.
I'm Dr.
Sedaly.
She was transferred here from Mountcastle Rehab.
Drug overdose? No, she was in a car accident.
When? About a year ago.
She's been in a persistent vegetative state ever since.
Okay, she's been in a coma.
I don't understand why you called us.
Because of the pneumonia, I ordered a chest X-ray and the lab automatically ran the standard tests.
Hers turned up positive.
For what? A baby.
She's six weeks pregnant.
My daughter was raped? We should have kept her at home.
I told you I could take care of her.
Prayer wasn't going to bring her back, Janice.
Mountcastle was our last hope.
How could they let this happen? I promise you, we're going to find out.
Was Stephanie moved from rehab for any reason, say six, seven weeks ago? No.
Check all of Mountcastle's employees.
Anyone who had access.
Don't bother.
I know who did this.
Who? It couldn't have been David, he still has a restraining order.
Who's David? The man Stephanie was living with.
The wreck was his fault.
Why is there a restraining order? After she went into Mountcastle, he tried to kill her.
I never tried to kill her.
I only told them her wishes.
Death wishes? We lived together for six years.
Yeah, we talked about everything.
Stephanie never wanted to live like this.
Ma and Pa catch you tripping over the plug? No, but they convinced a judge I might.
I love her more than anything in the world.
Really? How's your sex life been lately? None of your business.
It is now.
If you two think You two are sick.
Besides, I haven't seen her in months.
Call me a hopeless romantic, but I don't see a little court order standing in the way of your undying love.
You don't know her parents.
If it wasn't for them, I'd have been there to protect her from that pervert.
You blame them, even though you're the one that put her in a vegetable crisper? It was my bachelor party.
The guys dragged me off to a strip club in Port Chester.
My friends got smashed, so I called her to come get me.
She drives out there, you being a man, had to take the wheel, even though you'd had a few.
She never showed up.
She got hit by a truck on the way.
He came across pretty straight up.
We're not completely ruling him out, but we're thinking an inside job.
That's a big place.
Benson and Stabler could use some help.
They're interviewing the coma wing staff now.
I don't even want to think how under-reported coma rape is.
Well, victims don't tend to come forward.
Counselor, question.
What would it take to blanket DNA an entire facility? A constitutional amendment.
But we know the rape happened there.
It doesn't cover probable cause for each individual employee.
Not to mention patients, vendors, visitors I mean, where would your genetic dragnet end? Whose side are you on? What about that case in Germany? was raped and killed, they tested everybody in the town.
Over 16,000 men.
But it was on a strictly volunteer basis.
I'll take volunteers.
It's still cost-prohibitive.
It's $600 a pop.
Who says they're all gonna be processed? I say we get everybody's DNA now while we've got 'em, we can narrow down the suspects later.
I gave your tech a separate list of everyone working six weeks ago, including swing, graveyard and weekend shifts.
We'll need to start with the men who worked directly with Stephanie.
At this point, she's basically receiving supportive care, turned to prevent bedsores, change IV tubes.
Mostly female nurses.
Except for Clark Jensen, her physical therapist.
That should make it easy.
Oh, and her neurologist, Dr.
Mandell.
He's her primary.
And where can we find him? He's with a patient.
Catch you at a bad time? Not at all.
I'm just doing an LP.
Is that a spinal tap? She's having unexplained seizures and since she can't fill in the blanks, I need to find out what's going on.
Don't you normally have a nurse present? I'm an old hand at this.
I meant as a chaperone.
That policy isn't for the patient, it's to protect the doctor from false allegations.
She can't make any.
Neither can Stephanie Rawley.
And she has a legitimate one.
Yeah, I can't tell you how upset I was to hear that.
You examine her alone? Often.
Stephanie's parents insist that I repeat every test, hoping there'll be a change in her condition.
And what's her prognosis? Oh, it's very grim.
She's suffered massive cortical damage.
She has minimal brain stem activity.
She has no intellectual or motor function.
Sounds like you spent a lot of time with her.
I spend time with all my coma patients.
Would you have any problem volunteering your DNA? Not at all.
Clark Jensen? Yes? You do these exercises with Stephanie Rawley? Three times a week, to keep the joints fluid and the muscles from atrophying.
She's hooked to life support.
You roll those machines up here? I have a special routine for the coma patients.
I can do them in their beds.
You don't say.
Two-minute break, Mr.
Crowe.
You happen to hear about the voluntary DNA test? I was the first in line.
You work with Stephanie a lot.
Who do you think did it? I don't know.
But I can't believe one of my co-workers is a rapist.
What about a patient? Or visitors.
You ever see this guy? When? Month or so ago.
I came in early one morning, he was with her.
I knew the deal, but when he told me his side, I felt for the guy.
Didn't report it, though.
What exactly was he doing when you walked in? Sleeping in her bed.
You lied to us, Mr.
Andersen.
I had to.
The second the Rawleys find out I broke the restraining order, they'll have me arrested.
You looked me right in the eye and had the violins going I stayed away as long as I could, then I started visiting once a month.
Guess we all know what you brought her instead of flowers.
You're wrong.
How'd you manage to sneak in there? There's a nurse on night shift.
She feels bad for me, she looks the other way.
So you get to spend the night with her in the moonlight, just like old times, huh? Naturally, it got hot and heavy.
She gets agitated at night.
She shakes, her face twitches.
What do you do about it, David? I just hold her.
The doctors say that she's not aware, but it seems to calm her down.
So you'd have no objections then, to taking a paternity test, huh? None.
I want to know who did this to her as much as you do.
So far nobody has a clue or has any problem giving up their DNA.
Including the fiancé, who was at the top of our list.
Still headlining mine.
I think he's so lovesick he doesn't care whether he goes to jail or not.
If that's the case, why not just admit it? Cause he's freaky sick.
I don't know.
They were gonna be married in one week's time.
Come on, like that makes a difference? If she didn't give consent, it's still rape.
I'm saying she would've if she could've.
Fiancé, best case scenario.
It's not like she's facing psychological trauma over this.
She's produce.
Mrs.
Rawley.
Try to stay calm, we're gonna be right there.
Mrs.
Rawley went to mass and when she came back, Stephanie was gone.
Where is she? Nurse said she'd been transferred back to the rehab center.
Why would they send her back to where she was raped? Where is she? Look Tell me where she is! Mrs.
Rawley, let us handle this.
I want to see my daughter.
Right now.
I don't understand what the problem is.
Was Stephanie readmitted? Yes, a few hours ago.
Don't tell me you put her in the same room.
Well, yes, but she isn't there now.
Well, where is she? The procedure room.
For what? You're gonna have to talk to Dr.
Mandell, he's the one who ordered it.
Ordered what? What is he doing to her? Mrs.
Rawley, do us a favor and stay here.
Dr.
Mandell, can we have a word with you? Hey, this is a sterile field.
Get out of here.
Who the hell are you? Dr.
Garrison.
Now, would you please get out? As soon as you tell us what's going on here.
Just a routine procedure.
Dr.
Mandell called me in.
To do what exactly? Terminate the pregnancy.
I understand you just interfered with a medical emergency.
What's that, doc-talk for cover-up? What are you talking about? You tried to destroy evidence in a rape case in which you're a suspect.
No wonder you were so willing to give up your DNA.
You knew you could fix it so there'd be nothing to compare it to.
Look, all I knew was that Stephanie Rawley's life was in danger.
It's funny how the docs at Wheaton Memorial seemed to miss that.
Yes, well, they're not experts in the care of the profoundly devastated.
So you decide to play God.
No, I called in Dr.
Garrison, who agreed that it would be malpractice to allow the pregnancy to continue.
How very noble of you.
Except for the fact that you failed to get the parents' consent.
It's right here.
That's crap.
Mrs.
Rawley came to us, hysterical, when she found out Stephanie was brought back here.
I dealt with Mr.
Rawley.
I didn't know what else to do.
I knew you'd never consent.
Of course I wouldn't.
A sick pervert raped our daughter.
I wanted that monster out of her.
Was it Dr.
Mandell's idea or was it yours? He called and told me the risks of continuing the pregnancy.
After all this, I couldn't lose my daughter.
An abortion goes against everything that we believe in.
This is different.
It's Stephanie.
Do you want to raise that thing inside her? That thing is our grandchild.
Why don't we talk over here.
I'm a father, too.
What would you do? I don't know.
I come visit every day on my lunch break.
With Mrs.
Rawley? No, alone.
What are you saying? I'm sorry to have to say this, it's standard procedure, but I should get a DNA sample.
Robert! You just assaulted a police officer.
It's your call.
No, it's okay.
It's okay.
Questioning the father as a suspect is never a crowd-pleaser.
Verbal vitriol you'd expect, anyone else think the father protests a bit too much? You're not a father.
You don't have a raped daughter in a coma with a devil cake in the oven.
That you just tried to abort.
Well, we'll know if it's Dad soon enough.
When do we get the products of conception for testing? We don't.
They're keeping it.
Why? Wife's Catholic.
Still, I've never had a keeper with a stranger rape before.
John, Olivia's mother was raped by a stranger.
My mother made a choice.
Look, Olivia, we were just talking No, save it.
If the same thing happened to me, morning-after pill, no question.
So where are we on the case? No abortion, no fetal tissue.
We're screwed.
We'll just have to wait a couple of months to start paternity tests.
Until then, we'll work it without DNA.
Where are we with the rehab employees? We ruled out a handful with verifiable medical reasons.
And we interviewed everybody on the list that volunteered their DNA.
I'm more interested in anybody who refused.
That would be two employees.
Okay, let's split up and find out why.
I know the drill.
Somebody committed a crime, so let's check out the black guy.
That stinks of racial profiling.
We're looking at everyone.
Where's your probable cause? What about a search warrant? This flies in the face of the Fourth Amendment.
Mr.
Hill, supplying your DNA is voluntary.
No, it's not.
If you decide not to volunteer, you're presumed guilty.
I guess you're right.
So just ante up.
Hold on.
Mr.
Hill has a valid point.
Our likes, dislikes and habits are all stored in huge computer systems.
On top of that, you got facial recognition technology, public video surveillance.
National ID cards.
Where does it end? Every piece of data you put out there, exponentially increases the control The Man wields over us.
I can see you understand why this conversation ends here.
Good day to you both.
Mr.
Hill, if you didn't rape Stephanie Rawley, DNA can only exclude you.
We're off your back.
No.
Fascist pig.
What the hell was that? Good police work.
Here's your DNA.
Well, what if I have a fatal illness or something? Then I'd know.
I don't want to know.
We won't be testing for any diseases.
But what if someone gets ahold of the test, finds out that I do have a disease, then denies me insurance? I can't make all those medical bills.
I assure you, no one outside the police department will have access to your DNA.
Once you exclude yourself, it's destroyed.
Okay.
All right.
Well, what if I've committed some crime in the past, huh? Can you arrest me, once you get ahold of my DNA? Have you committed another crime? No.
But, you know.
Guys They make mistakes all the time, guys go to prison for years before they figure it out.
Mr.
Baltzer, if you don't clear yourself, we're gonna have to start digging around.
Why? And asking questions.
Why? Look, you had access to the victim.
You were here alone, at night, no witnesses.
No, no, that's not true.
I am not here alone, I swear.
There are a lot of people who wander these halls.
Like? Like the vending guys, the delivery men.
The fellow who picks up the Picks up the what? You know, from the morgue.
The stiffs.
I get hungry.
The vending machines upstairs have better selections.
Well, how do they compare with the snacks in, say, the coma wing? I don't know.
I don't go there.
Oh, come on.
All those nights you've roamed the halls jonesing for a Ding Dong fix, you never once checked out the coma wing? What are you getting at? Wesley, we're collecting DNA from everyone who has contact with the rehab.
We'd appreciate your contribution.
No.
No, I don't think so.
Why not, what's to hide? I know how you cops operate.
You get a case, you can't solve it, you plant evidence, make Wesley your fall guy.
Sounds like you've had a run-in or two with the police.
I don't have a record.
No, but we did find a dropped complaint against you.
Maxine Hatters? Who the hell is that? The woman you assaulted a year ago.
The woman you tried to choke.
She called the police? She's lucky I didn't have her arrested.
You attacked her.
Why would you be the one to press charges? Because she stole my wallet.
I only took it so I could turn him in.
Creep tried to strangle me.
That's a serious charge.
Why drop it? I didn't like the way I was being treated.
I tried to tell my story and your boys in blue put it back on me.
You want to tell us, we'll listen.
So, I'm sitting in this chicken joint, like, 3:00 a.
m.
This guy comes over, starts asking me about the chicken.
The chicken.
Yeah.
He offers to buy me some.
Some chicken? Yeah.
Only when we get up to the motel room to eat it Maxine, the guy's a john.
You're all alike.
I'm a pro, so it doesn't matter he tried to kill me.
We don't care about your night job, we're just trying to get the story straight.
So we get up to the motel room, I ask him how he wants it, I'm supposed to strip naked, lie flat on my back, not move a muscle, not say a sound.
You got a problem with that? No.
He's the one who had a little problem, if you know what I mean.
Okay, so you laughed at him, he chokes you.
No, I was very understanding, till he started filling the tub with ice.
For what? He told me to lie in it.
I'm like, "No way.
" That's when he chokes me.
He was trying to lower your body temperature.
Said he couldn't do it unless I really seemed dead.
You gotta be kidding me.
Wesley, what is this thing with you, water and women? I'm just doing my job.
I mean, the hot showers I get, but ice baths? We tracked down Maxine.
Your old prostitute.
The one you hired to pretend to be pretty much like her.
I heard you weren't real happy with her performance.
How'd Stephanie Rawley do? I told you, I've never been to the coma wing.
Could you please go? You're gonna get me fired.
Oh, we wouldn't want to do that, seeing as you've only been here for, what, a couple of months? Before that you were at Upson Funeral Home.
What went wrong there? Nothing.
No, Wesley was great.
It was just time for him to move on.
After seven weeks.
Yes.
Uh-huh.
Ma'am, just so you know, the Federal Trade Commission no longer requires you to buy your casket at the funeral home.
You can save a few thousand by buying from the supplier.
Not when you take into account the discount package I'll be offering you.
I'll be right back to discuss that.
I assume you gave her the price list, as required by law? All right.
We had some thefts.
Some jewelry, a few gold fillings, so we installed a camera.
We're not here about grave robbing.
Well, Wesley wasn't our thief.
But I'm afraid we did catch him on tape.
Doing what? The late Mrs.
Thurgeston.
Kind of late to be paying your respects, isn't it? Guess you two were close.
Really close.
You like the quiet type, huh? Please turn it off.
Oh, relax, it's over in a second.
Ah, but I guess I don't have to tell you that.
Can I please have a glass of water? Heavy on the ice, right? He's got dry mouth.
At least we're making him nervous.
Yeah, you more than Elliot.
He's a necrophiliac.
His greatest fear is to be judged by women.
The emasculation tactic might not be the way to go on this one.
That's why we pulled you out.
What are you thinking? Shame is driving his compulsion.
He was most likely raised in an overly religious household, where an intense degree of shame was attached to sex.
So what are we thinking? Empathize? Tell him that we understand? I doubt that he understands.
Pretty girl, isn't she? I guess.
Almost like Sleeping Beauty and she's been in a coma for a year.
Look, I've never seen her before.
Come on, Wesley, I understand.
I'm a guy.
Hard opportunity to pass up.
It's not like she knew what was going on.
You don't understand.
I do, more than you think.
It's what every guy wants.
No one judging you Right.
Just Stephanie lying there perfect.
Deaf, dumb and blind.
No, it doesn't work that way.
Why doesn't it work that way? She's alive.
Come on! Don't split hairs with me, Wesley! Come on! People snap out of comas all the time.
Well, what about the hooker that you hired, huh? She was alive and kicking, pal.
And I bet she told you what a miserable failure I was.
Yes, she did.
And we had a big laugh at your expense.
I knew she'd talk.
You can't trust a woman with a pulse.
Get him his water.
Okay, but I don't see this guy giving it up, whether I'm in there or not.
What if there's nothing to give up? Obviously we weren't watching the same tape.
I'm just saying, there are some extreme cases where a necrophiliac can't sustain the arousal required to penetrate, let alone impregnate, a warm body.
So, you don't need me after all.
No, hold on.
The only thing rendering Mr.
Dilbert limp is the 12-to-25 he's facing on rape one as opposed to What does necrophilia get him? Sexual misconduct.
A misdemeanor.
Great.
One year, max.
Is there anything that links him to Stephanie? Any witnesses, physical evidence? We'll have paternity in two months.
Well, at the very least, let's save the late Mrs.
Thurgeston another spin in her grave.
We'll charge him with necrophilia, get him off the street.
"Docket number 269501.
People vs.
Dilbert.
"Sexual misconduct Sub 3? Which one is it, Counselor? Was the sexual conduct with an animal or a dead human body? Mr.
Dilbert is a funeral home attendant who was videotaped having sex with a human corpse.
Your plea, Mr.
Dilbert? Not guilty, Your Honor.
I'll hear from the People on bail.
$100,000.
For an A misdemeanor? He has insufficient community ties, poses an ongoing threat, and, we believe, is a flight risk.
He has limited financial means, no criminal record, and given the non-violent crime he's been charged with, I see no threat to the community.
Your honor, Mr.
Dilbert is the number-one suspect in the rape of a comatose patient.
We believe this heightens the flight risk considerably.
I'm sorry, I don't see an indictment on that charge.
You will.
Until I do, His Honor cannot possibly consider it in determining bail.
Request ROR.
Bail's set at $5,000.
So he'll be out by morning.
Free to ruin someone else's daughter.
Why couldn't you charge him with Stephanie's rape? We don't have enough evidence to support it yet.
Mr.
RAWLEY: When will you? We need the fetus' DNA to determine paternity.
The earliest an amnio can be done is 14 weeks.
That's almost two months.
They could have it now if they had the tissue.
That's not an option.
You know, I may have one for you.
Dr.
Huang is familiar with the case.
With amniocentesis, as with chorionic villus sampling, there's always a chance of miscarriage or other complications.
Oh, my God.
That's why they've been experimenting with alternative testing.
A colleague of mine, a forensic gynecologist, has been successful in adapting the alternative to determine early prenatal paternity.
So what did you get for us? Well, we took 30 cc of Stephanie's blood and we subjected it to density gradient centrifugation to remove the maternal non-nucleated red blood cells.
Leaving you only with the fetal cells.
So, did it work? Well, mind you, even during the optimal period, the frequency of fetal cells in maternal blood is only one in ten million.
Luckily, we have this high-precision magnetic cell-separation technology.
So, did it work or not? Yes.
Did you compare it to Wesley the Necro's DNA sample? There was no need.
The fetus' blood type is AB.
The mother's is type A, which means The father can only be type B.
And Wesley is type A.
So, he cannot be the father.
That's right.
Damn it.
We have those other volunteered samples to run.
How many are type B? Well, not the fiancé, not Mr.
Riley, not the night custodian, not him Hello.
Look who we have here.
Do you have any idea how many people have type B blood? One in ten.
We did our homework.
And you're the only one who had type B and had access and tried to abort the evidence.
Doc, you just keep popping up on our radar screen.
Now what are we supposed to think? Well, fortunately, you don't have to.
Modern technology has removed that burden.
You have my DNA, just run it.
Well, we'll get the results back in a few days.
The problem is, you make us wait till then, we're gonna be in no mood to bargain.
I think I'll take my chances.
Why, Dr.
Huang.
What brings you here? Some fascinating results from the gynecological examinations performed on Dr.
Mandell's other female coma patients.
These are forensic pictures taken with a culposcope of the uterine walls of your patient, Audrey Logan.
Dr.
Mandell, help us out here.
What's your diagnosis? I'm not a trained OBIGYN.
Come on, we all did gynecology in med school.
Give it a shot.
Well, it looks like a healthy uterus, no signs of endometriosis, no polyps, no cysts.
Well, it does take a trained eye, but if you notice right there, there's miniscule scarring.
From a sexual assault? No.
I'd say more likely from a recent abortion.
So, you raped her, too.
And got rid of the evidence.
I need to speak with my attorney.
Doc Mandell took care of both women.
We know he tried to abort Stephanie's fetus, he's not copping to the other.
Well, what do we know about raped coma victim number two? Audrey Logan, captain of her high school debate team until she went to a rave three years ago and ingested one too many party favors.
Yeah, now she's captain of the drool team.
Fin went to get her medical records.
What have you dug up on the doc? No dirt, per se, yet, but listen to this.
Turns out he works two days a week at a place called Diotyne.
Bio-tech company.
What does he do there? Parkinson's research.
Well, it make sense.
He's a neurologist.
Audrey's medical files? No record of an abortion and the only operation was for an ovarian cyst removed four months ago.
Time frame fits with the scarring.
Guess who the OBIGYN was.
Dr.
Garrison.
That's the same woman Mandell brought in to abort Stephanie.
I think it's time we invite her in for a chat.
Tried, she wasn't at the hospital.
She works for some research lab called Diotyne? How do you know? Just a crazy hunch.
My relationship with Dr.
Mandell is none of your business.
He's in a lot of trouble, Dr.
Garrison.
And he's dragged you into it.
Dr.
Mandell hasn't dragged me into anything.
You're awfully accommodating.
How's it work? He rapes 'em, you scrape 'em? He's not a rapist.
As I explained, Stephanie's life was, and is, at risk.
And what about Audrey Logan? You did a good job removing her cyst.
Didn't even leave a scar on her ovary.
But you did leave one on her uterus.
How do you explain that? It's not what you think.
Oh, yeah, what is it? Bureaucratic roadblocks.
When Bush limited stem cell research to cell lines already established, he essentially shut down Graham's work.
What does that have to do with Stephanie Rawley and Audrey Logan? Everything.
He lost his federal funding and we had to turn to private sources.
Which is legal, but unfortunately has strings attached.
What are you talking about? Do you know who Davis Langley is? The software magnate? He put up all the money.
I could have stopped him but this is for the greater good.
Where's the greater good in rape? They weren't raped.
They were inseminated.
Stephanie's parents signed a blanket consent.
Did it mention insemination in the fine print? It covered experimental procedures.
I've done everything conceivable to bring her out of the coma.
This wasn't for her.
It was for an old, sick billionaire.
I have done nothing wrong.
I didn't profit from this in any way.
We'll be checking your financials.
Look, do you have any idea what Parkinson's does to a body? Any idea? I watched my father slowly deteriorate and then die from the disease.
I couldn't do a thing to stop it.
Being a doctor, that must have been very frustrating for you.
It's why I became a neurologist.
I didn't want to see anybody else suffer the way he did.
I was just trying to help Mr.
Langley.
But the hell with Audrey and Stephanie, right? Don't you get it? Medical advances have a price.
Now, the first ten bone marrow transplants ended in death.
Now if we'd given up, thousands of people would have died.
Like they'll go on dying from Parkinson's if you stop me from doing my job.
Don't you get it? You're going to jail.
I haven't broken any laws.
You impregnated two girls against their will.
What will? They barely have a pulse.
Audrey is in no worse condition now than she was before.
And I could have said the same about Stephanie if you hadn't stopped the procedure.
Oh, so now it's our fault.
All I needed was a genetic match for the stem cells to be implanted into Mr.
Langley's brain.
It's still experimental, but it's his only hope.
Sorry to keep you waiting.
I'm Milton Schoenfeld, Mr.
Langley's attorney.
Well, since we're whipping them out, this is Alex Cabot, Assistant District Attorney.
What can I do for you? Well, for starters, you can produce your client.
Anything you have to say to Mr.
Langley, you can say to me.
If there's anything of interest, I'll pass it along.
Of interest? How about paying a woman to be forcibly impregnated? Then conspiring to abort the fetus and play Frankenstein with the parts.
Mr.
Langley is not a doctor, although he has consulted several regarding his condition.
He can't be held responsible if any laws were broken by one of them without his knowledge.
Right, he had no idea why he was jerking off into a cup.
He's given countless specimens.
Blood, urine, tissue He couldn't tell you what was done with those, either.
So he wouldn't have any trouble testifying against Dr.
Mandell.
I'm afraid his failing health would prohibit that.
Oh, that's too bad, because if there's one place you don't want to be when you're sick, it's Attica.
My client has done nothing illegal, so good luck getting an indictment.
Otherwise, don't bother us again.
Alex.
Hey, how'd it go? The grand jury gave me both doctors, but no-billed Langley.
Did they see the three million dollar check he wrote to Diotyne? As a perfectly legal donation.
That was payment for stolen goods.
It doesn't even meet the burden for a felony.
Because it's illegal to buy and sell body parts, by law they have no monetary value.
You mean, I could go to jail for stealing a toaster, but not for stealing a woman's eggs? Unfortunately, the law hasn't quite caught up to the technology.
Well, what if Dr.
Mandell's theory is right and the procurement of genetically matched stem cells is the answer? Does that up the ethical dilemma? Mandell and Garrison essentially raped a woman with a turkey baster.
So, you've got aggravated sex abuse one.
Well, that's what I'm going for, but they're gonna argue no sexual gratification.
Every jury has a mother, a daughter or a sister.
Play the emotion card.
Mrs.
Rawley, take your time.
Stephanie's been in a coma It'll be 14 months next Tuesday.
And during that time, has she ever regained consciousness? No.
She's on life support.
Machines constantly monitor her vital signs, so there would be a record if she had ever woken up, even momentarily? Oh, yes.
That hasn't happened.
Yet.
So there is no way she could have consented to being impregnated and then having her fetus aborted by Dr.
Mandell's experimental procedure.
Absolutely not.
And she would never have agreed to that, under any circumstances.
Do you ever visit your daughter? Every day.
I talk to her, read to her, when her lips are chapped, I put ice chips on them.
But if Stephanie can't communicate with you, or with anyone else for that matter, why do you put yourself through it? Because I know she's still in there somewhere.
People wake up from comas all the time, sometimes after years.
And I'm going to be there when she does.
Thank you.
Your daughter was a very pretty girl.
She still is.
Kind person? Ask anyone who ever met her.
Sweetest girl in the world.
What did she do for a living? She graduated with honors, she could've done anything, but she chose to work with special needs children.
I have a copy of her driver's license here.
She was an organ donor? Yes.
She intended to spend the rest of her life, and after, helping people.
Yes.
So, would it be fair to say, considering her circumstances, she might have chosen to contribute any way she could to help the suffering of millions? Stephanie loved children.
How dare you imply that she would have created a life just to have it destroyed by that monster.
We trusted you.
You promised you would do everything you could for her.
Your job was to help Stephanie, not use her as a human petrie dish! What good could possibly have come from this experimental procedure? To start with, the cure of Parkinson's.
From there, treatment for Alzheimer's, spinal cord injuries, heart disease, diabetes.
How? Well, I'm afraid it's quite involved.
It's a culmination of 15 years of my own research, not to mention a century of experimentation by countless others.
In a nutshell? The Holy Grail of medical research.
Embryonic stem cells.
Now, unlike adult cells, they have a pluripotentiality.
In layman's terms? Well, these cells haven't decided what they're going to become yet.
Meaning we can coax them to grow into any cell type we need.
In the case of Parkinson's? The brain must produce dopamine to control muscle movement.
In Parkinson's, the basal ganglia cells which produce this chemical start to degenerate and die.
And it's our hope to finally replace these damaged neural cells.
Thank you.
Mandell actually took the stand in his own defense? He still doesn't think he did anything wrong.
So he hung himself.
Not if he reaches even one juror whose parent is dying from Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.
Well, they have no choice if you made your case.
He lost a lot of ground when he admitted he tried to abort Stephanie.
And I still have my summation.
I'm afraid there's going to be a slight delay on that.
Sorry for the late notice, but this witness just became available.
Who is it? Well, he was too sick to testify for us, but it looks like Davis Langley has made a miraculous recovery for the defense.
At the start it was just my right hand.
My hand, it was ice cold all the time.
Then, my arm stopped swinging when I walked and that was six years ago.
Now, I I can't even brush my own teeth.
I can't button my shirt.
I can't control my bowels.
I piss in this bag, for God's sake.
I choke on my food.
I'm even afraid to take a drink of water because usually it goes down the wrong pipe and causes havoc in my lungs.
I've had pneumonia three times.
And why did you choose to come forward today, Mr.
Langley? Because they're prosecuting the wrong man.
Dr.
Mandell fought me tooth and nail.
He made it perfectly clear that they had some success with animal trials but they were years away from humans.
Why would you put yourself at risk? I haven't got five more years to wait for government approval.
At this point, I don't think I've got five months.
Thank you.
Mr.
Langley, were you aware how Dr.
Mandell attempted to procure stem cells for you? Actually, it was my idea.
I wasn't aware you had a medical degree, Mr.
Langley.
I don't, but I read everything there is out there about the subject.
If they could create a picture-perfect genetically matched cell, they could up the odds.
So, who cares if a comatose woman is violated in the name of science? No, no.
My sympathy to the family, but their beautiful daughter left this earth a year ago.
But out of their tragedy could come a gift of life for many, many others.
You have all the money in the world.
Why not hire a surrogate? Well, it's one thing to carry a baby for someone else, it's quite another to do what we needed.
I couldn't ask any woman to knowingly carry that burden.
Mr.
Langley, are you aware that you have just confessed to being a co-conspirator in this crime? Young lady, look at me.
Prison couldn't compare with what I'm facing now.
Even if it's too late for me, it could end up helping millions.
I'm willing to be the guinea pig.
Please, let me make it happen.
Please.
Verdict came in.
No.
They did not let 'em off.
Slaps on the wrist.
The only charge I got a guilty on was the straight battery.
They tried to steal a human fetus.
A guy in Jersey got 10 years for selling stolen horse sperm.
Got no priors, there's a chance Mandell won't even see jail time.
There's just no precedent for this kind of case yet.
Mrs.
Rawley, I am so sorry I could not do more.
You okay? Can I get you something? You have got to stop him.
Stop who? Davis Langley just filed for custody of the baby.
He wants to take my grandchild away from me.
He can't do that, can he? His attorney says he is the biological father, that you just established that for him in court.
And he says that biology always wins.
Mrs.
Rawley, let's have a seat.
Let's just calm down for a second, come on over here.
I don't get it.
Why would Davis Langley want custody of that baby? Guilt? Survival.
If he's granted custody, along with the baby comes the umbilical cord.
I've cut four of them, it's not exactly something you save for the scrapbook.
Cord blood is chock full of stem cells.
Half of which will be his perfect genetic match.

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