Law & Order Special Victims Unit s05e13 Episode Script
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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.
I don't care how much money I'll make.
I'm going to med school.
You're not going to make the big bucks working at an HMO.
And those loans? Why do we have to be rich? I want my life to be meaningful.
Who says having a ton of money isn't meaningful? I love you, but your values suck.
Oh, my God.
Kyle! Kyle, be careful! Kyle! Folks there say she came running down the street already on fire.
You think it's a rape? That's why I called the panty police.
Found her torn underwear in that doorway.
Guy must've ripped them off before he torched her.
She's pretty crispy.
Any prayer of getting DNA? Only if you have a special connection upstairs.
With any luck, lab will find something on the underwear.
The guy was careless.
Maybe he left somethin' else behind.
Looks like there's blood on that pipe.
He could've hit her in the head with it.
Smells like fuel oil.
You have to add an accelerant to light her up.
We'll run a gas chromo, see what he used.
There's no mailing labels on these magazines.
But we've got a register receipt.
Time stamp says 7:14.
Witnesses said they saw her around 7:40, so maybe she bought the magazines nearby.
We'll find the newsstand.
Or better yet, get prints.
Any ID? Purse? Fire melted it onto her body.
I've never seen a woman raped and then burned alive.
Guy's lookin' to send a message.
Whoever you're looking for is sicker than I thought.
Setting her on fire isn't sick enough? Not for this guy.
There are pubic hairs in that blood.
He raped her with the pipe.
To be sure, I stained the skin cells scraped off the metal.
They're cervical.
VICAP should tell us if any rapists out there use foreign objects and burns their victim.
He didn't burn quite all of her.
She was wearing high boots.
You see that? It's made from henna.
Some tattoo.
Drawn on the skin and set with oil.
It's a traditional Muslim design for weddings and family celebrations.
Only Muslim? Mostly.
You see it in Africa, India, and all over the Middle East.
Burning Muslims? Could be a hate crime.
Let's not say that too loud.
Last thing we need is copycats.
Nothing from VICAP.
Men in India burn their wives when they don't play by the rules.
Yeah, like having an affair.
Husband's family helps do the burning.
An angry husband makes sense.
Especially if his wife cheated on him.
That would cover a lot of men.
He burned her alive.
What does that tell you? Fire's a form of purification.
We burn witches, garbage.
Anything that makes us feel evil or dirty.
And of course, fire's a metaphor for passion.
Freud believed that setting fires was a sign of disturbed adolescent sexuality.
Maybe we're dealing with a man who lives with his mother.
We found the guy who sold her the magazines.
Doesn't remember what she looked like, what she said, or if she was with anyone.
Considering what he was snorting, it's a miracle he remembers his name.
Whatever this is, let's be careful not to say Muslim men like to burn their wives.
No.
If they want to burn people, they fly an airplane full of gasolene into an office building.
Excuse me, but they were extremists.
Sorry.
But my next door neighbor's Iranian.
At airports, even he's scared when he sees Middle Eastern passports.
I mean, let's get real.
People know it's wrong, but they think it anyway.
Okay.
Thanks.
Lab caught us a break.
Talk to them.
The prints on the magazines are smudged.
Basically useless.
Is that the good news? Be patient.
Her purse burned with everything inside.
We tested the ash residue.
It was made of suede.
And we were able to clean up the label.
"Lant ve lyn?" Probably a private label.
That's what I was thinking.
Okay, I give up.
Private label? Well, small stores go to manufacturers who provide them with custom labels to make it look like the purse was made only for that store.
Now, I'm guessing that the "lyn" is Brooklyn.
Indian or Middle Eastern neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
Atlantic Avenue.
Let's see if somebody there recognizes the tattoo.
It's beautiful, but it's not my work.
This wasn't done by an Indian.
Do you have any idea who might've done it? Someone from Egypt, I would think.
See the narrow pinpoint style of the detailing? Zara.
Hey, Zara! Zara, come look.
Is this your work? They're police officers.
Well, of course, I did that.
Aha.
I thought so.
It's lovely.
Remember who you did it for? Mira Elbisi.
She was attending a celebration.
The birth of a friend's baby.
You know Mira well? Mira's just a customer.
I like her.
Her name in Arabic means princess, like mine, Zara, from the Hebrew.
You Jewish? Oh, no, no.
She's Muslim.
Uh, languages, Arabic, Hebrew dialects, they blend together.
What's this all about? Do you know where Mira's family lives? May I see your identification? Mira's husband and his mother, Jazlyn, they publish The Arab American, the newspaper.
It's around the corner, near the mosque.
My wife? Haven't seen her since last evening.
She's with a friend.
Which friend would that be? Uh, my wife has many friends.
You two not getting along? Of course, we are.
Mr.
Elbisi, is this your wife? Not to be rude, but it seems that if everything was fine, you'd know where she spent the night.
You know what I find strange? We ask you about your wife, you're not least bit curious why we ask.
Did she file a new complaint? How I mistreat and harass her? Why? You like to beat her up? I would never hurt Mira.
Where were you last night? My mother and I worked late putting the paper to bed.
My mother's Jazlyn Elbisi.
She's well-known in the community.
She here today? She took the day off.
And how late did you two work? Mira hates being alone in the apartment after dark.
Sometimes she visits friends in Bay Ridge and stays over.
Which friends? L I don't know.
Recognize this tattoo? Yes.
And that mole.
It's Mira.
Why do you have that photograph? Mr.
Elbisi, we're very sorry.
Your wife was murdered last night.
No.
She was burned to death.
Who could have done this? We're hopin' you can help us with that.
I wouldn't have any idea.
Of course I was at the paper with my son all evening.
Could you translate evening into something more specific? I went to the office around 5:00.
I left at midnight.
Your son told two detectives that you left at, uh, It was a long day.
What's the difference? The difference is your stories don't match.
Which probably means you're not telling the truth.
You just want to make Arabs look like bad people.
That's why you're here.
All right.
I came home with my grandson.
I took him to the office and I brought him home to put him to bed.
Where was his mother? I don't know.
Nana, where's Mama? When's Mama coming home? Sonny boy must've called Mom and warned her.
They couldn't keep their stories straight.
Every word out of her mouth was a lie, except maybe good morning.
Casey.
Who talked to a reporter about this burned woman? And it's nice to see you, too.
"Burn victim said to be target of hate crime.
"Sources say Special Victims Unit detectives "refused to release the woman's ethnicity for fear of setting off more attacks.
" I hope this didn't come from here.
We don't leak to the press.
Only person I talked to about this was you.
Well, then how'd they get the story? Somebody heard a rumor, made up the rest.
When this hits the papers before I brief my boss, I look incompetent.
Three weeks ago, Mira Elbisi called the 74, said she was afraid of her husband.
Cops respond, she apologizes.
She overreacted.
One week later, neighbor calls.
Shouting from the Elbisi apartment.
This time the mother-in-law sent the cops away.
If he was abusin' her, Mira had a lot of courage callin' the cops.
Let's find this neighbor and see what the shouting was about.
I think maybe he hit her.
She had a split lip the next day.
Why did they fight? Don't know.
Mira said she cut herself.
I didn't believe her.
You must have a reason for that.
She was struggling, you know.
It was obvious.
She had no one to talk to.
She told me she was true to Islam, but you could see this lady wanted some freedom.
You ever talk to her husband? I don't go where I'm not wanted.
You got a problem with Arabs? No.
He's got a problem with me.
He's an educated guy.
I think he looks down on trades people.
Did Mira fight with her mother-in-law? She hated living with the old lady.
She felt squeezed.
When they shouted, they turned up the stereo.
She ever mention anybody that she confided in? Uh, there was one friend.
A guy who works for some do-gooder religious group.
He's Jewish.
She wanted me to meet him.
Name's, uh, Feldman.
Joshua Feldman.
Guess she thought since I'm Jewish, I'd make a donation.
He beat her up, didn't he? That lunatic husband of hers.
Is that why you're here? Mr.
Feldman, did you see Mira last night? Is she in the hospital? Tell me.
Was she here last night? I was expecting her.
We're trying to build bridges between Muslims and Jews, and she wanted to be a part of it.
When she didn't show up, I called her.
Her mother-in-law answered and I hung up.
Why didn't you leave a message? Strange man calling a married Muslim woman? Might not go over too well.
So she kept her work here secret.
Yes.
Mira's afraid her husband will keep her from coming.
Please, tell me, is she all right? Mr.
Feldman, last night Mira was attacked two blocks from here.
Maybe you read today's paper.
No.
That was Mira? Oh, God, no.
So you two were more than friends.
We were in love.
She was going to leave him.
We were goin' to live together.
Did her husband know about all this? Yes.
When she told him I was Jewish, he said he'd never let her go, never let her leave.
Mira and I fought.
We argued.
We are from different generations.
We didn't get along.
This was no secret.
You had some secrets last time we talked.
Like where your daughter-in-law was when you were babysitting.
I don't know.
Your wife is out at night, you have a young child, and you don't know where she is? She didn't always tell me.
I wonder why.
I don't know what you mean.
I mean her boyfriend.
Please.
My wife is dead.
Don't defame her good name.
Did you leave the newspaper office at around 6:00 with a can of fuel oil? We got a warrant.
We searched your car.
Our lab found traces of oil in your trunk.
You want to explain that? Our boiler in the office went out.
You need oil to prime it and the service company wouldn't come out, so we had to get some ourselves.
We figure you left your grandson at the office and went out with your son to start a fire.
We're not barbarians.
We're faithful Muslims.
And you couldn't bear that your daughter-in-law was in love with a Jew.
She cheated on me.
She disgraced our family.
But I still loved her.
Your wife wanted a divorce and you refused.
If Mira wanted to go, she could go.
Not if you threatened to kill her.
I would never do that.
Yeah, you would.
The neighbor said that you split her lip.
It was an accident.
We were both ill-tempered.
That's not what her boyfriend said.
See, Mr.
Elbisi, I want to believe you, I do.
But you find out that your wife is having an affair with a Jewish man, and I'm wondering how somebody like you would react.
Someone like me? He puts his head down.
He cries.
He mourns the loss of his son because his wife gets custody.
He doesn't set the woman he loves on fire.
Circumstantial.
Unless you get permission to talk to his kid.
A 6-year-old whose mother was just murdered.
No judge'll let us near him unless we indict the father.
Sure we got the right people? Yeah.
Why? Then we got a copycat.
What? and Second Avenue, near the big mosque.
Man set on fire.
Name was Tariq Assad, 27.
Didn't live to make it to the ambulance, but we got a witness.
The witness is Jason Mullavy.
He said the guy in flames came toward him and he heard somebody shouting: "Killer, you'll burn in hell for what you did to us.
" Just what the city needs to read in tomorrow's papers.
Mr.
Mullavy? Jason.
Capt.
Cragen.
How you doin'? Look, we'd like you not to repeat what you saw to the press.
You think you can handle that? I guess, yeah.
But I could get real money for this.
Well, that could compromise our investigation.
I think The Enquirer would pay me for an interview.
You could turn them down.
That depends how much they offer.
Det.
Munch.
Yes, sir? Take this young man into custody as a material witness.
Lock him up somewhere comfortable.
I know just the place.
You can't do this to me.
He just did.
Same M.
O.
Torn underwear on the ground and the smell of fuel oil.
Didn't release anything about fuel oil.
It's definitely not a copycat.
We've got a pipe with blood and tissue like the first victim.
Only the last one had cervical cells.
With a male victim, I'm betting this one will be rectal.
We got to figure out how this guy picks his victims, and we got to do it fast.
There's one distinction he's not making.
The first one's a female, 29.
The second victim's a male, 27.
They both look Middle Eastern.
Other than that, they've nothing else in common.
Except that he symbolically raped and set them on fire.
Crime of opportunity, or does he stalk them? It's hard to say.
But he seems impulsive.
He brings a pipe with him.
That's premeditation.
Any leads off the pipes? Old corroded junk, different manufacturers.
Could've picked it up off the street.
Using a pipe as a penis.
So he's just your garden-variety sexually-repressed racist.
Actually, I think the racism is a cover, a mask for inadequacies.
He probably has conscious feelings of being wronged, cheated by life.
And using a pipe on both sexes? A need to humiliate.
These offenders were often humiliated or abused as children.
So you're sayin' racism is what sets them off.
In a way, yes.
He sees these features that are Middle Eastern.
That person is the "other.
" This killer needs someone different from himself to hate.
He sees an Arab, he thinks terrorist.
Well, he's not alone.
Even normal people have crazy thoughts, but we don't act on them.
The new victim, Tariq Assad, I found his brother.
We came here to study engineering.
Our parents live in Cairo.
We're trying to trace your brother's movements.
Can you help us with that? Uh, as far as I know, he would've been in class till noon.
Then he'd go to the mosque for religious instruction.
He was a much more observant Muslim than I.
Did he socialize in the Arab community in Brooklyn? You mean the woman who was killed? No, he wouldn't know her.
You seem pretty sure of that.
My brother and I Well, that's not our sort of people.
You know, they're still very isolated in Brooklyn.
Tariq was quite social.
He spent a lot of time teaching Christians and Jews about Islam.
He called it "building bridges.
" Building bridges? Did he use that specific phrase, "building bridges"? Yes.
He was a bit of an idealist.
Is that important? You know if he belonged to any organizations? Uh, a place downtown, the Interfaith Council.
Now it's Tariq Assad? Don't tell me Mira's crazy husband is killin' people she met here.
We don't think he's involved.
So you knew Tariq? This is a nightmare.
He was such an optimist.
I mean, how many Arabs tell you Israel is a great country? Could Tariq have known Mira? Mira and Tariq were on the same panel last week: The Modernization of Islam.
You sell tickets to that event? No, people just show up.
It's open to the public.
How about, uh, that thing up there? Security.
We have plenty of metal detectors, cameras, guards.
We record everything just in case.
This is the tape after the panel.
Camera 3 is the reception.
There's Tariq Assad.
And there's Mira in the front.
The guy in the baseball cap.
He was standing next to Tariq.
Now watch.
Sidling up next to Mira.
Do you know him? No, never seen him before.
What's on his jacket.
Can you freeze that for me? Can you bring it in closer? "Donaghue Heating Service.
" Heating.
As in fuel oil.
Yeah, it's Sean Webster.
Drives a truck for us.
Is he in trouble? We just want to talk to him.
He's clockin' in, top of his shift.
Hey, Sean, some cops here want to talk to you.
Sean.
Se What are you running from, Sean? We just want to have a little chat.
You're under arrest for the murders of Tariq Assad and Mira Elbisi.
You don't want to do this.
Listen to me.
You'll let me go.
Shut up.
You have the right to remain silent.
If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in court.
But you're like me.
I know you are.
You have the right to an attorney.
I've been in some trouble before.
So when I saw you two comin', I automatically ran.
But not because you burned two people alive.
No, it's like If somebody was gonna do what you say that I did.
Somebody? Meaning not you.
Yeah.
If this man was to do this, and maybe he knew that these people only pretended to be good, but secretly they weren't, well, then you'd understand why he did it.
This man knew they were bad.
How'd he know? Maybe by the color of their skin, their voices, and because they're a danger to our way of life.
Way of life? Which way is that? Freedom.
Democracy.
If these people don't believe in those things and they get money for terrorism from overseas, then somebody ought to kill 'em.
Right? Almost dissociating, as if this isn't about him.
Sounds like he wants Olivia's and Elliot's approval.
Makes you wonder whose approval he really wants.
The fuel oil in Sean's truck is a perfect match to the victims.
sold every 10 seconds.
Dumbest lawyer in town can do an O.
J.
DNA with it.
The lab says the oil was accelerated with benzene.
Munch and Fin need a search warrant for the kid's apartment.
It's done.
He saying anything? Not directly.
Likes the sound of his own voice.
Call me if he gives us anything useful.
Any suggestions? Keep him talking.
This man wants to confess, but first he needs to be heard.
Till he says the magic words: "I want a lawyer.
" No, he won't hide behind a lawyer.
They keep listening, he'll keep talking.
What did my son do? He's not a criminal.
Yes, ma'am.
Sean's boss called.
He said you dragged him away.
I called the police department.
They said they've never heard of my son.
He's at our precinct, ma'am.
You have to stop.
You have to leave right now.
You'd better look at that search warrant.
If you don't stay out of our way, we'll arrest you, too.
Check this out.
"The Citizen's Survival Manual," published by the White People's Press.
"Chapter 6: Fires and How to Start Them.
" Why do these publishers always have post office boxes and not real addresses? Because they know we're lookin' for 'em.
Cleanin' fluid.
Ingredients: Dichloromethane and what do you know, benzene.
Sean, you got some decisions to make here, man, and you got to make 'em now.
Why? No one's gonna put me in jail, you know? Once they understand.
Well, what are they gonna understand? Talk to me.
Talk to me.
What are they gonna understand? How in the hell did you get yourself into this mess? I don't know.
You come from where I come from and Things are supposed to be different.
I'm a real American.
I was born here.
L- It should be easier.
I understand what you mean and it obviously pisses you off.
So what do you do? What do you do? Just got some news.
They found your can of cleaning fluid.
It's got benzene in it.
You used it as an accelerant.
I told you what I know.
How much longer you gonna keep me here? That's entirely up to you.
See, you just don't get it, do you? Things were different when I grew up.
You didn't have these people.
Look, there's always been foreigners here.
We're all foreigners.
This country is built of immigrants.
Yeah, now they come here and rent places in Jersey and they set up their little cells and bomb buildings.
Did somebody tell you that Mira Elbisi and Tariq Assad were involved in 9l11? I heard Arabs all over the country had advance warning, sold their houses and moved back to their hell holes in the desert.
Street vendors and cabbies were told to stay away from the Trade Center that day.
Those were rumors, Sean.
Rumors.
I call 'em like I see 'em.
What do you think? Well, I'll tell you, I see those people walkin' down the street and I admit I don't like 'em being here.
Yeah? Yeah.
Stabler? Yeah.
That Irish? Yeah.
I, uh, I went to Holy Name.
You? Sisters of Mercy.
You go to college? I went to night school.
Just got out of the Marines, but, uh, I got my B.
A.
How come you had to go into the service instead of straight to college? My dad was a cop, I got two sisters, three brothers, you know.
Not a lot of money goin' around.
You see, that's exactly my point.
I didn't get to go myself because all the places were taken up by Arabs, who come over here with their oil money and buy all the slots in the schools with the money that we paid 'em.
You're right.
That's not fair.
That's not fair.
Yeah, it's a bitch.
So, you understand? One of my best friends died in the World Trade Center.
What do you think? You see, you don't get it.
He gets it.
Gas chromo on the benzene is a dead-on match to the residue on both victims.
This goin' anywhere? You know, I thought he'd crack.
He's having too good a time.
I can try and go and light him up.
It's been four and a half hours.
Knock yourself out.
Det.
Tutuola, Sean Webster.
What's he doin' here? You invited him? You don't like me very much, do you? Actually, I'm not all that invested either way.
What do you see in her? You know what I see? I think she's got some color in her.
What's in you? Arab? Raghead? Oh, you look it too, boy.
You got some raghead in you? In Africa, folks moved around intermixing for thousands of years.
I could be part Arab.
Oh.
That would explain why your coon brothers went to the enemy.
Black Muslims, traitors to the American people.
You can call me anything you want, Sean.
Coon, traitor, raghead, towelhead.
I got some words for you.
Killer, psycho.
Hey.
I'm no psycho.
You burned two innocent people to death.
They weren't innocent! They had to die or they would kill us all.
Who was Mira Elbisi gonna kill? She was workin' for peace.
I didn't want to kill her! You tore up that innocent woman with that pipe, then you burned her alive.
You're sick.
She said that she was a good American.
And that raghead said that he was our friend.
They're all liars! We had to stop 'em or they're gonna kill us all! You okay? I'll take words anytime over being raped with a pipe.
You've got thicker skin than me.
Couple of hundred years, races will be so mixed up it won't matter.
No one will know what color anyone is.
He got to you? A little.
He thought he'd rattle me by calling me an Arab.
But the truth is, I don't know anything about my father.
Race and color are the least of my questions.
Probation report.
Sean Webster, age 16, attacked a Pakistani kid at school.
Tried as an adult, sentenced as a juvenile.
No time served.
Father died when he was 10.
Mother had a nervous breakdown, had to move out of the house from Long Island.
Brought the kid into the city.
He's been in and out of trouble ever since.
You want us to feel sorry for him? Oh.
No, he's a racist son of a bitch.
With a damned good lawyer.
The confession's inadmissible.
He was Mirandized.
He never asked for a lawyer.
You can stop grandstanding, Oliver.
This isn't a press conference.
You kept him hidden from his own mother.
No, no.
Our detectives told his mother we had him.
He was offered his phone call.
He declined.
The confession was provoked.
I'll get it excluded.
There's not much law on provocation.
And considering how wired your client is, I'd say he provokes easily.
The confession will stick.
Maybe you're right.
See you in court.
I've seen that smile.
Usually before he demolishes the prosecution's case.
How did that kid's mother find Oliver Gates? He was one of the major opponents of the hate crime statute.
Well, he picked the right case.
We'll deny him the pleasure.
I don't need a sentencing enhancement.
Uh, we'll convict Webster for both killings.
He does consecutive time.
It's 50 years before he sees a parole board.
My opinion? You need a hate crimes charge.
Goes to motive.
I think we should prosecute action, not thought.
Webster killed out of hate.
That matters.
Okay, you tell me.
Does that mean a black man who kills a Klansman does additional time? Or a a gay man who kills a homophobe? I mean, where do we draw the line? Hate crimes incite other people.
It's a kind of terror.
We use the statute to make a point.
Cragen.
Yeah.
We'll be right there.
Sean Webster just killed a Muslim prisoner at Central Booking.
Webster was in the pens waiting for arraignment when he flipped out.
Stomped the Arab to a pulp.
Why didn't you segregate him? He's booked for two murders.
We didn't know about a racial angle.
Nobody said squat, okay? Your lawyer's gonna be pissed, Sean.
You just convicted yourself.
One less Arab, one less terrorist.
Sean, seal your lips.
Not another word.
Actually, my client just proved my theory correct.
What? Another murder gets him off? No, it gets him sent to a mental hospital for the treatment he so desperately needs.
An insanity defense? You've got no grounds.
Sure, I do.
His genes.
The motion will be filed tomorrow.
Sean Webster is biologically and genetically predisposed to hatred and violence.
He had no control over his actions.
It'll never fly.
You put a man's genes on trial, nobody'll ever be responsible for anything.
It's the ultimate defense.
Your Honor, this defense is absurd.
The defendant sodomized and burned two people and beat a prisoner to death.
His guilt cannot be determined by his genes.
Are you citing the law, Counselor, or is this just your opinion? The law is clear.
New York doesn't have an insanity defense of irresistible impulse.
We ask that it be excluded.
Thank you, Ms.
Novak.
Proceed.
Thank you, Your Honor.
My client, Sean Webster, believes that Muslims are a danger to our society and therefore, he's driven to kill them.
Now, we will prove that he's not responsible for these crimes because he was born with hatred and violence hardwired into his brain.
Your Honor, the defendant ran from the police.
He knew right from wrong.
That negates a mental disease defense.
Michigan v.
Carpenter.
Not wanting to be caught is different than knowing right from wrong.
And what better proof he can't control his actions than killing an inmate while awaiting two trials? You haven't convinced me that biology is the issue or that it's proper for me to allow this defense.
U.
S.
V.
Robertson.
The trial judge must consider the defendant's ability to control himself.
I know the case, Counselor.
I went to law school, too.
I'll review your scientific evidence.
And I presume you have a bang-up expert witness.
The esteemed Dr.
Emily Sopher, Chair of Neurobiology at the Mid-Hudson Institute.
Documents in my chambers, You'll make your witness available to the District Attorney.
The whole defense is bogus.
The judge should've dismissed it.
He still might.
Casey, now this is gonna be a blast, don't you think? I think it's a bad joke.
Your client killed that inmate just to make himself look crazy.
No.
He can't control his genetic predisposition to hatred.
Why are you doing this, Oliver? It's the next frontier.
I like being on the cutting edge.
You like being in the spotlight.
That, too.
Why, it must be genetic.
You think his expert can convince a jury? Sopher's a world-class neurobiologist.
There's no telling what they're gonna think.
You talk to Sopher.
See what you think.
Read the research on brain chemistry.
Multiple studies, not just mine.
Genotypes that cause low levels of monoamine oxidase A predict violence.
Maybe violence is genetically influenced.
But hatred is a learned behavior.
Actually, my research shows that emotions are genetically determined.
Some day, we'll treat the Sean Websters of the world with gene therapy before they commit terrible crimes.
You start treating people you think will be criminals, you turn psychiatry into social control.
All due respect, Dr.
Huang, you're living in the past.
You're living in the future.
You might be able to prove your theories then, but you can't do it now.
I can convince a jury.
Do you think that a courtroom is the right place to test-drive your ideas? Where should we do it? At some academic conference where no one will notice? You might not want to testify after you read my research.
Dr.
Sopher, are hatred and racist violence mental diseases? Yes.
They're caused by genetic abnormalities in the brain.
Where in the brain does this occur? In the prefrontal cortex, which controls emotions and which is smaller in people convicted of violent hate crimes.
Dr.
Sopher, were you able to examine Sean Webster's brain? Yes.
First slide, please.
These images are called PET scans.
The one on the left shows a normal prefrontal cortex.
On the right is Sean Webster's.
His is abnormally small.
More important, violent people have more activity than normal people in another section of the brain, it's called the sub cortex.
How can you tell? Well, for example, here's a scan of the sub cortex of a neo-Nazi skinhead, who was convicted of attacking Jews.
This is his sub cortex after he hears the word, "Jew.
" Note how it lights up.
Did you perform this test on Sean Webster? Yes.
His sub cortex lit up the same way when he heard the word, "Arab.
" Your conclusion, Dr.
Sopher? The mere mention of Arabs puts Sean Webster into a state of extreme hatred and violence.
Thank you.
Your witness.
Can you tell by looking at pictures of people's brains whether they'll kill other people? That's difficult to say.
Your Honor.
Answer the question, Dr.
Sopher.
With enough time and sufficient PET scans, yes, I'll eventually be able to predict who will become violent.
Eventually predict? Eventually.
But not now? No.
I turned to colleagues at the Ranney Psychiatric Institute to replicate Dr.
Sopher's experiments.
Tell us what you found, Dr.
Huang.
We interviewed several people.
Number one is the PET scan of an orthodox rabbi.
We showed him that picture of Nazi officers.
His sub cortex responded exactly like Sean Webster's.
Number two is the sub cortex of an African-American minister.
We showed him that picture of the Ku Klux Klan at a rally, burning a cross.
So both of these men have the same subcortical activity as Sean Webster.
That's correct.
What do these results mean to you, Doctor? That even if behavior is partly genetic, it's about our experiences also.
After you've been bitten by a dog, you might not like them, but you weren't born to hate them.
Your witness.
Dr.
Huang, is high cholesterol genetically caused? We think so.
Can you identify the genes which cause it? In the average patient, not yet.
No.
So if I have high cholesterol and I die of a heart attack, it may have been genetically predetermined.
Yes.
But you're saying that Sean Webster and not his genetic makeup is responsible for his violence.
Dr.
Huang? It's not that simple.
Thank you.
I was thinking the same thing.
I wasn't finished.
Dr.
Sopher identifies violent people after they've committed hate crimes.
That doesn't mean she can predict violence based on their brain patterns no more than you can predict a heart attack based solely on their cholesterol level.
But your rabbi or minister could become violent at any moment.
Any of us could.
My point.
Thank you.
That includes Sean Webster.
When I was a kid, I was always in trouble.
The school sent me to a therapist, but it never helped.
What kind of trouble? Fights, mostly.
Who did you fight? Arabs.
People like Tariq Assad and Mira Elbisi? Yeah.
What made you choose them? I saw this poster for a panel they were on.
I went and I listened.
You know, they say that they're our friends.
They're more dangerous than the ones who admit they're our enemies.
Did you hear voices telling you to kill them? No, sir.
Crazy people hear voices.
I'm not crazy.
But still you felt you had to kill them.
They hate and want to destroy our country.
You think killing people is wrong? We kill people in wars.
And we're at war with these people, right? Thank you.
Your witness.
So you hate Muslims.
Do you hate black people, too, Sean? No, ma'am.
Well, I mean, except for the ones who are Muslims.
Do you hate the Chinese, Japanese? No, ma'am.
So your hatred's pretty specific.
Muslims come here and they study engineering and aviation and then they use it to attack us? And we fought for them in Bosnia? And my dad fought for them in Desert Storm, and he died for his country.
They killed your father? Muslims killed your father? And they turn around and they attack us? And they're going to explode chemical warfare in the subways.
Sean! And poison our water supplies! And blow up bridges! Your Honor, may we have a recess? Five minute recess while the defendant regains control of himself.
stockpile weapons of mass destruction! He said his father died in Desert Storm.
I need to know whether Sean killed out of hate or revenge.
Find out how the father died.
Casey, just accept it.
It's over.
If you want a deal, the answer is no.
Thought you'd jump at the chance.
Won't give you the satisfaction.
The jury's buying it.
You see, they understand hatred because at one point, they've hated someone themselves.
None of them have killed three people.
But they understand the impulse and won't blame Sean for his.
No deal.
There's no way I acknowledge an ounce of validity in this cockamamie defense.
You will realize that it's based on speculation, on maybes and could-bes, on maybes and Practicing your summation? Yeah.
It's not working.
It may not have to.
I think I found what you wanted.
Seth Webster, Sean Webster's father.
He fought in Desert Storm.
He didn't die there.
What's this about? You still want a deal? You've come to your senses.
It's about you coming to yours.
He pleads three counts.
Murder two, consecutive sentences.
Have a nice day.
Who's this? Get him out.
Don't you want to introduce Dad? Sean, what's going on? He never told you? His father met an Arab woman in Kuwait, divorced Sean's mother, remarried, and moved to Detroit.
You still think it's genetics, Oliver? Why don't you just go back to where you came from? Go back to your Arab whore.
Sean, I'm sorry.
What do you care, hmm? Because this is my fault.
Yeah, you're damn right it's your fault.
My mom told me that you died a hero.
And you never came around to tell me different.
I go to get benefits for college, and I find out that he's still alive.
Sean, listen, I wanted to see you.
Your mother wouldn't let me.
She had custody.
She threatened that if I tried to come visit Liar! You were too busy with your half-breed kids! Admit it! She filled your head with all this crap about Arabs because she was angry with me.
Can't you see that? She poisoned you with her hate.
My mom worked her ass off to take care of me.
You never gave a damn.
Oh, Sean.
I hate your stinking guts! If I had a gun right now, I'd shoot you in the head! And then I'd go back and I'd set your wife and your bastard kids on fire! Get off me! Sean Webster wasn't born that way.
I don't believe anyone is.
It takes a human being to teach you to hate.
Some mysteries pass all understanding.
Letters of St.
Paul.
The Muslim who Sean Webster killed in Central Booking, he had friends.
Webster was just stabbed to death in the yard at Rikers.
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.
I don't care how much money I'll make.
I'm going to med school.
You're not going to make the big bucks working at an HMO.
And those loans? Why do we have to be rich? I want my life to be meaningful.
Who says having a ton of money isn't meaningful? I love you, but your values suck.
Oh, my God.
Kyle! Kyle, be careful! Kyle! Folks there say she came running down the street already on fire.
You think it's a rape? That's why I called the panty police.
Found her torn underwear in that doorway.
Guy must've ripped them off before he torched her.
She's pretty crispy.
Any prayer of getting DNA? Only if you have a special connection upstairs.
With any luck, lab will find something on the underwear.
The guy was careless.
Maybe he left somethin' else behind.
Looks like there's blood on that pipe.
He could've hit her in the head with it.
Smells like fuel oil.
You have to add an accelerant to light her up.
We'll run a gas chromo, see what he used.
There's no mailing labels on these magazines.
But we've got a register receipt.
Time stamp says 7:14.
Witnesses said they saw her around 7:40, so maybe she bought the magazines nearby.
We'll find the newsstand.
Or better yet, get prints.
Any ID? Purse? Fire melted it onto her body.
I've never seen a woman raped and then burned alive.
Guy's lookin' to send a message.
Whoever you're looking for is sicker than I thought.
Setting her on fire isn't sick enough? Not for this guy.
There are pubic hairs in that blood.
He raped her with the pipe.
To be sure, I stained the skin cells scraped off the metal.
They're cervical.
VICAP should tell us if any rapists out there use foreign objects and burns their victim.
He didn't burn quite all of her.
She was wearing high boots.
You see that? It's made from henna.
Some tattoo.
Drawn on the skin and set with oil.
It's a traditional Muslim design for weddings and family celebrations.
Only Muslim? Mostly.
You see it in Africa, India, and all over the Middle East.
Burning Muslims? Could be a hate crime.
Let's not say that too loud.
Last thing we need is copycats.
Nothing from VICAP.
Men in India burn their wives when they don't play by the rules.
Yeah, like having an affair.
Husband's family helps do the burning.
An angry husband makes sense.
Especially if his wife cheated on him.
That would cover a lot of men.
He burned her alive.
What does that tell you? Fire's a form of purification.
We burn witches, garbage.
Anything that makes us feel evil or dirty.
And of course, fire's a metaphor for passion.
Freud believed that setting fires was a sign of disturbed adolescent sexuality.
Maybe we're dealing with a man who lives with his mother.
We found the guy who sold her the magazines.
Doesn't remember what she looked like, what she said, or if she was with anyone.
Considering what he was snorting, it's a miracle he remembers his name.
Whatever this is, let's be careful not to say Muslim men like to burn their wives.
No.
If they want to burn people, they fly an airplane full of gasolene into an office building.
Excuse me, but they were extremists.
Sorry.
But my next door neighbor's Iranian.
At airports, even he's scared when he sees Middle Eastern passports.
I mean, let's get real.
People know it's wrong, but they think it anyway.
Okay.
Thanks.
Lab caught us a break.
Talk to them.
The prints on the magazines are smudged.
Basically useless.
Is that the good news? Be patient.
Her purse burned with everything inside.
We tested the ash residue.
It was made of suede.
And we were able to clean up the label.
"Lant ve lyn?" Probably a private label.
That's what I was thinking.
Okay, I give up.
Private label? Well, small stores go to manufacturers who provide them with custom labels to make it look like the purse was made only for that store.
Now, I'm guessing that the "lyn" is Brooklyn.
Indian or Middle Eastern neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
Atlantic Avenue.
Let's see if somebody there recognizes the tattoo.
It's beautiful, but it's not my work.
This wasn't done by an Indian.
Do you have any idea who might've done it? Someone from Egypt, I would think.
See the narrow pinpoint style of the detailing? Zara.
Hey, Zara! Zara, come look.
Is this your work? They're police officers.
Well, of course, I did that.
Aha.
I thought so.
It's lovely.
Remember who you did it for? Mira Elbisi.
She was attending a celebration.
The birth of a friend's baby.
You know Mira well? Mira's just a customer.
I like her.
Her name in Arabic means princess, like mine, Zara, from the Hebrew.
You Jewish? Oh, no, no.
She's Muslim.
Uh, languages, Arabic, Hebrew dialects, they blend together.
What's this all about? Do you know where Mira's family lives? May I see your identification? Mira's husband and his mother, Jazlyn, they publish The Arab American, the newspaper.
It's around the corner, near the mosque.
My wife? Haven't seen her since last evening.
She's with a friend.
Which friend would that be? Uh, my wife has many friends.
You two not getting along? Of course, we are.
Mr.
Elbisi, is this your wife? Not to be rude, but it seems that if everything was fine, you'd know where she spent the night.
You know what I find strange? We ask you about your wife, you're not least bit curious why we ask.
Did she file a new complaint? How I mistreat and harass her? Why? You like to beat her up? I would never hurt Mira.
Where were you last night? My mother and I worked late putting the paper to bed.
My mother's Jazlyn Elbisi.
She's well-known in the community.
She here today? She took the day off.
And how late did you two work? Mira hates being alone in the apartment after dark.
Sometimes she visits friends in Bay Ridge and stays over.
Which friends? L I don't know.
Recognize this tattoo? Yes.
And that mole.
It's Mira.
Why do you have that photograph? Mr.
Elbisi, we're very sorry.
Your wife was murdered last night.
No.
She was burned to death.
Who could have done this? We're hopin' you can help us with that.
I wouldn't have any idea.
Of course I was at the paper with my son all evening.
Could you translate evening into something more specific? I went to the office around 5:00.
I left at midnight.
Your son told two detectives that you left at, uh, It was a long day.
What's the difference? The difference is your stories don't match.
Which probably means you're not telling the truth.
You just want to make Arabs look like bad people.
That's why you're here.
All right.
I came home with my grandson.
I took him to the office and I brought him home to put him to bed.
Where was his mother? I don't know.
Nana, where's Mama? When's Mama coming home? Sonny boy must've called Mom and warned her.
They couldn't keep their stories straight.
Every word out of her mouth was a lie, except maybe good morning.
Casey.
Who talked to a reporter about this burned woman? And it's nice to see you, too.
"Burn victim said to be target of hate crime.
"Sources say Special Victims Unit detectives "refused to release the woman's ethnicity for fear of setting off more attacks.
" I hope this didn't come from here.
We don't leak to the press.
Only person I talked to about this was you.
Well, then how'd they get the story? Somebody heard a rumor, made up the rest.
When this hits the papers before I brief my boss, I look incompetent.
Three weeks ago, Mira Elbisi called the 74, said she was afraid of her husband.
Cops respond, she apologizes.
She overreacted.
One week later, neighbor calls.
Shouting from the Elbisi apartment.
This time the mother-in-law sent the cops away.
If he was abusin' her, Mira had a lot of courage callin' the cops.
Let's find this neighbor and see what the shouting was about.
I think maybe he hit her.
She had a split lip the next day.
Why did they fight? Don't know.
Mira said she cut herself.
I didn't believe her.
You must have a reason for that.
She was struggling, you know.
It was obvious.
She had no one to talk to.
She told me she was true to Islam, but you could see this lady wanted some freedom.
You ever talk to her husband? I don't go where I'm not wanted.
You got a problem with Arabs? No.
He's got a problem with me.
He's an educated guy.
I think he looks down on trades people.
Did Mira fight with her mother-in-law? She hated living with the old lady.
She felt squeezed.
When they shouted, they turned up the stereo.
She ever mention anybody that she confided in? Uh, there was one friend.
A guy who works for some do-gooder religious group.
He's Jewish.
She wanted me to meet him.
Name's, uh, Feldman.
Joshua Feldman.
Guess she thought since I'm Jewish, I'd make a donation.
He beat her up, didn't he? That lunatic husband of hers.
Is that why you're here? Mr.
Feldman, did you see Mira last night? Is she in the hospital? Tell me.
Was she here last night? I was expecting her.
We're trying to build bridges between Muslims and Jews, and she wanted to be a part of it.
When she didn't show up, I called her.
Her mother-in-law answered and I hung up.
Why didn't you leave a message? Strange man calling a married Muslim woman? Might not go over too well.
So she kept her work here secret.
Yes.
Mira's afraid her husband will keep her from coming.
Please, tell me, is she all right? Mr.
Feldman, last night Mira was attacked two blocks from here.
Maybe you read today's paper.
No.
That was Mira? Oh, God, no.
So you two were more than friends.
We were in love.
She was going to leave him.
We were goin' to live together.
Did her husband know about all this? Yes.
When she told him I was Jewish, he said he'd never let her go, never let her leave.
Mira and I fought.
We argued.
We are from different generations.
We didn't get along.
This was no secret.
You had some secrets last time we talked.
Like where your daughter-in-law was when you were babysitting.
I don't know.
Your wife is out at night, you have a young child, and you don't know where she is? She didn't always tell me.
I wonder why.
I don't know what you mean.
I mean her boyfriend.
Please.
My wife is dead.
Don't defame her good name.
Did you leave the newspaper office at around 6:00 with a can of fuel oil? We got a warrant.
We searched your car.
Our lab found traces of oil in your trunk.
You want to explain that? Our boiler in the office went out.
You need oil to prime it and the service company wouldn't come out, so we had to get some ourselves.
We figure you left your grandson at the office and went out with your son to start a fire.
We're not barbarians.
We're faithful Muslims.
And you couldn't bear that your daughter-in-law was in love with a Jew.
She cheated on me.
She disgraced our family.
But I still loved her.
Your wife wanted a divorce and you refused.
If Mira wanted to go, she could go.
Not if you threatened to kill her.
I would never do that.
Yeah, you would.
The neighbor said that you split her lip.
It was an accident.
We were both ill-tempered.
That's not what her boyfriend said.
See, Mr.
Elbisi, I want to believe you, I do.
But you find out that your wife is having an affair with a Jewish man, and I'm wondering how somebody like you would react.
Someone like me? He puts his head down.
He cries.
He mourns the loss of his son because his wife gets custody.
He doesn't set the woman he loves on fire.
Circumstantial.
Unless you get permission to talk to his kid.
A 6-year-old whose mother was just murdered.
No judge'll let us near him unless we indict the father.
Sure we got the right people? Yeah.
Why? Then we got a copycat.
What? and Second Avenue, near the big mosque.
Man set on fire.
Name was Tariq Assad, 27.
Didn't live to make it to the ambulance, but we got a witness.
The witness is Jason Mullavy.
He said the guy in flames came toward him and he heard somebody shouting: "Killer, you'll burn in hell for what you did to us.
" Just what the city needs to read in tomorrow's papers.
Mr.
Mullavy? Jason.
Capt.
Cragen.
How you doin'? Look, we'd like you not to repeat what you saw to the press.
You think you can handle that? I guess, yeah.
But I could get real money for this.
Well, that could compromise our investigation.
I think The Enquirer would pay me for an interview.
You could turn them down.
That depends how much they offer.
Det.
Munch.
Yes, sir? Take this young man into custody as a material witness.
Lock him up somewhere comfortable.
I know just the place.
You can't do this to me.
He just did.
Same M.
O.
Torn underwear on the ground and the smell of fuel oil.
Didn't release anything about fuel oil.
It's definitely not a copycat.
We've got a pipe with blood and tissue like the first victim.
Only the last one had cervical cells.
With a male victim, I'm betting this one will be rectal.
We got to figure out how this guy picks his victims, and we got to do it fast.
There's one distinction he's not making.
The first one's a female, 29.
The second victim's a male, 27.
They both look Middle Eastern.
Other than that, they've nothing else in common.
Except that he symbolically raped and set them on fire.
Crime of opportunity, or does he stalk them? It's hard to say.
But he seems impulsive.
He brings a pipe with him.
That's premeditation.
Any leads off the pipes? Old corroded junk, different manufacturers.
Could've picked it up off the street.
Using a pipe as a penis.
So he's just your garden-variety sexually-repressed racist.
Actually, I think the racism is a cover, a mask for inadequacies.
He probably has conscious feelings of being wronged, cheated by life.
And using a pipe on both sexes? A need to humiliate.
These offenders were often humiliated or abused as children.
So you're sayin' racism is what sets them off.
In a way, yes.
He sees these features that are Middle Eastern.
That person is the "other.
" This killer needs someone different from himself to hate.
He sees an Arab, he thinks terrorist.
Well, he's not alone.
Even normal people have crazy thoughts, but we don't act on them.
The new victim, Tariq Assad, I found his brother.
We came here to study engineering.
Our parents live in Cairo.
We're trying to trace your brother's movements.
Can you help us with that? Uh, as far as I know, he would've been in class till noon.
Then he'd go to the mosque for religious instruction.
He was a much more observant Muslim than I.
Did he socialize in the Arab community in Brooklyn? You mean the woman who was killed? No, he wouldn't know her.
You seem pretty sure of that.
My brother and I Well, that's not our sort of people.
You know, they're still very isolated in Brooklyn.
Tariq was quite social.
He spent a lot of time teaching Christians and Jews about Islam.
He called it "building bridges.
" Building bridges? Did he use that specific phrase, "building bridges"? Yes.
He was a bit of an idealist.
Is that important? You know if he belonged to any organizations? Uh, a place downtown, the Interfaith Council.
Now it's Tariq Assad? Don't tell me Mira's crazy husband is killin' people she met here.
We don't think he's involved.
So you knew Tariq? This is a nightmare.
He was such an optimist.
I mean, how many Arabs tell you Israel is a great country? Could Tariq have known Mira? Mira and Tariq were on the same panel last week: The Modernization of Islam.
You sell tickets to that event? No, people just show up.
It's open to the public.
How about, uh, that thing up there? Security.
We have plenty of metal detectors, cameras, guards.
We record everything just in case.
This is the tape after the panel.
Camera 3 is the reception.
There's Tariq Assad.
And there's Mira in the front.
The guy in the baseball cap.
He was standing next to Tariq.
Now watch.
Sidling up next to Mira.
Do you know him? No, never seen him before.
What's on his jacket.
Can you freeze that for me? Can you bring it in closer? "Donaghue Heating Service.
" Heating.
As in fuel oil.
Yeah, it's Sean Webster.
Drives a truck for us.
Is he in trouble? We just want to talk to him.
He's clockin' in, top of his shift.
Hey, Sean, some cops here want to talk to you.
Sean.
Se What are you running from, Sean? We just want to have a little chat.
You're under arrest for the murders of Tariq Assad and Mira Elbisi.
You don't want to do this.
Listen to me.
You'll let me go.
Shut up.
You have the right to remain silent.
If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in court.
But you're like me.
I know you are.
You have the right to an attorney.
I've been in some trouble before.
So when I saw you two comin', I automatically ran.
But not because you burned two people alive.
No, it's like If somebody was gonna do what you say that I did.
Somebody? Meaning not you.
Yeah.
If this man was to do this, and maybe he knew that these people only pretended to be good, but secretly they weren't, well, then you'd understand why he did it.
This man knew they were bad.
How'd he know? Maybe by the color of their skin, their voices, and because they're a danger to our way of life.
Way of life? Which way is that? Freedom.
Democracy.
If these people don't believe in those things and they get money for terrorism from overseas, then somebody ought to kill 'em.
Right? Almost dissociating, as if this isn't about him.
Sounds like he wants Olivia's and Elliot's approval.
Makes you wonder whose approval he really wants.
The fuel oil in Sean's truck is a perfect match to the victims.
sold every 10 seconds.
Dumbest lawyer in town can do an O.
J.
DNA with it.
The lab says the oil was accelerated with benzene.
Munch and Fin need a search warrant for the kid's apartment.
It's done.
He saying anything? Not directly.
Likes the sound of his own voice.
Call me if he gives us anything useful.
Any suggestions? Keep him talking.
This man wants to confess, but first he needs to be heard.
Till he says the magic words: "I want a lawyer.
" No, he won't hide behind a lawyer.
They keep listening, he'll keep talking.
What did my son do? He's not a criminal.
Yes, ma'am.
Sean's boss called.
He said you dragged him away.
I called the police department.
They said they've never heard of my son.
He's at our precinct, ma'am.
You have to stop.
You have to leave right now.
You'd better look at that search warrant.
If you don't stay out of our way, we'll arrest you, too.
Check this out.
"The Citizen's Survival Manual," published by the White People's Press.
"Chapter 6: Fires and How to Start Them.
" Why do these publishers always have post office boxes and not real addresses? Because they know we're lookin' for 'em.
Cleanin' fluid.
Ingredients: Dichloromethane and what do you know, benzene.
Sean, you got some decisions to make here, man, and you got to make 'em now.
Why? No one's gonna put me in jail, you know? Once they understand.
Well, what are they gonna understand? Talk to me.
Talk to me.
What are they gonna understand? How in the hell did you get yourself into this mess? I don't know.
You come from where I come from and Things are supposed to be different.
I'm a real American.
I was born here.
L- It should be easier.
I understand what you mean and it obviously pisses you off.
So what do you do? What do you do? Just got some news.
They found your can of cleaning fluid.
It's got benzene in it.
You used it as an accelerant.
I told you what I know.
How much longer you gonna keep me here? That's entirely up to you.
See, you just don't get it, do you? Things were different when I grew up.
You didn't have these people.
Look, there's always been foreigners here.
We're all foreigners.
This country is built of immigrants.
Yeah, now they come here and rent places in Jersey and they set up their little cells and bomb buildings.
Did somebody tell you that Mira Elbisi and Tariq Assad were involved in 9l11? I heard Arabs all over the country had advance warning, sold their houses and moved back to their hell holes in the desert.
Street vendors and cabbies were told to stay away from the Trade Center that day.
Those were rumors, Sean.
Rumors.
I call 'em like I see 'em.
What do you think? Well, I'll tell you, I see those people walkin' down the street and I admit I don't like 'em being here.
Yeah? Yeah.
Stabler? Yeah.
That Irish? Yeah.
I, uh, I went to Holy Name.
You? Sisters of Mercy.
You go to college? I went to night school.
Just got out of the Marines, but, uh, I got my B.
A.
How come you had to go into the service instead of straight to college? My dad was a cop, I got two sisters, three brothers, you know.
Not a lot of money goin' around.
You see, that's exactly my point.
I didn't get to go myself because all the places were taken up by Arabs, who come over here with their oil money and buy all the slots in the schools with the money that we paid 'em.
You're right.
That's not fair.
That's not fair.
Yeah, it's a bitch.
So, you understand? One of my best friends died in the World Trade Center.
What do you think? You see, you don't get it.
He gets it.
Gas chromo on the benzene is a dead-on match to the residue on both victims.
This goin' anywhere? You know, I thought he'd crack.
He's having too good a time.
I can try and go and light him up.
It's been four and a half hours.
Knock yourself out.
Det.
Tutuola, Sean Webster.
What's he doin' here? You invited him? You don't like me very much, do you? Actually, I'm not all that invested either way.
What do you see in her? You know what I see? I think she's got some color in her.
What's in you? Arab? Raghead? Oh, you look it too, boy.
You got some raghead in you? In Africa, folks moved around intermixing for thousands of years.
I could be part Arab.
Oh.
That would explain why your coon brothers went to the enemy.
Black Muslims, traitors to the American people.
You can call me anything you want, Sean.
Coon, traitor, raghead, towelhead.
I got some words for you.
Killer, psycho.
Hey.
I'm no psycho.
You burned two innocent people to death.
They weren't innocent! They had to die or they would kill us all.
Who was Mira Elbisi gonna kill? She was workin' for peace.
I didn't want to kill her! You tore up that innocent woman with that pipe, then you burned her alive.
You're sick.
She said that she was a good American.
And that raghead said that he was our friend.
They're all liars! We had to stop 'em or they're gonna kill us all! You okay? I'll take words anytime over being raped with a pipe.
You've got thicker skin than me.
Couple of hundred years, races will be so mixed up it won't matter.
No one will know what color anyone is.
He got to you? A little.
He thought he'd rattle me by calling me an Arab.
But the truth is, I don't know anything about my father.
Race and color are the least of my questions.
Probation report.
Sean Webster, age 16, attacked a Pakistani kid at school.
Tried as an adult, sentenced as a juvenile.
No time served.
Father died when he was 10.
Mother had a nervous breakdown, had to move out of the house from Long Island.
Brought the kid into the city.
He's been in and out of trouble ever since.
You want us to feel sorry for him? Oh.
No, he's a racist son of a bitch.
With a damned good lawyer.
The confession's inadmissible.
He was Mirandized.
He never asked for a lawyer.
You can stop grandstanding, Oliver.
This isn't a press conference.
You kept him hidden from his own mother.
No, no.
Our detectives told his mother we had him.
He was offered his phone call.
He declined.
The confession was provoked.
I'll get it excluded.
There's not much law on provocation.
And considering how wired your client is, I'd say he provokes easily.
The confession will stick.
Maybe you're right.
See you in court.
I've seen that smile.
Usually before he demolishes the prosecution's case.
How did that kid's mother find Oliver Gates? He was one of the major opponents of the hate crime statute.
Well, he picked the right case.
We'll deny him the pleasure.
I don't need a sentencing enhancement.
Uh, we'll convict Webster for both killings.
He does consecutive time.
It's 50 years before he sees a parole board.
My opinion? You need a hate crimes charge.
Goes to motive.
I think we should prosecute action, not thought.
Webster killed out of hate.
That matters.
Okay, you tell me.
Does that mean a black man who kills a Klansman does additional time? Or a a gay man who kills a homophobe? I mean, where do we draw the line? Hate crimes incite other people.
It's a kind of terror.
We use the statute to make a point.
Cragen.
Yeah.
We'll be right there.
Sean Webster just killed a Muslim prisoner at Central Booking.
Webster was in the pens waiting for arraignment when he flipped out.
Stomped the Arab to a pulp.
Why didn't you segregate him? He's booked for two murders.
We didn't know about a racial angle.
Nobody said squat, okay? Your lawyer's gonna be pissed, Sean.
You just convicted yourself.
One less Arab, one less terrorist.
Sean, seal your lips.
Not another word.
Actually, my client just proved my theory correct.
What? Another murder gets him off? No, it gets him sent to a mental hospital for the treatment he so desperately needs.
An insanity defense? You've got no grounds.
Sure, I do.
His genes.
The motion will be filed tomorrow.
Sean Webster is biologically and genetically predisposed to hatred and violence.
He had no control over his actions.
It'll never fly.
You put a man's genes on trial, nobody'll ever be responsible for anything.
It's the ultimate defense.
Your Honor, this defense is absurd.
The defendant sodomized and burned two people and beat a prisoner to death.
His guilt cannot be determined by his genes.
Are you citing the law, Counselor, or is this just your opinion? The law is clear.
New York doesn't have an insanity defense of irresistible impulse.
We ask that it be excluded.
Thank you, Ms.
Novak.
Proceed.
Thank you, Your Honor.
My client, Sean Webster, believes that Muslims are a danger to our society and therefore, he's driven to kill them.
Now, we will prove that he's not responsible for these crimes because he was born with hatred and violence hardwired into his brain.
Your Honor, the defendant ran from the police.
He knew right from wrong.
That negates a mental disease defense.
Michigan v.
Carpenter.
Not wanting to be caught is different than knowing right from wrong.
And what better proof he can't control his actions than killing an inmate while awaiting two trials? You haven't convinced me that biology is the issue or that it's proper for me to allow this defense.
U.
S.
V.
Robertson.
The trial judge must consider the defendant's ability to control himself.
I know the case, Counselor.
I went to law school, too.
I'll review your scientific evidence.
And I presume you have a bang-up expert witness.
The esteemed Dr.
Emily Sopher, Chair of Neurobiology at the Mid-Hudson Institute.
Documents in my chambers, You'll make your witness available to the District Attorney.
The whole defense is bogus.
The judge should've dismissed it.
He still might.
Casey, now this is gonna be a blast, don't you think? I think it's a bad joke.
Your client killed that inmate just to make himself look crazy.
No.
He can't control his genetic predisposition to hatred.
Why are you doing this, Oliver? It's the next frontier.
I like being on the cutting edge.
You like being in the spotlight.
That, too.
Why, it must be genetic.
You think his expert can convince a jury? Sopher's a world-class neurobiologist.
There's no telling what they're gonna think.
You talk to Sopher.
See what you think.
Read the research on brain chemistry.
Multiple studies, not just mine.
Genotypes that cause low levels of monoamine oxidase A predict violence.
Maybe violence is genetically influenced.
But hatred is a learned behavior.
Actually, my research shows that emotions are genetically determined.
Some day, we'll treat the Sean Websters of the world with gene therapy before they commit terrible crimes.
You start treating people you think will be criminals, you turn psychiatry into social control.
All due respect, Dr.
Huang, you're living in the past.
You're living in the future.
You might be able to prove your theories then, but you can't do it now.
I can convince a jury.
Do you think that a courtroom is the right place to test-drive your ideas? Where should we do it? At some academic conference where no one will notice? You might not want to testify after you read my research.
Dr.
Sopher, are hatred and racist violence mental diseases? Yes.
They're caused by genetic abnormalities in the brain.
Where in the brain does this occur? In the prefrontal cortex, which controls emotions and which is smaller in people convicted of violent hate crimes.
Dr.
Sopher, were you able to examine Sean Webster's brain? Yes.
First slide, please.
These images are called PET scans.
The one on the left shows a normal prefrontal cortex.
On the right is Sean Webster's.
His is abnormally small.
More important, violent people have more activity than normal people in another section of the brain, it's called the sub cortex.
How can you tell? Well, for example, here's a scan of the sub cortex of a neo-Nazi skinhead, who was convicted of attacking Jews.
This is his sub cortex after he hears the word, "Jew.
" Note how it lights up.
Did you perform this test on Sean Webster? Yes.
His sub cortex lit up the same way when he heard the word, "Arab.
" Your conclusion, Dr.
Sopher? The mere mention of Arabs puts Sean Webster into a state of extreme hatred and violence.
Thank you.
Your witness.
Can you tell by looking at pictures of people's brains whether they'll kill other people? That's difficult to say.
Your Honor.
Answer the question, Dr.
Sopher.
With enough time and sufficient PET scans, yes, I'll eventually be able to predict who will become violent.
Eventually predict? Eventually.
But not now? No.
I turned to colleagues at the Ranney Psychiatric Institute to replicate Dr.
Sopher's experiments.
Tell us what you found, Dr.
Huang.
We interviewed several people.
Number one is the PET scan of an orthodox rabbi.
We showed him that picture of Nazi officers.
His sub cortex responded exactly like Sean Webster's.
Number two is the sub cortex of an African-American minister.
We showed him that picture of the Ku Klux Klan at a rally, burning a cross.
So both of these men have the same subcortical activity as Sean Webster.
That's correct.
What do these results mean to you, Doctor? That even if behavior is partly genetic, it's about our experiences also.
After you've been bitten by a dog, you might not like them, but you weren't born to hate them.
Your witness.
Dr.
Huang, is high cholesterol genetically caused? We think so.
Can you identify the genes which cause it? In the average patient, not yet.
No.
So if I have high cholesterol and I die of a heart attack, it may have been genetically predetermined.
Yes.
But you're saying that Sean Webster and not his genetic makeup is responsible for his violence.
Dr.
Huang? It's not that simple.
Thank you.
I was thinking the same thing.
I wasn't finished.
Dr.
Sopher identifies violent people after they've committed hate crimes.
That doesn't mean she can predict violence based on their brain patterns no more than you can predict a heart attack based solely on their cholesterol level.
But your rabbi or minister could become violent at any moment.
Any of us could.
My point.
Thank you.
That includes Sean Webster.
When I was a kid, I was always in trouble.
The school sent me to a therapist, but it never helped.
What kind of trouble? Fights, mostly.
Who did you fight? Arabs.
People like Tariq Assad and Mira Elbisi? Yeah.
What made you choose them? I saw this poster for a panel they were on.
I went and I listened.
You know, they say that they're our friends.
They're more dangerous than the ones who admit they're our enemies.
Did you hear voices telling you to kill them? No, sir.
Crazy people hear voices.
I'm not crazy.
But still you felt you had to kill them.
They hate and want to destroy our country.
You think killing people is wrong? We kill people in wars.
And we're at war with these people, right? Thank you.
Your witness.
So you hate Muslims.
Do you hate black people, too, Sean? No, ma'am.
Well, I mean, except for the ones who are Muslims.
Do you hate the Chinese, Japanese? No, ma'am.
So your hatred's pretty specific.
Muslims come here and they study engineering and aviation and then they use it to attack us? And we fought for them in Bosnia? And my dad fought for them in Desert Storm, and he died for his country.
They killed your father? Muslims killed your father? And they turn around and they attack us? And they're going to explode chemical warfare in the subways.
Sean! And poison our water supplies! And blow up bridges! Your Honor, may we have a recess? Five minute recess while the defendant regains control of himself.
stockpile weapons of mass destruction! He said his father died in Desert Storm.
I need to know whether Sean killed out of hate or revenge.
Find out how the father died.
Casey, just accept it.
It's over.
If you want a deal, the answer is no.
Thought you'd jump at the chance.
Won't give you the satisfaction.
The jury's buying it.
You see, they understand hatred because at one point, they've hated someone themselves.
None of them have killed three people.
But they understand the impulse and won't blame Sean for his.
No deal.
There's no way I acknowledge an ounce of validity in this cockamamie defense.
You will realize that it's based on speculation, on maybes and could-bes, on maybes and Practicing your summation? Yeah.
It's not working.
It may not have to.
I think I found what you wanted.
Seth Webster, Sean Webster's father.
He fought in Desert Storm.
He didn't die there.
What's this about? You still want a deal? You've come to your senses.
It's about you coming to yours.
He pleads three counts.
Murder two, consecutive sentences.
Have a nice day.
Who's this? Get him out.
Don't you want to introduce Dad? Sean, what's going on? He never told you? His father met an Arab woman in Kuwait, divorced Sean's mother, remarried, and moved to Detroit.
You still think it's genetics, Oliver? Why don't you just go back to where you came from? Go back to your Arab whore.
Sean, I'm sorry.
What do you care, hmm? Because this is my fault.
Yeah, you're damn right it's your fault.
My mom told me that you died a hero.
And you never came around to tell me different.
I go to get benefits for college, and I find out that he's still alive.
Sean, listen, I wanted to see you.
Your mother wouldn't let me.
She had custody.
She threatened that if I tried to come visit Liar! You were too busy with your half-breed kids! Admit it! She filled your head with all this crap about Arabs because she was angry with me.
Can't you see that? She poisoned you with her hate.
My mom worked her ass off to take care of me.
You never gave a damn.
Oh, Sean.
I hate your stinking guts! If I had a gun right now, I'd shoot you in the head! And then I'd go back and I'd set your wife and your bastard kids on fire! Get off me! Sean Webster wasn't born that way.
I don't believe anyone is.
It takes a human being to teach you to hate.
Some mysteries pass all understanding.
Letters of St.
Paul.
The Muslim who Sean Webster killed in Central Booking, he had friends.
Webster was just stabbed to death in the yard at Rikers.