Law & Order (1990) s24e21 Episode Script
Tough Love
1
In the criminal justice system,
the people are represented
by two separate,
yet equally important groups:
the police,
who investigate crime,
and the district attorneys,
who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
Jackson, come on in.
- We need to talk.
- What's up, man?
You make 8 million a year,
man, and you broke.
[SCOFFS] Man, get out of here.
You could believe me today,
or you can believe the bank
when they come
and take the keys to your house.
You got to make changes, bro.
And, oh, by the way,
I'm keeping my 5%.
You ain't getting that back.
What's the problem?
You really just asked me that?
Turn around.
What does Jimmy do?
How about Tommy?
How about Marco?
I don't know, man.
They just part of it.
How many people do you think
you have on your payroll?
- Six.
- [CHUCKLES]
But it's time to be real.
You ain't LeBron.
You ain't KD.
You damn sure ain't Ant-Man.
You a grinder, a rotation player.
You damn sure ain't large enough
to be having some entourage.
You got a big damn heart,
but you just turned 30.
If you're lucky, you got three,
maybe four years left.
So you're saying you want me
to fire some of my boys?
Come on, Ted.
No. That ain't cool.
Want to hear about cool?
I don't care about cool.
I care about you.
I care about your family,
your kids, your future.
That's what I'm thinking about.
So guess what.
Your agent ain't asking you
to get rid of some of your boys.
I'm asking you
to get rid of all of them.
Every living one of them.
That's not so easy.
I grew up with them.
When all of this was just a fantasy.
[TENSE MUSIC]
I owe them.
I owe them.
You want me to do it for you?
♪
Our victim is wearing sweats,
high-end running shoes, headphones on.
Looks like he was on
some sort of jog or walk.
- Who called this in?
- Two joggers.
Victim was deceased
by the time they found him.
No pulse.
They didn't see anybody else around.
I mean, it was the crack of dawn,
so it was pretty empty up here.
Got a weapon in evidence?
We're looking, but so far, no dice.
It was some kind of knife.
Two stabs to the chest. Deep.
He also got a cut on his lip.
Healed up, though. Doesn't feel related.
Still got his Montblanc smartwatch,
his cell phone, AirPods.
Not a robbery.
And they found a $20 bill in his pocket
with his ID.
♪
Theodore Hunter.
69th Street, Upper West Side.
Guy turned 52 on Tuesday.
♪
Hope he made the most of it.
♪
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
What do you got?
We found a knife in a garbage can
a few blocks away from the crime scene
covered in blood.
Four-inch tactical blade,
folding, serrated,
manufactured by Iron Forge.
Right now the lab's trying
to confirm the DNA.
But we have a murder weapon?
Looks like it.
And ARGUS caught the murder on video.
Any luck on facial rec?
Nope. Never saw his face.
But check this out.
OK, so you see people running through.
And then here is our vic.
Think it was a targeted attack?
Any theories? Who was this guy?
Well, back in the day, Ted Hunter was
kind of a big deal All-American
football player up at Syracuse.
He basically had
a cup of coffee in the pros,
then became a sports agent.
He worked for ACG.
They're one of the big three.
He was with them for years.
Very successful, very controversial too.
Had a lot of critics and was
known for playing hardball
during contract negotiations.
And poaching clients.
Last year, he breaks off on his own,
starts his own firm,
says that the system is
bloated and corrupt.
Any family?
Two sons.
Raised them on his own
after his wife died in a car accident.
OK, well, talk to the boys,
see if they have any idea
who might want to hurt their father.
One hell of a family legacy.
Yeah.
Looks like you're up next, huh, Josh?
Long as my knee holds up.
MCL?
Sprained it.
Let me ask you, is anybody
coming to assist you guys?
- Aunt? Uncle?
- No.
No, as a matter of fact,
I'm gonna take some time off
from school to come down here,
stay with Josh.
Our father raised us to be men,
so we can take care of ourselves.
Well, look, guys, we need your help.
We need any information you can give us
about the last couple days
of your dad's life.
Eric, you were up at Syracuse
when you got the news?
Yes, sir.
I was out on the practice field
when they came and got me.
- And Josh, you were here?
- Yeah.
I usually run with our dad
every morning in the park.
Last few weeks,
obviously, I couldn't go.
I was sleeping in this morning.
And I woke up to cops
banging on the door.
If I was there,
I could have done something.
Don't do that to yourself, bro.
Listen to your brother.
It's good advice.
We have reason to believe that
this was a targeted attack.
Targeted?
Just that this wasn't
a random occurrence.
We need your help.
Can you guys think of any reason
anybody wanted to hurt your father?
No idea.
Anything noteworthy recently
or out of character?
Did he indicate that he might
have been arguing with someone?
Or maybe someone threatened him?
No, I talked to our father
every single day.
Um, there was one thing.
He came home late one night this week,
and it looked like
he had been in a fight.
Like a physical altercation?
Yeah, I guess.
His shirt was all messed up and torn.
[TENSE MUSIC]
- What about his lip?
- Yeah.
He had a he had a big cut
on his bottom lip.
He tell you how this happened?
I mean, he just kind of played it off.
Said it wasn't that big of a deal.
It kind of looked like a big deal.
What night was this?
♪
This man, Ted Hunter.
He was dropped off here by an Uber
at 11:13 p.m. on Monday.
And?
And this morning, he got murdered.
Sorry to hear that.
He got into an altercation
at this nightclub,
and we need to know who
he was fighting with and why.
Can't help you, fellas.
You can't or you won't?
The minute I start talking
to the cops is the minute
- the crowds stop showing up.
- Mm.
Don't know if that's can't or won't,
but it's one of them.
All right, well, just got
a few more images to show you,
and then we'll get out of your hair.
Like this one.
Budget Ballin'.
For 30 bucks, your patrons
get all the liquor
they can handle for an hour.
That's a great deal.
Show him the other one.
Oh, yeah oh, this one I
would have loved back in the day.
Liquid Courage,
a raffle for unlimited shots.
Even better deal.
Problem is, you can't do that.
Any club promotion that
encourages risky drinking,
$800 fine.
Let me grab my wallet.
I'll pay you in cash. With a tip.
You misunderstood what I was saying.
It's an $800 fine per offense.
That means every drink
that you served to every patron
every night you had
a promotion like that.
Yeah, so we could just pull your CCTV
and start counting them all up.
It'll take a while.
Come on, man. That's not right.
It's the law.
Or you could just tell us.
Who was Ted Hunter having
an altercation with?
OK, thank you.
The blood on the knife
is a DNA match to Hunter.
So it's definitely our murder weapon.
Any other fingerprints on it?
Unfortunately, no.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
There he is.
- Jackson Dean?
- OK.
NYPD.
We need to talk to you about Ted Hunter.
It hurts, man.
He was a damn good agent.
Damn good dude too.
Really cared about his clients.
How about everybody in your crew?
They like him too?
Yeah, we heard one of your buddies
got into a fight with him
a couple nights ago
at Vortex 21.
Is that right?
I got to get back out there.
No, you didn't answer my question.
I wasn't at the club that night.
Yeah, we know.
But your crew, they were.
Yeah, we got the physical description
of a guy who tangled
with Hunter that night.
5'9", Black, cornrows.
Ring a bell?
There is zero chance anyone in my circle
had anything to do with that.
So, fellas, have a nice day.
No, no, no, no, that's not
how this works, Mr. Dean.
You see, we're investigating
a murder here.
Which means boxing us out
is not an option.
[TENSE MUSIC]
Now, it'd be a real shame
if we had to have this conversation
back at the precinct,
you know what I'm saying?
Yeah, that'd mean
you'd miss tonight's game.
♪
[INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER]
There he is. Right there.
Tommy Caro.
NYPD.
[ENGINE REVVING]
Hey!
[SIREN WAILING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
♪
Hey!
Whoa!
[SIREN WAILING]
[TIRES SQUEALING]
Hey, do not move!
Stay right where you are.
Get your hands up.
Higher!
He's got a gun.
You even look at that piece,
you're a dead man.
Walk backwards to me.
- To my voice.
- OK.
OK.
♪
I would have run too.
Criminal possession
of a firearm, pretty serious.
Minimum three and a half years.
Well, that's what
they told me last time,
- but I'm still here.
- Oh, OK.
Well, thanks for the information.
Maybe this time we'll push
for 10, given your history.
Come on, lady.
I heard Ted Hunter got
a few good licks in.
Maybe even won the fight.
I don't know. That's pretty impressive.
How old is he? Like, 52?
- Please.
- What?
Thinking it might sting a little.
I mean, it's embarrassing.
- Whoa, whoa.
We threw a few punches. That's it.
Ain't nobody got embarrassed.
And I sure as hell had nothing to do
with that man getting killed.
OK.
I will note that you denied it.
Fair is fair.
Well, I'm telling the truth.
A few days ago, Ted Hunter told Jackson
he had to cut ties with his crew.
So we went down to the club,
laid down Jackson's credit card,
and ordered up some magnums
of Don Julio 1942.
A last hurrah kind of thing.
But we didn't know Ted was tracking
Jackson's spending in real time.
Got an alert and came down
to the club to shut us down.
And that didn't go over well?
No. And we got into it.
Sorted things out, you know?
But that was the end of it, I swear.
Where were you this morning?
Hey.
So Caro's alibi holds up.
At the time of the murder,
he was losing his shirt
at a casino 60 miles away
in the Hudson Valley.
- OK.
- I got something here.
So Ted Hunter, a few months ago,
took out a protective order
on his driver,
a guy named Ethan Matthews.
For what?
Well, Matthews wouldn't leave him alone.
Kept showing up to his house,
to his office.
Hunter says stop,
and Matthews threatened him.
Sounds like a lead to me.
Nice work.
Ethan Matthews?
NYPD.
Oh, yeah.
I know why you're here.
Oh, yeah?
I suppose that you admit
to telling Ted Hunter
that you wanted him dead, then?
"You destroyed my life.
I won't stop until you feel the
same pain." Sound familiar?
That's me.
I don't even recognize
the man who sent that stuff.
I didn't kill Ted Hunter.
I owe the man my life.
Oh, really? How's that?
I was his personal driver for 13 years.
Then he discovered my little secret
heroin.
So he fired me.
I lashed out,
but I'd never hurt the man.
He was gonna hire me back
after six months
if I went to rehab
and got clean, which I did.
Hell, he paid for it.
That's his car right there.
I keep it spotless,
just waiting for the day
I can pick him up and take him to work.
It doesn't matter now.
Tell me, his Android sync up with this?
Hey.
Finally got access
to Ted Hunter's texts.
And there's a nasty exchange between him
and his youngest son's
football coach, Brian Boggs.
What were they beefing about?
His son's knee.
Ted thought he was fine.
Took him to every top
orthopedist in New York City.
Doctors couldn't find
anything wrong with him.
No tear, nothing.
Yeah, but the coach still
didn't want to play him.
So Ted got pissed,
and in the days
leading up to the murder,
he texts the coach that he's
gonna come down to the school
and speak to him face-to-face.
Well, it's weird that
Josh didn't mention
there was anything funky
going on with football,
because it's like
that family's religion.
So try to get to the bottom of that.
[WHISTLE BLASTS]
Respectfully, I'm gonna trust
that you and the family
can sort this out.
This has nothing to do with me.
Oh, we're not so certain
about that, Coach Boggs.
The hell does that mean?
It means you had some pretty sharp words
for Ted Hunter in the days
before he was found
with a knife in his chest.
"You come after me,
I'll come after you"?
Ted didn't like some of
the decisions you were making.
So two days before the murder,
he comes down here to sort it out.
Seems like he was gunning for your job.
Yeah. See, we're murder cops.
So in our line of work,
that kind of smells like motive.
You got to be kidding me.
[SIGHS]
After the doctors cleared Josh,
Ted was angry I wasn't playing him.
He kept asking
just didn't like the answer.
Which was?
I don't think Josh ever
got hurt in the first place.
You're telling me Josh faked his injury?
You think this was his way
of quitting the team?
I think Josh resents the type
of athlete that his brother is.
He resents the idea that he's
supposed to be the next one.
I'm not sure anybody ever asked Josh
if he really wanted to do this.
All right, so you were
just buying him some time
while he worked things out, huh?
He knew what a thing it would be
for him to quit football,
what it would mean to his father.
So I I played along.
I pretended, you know,
that I thought he was still hurt.
Then his father came
down here spitting fire.
And I had no choice.
I had to tell him the truth
that his son wasn't hurt,
that he just doesn't want
to play football.
[WHISTLE BLASTS]
[GRUNTING]
So you find the guy?
We did, Josh.
Take a look at this.
That's you on Monday
cutting through the gym.
It's a shortcut
to the parking lot, right?
Uh-huh.
[TENSE MUSIC]
We've all been there
empty gym and a ball.
Got to take some shots, right?
I mean, that's just being a boy.
♪
Bro, what are you doing?
I mean, some days,
my knee feels pretty good.
Or you never injured it
in the first place.
What? No, that's ridiculous.
He's he's clearly
Coach Boggs gave you
some space and some time
to figure out
what you wanted to do, right?
Whether you wanted to play ball or not.
He told you to go hang out
in the library after school
while practices were going on, right?
Josh, what is this?
Because Coach Boggs knew that you lied
to your father about your injury,
that you lied to your father
about going to practices too.
No, that's not true.
Josh, we recovered
your search history from the library.
And we saw that you purchased
a 4-inch serrated blade,
just like this one that was found
near the murder scene
covered in your father's blood.
Oh, my God.
On your feet, kid.
Come on, man.
Come on.
[TENSE MUSIC]
Hands behind your back.
Josh.
You are under arrest for the murder
of your father, Ted Hunter.
Josh, what are they talking about?
Officers, hold on. Wait.
How do you feel about ordering
from that dumpling place this evening?
I actually brought food from home.
I'm trying to save
a little money right now.
- You OK?
- Yeah.
It's dumb.
I have this crazy uncle.
He's the worst with money.
I mean, I made budgets.
I have taught him Excel.
Nothing takes.
So depending on the month,
we all have to pay his rent.
And this month?
What?
[SIGHS]
I went to some Al-Anon meetings
when my brother was doing
terrible things to himself, taking drugs.
I was banging my head into the wall.
They have this thing.
They call it the three C's.
You didn't cause it.
You can't control it.
You can't cure it.
You know, we try and help
the people we love,
but at some point,
you just draw the line.
You walk away. [KNOCK AT DOOR]
I've been getting a lot
of calls about this one.
About Josh Hunter?
No, about Eric Hunter.
Well, Eric's got nothing to do with it.
I know, but when a kid's
going high in the draft,
a lot of powerful people
get nervous, so
Like Sam said,
we have no reason to believe
that Eric is involved.
OK, good.
So what do we know?
What really happened?
Well, it's still a work in progress,
but largely circumstantial right now.
But here's what we can prove.
Josh bought a knife identical
to the murder weapon.
There is ARGUS footage
of the actual stabbing.
Killer appears to have the same
height and build as Josh.
And when asked where he was
at the time of the murder,
Josh lied to police, said he was home.
You seem to have left out motive.
Ah. [CHUCKLES]
You noticed. Uh, yeah.
Hopefully the jury will be
Cases like this one can be tricky,
even with a tidal wave of evidence.
Juries tend to take their cue
from surviving family,
almost as much
as from the evidence itself.
They'll be looking to the big brother
to see where he comes down on this.
Does he want justice for his father,
or does he want to see
his little brother walk free?
Wait, I'm sorry.
So you guys are asking me
to do what exactly?
So we need you
to help the jury understand
that your father was a good man
that he loved his family,
that you loved him,
and that he will be deeply missed.
So you want me to testify
against my brother?
Testify in support of your father.
We know how complicated
this is for you, Eric,
but we really need your help.
No.
No, I won't turn my back on my brother.
Your brother murdered your father.
He hunted him down,
he laid in wait for him,
and he stabbed a knife
into his heart twice.
I said I won't do it.
All right?
So if you don't mind.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
[PHONE BUZZING]
The defense is trying to suppress
Josh's statement to the police.
On what basis?
It's inadmissible hearsay.
But it's not being offered
for the truth of the matter asserted.
It's being offered to show
consciousness of guilt.
He told the police he was at home
nursing a knee injury in order
to establish a false alibi.
My client's statement to the police
is legally unreliable.
Why is that?
It was given under extreme duress.
There is no evidence of coercion.
There doesn't need to be.
My client is 17 years old.
He is a child.
He was in a very fragile state.
He had just learned
his father was killed.
He wasn't thinking clearly.
And the prosecutors want
to use this moment of confusion
to bury him.
They're basing their whole damn
case on this one misstatement,
which, by the way, was given
without an adult present,
except for Josh's 20-year-old brother,
who was also grieving.
No, the defendant was
not being interrogated.
He didn't have the right
to an interested adult.
He was also not under arrest.
He talked with the police
freely and voluntarily.
Enough.
Looking at the totality
of the circumstances,
the declarant's age, his state of mind,
the lack of counsel,
I'm granting the motion.
Your Honor, I would urge you
It's over, Mr. Price.
His statement to the police
regarding his whereabouts
the day of the murder is out.
Look, we're still fine.
We've got video of the crime.
Which is grainy and doesn't
reveal the killer's face.
We can prove Josh bought the knife.
How many of those knives
were sold last year?
- 5,703.
- Yeah.
We need a theory of the case,
a narrative for the jury to buy into.
Motive.
Other than the defendant,
who won't talk,
and the victim, who can't,
there is only one other person
who can help us
make sense of this Eric Hunter.
Eric was very clear.
He's not interested in working with us.
I get that he is in a tight spot,
but at the end of the day,
wouldn't you want justice
for your father?
Yeah.
A father that Eric idolized
by all accounts.
Teenagers who murder their parents
basically fall into two camps.
They are mentally ill,
which doesn't appear
to be the case here,
or they're rebelling
against parental control, all right?
Rules about dating, curfews, money.
I spoke with Josh's friends, teachers.
He seemed pretty normal.
He spent most of his time
playing sports.
Have Computer Crimes take
another look at his phone,
his computer, see what websites
he was visiting,
who he was communicating with,
sharing his feelings with.
We just got encrypted messages
exchanged between Josh Hunter
and his therapist, covering a period
of seven months prior to the murder.
I'm sure that's helpful,
but conversations
between a defendant and his therapist
are obviously privileged.
Yeah, if the therapist is a human being.
Pardon me?
Josh's therapist was
an AI-generated chatbot.
What?
[TENSE MUSIC]
So who was on the other end
of the phone, so to speak?
No one. An algorithm.
Was anyone monitoring the conversation?
The advice this therapist
was doling out?
No.
♪
That is terrifying.
It's more common than you might think.
Young people are more
comfortable talking to a screen
than a human being.
This is uncharted territory,
but if Josh was talking to a machine,
then in my mind, that's fair game.
What did the messages say?
There are thousands of them.
We're still reading.
But so far, we can tell
that Josh was in a very dark place.
He began to despise his father.
Apparently, his father was
very controlling
and forced him into
an extreme exercise regimen.
I'm talking extreme
like, hard to believe.
The goal, of course, was to mold him
into an elite athlete.
He also kept him on a very strict diet.
No carbs, no sugar, no processed food.
He found a Snickers
in his backpack once.
He made him run home
from practice, 10 miles.
"He's gonna run me to death. Literally.
I hate him. It's him or me."
We have a disciplinarian father
putting his son through an extreme
exercise and nutritional regimen,
which worked wonders on Eric,
turned him into an NFL prospect.
But it turned Josh
Into a murderer.
Sure sounds like motive to me.
These text conversations are protected
by patient-therapist privilege,
Your Honor.
That is ridiculous and bizarre.
The defendant was communicating
with an AI generated chatbot,
not a therapist.
The privilege was designed
to encourage people to get help.
That's exactly what Josh did.
He thought he was talking
to a real therapist.
Well, the law is clear.
Privilege applies only to registered,
licensed mental health professionals.
Courts have found
that attorney-client privilege
applies to unlicensed lawyers.
The same standard should apply
to unlicensed therapists.
It's immaterial if this thing
is licensed or unlicensed.
It's not a therapist in the first place.
AI-generated therapy
is an emerging practice.
The law goes hand in hand
with human progress.
But that has nothing to do
with the current state of the law.
If Mr. Winters feels strongly
about this issue,
he should go to Albany and lobby
for legislation allowing machines
to become licensed therapists.
Short of that, privilege does not apply,
which means this is admissible evidence
vital to the People's case.
I agree with the People.
I'm not extending privilege
to what amounts
to a computer program
simulating human conversation.
Motion denied.
Thank you, Your Honor.
In reviewing the messages
that Josh sent his so-called therapist,
could you describe the general tone?
Angry. Resentful.
Angry at whom?
His father, Ted Hunter.
Resentful about what?
Football, basically.
The training regimen
that his father implemented.
Are these the defendant's words?
Yes, they are.
He wrote that March 12th.
And later that same day,
did he make an online purchase?
He spent $249
on a tactical, serrated, folding blade
manufactured by Iron Forge.
He had that sent to his home.
Who paid for it?
He used his father's credit card.
I'm showing you what's been
marked as Exhibit 9B.
Have you seen this knife before?
I have. We found that in a trash can
near the murder scene.
It was coated in blood.
And DNA test results confirmed
that is indeed the victim's blood.
Could you describe this knife?
It is a serrated,
folding, tactical blade
manufactured by Iron Forge.
Thank you, Detective.
Your Honor, may I?
Can you read the message
that Josh sent to his therapist
on January 22nd?
"Couldn't finish sled sprints,
"so Dad made me do
200 Nordics on the SledTred.
Barfed up my protein shake,
so Dad made me do 100 more."
So it's clear that
the defendant was forced
to exercise until he vomited.
His punishment for vomiting is
that he had to exercise more.
Do I have that right?
It would appear so.
How did Josh's therapist respond?
- Objection.
- Overruled.
"Josh, what you're describing
is deliberately aggressive,
"violent behavior causing bodily harm.
The definition of physical abuse."
[TENSE MUSIC]
"I believe your life is in danger."
So it was the opinion
of Josh's therapist
Objection.
Your Honor,
in what world are the musings
of some algorithm remotely
relevant in this court?
It is relevant to support
my client's assertion
of self-defense.
Which is the first we're hearing
anything related
to self-defense, Your Honor.
I'll see counsel in chambers.
[GAVEL BANGS]
♪
Your Honor, the facts do not support
a claim of self-defense.
The defendant hunted down the victim.
He was never in danger.
My client thought he was in danger.
No, that is not enough.
The defense would have to prove
that a reasonable person
in the same situation
would do the same thing.
Not when the accused is suffering
from battered child syndrome.
Which isn't a recognized
defense in New York.
7.06.
Battered woman syndrome?
That's what we call it colloquially,
but actually it's called
the abused person syndrome,
which covers people who are
related by consanguinity,
blood relatives.
The statute is
clearly intended to protect
adult blood relatives and women.
Except it doesn't say that explicitly.
I'm allowing it.
It's up to the jury to decide
whether the defendant
reasonably believed
his life was in danger or not.
What did you conclude, Doctor Morley,
from your forensic evaluation
of my client?
I believe that Josh suffers
from battered child syndrome
as a result of verbal degradation,
extreme discipline,
and physical punishment.
Josh's father may have believed
he was pursuing structure
and discipline,
but it crossed the line into abuse.
And it lasted for years,
essentially from the onset
of Josh's pubescence
until the day of his father's death.
How did that impact Josh's
ability to perceive danger?
He developed chronic hypervigilance.
He was always bracing
for more punishment.
He lived in fear.
Worse than that, arguably.
Kill or be killed.
That's more like it.
Thank you, Doctor Morley.
Cross-examination.
Did Josh tell you
that his father beat him?
No.
Threatened his life?
No.
So Josh Hunter's perception
that his life was in danger
at the moment that he elected
to plunge a knife
into his father's heart,
this perception was not
genuine or reasonable, was it?
I can only tell you
what I observed, Mr. Price,
which is that Josh believed
on that morning
that his life, his survival,
was in jeopardy.
Only Josh has seen what he has seen,
feared what he has feared
in the way that he has feared it.
You are free to call
his actions unreasonable.
I suppose your job requires it.
I'm just not comfortable doing that.
You loved your father, didn't you?
Yes.
He he was my hero.
And you killed him?
[SIGHS]
Yeah.
I guess I just snapped.
I can't explain it,
but I couldn't take it anymore.
You ever been to McDonald's, Josh?
Uh, no.
Ever tried movie theater popcorn?
No.
A sip of beer?
[SCOFFS] No.
You go to prom last year?
Um, my dad didn't want me to go.
Shortly before your dad's death,
you more or less quit the team.
Yeah.
Uh, I told everybody
that my knee was injured.
Did your dad find out?
Yeah.
What did he do?
He woke me up at 2:00 a.m.
and we drove out to the football field.
Did this thing called 50-40s,
where you sprint
to the 40-yard line and back
25 times on a timer.
Did you make it?
No.
So he made me do it again
until I threw up.
He bring you water or anything?
No.
He said, "This is just the beginning.
I'm gonna turn you into a man."
Whatever it took.
Did that scare you?
I've never been so afraid
in my entire life.
[SOLEMN MUSIC]
I thought he was gonna kill me.
Thank you.
Nothing further.
♪
Josh, did you ever tell your father
that you didn't want to be
an elite football player?
No.
God, no.
So you have no way of knowing
how he would have responded.
I know exactly how
he would have responded.
He would have called me a sissy
and then tortured me
with some sort of crazy workout.
Did you ever raise
any of your fears or concerns
with your teachers at school?
- No.
- Your coaches?
- Your your teammates?
- No.
Did you ever call the police?
No. But I told my brother, Eric.
Told him what?
I told him that
my dad was gonna kill me.
And he just he told me to suck it up.
Be a man.
I wish I was tougher, man.
But I'm not.
I'm not you, Eric.
♪
[TEARFULLY] I'm so sorry.
♪
I'm so sorry.
♪
You think the jury might actually find
that Josh acted in self-defense?
I think there is enough of a chance
that we should consider
offering him the opportunity
to plead out manslaughter.
After hearing that testimony
in the courtroom,
I think it might be
the right ethical choice too.
No.
No.
You don't get to stalk down
a human being
and put a knife in their heart
because you're too weak
to handle what the world served you.
By all accounts,
Eric Hunter went through
exactly the same thing as Josh did.
And Eric appears to be
well-adjusted, thriving even,
at least before this.
Well, they're not cookie cutters, Nolan.
We're all built differently.
Which is, again,
not a justification for murder.
My father was
not exactly warm and fuzzy.
He was cold and unforgiving.
There was not a lot of affection.
He shook my hand
once a year on my birthday.
And and guess what.
Neither I nor either of my two brothers
ever resorted to murdering him.
[TENSE MUSIC]
So what's the plan, Nolan?
I'm gonna call Eric Hunter
as a rebuttal witness.
As a hostile witness?
Correct.
♪
OK.
Trust your instincts.
♪
Can you tell the jury the circumstances
under which you're here?
You gave me a subpoena.
Making you what we call
a hostile witness.
You're not here
'cause you want to be here.
Correct.
What did I tell you would happen
if you did not testify here today?
That I would be arrested.
What did I tell you would happen
if you did not tell the truth?
I would be charged with perjury.
And you understand both of those things?
Yes, I do.
Was your father a horrible man?
A monster?
- No.
- Did he deserve to die?
- No.
- Did he love you?
Yes.
Did he love your brother?
Yes.
Your father wanted you boys to succeed.
- Correct?
- Yes.
When our mother died, he
he was terrified.
He didn't think he had
what it took to raise us alone.
So he became very strict.
He believed in tough love?
- Yes.
- Next year, you expect
to be drafted into the NFL, correct?
Well, I hope to be so lucky. Yes.
Would you be a first round pick
if it weren't for your father?
- No.
- But he was hard on you.
Yes.
He said cruel things to you sometimes.
He questioned your commitment.
He made you work out extra hard.
He ran you to the point of exhaustion
Yes.
Did you ever try to murder him?
No!
[TENSE MUSIC]
But see, Josh isn't like me. All right?
He's a good person.
Better than me.
♪
You see, I could just turn it off.
But Josh, he's he's sensitive.
He felt stuff deep down,
and all of that hurt him.
It hurt him more than I
than I ever even knew until now.
Because he didn't tell you
about his feelings.
Did he, Eric?
No.
In fact, despite
what Josh told this jury
in his sworn testimony,
he never told you
that he thought your father was
gonna kill him, did he?
♪
No. He never said that.
He, uh
He never said that he thought that
our father was gonna kill him.
♪
Nothing further.
♪
Members of the jury,
have you agreed upon a verdict?
We have.
We find the defendant, Josh Hunter,
guilty of murder in the second degree.
[CROWD MURMURING]
Thank you for your service.
We are adjourned.
[GAVEL BANGS]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
[SIREN WAILING]
[HORNS HONKING]
Eric.
Look, man, you got
what you wanted, all right?
Now, please, leave me alone.
Whatever you are thinking
or feeling right now,
your father did not deserve to die.
Don't blame yourself
for what your brother did.
Yeah, well, it's not that easy.
I get it.
I do.
I had a brother.
He's gone now. He overdosed.
And I always asked myself
if there's more
that I could have done to prevent that.
But the truth is,
he was a grown man,
and he made his own tragic choices.
You really believe that?
The strong protect the weak.
That's how the world works.
Well, that's how it's
supposed to work anyway.
I failed Josh, man.
It's as simple as that.
And unlike you,
I will never be able
to forgive myself for that.
In the criminal justice system,
the people are represented
by two separate,
yet equally important groups:
the police,
who investigate crime,
and the district attorneys,
who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
Jackson, come on in.
- We need to talk.
- What's up, man?
You make 8 million a year,
man, and you broke.
[SCOFFS] Man, get out of here.
You could believe me today,
or you can believe the bank
when they come
and take the keys to your house.
You got to make changes, bro.
And, oh, by the way,
I'm keeping my 5%.
You ain't getting that back.
What's the problem?
You really just asked me that?
Turn around.
What does Jimmy do?
How about Tommy?
How about Marco?
I don't know, man.
They just part of it.
How many people do you think
you have on your payroll?
- Six.
- [CHUCKLES]
But it's time to be real.
You ain't LeBron.
You ain't KD.
You damn sure ain't Ant-Man.
You a grinder, a rotation player.
You damn sure ain't large enough
to be having some entourage.
You got a big damn heart,
but you just turned 30.
If you're lucky, you got three,
maybe four years left.
So you're saying you want me
to fire some of my boys?
Come on, Ted.
No. That ain't cool.
Want to hear about cool?
I don't care about cool.
I care about you.
I care about your family,
your kids, your future.
That's what I'm thinking about.
So guess what.
Your agent ain't asking you
to get rid of some of your boys.
I'm asking you
to get rid of all of them.
Every living one of them.
That's not so easy.
I grew up with them.
When all of this was just a fantasy.
[TENSE MUSIC]
I owe them.
I owe them.
You want me to do it for you?
♪
Our victim is wearing sweats,
high-end running shoes, headphones on.
Looks like he was on
some sort of jog or walk.
- Who called this in?
- Two joggers.
Victim was deceased
by the time they found him.
No pulse.
They didn't see anybody else around.
I mean, it was the crack of dawn,
so it was pretty empty up here.
Got a weapon in evidence?
We're looking, but so far, no dice.
It was some kind of knife.
Two stabs to the chest. Deep.
He also got a cut on his lip.
Healed up, though. Doesn't feel related.
Still got his Montblanc smartwatch,
his cell phone, AirPods.
Not a robbery.
And they found a $20 bill in his pocket
with his ID.
♪
Theodore Hunter.
69th Street, Upper West Side.
Guy turned 52 on Tuesday.
♪
Hope he made the most of it.
♪
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
What do you got?
We found a knife in a garbage can
a few blocks away from the crime scene
covered in blood.
Four-inch tactical blade,
folding, serrated,
manufactured by Iron Forge.
Right now the lab's trying
to confirm the DNA.
But we have a murder weapon?
Looks like it.
And ARGUS caught the murder on video.
Any luck on facial rec?
Nope. Never saw his face.
But check this out.
OK, so you see people running through.
And then here is our vic.
Think it was a targeted attack?
Any theories? Who was this guy?
Well, back in the day, Ted Hunter was
kind of a big deal All-American
football player up at Syracuse.
He basically had
a cup of coffee in the pros,
then became a sports agent.
He worked for ACG.
They're one of the big three.
He was with them for years.
Very successful, very controversial too.
Had a lot of critics and was
known for playing hardball
during contract negotiations.
And poaching clients.
Last year, he breaks off on his own,
starts his own firm,
says that the system is
bloated and corrupt.
Any family?
Two sons.
Raised them on his own
after his wife died in a car accident.
OK, well, talk to the boys,
see if they have any idea
who might want to hurt their father.
One hell of a family legacy.
Yeah.
Looks like you're up next, huh, Josh?
Long as my knee holds up.
MCL?
Sprained it.
Let me ask you, is anybody
coming to assist you guys?
- Aunt? Uncle?
- No.
No, as a matter of fact,
I'm gonna take some time off
from school to come down here,
stay with Josh.
Our father raised us to be men,
so we can take care of ourselves.
Well, look, guys, we need your help.
We need any information you can give us
about the last couple days
of your dad's life.
Eric, you were up at Syracuse
when you got the news?
Yes, sir.
I was out on the practice field
when they came and got me.
- And Josh, you were here?
- Yeah.
I usually run with our dad
every morning in the park.
Last few weeks,
obviously, I couldn't go.
I was sleeping in this morning.
And I woke up to cops
banging on the door.
If I was there,
I could have done something.
Don't do that to yourself, bro.
Listen to your brother.
It's good advice.
We have reason to believe that
this was a targeted attack.
Targeted?
Just that this wasn't
a random occurrence.
We need your help.
Can you guys think of any reason
anybody wanted to hurt your father?
No idea.
Anything noteworthy recently
or out of character?
Did he indicate that he might
have been arguing with someone?
Or maybe someone threatened him?
No, I talked to our father
every single day.
Um, there was one thing.
He came home late one night this week,
and it looked like
he had been in a fight.
Like a physical altercation?
Yeah, I guess.
His shirt was all messed up and torn.
[TENSE MUSIC]
- What about his lip?
- Yeah.
He had a he had a big cut
on his bottom lip.
He tell you how this happened?
I mean, he just kind of played it off.
Said it wasn't that big of a deal.
It kind of looked like a big deal.
What night was this?
♪
This man, Ted Hunter.
He was dropped off here by an Uber
at 11:13 p.m. on Monday.
And?
And this morning, he got murdered.
Sorry to hear that.
He got into an altercation
at this nightclub,
and we need to know who
he was fighting with and why.
Can't help you, fellas.
You can't or you won't?
The minute I start talking
to the cops is the minute
- the crowds stop showing up.
- Mm.
Don't know if that's can't or won't,
but it's one of them.
All right, well, just got
a few more images to show you,
and then we'll get out of your hair.
Like this one.
Budget Ballin'.
For 30 bucks, your patrons
get all the liquor
they can handle for an hour.
That's a great deal.
Show him the other one.
Oh, yeah oh, this one I
would have loved back in the day.
Liquid Courage,
a raffle for unlimited shots.
Even better deal.
Problem is, you can't do that.
Any club promotion that
encourages risky drinking,
$800 fine.
Let me grab my wallet.
I'll pay you in cash. With a tip.
You misunderstood what I was saying.
It's an $800 fine per offense.
That means every drink
that you served to every patron
every night you had
a promotion like that.
Yeah, so we could just pull your CCTV
and start counting them all up.
It'll take a while.
Come on, man. That's not right.
It's the law.
Or you could just tell us.
Who was Ted Hunter having
an altercation with?
OK, thank you.
The blood on the knife
is a DNA match to Hunter.
So it's definitely our murder weapon.
Any other fingerprints on it?
Unfortunately, no.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
There he is.
- Jackson Dean?
- OK.
NYPD.
We need to talk to you about Ted Hunter.
It hurts, man.
He was a damn good agent.
Damn good dude too.
Really cared about his clients.
How about everybody in your crew?
They like him too?
Yeah, we heard one of your buddies
got into a fight with him
a couple nights ago
at Vortex 21.
Is that right?
I got to get back out there.
No, you didn't answer my question.
I wasn't at the club that night.
Yeah, we know.
But your crew, they were.
Yeah, we got the physical description
of a guy who tangled
with Hunter that night.
5'9", Black, cornrows.
Ring a bell?
There is zero chance anyone in my circle
had anything to do with that.
So, fellas, have a nice day.
No, no, no, no, that's not
how this works, Mr. Dean.
You see, we're investigating
a murder here.
Which means boxing us out
is not an option.
[TENSE MUSIC]
Now, it'd be a real shame
if we had to have this conversation
back at the precinct,
you know what I'm saying?
Yeah, that'd mean
you'd miss tonight's game.
♪
[INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER]
There he is. Right there.
Tommy Caro.
NYPD.
[ENGINE REVVING]
Hey!
[SIREN WAILING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
♪
Hey!
Whoa!
[SIREN WAILING]
[TIRES SQUEALING]
Hey, do not move!
Stay right where you are.
Get your hands up.
Higher!
He's got a gun.
You even look at that piece,
you're a dead man.
Walk backwards to me.
- To my voice.
- OK.
OK.
♪
I would have run too.
Criminal possession
of a firearm, pretty serious.
Minimum three and a half years.
Well, that's what
they told me last time,
- but I'm still here.
- Oh, OK.
Well, thanks for the information.
Maybe this time we'll push
for 10, given your history.
Come on, lady.
I heard Ted Hunter got
a few good licks in.
Maybe even won the fight.
I don't know. That's pretty impressive.
How old is he? Like, 52?
- Please.
- What?
Thinking it might sting a little.
I mean, it's embarrassing.
- Whoa, whoa.
We threw a few punches. That's it.
Ain't nobody got embarrassed.
And I sure as hell had nothing to do
with that man getting killed.
OK.
I will note that you denied it.
Fair is fair.
Well, I'm telling the truth.
A few days ago, Ted Hunter told Jackson
he had to cut ties with his crew.
So we went down to the club,
laid down Jackson's credit card,
and ordered up some magnums
of Don Julio 1942.
A last hurrah kind of thing.
But we didn't know Ted was tracking
Jackson's spending in real time.
Got an alert and came down
to the club to shut us down.
And that didn't go over well?
No. And we got into it.
Sorted things out, you know?
But that was the end of it, I swear.
Where were you this morning?
Hey.
So Caro's alibi holds up.
At the time of the murder,
he was losing his shirt
at a casino 60 miles away
in the Hudson Valley.
- OK.
- I got something here.
So Ted Hunter, a few months ago,
took out a protective order
on his driver,
a guy named Ethan Matthews.
For what?
Well, Matthews wouldn't leave him alone.
Kept showing up to his house,
to his office.
Hunter says stop,
and Matthews threatened him.
Sounds like a lead to me.
Nice work.
Ethan Matthews?
NYPD.
Oh, yeah.
I know why you're here.
Oh, yeah?
I suppose that you admit
to telling Ted Hunter
that you wanted him dead, then?
"You destroyed my life.
I won't stop until you feel the
same pain." Sound familiar?
That's me.
I don't even recognize
the man who sent that stuff.
I didn't kill Ted Hunter.
I owe the man my life.
Oh, really? How's that?
I was his personal driver for 13 years.
Then he discovered my little secret
heroin.
So he fired me.
I lashed out,
but I'd never hurt the man.
He was gonna hire me back
after six months
if I went to rehab
and got clean, which I did.
Hell, he paid for it.
That's his car right there.
I keep it spotless,
just waiting for the day
I can pick him up and take him to work.
It doesn't matter now.
Tell me, his Android sync up with this?
Hey.
Finally got access
to Ted Hunter's texts.
And there's a nasty exchange between him
and his youngest son's
football coach, Brian Boggs.
What were they beefing about?
His son's knee.
Ted thought he was fine.
Took him to every top
orthopedist in New York City.
Doctors couldn't find
anything wrong with him.
No tear, nothing.
Yeah, but the coach still
didn't want to play him.
So Ted got pissed,
and in the days
leading up to the murder,
he texts the coach that he's
gonna come down to the school
and speak to him face-to-face.
Well, it's weird that
Josh didn't mention
there was anything funky
going on with football,
because it's like
that family's religion.
So try to get to the bottom of that.
[WHISTLE BLASTS]
Respectfully, I'm gonna trust
that you and the family
can sort this out.
This has nothing to do with me.
Oh, we're not so certain
about that, Coach Boggs.
The hell does that mean?
It means you had some pretty sharp words
for Ted Hunter in the days
before he was found
with a knife in his chest.
"You come after me,
I'll come after you"?
Ted didn't like some of
the decisions you were making.
So two days before the murder,
he comes down here to sort it out.
Seems like he was gunning for your job.
Yeah. See, we're murder cops.
So in our line of work,
that kind of smells like motive.
You got to be kidding me.
[SIGHS]
After the doctors cleared Josh,
Ted was angry I wasn't playing him.
He kept asking
just didn't like the answer.
Which was?
I don't think Josh ever
got hurt in the first place.
You're telling me Josh faked his injury?
You think this was his way
of quitting the team?
I think Josh resents the type
of athlete that his brother is.
He resents the idea that he's
supposed to be the next one.
I'm not sure anybody ever asked Josh
if he really wanted to do this.
All right, so you were
just buying him some time
while he worked things out, huh?
He knew what a thing it would be
for him to quit football,
what it would mean to his father.
So I I played along.
I pretended, you know,
that I thought he was still hurt.
Then his father came
down here spitting fire.
And I had no choice.
I had to tell him the truth
that his son wasn't hurt,
that he just doesn't want
to play football.
[WHISTLE BLASTS]
[GRUNTING]
So you find the guy?
We did, Josh.
Take a look at this.
That's you on Monday
cutting through the gym.
It's a shortcut
to the parking lot, right?
Uh-huh.
[TENSE MUSIC]
We've all been there
empty gym and a ball.
Got to take some shots, right?
I mean, that's just being a boy.
♪
Bro, what are you doing?
I mean, some days,
my knee feels pretty good.
Or you never injured it
in the first place.
What? No, that's ridiculous.
He's he's clearly
Coach Boggs gave you
some space and some time
to figure out
what you wanted to do, right?
Whether you wanted to play ball or not.
He told you to go hang out
in the library after school
while practices were going on, right?
Josh, what is this?
Because Coach Boggs knew that you lied
to your father about your injury,
that you lied to your father
about going to practices too.
No, that's not true.
Josh, we recovered
your search history from the library.
And we saw that you purchased
a 4-inch serrated blade,
just like this one that was found
near the murder scene
covered in your father's blood.
Oh, my God.
On your feet, kid.
Come on, man.
Come on.
[TENSE MUSIC]
Hands behind your back.
Josh.
You are under arrest for the murder
of your father, Ted Hunter.
Josh, what are they talking about?
Officers, hold on. Wait.
How do you feel about ordering
from that dumpling place this evening?
I actually brought food from home.
I'm trying to save
a little money right now.
- You OK?
- Yeah.
It's dumb.
I have this crazy uncle.
He's the worst with money.
I mean, I made budgets.
I have taught him Excel.
Nothing takes.
So depending on the month,
we all have to pay his rent.
And this month?
What?
[SIGHS]
I went to some Al-Anon meetings
when my brother was doing
terrible things to himself, taking drugs.
I was banging my head into the wall.
They have this thing.
They call it the three C's.
You didn't cause it.
You can't control it.
You can't cure it.
You know, we try and help
the people we love,
but at some point,
you just draw the line.
You walk away. [KNOCK AT DOOR]
I've been getting a lot
of calls about this one.
About Josh Hunter?
No, about Eric Hunter.
Well, Eric's got nothing to do with it.
I know, but when a kid's
going high in the draft,
a lot of powerful people
get nervous, so
Like Sam said,
we have no reason to believe
that Eric is involved.
OK, good.
So what do we know?
What really happened?
Well, it's still a work in progress,
but largely circumstantial right now.
But here's what we can prove.
Josh bought a knife identical
to the murder weapon.
There is ARGUS footage
of the actual stabbing.
Killer appears to have the same
height and build as Josh.
And when asked where he was
at the time of the murder,
Josh lied to police, said he was home.
You seem to have left out motive.
Ah. [CHUCKLES]
You noticed. Uh, yeah.
Hopefully the jury will be
Cases like this one can be tricky,
even with a tidal wave of evidence.
Juries tend to take their cue
from surviving family,
almost as much
as from the evidence itself.
They'll be looking to the big brother
to see where he comes down on this.
Does he want justice for his father,
or does he want to see
his little brother walk free?
Wait, I'm sorry.
So you guys are asking me
to do what exactly?
So we need you
to help the jury understand
that your father was a good man
that he loved his family,
that you loved him,
and that he will be deeply missed.
So you want me to testify
against my brother?
Testify in support of your father.
We know how complicated
this is for you, Eric,
but we really need your help.
No.
No, I won't turn my back on my brother.
Your brother murdered your father.
He hunted him down,
he laid in wait for him,
and he stabbed a knife
into his heart twice.
I said I won't do it.
All right?
So if you don't mind.
[TENSE MUSIC]
♪
[PHONE BUZZING]
The defense is trying to suppress
Josh's statement to the police.
On what basis?
It's inadmissible hearsay.
But it's not being offered
for the truth of the matter asserted.
It's being offered to show
consciousness of guilt.
He told the police he was at home
nursing a knee injury in order
to establish a false alibi.
My client's statement to the police
is legally unreliable.
Why is that?
It was given under extreme duress.
There is no evidence of coercion.
There doesn't need to be.
My client is 17 years old.
He is a child.
He was in a very fragile state.
He had just learned
his father was killed.
He wasn't thinking clearly.
And the prosecutors want
to use this moment of confusion
to bury him.
They're basing their whole damn
case on this one misstatement,
which, by the way, was given
without an adult present,
except for Josh's 20-year-old brother,
who was also grieving.
No, the defendant was
not being interrogated.
He didn't have the right
to an interested adult.
He was also not under arrest.
He talked with the police
freely and voluntarily.
Enough.
Looking at the totality
of the circumstances,
the declarant's age, his state of mind,
the lack of counsel,
I'm granting the motion.
Your Honor, I would urge you
It's over, Mr. Price.
His statement to the police
regarding his whereabouts
the day of the murder is out.
Look, we're still fine.
We've got video of the crime.
Which is grainy and doesn't
reveal the killer's face.
We can prove Josh bought the knife.
How many of those knives
were sold last year?
- 5,703.
- Yeah.
We need a theory of the case,
a narrative for the jury to buy into.
Motive.
Other than the defendant,
who won't talk,
and the victim, who can't,
there is only one other person
who can help us
make sense of this Eric Hunter.
Eric was very clear.
He's not interested in working with us.
I get that he is in a tight spot,
but at the end of the day,
wouldn't you want justice
for your father?
Yeah.
A father that Eric idolized
by all accounts.
Teenagers who murder their parents
basically fall into two camps.
They are mentally ill,
which doesn't appear
to be the case here,
or they're rebelling
against parental control, all right?
Rules about dating, curfews, money.
I spoke with Josh's friends, teachers.
He seemed pretty normal.
He spent most of his time
playing sports.
Have Computer Crimes take
another look at his phone,
his computer, see what websites
he was visiting,
who he was communicating with,
sharing his feelings with.
We just got encrypted messages
exchanged between Josh Hunter
and his therapist, covering a period
of seven months prior to the murder.
I'm sure that's helpful,
but conversations
between a defendant and his therapist
are obviously privileged.
Yeah, if the therapist is a human being.
Pardon me?
Josh's therapist was
an AI-generated chatbot.
What?
[TENSE MUSIC]
So who was on the other end
of the phone, so to speak?
No one. An algorithm.
Was anyone monitoring the conversation?
The advice this therapist
was doling out?
No.
♪
That is terrifying.
It's more common than you might think.
Young people are more
comfortable talking to a screen
than a human being.
This is uncharted territory,
but if Josh was talking to a machine,
then in my mind, that's fair game.
What did the messages say?
There are thousands of them.
We're still reading.
But so far, we can tell
that Josh was in a very dark place.
He began to despise his father.
Apparently, his father was
very controlling
and forced him into
an extreme exercise regimen.
I'm talking extreme
like, hard to believe.
The goal, of course, was to mold him
into an elite athlete.
He also kept him on a very strict diet.
No carbs, no sugar, no processed food.
He found a Snickers
in his backpack once.
He made him run home
from practice, 10 miles.
"He's gonna run me to death. Literally.
I hate him. It's him or me."
We have a disciplinarian father
putting his son through an extreme
exercise and nutritional regimen,
which worked wonders on Eric,
turned him into an NFL prospect.
But it turned Josh
Into a murderer.
Sure sounds like motive to me.
These text conversations are protected
by patient-therapist privilege,
Your Honor.
That is ridiculous and bizarre.
The defendant was communicating
with an AI generated chatbot,
not a therapist.
The privilege was designed
to encourage people to get help.
That's exactly what Josh did.
He thought he was talking
to a real therapist.
Well, the law is clear.
Privilege applies only to registered,
licensed mental health professionals.
Courts have found
that attorney-client privilege
applies to unlicensed lawyers.
The same standard should apply
to unlicensed therapists.
It's immaterial if this thing
is licensed or unlicensed.
It's not a therapist in the first place.
AI-generated therapy
is an emerging practice.
The law goes hand in hand
with human progress.
But that has nothing to do
with the current state of the law.
If Mr. Winters feels strongly
about this issue,
he should go to Albany and lobby
for legislation allowing machines
to become licensed therapists.
Short of that, privilege does not apply,
which means this is admissible evidence
vital to the People's case.
I agree with the People.
I'm not extending privilege
to what amounts
to a computer program
simulating human conversation.
Motion denied.
Thank you, Your Honor.
In reviewing the messages
that Josh sent his so-called therapist,
could you describe the general tone?
Angry. Resentful.
Angry at whom?
His father, Ted Hunter.
Resentful about what?
Football, basically.
The training regimen
that his father implemented.
Are these the defendant's words?
Yes, they are.
He wrote that March 12th.
And later that same day,
did he make an online purchase?
He spent $249
on a tactical, serrated, folding blade
manufactured by Iron Forge.
He had that sent to his home.
Who paid for it?
He used his father's credit card.
I'm showing you what's been
marked as Exhibit 9B.
Have you seen this knife before?
I have. We found that in a trash can
near the murder scene.
It was coated in blood.
And DNA test results confirmed
that is indeed the victim's blood.
Could you describe this knife?
It is a serrated,
folding, tactical blade
manufactured by Iron Forge.
Thank you, Detective.
Your Honor, may I?
Can you read the message
that Josh sent to his therapist
on January 22nd?
"Couldn't finish sled sprints,
"so Dad made me do
200 Nordics on the SledTred.
Barfed up my protein shake,
so Dad made me do 100 more."
So it's clear that
the defendant was forced
to exercise until he vomited.
His punishment for vomiting is
that he had to exercise more.
Do I have that right?
It would appear so.
How did Josh's therapist respond?
- Objection.
- Overruled.
"Josh, what you're describing
is deliberately aggressive,
"violent behavior causing bodily harm.
The definition of physical abuse."
[TENSE MUSIC]
"I believe your life is in danger."
So it was the opinion
of Josh's therapist
Objection.
Your Honor,
in what world are the musings
of some algorithm remotely
relevant in this court?
It is relevant to support
my client's assertion
of self-defense.
Which is the first we're hearing
anything related
to self-defense, Your Honor.
I'll see counsel in chambers.
[GAVEL BANGS]
♪
Your Honor, the facts do not support
a claim of self-defense.
The defendant hunted down the victim.
He was never in danger.
My client thought he was in danger.
No, that is not enough.
The defense would have to prove
that a reasonable person
in the same situation
would do the same thing.
Not when the accused is suffering
from battered child syndrome.
Which isn't a recognized
defense in New York.
7.06.
Battered woman syndrome?
That's what we call it colloquially,
but actually it's called
the abused person syndrome,
which covers people who are
related by consanguinity,
blood relatives.
The statute is
clearly intended to protect
adult blood relatives and women.
Except it doesn't say that explicitly.
I'm allowing it.
It's up to the jury to decide
whether the defendant
reasonably believed
his life was in danger or not.
What did you conclude, Doctor Morley,
from your forensic evaluation
of my client?
I believe that Josh suffers
from battered child syndrome
as a result of verbal degradation,
extreme discipline,
and physical punishment.
Josh's father may have believed
he was pursuing structure
and discipline,
but it crossed the line into abuse.
And it lasted for years,
essentially from the onset
of Josh's pubescence
until the day of his father's death.
How did that impact Josh's
ability to perceive danger?
He developed chronic hypervigilance.
He was always bracing
for more punishment.
He lived in fear.
Worse than that, arguably.
Kill or be killed.
That's more like it.
Thank you, Doctor Morley.
Cross-examination.
Did Josh tell you
that his father beat him?
No.
Threatened his life?
No.
So Josh Hunter's perception
that his life was in danger
at the moment that he elected
to plunge a knife
into his father's heart,
this perception was not
genuine or reasonable, was it?
I can only tell you
what I observed, Mr. Price,
which is that Josh believed
on that morning
that his life, his survival,
was in jeopardy.
Only Josh has seen what he has seen,
feared what he has feared
in the way that he has feared it.
You are free to call
his actions unreasonable.
I suppose your job requires it.
I'm just not comfortable doing that.
You loved your father, didn't you?
Yes.
He he was my hero.
And you killed him?
[SIGHS]
Yeah.
I guess I just snapped.
I can't explain it,
but I couldn't take it anymore.
You ever been to McDonald's, Josh?
Uh, no.
Ever tried movie theater popcorn?
No.
A sip of beer?
[SCOFFS] No.
You go to prom last year?
Um, my dad didn't want me to go.
Shortly before your dad's death,
you more or less quit the team.
Yeah.
Uh, I told everybody
that my knee was injured.
Did your dad find out?
Yeah.
What did he do?
He woke me up at 2:00 a.m.
and we drove out to the football field.
Did this thing called 50-40s,
where you sprint
to the 40-yard line and back
25 times on a timer.
Did you make it?
No.
So he made me do it again
until I threw up.
He bring you water or anything?
No.
He said, "This is just the beginning.
I'm gonna turn you into a man."
Whatever it took.
Did that scare you?
I've never been so afraid
in my entire life.
[SOLEMN MUSIC]
I thought he was gonna kill me.
Thank you.
Nothing further.
♪
Josh, did you ever tell your father
that you didn't want to be
an elite football player?
No.
God, no.
So you have no way of knowing
how he would have responded.
I know exactly how
he would have responded.
He would have called me a sissy
and then tortured me
with some sort of crazy workout.
Did you ever raise
any of your fears or concerns
with your teachers at school?
- No.
- Your coaches?
- Your your teammates?
- No.
Did you ever call the police?
No. But I told my brother, Eric.
Told him what?
I told him that
my dad was gonna kill me.
And he just he told me to suck it up.
Be a man.
I wish I was tougher, man.
But I'm not.
I'm not you, Eric.
♪
[TEARFULLY] I'm so sorry.
♪
I'm so sorry.
♪
You think the jury might actually find
that Josh acted in self-defense?
I think there is enough of a chance
that we should consider
offering him the opportunity
to plead out manslaughter.
After hearing that testimony
in the courtroom,
I think it might be
the right ethical choice too.
No.
No.
You don't get to stalk down
a human being
and put a knife in their heart
because you're too weak
to handle what the world served you.
By all accounts,
Eric Hunter went through
exactly the same thing as Josh did.
And Eric appears to be
well-adjusted, thriving even,
at least before this.
Well, they're not cookie cutters, Nolan.
We're all built differently.
Which is, again,
not a justification for murder.
My father was
not exactly warm and fuzzy.
He was cold and unforgiving.
There was not a lot of affection.
He shook my hand
once a year on my birthday.
And and guess what.
Neither I nor either of my two brothers
ever resorted to murdering him.
[TENSE MUSIC]
So what's the plan, Nolan?
I'm gonna call Eric Hunter
as a rebuttal witness.
As a hostile witness?
Correct.
♪
OK.
Trust your instincts.
♪
Can you tell the jury the circumstances
under which you're here?
You gave me a subpoena.
Making you what we call
a hostile witness.
You're not here
'cause you want to be here.
Correct.
What did I tell you would happen
if you did not testify here today?
That I would be arrested.
What did I tell you would happen
if you did not tell the truth?
I would be charged with perjury.
And you understand both of those things?
Yes, I do.
Was your father a horrible man?
A monster?
- No.
- Did he deserve to die?
- No.
- Did he love you?
Yes.
Did he love your brother?
Yes.
Your father wanted you boys to succeed.
- Correct?
- Yes.
When our mother died, he
he was terrified.
He didn't think he had
what it took to raise us alone.
So he became very strict.
He believed in tough love?
- Yes.
- Next year, you expect
to be drafted into the NFL, correct?
Well, I hope to be so lucky. Yes.
Would you be a first round pick
if it weren't for your father?
- No.
- But he was hard on you.
Yes.
He said cruel things to you sometimes.
He questioned your commitment.
He made you work out extra hard.
He ran you to the point of exhaustion
Yes.
Did you ever try to murder him?
No!
[TENSE MUSIC]
But see, Josh isn't like me. All right?
He's a good person.
Better than me.
♪
You see, I could just turn it off.
But Josh, he's he's sensitive.
He felt stuff deep down,
and all of that hurt him.
It hurt him more than I
than I ever even knew until now.
Because he didn't tell you
about his feelings.
Did he, Eric?
No.
In fact, despite
what Josh told this jury
in his sworn testimony,
he never told you
that he thought your father was
gonna kill him, did he?
♪
No. He never said that.
He, uh
He never said that he thought that
our father was gonna kill him.
♪
Nothing further.
♪
Members of the jury,
have you agreed upon a verdict?
We have.
We find the defendant, Josh Hunter,
guilty of murder in the second degree.
[CROWD MURMURING]
Thank you for your service.
We are adjourned.
[GAVEL BANGS]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
♪
[SIREN WAILING]
[HORNS HONKING]
Eric.
Look, man, you got
what you wanted, all right?
Now, please, leave me alone.
Whatever you are thinking
or feeling right now,
your father did not deserve to die.
Don't blame yourself
for what your brother did.
Yeah, well, it's not that easy.
I get it.
I do.
I had a brother.
He's gone now. He overdosed.
And I always asked myself
if there's more
that I could have done to prevent that.
But the truth is,
he was a grown man,
and he made his own tragic choices.
You really believe that?
The strong protect the weak.
That's how the world works.
Well, that's how it's
supposed to work anyway.
I failed Josh, man.
It's as simple as that.
And unlike you,
I will never be able
to forgive myself for that.