Law & Order (1990) s04e07 Episode Script
Apocrypha
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.
Excuse me.
A car like this, you need to see where you're going.
You have a nice day, now.
You press the button, you take a ticket, and you pay on the way out.
Guy drives a $60,000 car, and he can't read English.
Brains got nothing to do with it.
My idiot brother drives a Vette.
It costs $40 to fill that sucker.
$20.
Thank you.
Round two is on me.
Heavy cream, three sugars.
Real sugar this time maybe a chocolate-covered- Jeez.
I could've been inside.
They don't pay me enough.
You see anybody peculiar go in there this morning? I look at the cars, not the people.
You know, you seen one Jag, you seen them all.
All right, if you remember anything, huh? It took six units and an hour to contain it.
Never got out of the garage.
We're lucky this was a Class A fire-restrictive building.
If our guy was one block south, it would still be burning.
Find the source? Char patterns, radius of structural damage My guess? Car bomb.
What's the tab? The tenants will have the next month or two off.
Some of them longer than that.
Tell me you found a photo ID.
Our guys went over every inch.
Most of the damage was centered around a spot in the northeast corner of the garage.
Hope this guy was up-to-date on his premiums.
I doubt he'll be making any claims, Mike.
So, the bomb was right here? More likely in the trunk.
Here.
Take a whiff.
Central Park South in July.
Very good.
Chemical fertilizer.
Mix it with diesel fuel, light it, you get a hell of a bang.
This dude knew what was what.
Here, take a look at this.
Condoms? We found them about 20 feet from the car.
Told you the earth moves.
Observe.
This is the same grade latex they use in condoms.
I poured some acid onto it about five minutes ago and voilà.
It's a makeshift fuse.
Giving the mad bomber time to haul ass before the acid burns through and lights the fertilizer cocktail.
Exactly.
You know, it's cheap, efficient, and you don't have to be Einstein to play.
I never did like those things.
Forensics says we should count our luckies that only one person died.
Looked like a kid.
You talk to the family? Well, if she had ID, it's barbecued or buried.
No one's claimed the body.
Well, we've got every member of the lunatic fringe claiming credit.
FBl terrorist section is checking out the calls.
What, terrorists blowing up a garage? Hey, maybe they're not that good at what they do the Calloway building's filled with heavy hitters.
Two brokerage firms, four law firms two banks, including the Banco de Cali.
Colombian.
I guess we're talking drugs.
Drugs, mob, IRA, Symbionese Liberation Army Excuse me, folks.
Forensics came up with the serial number for the car.
I ran it by the DMV.
It's a 1990 Mercedes 300D, leased to the Egyptian Embassy.
And it's being used by a gentleman named Assad Asalam.
Last known address, Radcliff Hotel.
Take some backup.
Who knows what other toys he's got in his suitcase.
You wanna stop this crap? Put a fence around the country run a couple of thousand volts through it.
So sure this guy wasn't hatched in Brooklyn? Come on, listen.
Some guy gets picked up for littering in Cairo and then his buddies hijack a plane headed out of Kennedy.
"Give me your tired, your poor.
" Yeah.
Well, that was then, this is now.
We got enough homegrown nuts as it is.
You Assad Asalam? Yes.
What is this? You'll have to get back to them later.
Okay, let's go.
I come here three times a year on business.
And what sort of business were you conducting yesterday morning? As a matter of fact, I was with three members of your State Department from 8:00 a.
m.
until noon.
Did you drive downtown? I took a cab.
Look, you have to understand, the night before, I drove back from Albany.
I was exhausted.
I parked the car on 58th Street the next morning it was gone.
The stolen car story? I told that one in high school.
Well, I went to the Wharton school and I assure you, I could come up with a better story.
Did you report the car missing? I was in a rush.
Tell me, Detective, what motive could I possibly have? Hey, I don't know.
Allah calls, I hear you people get antsy.
Take five.
Hey, what's going on? We're lighting a fire under this guy.
He's just a little cool.
That's 'cause he's innocent.
Meet Agent Garrett, FBl.
Mr.
Asalam's father is one of the top industrialists in Egypt.
He's here on an economic mission.
So he can afford first-class accommodations what does that prove? He can also afford a first-class alibi.
His story checks.
He was with Kenny, Dukes, and Fried of State all morning.
So, in other words, we're back to square one.
The fact is we're all running in circles.
Whoever's responsible has probably crossed three time zones by now.
You might have been right about homegrown nuts.
The dead girl had blonde hair, hazel eyes.
The ME's report said she also had traces of ammonium nitrate under her fingernails.
So she set the bomb? Either she dawdled on her way out of the garage or there was a leak in the condom.
Bomb went off before she had a chance to get away.
They ran her prints.
She's clean in this state.
Most girls her age are worried about their SATs.
Lennie, your kid's about 18, right? Well, you don't hear from her for a couple days, what do you do? I hear from her, that's an occasion.
I'm just thinking maybe nobody claimed the body because nobody knew she was alive.
Missing Persons.
We started with anyone That narrowed it to 15,000, give or take.
The appendicitis scar cut that in half.
The tattoo on her derrière made it manageable.
We'd be better off looking at milk cartons.
Don't kid yourself, Logan.
If we don't find them first couple of days odds are they ain't gonna get found.
But this girl is one of the lucky ones.
Lucky? She had an I-beam land on her head.
She also had loving parents who spent a lot to straighten her teeth.
We lucked out.
The dental records.
Wendy Alice Berman.
Reported missing five years ago when she was 14.
Runaway.
Thanks, Mark.
We had a storybook life.
David was a doctor, a surgeon.
He put Wendy on a horse when she was eight years old.
Every year she won her age group.
She had lots of friends.
She liked school.
Well, sorry to say, Mrs.
Berman but kids don't usually run away from perfection.
When she was 13, we sent her to equestrian camp for the summer.
On July 17, David had a heart attack jogging around the reservoir in Central Park.
He was dead before the paramedics arrived.
And the following year, Wendy spent with psychiatrists.
Then the promiscuity started and the drugs.
And she ran away, but she always came back in a few days.
One day she just didn't come back at all.
Last year I got a letter.
She said she was all right but something terrible would happen if I tried to contact her.
If we could see that letter.
I'd like it back, if that's okay.
"And the fifth angel sounded the trumpet "and I saw a star fall from heaven upon the earth "and there was given to him the key of the bottomless pit.
" Shrinks did a hell of a job.
What is it, she joined a convent? Get this.
Return address: of our Lord into the New Kingdom.
Great.
This time of day, it's gonna take us an hour to get downtown.
Since when do you have a road map to Heaven? I don't.
But I've been up and down Avenue C.
"C" for Christ.
for your son.
Thank you, God, for the delivery of your son the Savior upon this earth.
Thank you, God, for the cleansing of our system senses and the enlightenment of our souls.
We are the lambs that you have put among us.
He will lead us through the valley, and into We are in search of a peaceable kingdom, Detective.
Surely, that can't be against the law.
Well, it is, when the path to it runs through a Wall Street parking garage.
I read about the explosion.
I prayed for those who were injured.
Yeah.
Well, I'm sure you've got a seat reserved in Heaven, Donald.
But I'm not too sure about another member of your flock.
Wendy Berman.
Our congregation has a lot of members.
I couldn't possibly know them all.
Well, Miss Berman used your church as her mailing address.
The doors to our Temple are open to everyone, Det.
Briscoe.
Well, I got tired of pickup trucks and drive-ins.
So you traded them in for subways and street muggings? Well, you stay, don't you? I was born here.
And I couldn't be happier living here.
You ever watch the 11:00 news? Mike, I'm gonna get a cup of coffee.
I see a different city.
My kid should be so sweet.
Yeah, well, I'm starting to get cavities.
You make it sound like a small town.
Things will change, Det.
Logan.
There's a lot more good in man than evil.
Is that what they preach in that church of yours? You're a skeptic.
Ten years in Our Lady of Mercy will do that to you.
Sister Theresa, at Saint Luke's in Boise used to make us have silent lunch every day.
We had to wear plaid skirts below the knees.
Blue blazers.
You got it.
What about your folks, do they know you're here? Two years, my stepfather probably doesn't even know I'm gone.
Daniel Hendricks is here.
He says he's the grand poo-bah.
I formed the Acherusian Temple seven years ago.
The people that come to me are in search of something although most of them don't know what it is.
But you do? Well, we're all ultimately in search of the same thing, Detective.
What about this girl? How was her search progressing? She was extremely troubled.
So you knew her? I found Ruth maybe a year ago.
She was on the corner of 12th Street selling her body for a vial of crack.
A little prayer and some real food I thought she was back on the right path.
But she zigged when she should have zagged? She disappeared several months ago.
You called her Ruth, her mom called her Wendy.
She was trying to forget her past life.
Can you blame her? Most of these kids, they're stray kittens.
All they really need is someone to care about them someone to pay a little attention when they cry out.
Yeah.
Or a little jail time.
It's amazing that some of them have survived.
Dysfunctional families, drugs, abuse.
I won't lie to you, we don't always succeed.
But more often than not, I think we're able to turn their lives around.
There's nothing else.
He seems sincere.
Oh, come on, Lennie.
Church? That's not church.
Church is stained glass windows and nuns running around with rulers.
The gospel according to Logan.
That's right.
And rule number one is e girl I just talked to should be giving rave reviews to her boyfriend, not some Bible-banger.
You think Hendricks forced these kids? Well, didn't you have to be dragged to church? Hendricks said the Berman girl fell off the wagon a couple of months ago.
Yeah.
Well, Jim Bakker swears on a stack he didn't know where the money was going.
Listen.
How many crackheads do you know can cook up a bomb in a basement? Somebody must have helped her.
See if he'll give you a list of his congregation.
And try to be polite.
Well, nobody here's running for sainthood.
Half of them have yellows.
Narcotics, prostitution, armed robbery.
That farm girl you were bonding with spent six months at Spofford tried to off her pimp with a pair of scissors.
Two-to-one he deserved it.
Hendricks got a commendation from the city for his work with street kids.
Yeah, clean them up, feed them then fill their heads with religious garbage.
You're so sure it's garbage? Listen.
My old lady had a rosary in her left hand while she beat the crap out of me with her right.
Next time I go to a church six of my closest buddies will be carrying me.
It's going to be a lot sooner than that, Mike.
Look at this.
'82, Saint Paul's Lutheran on 23rd tossed Hendricks from their congregation.
They got a restraining order to keep him 100 yards from their front door.
I bet that wasn't just for singing off-key at choir practice.
Daniel Hendricks was young, charismatic knew the scriptures backwards and forward.
By himself he expanded our congregation by 50%.
Sounds like a guy you'd want to keep around.
He was also crazy.
And became crazier when the membership chose me as their president.
Did he ever threaten you? One Sunday, he stood on the pulpit screaming that we would all die in a lake of fire.
Yeah, well, he's got his own pulpit now.
"Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing "but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
" Yeah, but his congregation seems to think he's the real thing.
The real thing doesn't ask you to donate all the money you can steal from your parents.
I wouldn't call what he has a congregation.
I'd call it a cult.
Danny always had to be on top.
President of the class, captain of the basketball team.
Leader of the congregation.
My son played the lead in the school play, year after year.
I thought he'd become an actor.
Are you disappointed? Danny's alive, that's all I can ask for.
They found my oldest dead in the bathroom of a gas station with a needle in his arm.
One of these days maybe he'll stop trying to save the world get married, raise a family.
Any prospects? One of those kids that hangs around his church.
Pretty girl.
Ruth something or other.
Is this her? She was older, but, yeah.
When was the last time you saw her? Maybe a month ago.
She and Danny came for dinner.
He lied about the girl.
He saw her a month ago.
Maybe he can't tell time.
Maybe he just didn't want any trouble at the church.
Okay, I'll make the call.
Hey.
Fax from Washington.
Hendricks was booted out of the military on a psycho discharge.
You've got to bay at the moon before they give you a Section Eight.
Special Forces.
I'm impressed.
Yeah, well, his military training might've come in handy.
Guess what his specialty was? Demolitions.
Making a bomb out of fertilizer and diesel fuel would be a walk in the park for a Green Beret.
Diesel fuel.
The car that blew up.
It was a Mercedes 300D, right? The "D" stands for diesel.
They wanted to siphon gas from the tank.
The Egyptian said he drove to Albany and back.
That would make the tank near empty.
If we're lucky, the preacher refueled.
You know how many gas stations there are in this city? I know there aren't that many that sell diesel.
Start on Avenue C, work your way up.
You're kidding.
That guy was a preacher? Are you saying he was in here? Him and his honey.
Real kumquat, you know what I'm saying? This her? Sure is.
What's a preacher doing with a honey like that? Any chance he used his credit card? After 7:00, it's cash only, exact change.
Dude had a $20, which meant a $4 tip for me.
Now you're sure that was him? Around here, a guy comes in with diplomatic plates, I remember.
Being a fanatic's not against the law.
His girlfriend had ammonium nitrate under her nails.
They bought the diesel fuel together.
It doesn't mean he knew what she was going to do with it.
The girl liked to ride horses.
What does she know about explosives? Hendricks spent four years blowing up things for the army.
You have a motive? Who knows? Maybe he saw a burning bush.
Look, he lied about seeing the girl.
We can get the entire congregation from his old church to swear he's a nut job.
We're talking arson and felony murder.
Pick him up.
And I saw another man and he was up to his knees in the river of fire.
And his hands were outstretched and bloody and worms came out of his mouth and from his nostrils.
All right boys and girls, church is out! And he was groaning, weeping and crying.
Daniel Hendricks, you're under arrest for the murder of Wendy Berman.
You have the right - And he said, "Help me from this suffering "for I shall see - " Mike, tell him about his right to keep his mouth shut.
" I am all and in all.
" You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.
Do you understand that? "And he laid his hand upon me "saying unto me, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last.
"' Your client lied about his contact with the deceased.
He recognized the ramifications of Miss Berman's actions.
Admittedly, it was inappropriate behavior, but- Inappropriate, Louise, is using the wrong fork for salad.
I was trying to protect the Temple.
By purchasing diesel fuel in a stolen car? Ruth told me it was her father's car.
Why wouldn't I believe her? Bottom line, the most you can hang on Mr.
Hendricks is possession of a stolen auto.
And that's assuming you can show knowledge.
He not only had knowledge, he had intent.
And what? You're gonna prove it with a Ouija board? See you in court, Ben.
Of course you convinced the grand jury, Ben.
Your voice is the only one they heard.
I presented the facts, they drew the obvious conclusion.
Well, all you can prove for sure is that this Berman girl planted the bomb.
Unless this Hendricks fellow has a pocket full of miracles she's still six feet under.
Someone had to teach her how.
Hendricks had the expertise.
I know how to scramble eggs.
Doesn't mean I made breakfast.
That is not entirely analogous, Adam.
To a jury it is.
That's why you're gonna withdraw the indictment unless I can see you connect the dots with something more than a number 2 pencil.
I doubt we're gonna get anything out of the other Acherusians.
I read the police transcripts.
They're like family.
They won't turn on Hendricks.
These people have real families, don't they? For years we made excuses.
Donny was hyperactive.
Donny had a learning disability.
Judy and I both worked.
Then you wake up one morning and realize that the cause is irrelevant and you have no energy left to deal with the effect.
When was the last time you spoke with Donald? Two years ago.
He asked me to invade the principal of the trust his grandfather left him.
Did he say what he needed the money for? For God's work, what else? When he first got involved with Hendricks, I thought, maybe it'll do some good.
The rehab programs certainly didn't work.
Well, there was no evidence of drug use in the Temple.
Hendricks' brand of religion's not the opiate of the masses, Miss Kincaid.
It's the crack cocaine.
We graduated from high school, got married, moved to the Big Apple.
We figured it'd be two years, tops before one of us hit the neon lights and the grease paint.
I guess the closest we came was Judy working the refreshment stand at Sunday in the Park with George.
Well, it pays the rent.
Sure, if it's a one room walk-up on West 46th.
I mean, we could've survived, but Joanne came along, the show closed.
And you met Daniel Hendricks.
Like manna from heaven.
But at that point in my life, a little prayer wasn't such a bad thing.
And Daniel, I don't know.
He just made sense.
So, why did you leave? One day, I was playing cards with Joanne, Go Fish and I said, "It's Daddy's turn.
" And she looked right at me, and she said, "You're not Daddy.
"Daniel is Daddy, Daniel is everybody's Daddy.
" Why didn't your wife leave with you? She couldn't.
She agreed with Joanne.
It took over a year, a court order and every penny my parents had to get my daughter out of that nuthouse.
I'm sorry I can't be of more help.
I never heard Daniel talk about blowing up buildings.
But I wouldn't put anything past him.
Hendricks preys upon the lonely and vulnerable.
They've got the limp, he supplies the crutch.
That isn't a crime.
I assume nobody heard anything about blowing up buildings? No, it's part of his scam.
Once you're on the inside, the rest of the world is off-limits.
Kids stop talking to their parents wives will have nothing to do with their husbands.
That doesn't get us into court.
There is one thing.
It's a stretch.
In the letter Wendy Berman wrote to her mother, she said: "If you try to contact me, something bad will happen.
" A former church member told me his wife couldn't leave.
We might be able to make a case for kidnapping.
Kidnapping? That requires restraint.
They are restrained.
They're brainwashed.
They are physically unable to leave the church.
Wendy Berman died while under Hendricks' control.
So we still charge him with felony murder.
Only in this case, the predicate felony isn't arson, it's kidnapping.
Kidnapping! Ben, please.
The Temple doesn't even have a lock on the front door.
Case law has been expanding the definition of the word "restraint" as used in the statute.
When they expand it to the ethereal, give me a call.
The members of Hendricks' Temple were powerless to leave.
And I can't drag myself out of Rumplemyer's without eating a hunk of cheesecake.
You gonna give the chef 7-to-21? We're serious about this, Louise.
Then we have got ourselves a real situation here, Ben.
You don't have a case and I don't have a client that can help me defend against it.
I just spent three hours with him.
Whatever criminal acts that man may have committed I assure you he is not legally responsible.
He's zealous, Louise.
He's not insane.
Billy Sunday was zealous, Ben.
This guy's Look, I am pleading him guilty by reason of mental defect.
You want to waste the taxpayers' time and money, fine.
He needs help, and I don't mean the kind dished out by a couple of 200-pound prison guards up in Attica.
Be my guest, have your own expert chat with him.
Who hasn't wished for simple answers to complex questions? It's everyone's dilemma.
Who am I? What am I supposed to do? Why am I here? Tell me you've never wondered.
Of course I have.
Did you find the answers in science? I've accepted that there are no answers.
Well, that might work for a while.
But when something hurts, when there's a sudden need, you'll want more.
And you found the answer.
I know what you're saying.
I denied it myself.
I didn't want to be what I am.
But I was chosen.
The choice was His, not mine.
He gave you a sign? My brother, Mark was once a loving human being, turned into a drug-crazed animal.
I have no choice.
That's my real burden.
What burden is that, Daniel? Don't you see evil everywhere you look? We're living in Babylon.
And he asked you to destroy it? No.
I don't hear little voices, Doctor.
I am not crazy.
Do you want me to sound like a minister? It's the fornicators, adulterers, sodomites those who defile God and worship Mammon.
Do you want me to sound like everyone else? Go outside and look around.
He's a manic-depressive.
He has delusions of both grandeur and persecution.
But he can be very subtle and convincing, even charming.
He actually believes he's the Messiah? He believes God commanded him to combat evil.
And he does this by setting off bombs? The defining moment of his life was when his older brother died of an overdose.
At first, he blamed the pushers, but then he saw a greater conspiracy the manufacturers, the importers, the moneymen.
The Colombian bank in the Calloway building.
The FBl's been after them for laundering for years.
Exactly.
Liz, can he distinguish between right and wrong? On his own terms, sure.
Everything he does is predicated on Judeo-Christian fundamentalism.
In his mind he believes that planting the bomb was an act necessary to save humanity and fulfill the higher will of God.
I'm sorry, but in my opinion Daniel Hendricks cannot be held legally responsible for his actions.
"Docket number 583906 "People v.
Daniel Thomas Hendricks.
" It says here Judge Myer has ordered your client held without bail.
I'm not wont to set aside the decision of a colleague, Miss Fryman.
This doesn't concern bail, Your Honor.
The defense wishes to withdraw its plea of not guilty and enter a plea of guilty by reason of mental defect.
Miss Kincaid? The State accepts the plea, Your Honor.
We have already arranged for Mr.
Hendricks to enter a state mental facility for treatment.
Wait a minute, nobody talked to me.
It's the best thing.
I am not insane.
I would listen to my attorney, sir.
She's no longer my attorney.
You're fired.
I'll keep my plea of not guilty, Your Honor.
Mr.
Hendricks, I assume you'll have new counsel for the trial.
I am all, and in all.
He is smarter than he is crazy.
But considering Liz's report he'd stand a better chance getting a parole board's approval than that of a panel of psychiatrists.
Somehow I don't think Hendricks thinks he needs anyone's stamp of approval.
And I have to go into court and play the head Pharisee.
Only now the defendant has much better representation.
His new attorney just filed notice of appearance.
Nicholas Burke.
I bet he had to pass the collection plate twice.
His first order of business, motion to dismiss on the grounds that the indictment violates the Acherusians' right to freedom of religion.
Religion by kidnapping, Ben? This better be good.
Your Honor, we are not attacking religion.
We are attacking Mr.
Hendricks' abuse of that religion to manipulate the vulnerable.
Ben, the Supreme Court prohibited judicial intervention into internal church matters.
This is not about internal disputes, Your Honor.
It's about manipulation.
It's about brainwashing.
Show me one religion that isn't at least one part brainwashing.
These people, once they enter the church, it's almost impossible for them to leave.
They take vows.
So do monks and nuns and priests.
Your Honor, the Constitution clearly bars excessive government entanglement in the affairs of religion.
And the Ballard case holds that courts are only barred from adjudicating the truth of religious beliefs.
Thank you for making my point, Ben.
We are not questioning what the Acherusians believe we are questioning the means and the purpose for which Mr.
Hendricks instilled those beliefs.
Well, I haven't been overruled in six months.
I'm gonna let this one go ahead.
But, Ben, if I hear one word questioning the doctrines of this church it's an immediate mistrial.
I understand, Your Honor.
And I doubt that your next judge will be as progressive as I.
Well, while you were out making up new law Nicholas Burke turned this into the Scopes trial revisited.
He looks like Clarence Darrow, we look like the Spanish inquisition.
This is not about religion, Adam.
It's about freedom of choice which became unavailable to the kids in this church.
Tough to prove.
One kid after another testified that he entered the church of his own free will.
Which he couldn't have left if he wanted to.
Religion and choice strange bedfellows for 2000 years.
Well, I never had a problem with religion and choice.
Oh, no? Let me guess.
Agnostic? Give yourself 40 years.
I've been away from the Temple for almost two years now.
Have you seen your wife in that time? Only in a courtroom.
I had to sue to get my daughter out of there.
Did you ask your wife to leave the Temple with you? Of course.
But she was scared.
She believed Daniel.
What did he say that she believed in? Those who did not accept him would drown in a river of fire.
Thank you.
In your opinion did your wife really believe there was a river made out of fire? No, it was a metaphor.
I see.
Did Mr.
Hendricks ever give you a key to the front door of the Temple? There was no key.
That's because that door was never locked, isn't that right? Yes.
So people could come and go as they pleased? That's right.
As a matter of fact, no one tried to stop you when you left.
Isn't that right? You don't understand.
These people are scared they- Of a metaphor.
That would certainly have me shaking in my boots.
Had I known she was involved with this man I surely would have done something.
How did you think that she was involved? In her letter, she quoted a lot from the Bible.
I thought it was something religious.
Is this the letter you're referring to? Yes.
Please read the highlighted portion.
Objection, Your Honor.
It's hearsay.
Your Honor, it is offered to show the declarant's then-existing state of mind.
Overruled.
You can read the letter, Mrs.
Berman.
"I am fine.
"But I fear what will happen if you try to contact me.
" Thank you.
Referring to the letter, Mrs.
Berman does your daughter say specifically who she's scared of? No.
So it could be her boyfriend, her next-door neighbor even the bogeyman for all that matter.
We get the point, Mr.
Burke.
Continue.
Who is Doctor Goodwin? He was Wendy's psychiatrist.
And Wendy started seeing him after she tried to kill herself by slitting her wrists with a kitchen knife.
Isn't that right? Her father died.
She was upset.
Do you ever think, Mrs.
Berman, that maybe Wendy never got over his death? That maybe she finally found a more efficient way to end her life? Wendy didn't know anything about bombs.
How do you know? You hadn't seen her in, what, four years? For every step forward that we take on direct, we lose three on cross.
Yeah.
Well, what'd you expect? You're crawling out on a very weak limb.
Unless there's a patsy on Burke's witness list you can plan on a very long fall.
But that's the basis of my case.
He has them under his spell, they can't turn on him.
There may be someone who will.
Joanne Rudolph, her father just won a court battle for custody.
No.
You can't expect an 8-year-old to say that she was brainwashed? No.
But a jury might see that for themselves.
When my dad left the Temple Daniel said that he would be chained and devoured by worms.
Joanne, did Daniel tell you why that would happen? That's what happens when you forsake the Lamb.
And did you believe him? I was scared.
Did you want to leave the Temple when your father left? I wanted to be safe.
What was it that you wanted to be safe from? The world will end with a great explosion and be consumed by a river of fire and only those who accept the Lamb will be saved.
Now, Joanne, who is the Lamb? Daniel.
Thank you.
Joanne did you ever hear Daniel tell anyone to plant a bomb? No.
Thank you.
Of course nobody forced me.
The Temple saved my life.
So, if you wanted to leave, that was okay? I left every day.
I worked in a grocery in the Village.
Barbara do you feel that Mr.
Hendricks brainwashed you in any way? Daniel did for us what our parents, our teachers, our doctors didn't do.
He loved us and respected us.
He taught us to be better human beings by following the ways of the Lord.
Thank you.
Miss Munn for all these things that Daniel did for you what did he get in return? Our love and respect.
What about your faith? My faith is in the word of the Lord.
As interpreted by Daniel Hendricks, right? Yes.
Now, didn't Daniel Hendricks speak to you often of the Apocalypse? Yes.
Does that scare you? God cares more for one righteous man than for a whole generation of the ungodly.
Yes.
But didn't Mr.
Hendricks say that the people who worked in the Calloway building were ungodly? He said they are faithful only to their greed.
And did you believe him? True faith is blind faith.
So that if he asked you to never contact your parents you wouldn't question him? Daniel knows what's best for me.
And if he asked you to go on a five-day fast you'd believe him, right? Of course.
And if he asked you to plant a bomb- Objection.
I can't ignore the word of the Lord, Mr.
Stone.
They are all lost souls when they come to me.
They're involved with drugs, alcohol, crime.
And what do you do with them? I teach them that they are misguided.
They shouldn't try to escape their problems by running away.
They should eliminate them by running toward.
Towards what, sir? God.
And in God they will find peace and love and eternal happiness.
Tell us about Wendy Berman, Mr.
Hendricks.
Wendy prayed with us at the Temple.
We convinced her to give up drugs and prostitution.
Did she ever tell you anything about her plan to plant a bomb in a Wall Street garage? Absolutely not.
Mr.
Hendricks if you had known of Wendy Berman's plan, what would you have done? We do not preach destruction.
Certainly, I would have tried to discourage her.
But do you have any idea why she chose that particular building to destroy? The love of money is the root of all evil.
Therefore the money lenders are at the foundation of this new Babylon.
Oh, yes.
Well, isn't this new Babylon, isn't that to be destroyed, too, sir? The great earthquake, the turning of the rivers into blood the darkening of the sun and the moon the stars falling from the sky, the plagues will visit the wicked.
I understand that, Mr.
Hendricks.
But what's supposed to happen after that? The Messiah shall appear and lead the worthy into the City of God.
And isn't that what you taught to Wendy Berman? It is the gospel.
And didn't she believe everything you preached? I took her out of the burning pit and led her into the City.
Are you supposed to do that for all of humanity? You cannot survive without me.
Oh, to the contrary, sir.
We will not only survive.
We will endure.
Is there a question here, Your Honor? Are you claiming to be the Messiah, sir? I am a man approved of God among you with miracles and wonders and signs.
Yes.
But didn't Jesus warn that, "anyone say unto you, that, Lo, here is the Christ "believe it not"? No further questions.
There was a great explosion and the person responsible for it is dead.
Wendy Berman caused her own death.
The case should be closed.
But the folks at the DA's office have a hard time sleeping when they think someone is murdered and there is no one left to put in jail.
So they racked their brains, and they came up with my client.
He kidnapped poor Wendy.
She died while under his control.
He's responsible.
But what exactly did he do? He didn't lock Wendy in a closet.
He didn't tie her to a chair.
No.
He made her give up drugs.
He made her give up crime.
My God! He actually made her read the Bible.
And that, according to Mr.
Stone, is brainwashing.
And the son of a bitch should rot in jail.
Two hundred years ago this kind of thing went on all the time.
That's why we loaded up the ships, sailed the seas and set up shop here.
Beware of the false prophet.
In the last century, he rode on a horse-drawn wagon and he sold snake oil.
And in the '70s, he carried a briefcase and a calculator and he sold real estate in Florida.
But Mr.
Hendricks, he doesn't sell snake oil or real estate.
He sells death and he sells destruction.
He doesn't call it that.
He bottles it as the Apocalypse.
And Wendy Berman bought it.
The perfect victim for a charlatan, a conman, a grifter.
And it's interesting that he chose to camouflage his scam in religion.
That's the genius of it, see? If you proclaim from the pulpit and quote from the Good Book it is an almost inescapable trap for the innocent and the vulnerable.
And Wendy Berman came to that with her need.
And Mr.
Hendricks gave her the hope.
But the hope he gave her was a ruse to get her to do what he wanted her to which was murder.
But in the end, it was Wendy Berman that was killed.
On the first count of the indictment kidnapping in the first degree how do you find? We find the defendant guilty.
On the second count, murder in the second degree how do you find? Guilty.
Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do.
Thumbtacks in his palms.
At least he didn't try walking on water.
Next, I want to see you pull out the tablecloth and leave the glasses standing.
No way you should have won this case.
I sold the jury a bit of my own snake oil.
There's no question that Hendricks was responsible for Wendy Berman's death.
Yes, but he was not entirely a conman.
He actually believed in his own deification.
Yes? Oh, my God.
Call the ME's office.
And keep the media out.
There's more in the other room.
Come on, Mike.
These are their stories.
Excuse me.
A car like this, you need to see where you're going.
You have a nice day, now.
You press the button, you take a ticket, and you pay on the way out.
Guy drives a $60,000 car, and he can't read English.
Brains got nothing to do with it.
My idiot brother drives a Vette.
It costs $40 to fill that sucker.
$20.
Thank you.
Round two is on me.
Heavy cream, three sugars.
Real sugar this time maybe a chocolate-covered- Jeez.
I could've been inside.
They don't pay me enough.
You see anybody peculiar go in there this morning? I look at the cars, not the people.
You know, you seen one Jag, you seen them all.
All right, if you remember anything, huh? It took six units and an hour to contain it.
Never got out of the garage.
We're lucky this was a Class A fire-restrictive building.
If our guy was one block south, it would still be burning.
Find the source? Char patterns, radius of structural damage My guess? Car bomb.
What's the tab? The tenants will have the next month or two off.
Some of them longer than that.
Tell me you found a photo ID.
Our guys went over every inch.
Most of the damage was centered around a spot in the northeast corner of the garage.
Hope this guy was up-to-date on his premiums.
I doubt he'll be making any claims, Mike.
So, the bomb was right here? More likely in the trunk.
Here.
Take a whiff.
Central Park South in July.
Very good.
Chemical fertilizer.
Mix it with diesel fuel, light it, you get a hell of a bang.
This dude knew what was what.
Here, take a look at this.
Condoms? We found them about 20 feet from the car.
Told you the earth moves.
Observe.
This is the same grade latex they use in condoms.
I poured some acid onto it about five minutes ago and voilà.
It's a makeshift fuse.
Giving the mad bomber time to haul ass before the acid burns through and lights the fertilizer cocktail.
Exactly.
You know, it's cheap, efficient, and you don't have to be Einstein to play.
I never did like those things.
Forensics says we should count our luckies that only one person died.
Looked like a kid.
You talk to the family? Well, if she had ID, it's barbecued or buried.
No one's claimed the body.
Well, we've got every member of the lunatic fringe claiming credit.
FBl terrorist section is checking out the calls.
What, terrorists blowing up a garage? Hey, maybe they're not that good at what they do the Calloway building's filled with heavy hitters.
Two brokerage firms, four law firms two banks, including the Banco de Cali.
Colombian.
I guess we're talking drugs.
Drugs, mob, IRA, Symbionese Liberation Army Excuse me, folks.
Forensics came up with the serial number for the car.
I ran it by the DMV.
It's a 1990 Mercedes 300D, leased to the Egyptian Embassy.
And it's being used by a gentleman named Assad Asalam.
Last known address, Radcliff Hotel.
Take some backup.
Who knows what other toys he's got in his suitcase.
You wanna stop this crap? Put a fence around the country run a couple of thousand volts through it.
So sure this guy wasn't hatched in Brooklyn? Come on, listen.
Some guy gets picked up for littering in Cairo and then his buddies hijack a plane headed out of Kennedy.
"Give me your tired, your poor.
" Yeah.
Well, that was then, this is now.
We got enough homegrown nuts as it is.
You Assad Asalam? Yes.
What is this? You'll have to get back to them later.
Okay, let's go.
I come here three times a year on business.
And what sort of business were you conducting yesterday morning? As a matter of fact, I was with three members of your State Department from 8:00 a.
m.
until noon.
Did you drive downtown? I took a cab.
Look, you have to understand, the night before, I drove back from Albany.
I was exhausted.
I parked the car on 58th Street the next morning it was gone.
The stolen car story? I told that one in high school.
Well, I went to the Wharton school and I assure you, I could come up with a better story.
Did you report the car missing? I was in a rush.
Tell me, Detective, what motive could I possibly have? Hey, I don't know.
Allah calls, I hear you people get antsy.
Take five.
Hey, what's going on? We're lighting a fire under this guy.
He's just a little cool.
That's 'cause he's innocent.
Meet Agent Garrett, FBl.
Mr.
Asalam's father is one of the top industrialists in Egypt.
He's here on an economic mission.
So he can afford first-class accommodations what does that prove? He can also afford a first-class alibi.
His story checks.
He was with Kenny, Dukes, and Fried of State all morning.
So, in other words, we're back to square one.
The fact is we're all running in circles.
Whoever's responsible has probably crossed three time zones by now.
You might have been right about homegrown nuts.
The dead girl had blonde hair, hazel eyes.
The ME's report said she also had traces of ammonium nitrate under her fingernails.
So she set the bomb? Either she dawdled on her way out of the garage or there was a leak in the condom.
Bomb went off before she had a chance to get away.
They ran her prints.
She's clean in this state.
Most girls her age are worried about their SATs.
Lennie, your kid's about 18, right? Well, you don't hear from her for a couple days, what do you do? I hear from her, that's an occasion.
I'm just thinking maybe nobody claimed the body because nobody knew she was alive.
Missing Persons.
We started with anyone That narrowed it to 15,000, give or take.
The appendicitis scar cut that in half.
The tattoo on her derrière made it manageable.
We'd be better off looking at milk cartons.
Don't kid yourself, Logan.
If we don't find them first couple of days odds are they ain't gonna get found.
But this girl is one of the lucky ones.
Lucky? She had an I-beam land on her head.
She also had loving parents who spent a lot to straighten her teeth.
We lucked out.
The dental records.
Wendy Alice Berman.
Reported missing five years ago when she was 14.
Runaway.
Thanks, Mark.
We had a storybook life.
David was a doctor, a surgeon.
He put Wendy on a horse when she was eight years old.
Every year she won her age group.
She had lots of friends.
She liked school.
Well, sorry to say, Mrs.
Berman but kids don't usually run away from perfection.
When she was 13, we sent her to equestrian camp for the summer.
On July 17, David had a heart attack jogging around the reservoir in Central Park.
He was dead before the paramedics arrived.
And the following year, Wendy spent with psychiatrists.
Then the promiscuity started and the drugs.
And she ran away, but she always came back in a few days.
One day she just didn't come back at all.
Last year I got a letter.
She said she was all right but something terrible would happen if I tried to contact her.
If we could see that letter.
I'd like it back, if that's okay.
"And the fifth angel sounded the trumpet "and I saw a star fall from heaven upon the earth "and there was given to him the key of the bottomless pit.
" Shrinks did a hell of a job.
What is it, she joined a convent? Get this.
Return address: of our Lord into the New Kingdom.
Great.
This time of day, it's gonna take us an hour to get downtown.
Since when do you have a road map to Heaven? I don't.
But I've been up and down Avenue C.
"C" for Christ.
for your son.
Thank you, God, for the delivery of your son the Savior upon this earth.
Thank you, God, for the cleansing of our system senses and the enlightenment of our souls.
We are the lambs that you have put among us.
He will lead us through the valley, and into We are in search of a peaceable kingdom, Detective.
Surely, that can't be against the law.
Well, it is, when the path to it runs through a Wall Street parking garage.
I read about the explosion.
I prayed for those who were injured.
Yeah.
Well, I'm sure you've got a seat reserved in Heaven, Donald.
But I'm not too sure about another member of your flock.
Wendy Berman.
Our congregation has a lot of members.
I couldn't possibly know them all.
Well, Miss Berman used your church as her mailing address.
The doors to our Temple are open to everyone, Det.
Briscoe.
Well, I got tired of pickup trucks and drive-ins.
So you traded them in for subways and street muggings? Well, you stay, don't you? I was born here.
And I couldn't be happier living here.
You ever watch the 11:00 news? Mike, I'm gonna get a cup of coffee.
I see a different city.
My kid should be so sweet.
Yeah, well, I'm starting to get cavities.
You make it sound like a small town.
Things will change, Det.
Logan.
There's a lot more good in man than evil.
Is that what they preach in that church of yours? You're a skeptic.
Ten years in Our Lady of Mercy will do that to you.
Sister Theresa, at Saint Luke's in Boise used to make us have silent lunch every day.
We had to wear plaid skirts below the knees.
Blue blazers.
You got it.
What about your folks, do they know you're here? Two years, my stepfather probably doesn't even know I'm gone.
Daniel Hendricks is here.
He says he's the grand poo-bah.
I formed the Acherusian Temple seven years ago.
The people that come to me are in search of something although most of them don't know what it is.
But you do? Well, we're all ultimately in search of the same thing, Detective.
What about this girl? How was her search progressing? She was extremely troubled.
So you knew her? I found Ruth maybe a year ago.
She was on the corner of 12th Street selling her body for a vial of crack.
A little prayer and some real food I thought she was back on the right path.
But she zigged when she should have zagged? She disappeared several months ago.
You called her Ruth, her mom called her Wendy.
She was trying to forget her past life.
Can you blame her? Most of these kids, they're stray kittens.
All they really need is someone to care about them someone to pay a little attention when they cry out.
Yeah.
Or a little jail time.
It's amazing that some of them have survived.
Dysfunctional families, drugs, abuse.
I won't lie to you, we don't always succeed.
But more often than not, I think we're able to turn their lives around.
There's nothing else.
He seems sincere.
Oh, come on, Lennie.
Church? That's not church.
Church is stained glass windows and nuns running around with rulers.
The gospel according to Logan.
That's right.
And rule number one is e girl I just talked to should be giving rave reviews to her boyfriend, not some Bible-banger.
You think Hendricks forced these kids? Well, didn't you have to be dragged to church? Hendricks said the Berman girl fell off the wagon a couple of months ago.
Yeah.
Well, Jim Bakker swears on a stack he didn't know where the money was going.
Listen.
How many crackheads do you know can cook up a bomb in a basement? Somebody must have helped her.
See if he'll give you a list of his congregation.
And try to be polite.
Well, nobody here's running for sainthood.
Half of them have yellows.
Narcotics, prostitution, armed robbery.
That farm girl you were bonding with spent six months at Spofford tried to off her pimp with a pair of scissors.
Two-to-one he deserved it.
Hendricks got a commendation from the city for his work with street kids.
Yeah, clean them up, feed them then fill their heads with religious garbage.
You're so sure it's garbage? Listen.
My old lady had a rosary in her left hand while she beat the crap out of me with her right.
Next time I go to a church six of my closest buddies will be carrying me.
It's going to be a lot sooner than that, Mike.
Look at this.
'82, Saint Paul's Lutheran on 23rd tossed Hendricks from their congregation.
They got a restraining order to keep him 100 yards from their front door.
I bet that wasn't just for singing off-key at choir practice.
Daniel Hendricks was young, charismatic knew the scriptures backwards and forward.
By himself he expanded our congregation by 50%.
Sounds like a guy you'd want to keep around.
He was also crazy.
And became crazier when the membership chose me as their president.
Did he ever threaten you? One Sunday, he stood on the pulpit screaming that we would all die in a lake of fire.
Yeah, well, he's got his own pulpit now.
"Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing "but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
" Yeah, but his congregation seems to think he's the real thing.
The real thing doesn't ask you to donate all the money you can steal from your parents.
I wouldn't call what he has a congregation.
I'd call it a cult.
Danny always had to be on top.
President of the class, captain of the basketball team.
Leader of the congregation.
My son played the lead in the school play, year after year.
I thought he'd become an actor.
Are you disappointed? Danny's alive, that's all I can ask for.
They found my oldest dead in the bathroom of a gas station with a needle in his arm.
One of these days maybe he'll stop trying to save the world get married, raise a family.
Any prospects? One of those kids that hangs around his church.
Pretty girl.
Ruth something or other.
Is this her? She was older, but, yeah.
When was the last time you saw her? Maybe a month ago.
She and Danny came for dinner.
He lied about the girl.
He saw her a month ago.
Maybe he can't tell time.
Maybe he just didn't want any trouble at the church.
Okay, I'll make the call.
Hey.
Fax from Washington.
Hendricks was booted out of the military on a psycho discharge.
You've got to bay at the moon before they give you a Section Eight.
Special Forces.
I'm impressed.
Yeah, well, his military training might've come in handy.
Guess what his specialty was? Demolitions.
Making a bomb out of fertilizer and diesel fuel would be a walk in the park for a Green Beret.
Diesel fuel.
The car that blew up.
It was a Mercedes 300D, right? The "D" stands for diesel.
They wanted to siphon gas from the tank.
The Egyptian said he drove to Albany and back.
That would make the tank near empty.
If we're lucky, the preacher refueled.
You know how many gas stations there are in this city? I know there aren't that many that sell diesel.
Start on Avenue C, work your way up.
You're kidding.
That guy was a preacher? Are you saying he was in here? Him and his honey.
Real kumquat, you know what I'm saying? This her? Sure is.
What's a preacher doing with a honey like that? Any chance he used his credit card? After 7:00, it's cash only, exact change.
Dude had a $20, which meant a $4 tip for me.
Now you're sure that was him? Around here, a guy comes in with diplomatic plates, I remember.
Being a fanatic's not against the law.
His girlfriend had ammonium nitrate under her nails.
They bought the diesel fuel together.
It doesn't mean he knew what she was going to do with it.
The girl liked to ride horses.
What does she know about explosives? Hendricks spent four years blowing up things for the army.
You have a motive? Who knows? Maybe he saw a burning bush.
Look, he lied about seeing the girl.
We can get the entire congregation from his old church to swear he's a nut job.
We're talking arson and felony murder.
Pick him up.
And I saw another man and he was up to his knees in the river of fire.
And his hands were outstretched and bloody and worms came out of his mouth and from his nostrils.
All right boys and girls, church is out! And he was groaning, weeping and crying.
Daniel Hendricks, you're under arrest for the murder of Wendy Berman.
You have the right - And he said, "Help me from this suffering "for I shall see - " Mike, tell him about his right to keep his mouth shut.
" I am all and in all.
" You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.
Do you understand that? "And he laid his hand upon me "saying unto me, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last.
"' Your client lied about his contact with the deceased.
He recognized the ramifications of Miss Berman's actions.
Admittedly, it was inappropriate behavior, but- Inappropriate, Louise, is using the wrong fork for salad.
I was trying to protect the Temple.
By purchasing diesel fuel in a stolen car? Ruth told me it was her father's car.
Why wouldn't I believe her? Bottom line, the most you can hang on Mr.
Hendricks is possession of a stolen auto.
And that's assuming you can show knowledge.
He not only had knowledge, he had intent.
And what? You're gonna prove it with a Ouija board? See you in court, Ben.
Of course you convinced the grand jury, Ben.
Your voice is the only one they heard.
I presented the facts, they drew the obvious conclusion.
Well, all you can prove for sure is that this Berman girl planted the bomb.
Unless this Hendricks fellow has a pocket full of miracles she's still six feet under.
Someone had to teach her how.
Hendricks had the expertise.
I know how to scramble eggs.
Doesn't mean I made breakfast.
That is not entirely analogous, Adam.
To a jury it is.
That's why you're gonna withdraw the indictment unless I can see you connect the dots with something more than a number 2 pencil.
I doubt we're gonna get anything out of the other Acherusians.
I read the police transcripts.
They're like family.
They won't turn on Hendricks.
These people have real families, don't they? For years we made excuses.
Donny was hyperactive.
Donny had a learning disability.
Judy and I both worked.
Then you wake up one morning and realize that the cause is irrelevant and you have no energy left to deal with the effect.
When was the last time you spoke with Donald? Two years ago.
He asked me to invade the principal of the trust his grandfather left him.
Did he say what he needed the money for? For God's work, what else? When he first got involved with Hendricks, I thought, maybe it'll do some good.
The rehab programs certainly didn't work.
Well, there was no evidence of drug use in the Temple.
Hendricks' brand of religion's not the opiate of the masses, Miss Kincaid.
It's the crack cocaine.
We graduated from high school, got married, moved to the Big Apple.
We figured it'd be two years, tops before one of us hit the neon lights and the grease paint.
I guess the closest we came was Judy working the refreshment stand at Sunday in the Park with George.
Well, it pays the rent.
Sure, if it's a one room walk-up on West 46th.
I mean, we could've survived, but Joanne came along, the show closed.
And you met Daniel Hendricks.
Like manna from heaven.
But at that point in my life, a little prayer wasn't such a bad thing.
And Daniel, I don't know.
He just made sense.
So, why did you leave? One day, I was playing cards with Joanne, Go Fish and I said, "It's Daddy's turn.
" And she looked right at me, and she said, "You're not Daddy.
"Daniel is Daddy, Daniel is everybody's Daddy.
" Why didn't your wife leave with you? She couldn't.
She agreed with Joanne.
It took over a year, a court order and every penny my parents had to get my daughter out of that nuthouse.
I'm sorry I can't be of more help.
I never heard Daniel talk about blowing up buildings.
But I wouldn't put anything past him.
Hendricks preys upon the lonely and vulnerable.
They've got the limp, he supplies the crutch.
That isn't a crime.
I assume nobody heard anything about blowing up buildings? No, it's part of his scam.
Once you're on the inside, the rest of the world is off-limits.
Kids stop talking to their parents wives will have nothing to do with their husbands.
That doesn't get us into court.
There is one thing.
It's a stretch.
In the letter Wendy Berman wrote to her mother, she said: "If you try to contact me, something bad will happen.
" A former church member told me his wife couldn't leave.
We might be able to make a case for kidnapping.
Kidnapping? That requires restraint.
They are restrained.
They're brainwashed.
They are physically unable to leave the church.
Wendy Berman died while under Hendricks' control.
So we still charge him with felony murder.
Only in this case, the predicate felony isn't arson, it's kidnapping.
Kidnapping! Ben, please.
The Temple doesn't even have a lock on the front door.
Case law has been expanding the definition of the word "restraint" as used in the statute.
When they expand it to the ethereal, give me a call.
The members of Hendricks' Temple were powerless to leave.
And I can't drag myself out of Rumplemyer's without eating a hunk of cheesecake.
You gonna give the chef 7-to-21? We're serious about this, Louise.
Then we have got ourselves a real situation here, Ben.
You don't have a case and I don't have a client that can help me defend against it.
I just spent three hours with him.
Whatever criminal acts that man may have committed I assure you he is not legally responsible.
He's zealous, Louise.
He's not insane.
Billy Sunday was zealous, Ben.
This guy's Look, I am pleading him guilty by reason of mental defect.
You want to waste the taxpayers' time and money, fine.
He needs help, and I don't mean the kind dished out by a couple of 200-pound prison guards up in Attica.
Be my guest, have your own expert chat with him.
Who hasn't wished for simple answers to complex questions? It's everyone's dilemma.
Who am I? What am I supposed to do? Why am I here? Tell me you've never wondered.
Of course I have.
Did you find the answers in science? I've accepted that there are no answers.
Well, that might work for a while.
But when something hurts, when there's a sudden need, you'll want more.
And you found the answer.
I know what you're saying.
I denied it myself.
I didn't want to be what I am.
But I was chosen.
The choice was His, not mine.
He gave you a sign? My brother, Mark was once a loving human being, turned into a drug-crazed animal.
I have no choice.
That's my real burden.
What burden is that, Daniel? Don't you see evil everywhere you look? We're living in Babylon.
And he asked you to destroy it? No.
I don't hear little voices, Doctor.
I am not crazy.
Do you want me to sound like a minister? It's the fornicators, adulterers, sodomites those who defile God and worship Mammon.
Do you want me to sound like everyone else? Go outside and look around.
He's a manic-depressive.
He has delusions of both grandeur and persecution.
But he can be very subtle and convincing, even charming.
He actually believes he's the Messiah? He believes God commanded him to combat evil.
And he does this by setting off bombs? The defining moment of his life was when his older brother died of an overdose.
At first, he blamed the pushers, but then he saw a greater conspiracy the manufacturers, the importers, the moneymen.
The Colombian bank in the Calloway building.
The FBl's been after them for laundering for years.
Exactly.
Liz, can he distinguish between right and wrong? On his own terms, sure.
Everything he does is predicated on Judeo-Christian fundamentalism.
In his mind he believes that planting the bomb was an act necessary to save humanity and fulfill the higher will of God.
I'm sorry, but in my opinion Daniel Hendricks cannot be held legally responsible for his actions.
"Docket number 583906 "People v.
Daniel Thomas Hendricks.
" It says here Judge Myer has ordered your client held without bail.
I'm not wont to set aside the decision of a colleague, Miss Fryman.
This doesn't concern bail, Your Honor.
The defense wishes to withdraw its plea of not guilty and enter a plea of guilty by reason of mental defect.
Miss Kincaid? The State accepts the plea, Your Honor.
We have already arranged for Mr.
Hendricks to enter a state mental facility for treatment.
Wait a minute, nobody talked to me.
It's the best thing.
I am not insane.
I would listen to my attorney, sir.
She's no longer my attorney.
You're fired.
I'll keep my plea of not guilty, Your Honor.
Mr.
Hendricks, I assume you'll have new counsel for the trial.
I am all, and in all.
He is smarter than he is crazy.
But considering Liz's report he'd stand a better chance getting a parole board's approval than that of a panel of psychiatrists.
Somehow I don't think Hendricks thinks he needs anyone's stamp of approval.
And I have to go into court and play the head Pharisee.
Only now the defendant has much better representation.
His new attorney just filed notice of appearance.
Nicholas Burke.
I bet he had to pass the collection plate twice.
His first order of business, motion to dismiss on the grounds that the indictment violates the Acherusians' right to freedom of religion.
Religion by kidnapping, Ben? This better be good.
Your Honor, we are not attacking religion.
We are attacking Mr.
Hendricks' abuse of that religion to manipulate the vulnerable.
Ben, the Supreme Court prohibited judicial intervention into internal church matters.
This is not about internal disputes, Your Honor.
It's about manipulation.
It's about brainwashing.
Show me one religion that isn't at least one part brainwashing.
These people, once they enter the church, it's almost impossible for them to leave.
They take vows.
So do monks and nuns and priests.
Your Honor, the Constitution clearly bars excessive government entanglement in the affairs of religion.
And the Ballard case holds that courts are only barred from adjudicating the truth of religious beliefs.
Thank you for making my point, Ben.
We are not questioning what the Acherusians believe we are questioning the means and the purpose for which Mr.
Hendricks instilled those beliefs.
Well, I haven't been overruled in six months.
I'm gonna let this one go ahead.
But, Ben, if I hear one word questioning the doctrines of this church it's an immediate mistrial.
I understand, Your Honor.
And I doubt that your next judge will be as progressive as I.
Well, while you were out making up new law Nicholas Burke turned this into the Scopes trial revisited.
He looks like Clarence Darrow, we look like the Spanish inquisition.
This is not about religion, Adam.
It's about freedom of choice which became unavailable to the kids in this church.
Tough to prove.
One kid after another testified that he entered the church of his own free will.
Which he couldn't have left if he wanted to.
Religion and choice strange bedfellows for 2000 years.
Well, I never had a problem with religion and choice.
Oh, no? Let me guess.
Agnostic? Give yourself 40 years.
I've been away from the Temple for almost two years now.
Have you seen your wife in that time? Only in a courtroom.
I had to sue to get my daughter out of there.
Did you ask your wife to leave the Temple with you? Of course.
But she was scared.
She believed Daniel.
What did he say that she believed in? Those who did not accept him would drown in a river of fire.
Thank you.
In your opinion did your wife really believe there was a river made out of fire? No, it was a metaphor.
I see.
Did Mr.
Hendricks ever give you a key to the front door of the Temple? There was no key.
That's because that door was never locked, isn't that right? Yes.
So people could come and go as they pleased? That's right.
As a matter of fact, no one tried to stop you when you left.
Isn't that right? You don't understand.
These people are scared they- Of a metaphor.
That would certainly have me shaking in my boots.
Had I known she was involved with this man I surely would have done something.
How did you think that she was involved? In her letter, she quoted a lot from the Bible.
I thought it was something religious.
Is this the letter you're referring to? Yes.
Please read the highlighted portion.
Objection, Your Honor.
It's hearsay.
Your Honor, it is offered to show the declarant's then-existing state of mind.
Overruled.
You can read the letter, Mrs.
Berman.
"I am fine.
"But I fear what will happen if you try to contact me.
" Thank you.
Referring to the letter, Mrs.
Berman does your daughter say specifically who she's scared of? No.
So it could be her boyfriend, her next-door neighbor even the bogeyman for all that matter.
We get the point, Mr.
Burke.
Continue.
Who is Doctor Goodwin? He was Wendy's psychiatrist.
And Wendy started seeing him after she tried to kill herself by slitting her wrists with a kitchen knife.
Isn't that right? Her father died.
She was upset.
Do you ever think, Mrs.
Berman, that maybe Wendy never got over his death? That maybe she finally found a more efficient way to end her life? Wendy didn't know anything about bombs.
How do you know? You hadn't seen her in, what, four years? For every step forward that we take on direct, we lose three on cross.
Yeah.
Well, what'd you expect? You're crawling out on a very weak limb.
Unless there's a patsy on Burke's witness list you can plan on a very long fall.
But that's the basis of my case.
He has them under his spell, they can't turn on him.
There may be someone who will.
Joanne Rudolph, her father just won a court battle for custody.
No.
You can't expect an 8-year-old to say that she was brainwashed? No.
But a jury might see that for themselves.
When my dad left the Temple Daniel said that he would be chained and devoured by worms.
Joanne, did Daniel tell you why that would happen? That's what happens when you forsake the Lamb.
And did you believe him? I was scared.
Did you want to leave the Temple when your father left? I wanted to be safe.
What was it that you wanted to be safe from? The world will end with a great explosion and be consumed by a river of fire and only those who accept the Lamb will be saved.
Now, Joanne, who is the Lamb? Daniel.
Thank you.
Joanne did you ever hear Daniel tell anyone to plant a bomb? No.
Thank you.
Of course nobody forced me.
The Temple saved my life.
So, if you wanted to leave, that was okay? I left every day.
I worked in a grocery in the Village.
Barbara do you feel that Mr.
Hendricks brainwashed you in any way? Daniel did for us what our parents, our teachers, our doctors didn't do.
He loved us and respected us.
He taught us to be better human beings by following the ways of the Lord.
Thank you.
Miss Munn for all these things that Daniel did for you what did he get in return? Our love and respect.
What about your faith? My faith is in the word of the Lord.
As interpreted by Daniel Hendricks, right? Yes.
Now, didn't Daniel Hendricks speak to you often of the Apocalypse? Yes.
Does that scare you? God cares more for one righteous man than for a whole generation of the ungodly.
Yes.
But didn't Mr.
Hendricks say that the people who worked in the Calloway building were ungodly? He said they are faithful only to their greed.
And did you believe him? True faith is blind faith.
So that if he asked you to never contact your parents you wouldn't question him? Daniel knows what's best for me.
And if he asked you to go on a five-day fast you'd believe him, right? Of course.
And if he asked you to plant a bomb- Objection.
I can't ignore the word of the Lord, Mr.
Stone.
They are all lost souls when they come to me.
They're involved with drugs, alcohol, crime.
And what do you do with them? I teach them that they are misguided.
They shouldn't try to escape their problems by running away.
They should eliminate them by running toward.
Towards what, sir? God.
And in God they will find peace and love and eternal happiness.
Tell us about Wendy Berman, Mr.
Hendricks.
Wendy prayed with us at the Temple.
We convinced her to give up drugs and prostitution.
Did she ever tell you anything about her plan to plant a bomb in a Wall Street garage? Absolutely not.
Mr.
Hendricks if you had known of Wendy Berman's plan, what would you have done? We do not preach destruction.
Certainly, I would have tried to discourage her.
But do you have any idea why she chose that particular building to destroy? The love of money is the root of all evil.
Therefore the money lenders are at the foundation of this new Babylon.
Oh, yes.
Well, isn't this new Babylon, isn't that to be destroyed, too, sir? The great earthquake, the turning of the rivers into blood the darkening of the sun and the moon the stars falling from the sky, the plagues will visit the wicked.
I understand that, Mr.
Hendricks.
But what's supposed to happen after that? The Messiah shall appear and lead the worthy into the City of God.
And isn't that what you taught to Wendy Berman? It is the gospel.
And didn't she believe everything you preached? I took her out of the burning pit and led her into the City.
Are you supposed to do that for all of humanity? You cannot survive without me.
Oh, to the contrary, sir.
We will not only survive.
We will endure.
Is there a question here, Your Honor? Are you claiming to be the Messiah, sir? I am a man approved of God among you with miracles and wonders and signs.
Yes.
But didn't Jesus warn that, "anyone say unto you, that, Lo, here is the Christ "believe it not"? No further questions.
There was a great explosion and the person responsible for it is dead.
Wendy Berman caused her own death.
The case should be closed.
But the folks at the DA's office have a hard time sleeping when they think someone is murdered and there is no one left to put in jail.
So they racked their brains, and they came up with my client.
He kidnapped poor Wendy.
She died while under his control.
He's responsible.
But what exactly did he do? He didn't lock Wendy in a closet.
He didn't tie her to a chair.
No.
He made her give up drugs.
He made her give up crime.
My God! He actually made her read the Bible.
And that, according to Mr.
Stone, is brainwashing.
And the son of a bitch should rot in jail.
Two hundred years ago this kind of thing went on all the time.
That's why we loaded up the ships, sailed the seas and set up shop here.
Beware of the false prophet.
In the last century, he rode on a horse-drawn wagon and he sold snake oil.
And in the '70s, he carried a briefcase and a calculator and he sold real estate in Florida.
But Mr.
Hendricks, he doesn't sell snake oil or real estate.
He sells death and he sells destruction.
He doesn't call it that.
He bottles it as the Apocalypse.
And Wendy Berman bought it.
The perfect victim for a charlatan, a conman, a grifter.
And it's interesting that he chose to camouflage his scam in religion.
That's the genius of it, see? If you proclaim from the pulpit and quote from the Good Book it is an almost inescapable trap for the innocent and the vulnerable.
And Wendy Berman came to that with her need.
And Mr.
Hendricks gave her the hope.
But the hope he gave her was a ruse to get her to do what he wanted her to which was murder.
But in the end, it was Wendy Berman that was killed.
On the first count of the indictment kidnapping in the first degree how do you find? We find the defendant guilty.
On the second count, murder in the second degree how do you find? Guilty.
Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do.
Thumbtacks in his palms.
At least he didn't try walking on water.
Next, I want to see you pull out the tablecloth and leave the glasses standing.
No way you should have won this case.
I sold the jury a bit of my own snake oil.
There's no question that Hendricks was responsible for Wendy Berman's death.
Yes, but he was not entirely a conman.
He actually believed in his own deification.
Yes? Oh, my God.
Call the ME's office.
And keep the media out.
There's more in the other room.
Come on, Mike.