Law & Order (1990) s05e10 Episode Script
House Counsel
NARRATOR: 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.
Where did you find that trey, in your Christmas stocking? If I'm not mistaken, I hit four tonight out of seven.
Would've been perfect if you'd have kept your hands out of my face.
Hey, I didn't hear any whistles blowing.
Yeah, well, the ref's too busy watching girls' volleyball now.
You wanna get a pizza? Oh, two overtimes? My wife's gonna kill me.
I better let her know I'm alive, huh? Next week.
Yeah.
Dear? Hi.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I know, I know.
Well, what do you feel like? (GUN FIRING) Pizza's good.
What? Nothing.
No.
Hey, look, I'll take a taxicab home, okay? Yeah.
Bye.
MAN: Someone has been shot.
Call 911.
That's right, Dave Lempert.
I-E-M-P-E-R-T, I think.
(SIRENS WAILING) Are you sure you didn't see anything? No, I was inside, like I told the other guy.
We played some ball, I called my wife.
We played full-court every week the last year.
Yeah? Did you know his next of kin? No, we never really talked about anything.
All I know is he lived by himself.
A numbers cruncher for the Park Department.
I can't believe this.
He asked me to get a pizza.
Look, this is my card.
If you do remember anything else, give me a buzz, okay? Thank you.
And take it easy.
(WOMAN CHATTERING ON POLICE RADIO) Wallet's gone.
Three .
22 shell casings next to the body and three holes in the chest.
There's a time-tested method of assuring eternal silence.
Detectives.
Deidre's got something for you.
There was this black car that was double-parked over there.
Client of yours? A Lincoln? Yeah, I wish.
I knocked on the tinted window, and the jerk behind the wheel, I mean, he wouldn't even give me a roll down.
Obviously he didn't know what he was missing.
Yeah, well, you got that right.
A couple of minutes later, I'm crossing the street, trying to close on a deal, and I hear these three shots, and I see some guy jumping into the back seat.
Did you see his face? No, I saw him from behind.
He was built regular, like a thousand other guys I know, but I got part of the plate.
It's New York, MPV 1.
Hey, good work, Deidre.
You know, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a call from the Mayor.
Yeah, well, he's paying like everybody else.
Get her a cup of coffee or something.
Another statistic to add to the pile.
I don't know why anybody still lives here.
Hey, where else can you get mugged by a guy in a $40,000 car? I don't know, three pops to the chest? You want to grab a guy's wallet, one would've done the job.
Maybe our guy got antsy.
Or maybe it wasn't random.
The hooker said the car was parked outside the gym.
Maybe they waited for Lempert.
Nailed your vehicle.
Four-door black Town Car.
New York, 9PV 143.
Only Lincoln even close.
Registered to? Dr.
Harry Fine, You're a little late, Detectives.
My husband died about six months ago of a heart attack on the 16th hole.
Well, there's still a car registered in your husband's name.
Well, I'm sorry.
The DMV wasn't one of my bigger priorities.
What's this all about, anyway? Well, your car has been identified as the getaway vehicle in a homicide.
Oh, there must be a mistake.
Harry was the only one that ever drove that car.
Your husband died six months ago, and no one's used that car since? No.
I don't like to go out of town.
It's always easier to hail a cab.
Listen, we park the car in the garage in the basement.
Have a look if you like.
Mrs.
Fine told us she never drives it.
Well, the only time she ever comes by is the first of the month to drop off the check.
This baby hasn't moved an inch since the husband died.
The Harry Fine Memorial Town Car.
Hey, check it out.
Looks like somebody helped themselves to a fake ID.
That plate was there yesterday when I washed it.
I would've seen.
I'm gonna call CSU and have them dust it for prints.
You got a phone here? Yeah, telephone's over there.
Now, are these all monthlies? Most.
The rest are first come and first serve.
Okay.
You got receipts on them? Tickets.
Yesterday maybe 20, 30.
They're in the office.
What'd you guys do? Simoniz the Lincoln before you called us down here? So, you're saying you got nothing, right? Exterior's clean as a baby's bottom.
But your parking stubs, on the other hand, you got a Arnold Black, 65.
Twenty-seven unpaid parking tickets.
Doesn't sound like much of a shooter.
Behind door number two, John Joseph Furini.
Last 10 years, up three times on aggravated assault.
Twice for resisting arrest, once for voluntary manslaughter.
So, what? Nothing stuck? Seems to run in the family.
What, you got his whole genealogy in there? As a matter of fact, I do.
Furini's a soldier in the Dosso crime family.
Oh, wonderful.
One of Vinny's many little nephews.
(MACHINERY BEEPING) I've been breaking my back lugging ice for my old man's business since high school.
Finally, I treat myself to a company car.
Business must be good, you getting a Lincoln.
Well, a Caddy was a couple of bucks less, but you can't beat the Town Car for sophistication.
You're a regular David Niven.
I'm supposed to know this guy? How about David Lempert? You know him? You know, I never was too good at Trivial Pursuit.
David Lempert got killed last night by somebody who jumped into a black Town Car just like yours.
All of a sudden I got the only Lincoln in New York? Come on, let's cut the crap, huh, Johnny? The guy's dead.
Your car was at the scene.
Oh, you can prove that? All right, then riddle me this, what's a downtown guy like yourself doing in an East 78th Street parking garage in the middle of the afternoon? Mrs.
Sanet on 79th Street? She's having a bar mitzvah.
I drive in to supervise the job.
Ain't no spots on the street, so I pull into some lot.
What, you don't believe me? Here, I'll give you her number.
Call her up.
Where'd you park this boat? It's right over there.
Same plate as the front.
Well, Furini goes through the trouble to switch the plates, he's not gonna forget to switch them back.
He didn't look like an M.
l.
T.
grad to me.
Hey, Mike, we don't have a search warrant.
I'm just wondering if it's worth our time to even get one.
You know what bothers me? What would a mope like Furini have against some bean counter like Lempert in the first place? Dave was a lifer.
Started here right out of grad school before we got computers.
What exactly did he do? Well, he worked on budgets, financial projections, stuff like that.
Was he any good at it? Detective, this is a city job.
You get the same cost-of-living increase if you're good or bad.
Dave was competent.
Did he ever mention a guy named John Furini? Is he in accounting? I doubt it.
So, tell me, what skeletons did Dave have in his closet? Actually, that's what we're here to ask you.
Did he gamble? Drink? Nothing I know about.
Girlfriend? No, his daughter Emily.
She's away at some fancy school.
We didn't even know he was married.
He wasn't.
His wife divorced him about three years ago.
Whoever did it must be disappointed.
Excuse me? Picked the wrong guy to mug.
David never carried more than $10 in his wallet.
Hell, he never had more than $10.
Well, you never get rich working for the city.
Believe me, I know.
Did he fall behind in his payments? He did his best.
That's very understanding of you.
Look, we were married for 21 years.
It was great for one, good for two, maybe C+ for the rest.
A lot of fighting? Wait a minute.
Do you think No, I'm not thinking anything, but I gotta ask.
I wish we fought.
At least then he might have shown some passion.
David went to work.
He came home.
The only two things he got excited about were his weekly basketball and our daughter Emily.
Every nickel he made went into her education.
State college wasn't good enough.
Private school.
Wow, that's gotta be about 20 grand per, huh? If you don't plan on eating anything.
Did he have any outside sources of income? Like I said, every penny went to Em.
If he had anything else, she wouldn't be driving an '83 Buick.
All her classmates drive BMWs.
Your husband My ex-husband.
Ex-husband.
Did he ever mention a John Furini? But then again, we hadn't talked in over a year.
Since Emily's So, what's it all about, Lennie? Would you bust your butt to buy your kid a Bimmer? Nothing wrong with wanting the best for your daughter.
Right.
I like those pair of Converses you bought Julia.
Well, they're the best, right? All I know is, no German cars for my kid.
Your kid? What, Rollerblades? We're talking Vette, baby.
Listen, Lempert needs a few extra bucks.
You think maybe Furini was his banker? Yeah, at 50% interest.
Let's go see how Lempert lived.
Well, he certainly wasn't stealing from the mob.
He's got 230 bucks in his checking account.
Yeah, you work for the city for 20 years.
Makes you think.
Whoa, three gray suits.
A wild and crazy guy.
LOGAN: I don't think he spent money on personal grooming, either.
Look at this.
He must have 20 bottles of shampoo from the Arcady Hotel downtown.
So? I got a bathrobe from Grossinger's.
A guy who steals shampoo? He's gonna spend money on a hotel that's a subway ride away? (PHONE RINGING) Sure, I remember him.
Stayed with us a little over three months last summer.
Yeah? Well, no offense, but this doesn't exactly look like a vacation spot.
No offense taken.
And he wasn't on a vacation, Detective.
He was a guest of the state.
Jury duty.
This is where they sequestered him? Twelve people.
Three months, three meals a day.
Great for business, and the press didn't hurt, either.
Press, huh? Must've been some big shot on trial.
They don't get much bigger.
Vincent Dosso, the godfather.
They tried him for knocking off that labor guy, O'Malley.
Small world.
Lempert sits on Dosso's trial.
One of Dosso's henchmen is at the scene.
That's not just a coincidence.
The jury hung, Mike.
There was no retrial.
Why would they wanna kill him? I'm thinking Lempert hung the jury.
The guy worked at a city computer all day.
He's not the usual target for a mob hit.
I still haven't heard a reason for making him dead.
Lempert was bought off.
Maybe he wanted more.
Or maybe his existence gave Dosso agita.
I say we talk to those other jurors.
What are you gonna do, look up "anonymous juror" in the yellow pages? They weren't anonymous to everybody.
Are you nuts? They'd can me before breakfast.
The trial's been over for six months.
Who's it gonna hurt? Judge Berman's got rules.
Hey, so does my Lieutenant.
That doesn't stop me from taking a three-hour lunch break every now and then.
(SIGHING) Come on, Gibbons.
We're all working stiffs.
We're all on the same side here.
I'll deny everything.
So will we.
One name, okay? No TV, radio, newspapers or magazines.
Wow, three months is a long time.
It must have been hell.
Tell me about it.
No phone calls unless a court officer stood next to me.
We couldn't even leave our rooms for ice.
Convicted felons get more privileges.
Do you remember a Dave Lempert? Remember him? We would have been out of there in a week if it wasn't for him.
Are you saying he was the only holdout? Eleven people tell me the sky is blue, I start to believe them.
I tell you what.
"Reasonable doubt" are two words I never wanna hear again.
You ever get the feeling his mind had already been made up in advance? If you're asking was he bought off, I don't see how.
Court officers were all over us like flies on I get your point.
My opinion? Lempert was just a pain in the ass.
Any time you get a defendant up on a murder charge, juror safety and/or potential tampering become a major concern.
Well, was the danger more than hypothetical in Dosso's case? Well, we assumed this guy was capable of anything, so we cranked up security to the max.
Had the guys on OT, the works.
We even brought in the FBI's food taster on a consult.
Maybe your ship wasn't as airtight as you thought.
I've been doing this 12 years, Detective.
I haven't lost a juror yet.
That you know about.
Let me ask you this.
Did anybody contact David Lempert? Let's see.
No visitors, no medical requests, no special foods.
LOGAN: What about phone calls? Every outgoing phone call is monitored by one of my men.
Looks like he dialed a daughter in Pennsylvania once a week.
BRISCOE: What about incoming calls? Lempert had three.
All from his wife, Priscilla.
Be back.
Now, didn't she say she hadn't spoken to him in over a year? Maybe she got her dates mixed up.
You remember the last time you spoke to your ex, Lennie? July 17th, 1994, 2:35 p.
m.
I gotta be honest with you, Mrs.
Lempert.
Nothing bothers me more than being lied to.
I didn't lie.
I never called David.
Oh, so, now it's the court officer's logbook that lied? Three separate times? If you're not honest with us, Mrs.
Lempert, we can't help you.
Please, Detective, I'm not naive.
You're not here to help me.
But we can arrest you for obstructing justice.
Go ahead.
Think about it, Mrs.
Lempert.
Every time you go out to buy groceries, every time you go down to the corner to get a paper, how safe are you gonna feel? And you're going to protect me? LOGAN: They killed your ex.
They know you know it.
Do you really think they're going to send you a sympathy card and forget about it? And then they're gonna come after anybody you might have told.
Like your daughter.
After the divorce, money grew tight.
David was having trouble making Emily's college payments.
We were talking about transferring her from Swarthmore to SUNY.
And that was a big deal? To David it was.
And then somebody came along to solve all your problems.
He never told me his name.
I never asked.
He showed up here one night when David was at the jury.
He knew everything about us.
And you didn't get just a little bit suspicious? I was scared.
All I had to do was call David at the hotel and then leave the apartment while they spoke.
After the trial, David paid Swarthmore in full.
I never asked where he got it.
Is that the mystery man? All we've got is Jury Tampering in the Second Degree.
A misdemeanor.
You'd think bribing a juror would carry a little bit more than a slap on the wrist.
Well, you're assuming somebody up in Albany actually thinks for a living.
Poor sap.
He gets himself killed for just trying to keep his kid in school.
He took money to throw a case.
He's no saint, Lennie.
Hey, he was being squeezed from all sides.
He thought he'd found a way out.
Well, maybe as part of his sentence, Furini will finish paying the girl's tuition.
Pick him up.
What, on a misdemeanor? Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't know you were too busy.
Look, Furini's not going anywhere.
We take Lempert's wife's statement to a judge, we could get a wiretap.
Maybe we could get him on the murder.
Shortest distance between two points? Talk to OCCB.
They've been bugging Dosso's social club ever since the mistrial.
MAN 1: You got the shirt? MAN 2: Yeah, I got the shirt.
You sure you got the shirt? Yeah, I got the shirt.
You got the bullets for the shirt? Not exactly brain surgeons.
Well, they're smart enough to know you're eavesdropping.
You got anything with Furini? Yeah, I taped this yesterday.
LOGAN: Yes, the Dandy Don.
Shows up every morning at 8:00.
He and Furini have been very tight since the trial.
You got any conversations between them about a guy named Lempert? We've got bugs and phone taps on Dosso, Furini and everybody else they eat pasta with.
These are the ones we transcribed already.
They're labeled by who was in the room or who made the call.
And these are tapes we haven't even gotten to yet.
Well, my boss will give you a 49 for the dupes, okay? DOSSO: Furini's a moron.
We've been picking his pocket since '85, and the son of a bitch is dumb enough to thank us for it.
Sounds like my family.
We're wasting our time.
These guys know OCCB's listening in.
They're not gonna say anything useful.
Well, if the bad guys didn't screw up every once in a while, the jails would be empty.
Listen to this, from a phone call between Dosso and Furini the day after Lempert was popped.
Furini, "Mr.
Parks is all taken care of, Vin.
" "Bada-bing, bada-bang, bada-boom.
" Dosso, "Good job, John.
" Mr.
Parks? Well, Lempert worked for the Parks Department.
It's gotta be, right? Find the tape.
Pick them both up.
We're here to see Vincent Dosso.
Mr.
Dosso isn't taking any visitors tonight.
He'll make an exception for us.
Vincent Dosso, John Furini, you're under arrest for the murder of David Lempert.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to an attorney.
If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you.
You have the right to make one You know, Jack, we would have been more comfortable in my office.
We would have been more comfortable in Aruba.
But I'm sure neither one of us could afford the time.
Looks more like you couldn't afford the airfare.
I work for the government, Paul.
No one would have ever known.
See? That's why he graduated number eight in the class.
But like they say, the A students end up working for the C students.
Or in this case, being humiliated by them.
We have your client and Mr.
Furini on tape.
Let me guess.
It's another A student? Yeah, but you don't have to be Law Review to add one and one.
FURINI: Mr.
Parks is all taken care of, Vin.
Bada-bing, bada-bang, bada-boom.
DOSSO: Good job, John.
I think the meaning is obvious.
Sure, it is.
They were watching Miss America reruns.
Not to be condescending, Jack, but you gotta know your case is gonna go the way of all flesh.
Why, because you're the lead counsel for the defense? Because that tape will never be heard in the courtroom.
Motion to suppress.
I believe Mr.
Murphy has a similar motion on Mr.
Furini's behalf.
See you in chambers.
Oh, I almost forgot.
Anna sends her love.
You're friends with him? Great point guard.
We beat the med school three years running.
Did he pay off the ref? He's the defense counsel, Claire, not the defendant.
I just wanna make sure we're all on the same page here.
This is America, right? We do still have a constitution and at least four amendments thereto? The conversation in question was obtained by OCCB through a valid warrant.
Yes, but valid against whom? The warrant Mr.
McCoy refers to was for a tap on Mr.
Furini's telephone.
Its specific intent was to implicate Mr.
Furini in a crime.
And if I'm not mistaken, that's exactly what it's done.
Mr.
Murphy will address that shortly, Your Honor.
At the moment, my concern is with Mr.
Dosso.
Takes two to have a telephone conversation.
And if you intend to offer that conversation as evidence against the party of the second part, his name should have been included in the warrant.
That's absurd.
Let's pretend I have a warrant to search your apartment for drugs.
I legally enter, only to discover that Pablo Escobar is about to sell you a pound of cocaine.
You're saying I can't arrest him? Of course not.
Because Mr.
Escobar didn't have an expectation of privacy in my apartment.
Exactly, and Mr.
Dosso didn't have an expectation of anything in Mr.
Furini's telephone.
But he did in the telephone used to call Mr.
Furini.
The OCCB had a separate warrant for Mr.
Dosso's telephone.
KOPELL: His office phone.
My client placed the call in question from a pay phone in Miami Beach.
He certainly had expectation of privacy therein.
Your Honor, to admit this evidence against my client would sound the death knell for any and all Fourth Amendment protection.
(LAUGHS) That's very eloquent, Mr.
Kopell.
You can't possibly I wear the robes, Mr.
McCoy.
I can do anything I like.
I like to keep the state out of our bedrooms and our churches and our telephones.
Your Honor, the warrant in this case was issued specifically to gather evidence relating to the murder of a Mr.
John O'Malley.
It's a totally unrelated crime.
The conversation at issue is far beyond the scope of this warrant.
JACK: This is plain view, Your Honor.
Harris v.
U.
S.
But, Judge Mr.
Murphy, I may be open-minded, but I'm not vacant.
Now, the tape is admissible against Mr.
Furini, and it's inadmissible against Mr.
Dosso.
Still flinching when you get near the boards, huh, Jack? I've still got my outside shot.
How many times do I have to tell you, you cannot win without an inside game.
I'll send my messenger for the notice of dismissal.
Expectation of privacy.
He earned his $600 an hour.
He made a good argument in front of the right judge.
This certainly isn't the work of a C student.
Paul only got C's because he spent more time around a courtroom than a classroom.
Poverty Law Group, Abused Women Advocacy Coalition.
He's come a long way.
It's about the battle, Claire, not the prize.
He blindsided a half-witted judge on behalf of the head of a mob family.
You're acting like it was some kind of noble cause.
It's part of the game.
Excuse me? Last I looked, it was about justice.
That's merely a by-product.
Boy Scouts seek it, effective prosecutors do their best to avoid thinking about it.
And what do they think about? Winning, period.
I'm sorry, I don't put in 15 hours a day just so I can flex my muscles.
Well, you better start, Claire, or you'll wind up talking to yourself in elevators.
Now, Adam, we've got the wiretap on Furini, his fingerprints at the garage, and an ID by Lempert's wife.
If we're lucky, he won't want to spend the rest of his life in prison.
He gives us Dosso.
Man one with a recommendation.
(GATE BUZZING) FURINI: You're wasting your time.
JACK: You're not being loyal.
You're being stupid.
Look around.
This is as good as it's gonna get.
Do you actually think Dosso would return the loyalty? JACK: Think about it, Mr.
Furini.
Dosso had one of the best lawyers in the city, and you had Oliver Wendell Blockhead here.
Hey.
Dosso and Kopell gave us a bone, and it's you, sir.
MURPHY: That's enough.
We're done talking.
Fine, no more talking.
Let's just listen.
DOSSO: Furini's a moron.
We've been picking his pocket since '85, and the son of a bitch is dumb enough to thank us for it.
I ain't gonna testify against Vin.
Maybe you could help us without taking the stand.
I wouldn't advise that, John.
You.
What have you got? It depends what you give.
John, if anybody finds out We're both dead.
Above the club, there's an apartment.
Some old bag lives there.
Dosso uses it when she's out.
That should be enough for an electronic surveillance warrant.
John's name doesn't appear anywhere.
Congratulations, Mr.
Furini.
You've just become an anonymous informant.
What'd I miss? A couple of bottles of Chianti and the old lady's itinerary.
And another fabulous lunch, I see.
Oh, we still have some fried rice left.
Thanks, anyway.
Hey, Logan, you might want to hear this.
DOSSO: Hey, what can I tell you? Pauly's the best.
You want a dismissal, get yourself a Jew.
MAN: What about Lempert's wife? She knows what I did to hubby.
He stays dead, she's no problem.
Send her some flowers or something.
Somebody cancel the subscription to Sporting News.
(BOTH LAUGHING) Hey, Vinny, you got that thing at 5:00.
Your car's downstairs.
Sounds good to me.
Pick him up as soon as he hits the street.
(HORNS HONKING) Sorry to ruin your plans.
Oh, don't you guys ever get tired? Of that face? Never.
Vincent Dosso, you're under arrest for the murder of David Lempert.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used "Docket Number 545362.
" "People v.
Vincent Dosso.
" "Charge is Murder in the Second Degree.
" How do you plead? Not guilty, Your Honor.
JUDGE WELCH: Miss Kincaid? Because of the nature of the charges and Mr.
Dosso's connection to organized KOPELL: Plumbing.
Mr.
Dosso is a small businessman, Your Honor.
And I had a leaky faucet that I'm still paying off two years later.
Bail is set at $500,000.
Second bite at a bad apple's just as sour.
There are no constitutional violations this time.
Maybe not, but I'm sure you've heard of attorney-client privilege.
See you in chambers.
MAN: We sent her for a week to Atlantic City.
DOSSO: You make sure she's flush.
KOPELL: All taken care of, Vin.
I did it myself.
That last voice, it's mine.
Because you say it is? No, because Dr.
Peter Frank of M.
l.
T.
says it is, as he swears to in this affidavit, signed following electronic voice analysis.
And as Mr.
Dosso is my longstanding client, this entire conversation is privileged, and therefore inadmissible.
The first voice on that tape wasn't yours.
Privilege is broken when a third party is present.
Unless the third party is also a client.
The voice Ms.
Kincaid refers to is that of Al Gennaro, who I have successfully represented several times over the years.
The discussion of a criminal enterprise is not privileged, Your Honor.
That's correct, if it's an on-going or future enterprise.
Unfortunately, it appears the defendant was discussing past crimes.
I'm going to have to exclude the tape.
Make a motion, Mr.
Kopell.
As there is no other evidence against my client? No? I move for a dismissal.
I object, Your Honor.
So do I, but I have no choice.
Your friend plays the game by a different set of rules.
He and I are not playing the same game anymore, Claire.
Wait a minute, is that the sound of an ego being deflated? First day of law school.
"What's the cornerstone of the adversarial process?" I don't need the Socratic attitude.
Just answer the question, Claire.
Two independent counsel, arguing points of fact and points of law before an impartial judge and jury.
Right.
The operative word being "independent.
" Paul crossed the line.
He listened to Dosso brag about his exploits.
He didn't do anything illegal.
You heard the tape.
Paul paid the old lady to leave town so they could use her apartment.
So what? There's no crime there, Jack.
He facilitated the operation of a criminal enterprise.
Well, he does that every time he steps into court for Dosso.
Referring to Lempert, Dosso says, "And somebody cancel the subscription to Sporting News.
" How do you suppose Dosso knew Lempert's reading habits? Maybe they had cappuccino together.
A bribed juror? No way.
Dosso wouldn't have gotten within a mile of him.
There were 12 people on that jury, Claire.
If Dosso had picked one who happened to have a sudden bout of honesty, there would have been another count on the indictment.
No, I suspect Dosso knew exactly what he was doing when he approached Lempert.
Lempert was desperate for the money.
He lived alone.
The juror questionnaires.
How much money do you make? How much do you owe? How many dependents do you have? What's your biggest single expense? Kopell framed questions that would make it easier to pick the juror most likely to take a bribe.
Even if you're right, the questionnaires were anonymous.
Not to the county clerks, they weren't.
I worked for Judge Berman for eight years.
Nobody ever accused me of any wrongdoing.
JACK: Well, we're accusing you, Mark.
Yeah? Well, I didn't do nothing.
You worked for the State.
You took money.
That's receiving a bribe.
All those years in a courtroom, you have to know it's better to talk to us now.
We're on the same side, right? Why are you doing this to me? You wanna know why? Because I bust my butt to bring down scum like Dosso, then some whore in a uniform sandbags me for a couple of bucks.
If you took over $10,000, it's a C felony.
That's three years in Attica.
He only gave me $5,000.
Who did, Mark? Some gumba.
Said he worked for Dosso.
Twenty-five years ago, Paul stayed up till 3:00 the night before an exam to teach me the Rule Against Perpetuities.
Smart has nothing to do with honest.
What are you gonna do? How does burning at the stake sound? Well, even if we could implicate Kopell, it's only Bribery Three, an E felony.
No.
It's an A felony.
Paul picked David Lempert's name out of the pile.
It's the first step in the conspiracy to commit murder.
You don't think Kopell actually knew they were going to kill Lempert.
We wanna get Dosso, right? Paul can give him to us.
Mrs.
Kopell? Yes? Is your husband in? We have people here.
This will only take a minute.
Can't this wait? No, it can't.
Paul Kopell, you're under arrest for conspiracy to murder David Lempert.
Drink up.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
Do you understand that? You have the right to an attorney.
If you cannot afford one, one will be provided to you free of charge.
You son of a bitch.
Now, now, calm down.
You could have called, Jack.
You have my number.
I'm sorry.
It fell out of my Rolodex.
The police, Jack? In our home, terrorizing us? Yes.
I wanted him to be scared.
He should be scared.
Well, it isn't working.
Although you did get to the women and children, if that makes you happy.
Happy? That's right, I'm thrilled to discover that my friend of 25 years is a felon.
Oh, give me a break! Let's assume Dosso bribed the clerk.
What does that have to do with me? No, you give me a break, Paul.
We both know you're smarter than that.
This is really getting your juices going, isn't it, Jack? Anna, if you can't let me proceed here, you better step outside.
You know us.
You know our children.
You can put an end to this right now, Paul.
Give me Dosso.
And get killed? Anna, stop it! Look, Jack, you can't even carry my briefcase.
You never could.
I'll tell you what.
Tomorrow I'm gonna get this crap dismissed, and the next day I'm gonna hit you with a civil suit so big your great-grandchildren will be answering motions.
Even if this nonsense about jury questionnaires is true, the state still cannot produce any evidence whatsoever that implicates me in any way to the murder.
Basic conspiracy theory, Your Honor.
The left hand doesn't have to know what the right hand is doing, so long as they share a common criminal purpose.
The purpose in this case being to rig the trial of Vincent Dosso and destroy the evidence thereof, I.
e.
, murdering David Lempert.
Only there is no proof that Mr.
Dosso is connected in any way to said murder.
We have him confessing to it on tape.
A tape which Judge Gance declared inadmissible because of attorney-client privilege.
Your Honor, if you would read the order labeled Exhibit Three to my brief? I read it, Mr.
Kopell.
Judge Gance's decision seems clear, Mr.
McCoy.
Nobody's trying to violate privilege, Your Honor.
The state's position is that due to Mr.
Kopell's total immersion in Vincent Dosso's criminal activities, he stopped being an attorney and became a de facto participant thereof.
That is ridiculous.
It's also very creative.
Mr.
McCoy's creativity notwithstanding, it's well settled that the privilege belongs to the client.
Mr.
Dosso believed he was conversing in the presence of his attorney.
That's all that matters.
That's correct as far as Mr.
Dosso.
The privilege is intended to promote free dialogue between the client and his legal representative.
It goes both ways.
Not if you weren't functioning as a legal representative, it doesn't.
Same time, same place next week, I'll listen to evidence relating to Mr.
Kopell's true relationship to Mr.
Dosso's business.
(GAVEL BANGS) So, what do we do, look at Kopell's time sheets? I doubt he listed, "Six hours, criminal activities.
" I don't need your sarcasm right now, Claire.
(SIGHING) Look, Jack, this whole thing is getting out of hand.
Do you wanna put Dosso in prison? Of course, I do.
Well, I'm fresh out of ideas.
This is the only way I can see of doing it.
Déjà vu, no? We've been through this.
No way I testify against Dosso.
I'm not asking you to, Mr.
Furini.
I wanna know about his lawyer.
You're kidding, right? Are you sure you don't want a lawyer? Lawyers.
You cut my sentence.
Seven years.
Five.
Fine.
Like I said, you get nothing from me on Dosso.
And another thing, I get immunity for anything I might say of a self-incriminating nature.
FURINI: Kopell was always there.
He was in the room whenever we talked about anything.
JACK: What kind of thing did you talk about? Things.
You know, business.
What kind of business, sir? Our deal stands, right? A lot of times I talked about how I was gonna pop someone.
Could you please be more specific? Like that mick, the labor guy, O'Malley.
Mr.
Kopell was in the room when you decided to kill John O'Malley? That's right.
And Lloyd Lipman and Tomaso Bucci.
Please limit your responses to the case of the deceased juror, David Lempert.
Yeah, I offed him, too.
That's why I'm presently in the can.
And Mr.
Kopell was in the room with you when you decided to kill Mr.
Lempert? He was eating a cannoli.
Was anyone else in the room, Mr.
Furini? Nice try, Counselor.
I don't recall.
Your Honor, this is ridiculous.
The man cut a deal with the state.
He's obviously going to say whatever they want to hear.
And look at his track record.
Can you really rely on his credibility? It's your own credibility I'd start worrying about, Mr.
Kopell.
The witness has established to my satisfaction that you functioned in something more than a legal capacity.
As such, the material in question is not privileged.
My clerk will inform you as to commencement of trial.
What is this, Bernie's Bargain Basement? Today's special, cop to four murders, get only five years.
When I gave Furini immunity, I had no idea.
No idea, because the blood was rushing downstream from your head and is settling somewhere south of the border.
I'm trying to get Dosso, Adam.
You're no closer than you were three months ago.
Paul will cut a deal.
And what if he doesn't? If Paul knew I was here He doesn't actually intend to go through with the trial? You've known him for 25 years.
What do you think? I think he's smart enough to realize Get off it, Jack.
What makes him such a good lawyer isn't his brains or his talent.
It's that he refuses to be intimidated by anyone.
You know he'd never kill someone.
Furini implicated him.
Paul only listened to them, for God's sake.
He helped them to bribe a juror.
You can't prove that.
(SCOFFS) Why am I wasting my breath? I've been watching the two of you arm wrestle for a quarter of a century.
This isn't personal, Anna.
Oh, no? Think about it.
Would you have pushed this hard if wasn't Paul at the other table? Would you really have gone that extra mile to beat some Joe Schmo defense attorney? All right, maybe Paul wanted to win too much.
But don't you see? You're doing the same damn thing.
Win at all costs.
And you know what? We're all gonna lose.
I told you, Jack, I'm not gonna roll on Dosso.
He's a murderer He's my client.
I don't judge him.
You don't have to climb into bed with him, either.
That's where you're wrong.
I gotta think like he thinks, do as he does.
I gotta become him.
It's the only way I can go into a courtroom and fight for him with any passion at all.
It's what makes this system work, Jack.
A criminal defense lawyer who says to his client, "I'll meet you, but only during office hours.
"I'll talk with you, but I won't have Christmas dinner at your house.
"I'll defend you, "but I won't go to your grandson's christening," is not doing his job.
He's giving the prosecution an edge.
That's your only agenda? The best interest of the client? Hell, no.
I hang out with Dosso because I love it.
It elevates me.
I climbed Macho Mountain, Jack, and it feels damn good.
Is it really worth throwing your life away? You're assuming you're going to win this trial, Ms.
Kincaid? I'm offering you a way out, Paul.
Maybe you should listen to him.
Don't you see? He called this meeting.
It means his case is weak.
This isn't a game of chicken.
Oh, yes, it is, and you just blinked.
I'll see you at trial.
The People of the State of New York v.
Paul Kopell.
Twenty million people versus one man.
Think of the enormity of it.
The full extent of the government's resources and manpower against me.
And what heinous crime did I commit? I defended my client.
Yes, I constantly hear the snide remarks about the shark getting his client off on a technicality.
But hidden in those remarks is a sigh of relief, a silent thank you.
You may hate me, but you sleep better because of me.
You see, when a defense lawyer steps into a courtroom and does everything in his power to poke holes in the prosecutor's case and still fails, the chance that an innocent man will be convicted is nil.
We have an adversarial system.
I'm the adversary, but you cannot punish me for it.
Thank you.
Defense attorneys distort the facts.
They twist evidence.
They will not only go to the mat for their clients, they will take that mat and toss it out the window as far as they can.
They are not bound by the truth.
They are bound to obfuscate it if it serves to get their clients acquitted.
And they should be commended for it, and it is what makes the system work.
But when Paul Kopell picked David Lempert's name off of a jury list, he was no longer functioning as an attorney.
He was part of a criminal conspiracy.
He didn't fire the shots into David Lempert's chest.
He fired them into our justice system.
And he should go to prison.
JUDGE BONELLI: On the sole count of the indictment, Conspiracy to Commit Murder in the Second Degree, how do you find? We find the defendant, Paul Kopell, guilty.
(GAVEL BANGS) (PEOPLE CHATTERING) (ELEVATOR BELL DINGS) That sounded like it was more than a game.
You better take the next elevator.
I wouldn't be very good company.
These are their stories.
Where did you find that trey, in your Christmas stocking? If I'm not mistaken, I hit four tonight out of seven.
Would've been perfect if you'd have kept your hands out of my face.
Hey, I didn't hear any whistles blowing.
Yeah, well, the ref's too busy watching girls' volleyball now.
You wanna get a pizza? Oh, two overtimes? My wife's gonna kill me.
I better let her know I'm alive, huh? Next week.
Yeah.
Dear? Hi.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I know, I know.
Well, what do you feel like? (GUN FIRING) Pizza's good.
What? Nothing.
No.
Hey, look, I'll take a taxicab home, okay? Yeah.
Bye.
MAN: Someone has been shot.
Call 911.
That's right, Dave Lempert.
I-E-M-P-E-R-T, I think.
(SIRENS WAILING) Are you sure you didn't see anything? No, I was inside, like I told the other guy.
We played some ball, I called my wife.
We played full-court every week the last year.
Yeah? Did you know his next of kin? No, we never really talked about anything.
All I know is he lived by himself.
A numbers cruncher for the Park Department.
I can't believe this.
He asked me to get a pizza.
Look, this is my card.
If you do remember anything else, give me a buzz, okay? Thank you.
And take it easy.
(WOMAN CHATTERING ON POLICE RADIO) Wallet's gone.
Three .
22 shell casings next to the body and three holes in the chest.
There's a time-tested method of assuring eternal silence.
Detectives.
Deidre's got something for you.
There was this black car that was double-parked over there.
Client of yours? A Lincoln? Yeah, I wish.
I knocked on the tinted window, and the jerk behind the wheel, I mean, he wouldn't even give me a roll down.
Obviously he didn't know what he was missing.
Yeah, well, you got that right.
A couple of minutes later, I'm crossing the street, trying to close on a deal, and I hear these three shots, and I see some guy jumping into the back seat.
Did you see his face? No, I saw him from behind.
He was built regular, like a thousand other guys I know, but I got part of the plate.
It's New York, MPV 1.
Hey, good work, Deidre.
You know, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a call from the Mayor.
Yeah, well, he's paying like everybody else.
Get her a cup of coffee or something.
Another statistic to add to the pile.
I don't know why anybody still lives here.
Hey, where else can you get mugged by a guy in a $40,000 car? I don't know, three pops to the chest? You want to grab a guy's wallet, one would've done the job.
Maybe our guy got antsy.
Or maybe it wasn't random.
The hooker said the car was parked outside the gym.
Maybe they waited for Lempert.
Nailed your vehicle.
Four-door black Town Car.
New York, 9PV 143.
Only Lincoln even close.
Registered to? Dr.
Harry Fine, You're a little late, Detectives.
My husband died about six months ago of a heart attack on the 16th hole.
Well, there's still a car registered in your husband's name.
Well, I'm sorry.
The DMV wasn't one of my bigger priorities.
What's this all about, anyway? Well, your car has been identified as the getaway vehicle in a homicide.
Oh, there must be a mistake.
Harry was the only one that ever drove that car.
Your husband died six months ago, and no one's used that car since? No.
I don't like to go out of town.
It's always easier to hail a cab.
Listen, we park the car in the garage in the basement.
Have a look if you like.
Mrs.
Fine told us she never drives it.
Well, the only time she ever comes by is the first of the month to drop off the check.
This baby hasn't moved an inch since the husband died.
The Harry Fine Memorial Town Car.
Hey, check it out.
Looks like somebody helped themselves to a fake ID.
That plate was there yesterday when I washed it.
I would've seen.
I'm gonna call CSU and have them dust it for prints.
You got a phone here? Yeah, telephone's over there.
Now, are these all monthlies? Most.
The rest are first come and first serve.
Okay.
You got receipts on them? Tickets.
Yesterday maybe 20, 30.
They're in the office.
What'd you guys do? Simoniz the Lincoln before you called us down here? So, you're saying you got nothing, right? Exterior's clean as a baby's bottom.
But your parking stubs, on the other hand, you got a Arnold Black, 65.
Twenty-seven unpaid parking tickets.
Doesn't sound like much of a shooter.
Behind door number two, John Joseph Furini.
Last 10 years, up three times on aggravated assault.
Twice for resisting arrest, once for voluntary manslaughter.
So, what? Nothing stuck? Seems to run in the family.
What, you got his whole genealogy in there? As a matter of fact, I do.
Furini's a soldier in the Dosso crime family.
Oh, wonderful.
One of Vinny's many little nephews.
(MACHINERY BEEPING) I've been breaking my back lugging ice for my old man's business since high school.
Finally, I treat myself to a company car.
Business must be good, you getting a Lincoln.
Well, a Caddy was a couple of bucks less, but you can't beat the Town Car for sophistication.
You're a regular David Niven.
I'm supposed to know this guy? How about David Lempert? You know him? You know, I never was too good at Trivial Pursuit.
David Lempert got killed last night by somebody who jumped into a black Town Car just like yours.
All of a sudden I got the only Lincoln in New York? Come on, let's cut the crap, huh, Johnny? The guy's dead.
Your car was at the scene.
Oh, you can prove that? All right, then riddle me this, what's a downtown guy like yourself doing in an East 78th Street parking garage in the middle of the afternoon? Mrs.
Sanet on 79th Street? She's having a bar mitzvah.
I drive in to supervise the job.
Ain't no spots on the street, so I pull into some lot.
What, you don't believe me? Here, I'll give you her number.
Call her up.
Where'd you park this boat? It's right over there.
Same plate as the front.
Well, Furini goes through the trouble to switch the plates, he's not gonna forget to switch them back.
He didn't look like an M.
l.
T.
grad to me.
Hey, Mike, we don't have a search warrant.
I'm just wondering if it's worth our time to even get one.
You know what bothers me? What would a mope like Furini have against some bean counter like Lempert in the first place? Dave was a lifer.
Started here right out of grad school before we got computers.
What exactly did he do? Well, he worked on budgets, financial projections, stuff like that.
Was he any good at it? Detective, this is a city job.
You get the same cost-of-living increase if you're good or bad.
Dave was competent.
Did he ever mention a guy named John Furini? Is he in accounting? I doubt it.
So, tell me, what skeletons did Dave have in his closet? Actually, that's what we're here to ask you.
Did he gamble? Drink? Nothing I know about.
Girlfriend? No, his daughter Emily.
She's away at some fancy school.
We didn't even know he was married.
He wasn't.
His wife divorced him about three years ago.
Whoever did it must be disappointed.
Excuse me? Picked the wrong guy to mug.
David never carried more than $10 in his wallet.
Hell, he never had more than $10.
Well, you never get rich working for the city.
Believe me, I know.
Did he fall behind in his payments? He did his best.
That's very understanding of you.
Look, we were married for 21 years.
It was great for one, good for two, maybe C+ for the rest.
A lot of fighting? Wait a minute.
Do you think No, I'm not thinking anything, but I gotta ask.
I wish we fought.
At least then he might have shown some passion.
David went to work.
He came home.
The only two things he got excited about were his weekly basketball and our daughter Emily.
Every nickel he made went into her education.
State college wasn't good enough.
Private school.
Wow, that's gotta be about 20 grand per, huh? If you don't plan on eating anything.
Did he have any outside sources of income? Like I said, every penny went to Em.
If he had anything else, she wouldn't be driving an '83 Buick.
All her classmates drive BMWs.
Your husband My ex-husband.
Ex-husband.
Did he ever mention a John Furini? But then again, we hadn't talked in over a year.
Since Emily's So, what's it all about, Lennie? Would you bust your butt to buy your kid a Bimmer? Nothing wrong with wanting the best for your daughter.
Right.
I like those pair of Converses you bought Julia.
Well, they're the best, right? All I know is, no German cars for my kid.
Your kid? What, Rollerblades? We're talking Vette, baby.
Listen, Lempert needs a few extra bucks.
You think maybe Furini was his banker? Yeah, at 50% interest.
Let's go see how Lempert lived.
Well, he certainly wasn't stealing from the mob.
He's got 230 bucks in his checking account.
Yeah, you work for the city for 20 years.
Makes you think.
Whoa, three gray suits.
A wild and crazy guy.
LOGAN: I don't think he spent money on personal grooming, either.
Look at this.
He must have 20 bottles of shampoo from the Arcady Hotel downtown.
So? I got a bathrobe from Grossinger's.
A guy who steals shampoo? He's gonna spend money on a hotel that's a subway ride away? (PHONE RINGING) Sure, I remember him.
Stayed with us a little over three months last summer.
Yeah? Well, no offense, but this doesn't exactly look like a vacation spot.
No offense taken.
And he wasn't on a vacation, Detective.
He was a guest of the state.
Jury duty.
This is where they sequestered him? Twelve people.
Three months, three meals a day.
Great for business, and the press didn't hurt, either.
Press, huh? Must've been some big shot on trial.
They don't get much bigger.
Vincent Dosso, the godfather.
They tried him for knocking off that labor guy, O'Malley.
Small world.
Lempert sits on Dosso's trial.
One of Dosso's henchmen is at the scene.
That's not just a coincidence.
The jury hung, Mike.
There was no retrial.
Why would they wanna kill him? I'm thinking Lempert hung the jury.
The guy worked at a city computer all day.
He's not the usual target for a mob hit.
I still haven't heard a reason for making him dead.
Lempert was bought off.
Maybe he wanted more.
Or maybe his existence gave Dosso agita.
I say we talk to those other jurors.
What are you gonna do, look up "anonymous juror" in the yellow pages? They weren't anonymous to everybody.
Are you nuts? They'd can me before breakfast.
The trial's been over for six months.
Who's it gonna hurt? Judge Berman's got rules.
Hey, so does my Lieutenant.
That doesn't stop me from taking a three-hour lunch break every now and then.
(SIGHING) Come on, Gibbons.
We're all working stiffs.
We're all on the same side here.
I'll deny everything.
So will we.
One name, okay? No TV, radio, newspapers or magazines.
Wow, three months is a long time.
It must have been hell.
Tell me about it.
No phone calls unless a court officer stood next to me.
We couldn't even leave our rooms for ice.
Convicted felons get more privileges.
Do you remember a Dave Lempert? Remember him? We would have been out of there in a week if it wasn't for him.
Are you saying he was the only holdout? Eleven people tell me the sky is blue, I start to believe them.
I tell you what.
"Reasonable doubt" are two words I never wanna hear again.
You ever get the feeling his mind had already been made up in advance? If you're asking was he bought off, I don't see how.
Court officers were all over us like flies on I get your point.
My opinion? Lempert was just a pain in the ass.
Any time you get a defendant up on a murder charge, juror safety and/or potential tampering become a major concern.
Well, was the danger more than hypothetical in Dosso's case? Well, we assumed this guy was capable of anything, so we cranked up security to the max.
Had the guys on OT, the works.
We even brought in the FBI's food taster on a consult.
Maybe your ship wasn't as airtight as you thought.
I've been doing this 12 years, Detective.
I haven't lost a juror yet.
That you know about.
Let me ask you this.
Did anybody contact David Lempert? Let's see.
No visitors, no medical requests, no special foods.
LOGAN: What about phone calls? Every outgoing phone call is monitored by one of my men.
Looks like he dialed a daughter in Pennsylvania once a week.
BRISCOE: What about incoming calls? Lempert had three.
All from his wife, Priscilla.
Be back.
Now, didn't she say she hadn't spoken to him in over a year? Maybe she got her dates mixed up.
You remember the last time you spoke to your ex, Lennie? July 17th, 1994, 2:35 p.
m.
I gotta be honest with you, Mrs.
Lempert.
Nothing bothers me more than being lied to.
I didn't lie.
I never called David.
Oh, so, now it's the court officer's logbook that lied? Three separate times? If you're not honest with us, Mrs.
Lempert, we can't help you.
Please, Detective, I'm not naive.
You're not here to help me.
But we can arrest you for obstructing justice.
Go ahead.
Think about it, Mrs.
Lempert.
Every time you go out to buy groceries, every time you go down to the corner to get a paper, how safe are you gonna feel? And you're going to protect me? LOGAN: They killed your ex.
They know you know it.
Do you really think they're going to send you a sympathy card and forget about it? And then they're gonna come after anybody you might have told.
Like your daughter.
After the divorce, money grew tight.
David was having trouble making Emily's college payments.
We were talking about transferring her from Swarthmore to SUNY.
And that was a big deal? To David it was.
And then somebody came along to solve all your problems.
He never told me his name.
I never asked.
He showed up here one night when David was at the jury.
He knew everything about us.
And you didn't get just a little bit suspicious? I was scared.
All I had to do was call David at the hotel and then leave the apartment while they spoke.
After the trial, David paid Swarthmore in full.
I never asked where he got it.
Is that the mystery man? All we've got is Jury Tampering in the Second Degree.
A misdemeanor.
You'd think bribing a juror would carry a little bit more than a slap on the wrist.
Well, you're assuming somebody up in Albany actually thinks for a living.
Poor sap.
He gets himself killed for just trying to keep his kid in school.
He took money to throw a case.
He's no saint, Lennie.
Hey, he was being squeezed from all sides.
He thought he'd found a way out.
Well, maybe as part of his sentence, Furini will finish paying the girl's tuition.
Pick him up.
What, on a misdemeanor? Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't know you were too busy.
Look, Furini's not going anywhere.
We take Lempert's wife's statement to a judge, we could get a wiretap.
Maybe we could get him on the murder.
Shortest distance between two points? Talk to OCCB.
They've been bugging Dosso's social club ever since the mistrial.
MAN 1: You got the shirt? MAN 2: Yeah, I got the shirt.
You sure you got the shirt? Yeah, I got the shirt.
You got the bullets for the shirt? Not exactly brain surgeons.
Well, they're smart enough to know you're eavesdropping.
You got anything with Furini? Yeah, I taped this yesterday.
LOGAN: Yes, the Dandy Don.
Shows up every morning at 8:00.
He and Furini have been very tight since the trial.
You got any conversations between them about a guy named Lempert? We've got bugs and phone taps on Dosso, Furini and everybody else they eat pasta with.
These are the ones we transcribed already.
They're labeled by who was in the room or who made the call.
And these are tapes we haven't even gotten to yet.
Well, my boss will give you a 49 for the dupes, okay? DOSSO: Furini's a moron.
We've been picking his pocket since '85, and the son of a bitch is dumb enough to thank us for it.
Sounds like my family.
We're wasting our time.
These guys know OCCB's listening in.
They're not gonna say anything useful.
Well, if the bad guys didn't screw up every once in a while, the jails would be empty.
Listen to this, from a phone call between Dosso and Furini the day after Lempert was popped.
Furini, "Mr.
Parks is all taken care of, Vin.
" "Bada-bing, bada-bang, bada-boom.
" Dosso, "Good job, John.
" Mr.
Parks? Well, Lempert worked for the Parks Department.
It's gotta be, right? Find the tape.
Pick them both up.
We're here to see Vincent Dosso.
Mr.
Dosso isn't taking any visitors tonight.
He'll make an exception for us.
Vincent Dosso, John Furini, you're under arrest for the murder of David Lempert.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to an attorney.
If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you.
You have the right to make one You know, Jack, we would have been more comfortable in my office.
We would have been more comfortable in Aruba.
But I'm sure neither one of us could afford the time.
Looks more like you couldn't afford the airfare.
I work for the government, Paul.
No one would have ever known.
See? That's why he graduated number eight in the class.
But like they say, the A students end up working for the C students.
Or in this case, being humiliated by them.
We have your client and Mr.
Furini on tape.
Let me guess.
It's another A student? Yeah, but you don't have to be Law Review to add one and one.
FURINI: Mr.
Parks is all taken care of, Vin.
Bada-bing, bada-bang, bada-boom.
DOSSO: Good job, John.
I think the meaning is obvious.
Sure, it is.
They were watching Miss America reruns.
Not to be condescending, Jack, but you gotta know your case is gonna go the way of all flesh.
Why, because you're the lead counsel for the defense? Because that tape will never be heard in the courtroom.
Motion to suppress.
I believe Mr.
Murphy has a similar motion on Mr.
Furini's behalf.
See you in chambers.
Oh, I almost forgot.
Anna sends her love.
You're friends with him? Great point guard.
We beat the med school three years running.
Did he pay off the ref? He's the defense counsel, Claire, not the defendant.
I just wanna make sure we're all on the same page here.
This is America, right? We do still have a constitution and at least four amendments thereto? The conversation in question was obtained by OCCB through a valid warrant.
Yes, but valid against whom? The warrant Mr.
McCoy refers to was for a tap on Mr.
Furini's telephone.
Its specific intent was to implicate Mr.
Furini in a crime.
And if I'm not mistaken, that's exactly what it's done.
Mr.
Murphy will address that shortly, Your Honor.
At the moment, my concern is with Mr.
Dosso.
Takes two to have a telephone conversation.
And if you intend to offer that conversation as evidence against the party of the second part, his name should have been included in the warrant.
That's absurd.
Let's pretend I have a warrant to search your apartment for drugs.
I legally enter, only to discover that Pablo Escobar is about to sell you a pound of cocaine.
You're saying I can't arrest him? Of course not.
Because Mr.
Escobar didn't have an expectation of privacy in my apartment.
Exactly, and Mr.
Dosso didn't have an expectation of anything in Mr.
Furini's telephone.
But he did in the telephone used to call Mr.
Furini.
The OCCB had a separate warrant for Mr.
Dosso's telephone.
KOPELL: His office phone.
My client placed the call in question from a pay phone in Miami Beach.
He certainly had expectation of privacy therein.
Your Honor, to admit this evidence against my client would sound the death knell for any and all Fourth Amendment protection.
(LAUGHS) That's very eloquent, Mr.
Kopell.
You can't possibly I wear the robes, Mr.
McCoy.
I can do anything I like.
I like to keep the state out of our bedrooms and our churches and our telephones.
Your Honor, the warrant in this case was issued specifically to gather evidence relating to the murder of a Mr.
John O'Malley.
It's a totally unrelated crime.
The conversation at issue is far beyond the scope of this warrant.
JACK: This is plain view, Your Honor.
Harris v.
U.
S.
But, Judge Mr.
Murphy, I may be open-minded, but I'm not vacant.
Now, the tape is admissible against Mr.
Furini, and it's inadmissible against Mr.
Dosso.
Still flinching when you get near the boards, huh, Jack? I've still got my outside shot.
How many times do I have to tell you, you cannot win without an inside game.
I'll send my messenger for the notice of dismissal.
Expectation of privacy.
He earned his $600 an hour.
He made a good argument in front of the right judge.
This certainly isn't the work of a C student.
Paul only got C's because he spent more time around a courtroom than a classroom.
Poverty Law Group, Abused Women Advocacy Coalition.
He's come a long way.
It's about the battle, Claire, not the prize.
He blindsided a half-witted judge on behalf of the head of a mob family.
You're acting like it was some kind of noble cause.
It's part of the game.
Excuse me? Last I looked, it was about justice.
That's merely a by-product.
Boy Scouts seek it, effective prosecutors do their best to avoid thinking about it.
And what do they think about? Winning, period.
I'm sorry, I don't put in 15 hours a day just so I can flex my muscles.
Well, you better start, Claire, or you'll wind up talking to yourself in elevators.
Now, Adam, we've got the wiretap on Furini, his fingerprints at the garage, and an ID by Lempert's wife.
If we're lucky, he won't want to spend the rest of his life in prison.
He gives us Dosso.
Man one with a recommendation.
(GATE BUZZING) FURINI: You're wasting your time.
JACK: You're not being loyal.
You're being stupid.
Look around.
This is as good as it's gonna get.
Do you actually think Dosso would return the loyalty? JACK: Think about it, Mr.
Furini.
Dosso had one of the best lawyers in the city, and you had Oliver Wendell Blockhead here.
Hey.
Dosso and Kopell gave us a bone, and it's you, sir.
MURPHY: That's enough.
We're done talking.
Fine, no more talking.
Let's just listen.
DOSSO: Furini's a moron.
We've been picking his pocket since '85, and the son of a bitch is dumb enough to thank us for it.
I ain't gonna testify against Vin.
Maybe you could help us without taking the stand.
I wouldn't advise that, John.
You.
What have you got? It depends what you give.
John, if anybody finds out We're both dead.
Above the club, there's an apartment.
Some old bag lives there.
Dosso uses it when she's out.
That should be enough for an electronic surveillance warrant.
John's name doesn't appear anywhere.
Congratulations, Mr.
Furini.
You've just become an anonymous informant.
What'd I miss? A couple of bottles of Chianti and the old lady's itinerary.
And another fabulous lunch, I see.
Oh, we still have some fried rice left.
Thanks, anyway.
Hey, Logan, you might want to hear this.
DOSSO: Hey, what can I tell you? Pauly's the best.
You want a dismissal, get yourself a Jew.
MAN: What about Lempert's wife? She knows what I did to hubby.
He stays dead, she's no problem.
Send her some flowers or something.
Somebody cancel the subscription to Sporting News.
(BOTH LAUGHING) Hey, Vinny, you got that thing at 5:00.
Your car's downstairs.
Sounds good to me.
Pick him up as soon as he hits the street.
(HORNS HONKING) Sorry to ruin your plans.
Oh, don't you guys ever get tired? Of that face? Never.
Vincent Dosso, you're under arrest for the murder of David Lempert.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used "Docket Number 545362.
" "People v.
Vincent Dosso.
" "Charge is Murder in the Second Degree.
" How do you plead? Not guilty, Your Honor.
JUDGE WELCH: Miss Kincaid? Because of the nature of the charges and Mr.
Dosso's connection to organized KOPELL: Plumbing.
Mr.
Dosso is a small businessman, Your Honor.
And I had a leaky faucet that I'm still paying off two years later.
Bail is set at $500,000.
Second bite at a bad apple's just as sour.
There are no constitutional violations this time.
Maybe not, but I'm sure you've heard of attorney-client privilege.
See you in chambers.
MAN: We sent her for a week to Atlantic City.
DOSSO: You make sure she's flush.
KOPELL: All taken care of, Vin.
I did it myself.
That last voice, it's mine.
Because you say it is? No, because Dr.
Peter Frank of M.
l.
T.
says it is, as he swears to in this affidavit, signed following electronic voice analysis.
And as Mr.
Dosso is my longstanding client, this entire conversation is privileged, and therefore inadmissible.
The first voice on that tape wasn't yours.
Privilege is broken when a third party is present.
Unless the third party is also a client.
The voice Ms.
Kincaid refers to is that of Al Gennaro, who I have successfully represented several times over the years.
The discussion of a criminal enterprise is not privileged, Your Honor.
That's correct, if it's an on-going or future enterprise.
Unfortunately, it appears the defendant was discussing past crimes.
I'm going to have to exclude the tape.
Make a motion, Mr.
Kopell.
As there is no other evidence against my client? No? I move for a dismissal.
I object, Your Honor.
So do I, but I have no choice.
Your friend plays the game by a different set of rules.
He and I are not playing the same game anymore, Claire.
Wait a minute, is that the sound of an ego being deflated? First day of law school.
"What's the cornerstone of the adversarial process?" I don't need the Socratic attitude.
Just answer the question, Claire.
Two independent counsel, arguing points of fact and points of law before an impartial judge and jury.
Right.
The operative word being "independent.
" Paul crossed the line.
He listened to Dosso brag about his exploits.
He didn't do anything illegal.
You heard the tape.
Paul paid the old lady to leave town so they could use her apartment.
So what? There's no crime there, Jack.
He facilitated the operation of a criminal enterprise.
Well, he does that every time he steps into court for Dosso.
Referring to Lempert, Dosso says, "And somebody cancel the subscription to Sporting News.
" How do you suppose Dosso knew Lempert's reading habits? Maybe they had cappuccino together.
A bribed juror? No way.
Dosso wouldn't have gotten within a mile of him.
There were 12 people on that jury, Claire.
If Dosso had picked one who happened to have a sudden bout of honesty, there would have been another count on the indictment.
No, I suspect Dosso knew exactly what he was doing when he approached Lempert.
Lempert was desperate for the money.
He lived alone.
The juror questionnaires.
How much money do you make? How much do you owe? How many dependents do you have? What's your biggest single expense? Kopell framed questions that would make it easier to pick the juror most likely to take a bribe.
Even if you're right, the questionnaires were anonymous.
Not to the county clerks, they weren't.
I worked for Judge Berman for eight years.
Nobody ever accused me of any wrongdoing.
JACK: Well, we're accusing you, Mark.
Yeah? Well, I didn't do nothing.
You worked for the State.
You took money.
That's receiving a bribe.
All those years in a courtroom, you have to know it's better to talk to us now.
We're on the same side, right? Why are you doing this to me? You wanna know why? Because I bust my butt to bring down scum like Dosso, then some whore in a uniform sandbags me for a couple of bucks.
If you took over $10,000, it's a C felony.
That's three years in Attica.
He only gave me $5,000.
Who did, Mark? Some gumba.
Said he worked for Dosso.
Twenty-five years ago, Paul stayed up till 3:00 the night before an exam to teach me the Rule Against Perpetuities.
Smart has nothing to do with honest.
What are you gonna do? How does burning at the stake sound? Well, even if we could implicate Kopell, it's only Bribery Three, an E felony.
No.
It's an A felony.
Paul picked David Lempert's name out of the pile.
It's the first step in the conspiracy to commit murder.
You don't think Kopell actually knew they were going to kill Lempert.
We wanna get Dosso, right? Paul can give him to us.
Mrs.
Kopell? Yes? Is your husband in? We have people here.
This will only take a minute.
Can't this wait? No, it can't.
Paul Kopell, you're under arrest for conspiracy to murder David Lempert.
Drink up.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
Do you understand that? You have the right to an attorney.
If you cannot afford one, one will be provided to you free of charge.
You son of a bitch.
Now, now, calm down.
You could have called, Jack.
You have my number.
I'm sorry.
It fell out of my Rolodex.
The police, Jack? In our home, terrorizing us? Yes.
I wanted him to be scared.
He should be scared.
Well, it isn't working.
Although you did get to the women and children, if that makes you happy.
Happy? That's right, I'm thrilled to discover that my friend of 25 years is a felon.
Oh, give me a break! Let's assume Dosso bribed the clerk.
What does that have to do with me? No, you give me a break, Paul.
We both know you're smarter than that.
This is really getting your juices going, isn't it, Jack? Anna, if you can't let me proceed here, you better step outside.
You know us.
You know our children.
You can put an end to this right now, Paul.
Give me Dosso.
And get killed? Anna, stop it! Look, Jack, you can't even carry my briefcase.
You never could.
I'll tell you what.
Tomorrow I'm gonna get this crap dismissed, and the next day I'm gonna hit you with a civil suit so big your great-grandchildren will be answering motions.
Even if this nonsense about jury questionnaires is true, the state still cannot produce any evidence whatsoever that implicates me in any way to the murder.
Basic conspiracy theory, Your Honor.
The left hand doesn't have to know what the right hand is doing, so long as they share a common criminal purpose.
The purpose in this case being to rig the trial of Vincent Dosso and destroy the evidence thereof, I.
e.
, murdering David Lempert.
Only there is no proof that Mr.
Dosso is connected in any way to said murder.
We have him confessing to it on tape.
A tape which Judge Gance declared inadmissible because of attorney-client privilege.
Your Honor, if you would read the order labeled Exhibit Three to my brief? I read it, Mr.
Kopell.
Judge Gance's decision seems clear, Mr.
McCoy.
Nobody's trying to violate privilege, Your Honor.
The state's position is that due to Mr.
Kopell's total immersion in Vincent Dosso's criminal activities, he stopped being an attorney and became a de facto participant thereof.
That is ridiculous.
It's also very creative.
Mr.
McCoy's creativity notwithstanding, it's well settled that the privilege belongs to the client.
Mr.
Dosso believed he was conversing in the presence of his attorney.
That's all that matters.
That's correct as far as Mr.
Dosso.
The privilege is intended to promote free dialogue between the client and his legal representative.
It goes both ways.
Not if you weren't functioning as a legal representative, it doesn't.
Same time, same place next week, I'll listen to evidence relating to Mr.
Kopell's true relationship to Mr.
Dosso's business.
(GAVEL BANGS) So, what do we do, look at Kopell's time sheets? I doubt he listed, "Six hours, criminal activities.
" I don't need your sarcasm right now, Claire.
(SIGHING) Look, Jack, this whole thing is getting out of hand.
Do you wanna put Dosso in prison? Of course, I do.
Well, I'm fresh out of ideas.
This is the only way I can see of doing it.
Déjà vu, no? We've been through this.
No way I testify against Dosso.
I'm not asking you to, Mr.
Furini.
I wanna know about his lawyer.
You're kidding, right? Are you sure you don't want a lawyer? Lawyers.
You cut my sentence.
Seven years.
Five.
Fine.
Like I said, you get nothing from me on Dosso.
And another thing, I get immunity for anything I might say of a self-incriminating nature.
FURINI: Kopell was always there.
He was in the room whenever we talked about anything.
JACK: What kind of thing did you talk about? Things.
You know, business.
What kind of business, sir? Our deal stands, right? A lot of times I talked about how I was gonna pop someone.
Could you please be more specific? Like that mick, the labor guy, O'Malley.
Mr.
Kopell was in the room when you decided to kill John O'Malley? That's right.
And Lloyd Lipman and Tomaso Bucci.
Please limit your responses to the case of the deceased juror, David Lempert.
Yeah, I offed him, too.
That's why I'm presently in the can.
And Mr.
Kopell was in the room with you when you decided to kill Mr.
Lempert? He was eating a cannoli.
Was anyone else in the room, Mr.
Furini? Nice try, Counselor.
I don't recall.
Your Honor, this is ridiculous.
The man cut a deal with the state.
He's obviously going to say whatever they want to hear.
And look at his track record.
Can you really rely on his credibility? It's your own credibility I'd start worrying about, Mr.
Kopell.
The witness has established to my satisfaction that you functioned in something more than a legal capacity.
As such, the material in question is not privileged.
My clerk will inform you as to commencement of trial.
What is this, Bernie's Bargain Basement? Today's special, cop to four murders, get only five years.
When I gave Furini immunity, I had no idea.
No idea, because the blood was rushing downstream from your head and is settling somewhere south of the border.
I'm trying to get Dosso, Adam.
You're no closer than you were three months ago.
Paul will cut a deal.
And what if he doesn't? If Paul knew I was here He doesn't actually intend to go through with the trial? You've known him for 25 years.
What do you think? I think he's smart enough to realize Get off it, Jack.
What makes him such a good lawyer isn't his brains or his talent.
It's that he refuses to be intimidated by anyone.
You know he'd never kill someone.
Furini implicated him.
Paul only listened to them, for God's sake.
He helped them to bribe a juror.
You can't prove that.
(SCOFFS) Why am I wasting my breath? I've been watching the two of you arm wrestle for a quarter of a century.
This isn't personal, Anna.
Oh, no? Think about it.
Would you have pushed this hard if wasn't Paul at the other table? Would you really have gone that extra mile to beat some Joe Schmo defense attorney? All right, maybe Paul wanted to win too much.
But don't you see? You're doing the same damn thing.
Win at all costs.
And you know what? We're all gonna lose.
I told you, Jack, I'm not gonna roll on Dosso.
He's a murderer He's my client.
I don't judge him.
You don't have to climb into bed with him, either.
That's where you're wrong.
I gotta think like he thinks, do as he does.
I gotta become him.
It's the only way I can go into a courtroom and fight for him with any passion at all.
It's what makes this system work, Jack.
A criminal defense lawyer who says to his client, "I'll meet you, but only during office hours.
"I'll talk with you, but I won't have Christmas dinner at your house.
"I'll defend you, "but I won't go to your grandson's christening," is not doing his job.
He's giving the prosecution an edge.
That's your only agenda? The best interest of the client? Hell, no.
I hang out with Dosso because I love it.
It elevates me.
I climbed Macho Mountain, Jack, and it feels damn good.
Is it really worth throwing your life away? You're assuming you're going to win this trial, Ms.
Kincaid? I'm offering you a way out, Paul.
Maybe you should listen to him.
Don't you see? He called this meeting.
It means his case is weak.
This isn't a game of chicken.
Oh, yes, it is, and you just blinked.
I'll see you at trial.
The People of the State of New York v.
Paul Kopell.
Twenty million people versus one man.
Think of the enormity of it.
The full extent of the government's resources and manpower against me.
And what heinous crime did I commit? I defended my client.
Yes, I constantly hear the snide remarks about the shark getting his client off on a technicality.
But hidden in those remarks is a sigh of relief, a silent thank you.
You may hate me, but you sleep better because of me.
You see, when a defense lawyer steps into a courtroom and does everything in his power to poke holes in the prosecutor's case and still fails, the chance that an innocent man will be convicted is nil.
We have an adversarial system.
I'm the adversary, but you cannot punish me for it.
Thank you.
Defense attorneys distort the facts.
They twist evidence.
They will not only go to the mat for their clients, they will take that mat and toss it out the window as far as they can.
They are not bound by the truth.
They are bound to obfuscate it if it serves to get their clients acquitted.
And they should be commended for it, and it is what makes the system work.
But when Paul Kopell picked David Lempert's name off of a jury list, he was no longer functioning as an attorney.
He was part of a criminal conspiracy.
He didn't fire the shots into David Lempert's chest.
He fired them into our justice system.
And he should go to prison.
JUDGE BONELLI: On the sole count of the indictment, Conspiracy to Commit Murder in the Second Degree, how do you find? We find the defendant, Paul Kopell, guilty.
(GAVEL BANGS) (PEOPLE CHATTERING) (ELEVATOR BELL DINGS) That sounded like it was more than a game.
You better take the next elevator.
I wouldn't be very good company.