Law & Order (1990) s06e16 Episode Script
Savior
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.
My stomach hurts.
You've already stayed home twice this week.
I'm not kidding.
It really hurts.
Dr.
Waldstein's got a new medicine for stomachaches.
Only if it comes in bubble gum.
It comes in one of his extra-long needles.
You won't taste a thing.
Guess what, Mom? I think I feel a little bit better now.
Hello? Joyce? We're gonna be late again.
Hello? Oh, my God! Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
Mommy! We're gonna get you help, Jenna.
You're gonna be okay.
Baby, hold on, hold on.
The deceased woman's Joyce Weber, 43.
Her son Billy is 10.
EMS took the daughter over to St.
Vincent's.
It's weird.
No forced entry.
All the windows locked from the inside.
You got a make on a weapon? .
22 shell casings on the floor.
The coroner figures it happened around midnight.
Body positions say they were fast asleep.
Yeah, well, if you got to go Foyer closet was open.
This was on the floor.
It looks like a jewelry box.
Motive, that's a good thing.
Dust it.
Lennie, this is Laura Cochran, Joyce Weber's sister.
She called it in.
I'm sorry.
What brought you here this morning, Mrs.
Cochran? I was gonna walk the boys to school.
Joyce and I alternated days.
I can't believe my son had to see this.
Well, there are specialists that can help.
I can give you a name.
Did anyone tell Ron yet? Was Mr.
Weber usually here when you arrived in the mornings? Unless he's out of town on business.
Joyce didn't mention.
I should be with my son.
Okay.
Here, take this.
We'll be in touch.
Thanks.
Joyce and Billy gone This is gonna kill Ron.
Or vice versa.
My dad, did you find him? We called his office this morning.
He didn't show up.
Oh, my God.
They killed him, too.
They? Whoever did this.
Did you see your father last night? I was out.
I think he was working late.
He had a presentation or something.
Jenna, tell me, do you remember anything about last night? I was sleeping.
The door to the house, do you remember if it was locked? I came home from The Red Onion around 11:00.
I'm sure I locked it.
Why would anyone do this to us? We found a jewelry box on the floor in the hall closet.
It was empty.
My mother's jewelry.
Please, find my dad.
You have to find him.
Fifteen years of marriage, and the only time my husband ever disappeared was after a major blow-out.
You think it was Mr.
Weber? Why not? The wife takes a couple of.
But not sonny.
If Weber wanted the jewels, there are easier ways.
You never heard of somebody staging a break-in? I mean, the guy's still missing.
There's no sign of forced entry.
The family didn't even wake up.
It sure looks like whoever did this had a key.
What about the wife's sister? She let herself in.
Yeah, she also had an apartment full of her husband's business associates until 2:00 a.
m.
The girl was at some preppie bar on First Avenue.
Maybe somebody followed her home.
Check it out.
This is unbelievable.
She was just with us last night.
Is she gonna make it? It looks good.
Thank God.
Were any of you at the bar when she left? Yeah, we were all there.
All of us.
And then Becky and Rod Excuse me.
When Jenna split, was she alone? What's so funny? Well, Chester offered to escort her.
Jenna's mom would have a hernia if she saw Chester at the front door.
That's in bad taste, isn't it? So what? You weren't exactly her mom's favorite? Chester's too mature for her little girl.
Look, I don't understand.
How can we help? Well, we think she might've been followed.
My God.
It could have been any of us.
Excuse me.
Lennie? Thanks.
Mr.
Weber just got home an hour ago.
Rossman broke the news to him.
Says it looks like he didn't get too much sleep last night.
Next month it would have been 18 years.
I can't believe this.
Billy, he was only 10.
Please, I've got to go see Jenna.
We understand, Mr.
Weber.
We just need to ask you a few questions first.
We found an empty jewelry box in your closet floor.
That's right.
It was Joyce's.
Two necklaces and a bracelet.
How long you been drinking, Mr.
Weber? Excuse me? Your eyes, the hands Many's the morning I've had a head like that.
Look, it's not like I'm a drunk or anything.
I just got carried away last night.
All night? Oh, God.
Look.
All I know is I woke up in some diner on Third Avenue near the Parthenon.
And before that? I started at Cabrini's after work.
And then some bar on Second Avenue, near 76th.
And then I had to pick last night.
You own a gun, Mr.
Weber? Of course not.
You think I had something to do with this? Why don't you finish your coffee? You need it.
If he loved his kids that much, he'd have been home to tuck them in.
Yeah.
You tell me you never drank too much and blacked out.
Hey, I missed the whole Carter administration, but I was always home for breakfast.
Check out his story.
Start at Cabrini's.
Weber? Sure, those ad guys keep us in business.
So Weber was in here last night? It's amazing how much that guy can drink.
How late was he here? Well, the whole crew showed up about 7:00.
By 11:30, it was just Weber and Sheila Gordon.
And did he and Sheila leave together? Weber? Are you kidding? He's married.
Like that would be a first? No, I mean Norman Rockwell married.
If I had to hear one more story about his kid's medal in the spelling bee, it'd make me start drinking.
This Sheila Gordon, she works with Weber? Across the street.
Goydos, Kamm Advertising.
You don't think me and Ronnie Come on.
Joyce would kill him.
Not anymore.
That's a bad joke, Detective.
Ronnie and I were co-workers, period.
We started together.
We made V.
P.
Together.
We had a couple of drinks together, and we went to our separate apartments.
Only Ronnie never made it home.
What? He was out drinking all night and passed out in some diner.
I had no idea.
You didn't know he had a problem.
Everybody has problems.
Maybe in the last six months or so he's been drinking a little more than usual.
He say why? It's the nature of the beast.
The agency will send you to Betty Ford twice.
After that, you're on your own.
So he never talked about any troubles at home? Nothing unusual.
They hated Jenna's boyfriend.
Joyce charged too much at Saks.
She worked too late when she should have been home with Billy.
We didn't know she worked.
Nine-to-fiver at the State Liquor Authority.
Look, Detective, I know Ron Weber.
I know he didn't kill his family.
Just like you knew he didn't drink? I think you can leave now.
He's a drunk, and she handles licenses to sell booze.
It's a marriage made in heaven.
One thing about the Liquor Authority, you can always trust them to be straight shooters.
That's a bad joke, Detective.
"Don't mess with Joyce Weber.
" I was going to get that printed on a T-shirt for her birthday.
She was a tough lady, huh? This business, you have to be.
You wouldn't believe some of the offers we get.
You talking about bribes? A liquor license can make or break an establishment.
Since everybody knows on the scruples scale we're one step below the Mexican police Look, if anybody took a bribe around here and Joyce caught wind of it, believe me, they'd be better off in jail.
What about unhappy customers? I'm sure you saw the armed guards at the front door.
Yeah.
So lately, any louder-than-usual complaints? As a matter of fact Metro Bar and Grill.
Mr.
Yentakov had trouble taking no for an answer.
Sergei Yentakov? I remember him from OCCB.
Guy pulled more strings than Jim Henson.
That's why I love this country.
Someone dies and the police actually gives a damn.
Actually, Mr.
Yentakov Sergei.
It was my grandfather's name.
It's a lovely name.
Anyway, Sergei, we understand that you were on a first name basis with Joyce Weber.
OCCB's been tailing Yentakov for three years.
Last week they saw him having lunch with Joyce Weber.
A little arm twisting? Weber said that he offered her 10,000 to change her mind on the license.
The D.
A.
Wanted more.
She was gonna wear a wire to her next meet next Friday.
Very unfortunate what befells Mrs.
Weber.
Yeah, I'm sure you sent flowers, especially after she ruined your investment.
No hard feelings.
Mrs.
Weber did what she had to do.
Yeah.
Except in this country, her decision's supposed to be final.
You're not supposed to offer her money to change her mind.
No, no, no, no, Detective, the wrong way around.
Mrs.
Weber came to me.
For $10,000, license would be mine.
Like I told my wife, "The old country, the new country are not so different after all.
" So, anyone who believes him, raise your right hand.
If I had my stack of Bibles with me, Yentakov would be swearing from here to Kiev.
I think it's obvious what went down.
Somehow he found out that Joyce Weber was the point man in OCCB's sting.
That didn't exactly make his day.
Well, he didn't have to kill her.
All he had to do was not talk to her.
Maybe things are different in the old country.
Point is, we need to find that leak at OCCB.
They're on top of it.
What are you talking about? This is our case.
And that's why you're gonna check out Dr.
Zhivago's story.
Hey, excuse me, but the only witness to their conversation is dead.
Think about it.
If your new hobby is shaking down license applicants, why start with a mobster? Talk to her other rejections.
You don't consider this a waste of time? I consider it covering all bases.
I patented the formula.
Theme interiors, pretty waitresses, short skirts and big smiles.
Called it Long Legs.
Politically incorrect.
I love it.
Yeah, so do people in Atlanta, Durham, Nashville and Miami.
So what happened? Didn't go over so well in New York? We didn't have a chance.
Eight months ago, our application for a liquor license was rejected.
No liquor, no Long Legs.
Thank you, Joyce Weber.
Well, actually, she did me a favor.
You don't like making money? No, I like keeping it.
My major investor in the New York franchise served time for fraud in Philly.
I would never have known if she hadn't been so thorough.
Did Mrs.
Weber ever suggest that there might have been a way to avoid your problems altogether? I'm not following.
Maybe she could've been persuaded to overlook your investor's past.
Say for a substantial cash payment.
You're joking, right? This woman, she squeaked when she walked.
You go to The Culinary Institute, you borrow from your idiot MBA cousin for the down payment, you plan the perfect menu French without the heavy sauces.
And then two months ago, Joyce Weber throws a What do you call those things? A wrecking ball.
That's right.
Let me tell you about this Weber broad, bitch.
You want to elaborate? She tells us, "You girls are a lock.
" Then she has trouble with your investors? She had trouble with our bank account.
We're inadequately capitalized.
With a liquor license, we would have had more capital than we had pate de campagne.
We get 10 grand from idiot cousin number two, but that wasn't good enough.
It's about time you guys looked into her.
Well, she was just doing her job.
Yeah? She called the house once, said something about "overlooking our deficiencies.
" Did you ask her what she meant? I didn't have to ask.
She wanted more money.
Too bad we ran out of idiot cousins.
Who would've thought of putting peanut butter on potatoes? Yeah.
When's your physical? What? Peanut butter, potatoes, it's two of the three major food groups.
Does it make sense to you, eight months ago she's squeaky clean, six months later, she's soliciting bribes? And he's drinking himself into oblivion.
Sounds like money problems to me.
He's a V.
P.
At a major ad agency.
It's got to come along with major bucks.
Well, maybe he was spending it in all the wrong places.
Bookie? Bookie, drugs, women.
Who knows what skeletons he's got in his closet.
But it'll have to wait.
Now this time I'm going for the sausage.
They had two incomes.
Everything should have been fine.
Two kids in private school, it takes its toll.
What's this got to do with anything? We're just trying to get a complete picture, Jenna.
Maybe your dad owed money to somebody.
You mean like a loan shark? Get real.
My sister liked to live well.
Beach house on Fire Island, the lvy Club, the brownstone.
I warned her they should put some away for a rainy day.
Sounds like they spent everything they made.
If they'd put it in a fund, they could've retired.
My dad tried to sell the beach house.
Jenna.
No.
I mean, you're making it sound like he's stupid or something.
He didn't want it in the first place.
They were stuck with a major mortgage? They borrowed against the equity on the brownstone to make the monthly payments.
Debt.
The great motivator.
It's not like we were starving or anything.
Your mom didn't want you to know, Jenna.
Your dad was having trouble at work.
Now why did you go and say that? Don't you see what they're doing? They think Daddy's responsible.
Whatever my mom told you, he had a good job.
He didn't need money.
I've known Weber since we were freshman in college.
Buddies, and now he works for you.
How'd he handle that? Better than I would.
We hear there was some trouble here at work.
The ad game, sometimes it comes down so hard you've got to carry one of those big golf umbrellas.
And Weber left his in his locker? He lost two clients.
He knows how the game's played.
So, what, you saying you fired him? Two clients.
This isn't Alpha Chi anymore.
I gave him six months and tried to keep it hush-hush.
And you weren't successful? I didn't realize that he didn't tell Joyce.
At a dinner party, I mentioned to her how sorry I was.
How was I to know he didn't tell her? I mean, he only had two weeks left.
How'd she handle it? You ever been married? Point taken.
The poor bastard.
Not only is it coming down at work, it's hailing bowling balls at home.
He was talking about pulling a Willy Loman.
You know, he's worth more dead than alive.
You mean insurance? A half mill would have solved everything.
Stupid question, did he have insurance on his wife, too? Any guy with kids and a working wife has insurance.
It's prudent.
I've been there, Mr.
Weber.
Everything just gangs up on you all at once.
It wasn't as bad as it looks.
Money's tight, the bills pile up, you're out of a job.
All of a sudden, the world's a very cold place.
No.
I had three interviews set up.
It's self-fulfilling.
You're desperate.
They smell it.
It's over before you sit down.
I was gonna get something.
Your wife didn't think so.
That's not true.
Why would she start asking for bribes? She lost faith in you.
Twenty years you take care of her, you hit a little dry patch and she can't let you forget what a loser you are.
And the way she went through it, you'd need two jobs just to break even.
I loved her.
I loved my family.
But you let them down, Ron.
You turned into a drunk.
You stopped coming home.
If my wife thought I was such a deadbeat, I'd do the same thing.
What you needed was a major payday.
A pile of insurance money to cure everything, am I right? That's sick.
I didn't kill anybody.
Well, that's not See, you don't really remember what you did.
Why don't you think it over for a few minutes, huh? Anybody check his alibi? Our guys went up and down Second Avenue.
One bartender remembers him coming in around 2:00 a.
m.
The shooting was around midnight.
He left Cabrini's at 11:30.
That gives him plenty of time.
And there's no murder weapon? Probably swimming in the Hudson.
Hey, the guy's right on the edge.
An arrest might just push him over.
Thanks.
Motive just got better.
Weber filed a claim on his wife's insurance two days after she died.
500 thou.
If it was about the insurance money, he wouldn't have gone after the kids.
He was desperate.
Who knows what was going through his head? It's all circumstantial.
I need something a little more tangible.
Circumstantial's good enough for a search.
Let him go.
I'll get a warrant.
Mr.
Weber's expected from lunch shortly.
You could've waited for him.
Hey, the sooner we're finished, the sooner we get to eat.
Hey, Lennie, you think he wears these? Whoa.
What do you want now? Now? Well, now you're under arrest for the murders of William and Joyce Weber And the attempted murder of Jenna Weber.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you do say can and will be It had to happen sooner or later.
How have you been, Margot? Look at my client.
You tell me.
Well, you're certainly off to a good start.
Half mill? It's as good as remand without bail.
Well, he can't be that broke.
He afforded you.
He plays golf with one of the lawyers in my firm.
I'm a favor.
Jack, this is Margot Bell.
She'll be representing Weber.
Always the lucky one.
At least you finally admit it.
Am I missing something here? Margot replaced me on the Review.
It wasn't luck, Claire.
You were busy running around with what's -his-name instead of cramming for Property.
What can I say? What's -his-name was a better time than the rule against perpetuities.
Who isn't? So, Margot, I assume this is more than a remember-the-good-old days.
I'm sorry.
How often do I get to mix business with pleasure? Weber swears he didn't do it.
And you believe him? I was thinking more like you give a little, I give a little.
The best I can do is drop the request for the death penalty.
That's exactly what I'm talking about.
We work together, we change the world.
I'll talk to him.
What do a sperm cell and a lawyer have in common? They both have a one-in-a-million chance of becoming a human being.
There's a law.
You pass the bar, you got to stop telling lawyer jokes.
Why? Who better knows the truth? Yeah.
We're contentious, arrogant, too smart for our own goods, anal, expensive, theoretical, knee deep in minutiae.
Not exactly the life we thought we were getting into.
You ever think about quitting? Yeah, right.
We'll open a flower shop.
Why not? You don't have to lie to suspects, and I don't have to represent guys like Weber.
I'm allergic, and neither one of us knows how to read a balance sheet.
We'll cut a deal on Weber, and then we'll both take a vacation.
Would that it were so, Mr.
Weber's not interested.
I want the SOB convicted.
Who's representing him? Margot Bell.
I went to law school with her.
She any good? She's smart enough to know her client's guilty.
Smart enough to parade everyone in his life through the courtroom to say what a devoted family man he is.
He lost his job.
He turned into a drunk.
He had insurance on his wife.
That explains the wife, not the kids.
Jury doesn't understand it, they don't believe it.
How about John List? He killed his family.
The jury didn't have any trouble convicting him.
No.
They had a busload of experts explaining why he did it.
We'll get our own busload.
If Weber doesn't claim insanity, our shrinks can't even talk to him.
Yes, but if she explains Weber to us, we can explain him to the jury.
Lf, if, if They're called family annihilators.
They often have an over-developed sense of family values.
The problem is, rather than serving as a protective force, it becomes destructive.
"I love you so much, I have to kill you.
" It's hard to believe.
Not when you see imminent ruin.
Like losing your job? He's that depressed, why wouldn't he just kill himself? He probably thought about it.
But family annihilators typically exaggerate the importance of their role in the family.
"Without me, the family would be nothing.
" Mr.
Weber seems to fit the profile.
I want you to tell that to the jury.
Jack, I haven't examined him.
I can only speak in hypotheticals.
Weber will give specifics.
There's no way Margot will put him on the stand.
I am on very shaky ground here.
At best, it's speculation.
I can't say for sure.
You don't have to.
Just say it's possible.
This is absurd.
Only the defense can put the defendant's sanity at issue.
We're not saying he's insane.
We're saying he fits the profile of a family annihilator.
I don't see the problem here, Miss Bell.
You can introduce expert testimony as rebuttal evidence.
With all due respect, we're not talking about O.
J.
Here.
My client can hardly afford my bills.
That's not an issue.
Guess again, Mr.
McCoy.
The Sixth Amendment provides Right to counsel, which he's got.
No, he's entitled to effective counsel.
How can I possibly be effective when my ability to introduce evidence is limited by my client's financial straits? That shouldn't affect the State's ability to make its case.
This isn't a bullfight, Mr.
McCoy.
The picadors don't get to stab the defendant before the matador enters the ring.
All I'm asking for is an even playing field, Your Honor.
Is there any precedent? The Supreme Court in Ake v.
Oklahoma held that a State is required to provide the Defense with a psychiatric expert When he's pleading insanity.
That decision was never expanded to all expert testimony.
It wasn't specifically limited, either.
Your Honor We all want a fair trial, Mr.
McCoy.
You've got your shrink, Miss Bell, at State's expense.
I don't know why I didn't wake up.
I just didn't.
But you're sure you locked the door before you went to sleep? I usually do.
I don't know.
Maybe I forgot that night.
That isn't what you told the police, is it? My brother's dead, and my mother's dead, and my father is on trial.
Please answer the question.
No, that's not what I told them.
To your knowledge, who had keys to your brownstone? Me, my dad, my mother and my aunt.
Did your dad ever hit your mother? He would never.
Did they fight? No more than any of my friends' parents.
I can't believe that What, Jenna? I can't believe they're doing this to him.
Park Dietz, the country's leading forensic psychiatrist, identified a category of murderers he called "family annihilators.
" Their killings are usually preceded by a major economic loss.
Like losing a job? Exactly.
They feel their middle-class lifestyle slipping away.
Often they drink heavily and become suicidal themselves.
Are there similarities among these family annihilators? The prototype is a white male in his 40s, excessively devoted to his family, especially his children.
He's a churchgoing man, but not overly devout.
Acquaintances describe him as sweet, nice, gentle.
He's definitely not abusive.
Would you say Mr.
Weber fit that profile? From the information available to me, yes.
A nice guy who loves his kids and goes to church.
I wonder how many family annihilators there are in this courtroom.
These qualities are all exaggerated.
An annihilator has a difficult time distinguishing between himself and his loved ones.
Did you examine the defendant, Doctor? No.
So, you're willing to send him to prison because of some article you read in Psychology Today? Objection.
Withdrawn.
No more questions.
Basically, you could squeeze into Dr.
Olivet's paradigm.
So, Doctor, you're saying that this so-called family annihilator doesn't exist? Not at all.
There are between 15 and 50 murders like this every year.
I'm just saying that Dr.
Olivet's methodology was incorrect.
She was given a suspect's history and then she paralleled it with the prototype.
And what is the correct methodology? Look at the circumstances of the crime first: The method, time and location of killing.
A family annihilator leaves his mark all over a crime scene.
If there is evidence that the murder was committed by a husband, then, and only then, should you see if he fits the prototype.
And did the crime scene here suggest that a family annihilator had committed these murders? On the contrary, he left a survivor.
The whole point is to kill your entire family.
Is it possible Mr.
Weber didn't know his daughter was still alive? I suppose.
Is there anything else about the crime scene to suggest that these murders weren't committed by Mr.
Weber? I doubt very much that an individual that emotionally devastated would have the wherewithal to stage a robbery.
But it's been known to happen.
On rare occasions, yes.
It's very simple, Mr.
McCoy.
As a professor of mine used to tell me repeatedly, "All poodles are dogs, but not all dogs are poodles.
" Nothing like the battle of the experts.
Yeah.
What about the girl? She hurt.
She says maybe she didn't lock the door after all.
Which opens the door for eight million other suspects.
Well, the most important one takes the stand tomorrow.
Who, Weber? I don't believe it.
Why not? It's a tie game.
Now he can cry himself into an acquittal.
Was the night of the murders the first time you stayed out all night? No.
Joyce would tell the kids that I worked late and left for the office early.
Please tell us where you were on the night of the murders.
I was drinking at Cabrini's until maybe 11:00, and then I don't remember.
And was this the first time you had an alcoholic blackout? No.
But you're quite sure you didn't go home that night? Yes.
And you're quite sure you didn't murder your wife and son? Yes.
I loved them more than I I never even held a gun.
You were so drunk you can't remember where you were, yet you're sure you never went home.
I never wanted my children to see me like that.
If they had, you'd have to kill them? Objection.
Sustained.
The jewelry that was supposed to be in a box in your closet was actually in your office, isn't that true? Yes.
Did you ever tell that to the police? I was gonna sell it.
We needed the money.
I was embarrassed.
So you staged a robbery? No.
You must've been pretty desperate, Mr.
Weber.
The breadwinner in the family suddenly coming home with no money.
Must have been humiliating.
But now you don't have that problem.
Your wife and your son will never know that you couldn't cut it in business.
They'll never know that you were going to sell your house.
Actually, you did them a favor.
Isn't that right? No.
I didn't kill them.
I would never kill Damn, Jack, even I felt sorry for him.
But now you see him as a murderer, right? Yeah, I suppose.
And I suppose the jury will, too.
Jack.
I owe you.
Well, maybe not.
Were we sitting in the same courtroom? He sure as hell looked guilty to me.
To me, too.
And that's the problem.
You were all over him, Jack.
He should have broken down.
He did.
No.
I mean, he should have confessed under that much pressure.
That's the typical response for a family annihilator.
Why the hell didn't you tell me this before? Because you told me he would never take the stand.
So you're changing your opinion? I'm not saying he's innocent.
I'm just qualifying my opinion.
Look, Jack, I told you I was on shaky ground at the start of this.
Well, I guess she's not as expert as we thought she was.
It's not Liz's fault.
She never interviewed Weber.
Then she should have kept her mouth shut.
I called her to the stand, Adam.
Now you'll have to recall her.
The jury should find that enlightening.
She didn't change her opinion.
She just supplemented it.
It's not necessarily exculpatory.
Right.
If the jury happens to fall asleep while she's testifying.
And besides, don't you think Weber's expert saw the same thing Olivet did? Of course he did.
That's why you're gonna have to plea this out.
Weber already turned down a deal.
Because you didn't offer him man one.
Adam Offer it and move on! A deal, now? After Olivet's latest pronouncement from the mount, Mr.
Weber will be free to kill whoever he wants.
Not necessarily.
You're talking to me, Claire.
I've actually been to a couple of trials, remember? It's kind of ironic.
I was just starting to feel good about the system.
You know, the good guys win and all that.
We were thinking maybe he'd buy two counts of man one.
You wanna get me disbarred? Besides, you know, maybe the SOB didn't do it.
Wouldn't that be a kick in the butt? Tell you what, that flower shop's looking real good right about now.
There is an alternative.
Like? Like finding out what the truth actually is.
Let Olivet interview Weber.
If he confesses, take the deal.
And if he doesn't? We won't use anything he says against him in court.
You'll have your acquittal.
That's not putting the poker chips away, Claire.
That's doubling the bet.
What scares me most is what's gonna happen to Jenna.
She's living with your wife's sister.
If I'm convicted, she'll always think It would be easier if you tried to explain to her why.
What? Why all you people are framing me? Your daughter may understand more than you think.
It may be the best thing for both of you.
I'm fighting for my life here, for my daughter's life.
What do you mean? She had trouble with her boyfriend, she came to me.
Trouble with homework, me.
Trouble with Joyce I was always there to make things right.
Your daughter had trouble with your wife? She was a teenager.
I protected her.
I gave her a good home, private schools, anything she wanted.
When did you start to feel helpless? What do you want from me? You felt guilt.
You felt shame.
You saw ruin and were powerless to stop it.
You tried to hide it with alcohol, but that didn't work.
All right.
I'm a failure.
I'm a spineless drunk who can't take care of his family.
I couldn't handle it.
Only I didn't kill them.
He's a textbook case but for the fact that he refuses to confess.
So you're saying he didn't do it? I'm saying that I can't be sure.
But he was drunk.
Is it just possible he didn't remember? It's a possibility.
You know, he did say something curious about his wife and his daughter, that he was always there to make things right.
So they fought.
What teenage daughter doesn't fight with her mother? Yeah, but if it was more than normal fighting, that may explain why Jenna says she didn't see anything.
He protected her, so she's protecting him.
Especially if he was so drunk that he didn't even know what he was doing.
So let's talk to her.
I doubt she'll tell you the truth.
But maybe her aunt will.
This is crazy.
Ron tried to kill Jenna, too.
Why would she want him to get away with it? She's scared.
She's embarrassed.
She knows he's ill.
It could be anything.
How did Jenna get along with Joyce? Like any mother and daughter.
They fought, but Jenna loved her.
I can't believe she would lie to protect him.
We're just trying to get a sense of the family dynamic, Mrs.
Cochran.
It could help us to convince Jenna.
Joyce ran the house.
When the kids needed it, she disciplined them.
She was strong.
Ron, he wanted to be the nice guy, the kids' favorite.
Whatever anybody wanted.
What did Joyce and Jenna fight about? It was about that boyfriend of hers, mostly.
Joyce didn't approve of him? He was trouble.
school, and he was expelled.
Always in trouble with the cops, drugs and things like that.
But Jenna stopped seeing him.
Talk to me, Chester.
So I went out with Jenna a couple of times, what's that got to do with anything? So how did that make you feel when she cut you off? The river's full of trout.
Well, tell me, lover boy, why'd they can you at that expensive school? I'm not the academic type.
Yeah, well, according to this, you were suspected of dealing.
Suspected, yeah.
And what about your juvie record, Chester? That's sealed.
Well, we talked to the arresting officer.
Armed robbery.
Yeah, I was a kid.
Sixteen.
You know what I'm thinking, Chester? I'm thinking that maybe you thought you'd help yourself to Mrs.
Weber's jewelry.
Really? Now why would I do a thing like that? Because you got to know how to read to check out the help wanteds.
Only you couldn't find anything.
So you got pissed off, you decided to take it out on the Weber family.
Don't I get a lawyer or something? I'll bring you the Yellow Pages.
They got pictures.
I'll call his parents.
Don't bother.
You want us to let him go? Unfortunately, stupid's not against the law.
It sure adds up to reasonable doubt, though.
Jack? Do you think Weber is innocent? Or do you think we're just gonna have a tougher time proving that he's guilty? I'm impressed.
I never thought you distinguished between the two.
Right.
Hang 'Em High McCoy.
Get off it, Jack.
You're the one who's always talking about the game.
You're the one hell-bent on winning.
If I'm convinced that the defendant is guilty.
But look how easy it is to be convinced, or should I say deluded? How many times do we win just because the defense missed something? You never answered my question about Weber.
Chester Manning is not the most upstanding citizen I've come across.
Add that to Olivet's new position, makes you wonder.
Then who did it? Let's say it was the boyfriend.
Why would Jenna still protect him? She's a kid.
She knows her father's innocent, and she believes the system will ultimately work.
She loves Chester.
But he shot her, too.
Or she's feeling very guilty.
The house wasn't tossed, was it? So how did Chester know where to find the jewelry? You're saying Jenna told him? Why not? And when the jewelry wasn't there, he went crazy.
She feels responsible for the deaths of her mother and her brother.
She can't bring herself to admit it.
This is unbelievable.
Think about it, Ron.
Who else could have gotten into the house? Who else could have known where the jewelry was? I would have given her money.
She didn't have to rob her own house.
You didn't have any money, remember? We had enough.
She had everything she wanted.
But did Chester Manning? Fine, have Briscoe pick up Jenna.
No.
Look, I'm sure if Jenna had anything to do with this, it was all that bastard's idea.
I take it you didn't care for Mr.
Manning.
The drugs.
He robbed a grocery store when he was 15, but his parents had it all hushed up.
But I'm sure Jenna stopped seeing him.
What if she hadn't, Mr.
Weber? How would your wife have reacted? She would have locked her in a closet, that's what.
Joyce didn't want If you'll help us, we can work something out for Jenna.
She's not going to jail.
Your office.
3:00, Jack.
We're all glad you finally came to your senses, Mr.
Weber.
Let's get it over with.
What can you do for me? Two counts of man one.
Served consecutively.
What's going on? How many years is that? Thirty.
But he didn't do anything.
That's not the way the jury's gonna see it, Jenna.
This is the best thing.
No, you can't do this.
You have a deal, Mr.
McCoy.
Stop.
If you know something, Jenna, you better tell us now.
Okay.
Fine, let's wrap this up.
No.
Wait.
It's my fault.
He didn't do anything.
Who was it? I told him where my mother hid her jewelry.
Who? Chester.
Okay.
And then what happened? He got mad when it wasn't there.
He was stoned out of his head.
I didn't know he was gonna shoot everyone.
Okay.
We got what we wanted, Jack.
The deal's still in place.
Jenna serves no time.
What's going on? It's okay.
Chester used you.
It's not your fault.
You'll have my motion to dismiss first thing in the morning.
Thanks, Claire.
One more question, Jenna.
Why didn't you just take the jewelry yourself? Obviously you still thought it was in the closet.
Why wouldn't that have been easier than getting Chester involved? Please answer my question, Miss Weber.
Chester wasn't there for the jewelry, was he? He was there to murder your mother.
And you knew about it.
No.
This wasn't a robbery at all.
You wanted your mother dead.
You hired Chester Manning.
The jewelry was just supposed to be his payment.
The police have already picked up your boyfriend.
I have a feeling he's not the type to stick his neck out for you.
I can't believe you wanted your mother dead.
Three out of four.
You can't stand losing.
Can you?
These are their stories.
My stomach hurts.
You've already stayed home twice this week.
I'm not kidding.
It really hurts.
Dr.
Waldstein's got a new medicine for stomachaches.
Only if it comes in bubble gum.
It comes in one of his extra-long needles.
You won't taste a thing.
Guess what, Mom? I think I feel a little bit better now.
Hello? Joyce? We're gonna be late again.
Hello? Oh, my God! Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
Mommy! We're gonna get you help, Jenna.
You're gonna be okay.
Baby, hold on, hold on.
The deceased woman's Joyce Weber, 43.
Her son Billy is 10.
EMS took the daughter over to St.
Vincent's.
It's weird.
No forced entry.
All the windows locked from the inside.
You got a make on a weapon? .
22 shell casings on the floor.
The coroner figures it happened around midnight.
Body positions say they were fast asleep.
Yeah, well, if you got to go Foyer closet was open.
This was on the floor.
It looks like a jewelry box.
Motive, that's a good thing.
Dust it.
Lennie, this is Laura Cochran, Joyce Weber's sister.
She called it in.
I'm sorry.
What brought you here this morning, Mrs.
Cochran? I was gonna walk the boys to school.
Joyce and I alternated days.
I can't believe my son had to see this.
Well, there are specialists that can help.
I can give you a name.
Did anyone tell Ron yet? Was Mr.
Weber usually here when you arrived in the mornings? Unless he's out of town on business.
Joyce didn't mention.
I should be with my son.
Okay.
Here, take this.
We'll be in touch.
Thanks.
Joyce and Billy gone This is gonna kill Ron.
Or vice versa.
My dad, did you find him? We called his office this morning.
He didn't show up.
Oh, my God.
They killed him, too.
They? Whoever did this.
Did you see your father last night? I was out.
I think he was working late.
He had a presentation or something.
Jenna, tell me, do you remember anything about last night? I was sleeping.
The door to the house, do you remember if it was locked? I came home from The Red Onion around 11:00.
I'm sure I locked it.
Why would anyone do this to us? We found a jewelry box on the floor in the hall closet.
It was empty.
My mother's jewelry.
Please, find my dad.
You have to find him.
Fifteen years of marriage, and the only time my husband ever disappeared was after a major blow-out.
You think it was Mr.
Weber? Why not? The wife takes a couple of.
But not sonny.
If Weber wanted the jewels, there are easier ways.
You never heard of somebody staging a break-in? I mean, the guy's still missing.
There's no sign of forced entry.
The family didn't even wake up.
It sure looks like whoever did this had a key.
What about the wife's sister? She let herself in.
Yeah, she also had an apartment full of her husband's business associates until 2:00 a.
m.
The girl was at some preppie bar on First Avenue.
Maybe somebody followed her home.
Check it out.
This is unbelievable.
She was just with us last night.
Is she gonna make it? It looks good.
Thank God.
Were any of you at the bar when she left? Yeah, we were all there.
All of us.
And then Becky and Rod Excuse me.
When Jenna split, was she alone? What's so funny? Well, Chester offered to escort her.
Jenna's mom would have a hernia if she saw Chester at the front door.
That's in bad taste, isn't it? So what? You weren't exactly her mom's favorite? Chester's too mature for her little girl.
Look, I don't understand.
How can we help? Well, we think she might've been followed.
My God.
It could have been any of us.
Excuse me.
Lennie? Thanks.
Mr.
Weber just got home an hour ago.
Rossman broke the news to him.
Says it looks like he didn't get too much sleep last night.
Next month it would have been 18 years.
I can't believe this.
Billy, he was only 10.
Please, I've got to go see Jenna.
We understand, Mr.
Weber.
We just need to ask you a few questions first.
We found an empty jewelry box in your closet floor.
That's right.
It was Joyce's.
Two necklaces and a bracelet.
How long you been drinking, Mr.
Weber? Excuse me? Your eyes, the hands Many's the morning I've had a head like that.
Look, it's not like I'm a drunk or anything.
I just got carried away last night.
All night? Oh, God.
Look.
All I know is I woke up in some diner on Third Avenue near the Parthenon.
And before that? I started at Cabrini's after work.
And then some bar on Second Avenue, near 76th.
And then I had to pick last night.
You own a gun, Mr.
Weber? Of course not.
You think I had something to do with this? Why don't you finish your coffee? You need it.
If he loved his kids that much, he'd have been home to tuck them in.
Yeah.
You tell me you never drank too much and blacked out.
Hey, I missed the whole Carter administration, but I was always home for breakfast.
Check out his story.
Start at Cabrini's.
Weber? Sure, those ad guys keep us in business.
So Weber was in here last night? It's amazing how much that guy can drink.
How late was he here? Well, the whole crew showed up about 7:00.
By 11:30, it was just Weber and Sheila Gordon.
And did he and Sheila leave together? Weber? Are you kidding? He's married.
Like that would be a first? No, I mean Norman Rockwell married.
If I had to hear one more story about his kid's medal in the spelling bee, it'd make me start drinking.
This Sheila Gordon, she works with Weber? Across the street.
Goydos, Kamm Advertising.
You don't think me and Ronnie Come on.
Joyce would kill him.
Not anymore.
That's a bad joke, Detective.
Ronnie and I were co-workers, period.
We started together.
We made V.
P.
Together.
We had a couple of drinks together, and we went to our separate apartments.
Only Ronnie never made it home.
What? He was out drinking all night and passed out in some diner.
I had no idea.
You didn't know he had a problem.
Everybody has problems.
Maybe in the last six months or so he's been drinking a little more than usual.
He say why? It's the nature of the beast.
The agency will send you to Betty Ford twice.
After that, you're on your own.
So he never talked about any troubles at home? Nothing unusual.
They hated Jenna's boyfriend.
Joyce charged too much at Saks.
She worked too late when she should have been home with Billy.
We didn't know she worked.
Nine-to-fiver at the State Liquor Authority.
Look, Detective, I know Ron Weber.
I know he didn't kill his family.
Just like you knew he didn't drink? I think you can leave now.
He's a drunk, and she handles licenses to sell booze.
It's a marriage made in heaven.
One thing about the Liquor Authority, you can always trust them to be straight shooters.
That's a bad joke, Detective.
"Don't mess with Joyce Weber.
" I was going to get that printed on a T-shirt for her birthday.
She was a tough lady, huh? This business, you have to be.
You wouldn't believe some of the offers we get.
You talking about bribes? A liquor license can make or break an establishment.
Since everybody knows on the scruples scale we're one step below the Mexican police Look, if anybody took a bribe around here and Joyce caught wind of it, believe me, they'd be better off in jail.
What about unhappy customers? I'm sure you saw the armed guards at the front door.
Yeah.
So lately, any louder-than-usual complaints? As a matter of fact Metro Bar and Grill.
Mr.
Yentakov had trouble taking no for an answer.
Sergei Yentakov? I remember him from OCCB.
Guy pulled more strings than Jim Henson.
That's why I love this country.
Someone dies and the police actually gives a damn.
Actually, Mr.
Yentakov Sergei.
It was my grandfather's name.
It's a lovely name.
Anyway, Sergei, we understand that you were on a first name basis with Joyce Weber.
OCCB's been tailing Yentakov for three years.
Last week they saw him having lunch with Joyce Weber.
A little arm twisting? Weber said that he offered her 10,000 to change her mind on the license.
The D.
A.
Wanted more.
She was gonna wear a wire to her next meet next Friday.
Very unfortunate what befells Mrs.
Weber.
Yeah, I'm sure you sent flowers, especially after she ruined your investment.
No hard feelings.
Mrs.
Weber did what she had to do.
Yeah.
Except in this country, her decision's supposed to be final.
You're not supposed to offer her money to change her mind.
No, no, no, no, Detective, the wrong way around.
Mrs.
Weber came to me.
For $10,000, license would be mine.
Like I told my wife, "The old country, the new country are not so different after all.
" So, anyone who believes him, raise your right hand.
If I had my stack of Bibles with me, Yentakov would be swearing from here to Kiev.
I think it's obvious what went down.
Somehow he found out that Joyce Weber was the point man in OCCB's sting.
That didn't exactly make his day.
Well, he didn't have to kill her.
All he had to do was not talk to her.
Maybe things are different in the old country.
Point is, we need to find that leak at OCCB.
They're on top of it.
What are you talking about? This is our case.
And that's why you're gonna check out Dr.
Zhivago's story.
Hey, excuse me, but the only witness to their conversation is dead.
Think about it.
If your new hobby is shaking down license applicants, why start with a mobster? Talk to her other rejections.
You don't consider this a waste of time? I consider it covering all bases.
I patented the formula.
Theme interiors, pretty waitresses, short skirts and big smiles.
Called it Long Legs.
Politically incorrect.
I love it.
Yeah, so do people in Atlanta, Durham, Nashville and Miami.
So what happened? Didn't go over so well in New York? We didn't have a chance.
Eight months ago, our application for a liquor license was rejected.
No liquor, no Long Legs.
Thank you, Joyce Weber.
Well, actually, she did me a favor.
You don't like making money? No, I like keeping it.
My major investor in the New York franchise served time for fraud in Philly.
I would never have known if she hadn't been so thorough.
Did Mrs.
Weber ever suggest that there might have been a way to avoid your problems altogether? I'm not following.
Maybe she could've been persuaded to overlook your investor's past.
Say for a substantial cash payment.
You're joking, right? This woman, she squeaked when she walked.
You go to The Culinary Institute, you borrow from your idiot MBA cousin for the down payment, you plan the perfect menu French without the heavy sauces.
And then two months ago, Joyce Weber throws a What do you call those things? A wrecking ball.
That's right.
Let me tell you about this Weber broad, bitch.
You want to elaborate? She tells us, "You girls are a lock.
" Then she has trouble with your investors? She had trouble with our bank account.
We're inadequately capitalized.
With a liquor license, we would have had more capital than we had pate de campagne.
We get 10 grand from idiot cousin number two, but that wasn't good enough.
It's about time you guys looked into her.
Well, she was just doing her job.
Yeah? She called the house once, said something about "overlooking our deficiencies.
" Did you ask her what she meant? I didn't have to ask.
She wanted more money.
Too bad we ran out of idiot cousins.
Who would've thought of putting peanut butter on potatoes? Yeah.
When's your physical? What? Peanut butter, potatoes, it's two of the three major food groups.
Does it make sense to you, eight months ago she's squeaky clean, six months later, she's soliciting bribes? And he's drinking himself into oblivion.
Sounds like money problems to me.
He's a V.
P.
At a major ad agency.
It's got to come along with major bucks.
Well, maybe he was spending it in all the wrong places.
Bookie? Bookie, drugs, women.
Who knows what skeletons he's got in his closet.
But it'll have to wait.
Now this time I'm going for the sausage.
They had two incomes.
Everything should have been fine.
Two kids in private school, it takes its toll.
What's this got to do with anything? We're just trying to get a complete picture, Jenna.
Maybe your dad owed money to somebody.
You mean like a loan shark? Get real.
My sister liked to live well.
Beach house on Fire Island, the lvy Club, the brownstone.
I warned her they should put some away for a rainy day.
Sounds like they spent everything they made.
If they'd put it in a fund, they could've retired.
My dad tried to sell the beach house.
Jenna.
No.
I mean, you're making it sound like he's stupid or something.
He didn't want it in the first place.
They were stuck with a major mortgage? They borrowed against the equity on the brownstone to make the monthly payments.
Debt.
The great motivator.
It's not like we were starving or anything.
Your mom didn't want you to know, Jenna.
Your dad was having trouble at work.
Now why did you go and say that? Don't you see what they're doing? They think Daddy's responsible.
Whatever my mom told you, he had a good job.
He didn't need money.
I've known Weber since we were freshman in college.
Buddies, and now he works for you.
How'd he handle that? Better than I would.
We hear there was some trouble here at work.
The ad game, sometimes it comes down so hard you've got to carry one of those big golf umbrellas.
And Weber left his in his locker? He lost two clients.
He knows how the game's played.
So, what, you saying you fired him? Two clients.
This isn't Alpha Chi anymore.
I gave him six months and tried to keep it hush-hush.
And you weren't successful? I didn't realize that he didn't tell Joyce.
At a dinner party, I mentioned to her how sorry I was.
How was I to know he didn't tell her? I mean, he only had two weeks left.
How'd she handle it? You ever been married? Point taken.
The poor bastard.
Not only is it coming down at work, it's hailing bowling balls at home.
He was talking about pulling a Willy Loman.
You know, he's worth more dead than alive.
You mean insurance? A half mill would have solved everything.
Stupid question, did he have insurance on his wife, too? Any guy with kids and a working wife has insurance.
It's prudent.
I've been there, Mr.
Weber.
Everything just gangs up on you all at once.
It wasn't as bad as it looks.
Money's tight, the bills pile up, you're out of a job.
All of a sudden, the world's a very cold place.
No.
I had three interviews set up.
It's self-fulfilling.
You're desperate.
They smell it.
It's over before you sit down.
I was gonna get something.
Your wife didn't think so.
That's not true.
Why would she start asking for bribes? She lost faith in you.
Twenty years you take care of her, you hit a little dry patch and she can't let you forget what a loser you are.
And the way she went through it, you'd need two jobs just to break even.
I loved her.
I loved my family.
But you let them down, Ron.
You turned into a drunk.
You stopped coming home.
If my wife thought I was such a deadbeat, I'd do the same thing.
What you needed was a major payday.
A pile of insurance money to cure everything, am I right? That's sick.
I didn't kill anybody.
Well, that's not See, you don't really remember what you did.
Why don't you think it over for a few minutes, huh? Anybody check his alibi? Our guys went up and down Second Avenue.
One bartender remembers him coming in around 2:00 a.
m.
The shooting was around midnight.
He left Cabrini's at 11:30.
That gives him plenty of time.
And there's no murder weapon? Probably swimming in the Hudson.
Hey, the guy's right on the edge.
An arrest might just push him over.
Thanks.
Motive just got better.
Weber filed a claim on his wife's insurance two days after she died.
500 thou.
If it was about the insurance money, he wouldn't have gone after the kids.
He was desperate.
Who knows what was going through his head? It's all circumstantial.
I need something a little more tangible.
Circumstantial's good enough for a search.
Let him go.
I'll get a warrant.
Mr.
Weber's expected from lunch shortly.
You could've waited for him.
Hey, the sooner we're finished, the sooner we get to eat.
Hey, Lennie, you think he wears these? Whoa.
What do you want now? Now? Well, now you're under arrest for the murders of William and Joyce Weber And the attempted murder of Jenna Weber.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you do say can and will be It had to happen sooner or later.
How have you been, Margot? Look at my client.
You tell me.
Well, you're certainly off to a good start.
Half mill? It's as good as remand without bail.
Well, he can't be that broke.
He afforded you.
He plays golf with one of the lawyers in my firm.
I'm a favor.
Jack, this is Margot Bell.
She'll be representing Weber.
Always the lucky one.
At least you finally admit it.
Am I missing something here? Margot replaced me on the Review.
It wasn't luck, Claire.
You were busy running around with what's -his-name instead of cramming for Property.
What can I say? What's -his-name was a better time than the rule against perpetuities.
Who isn't? So, Margot, I assume this is more than a remember-the-good-old days.
I'm sorry.
How often do I get to mix business with pleasure? Weber swears he didn't do it.
And you believe him? I was thinking more like you give a little, I give a little.
The best I can do is drop the request for the death penalty.
That's exactly what I'm talking about.
We work together, we change the world.
I'll talk to him.
What do a sperm cell and a lawyer have in common? They both have a one-in-a-million chance of becoming a human being.
There's a law.
You pass the bar, you got to stop telling lawyer jokes.
Why? Who better knows the truth? Yeah.
We're contentious, arrogant, too smart for our own goods, anal, expensive, theoretical, knee deep in minutiae.
Not exactly the life we thought we were getting into.
You ever think about quitting? Yeah, right.
We'll open a flower shop.
Why not? You don't have to lie to suspects, and I don't have to represent guys like Weber.
I'm allergic, and neither one of us knows how to read a balance sheet.
We'll cut a deal on Weber, and then we'll both take a vacation.
Would that it were so, Mr.
Weber's not interested.
I want the SOB convicted.
Who's representing him? Margot Bell.
I went to law school with her.
She any good? She's smart enough to know her client's guilty.
Smart enough to parade everyone in his life through the courtroom to say what a devoted family man he is.
He lost his job.
He turned into a drunk.
He had insurance on his wife.
That explains the wife, not the kids.
Jury doesn't understand it, they don't believe it.
How about John List? He killed his family.
The jury didn't have any trouble convicting him.
No.
They had a busload of experts explaining why he did it.
We'll get our own busload.
If Weber doesn't claim insanity, our shrinks can't even talk to him.
Yes, but if she explains Weber to us, we can explain him to the jury.
Lf, if, if They're called family annihilators.
They often have an over-developed sense of family values.
The problem is, rather than serving as a protective force, it becomes destructive.
"I love you so much, I have to kill you.
" It's hard to believe.
Not when you see imminent ruin.
Like losing your job? He's that depressed, why wouldn't he just kill himself? He probably thought about it.
But family annihilators typically exaggerate the importance of their role in the family.
"Without me, the family would be nothing.
" Mr.
Weber seems to fit the profile.
I want you to tell that to the jury.
Jack, I haven't examined him.
I can only speak in hypotheticals.
Weber will give specifics.
There's no way Margot will put him on the stand.
I am on very shaky ground here.
At best, it's speculation.
I can't say for sure.
You don't have to.
Just say it's possible.
This is absurd.
Only the defense can put the defendant's sanity at issue.
We're not saying he's insane.
We're saying he fits the profile of a family annihilator.
I don't see the problem here, Miss Bell.
You can introduce expert testimony as rebuttal evidence.
With all due respect, we're not talking about O.
J.
Here.
My client can hardly afford my bills.
That's not an issue.
Guess again, Mr.
McCoy.
The Sixth Amendment provides Right to counsel, which he's got.
No, he's entitled to effective counsel.
How can I possibly be effective when my ability to introduce evidence is limited by my client's financial straits? That shouldn't affect the State's ability to make its case.
This isn't a bullfight, Mr.
McCoy.
The picadors don't get to stab the defendant before the matador enters the ring.
All I'm asking for is an even playing field, Your Honor.
Is there any precedent? The Supreme Court in Ake v.
Oklahoma held that a State is required to provide the Defense with a psychiatric expert When he's pleading insanity.
That decision was never expanded to all expert testimony.
It wasn't specifically limited, either.
Your Honor We all want a fair trial, Mr.
McCoy.
You've got your shrink, Miss Bell, at State's expense.
I don't know why I didn't wake up.
I just didn't.
But you're sure you locked the door before you went to sleep? I usually do.
I don't know.
Maybe I forgot that night.
That isn't what you told the police, is it? My brother's dead, and my mother's dead, and my father is on trial.
Please answer the question.
No, that's not what I told them.
To your knowledge, who had keys to your brownstone? Me, my dad, my mother and my aunt.
Did your dad ever hit your mother? He would never.
Did they fight? No more than any of my friends' parents.
I can't believe that What, Jenna? I can't believe they're doing this to him.
Park Dietz, the country's leading forensic psychiatrist, identified a category of murderers he called "family annihilators.
" Their killings are usually preceded by a major economic loss.
Like losing a job? Exactly.
They feel their middle-class lifestyle slipping away.
Often they drink heavily and become suicidal themselves.
Are there similarities among these family annihilators? The prototype is a white male in his 40s, excessively devoted to his family, especially his children.
He's a churchgoing man, but not overly devout.
Acquaintances describe him as sweet, nice, gentle.
He's definitely not abusive.
Would you say Mr.
Weber fit that profile? From the information available to me, yes.
A nice guy who loves his kids and goes to church.
I wonder how many family annihilators there are in this courtroom.
These qualities are all exaggerated.
An annihilator has a difficult time distinguishing between himself and his loved ones.
Did you examine the defendant, Doctor? No.
So, you're willing to send him to prison because of some article you read in Psychology Today? Objection.
Withdrawn.
No more questions.
Basically, you could squeeze into Dr.
Olivet's paradigm.
So, Doctor, you're saying that this so-called family annihilator doesn't exist? Not at all.
There are between 15 and 50 murders like this every year.
I'm just saying that Dr.
Olivet's methodology was incorrect.
She was given a suspect's history and then she paralleled it with the prototype.
And what is the correct methodology? Look at the circumstances of the crime first: The method, time and location of killing.
A family annihilator leaves his mark all over a crime scene.
If there is evidence that the murder was committed by a husband, then, and only then, should you see if he fits the prototype.
And did the crime scene here suggest that a family annihilator had committed these murders? On the contrary, he left a survivor.
The whole point is to kill your entire family.
Is it possible Mr.
Weber didn't know his daughter was still alive? I suppose.
Is there anything else about the crime scene to suggest that these murders weren't committed by Mr.
Weber? I doubt very much that an individual that emotionally devastated would have the wherewithal to stage a robbery.
But it's been known to happen.
On rare occasions, yes.
It's very simple, Mr.
McCoy.
As a professor of mine used to tell me repeatedly, "All poodles are dogs, but not all dogs are poodles.
" Nothing like the battle of the experts.
Yeah.
What about the girl? She hurt.
She says maybe she didn't lock the door after all.
Which opens the door for eight million other suspects.
Well, the most important one takes the stand tomorrow.
Who, Weber? I don't believe it.
Why not? It's a tie game.
Now he can cry himself into an acquittal.
Was the night of the murders the first time you stayed out all night? No.
Joyce would tell the kids that I worked late and left for the office early.
Please tell us where you were on the night of the murders.
I was drinking at Cabrini's until maybe 11:00, and then I don't remember.
And was this the first time you had an alcoholic blackout? No.
But you're quite sure you didn't go home that night? Yes.
And you're quite sure you didn't murder your wife and son? Yes.
I loved them more than I I never even held a gun.
You were so drunk you can't remember where you were, yet you're sure you never went home.
I never wanted my children to see me like that.
If they had, you'd have to kill them? Objection.
Sustained.
The jewelry that was supposed to be in a box in your closet was actually in your office, isn't that true? Yes.
Did you ever tell that to the police? I was gonna sell it.
We needed the money.
I was embarrassed.
So you staged a robbery? No.
You must've been pretty desperate, Mr.
Weber.
The breadwinner in the family suddenly coming home with no money.
Must have been humiliating.
But now you don't have that problem.
Your wife and your son will never know that you couldn't cut it in business.
They'll never know that you were going to sell your house.
Actually, you did them a favor.
Isn't that right? No.
I didn't kill them.
I would never kill Damn, Jack, even I felt sorry for him.
But now you see him as a murderer, right? Yeah, I suppose.
And I suppose the jury will, too.
Jack.
I owe you.
Well, maybe not.
Were we sitting in the same courtroom? He sure as hell looked guilty to me.
To me, too.
And that's the problem.
You were all over him, Jack.
He should have broken down.
He did.
No.
I mean, he should have confessed under that much pressure.
That's the typical response for a family annihilator.
Why the hell didn't you tell me this before? Because you told me he would never take the stand.
So you're changing your opinion? I'm not saying he's innocent.
I'm just qualifying my opinion.
Look, Jack, I told you I was on shaky ground at the start of this.
Well, I guess she's not as expert as we thought she was.
It's not Liz's fault.
She never interviewed Weber.
Then she should have kept her mouth shut.
I called her to the stand, Adam.
Now you'll have to recall her.
The jury should find that enlightening.
She didn't change her opinion.
She just supplemented it.
It's not necessarily exculpatory.
Right.
If the jury happens to fall asleep while she's testifying.
And besides, don't you think Weber's expert saw the same thing Olivet did? Of course he did.
That's why you're gonna have to plea this out.
Weber already turned down a deal.
Because you didn't offer him man one.
Adam Offer it and move on! A deal, now? After Olivet's latest pronouncement from the mount, Mr.
Weber will be free to kill whoever he wants.
Not necessarily.
You're talking to me, Claire.
I've actually been to a couple of trials, remember? It's kind of ironic.
I was just starting to feel good about the system.
You know, the good guys win and all that.
We were thinking maybe he'd buy two counts of man one.
You wanna get me disbarred? Besides, you know, maybe the SOB didn't do it.
Wouldn't that be a kick in the butt? Tell you what, that flower shop's looking real good right about now.
There is an alternative.
Like? Like finding out what the truth actually is.
Let Olivet interview Weber.
If he confesses, take the deal.
And if he doesn't? We won't use anything he says against him in court.
You'll have your acquittal.
That's not putting the poker chips away, Claire.
That's doubling the bet.
What scares me most is what's gonna happen to Jenna.
She's living with your wife's sister.
If I'm convicted, she'll always think It would be easier if you tried to explain to her why.
What? Why all you people are framing me? Your daughter may understand more than you think.
It may be the best thing for both of you.
I'm fighting for my life here, for my daughter's life.
What do you mean? She had trouble with her boyfriend, she came to me.
Trouble with homework, me.
Trouble with Joyce I was always there to make things right.
Your daughter had trouble with your wife? She was a teenager.
I protected her.
I gave her a good home, private schools, anything she wanted.
When did you start to feel helpless? What do you want from me? You felt guilt.
You felt shame.
You saw ruin and were powerless to stop it.
You tried to hide it with alcohol, but that didn't work.
All right.
I'm a failure.
I'm a spineless drunk who can't take care of his family.
I couldn't handle it.
Only I didn't kill them.
He's a textbook case but for the fact that he refuses to confess.
So you're saying he didn't do it? I'm saying that I can't be sure.
But he was drunk.
Is it just possible he didn't remember? It's a possibility.
You know, he did say something curious about his wife and his daughter, that he was always there to make things right.
So they fought.
What teenage daughter doesn't fight with her mother? Yeah, but if it was more than normal fighting, that may explain why Jenna says she didn't see anything.
He protected her, so she's protecting him.
Especially if he was so drunk that he didn't even know what he was doing.
So let's talk to her.
I doubt she'll tell you the truth.
But maybe her aunt will.
This is crazy.
Ron tried to kill Jenna, too.
Why would she want him to get away with it? She's scared.
She's embarrassed.
She knows he's ill.
It could be anything.
How did Jenna get along with Joyce? Like any mother and daughter.
They fought, but Jenna loved her.
I can't believe she would lie to protect him.
We're just trying to get a sense of the family dynamic, Mrs.
Cochran.
It could help us to convince Jenna.
Joyce ran the house.
When the kids needed it, she disciplined them.
She was strong.
Ron, he wanted to be the nice guy, the kids' favorite.
Whatever anybody wanted.
What did Joyce and Jenna fight about? It was about that boyfriend of hers, mostly.
Joyce didn't approve of him? He was trouble.
school, and he was expelled.
Always in trouble with the cops, drugs and things like that.
But Jenna stopped seeing him.
Talk to me, Chester.
So I went out with Jenna a couple of times, what's that got to do with anything? So how did that make you feel when she cut you off? The river's full of trout.
Well, tell me, lover boy, why'd they can you at that expensive school? I'm not the academic type.
Yeah, well, according to this, you were suspected of dealing.
Suspected, yeah.
And what about your juvie record, Chester? That's sealed.
Well, we talked to the arresting officer.
Armed robbery.
Yeah, I was a kid.
Sixteen.
You know what I'm thinking, Chester? I'm thinking that maybe you thought you'd help yourself to Mrs.
Weber's jewelry.
Really? Now why would I do a thing like that? Because you got to know how to read to check out the help wanteds.
Only you couldn't find anything.
So you got pissed off, you decided to take it out on the Weber family.
Don't I get a lawyer or something? I'll bring you the Yellow Pages.
They got pictures.
I'll call his parents.
Don't bother.
You want us to let him go? Unfortunately, stupid's not against the law.
It sure adds up to reasonable doubt, though.
Jack? Do you think Weber is innocent? Or do you think we're just gonna have a tougher time proving that he's guilty? I'm impressed.
I never thought you distinguished between the two.
Right.
Hang 'Em High McCoy.
Get off it, Jack.
You're the one who's always talking about the game.
You're the one hell-bent on winning.
If I'm convinced that the defendant is guilty.
But look how easy it is to be convinced, or should I say deluded? How many times do we win just because the defense missed something? You never answered my question about Weber.
Chester Manning is not the most upstanding citizen I've come across.
Add that to Olivet's new position, makes you wonder.
Then who did it? Let's say it was the boyfriend.
Why would Jenna still protect him? She's a kid.
She knows her father's innocent, and she believes the system will ultimately work.
She loves Chester.
But he shot her, too.
Or she's feeling very guilty.
The house wasn't tossed, was it? So how did Chester know where to find the jewelry? You're saying Jenna told him? Why not? And when the jewelry wasn't there, he went crazy.
She feels responsible for the deaths of her mother and her brother.
She can't bring herself to admit it.
This is unbelievable.
Think about it, Ron.
Who else could have gotten into the house? Who else could have known where the jewelry was? I would have given her money.
She didn't have to rob her own house.
You didn't have any money, remember? We had enough.
She had everything she wanted.
But did Chester Manning? Fine, have Briscoe pick up Jenna.
No.
Look, I'm sure if Jenna had anything to do with this, it was all that bastard's idea.
I take it you didn't care for Mr.
Manning.
The drugs.
He robbed a grocery store when he was 15, but his parents had it all hushed up.
But I'm sure Jenna stopped seeing him.
What if she hadn't, Mr.
Weber? How would your wife have reacted? She would have locked her in a closet, that's what.
Joyce didn't want If you'll help us, we can work something out for Jenna.
She's not going to jail.
Your office.
3:00, Jack.
We're all glad you finally came to your senses, Mr.
Weber.
Let's get it over with.
What can you do for me? Two counts of man one.
Served consecutively.
What's going on? How many years is that? Thirty.
But he didn't do anything.
That's not the way the jury's gonna see it, Jenna.
This is the best thing.
No, you can't do this.
You have a deal, Mr.
McCoy.
Stop.
If you know something, Jenna, you better tell us now.
Okay.
Fine, let's wrap this up.
No.
Wait.
It's my fault.
He didn't do anything.
Who was it? I told him where my mother hid her jewelry.
Who? Chester.
Okay.
And then what happened? He got mad when it wasn't there.
He was stoned out of his head.
I didn't know he was gonna shoot everyone.
Okay.
We got what we wanted, Jack.
The deal's still in place.
Jenna serves no time.
What's going on? It's okay.
Chester used you.
It's not your fault.
You'll have my motion to dismiss first thing in the morning.
Thanks, Claire.
One more question, Jenna.
Why didn't you just take the jewelry yourself? Obviously you still thought it was in the closet.
Why wouldn't that have been easier than getting Chester involved? Please answer my question, Miss Weber.
Chester wasn't there for the jewelry, was he? He was there to murder your mother.
And you knew about it.
No.
This wasn't a robbery at all.
You wanted your mother dead.
You hired Chester Manning.
The jewelry was just supposed to be his payment.
The police have already picked up your boyfriend.
I have a feeling he's not the type to stick his neck out for you.
I can't believe you wanted your mother dead.
Three out of four.
You can't stand losing.
Can you?