Law & Order (1990) s09e02 Episode Script
DWB
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.
DAVID: If it's got two heads, then we throw it back.
We throw everything back.
You don't actually think we're gonna eat anything that comes out of there.
(CHUCKLES) Well, then, what's the point? You'd rather be having pancakes with your in-laws? It's a sport, David.
It's like flirting.
Well, listen, maybe you throw everything back.
What are you doing? Ah, I'm thirsty.
Oh, jeez.
You got your cell phone? Yeah.
Why? Call 911.
Oh, God.
He was found over there.
The blood trail goes back along here.
We found his watch right there.
Pieces of his shirt here.
This is where it starts.
About a quarter mile.
Tire prints? We're working on it.
Oh, great.
Who invited them? Somebody at the hospital must've dropped a dime.
You better get used to having them around.
You got the watch? An old Bulova.
when he took a licking.
Thanks.
SUMMERS: The scalp at the back of his head was torn off.
He has deep abrasions all the way down his back.
From being dragged.
Uh-huh.
I found fibers imbedded in these ligature wounds around the ankles.
A copolymer of adipic acid and hexamethylene-diamine.
Something the space shuttle brought home? Nylon rope.
Ten cents a yard at any hardware store.
What's this on his hands? Paint? Yes.
And it was on his pants, around the knees.
White reflective paint.
The same grade used for road work.
How long does it take to dry? Mmm, 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the humidity and the road surface.
VAN BUREN: Broken left cheekbone, fractured skull, two cracked ribs, spiral fracture of the wrist, ruptured bladder Some party, huh? You run his prints? No hits.
I thought for sure.
He's got a scar on his right side.
Could be a knife wound.
Or he had his appendix out.
Anyway, we sent him down to Missing Persons.
Well, hurry up and give him a name.
(PHONE RINGING) Briscoe.
Yeah, hang on.
Lieutenant Van Buren.
Uh, I'll be right there.
The party's just getting started.
What could possibly have a higher priority than a hate crime? If I have to call up the Mayor again and stir up the pot Let's not jump to conclusions.
We don't know what kind of crime it is yet.
DEMPSEY: A black man was beaten to a bloody pulp and dragged a quarter of a mile behind a vehicle over a dirt road.
You call that a love crime? I want assurances that Lieutenant Van Buren will get all the man power she needs.
All she has to do is pick up the phone.
In Jasper, Texas, they had armed black people marching in the streets.
I wouldn't suggest that anyone do that, Reverend Dempsey.
In this city, we arrest people who carry firearms in public.
You just arrest the crackers that killed this brother.
We put these stripes down just after 1:00, Saturday night.
Now, if you could only get people to drive in between 'em.
Detectives.
I got a left partial palm print here, and a full palm print there.
Looks like a winner.
Let's get some people down here, start a canvass.
I couldn't hear anything.
I was sleeping.
I took my hearing aid out.
How about you, ma'am? All I could hear was her snoring.
Every time she has a cocktail after 10:00, she snores.
It's not that.
It's that air conditioning.
She turns it up so it's like an icebox.
You'd think we owned stock in Con Ed.
Can you think of anybody who might have been out on the street late Saturday night? Like, maybe one of your neighbors walks his dog? Uh, there's a black man always on the corner.
He cleans windshields, he sweeps up.
Oh, uh, what's his name? Raymond.
His nickname is Ray-Ray.
Oh, right.
Ray-Ray.
Nobody on the corner like that today.
Because he's in the hospital.
He tried to wash someone's windshield.
The driver shot him in the foot.
BRISCOE: So last Saturday night, you were working the corner of 95th and Second? Who said that? Mr.
Davis, you're not in any trouble.
We just want to know if you saw anything unusual on 95th.
I don't know.
Like what? Like a fight.
One of the guys involved was a black man, mid-forties, about 5'10", wearing light gray pants and a blue shirt.
Uh-uh.
I ain't seen nothing like that.
Maybe you'd be more comfortable talking to us in private.
I ain't talking to you.
I didn't see no beating.
Just leave me alone.
You're not under arrest, Mr.
Davis.
You're here as a witness.
I didn't witness anything, I keep telling them.
They think you're holding back.
And they're usually right about these things.
Well, I ain't telling them nothing.
Right.
We'll catch up on our reading.
(DOOR CLOSES) They pulled this brother out of his car, and they pushed him down on the ground, they hit him some, threw him against the car.
Who's they? White dudes.
Two of 'em.
Would you recognize them? I ain't get any kind of look at their faces.
But they had on jeans and T-shirts.
What kind of car? Cutlass.
Gold, maybe champagne.
Vinyl top.
Those white boys were wailing on the brother.
What happened after that? Don't know.
I just went about my business.
Can I go now? Soon as we write up your statement.
Oh, no, no, no, no.
See, I told you, but I ain't telling nobody else.
I don't want no trouble with the man.
Oh, you don't have to worry, Mr.
Davis.
In this house, I'm the man.
Profaci will take his statement.
You two find that Cutlass.
The Parking Violations Bureau? Great.
The first circle of hell.
They hooked it up Monday morning.
McHENRY: The license plates were gone.
I haven't run the vehicle ID number through the DMV yet.
Anybody been through it yet? Yeah.
I found a duffel bag full of gold bars in the trunk.
I'll be retiring next week.
Hey, Lennie Westchester Auxiliary Police.
This guy was a part-time cop.
Temporary ID, Floyd Michaels.
Now he has a name.
Yeah.
Here's the rest of the Michaels family.
He worked in Westchester till 12:00.
And when he wasn't home by 3:00, I called.
They said he left.
How long had he had the job? MRS.
MICHAELS: A month.
He only worked there on weekends.
He had a regular job driving a delivery truck.
BRISCOE: He usually come straight home? Why wouldn't he? It's just a question.
Let me tell you something, Detective.
Sunday morning, I went to the police station on Lexington.
They said Floyd wasn't missing till he'd been gone a day.
They said, "Come back on Monday.
" On Monday, this white policeman told me that Floyd was probably holed up with some ho, or messed up on crack.
He told me, "Come back in a couple of days.
"He'll probably come home when he got hungry for some home cooking.
" So, nothing is ever just a question.
Now, I want my husband's body back today! We found a broken fingernail on the front seat of the car, and corresponding marks on the upholstery.
The guy was hanging on when they pulled him out.
We tried to start the car.
Battery was out ofjuice.
Worn alternator belt.
So, Michaels couldn't get his car going.
A sitting duck.
JACKSON: The man kept his car spanking clean.
This was under the front seat.
Scented soap.
Lavender candle.
Maybe Michaels went to the East Side to take a bath.
Fabienne of Paris.
One of those door-to-door outfits.
Name of the sales rep's on the receipt.
It gets to be 2:00, a man knows he's got an angry woman waiting at home.
A bottle of perfume just might get him past the front door.
So, Michaels bought the bath soap and the scented candle for his wife? Mmm, yes, sir.
That's what he said.
Except he didn't exactly hurry home.
BRISCOE: You wouldn't be covering up for a good customer, would you, Mr.
Cutty? Oh, no, sir, no, sir.
Floyd had two beers, and he left.
He wasn't looking for trouble.
He left by himself? With Artie Dickson.
Floyd was gonna help him flag down a cab.
I don't know how long we waited for a cab.
But after a while, Michaels said he'd drive me home.
BRISCOE: And you live on East 95th? For the last 47 years.
You know, I told Michaels which way to go, but, uh, he wasn't paying attention.
Uh, we ended up driving around the block a couple of times.
The bartender said you weren't too steady on your feet.
Well, that's because I got bad knees.
Michaels help you up the stairs to your apartment? Uh, because of my knees, you see.
That Michaels was a nice young man.
I'm telling you, you know, he had children and everything.
You see anyone hanging around outside? Uh, no, can't say that I did.
Anyone in a parked car? Uh, no, not parked.
But you saw someone in a car.
Well, Michaels thought somebody was following us.
The second time we came around the block, he said a car pulled out from across the, uh, deli.
BRISCOE: What deli? Uh, on 94th near Lex.
Followed us till we crossed Second.
Either one of you catch the make of the car? The license plate number? Uh, Michaels said it was a red Pontiac.
Sporty.
You see who was driving? Well, I didn't see the car myself I was resting my eyes.
I guess I should've paid more attention to how Michaels was driving, you know? He was a nice young man, that Michaels.
Nice young man.
It was parked across the street.
A red Pontiac Firebird, with two white guys.
My dad saw it first.
Why? He like red cars? (CHUCKLES) This one was staking out my store.
We had eight robberies in the neighborhood this month.
You get a license plate number? New Jersey plates.
I called the cops.
What'd they do for you? Nothing.
They came.
The car was gone.
They said they got three reports that night for a suspicious red Pontiac.
They bought two bananas and a yogurt.
Tough cops.
Guess we're going to Jersey.
So, what do you guys want to talk to Charlie about? Mrs.
Coffey, does your son still own a red Pontiac Firebird, license plate Yeah.
Was he driving it Saturday night? I doubt it.
Why is that? Because Charlie got arrested in the city for drugs last March, and now he's doing six months in Rikers, on account of his lard-ass Legal Aid lawyer never filed an appeal.
Who's driving his car now? Nobody.
When the cops arrested Charlie, they took his car.
And now it's sitting in a police garage, and it's gonna cost me You New York cops, you got some nerve! You said license plate New Jersey.
That's what we said.
I can't seem to locate that vehicle right now.
Look, either it's here or it's not.
I can't locate it.
Try tomorrow.
Somebody already claim it? No, I didn't say that.
So, what, you lost it? Look, I just can't locate it.
Give me till tomorrow.
Tomorrow's too late.
What's the deal, Fenwick? You lend it to the in-laws? Look, fellas, you gotta cover me on this.
It was borrowed, off the books, by the Neighborhood Stabilization Unit for patrol duty.
The car was being used as an undercover vehicle by some officers of the Neighborhood Stabilization Unit to stake out potential robbery targets on the East Side.
This is common practice, to commandeer cars seized as evidence? You asking me off the record? Where's the car now? It's missing.
Do we know which officers had access to it that night? There's four names.
Fratelli and Carlson, Dietrich and Sawchuck.
All patrolmen in the 21.
What do their files say? Two of them have reprimands by the Review Board for excessive force.
It comes with the territory.
You excusing them? No.
But there's no hard evidence connecting any of them to Mr.
Michaels.
I I'm just hoping we took a wrong turn here.
So am I.
You have an eyewitness to the attack? Come on, Ray-Ray.
If you see somebody you like in there, send up a flare.
Something about all these guys.
They're all so damn well-groomed.
Here.
This one here.
Yeah, I remember this guy.
From where? He gave me a ticket for obstructing traffic.
He's a cop.
Hey, that's what's with all these guys.
They're cops, huh? And those two white boys Saturday night were cops, too.
Is that who they was? Don't worry about that.
(STAMMERING) I don't recognize nobody.
Mr.
Davis Uh-uh.
I ain't never seen them.
All right, Mr.
Davis.
The officer will fix you up with some lunch.
You mixed our suspects in with photos of other cops? Hey, try finding 20 clean-cut white guys in the mug books.
CURTIS: Hey, LT, it was a long shot he was gonna pick 'em out anyway.
You don't tell, I won't.
BRISCOE: We've got an eyewitness, Fratelli.
He saw two guys bouncing Michaels off the pavement at East 95th.
That'd be you and your partner, Carlson.
It wasn't us.
You're so confident this witness can make my man, put him in a line-up.
Oh, his turn will come soon enough.
Carlson's going first.
So, if you have an explanation for what happened, now's the time to catch us in a good mood.
Because once IA takes over We'll roll right over you, Fratelli.
Right about now, Carlson, they should be bringing Fratelli into the line-up.
Unless, of course, he already gave it up.
There's nothing to give up.
We didn't do it.
Well, you and Fratelli had the Pontiac, right? Yeah.
We flipped it back to impound on Friday.
Well, then why can't they find it, Carlson? Well, how the hell should I know? (CHUCKLES) Those bozos couldn't find their ass with both hands and a flashlight.
We knocked off at 12:00.
Sawchuck went home, I stayed to do reports.
Did you see Fratelli and Carlson? Yeah, outside the station house, around 2:00.
Hey, guys, you're barking up the wrong coconut tree.
Well, then, Officer Dietrich, what do you suppose happened to Mr.
Michaels? He ran into some wrong people, but it wasn't cops.
So, screw your witness.
There's only two ways to go, Sawchuck.
Either you and your partner Dietrich did Michaels No.
No way.
I was home.
You ask my wife.
Or you know who did.
CURTIS: We're gonna run all you guys through the line-up.
Once a witness points a finger, that's it.
Game over.
VARDEN: Your lack of cooperation will be duly noted along with this reprimand for excessive force.
Hey, I don't work for the rat squad.
You won't be working for anybody, pal.
They're gonna bounce you.
I don't care.
I got 15 years in.
You think you're walking out of here with your pension? I just got off the phone with the Commissioner's office.
Kiss your bennies goodbye.
They're bluffing.
The union wouldn't let it go.
The union's already on board.
We're all taking this very seriously.
This is gonna go hard on your family, Sawchuck.
What do you got, three kids? My client had nothing to do with Mr.
Michaels' death, but he'll tell you what he knows.
He keeps his job and his benefits.
No problem here.
(EXHALES) Me and my wife drove up to Carlson's farm Sunday afternoon for a barbecue.
Fratelli was already there.
Him and Carlson told me they had a problem with the Pontiac.
What exactly did they say? They told me a traffic stop went bad.
They had trouble with a collar, so they had to get rid of the car.
VAN BUREN: They didn't give you any more details than that? No.
And I didn't ask.
I just wanted to get the hell out of there.
That's not good enough.
We're gonna need the car.
It's on Carlson's farm.
Did you see it? Yeah.
Yeah, I saw it.
Back seat was covered with blood.
Hell of a place for a barbecue.
Back seat's missing.
Where's the local dump? The back seat and floor mats were in the Ellenville dump, medium to well-done.
Forensics couldn't lift any fluids or fibers.
Start filling out arrest warrants.
Nylon fibers were found on the underside of the rear bumper.
Same chemical make-up as the rope fibers on Michaels' feet.
Bring 'em in.
We're hooking you up for murder, Fratelli.
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 a lawyer.
If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to you.
But, then, you know all that, don't you, Carlson? The U.
S.
Attorney would actually be doing you a favor.
You'd have to make this case, and worry about your good relations with the Police Department.
The U.
S.
Attorney's Office has no such concern.
You also have no appropriate penalty for what these cops did.
Granted, they wouldn't be up for the death penalty.
But Federal law has stiffer sentences for anybody who helped them cover up.
Since when is there a cover-up? You already found one officer who kept his mouth shut.
And now, Officer Sawchuck is cooperating.
The blue wall isn't just one brick.
We have the arsenal to take on the Police Department.
The Brooklyn D.
A.
Wisely let us proceed in the Louima case, and we'll probably be asked to take over the Jasper, Texas case.
We're not in Texas, we're not in Brooklyn.
Thank the U.
S.
Attorney for his offer.
We'll do our own laundry.
Good day.
How can a traffic stop go this bad? CARMICHAEL: We have a more immediate problem.
Before I came in, I was on the phone with the Ellenville dump.
They close at noon on Sundays.
Sawchuck said he saw the bloody back seat at Carlson's farm later, around 3:00.
Maybe Carlson took the seat to the dump some other day.
The receipt for the dumping fee was dated for that Sunday.
Sawchuck is lying.
What was his alibi for the time of the murder? He said he was with his wife.
Gil was home by 12:30 Saturday night.
Don't you believe him? Your husband lied about what he saw at Carlson's farm on Sunday.
We believe he knows more than what he's told us.
He had nothing to do with killing that poor man.
JACK: His story just doesn't hold up.
He'll have to take his chances with Carlson and Fratelli.
No! That is not fair.
He's not like them.
Then convince us.
Gil's partner, Frank Dietrich, he told him what happened.
When we got to the farm Sunday, Dietrich was already there with Carlson and Fratelli.
On the way home, Gil told me what Dietrich said.
He told me Dietrich was involved.
How involved? Gil didn't say.
He was sick over it.
He didn't want to rat out his partner.
(DOOR OPENING) Who are you? We're from the District Attorney's Office.
You need to tell us what your partner said to you.
Get out.
I'll subpoena you before the Grand Jury.
I don't give a damn.
Refuse to answer, I'll have you thrown in jail.
Officer Dietrich has already told the investigators everything he knows.
Yeah, he alibied Carlson and Fratelli.
He was a lot more forthcoming with his partner.
Officer Sawchuck amended his statement.
He said that you told him that Officers Fratelli and Carlson beat and killed Mr.
Michaels.
That you provided details which made him believe you witnessed some of those events and helped destroy evidence.
And of course, you're buying Sawchuck's latest concoction.
We (DOOR OPENS) We believe him to be an honest cop trying to do the honorable thing.
We think a jury will agree.
My client will tell you what he knows.
In return, he wants immunity from state and federal criminal prosecution, and from any departmental sanctions.
The U.
S.
Attorney has no problem with immunity.
There's no deal unless the District Attorney gets on board as well.
Until I know exactly what your client's role was, I Sawchuck's testimony only takes you so far.
You want direct testimony against Carlson and Fratelli, you're gonna have to deal with my guy.
All right, you have a deal.
(CLEARS THROAT) Early Sunday morning, around 2:00 (SIGHS) I saw Carlson and Fratelli pull up in the red Firebird.
They had a male black cuffed in the back seat.
He didn't look good.
They said he resisted arrest.
They were gonna teach him a lesson I told them, "Just book the guy and forget about it.
" Carlson said they were gonna break him.
What does that mean? I didn't think they were gonna kill the guy.
They asked me if I wanted to come along.
I said no.
They drove off.
And the next day at Carlson's farm? DIETRICH: I got there early.
They showed me what they did with the car.
They wanted me to talk to Sawchuck, in case anybody asked about it.
Why did they stop Mr.
Michaels in the first place? (EXHALES DEEPLY) They profiled him.
He was in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time.
Wrong skin tone.
No way, no how do we condone racial profiling, Ms.
Carmichael.
I tell my people it's illegal and won't be tolerated.
Well, the message isn't getting through.
The Civilian Review Board told me they get a lot of complaints about your precinct.
Nobody likes getting pulled over by the police.
But we don't target minorities, we target criminals.
Well, some of your officers seem to think they're one in the same.
From what I see here, most of the unsubstantiated traffic stops for drug and burglary investigations were of African-Americans and Hispanics.
Ms.
Carmichael, it's a fact of life in this city.
Most of your underprivileged, your uneducated, your criminal underclass, they're people of color.
So, it follows every person of color is a suspect? I was wrong, Lieutenant.
Your message is getting through loud and clear.
Two officers have courageously come forward with essential information.
They put decency and law above misplaced loyalty.
Their actions firmly put to rest the myth of the blue wall of silence.
The Mayor has issued a directive to every officer with information about this case to follow their brave example.
The Mayor is also deeply concerned about complaints of racial profiling by officers throughout the five boroughs.
He has directed the Civilian Review Should come as a great comfort to the Michaels family.
Mayor's got himself a new cause.
If the 21 is any indication, he's got his work cut out.
It's bad enough profiling is rampant there, most of the profile stops were done by our star witness.
Officer Dietrich.
Carlson and Fratelli picked up their bad habits from him.
He was their training officer when they joined the Neighborhood Stabilization Unit.
I'm liking Dietrich less and less.
The jury doesn't have to like him to believe him.
I bought a pig in a poke.
I don't want this blowing up in my face when he gets on the stand.
Officer Dietrich had eight complaints for excessive force, They're just allegations.
The Review Board found no basis.
And these? This is departmental reprimands.
It's Mickey Mouse stuff.
Failure to report an arrest, unauthorized sick days.
What is this? That is an application for early retirement with full disability for job-related stress.
Wait"1994.
" What happened? He changed his mind? There was a hearing.
The application was denied.
Dietrich sued the city to retire on full disability.
Because he was stressed? Because, in the words of his psychiatrist, "He sustained seriously disabling psychiatric symptomatology "during the course of his duties.
" What duties were those? From 1989 to '93, he worked in an anti-drug unit in the Bronx.
He claims, as a result, he suffered from rage and depression.
My old man knew something about that.
Never occurred to him to sue the city.
Well, did your father feel like killing people? Dietrich told his psychiatrist he wanted to, "Burn all the niggers and spics in the Bronx.
" And that's only one of his violent fantasies.
What's he doing still in uniform? The city decided he was malingering.
They called him a "Narcissistic, self-indulgent, emotionally unstable person "who expects immediate attention and pity.
" I see why they wouldn't want him to retire.
Yeah, they did the math.
It was cheaper to keep him on the job.
This was a hearing over a pension.
It's of no relevance whatsoever.
It's relevant the city concluded he was a malingering liar.
I'm no liar.
So when you told your psychiatrist you wanted to kill minorities, you meant it? I was going through a divorce.
I was one pissed off guy.
I wasn't too fond of women, either.
And now, all better? Yeah.
I don't let the job get to me anymore.
What about this urge you talked about? The urge to kill people who upset you? Are you cross-examining him? He's not going near a courtroom until I get a satisfactory explanation.
You want an explanation? You walk a beat for 16 years.
What you saw disgusted you.
They live like animals! They get high.
They kill little kids.
That's why Carlson and Fratelli wanted you to come with them that night.
What the hell are you talking about? That's why they thought you'd go along.
Mr.
McCoy, that's enough.
Write down what you did after you ran into them.
Where you went, who you talked to.
This is bull.
FINESTRA: Mr.
McCoy, Officer Dietrich has put his life and his career on the line to testify against his fellow officers.
They Mayor's called him a hero, for God's sake.
The Mayor should've talked to me first.
I want a full accounting from you, Officer.
Names, addresses, the whole nine yards.
This is no way to treat a witness.
He's in it up to his elbows.
He was there.
And now he's got immunity.
He did what? I withdrew my offer of immunity to Officer Dietrich.
Doesn't that mean he won't be a witness against Carlson and Fratelli? I don't want him as a witness, I want him as a defendant.
Based on what? The testimony of his psychiatrist at a departmental hearing.
He's a violent racist.
That's it? He refuses to account for his whereabouts at the time of the murder.
That won't even sustain an indictment.
Is there a case against Carlson and Fratelli without Dietrich's testimony? Not a good one.
You need him.
You better un-withdraw your offer of immunity.
Mr.
Schiff, if this case goes south, the Rodney King riots will look like a marshmallow roast.
It's his case.
You can expect a call from the Governor.
Mr.
Butler, the U.
S.
Attorney's Office stands by its offer of immunity to Officer Dietrich.
We are ready to move forward.
You'd give immunity to a man who'd Take the case.
We'll drop the charges against Carlson and Fratelli.
We'll cooperate with you any way we can.
Will that make the Mayor happy? Adam, this isn't right.
For all we know, Dietrich's the ringleader.
For all you know? You don't know anything.
Between Internal Affairs and you, the Red Sox couldn't have done a better job of botching it up.
We're ceding jurisdiction to the Feds.
I'll draw up the dismissal of the charges against Carlson and Fratelli.
By the time the Feds get done with Dietrich, they'll be naming bird sanctuaries after him.
I'm not done with him.
Get everything you can on grants of immunity.
I bought you dinner.
I didn't know what you liked, so I got you salad, low-cal dressing Low-cal? Excuse me? I burn it, I don't store it.
What did you get? Ribs.
Oh.
Great.
Looks good.
I'll eat, you graze.
Listen, I haven't found anything on point yet, but I have an idea.
When the Feds were after their immunity agreement with Dietrich, they basically used our agreement, they just changed the names.
Standard practice.
Well, yes, but it's going to cost them.
Have you read the Federal statute on witness bribery lately? This is perfect.
Let's file a motion.
You're challenging the Federal grant of immunity? Yes.
You're defying me.
I guess I am.
Dietrich's a killer, Adam.
I'm convinced he participated in the murder, and the Feds are letting him get away with it.
So, you're going to sabotage their case.
Any other brilliant ideas? You wanted to know how a traffic stop could go so bad? Because nobody said, "That's enough.
" This is my line in the sand.
One phone call from me, this is dead in its tracks.
You could do that.
I'd re-file it as a private citizen.
It's nice to have choices.
Mr.
McCoy is trying to equate a grant of immunity with bribing a witness.
It's absurd.
Title 18, Section 201 of the United States Code prohibits anyone, directly or indirectly, from giving or promising, "Anything of value for testimony by a witness.
" And you're saying the grant of immunity is something of value under the statute? Yes.
As a result of his immunity, besides keeping his police pension, the witness, Mr.
Dietrich, avoids jail time.
I can't imagine anything more valuable than personal physical freedom.
Your Honor, making deals with potential witnesses is accepted practice in every jurisdiction.
Mr.
McCoy himself drafted this grant of immunity.
Was he trying to bribe a witness? JACK: What Mr.
Gervits fails to grasp is that New York and Federal bribery statutes differ.
Under New York law, bribing a witness requires influencing that witness to testify falsely.
Federal law has no such requirement.
A simple quid pro quo.
JACK: Yes.
Under the Federal statute, simply giving something of value in exchange for testimony, true of false, constitutes bribery.
Your Honor, if you sustain Mr.
McCoy's motion and invalidate this grant of immunity, the Federal criminal justice system will grind to a halt.
If we can't make deals with witnesses That's not a concern of this court.
Your deal with Mr.
Dietrich clearly violates the Federal statute.
I'm allowing Mr.
McCoy's motion.
The grant of immunity is rescinded.
(BANGS GAVEL) First thing tomorrow morning, file indictments against Carlson, Fratelli, and Dietrich.
Murder one.
Preposterous decision.
Hog-ties every Federal prosecutor in the country.
And thanks to you, we're a party to it.
The decision will be reversed on appeal six months from now.
By then, Dietrich and the other two will be on death row.
Or your letter of resignation will be on my desk.
My Longhorn pennant will look good over there.
Bite your tongue.
The case isn't easy to make.
Not without one of them rolling on the others.
That's what got us in trouble in the first place.
Wrong guy, wrong deal.
You'd give the right deal to the other two? Carlson has three reprimands.
One for excessive force, one for passing racist literature to other officers Fratelli has seven years on the force and a clean record.
If he hasn't rolled by now There was an eyewitness.
The squeegee man? Ray-Ray Davis.
The police report said he could not identify Fratelli or Carlson from the photo arrays.
I wonder if he'd do any better seeing them in person.
All right, Mr.
Davis, take a good look at these men and tell us if you saw any of them on 95th Street.
And take your time.
Number three from the right.
Number three, step forward.
VAN BUREN: Is that the man you saw assaulting Mr.
Michaels? Uh-huh.
Number three.
He's one of 'em.
ROBBINS: Uh, Ms.
Carmichael.
My client's ready for a heart-to-heart with Mr.
McCoy.
Great.
I'll set it up.
He blinked? Yeah, thanks to Mr.
Davis.
Good old Ray-Ray.
Trick was giving him a number he couldn't forget.
Three.
It rhymes with squeegee.
You get his confession and testimony against Carlson and Dietrich.
In return, you let him plead murder two with a sentence recommendation of 15-to-life.
My offer is, he walks away with his life.
Period.
No possibility of parole.
He's serving Dietrich up on a silver platter.
Without him I don't care who gets the gurney next to Dietrich, Carlson or your client.
Oh, for God's sake, McCoy, he's got a family.
So did Mr.
Michaels.
They won't get to visit him every Sunday.
FRATELLl: We'd been sitting on this deli about 40 minutes, when the Cutlass passed by for the second time.
Driving slow, with two male blacks in the front seat.
Officer Carlson thought the occupants might be planning to rob the deli, so we followed them.
The Cutlass kept proceeding at a regular but slow rate of speed.
Did it occur to you that the driver might be lost? No.
It's a pretty high-class neighborhood.
The car and the occupants just didn't seem to fit.
Because they were two black men driving an old car? Yes.
What happened next? We followed the car until it crossed Second Avenue, then we went around the block.
When we came back, we saw the Cutlass parked, with the driver still behind the wheel.
We couldn't see the second occupant.
We got out of the car and approached the Cutlass.
While Officer Carlson talked to the driver, while I kept an eye on the surrounding buildings for the second man.
The driver identified himself as Floyd Michaels.
He said he had driven a friend home and couldn't start his car.
Officer Carlson ordered him out of the car.
Then I heard Mr.
Michaels say in a defiant tone that he worked for the Westchester Police.
What happened then? Officer Carlson went off on the guy.
He pulled him out of the car and struck him several times with his night stick.
What did you do? Mr.
Michaels was cursing and trying to get away.
I helped my partner subdue him.
With appropriate force? You'd have to say it was excessive.
Then we handcuffed Mr.
Michaels and put him in the back seat of our car.
Then we drove to our station house.
Did you stop along the way? Yes, sir.
Mr.
Michaels kept cursing us.
On two occasions, Officer Carlson stopped the car and went in the back and hit him.
What, if anything, did you say or do? Nothing.
What happened when you got to your station house? We saw Officer Dietrich walking to his car.
Officer Carlson pulled up along side and told him what happened.
Officer Dietrich said that we should teach Mr.
Michaels a lesson.
Officer Carlson agreed.
He told Mr.
Michaels we were going to break him.
Officer Dietrich got in the car, in the back seat with Mr.
Michaels, and we drove over to the West Side, to a field under the Henry Hudson.
What happened when you got there? Officer Dietrich pulled Mr.
Michaels out of the car, and him and my partner took turns hitting him on the chest and head.
Did you hit Mr.
Michaels? On the legs.
Just on the legs.
What happened after that? Officer Dietrich got some rope out of the trunk.
He tied one end around Mr.
Michaels' ankles, while my partner tied the other end around the back bumper of the car.
JACK: Was Mr.
Michaels conscious during this time? He was just moaning, not saying anything.
Nobody was.
Dietrich got behind the wheel.
Me and Carlson got in.
And Dietrich just I wanted to say something But Dietrich and Carlson, they had seniority.
Dietrich stopped the car.
Him and Carlson got out.
They came back with the rope.
They just threw it on the back seat next to me.
There was blood on it, from where it was tied around Mr.
Michaels' ankles.
Then we drove off.
I wish I'm sorry for what happened to Mr.
Michaels.
I'm sorry I dishonored the uniform.
JACK: How could such a horrifying thing happen in our city? It may be comforting to simply point at these two officers and say that Mr.
Michaels' death was solely the issue of their sick, hateful minds.
Or to lay some of the blame on the Police Department.
After all, they had ample warning.
They caught Mr.
Carlson distributing racist literature.
Officer Dietrich told them he was having fantasies about killing African-Americans and Hispanics.
And the Police Department did nothing, except issue reprimands.
So other well-meaning officers got the message.
The Department tolerates racists.
It's okay to use racial slurs, to use excessive force, to use racial profiling.
Not only that, it's okay to do it in front of your fellow officers.
Don't worry, the buddy-buddy system will protect you.
The blue wall will shield you from civilian authority.
Not that they really have anything to fear from us anyway.
And that's the least comforting reason why this horror took place.
As long as crime is down, as long as the streets are safe, as long as these abuses by police officers happen in somebody else's neighborhood, we're content to look the other way.
That's what these officers were counting on.
That our failure to police them manifests our indifference, even our acceptance of their methods.
Well, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, here's your chance to send a clear, unambiguous message to every police officer, good or bad, that we will not tolerate racism.
That we will punish every abuse.
And you can do it today by exacting from these two individuals the most extreme punishment under the law.
The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution recognizes our right to be secure in our persons and protected from unreasonable seizures.
No police officer can take those rights from us.
Not unless we give them away.
Two of New York's finest on Death Row.
There's gonna be fallout.
You think we should have let the Feds take the heat? We'll know next time one of us needs a cop.
Your first death sentence.
You okay with it? Only one thing bothering me.
Ray-Ray, the squeegee man? The cops told him which one was Fratelli.
I know.
I told them to.
Perfectly legal.
We were never going to use the identification at trial anyway.
Legal or not Major felonies, Abbie.
Welcome to the bigs.
These are their stories.
DAVID: If it's got two heads, then we throw it back.
We throw everything back.
You don't actually think we're gonna eat anything that comes out of there.
(CHUCKLES) Well, then, what's the point? You'd rather be having pancakes with your in-laws? It's a sport, David.
It's like flirting.
Well, listen, maybe you throw everything back.
What are you doing? Ah, I'm thirsty.
Oh, jeez.
You got your cell phone? Yeah.
Why? Call 911.
Oh, God.
He was found over there.
The blood trail goes back along here.
We found his watch right there.
Pieces of his shirt here.
This is where it starts.
About a quarter mile.
Tire prints? We're working on it.
Oh, great.
Who invited them? Somebody at the hospital must've dropped a dime.
You better get used to having them around.
You got the watch? An old Bulova.
when he took a licking.
Thanks.
SUMMERS: The scalp at the back of his head was torn off.
He has deep abrasions all the way down his back.
From being dragged.
Uh-huh.
I found fibers imbedded in these ligature wounds around the ankles.
A copolymer of adipic acid and hexamethylene-diamine.
Something the space shuttle brought home? Nylon rope.
Ten cents a yard at any hardware store.
What's this on his hands? Paint? Yes.
And it was on his pants, around the knees.
White reflective paint.
The same grade used for road work.
How long does it take to dry? Mmm, 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the humidity and the road surface.
VAN BUREN: Broken left cheekbone, fractured skull, two cracked ribs, spiral fracture of the wrist, ruptured bladder Some party, huh? You run his prints? No hits.
I thought for sure.
He's got a scar on his right side.
Could be a knife wound.
Or he had his appendix out.
Anyway, we sent him down to Missing Persons.
Well, hurry up and give him a name.
(PHONE RINGING) Briscoe.
Yeah, hang on.
Lieutenant Van Buren.
Uh, I'll be right there.
The party's just getting started.
What could possibly have a higher priority than a hate crime? If I have to call up the Mayor again and stir up the pot Let's not jump to conclusions.
We don't know what kind of crime it is yet.
DEMPSEY: A black man was beaten to a bloody pulp and dragged a quarter of a mile behind a vehicle over a dirt road.
You call that a love crime? I want assurances that Lieutenant Van Buren will get all the man power she needs.
All she has to do is pick up the phone.
In Jasper, Texas, they had armed black people marching in the streets.
I wouldn't suggest that anyone do that, Reverend Dempsey.
In this city, we arrest people who carry firearms in public.
You just arrest the crackers that killed this brother.
We put these stripes down just after 1:00, Saturday night.
Now, if you could only get people to drive in between 'em.
Detectives.
I got a left partial palm print here, and a full palm print there.
Looks like a winner.
Let's get some people down here, start a canvass.
I couldn't hear anything.
I was sleeping.
I took my hearing aid out.
How about you, ma'am? All I could hear was her snoring.
Every time she has a cocktail after 10:00, she snores.
It's not that.
It's that air conditioning.
She turns it up so it's like an icebox.
You'd think we owned stock in Con Ed.
Can you think of anybody who might have been out on the street late Saturday night? Like, maybe one of your neighbors walks his dog? Uh, there's a black man always on the corner.
He cleans windshields, he sweeps up.
Oh, uh, what's his name? Raymond.
His nickname is Ray-Ray.
Oh, right.
Ray-Ray.
Nobody on the corner like that today.
Because he's in the hospital.
He tried to wash someone's windshield.
The driver shot him in the foot.
BRISCOE: So last Saturday night, you were working the corner of 95th and Second? Who said that? Mr.
Davis, you're not in any trouble.
We just want to know if you saw anything unusual on 95th.
I don't know.
Like what? Like a fight.
One of the guys involved was a black man, mid-forties, about 5'10", wearing light gray pants and a blue shirt.
Uh-uh.
I ain't seen nothing like that.
Maybe you'd be more comfortable talking to us in private.
I ain't talking to you.
I didn't see no beating.
Just leave me alone.
You're not under arrest, Mr.
Davis.
You're here as a witness.
I didn't witness anything, I keep telling them.
They think you're holding back.
And they're usually right about these things.
Well, I ain't telling them nothing.
Right.
We'll catch up on our reading.
(DOOR CLOSES) They pulled this brother out of his car, and they pushed him down on the ground, they hit him some, threw him against the car.
Who's they? White dudes.
Two of 'em.
Would you recognize them? I ain't get any kind of look at their faces.
But they had on jeans and T-shirts.
What kind of car? Cutlass.
Gold, maybe champagne.
Vinyl top.
Those white boys were wailing on the brother.
What happened after that? Don't know.
I just went about my business.
Can I go now? Soon as we write up your statement.
Oh, no, no, no, no.
See, I told you, but I ain't telling nobody else.
I don't want no trouble with the man.
Oh, you don't have to worry, Mr.
Davis.
In this house, I'm the man.
Profaci will take his statement.
You two find that Cutlass.
The Parking Violations Bureau? Great.
The first circle of hell.
They hooked it up Monday morning.
McHENRY: The license plates were gone.
I haven't run the vehicle ID number through the DMV yet.
Anybody been through it yet? Yeah.
I found a duffel bag full of gold bars in the trunk.
I'll be retiring next week.
Hey, Lennie Westchester Auxiliary Police.
This guy was a part-time cop.
Temporary ID, Floyd Michaels.
Now he has a name.
Yeah.
Here's the rest of the Michaels family.
He worked in Westchester till 12:00.
And when he wasn't home by 3:00, I called.
They said he left.
How long had he had the job? MRS.
MICHAELS: A month.
He only worked there on weekends.
He had a regular job driving a delivery truck.
BRISCOE: He usually come straight home? Why wouldn't he? It's just a question.
Let me tell you something, Detective.
Sunday morning, I went to the police station on Lexington.
They said Floyd wasn't missing till he'd been gone a day.
They said, "Come back on Monday.
" On Monday, this white policeman told me that Floyd was probably holed up with some ho, or messed up on crack.
He told me, "Come back in a couple of days.
"He'll probably come home when he got hungry for some home cooking.
" So, nothing is ever just a question.
Now, I want my husband's body back today! We found a broken fingernail on the front seat of the car, and corresponding marks on the upholstery.
The guy was hanging on when they pulled him out.
We tried to start the car.
Battery was out ofjuice.
Worn alternator belt.
So, Michaels couldn't get his car going.
A sitting duck.
JACKSON: The man kept his car spanking clean.
This was under the front seat.
Scented soap.
Lavender candle.
Maybe Michaels went to the East Side to take a bath.
Fabienne of Paris.
One of those door-to-door outfits.
Name of the sales rep's on the receipt.
It gets to be 2:00, a man knows he's got an angry woman waiting at home.
A bottle of perfume just might get him past the front door.
So, Michaels bought the bath soap and the scented candle for his wife? Mmm, yes, sir.
That's what he said.
Except he didn't exactly hurry home.
BRISCOE: You wouldn't be covering up for a good customer, would you, Mr.
Cutty? Oh, no, sir, no, sir.
Floyd had two beers, and he left.
He wasn't looking for trouble.
He left by himself? With Artie Dickson.
Floyd was gonna help him flag down a cab.
I don't know how long we waited for a cab.
But after a while, Michaels said he'd drive me home.
BRISCOE: And you live on East 95th? For the last 47 years.
You know, I told Michaels which way to go, but, uh, he wasn't paying attention.
Uh, we ended up driving around the block a couple of times.
The bartender said you weren't too steady on your feet.
Well, that's because I got bad knees.
Michaels help you up the stairs to your apartment? Uh, because of my knees, you see.
That Michaels was a nice young man.
I'm telling you, you know, he had children and everything.
You see anyone hanging around outside? Uh, no, can't say that I did.
Anyone in a parked car? Uh, no, not parked.
But you saw someone in a car.
Well, Michaels thought somebody was following us.
The second time we came around the block, he said a car pulled out from across the, uh, deli.
BRISCOE: What deli? Uh, on 94th near Lex.
Followed us till we crossed Second.
Either one of you catch the make of the car? The license plate number? Uh, Michaels said it was a red Pontiac.
Sporty.
You see who was driving? Well, I didn't see the car myself I was resting my eyes.
I guess I should've paid more attention to how Michaels was driving, you know? He was a nice young man, that Michaels.
Nice young man.
It was parked across the street.
A red Pontiac Firebird, with two white guys.
My dad saw it first.
Why? He like red cars? (CHUCKLES) This one was staking out my store.
We had eight robberies in the neighborhood this month.
You get a license plate number? New Jersey plates.
I called the cops.
What'd they do for you? Nothing.
They came.
The car was gone.
They said they got three reports that night for a suspicious red Pontiac.
They bought two bananas and a yogurt.
Tough cops.
Guess we're going to Jersey.
So, what do you guys want to talk to Charlie about? Mrs.
Coffey, does your son still own a red Pontiac Firebird, license plate Yeah.
Was he driving it Saturday night? I doubt it.
Why is that? Because Charlie got arrested in the city for drugs last March, and now he's doing six months in Rikers, on account of his lard-ass Legal Aid lawyer never filed an appeal.
Who's driving his car now? Nobody.
When the cops arrested Charlie, they took his car.
And now it's sitting in a police garage, and it's gonna cost me You New York cops, you got some nerve! You said license plate New Jersey.
That's what we said.
I can't seem to locate that vehicle right now.
Look, either it's here or it's not.
I can't locate it.
Try tomorrow.
Somebody already claim it? No, I didn't say that.
So, what, you lost it? Look, I just can't locate it.
Give me till tomorrow.
Tomorrow's too late.
What's the deal, Fenwick? You lend it to the in-laws? Look, fellas, you gotta cover me on this.
It was borrowed, off the books, by the Neighborhood Stabilization Unit for patrol duty.
The car was being used as an undercover vehicle by some officers of the Neighborhood Stabilization Unit to stake out potential robbery targets on the East Side.
This is common practice, to commandeer cars seized as evidence? You asking me off the record? Where's the car now? It's missing.
Do we know which officers had access to it that night? There's four names.
Fratelli and Carlson, Dietrich and Sawchuck.
All patrolmen in the 21.
What do their files say? Two of them have reprimands by the Review Board for excessive force.
It comes with the territory.
You excusing them? No.
But there's no hard evidence connecting any of them to Mr.
Michaels.
I I'm just hoping we took a wrong turn here.
So am I.
You have an eyewitness to the attack? Come on, Ray-Ray.
If you see somebody you like in there, send up a flare.
Something about all these guys.
They're all so damn well-groomed.
Here.
This one here.
Yeah, I remember this guy.
From where? He gave me a ticket for obstructing traffic.
He's a cop.
Hey, that's what's with all these guys.
They're cops, huh? And those two white boys Saturday night were cops, too.
Is that who they was? Don't worry about that.
(STAMMERING) I don't recognize nobody.
Mr.
Davis Uh-uh.
I ain't never seen them.
All right, Mr.
Davis.
The officer will fix you up with some lunch.
You mixed our suspects in with photos of other cops? Hey, try finding 20 clean-cut white guys in the mug books.
CURTIS: Hey, LT, it was a long shot he was gonna pick 'em out anyway.
You don't tell, I won't.
BRISCOE: We've got an eyewitness, Fratelli.
He saw two guys bouncing Michaels off the pavement at East 95th.
That'd be you and your partner, Carlson.
It wasn't us.
You're so confident this witness can make my man, put him in a line-up.
Oh, his turn will come soon enough.
Carlson's going first.
So, if you have an explanation for what happened, now's the time to catch us in a good mood.
Because once IA takes over We'll roll right over you, Fratelli.
Right about now, Carlson, they should be bringing Fratelli into the line-up.
Unless, of course, he already gave it up.
There's nothing to give up.
We didn't do it.
Well, you and Fratelli had the Pontiac, right? Yeah.
We flipped it back to impound on Friday.
Well, then why can't they find it, Carlson? Well, how the hell should I know? (CHUCKLES) Those bozos couldn't find their ass with both hands and a flashlight.
We knocked off at 12:00.
Sawchuck went home, I stayed to do reports.
Did you see Fratelli and Carlson? Yeah, outside the station house, around 2:00.
Hey, guys, you're barking up the wrong coconut tree.
Well, then, Officer Dietrich, what do you suppose happened to Mr.
Michaels? He ran into some wrong people, but it wasn't cops.
So, screw your witness.
There's only two ways to go, Sawchuck.
Either you and your partner Dietrich did Michaels No.
No way.
I was home.
You ask my wife.
Or you know who did.
CURTIS: We're gonna run all you guys through the line-up.
Once a witness points a finger, that's it.
Game over.
VARDEN: Your lack of cooperation will be duly noted along with this reprimand for excessive force.
Hey, I don't work for the rat squad.
You won't be working for anybody, pal.
They're gonna bounce you.
I don't care.
I got 15 years in.
You think you're walking out of here with your pension? I just got off the phone with the Commissioner's office.
Kiss your bennies goodbye.
They're bluffing.
The union wouldn't let it go.
The union's already on board.
We're all taking this very seriously.
This is gonna go hard on your family, Sawchuck.
What do you got, three kids? My client had nothing to do with Mr.
Michaels' death, but he'll tell you what he knows.
He keeps his job and his benefits.
No problem here.
(EXHALES) Me and my wife drove up to Carlson's farm Sunday afternoon for a barbecue.
Fratelli was already there.
Him and Carlson told me they had a problem with the Pontiac.
What exactly did they say? They told me a traffic stop went bad.
They had trouble with a collar, so they had to get rid of the car.
VAN BUREN: They didn't give you any more details than that? No.
And I didn't ask.
I just wanted to get the hell out of there.
That's not good enough.
We're gonna need the car.
It's on Carlson's farm.
Did you see it? Yeah.
Yeah, I saw it.
Back seat was covered with blood.
Hell of a place for a barbecue.
Back seat's missing.
Where's the local dump? The back seat and floor mats were in the Ellenville dump, medium to well-done.
Forensics couldn't lift any fluids or fibers.
Start filling out arrest warrants.
Nylon fibers were found on the underside of the rear bumper.
Same chemical make-up as the rope fibers on Michaels' feet.
Bring 'em in.
We're hooking you up for murder, Fratelli.
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 a lawyer.
If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to you.
But, then, you know all that, don't you, Carlson? The U.
S.
Attorney would actually be doing you a favor.
You'd have to make this case, and worry about your good relations with the Police Department.
The U.
S.
Attorney's Office has no such concern.
You also have no appropriate penalty for what these cops did.
Granted, they wouldn't be up for the death penalty.
But Federal law has stiffer sentences for anybody who helped them cover up.
Since when is there a cover-up? You already found one officer who kept his mouth shut.
And now, Officer Sawchuck is cooperating.
The blue wall isn't just one brick.
We have the arsenal to take on the Police Department.
The Brooklyn D.
A.
Wisely let us proceed in the Louima case, and we'll probably be asked to take over the Jasper, Texas case.
We're not in Texas, we're not in Brooklyn.
Thank the U.
S.
Attorney for his offer.
We'll do our own laundry.
Good day.
How can a traffic stop go this bad? CARMICHAEL: We have a more immediate problem.
Before I came in, I was on the phone with the Ellenville dump.
They close at noon on Sundays.
Sawchuck said he saw the bloody back seat at Carlson's farm later, around 3:00.
Maybe Carlson took the seat to the dump some other day.
The receipt for the dumping fee was dated for that Sunday.
Sawchuck is lying.
What was his alibi for the time of the murder? He said he was with his wife.
Gil was home by 12:30 Saturday night.
Don't you believe him? Your husband lied about what he saw at Carlson's farm on Sunday.
We believe he knows more than what he's told us.
He had nothing to do with killing that poor man.
JACK: His story just doesn't hold up.
He'll have to take his chances with Carlson and Fratelli.
No! That is not fair.
He's not like them.
Then convince us.
Gil's partner, Frank Dietrich, he told him what happened.
When we got to the farm Sunday, Dietrich was already there with Carlson and Fratelli.
On the way home, Gil told me what Dietrich said.
He told me Dietrich was involved.
How involved? Gil didn't say.
He was sick over it.
He didn't want to rat out his partner.
(DOOR OPENING) Who are you? We're from the District Attorney's Office.
You need to tell us what your partner said to you.
Get out.
I'll subpoena you before the Grand Jury.
I don't give a damn.
Refuse to answer, I'll have you thrown in jail.
Officer Dietrich has already told the investigators everything he knows.
Yeah, he alibied Carlson and Fratelli.
He was a lot more forthcoming with his partner.
Officer Sawchuck amended his statement.
He said that you told him that Officers Fratelli and Carlson beat and killed Mr.
Michaels.
That you provided details which made him believe you witnessed some of those events and helped destroy evidence.
And of course, you're buying Sawchuck's latest concoction.
We (DOOR OPENS) We believe him to be an honest cop trying to do the honorable thing.
We think a jury will agree.
My client will tell you what he knows.
In return, he wants immunity from state and federal criminal prosecution, and from any departmental sanctions.
The U.
S.
Attorney has no problem with immunity.
There's no deal unless the District Attorney gets on board as well.
Until I know exactly what your client's role was, I Sawchuck's testimony only takes you so far.
You want direct testimony against Carlson and Fratelli, you're gonna have to deal with my guy.
All right, you have a deal.
(CLEARS THROAT) Early Sunday morning, around 2:00 (SIGHS) I saw Carlson and Fratelli pull up in the red Firebird.
They had a male black cuffed in the back seat.
He didn't look good.
They said he resisted arrest.
They were gonna teach him a lesson I told them, "Just book the guy and forget about it.
" Carlson said they were gonna break him.
What does that mean? I didn't think they were gonna kill the guy.
They asked me if I wanted to come along.
I said no.
They drove off.
And the next day at Carlson's farm? DIETRICH: I got there early.
They showed me what they did with the car.
They wanted me to talk to Sawchuck, in case anybody asked about it.
Why did they stop Mr.
Michaels in the first place? (EXHALES DEEPLY) They profiled him.
He was in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time.
Wrong skin tone.
No way, no how do we condone racial profiling, Ms.
Carmichael.
I tell my people it's illegal and won't be tolerated.
Well, the message isn't getting through.
The Civilian Review Board told me they get a lot of complaints about your precinct.
Nobody likes getting pulled over by the police.
But we don't target minorities, we target criminals.
Well, some of your officers seem to think they're one in the same.
From what I see here, most of the unsubstantiated traffic stops for drug and burglary investigations were of African-Americans and Hispanics.
Ms.
Carmichael, it's a fact of life in this city.
Most of your underprivileged, your uneducated, your criminal underclass, they're people of color.
So, it follows every person of color is a suspect? I was wrong, Lieutenant.
Your message is getting through loud and clear.
Two officers have courageously come forward with essential information.
They put decency and law above misplaced loyalty.
Their actions firmly put to rest the myth of the blue wall of silence.
The Mayor has issued a directive to every officer with information about this case to follow their brave example.
The Mayor is also deeply concerned about complaints of racial profiling by officers throughout the five boroughs.
He has directed the Civilian Review Should come as a great comfort to the Michaels family.
Mayor's got himself a new cause.
If the 21 is any indication, he's got his work cut out.
It's bad enough profiling is rampant there, most of the profile stops were done by our star witness.
Officer Dietrich.
Carlson and Fratelli picked up their bad habits from him.
He was their training officer when they joined the Neighborhood Stabilization Unit.
I'm liking Dietrich less and less.
The jury doesn't have to like him to believe him.
I bought a pig in a poke.
I don't want this blowing up in my face when he gets on the stand.
Officer Dietrich had eight complaints for excessive force, They're just allegations.
The Review Board found no basis.
And these? This is departmental reprimands.
It's Mickey Mouse stuff.
Failure to report an arrest, unauthorized sick days.
What is this? That is an application for early retirement with full disability for job-related stress.
Wait"1994.
" What happened? He changed his mind? There was a hearing.
The application was denied.
Dietrich sued the city to retire on full disability.
Because he was stressed? Because, in the words of his psychiatrist, "He sustained seriously disabling psychiatric symptomatology "during the course of his duties.
" What duties were those? From 1989 to '93, he worked in an anti-drug unit in the Bronx.
He claims, as a result, he suffered from rage and depression.
My old man knew something about that.
Never occurred to him to sue the city.
Well, did your father feel like killing people? Dietrich told his psychiatrist he wanted to, "Burn all the niggers and spics in the Bronx.
" And that's only one of his violent fantasies.
What's he doing still in uniform? The city decided he was malingering.
They called him a "Narcissistic, self-indulgent, emotionally unstable person "who expects immediate attention and pity.
" I see why they wouldn't want him to retire.
Yeah, they did the math.
It was cheaper to keep him on the job.
This was a hearing over a pension.
It's of no relevance whatsoever.
It's relevant the city concluded he was a malingering liar.
I'm no liar.
So when you told your psychiatrist you wanted to kill minorities, you meant it? I was going through a divorce.
I was one pissed off guy.
I wasn't too fond of women, either.
And now, all better? Yeah.
I don't let the job get to me anymore.
What about this urge you talked about? The urge to kill people who upset you? Are you cross-examining him? He's not going near a courtroom until I get a satisfactory explanation.
You want an explanation? You walk a beat for 16 years.
What you saw disgusted you.
They live like animals! They get high.
They kill little kids.
That's why Carlson and Fratelli wanted you to come with them that night.
What the hell are you talking about? That's why they thought you'd go along.
Mr.
McCoy, that's enough.
Write down what you did after you ran into them.
Where you went, who you talked to.
This is bull.
FINESTRA: Mr.
McCoy, Officer Dietrich has put his life and his career on the line to testify against his fellow officers.
They Mayor's called him a hero, for God's sake.
The Mayor should've talked to me first.
I want a full accounting from you, Officer.
Names, addresses, the whole nine yards.
This is no way to treat a witness.
He's in it up to his elbows.
He was there.
And now he's got immunity.
He did what? I withdrew my offer of immunity to Officer Dietrich.
Doesn't that mean he won't be a witness against Carlson and Fratelli? I don't want him as a witness, I want him as a defendant.
Based on what? The testimony of his psychiatrist at a departmental hearing.
He's a violent racist.
That's it? He refuses to account for his whereabouts at the time of the murder.
That won't even sustain an indictment.
Is there a case against Carlson and Fratelli without Dietrich's testimony? Not a good one.
You need him.
You better un-withdraw your offer of immunity.
Mr.
Schiff, if this case goes south, the Rodney King riots will look like a marshmallow roast.
It's his case.
You can expect a call from the Governor.
Mr.
Butler, the U.
S.
Attorney's Office stands by its offer of immunity to Officer Dietrich.
We are ready to move forward.
You'd give immunity to a man who'd Take the case.
We'll drop the charges against Carlson and Fratelli.
We'll cooperate with you any way we can.
Will that make the Mayor happy? Adam, this isn't right.
For all we know, Dietrich's the ringleader.
For all you know? You don't know anything.
Between Internal Affairs and you, the Red Sox couldn't have done a better job of botching it up.
We're ceding jurisdiction to the Feds.
I'll draw up the dismissal of the charges against Carlson and Fratelli.
By the time the Feds get done with Dietrich, they'll be naming bird sanctuaries after him.
I'm not done with him.
Get everything you can on grants of immunity.
I bought you dinner.
I didn't know what you liked, so I got you salad, low-cal dressing Low-cal? Excuse me? I burn it, I don't store it.
What did you get? Ribs.
Oh.
Great.
Looks good.
I'll eat, you graze.
Listen, I haven't found anything on point yet, but I have an idea.
When the Feds were after their immunity agreement with Dietrich, they basically used our agreement, they just changed the names.
Standard practice.
Well, yes, but it's going to cost them.
Have you read the Federal statute on witness bribery lately? This is perfect.
Let's file a motion.
You're challenging the Federal grant of immunity? Yes.
You're defying me.
I guess I am.
Dietrich's a killer, Adam.
I'm convinced he participated in the murder, and the Feds are letting him get away with it.
So, you're going to sabotage their case.
Any other brilliant ideas? You wanted to know how a traffic stop could go so bad? Because nobody said, "That's enough.
" This is my line in the sand.
One phone call from me, this is dead in its tracks.
You could do that.
I'd re-file it as a private citizen.
It's nice to have choices.
Mr.
McCoy is trying to equate a grant of immunity with bribing a witness.
It's absurd.
Title 18, Section 201 of the United States Code prohibits anyone, directly or indirectly, from giving or promising, "Anything of value for testimony by a witness.
" And you're saying the grant of immunity is something of value under the statute? Yes.
As a result of his immunity, besides keeping his police pension, the witness, Mr.
Dietrich, avoids jail time.
I can't imagine anything more valuable than personal physical freedom.
Your Honor, making deals with potential witnesses is accepted practice in every jurisdiction.
Mr.
McCoy himself drafted this grant of immunity.
Was he trying to bribe a witness? JACK: What Mr.
Gervits fails to grasp is that New York and Federal bribery statutes differ.
Under New York law, bribing a witness requires influencing that witness to testify falsely.
Federal law has no such requirement.
A simple quid pro quo.
JACK: Yes.
Under the Federal statute, simply giving something of value in exchange for testimony, true of false, constitutes bribery.
Your Honor, if you sustain Mr.
McCoy's motion and invalidate this grant of immunity, the Federal criminal justice system will grind to a halt.
If we can't make deals with witnesses That's not a concern of this court.
Your deal with Mr.
Dietrich clearly violates the Federal statute.
I'm allowing Mr.
McCoy's motion.
The grant of immunity is rescinded.
(BANGS GAVEL) First thing tomorrow morning, file indictments against Carlson, Fratelli, and Dietrich.
Murder one.
Preposterous decision.
Hog-ties every Federal prosecutor in the country.
And thanks to you, we're a party to it.
The decision will be reversed on appeal six months from now.
By then, Dietrich and the other two will be on death row.
Or your letter of resignation will be on my desk.
My Longhorn pennant will look good over there.
Bite your tongue.
The case isn't easy to make.
Not without one of them rolling on the others.
That's what got us in trouble in the first place.
Wrong guy, wrong deal.
You'd give the right deal to the other two? Carlson has three reprimands.
One for excessive force, one for passing racist literature to other officers Fratelli has seven years on the force and a clean record.
If he hasn't rolled by now There was an eyewitness.
The squeegee man? Ray-Ray Davis.
The police report said he could not identify Fratelli or Carlson from the photo arrays.
I wonder if he'd do any better seeing them in person.
All right, Mr.
Davis, take a good look at these men and tell us if you saw any of them on 95th Street.
And take your time.
Number three from the right.
Number three, step forward.
VAN BUREN: Is that the man you saw assaulting Mr.
Michaels? Uh-huh.
Number three.
He's one of 'em.
ROBBINS: Uh, Ms.
Carmichael.
My client's ready for a heart-to-heart with Mr.
McCoy.
Great.
I'll set it up.
He blinked? Yeah, thanks to Mr.
Davis.
Good old Ray-Ray.
Trick was giving him a number he couldn't forget.
Three.
It rhymes with squeegee.
You get his confession and testimony against Carlson and Dietrich.
In return, you let him plead murder two with a sentence recommendation of 15-to-life.
My offer is, he walks away with his life.
Period.
No possibility of parole.
He's serving Dietrich up on a silver platter.
Without him I don't care who gets the gurney next to Dietrich, Carlson or your client.
Oh, for God's sake, McCoy, he's got a family.
So did Mr.
Michaels.
They won't get to visit him every Sunday.
FRATELLl: We'd been sitting on this deli about 40 minutes, when the Cutlass passed by for the second time.
Driving slow, with two male blacks in the front seat.
Officer Carlson thought the occupants might be planning to rob the deli, so we followed them.
The Cutlass kept proceeding at a regular but slow rate of speed.
Did it occur to you that the driver might be lost? No.
It's a pretty high-class neighborhood.
The car and the occupants just didn't seem to fit.
Because they were two black men driving an old car? Yes.
What happened next? We followed the car until it crossed Second Avenue, then we went around the block.
When we came back, we saw the Cutlass parked, with the driver still behind the wheel.
We couldn't see the second occupant.
We got out of the car and approached the Cutlass.
While Officer Carlson talked to the driver, while I kept an eye on the surrounding buildings for the second man.
The driver identified himself as Floyd Michaels.
He said he had driven a friend home and couldn't start his car.
Officer Carlson ordered him out of the car.
Then I heard Mr.
Michaels say in a defiant tone that he worked for the Westchester Police.
What happened then? Officer Carlson went off on the guy.
He pulled him out of the car and struck him several times with his night stick.
What did you do? Mr.
Michaels was cursing and trying to get away.
I helped my partner subdue him.
With appropriate force? You'd have to say it was excessive.
Then we handcuffed Mr.
Michaels and put him in the back seat of our car.
Then we drove to our station house.
Did you stop along the way? Yes, sir.
Mr.
Michaels kept cursing us.
On two occasions, Officer Carlson stopped the car and went in the back and hit him.
What, if anything, did you say or do? Nothing.
What happened when you got to your station house? We saw Officer Dietrich walking to his car.
Officer Carlson pulled up along side and told him what happened.
Officer Dietrich said that we should teach Mr.
Michaels a lesson.
Officer Carlson agreed.
He told Mr.
Michaels we were going to break him.
Officer Dietrich got in the car, in the back seat with Mr.
Michaels, and we drove over to the West Side, to a field under the Henry Hudson.
What happened when you got there? Officer Dietrich pulled Mr.
Michaels out of the car, and him and my partner took turns hitting him on the chest and head.
Did you hit Mr.
Michaels? On the legs.
Just on the legs.
What happened after that? Officer Dietrich got some rope out of the trunk.
He tied one end around Mr.
Michaels' ankles, while my partner tied the other end around the back bumper of the car.
JACK: Was Mr.
Michaels conscious during this time? He was just moaning, not saying anything.
Nobody was.
Dietrich got behind the wheel.
Me and Carlson got in.
And Dietrich just I wanted to say something But Dietrich and Carlson, they had seniority.
Dietrich stopped the car.
Him and Carlson got out.
They came back with the rope.
They just threw it on the back seat next to me.
There was blood on it, from where it was tied around Mr.
Michaels' ankles.
Then we drove off.
I wish I'm sorry for what happened to Mr.
Michaels.
I'm sorry I dishonored the uniform.
JACK: How could such a horrifying thing happen in our city? It may be comforting to simply point at these two officers and say that Mr.
Michaels' death was solely the issue of their sick, hateful minds.
Or to lay some of the blame on the Police Department.
After all, they had ample warning.
They caught Mr.
Carlson distributing racist literature.
Officer Dietrich told them he was having fantasies about killing African-Americans and Hispanics.
And the Police Department did nothing, except issue reprimands.
So other well-meaning officers got the message.
The Department tolerates racists.
It's okay to use racial slurs, to use excessive force, to use racial profiling.
Not only that, it's okay to do it in front of your fellow officers.
Don't worry, the buddy-buddy system will protect you.
The blue wall will shield you from civilian authority.
Not that they really have anything to fear from us anyway.
And that's the least comforting reason why this horror took place.
As long as crime is down, as long as the streets are safe, as long as these abuses by police officers happen in somebody else's neighborhood, we're content to look the other way.
That's what these officers were counting on.
That our failure to police them manifests our indifference, even our acceptance of their methods.
Well, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, here's your chance to send a clear, unambiguous message to every police officer, good or bad, that we will not tolerate racism.
That we will punish every abuse.
And you can do it today by exacting from these two individuals the most extreme punishment under the law.
The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution recognizes our right to be secure in our persons and protected from unreasonable seizures.
No police officer can take those rights from us.
Not unless we give them away.
Two of New York's finest on Death Row.
There's gonna be fallout.
You think we should have let the Feds take the heat? We'll know next time one of us needs a cop.
Your first death sentence.
You okay with it? Only one thing bothering me.
Ray-Ray, the squeegee man? The cops told him which one was Fratelli.
I know.
I told them to.
Perfectly legal.
We were never going to use the identification at trial anyway.
Legal or not Major felonies, Abbie.
Welcome to the bigs.