Law & Order (1990) s10e21 Episode Script
Narcosis
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.
Unbelievable.
God, you never learn.
Well, they were different.
They shaded.
They omitted.
They lied.
Just like Robert lied.
Ugh, I forgot my hairdryer.
Uh-uh, I will buy you a new one.
You're not going back to his apartment.
I mean, he told me he hadn't seen her in months, and Oh, my God.
Come on! I swear, everything is gonna be okay.
No, it's not.
Look.
(EXCLAIMS) Give me your cell.
Quick! (CHATTER ON POLICE RADIO) You recognize her from the neighborhood? I live uptown.
You? My boyfriend, my ex Well, I mean, not for sure Whatever.
Anyway, his place is down the block, but I've never seen her before.
You hear anything last night? No.
Sorry.
What's her story? Not a pretty one.
Bruised face, bruised neck, bruised knuckles.
What killed her? Strangled, I think.
Too bad.
Good-looking girl.
You find ID? Nah.
No purse, no wallet.
But over here we got the heel of her shoe.
Up here we got a piece of the coat snagged on the gate.
Huh.
She got tossed around pretty good.
Yeah.
Not that anybody around here noticed.
All right, bag her hands and roll her.
Death by strangulation sometime between Lab found wool fibers on her neck and coat.
Not from anything she was wearing.
We ran her prints.
One arrest for disorderly conduct.
According to this file, her name's Lotus Blossom.
Can't be her real name.
How can you tell? Rape? No.
Scarring on her fallopian tubes.
Past pelvic inflammatory disease.
Prostitute? Stripper.
Spent the night in jail two years ago.
Got swept up in a raid at a club called Lavish Buffet.
You call over there? Nobody's seen her since the bust.
No forwarding address, no Social Security number.
And I don't suppose Lotus Blossom's in the white pages.
Have LaMotte check the topless bars.
He'll be thrilled.
And you get to check out the address on the arrest file.
Lotus Blossom? She Asian-American? Yes.
You know her? Could be my daughter Lorraine.
Ever since she got into the adult entertainment business, she's had all kinds of names.
She live here? I kicked her out eight years ago.
Broke her mother's heart her working in that business.
What's she done now? This woman was found murdered in the city.
Lorraine.
Had you heard from her lately? No.
How did It was strangulation.
(SIGHS) BRISCOE: Do you know where she was living? Maybe a phone number? She showed up about a year ago when her mother died, made a big deal about paying for the funeral.
I haven't seen her since.
ED: Do you know any of her friends? I wouldn't know any of her crowd.
Which funeral home took care of your wife? Park Lawn in Fort Lee.
Lorraine wasn't a bad kid.
I just don't get what happened to her.
"One hundred percent anti-allergenic.
" Yeah.
You wouldn't want granny breaking out in a rash.
Haruki Shelby, interred August last year.
Paid for by her daughter Lorraine.
Credit card? Cash.
She also took care of the arrangements for another deceased three months ago.
Who? May Sheng.
A Chinese girl, died of pneumonia.
We did a Buddhist cremation.
Any address for Lorraine Shelby? No.
I'm sorry.
Who signed the death certificate on the Chinese girl? The girl came in.
Both lungs were filled with fluid, she was running a fever of 105.
I called the ambulance, but she was dead before they got here.
Anybody with her? A woman brought her in.
Lorraine Shelby? Yes.
You treat a lot of Lorraine's friends here? Why? She was found dead the day before yesterday six blocks from here.
(SIGHS) Dead as in murdered.
I can't say I'm surprised, considering the business she was in.
Prostitution? Yes.
Same as her friends.
ED: You ever make house calls on Lorraine? At my age? Medical calls.
We just need to know where she lived.
Not far from here.
West 11th, 575-A, second floor.
There it is.
Short commute to work.
Nice.
Looks like she spent a lot of time looking out the window.
ED: The show's in here.
Everything for the accomplished ecdysiast.
Yeah.
The rug's been matted down.
Something was moved out of here recently.
A desk, maybe? Boxes? No personal papers, no address book.
Somebody's been through here already.
Out of where? The apartment above the massage parlor.
Somebody moving stuff out.
Yeah, Wednesday night.
Nine-ish.
A couple of guys took out some computers, cardboard boxes, put them in a van.
What kind of a van? It was a white van, and they took stuff out of the massage parlor, too.
It's about time they closed it down.
Did you get a look at these guys? Not really.
What about a license plate on the van? No.
Who cares? The place is a whorehouse.
This is a residential neighborhood, you know? Lot of people been trying to close the place down.
A lot of people like who? Hey, decent folks, you know.
We had to hound the cops just to get them to raid the place.
When was this raid? Couple of months ago, and what good did it do? The next day the place was back in business.
Thanks.
Yeah, we sent an undercover, but the girls made him.
My guys decided to bring them down to the station anyway to check their IDs.
You let them go? No choice.
Anyway, it's all shut down now.
You bring Lorraine Shelby in? The alleged madam? Apparently she ran things from her place upstairs.
Since she wasn't in the rub room itself, we couldn't touch her.
And since then? We've been keeping up a presence.
Any units sitting on the place the day she was killed? We don't have the budget for 24l7.
Lot of complaints from a Derek Fedder.
Guy's got kids, lives two doors from the place.
Maybe he got tired of complaining.
I'm sorry she's dead.
But if that's what it took to close that sewer down Yeah, that's what it took.
So where were you early Wednesday, say around 5:00 am.
? With my three-year-old.
She was sick.
Uh-huh.
Where was your wife? In Richmond, visiting her parents.
You think I killed that woman? Like you said, it's what it took to close the place down.
(SCOFFS) You guys are nuts.
So, what, you just resigned yourself to living next door to a whorehouse? No.
I couldn't get rid of the hookers, maybe I could get rid of the johns.
At least the ones that drive up.
BRISCOE: And how'd you do that? Wait by their cars.
If they come out, I tell them I got their plate numbers.
It do any good? Not much.
ED: You ever see a white van? I've seen a lot of white vans.
You want their plates? Okay.
Thank you.
Starting with the vans that showed up regularly, we got one registered to Happy Days Plumbing.
Plumbers.
Babydoobeedoo Diaper Service.
(LAUGHS) Serious? Seriously.
And an expired registration on Enchanting lmports, Sounds promising.
NYPD.
Anybody home? Nobody's allowed in here.
Guess again.
Who're you? Watchman.
What're you watching? Nothing.
What's in here? Nothing.
Oh, I guess you won't mind us taking a look at nothing.
ED: Aw, man! Are people living in here? I don't know.
What about that one? What's inside? I don't know.
(WOMEN CHATTERING IN PANIC) ED: Oh, man! Do me a favor, try to run! Cuff him! OFFICER: This way, paisan! All right, all right.
Come on, come on.
(CHATTERING IN CHINESE) Some Chinese guy hired me.
I get paid every Friday, that's all I know.
You knew those women were in that shipping container.
Yeah, the guy that dropped them off told me I should take care of them.
The Chinese guy? No, some white guy.
I don't know who he is.
He was here, talking to Mr.
Chang.
Then who's Chang? He runs the place, I think.
Lent the white guy his van.
How can we get in touch with him? You can't.
Right after he talked with that guy, he left for China.
Said he wouldn't be back.
(SIGHS) When did the white guy drop these girls off? Wednesday, late afternoon.
He was driving Mr.
Chang's van, how should I know anything was wrong? Let's see.
A dozen women stuffed into a shipping container with a bucket in the corner to pee in.
I swear, I didn't know anything was wrong! I want a lawyer.
(DOOR OPENS) Get anything? Not from this moron.
Translator's here.
She paid $10,000 to a smuggler in Hong Kong, she was put in a container with 15 other girls.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) After two months at sea, they started running out of food and water and couldn't breathe.
It took them three months to get to New York.
Four girls died.
ED: What happened once they got to New York? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) They were forced to work as prostitutes.
Does she know this woman? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) Boss lady.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) Oh, this woman told the girls what to do.
Anybody else? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) Yes.
White man.
Eugene.
Balding.
Every week he came by to pick up the receipts.
Was he there the night the boss lady got killed? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) She doesn't know.
Was there any bad blood between Eugene and the boss lady? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) No.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) Last week, your victim and another man had a knock-down drag-out with a white man.
Mustache.
They were yelling in English.
Does she know the man's name? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) Sorry.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) She wants to know what's gonna happen to her and the others.
They'll be turned over to the INS.
After that (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) ED: Parent company of the massage parlor is called Asian Novelties, shipping warehouse is leased by Enchanting lmports.
They related? Who knows? They're both a tangle of DBA's, LLC's.
Immigration pick up the women? INS and a Vice team searched the massage parlor.
Fourteen cubicles and a back room where the women slept.
All in one room? Wall to wall mattresses.
They find a clue who Eugene is? 'Cause I'd really like to nail this bastard.
VAN BUREN: He's not listed? No corporate officers listed.
Some lawyer prepared these and filed them, find out who.
Yeah.
Yeah, I filed these papers.
Asian Novelties.
Who for? A client.
Yeah.
Guy named Eugene? Assuming you've heard of attorney-client privilege.
This is a shipping container, for three months.
BRISCOE: A slow boat from China.
Look ED: See those buckets there? That was their bathroom.
They were told they'd be seamstresses.
Your client made them work as prostitutes.
Look, I swear, I didn't know.
Now you know.
I just prepared and filed the corporate documents.
That's the only job I ever did for him.
Eugene Miller.
All right, everybody up.
Let's go.
OFFICER: Come on.
Get out of here.
Eugene Miller? Yeah.
You're under arrest for kidnapping and false imprisonment.
Anything else, Lennie? Yeah, pimping and pandering.
What the hell? Your lawyer can explain it all to you.
Meantime, you have the right to remain silent.
Anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
I don't know any Lorraine Shelby.
Don't even try it.
Come on, Ed, let's just give him to the Feds, they've got enough to put him down for life.
Hey.
Hey, what, you sleaze-bag? You want him to cooperate or not? Show us what it looks like.
I don't know who killed her, okay? I heard about it on the news, I just went and got stuff out, that's all.
What stuff? Files and equipment.
Why? 'Cause they're mine.
Yours? They were in her apartment.
They're her files.
Where are they? You have no probable cause to poke around in his files.
I've got plenty.
I've got Your client removed evidence from the murder victim's apartment.
The night watchman at your warehouse already ID'd you.
Chang leased that, not me.
Far as I know, those girls are independent contractors.
You're joking.
COUNSELOR: He already told you he knows nothing about the murder.
Okay.
Where were you Wednesday morning, say 4:00 or 5:00? I was going over the books at my other massage parlor, the one you found me at.
ED: Anybody with you? My accountant.
You got an accountant who works at 4:00 am.
? It's not a 9-to-5 business, okay? Jay Kogen.
You want his number? Good.
You'll check his alibi.
Now about the other charges You got a lost cause, Counselor.
His trip's already booked.
It can go easy or hard.
You cooperate or you don't.
The stuff's in unit 64 at U-Store-lt in Soho.
I deserve some consideration here, I'm cooperating.
You force women to have sex with every loser that walks in with $20 in his sweaty hands.
What's the difference between you and a rapist? Put a leash on this guy, all right? Yeah, we gave up.
He keeps chewing through them.
Miller's alibi checked out, so he's not our murderer.
Four girls are dead because of his smuggling deal.
Federal jurisdiction.
What're they gonna do, slap him on the wrist because his girls didn't have green cards? Well, at least we got him on state kidnapping.
What'd you find at his storage unit? Well, some video equipment, file cabinets and 17 boxes of video tapes.
Dirty movies? See for yourself.
VAN BUREN: Eugene Miller didn't tell you about the hidden cameras? We went back to Rikers and asked him.
He said he didn't know about it.
You watched all these tapes? We fast-forwarded through some of them.
They were all the same.
Well, one of the Chinese women told you Lorraine Shelby had an argument with a mustached man.
Yeah, if he was one of the customers, he's probably on the tapes.
Well, get her back in here, see if she can find him.
This one says "insurance.
" This must be the raid from two months ago.
That one there.
Wasn't he the guy getting the hummer? BRISCOE: Guy's got some explaining to do.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) The older man, the one on the right, is the one who had the fight with the victim.
That guy's a cop.
Is she sure? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) That's him.
The cop who got the lube job was setting up the bust.
ED: He's looking for the marked bill he used.
Doesn't look like he's finding it.
You can't find it, plant it.
The story we got from your lieutenant was your partner went in undercover and the girls figured him for a cop.
Yeah.
So what happened, you lie to your lieutenant or he lie to us? Watch who you call a liar.
Yeah, okay, here's your partner with his pants down.
And, oh, here he is getting serviced.
So when exactly did they figure out he was a cop, huh? How many cops in your precinct knew about this, Renato? I want a PBA lawyer.
Oh, this is just a friendly chat.
You'd rather have it with Internal Affairs? Oh, here's your partner looking for the marked bill he used.
He doesn't find it, does he? Yeah.
Here's you donating one.
No lawyer, I'm a clam.
Interesting choice of words.
So what happened, Lotus Blossom tell you she had you on tape? One of you taking advantage of the services while the other one phonies up evidence? What'd you fight with her about? Why'd you kill her? Guess I'll be looking for a new career.
I guess so.
Want to help yourself? Neighbors kept complaining.
They sent me in undercover with a marked bill.
When we raided the place, we couldn't find it.
So your partner planted one? We were frustrated, okay? We wanted to shut her down.
So why didn't you? You had your marked bill.
After we took the girls in, Lotus Blossom told me and Tony she had us on tape planting the bill.
So you let it drop.
Sure we did.
The girls hadn't been booked yet.
We just told Lieutenant Wreston we made a mistake.
He believed you? Yeah.
Tony's good at blowing smoke.
Your partner had a big fight with Lorraine Shelby a week before she died.
She had us rousting drunks out of her place, you know, watching over her.
Renato had enough.
He wanted the tapes, she laughed in his face.
Well, that's pretty naive of him.
He's two years from his pension.
He was worried it was gonna get out.
Worried enough to kill her? I don't know.
I don't know.
Okay, man? We were just trying to make a bust.
How widespread's the corruption? IAB thinks it's just the five cops who raided the place.
Did Detective Renato kill Ms.
Shelby? The victim had him in a bind.
She was demanding protection, he got tired of giving it.
His partner says Renato was afraid of losing his pension.
A motive.
Any witnesses? Not that the cops have found.
Evidence? Not yet.
Want to make it three for three? We don't know about opportunity.
He's not feeling cooperative enough to give us an alibi.
ADAM: What've you charged him with? Obstruction of justice for now.
Worried about his pension? Explain to him that's the least of his problems.
(SIGHS) I was at home with my wife and my kids.
He lives in Hauppauge, hour and a half drive from the city.
Anybody else in Hauppauge see you besides your wife and your kids? I got off the expressway, exit 37, got gas at a Shell station about 5:00, 5:15.
Pay with a credit card? Yeah, and the attendant knows me.
We'll check it.
What'd you argue with Ms.
Shelby about? COUNSELOR: Let's hear the deal first.
Probation on the obstruction charge.
His job and pension aren't up to me.
Not good enough, you've got a murder charge in your back pocket.
Convince me he didn't do it.
I didn't do it.
The argument? I had enough, I wanted out.
What exactly did you do for her? (SCOFFS) Protection.
Her line of work attracts a lot of weirdoes.
Any weirdo in particular? She had this one guy that she was chatting up on the Internet.
She had a sideline.
Talking dirty to guys online for a couple bucks a minute.
This one guy spooked her.
She asked me to check him out.
Did you? I wouldn't know how.
She talks to me about e-mail and chats and screen names.
How the hell am I supposed to know about that crap? What name did this weirdo use on the computer? Hotrod.
Hotrod.
No e-mails from Hotrod.
No saved e-mails at all.
But she does have lots of saved chat files with him.
Pull them up.
"Bounce them for me, baby.
No, go faster.
" BRISCOE: This hump was watching her do it? Check the settings for a T-3 line.
Yeah.
Catch me up.
ED: She was running a live-camera website.
You type in your request, watch the action on the monitor and then charge it to your credit card.
Print the chats from Hotrod.
And we're gonna need his user profile and his credit card information.
No can do.
Your girl used a host company.
A host company? Yeah, they run the site for you.
Takes customer information, handles billing.
I doubt they can match the credit card user to the name he made up for the chat room.
Great, a dead end.
No, not a dead end, just a lot more work.
Hotrod says he's 38, rich, drives a Porsche, and he's well-endowed.
And he couldn't get a real date? At first, he's just telling her what he wants to see her do.
That goes on for about six weeks.
Then he wanted her to meet him somewhere.
She strung him along without saying yes, and he started threatening her.
"Don't say you love me, you slut, "if you loved me, you'd meet me.
"You're just using me.
" Duh.
"If I have to come after you, it'll be to kill you.
" Gets worse as it goes along.
I don't get why she didn't block him out.
$2.
99 a minute.
Got the credit card user profiles from the host company, and times everybody was logged on.
Let's match them up.
BRISCOE: Okay, March 17, 3:16 a.
m.
, Hotrod was chatting with the victim.
Don't these people ever sleep? Wait a minute.
I've got two people logged onto that site at that time.
Yeah, lollipop@tbl.
com and plantman@jointaccess.
com.
That's the second time Hotrod was chatting with her at the same time Plantman's credit card was being used.
So we've found Hotrod? Maybe.
Plantman first registered with the host company in March.
Hotrod was accessing the website before then.
Too bad Renato's alibi checks out.
You know, if this is the future of police work, I'm gonna start thinking about retirement.
More coffee? So who's Plantman? Um Lance Vernon, used his City Mutual card.
Four grand in one week telling a stripper how to take her clothes off.
You guys are such suckers.
I don't know what you're talking about.
A porno website.
$4000 charged to your credit card.
What? When? Three weeks ago.
Oh, my God.
Where were you March 23, about 5:00 a.
m.
? What the hell's going on? Where were you, Mr.
Vernon? I was in Nova Scotia looking at trees.
Look, I gotta go and call my credit card company.
Does anyone else have access to your card? No! Do you use it a lot? It's my back-up card, I've only ever used it once.
Damn.
All my friends have been telling me to shop online.
It's great, don't worry about security.
I'm such an idiot.
Okay.
Where'd you use it? I bought a book.
One lousy book from oldbookworms.
Com.
FLETCHER: Eight weeks ago, our firewall was breached.
This hacker calls himself Leapfrog.
He stole our customer files.
How do you know? He e-mailed them back to us with a demand for a quarter million dollars, or he'd sell them on the web.
Did you call the police? Yeah, we're coordinating with them, we're trying to track the guy through phone lines.
He must be leaving footprints.
He's pirating other people's e-mail addresses.
Go to the last page of that file.
That came in this morning.
We have till 10:00 a.
m.
Tomorrow to wire the money to Direct Money Express under the name Chris Roberts.
Which Direct Money Express office? Doesn't matter.
I mean, he could go into any office.
There's 96 in Manhattan alone, he could be in Bangkok for all we know.
Well, I'm looking at him for a murder in Soho, Mr.
Fletcher, so let's take a flyer he's local.
He says he'll call you tonight at midnight for your answer.
Gives us time to put a tracer on the call.
There's no point.
He said he'd know immediately if we did that, he'd publish the numbers all over the Internet.
We can't take that risk.
Okay.
Tell him the money will be there tomorrow.
But we can't Lie to him.
We'll take it from there.
I've been waiting for 20 minutes.
I'm sorry, miss, the system's overloaded, it should be back up soon.
Hey, wait your turn.
I don't think so.
We thought we'd leapfrog over you.
I'm not in the mood to do much of anything for her, Mr.
Watkins.
We've got her dead on extortion.
I wasn't really gonna do anything, I swear.
I just wanted to show them they need to tighten their security.
Someone has been using at least one of the credit card numbers you stole.
If it wasn't you, who was it? I'm still not hearing an incentive to cooperate.
Theft, blackmail, extortion.
Whoever used that card is a murderer.
Well, I didn't use it.
I sold some of them.
CARMICHAEL: Who to? I don't know.
Lance Vernon.
Plantman.
Who did you sell his credit card number to? Some guy, I don't remember his name.
He sent me a money order, I faxed him a credit card number.
You still have his fax? Yeah.
Sure.
ED: Excuse me.
Is Kevin Malone here? Why do you ask? We need to talk to him.
Kevin.
What's this about? What's going on, Mom? BRISCOE: You Hotrod? (EXCLAIMS) Let go of me! Shut up, all right? You're not rich, you're not 38, and that's not a Porsche.
I bet if we check under the hood, you'll be 0 for 4.
What's going on? What are you doing to my son? He's under arrest for the murder of Lorraine Shelby.
Lotus Blossom to her close virtual friends.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law You don't have a shred of evidence my client killed this woman.
JACK: He threatened her, graphically and repeatedly.
And he knew where to find her.
Because she gave him the address of the massage parlor and told him to "come on down, big boy.
" It's not the behavior of a threatened woman.
She knew they were playing a game.
Where's the crime? Using a stolen credit card, making threats COUNSELOR: So why are you holding him on suspicion of murder? He was home that morning.
I pulled him out of bed myself.
I'll pay restitution on the credit card he used, and we'll redirect his energies.
He's not a killer.
My son's a decent boy.
This is your decent boy.
"I want you so bad all the time.
I'm so hard for you.
" That's private! COUNSELOR: They're just words, Ms.
Carmichael.
"I have to have you.
" Repeated for a full page.
A month later he says, "I'm going to have you.
"I want you on your hands and knees.
" Stop it! "You'll see me or I'll kill you.
" My client was merely exercising a vivid imagination in cyberspace.
A jury will see these for what they are.
Vile threats against a woman who was then brutally murdered.
By your client.
Virtual threats, Mr.
McCoy, made in virtual reality.
Against a woman who is now more than virtually dead.
Motion in limine.
No jury ever sees those chat logs.
JACK: If Kevin Malone had delivered his threats by US mail, they'd be part of the People's evidence, no questions asked.
COUNSELOR: But they weren't delivered, not in any meaningful sense of the word.
These were lines in a nasty little theater piece with Kevin and Ms.
Shelby in the starring roles.
Counsel wants this court to see these words as mere masturbatory fantasy.
COUNSELOR: They're less than that.
Desires lived out at the moment in some place that isn't even a place.
I've read the transcripts of the chats.
How do I know they're anything more than defendant's flights of sexual fancy? Isn't that a question of fact for the jury, Judge? It's a complex problem, Ms.
Carmichael, open to more than one interpretation.
Your Honor, Kevin Malone stated his intent, "See me or I'll kill you," page after page and then he followed through.
A jury is entitled to hear these threats.
My client also wrote that he's 38 and rich.
It's all role-playing, Your Honor.
She was worried enough to ask for help.
Her paranoia has nothing to do with my client's intent.
I tend to agree.
Removed from their context, these transcripts are too prejudicial.
They're out.
If you'll excuse me, I'm due in court.
Without those chats, we can't connect Kevin Malone to the murder.
We'll just have to find some other route.
Talk to his friends.
I can't believe Kevin killed anybody.
He's just so not the type.
You talk to him a lot lately? Not so much.
He's been hanging out at home mostly.
He tell you about this girl he was chatting with? No.
Maybe he was spending way too much time online, but so what? So he had a problem.
Yeah, I guess.
He fell off the face of the earth.
Stopped playing sports, stopped going to parties.
Really bummed me out to see what was happening to him.
I think it bummed his dad out, too.
Mr.
Malone knew what Kevin was doing? I don't know, but he called me up asked me to set Kevin up with one of my sister's friends.
You know, get him out of the house.
And what happened? Nothing.
Kevin said he couldn't afford to take anybody out.
Did he say why? He said he had major bills to pay or his dad was gonna kill him.
Kevin Malone had been going online with Ms.
Shelby for a little over three months.
First month, a $368 charge on one of his father's credit cards.
$2.
99 a minute, a little over two hours.
Hardly excessive.
Month two, triple it.
Six hours in a month? Still far from being obsessed.
Month three, close to $50,000.
He maxed out six of his parents' cards.
What does that come to? Ten hours a day.
That rings the bell.
I haven't met the kid face to face, but I'd say he's an Internet addict.
Everything's an addiction now.
His grades go down, he's stepping back from his friends, and he's hunched over a keyboard ten hours a day.
What do you call it? Stupid.
Internet addiction is as devastating as alcoholism or compulsive gambling.
Divorce rate's up because of it, it's causing a host of physical ailments.
Like what? Backache, eye strain, all the problems attendant on sleep deprivation.
It's not an excuse for murder.
Yeah, that's what they said about Twinkies until a jury bought it.
So what am I up against? Standard addiction defense, compulsive behavior, loss ofjudgment, plus, in this case, confusion between fantasy and reality.
(LAUGHS) You might as well say, "Playboy made me do it.
" It's ridiculous.
With magazines you have fantasies.
This kid was having sex.
No more real than a Playboy-induced daydream.
Daydreams are solitary.
This was two real people having virtual sex.
This is interesting.
Letters between Mr.
Malone and his various credit card companies.
First he wants them to disallow the charges his son made and then he asks for the name of the woman who got the fifty grand.
Say what he was planning to do with the information? Wanted to talk to her, get his money back.
Then he threatens to sue them if they don't tell him.
Did they? "Please be advised we've forwarded your letters to our legal department.
"If you wish to pursue your stated course of action, "please address all further correspondence," etc.
What's the date of the last letter? Eight days before the murder.
He could've found the address of the massage parlor on his son's computer.
We didn't ask him where he was at the time of the killing.
No point in asking him.
You know that Kevin had the address of Ms.
Shelby's business because she gave it to him? She tried to lure him into that Where she worked.
He's just a boy.
She didn't know that, Mrs.
Malone.
To her he was a 38-year-old stud with a wad of money.
When did you and your husband find out that Kevin had the address in the computer? A few days before she Please, don't you understand what that woman was? What she did to my son? What about what he did to her? I told you, Kevin was at home.
Ms.
Shelby was killed at 5:00 a.
m.
You were awake that early? No, but I was at 6:00, and I woke Kevin at 6:15.
Could he have just sneaked back into bed? (SIGHS) He was out to the world.
Can your husband corroborate that? He may have looked in on Kevin before he left, he usually does.
What time was that? I'm not sure.
So he wasn't there when you got up? No, he went to work early that day.
(STAMMERS) He wanted to beat traffic into the city.
One other person from his office was in early that morning.
She says she didn't see Malone there.
Did you ask Mr.
Malone about it? He won't talk to us.
The police searched the house again this morning with a warrant specifying Mr.
Malone's clothes.
(PHONE RINGING) Schiff here.
Detective Briscoe.
Lennie.
Okay, thanks.
They found a pair of Mr.
Malone's wool gloves, torn, same color as the fibers found at the scene.
They match? Lab says yes.
ED: We asked Mr.
Malone where he was at the time of the murder, he said he was in the city, working at his office.
Did you check his alibi? Yes.
We spoke to a co-worker who was in the office at 5:00 a.
m.
That morning.
She told us she didn't see Mr.
Malone.
Did you subsequently ask Mr.
Malone to account for the discrepancy? He said he was there, that his door was closed.
But we checked with building security.
They hadn't seen him either.
And his entry key card hadn't been used in the elevators or the office suite.
Thank you, Detective.
Did you talk to anyone who saw Mr.
Malone at all that morning? Yes.
A waitress at a coffee shop in Queens.
She said he got a cup of coffee to go.
She could remember a casual customer from two months before but she couldn't say if he was wearing gloves? That's what she said.
Anyone else? Maybe someone who put Mr.
Malone closer to the crime scene than Queens? There were no witnesses on the street at the crime scene at the time of the murder.
That wasn't my question, Detective.
No one we found saw the defendant again until 9:00 a.
m.
That day at his office.
In investigating this crime, did you find that the victim had been arrested on any occasion? Yes, a raid at a strip club.
Objection.
Relevance.
The victim's character is often relevant, Mr.
McCoy.
I'll allow it.
Did you find she was a prostitute? Yes.
Did you find that she was enslaving other women and forcing them to perform sex acts with men? Yes.
Did you learn what percentage of the other women's earnings Ms.
Shelby confiscated? ED: Eighty percent to the house.
Eighty percent.
Was there a standard charge for, say, oral sex? $20.
So $4 out of every 20 went to the women who were forced to do the real work.
Did they get to keep the $4? They said Ms.
Shelby charged half for room and board.
And were they allowed to seek other accommodations? Not according to what they told us.
Thank you, that's all.
So he smeared the victim, what else is new? "My client didn't do it, but the victim deserved to die.
" And by the time Clayborn was finished, the jury thought so, too.
Who is the first defense witness? Mrs.
Malone.
Mrs.
Malone? She can't violate spousal privilege, what's her contribution? Probably broken hearts and violins.
Oh, cut her some slack, her whole family's been destroyed by a tidal wave of hardcore smut crashing into her home.
It's not illegal.
First amendment, Abbie.
Oh, I seem to remember something about "socially redeeming value.
" There's nothing redeemable about murder.
MRS.
MALONE: We tried so hard, we even found Kevin a therapist.
He wouldn't go.
CLAYBORN: Why not? He said it wasn't anybody's business but his.
How would you describe your son's obsession, Mrs.
Malone? It was like an addiction.
Nothing else mattered to him.
When the police arrested your son, did you believe he might have killed Ms.
Shelby? Of course not.
And when the police came back again and arrested your husband, did you think it was possible he killed her? Not remotely.
How many enemies must that woman have had? Thank you.
Can you shed any light on who killed Ms.
Shelby? No.
Can you give your husband an alibi for the time of the murder? No.
Did Mr.
Clayborn tell you why he wanted you to testify? Objection, relevance.
This witness knows nothing about the crime, Your Honor.
Her testimony is clearly intended to tug at the heartstrings of the jury, it's prejudicial.
I ask that it be stricken in its entirety.
JUDGE: I'll consider it.
You have any further questions for the witness? Anything I ask her, she'll just turn it into a sob story.
I take it that's a no.
Witness may stand down.
Did you know where to find Ms.
Shelby? I tried to find out, but the credit card companies wouldn't tell me, said they only had a corporation name.
Did you try to track down the corporation's address? It was a PO box.
Did you take any other steps to find Ms.
Shelby? I didn't know how.
If you had found her, what were you planning to do? I was going to beg her to leave Kevin alone.
Just Leave my son alone.
Sir.
Did you kill Lorraine Shelby? No.
Thank you.
The police testified Ms.
Shelby's business address was on your son's computer, Mr.
Malone.
I didn't know that.
JACK: Did your wife know? Objection.
Mr.
McCoy didn't ask Mrs.
Malone about this because he knew it was covered by spousal privilege, he can't get it in with an end run.
JUDGE: Sustained.
Move on, Mr.
McCoy.
You said you just wanted to talk to Ms.
Shelby, to ask her politely to leave Kevin alone, is that right? Yes.
Your son had put upwards of $50,000 in her pocket.
What in the world made you think that she would agree to stop seeing him online? I wasn't thinking straight, I just wanted it to stop.
I thought if I talked to her I Why not talk to your son instead? He was right there, wasn't he? You didn't have to track him down, did you? I did talk to him, I took away his modem, his cables, I had his phone line disconnected, he couldn't stop.
Without a modem and cables and a phone line, he still kept going? He bought a new modem, new cables, he tapped into our phone line.
Did you ever take away the whole computer? Yes, and he borrowed a laptop.
I did everything I could, Mr.
McCoy, but I couldn't watch him 24 hours a day.
It was her fault.
She destroyed my son and who knows how many others.
She deserved what she got.
And that was your decision to make? (STAMMERS) I Didn't say that, but don't ask me to be sorry she's dead.
If you didn't kill her, then can you explain how fibers from your gloves were found on the victim's body? I can only guess the police lab made a mistake.
Isn't it you that made a mistake, Mr.
Malone, when you accosted the victim and struck her and strangled her until she was dead? Isn't that why you're here? Objection.
Asked and answered on direct.
I have nothing further.
Thank you.
Counsel, the jury's asking permission to consider a lesser charge.
How much less? JUDGE: Man two.
The defense has no objection, Your Honor.
Mr.
McCoy? The standard for man two is recklessness.
How does that apply to deliberate strangulation? I'm inclined to agree with you, Mr.
McCoy.
How do you feel about man one? I don't think any manslaughter option is appropriate.
The victim didn't die by mistake, this murder was clearly intentional.
The jury clearly disagrees with the severity of the charge.
Because the defense bent over backwards to stir up sympathy for a cold-blooded killer! They should have sympathy for a greedy hooker? That's enough.
Tell the jury they can consider man one.
Your Honor, you're allowing a compromise verdict, that's not Sit down, Mr.
McCoy.
You might as well let them nullify.
Sit down.
It's now a guaranteed man one conviction and Malone knows that.
Six to twelve on an intentional murder.
Well, it happens sometimes when your victim is sleazier than your defendant, you know that.
Crime starts somewhere in China, ends up destroying a family in New York.
Not to mention ruining the lives of dozens of Chinese women.
What's the INS doing with them? Detained, pending the outcome of deportation proceedings.
They've applied for asylum.
Welcome to the global village.
These are their stories.
Unbelievable.
God, you never learn.
Well, they were different.
They shaded.
They omitted.
They lied.
Just like Robert lied.
Ugh, I forgot my hairdryer.
Uh-uh, I will buy you a new one.
You're not going back to his apartment.
I mean, he told me he hadn't seen her in months, and Oh, my God.
Come on! I swear, everything is gonna be okay.
No, it's not.
Look.
(EXCLAIMS) Give me your cell.
Quick! (CHATTER ON POLICE RADIO) You recognize her from the neighborhood? I live uptown.
You? My boyfriend, my ex Well, I mean, not for sure Whatever.
Anyway, his place is down the block, but I've never seen her before.
You hear anything last night? No.
Sorry.
What's her story? Not a pretty one.
Bruised face, bruised neck, bruised knuckles.
What killed her? Strangled, I think.
Too bad.
Good-looking girl.
You find ID? Nah.
No purse, no wallet.
But over here we got the heel of her shoe.
Up here we got a piece of the coat snagged on the gate.
Huh.
She got tossed around pretty good.
Yeah.
Not that anybody around here noticed.
All right, bag her hands and roll her.
Death by strangulation sometime between Lab found wool fibers on her neck and coat.
Not from anything she was wearing.
We ran her prints.
One arrest for disorderly conduct.
According to this file, her name's Lotus Blossom.
Can't be her real name.
How can you tell? Rape? No.
Scarring on her fallopian tubes.
Past pelvic inflammatory disease.
Prostitute? Stripper.
Spent the night in jail two years ago.
Got swept up in a raid at a club called Lavish Buffet.
You call over there? Nobody's seen her since the bust.
No forwarding address, no Social Security number.
And I don't suppose Lotus Blossom's in the white pages.
Have LaMotte check the topless bars.
He'll be thrilled.
And you get to check out the address on the arrest file.
Lotus Blossom? She Asian-American? Yes.
You know her? Could be my daughter Lorraine.
Ever since she got into the adult entertainment business, she's had all kinds of names.
She live here? I kicked her out eight years ago.
Broke her mother's heart her working in that business.
What's she done now? This woman was found murdered in the city.
Lorraine.
Had you heard from her lately? No.
How did It was strangulation.
(SIGHS) BRISCOE: Do you know where she was living? Maybe a phone number? She showed up about a year ago when her mother died, made a big deal about paying for the funeral.
I haven't seen her since.
ED: Do you know any of her friends? I wouldn't know any of her crowd.
Which funeral home took care of your wife? Park Lawn in Fort Lee.
Lorraine wasn't a bad kid.
I just don't get what happened to her.
"One hundred percent anti-allergenic.
" Yeah.
You wouldn't want granny breaking out in a rash.
Haruki Shelby, interred August last year.
Paid for by her daughter Lorraine.
Credit card? Cash.
She also took care of the arrangements for another deceased three months ago.
Who? May Sheng.
A Chinese girl, died of pneumonia.
We did a Buddhist cremation.
Any address for Lorraine Shelby? No.
I'm sorry.
Who signed the death certificate on the Chinese girl? The girl came in.
Both lungs were filled with fluid, she was running a fever of 105.
I called the ambulance, but she was dead before they got here.
Anybody with her? A woman brought her in.
Lorraine Shelby? Yes.
You treat a lot of Lorraine's friends here? Why? She was found dead the day before yesterday six blocks from here.
(SIGHS) Dead as in murdered.
I can't say I'm surprised, considering the business she was in.
Prostitution? Yes.
Same as her friends.
ED: You ever make house calls on Lorraine? At my age? Medical calls.
We just need to know where she lived.
Not far from here.
West 11th, 575-A, second floor.
There it is.
Short commute to work.
Nice.
Looks like she spent a lot of time looking out the window.
ED: The show's in here.
Everything for the accomplished ecdysiast.
Yeah.
The rug's been matted down.
Something was moved out of here recently.
A desk, maybe? Boxes? No personal papers, no address book.
Somebody's been through here already.
Out of where? The apartment above the massage parlor.
Somebody moving stuff out.
Yeah, Wednesday night.
Nine-ish.
A couple of guys took out some computers, cardboard boxes, put them in a van.
What kind of a van? It was a white van, and they took stuff out of the massage parlor, too.
It's about time they closed it down.
Did you get a look at these guys? Not really.
What about a license plate on the van? No.
Who cares? The place is a whorehouse.
This is a residential neighborhood, you know? Lot of people been trying to close the place down.
A lot of people like who? Hey, decent folks, you know.
We had to hound the cops just to get them to raid the place.
When was this raid? Couple of months ago, and what good did it do? The next day the place was back in business.
Thanks.
Yeah, we sent an undercover, but the girls made him.
My guys decided to bring them down to the station anyway to check their IDs.
You let them go? No choice.
Anyway, it's all shut down now.
You bring Lorraine Shelby in? The alleged madam? Apparently she ran things from her place upstairs.
Since she wasn't in the rub room itself, we couldn't touch her.
And since then? We've been keeping up a presence.
Any units sitting on the place the day she was killed? We don't have the budget for 24l7.
Lot of complaints from a Derek Fedder.
Guy's got kids, lives two doors from the place.
Maybe he got tired of complaining.
I'm sorry she's dead.
But if that's what it took to close that sewer down Yeah, that's what it took.
So where were you early Wednesday, say around 5:00 am.
? With my three-year-old.
She was sick.
Uh-huh.
Where was your wife? In Richmond, visiting her parents.
You think I killed that woman? Like you said, it's what it took to close the place down.
(SCOFFS) You guys are nuts.
So, what, you just resigned yourself to living next door to a whorehouse? No.
I couldn't get rid of the hookers, maybe I could get rid of the johns.
At least the ones that drive up.
BRISCOE: And how'd you do that? Wait by their cars.
If they come out, I tell them I got their plate numbers.
It do any good? Not much.
ED: You ever see a white van? I've seen a lot of white vans.
You want their plates? Okay.
Thank you.
Starting with the vans that showed up regularly, we got one registered to Happy Days Plumbing.
Plumbers.
Babydoobeedoo Diaper Service.
(LAUGHS) Serious? Seriously.
And an expired registration on Enchanting lmports, Sounds promising.
NYPD.
Anybody home? Nobody's allowed in here.
Guess again.
Who're you? Watchman.
What're you watching? Nothing.
What's in here? Nothing.
Oh, I guess you won't mind us taking a look at nothing.
ED: Aw, man! Are people living in here? I don't know.
What about that one? What's inside? I don't know.
(WOMEN CHATTERING IN PANIC) ED: Oh, man! Do me a favor, try to run! Cuff him! OFFICER: This way, paisan! All right, all right.
Come on, come on.
(CHATTERING IN CHINESE) Some Chinese guy hired me.
I get paid every Friday, that's all I know.
You knew those women were in that shipping container.
Yeah, the guy that dropped them off told me I should take care of them.
The Chinese guy? No, some white guy.
I don't know who he is.
He was here, talking to Mr.
Chang.
Then who's Chang? He runs the place, I think.
Lent the white guy his van.
How can we get in touch with him? You can't.
Right after he talked with that guy, he left for China.
Said he wouldn't be back.
(SIGHS) When did the white guy drop these girls off? Wednesday, late afternoon.
He was driving Mr.
Chang's van, how should I know anything was wrong? Let's see.
A dozen women stuffed into a shipping container with a bucket in the corner to pee in.
I swear, I didn't know anything was wrong! I want a lawyer.
(DOOR OPENS) Get anything? Not from this moron.
Translator's here.
She paid $10,000 to a smuggler in Hong Kong, she was put in a container with 15 other girls.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) After two months at sea, they started running out of food and water and couldn't breathe.
It took them three months to get to New York.
Four girls died.
ED: What happened once they got to New York? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) They were forced to work as prostitutes.
Does she know this woman? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) Boss lady.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) Oh, this woman told the girls what to do.
Anybody else? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) Yes.
White man.
Eugene.
Balding.
Every week he came by to pick up the receipts.
Was he there the night the boss lady got killed? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) She doesn't know.
Was there any bad blood between Eugene and the boss lady? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) No.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) Last week, your victim and another man had a knock-down drag-out with a white man.
Mustache.
They were yelling in English.
Does she know the man's name? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) Sorry.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) She wants to know what's gonna happen to her and the others.
They'll be turned over to the INS.
After that (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) ED: Parent company of the massage parlor is called Asian Novelties, shipping warehouse is leased by Enchanting lmports.
They related? Who knows? They're both a tangle of DBA's, LLC's.
Immigration pick up the women? INS and a Vice team searched the massage parlor.
Fourteen cubicles and a back room where the women slept.
All in one room? Wall to wall mattresses.
They find a clue who Eugene is? 'Cause I'd really like to nail this bastard.
VAN BUREN: He's not listed? No corporate officers listed.
Some lawyer prepared these and filed them, find out who.
Yeah.
Yeah, I filed these papers.
Asian Novelties.
Who for? A client.
Yeah.
Guy named Eugene? Assuming you've heard of attorney-client privilege.
This is a shipping container, for three months.
BRISCOE: A slow boat from China.
Look ED: See those buckets there? That was their bathroom.
They were told they'd be seamstresses.
Your client made them work as prostitutes.
Look, I swear, I didn't know.
Now you know.
I just prepared and filed the corporate documents.
That's the only job I ever did for him.
Eugene Miller.
All right, everybody up.
Let's go.
OFFICER: Come on.
Get out of here.
Eugene Miller? Yeah.
You're under arrest for kidnapping and false imprisonment.
Anything else, Lennie? Yeah, pimping and pandering.
What the hell? Your lawyer can explain it all to you.
Meantime, you have the right to remain silent.
Anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
I don't know any Lorraine Shelby.
Don't even try it.
Come on, Ed, let's just give him to the Feds, they've got enough to put him down for life.
Hey.
Hey, what, you sleaze-bag? You want him to cooperate or not? Show us what it looks like.
I don't know who killed her, okay? I heard about it on the news, I just went and got stuff out, that's all.
What stuff? Files and equipment.
Why? 'Cause they're mine.
Yours? They were in her apartment.
They're her files.
Where are they? You have no probable cause to poke around in his files.
I've got plenty.
I've got Your client removed evidence from the murder victim's apartment.
The night watchman at your warehouse already ID'd you.
Chang leased that, not me.
Far as I know, those girls are independent contractors.
You're joking.
COUNSELOR: He already told you he knows nothing about the murder.
Okay.
Where were you Wednesday morning, say 4:00 or 5:00? I was going over the books at my other massage parlor, the one you found me at.
ED: Anybody with you? My accountant.
You got an accountant who works at 4:00 am.
? It's not a 9-to-5 business, okay? Jay Kogen.
You want his number? Good.
You'll check his alibi.
Now about the other charges You got a lost cause, Counselor.
His trip's already booked.
It can go easy or hard.
You cooperate or you don't.
The stuff's in unit 64 at U-Store-lt in Soho.
I deserve some consideration here, I'm cooperating.
You force women to have sex with every loser that walks in with $20 in his sweaty hands.
What's the difference between you and a rapist? Put a leash on this guy, all right? Yeah, we gave up.
He keeps chewing through them.
Miller's alibi checked out, so he's not our murderer.
Four girls are dead because of his smuggling deal.
Federal jurisdiction.
What're they gonna do, slap him on the wrist because his girls didn't have green cards? Well, at least we got him on state kidnapping.
What'd you find at his storage unit? Well, some video equipment, file cabinets and 17 boxes of video tapes.
Dirty movies? See for yourself.
VAN BUREN: Eugene Miller didn't tell you about the hidden cameras? We went back to Rikers and asked him.
He said he didn't know about it.
You watched all these tapes? We fast-forwarded through some of them.
They were all the same.
Well, one of the Chinese women told you Lorraine Shelby had an argument with a mustached man.
Yeah, if he was one of the customers, he's probably on the tapes.
Well, get her back in here, see if she can find him.
This one says "insurance.
" This must be the raid from two months ago.
That one there.
Wasn't he the guy getting the hummer? BRISCOE: Guy's got some explaining to do.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) The older man, the one on the right, is the one who had the fight with the victim.
That guy's a cop.
Is she sure? (TRANSLATING INTO CHINESE) That's him.
The cop who got the lube job was setting up the bust.
ED: He's looking for the marked bill he used.
Doesn't look like he's finding it.
You can't find it, plant it.
The story we got from your lieutenant was your partner went in undercover and the girls figured him for a cop.
Yeah.
So what happened, you lie to your lieutenant or he lie to us? Watch who you call a liar.
Yeah, okay, here's your partner with his pants down.
And, oh, here he is getting serviced.
So when exactly did they figure out he was a cop, huh? How many cops in your precinct knew about this, Renato? I want a PBA lawyer.
Oh, this is just a friendly chat.
You'd rather have it with Internal Affairs? Oh, here's your partner looking for the marked bill he used.
He doesn't find it, does he? Yeah.
Here's you donating one.
No lawyer, I'm a clam.
Interesting choice of words.
So what happened, Lotus Blossom tell you she had you on tape? One of you taking advantage of the services while the other one phonies up evidence? What'd you fight with her about? Why'd you kill her? Guess I'll be looking for a new career.
I guess so.
Want to help yourself? Neighbors kept complaining.
They sent me in undercover with a marked bill.
When we raided the place, we couldn't find it.
So your partner planted one? We were frustrated, okay? We wanted to shut her down.
So why didn't you? You had your marked bill.
After we took the girls in, Lotus Blossom told me and Tony she had us on tape planting the bill.
So you let it drop.
Sure we did.
The girls hadn't been booked yet.
We just told Lieutenant Wreston we made a mistake.
He believed you? Yeah.
Tony's good at blowing smoke.
Your partner had a big fight with Lorraine Shelby a week before she died.
She had us rousting drunks out of her place, you know, watching over her.
Renato had enough.
He wanted the tapes, she laughed in his face.
Well, that's pretty naive of him.
He's two years from his pension.
He was worried it was gonna get out.
Worried enough to kill her? I don't know.
I don't know.
Okay, man? We were just trying to make a bust.
How widespread's the corruption? IAB thinks it's just the five cops who raided the place.
Did Detective Renato kill Ms.
Shelby? The victim had him in a bind.
She was demanding protection, he got tired of giving it.
His partner says Renato was afraid of losing his pension.
A motive.
Any witnesses? Not that the cops have found.
Evidence? Not yet.
Want to make it three for three? We don't know about opportunity.
He's not feeling cooperative enough to give us an alibi.
ADAM: What've you charged him with? Obstruction of justice for now.
Worried about his pension? Explain to him that's the least of his problems.
(SIGHS) I was at home with my wife and my kids.
He lives in Hauppauge, hour and a half drive from the city.
Anybody else in Hauppauge see you besides your wife and your kids? I got off the expressway, exit 37, got gas at a Shell station about 5:00, 5:15.
Pay with a credit card? Yeah, and the attendant knows me.
We'll check it.
What'd you argue with Ms.
Shelby about? COUNSELOR: Let's hear the deal first.
Probation on the obstruction charge.
His job and pension aren't up to me.
Not good enough, you've got a murder charge in your back pocket.
Convince me he didn't do it.
I didn't do it.
The argument? I had enough, I wanted out.
What exactly did you do for her? (SCOFFS) Protection.
Her line of work attracts a lot of weirdoes.
Any weirdo in particular? She had this one guy that she was chatting up on the Internet.
She had a sideline.
Talking dirty to guys online for a couple bucks a minute.
This one guy spooked her.
She asked me to check him out.
Did you? I wouldn't know how.
She talks to me about e-mail and chats and screen names.
How the hell am I supposed to know about that crap? What name did this weirdo use on the computer? Hotrod.
Hotrod.
No e-mails from Hotrod.
No saved e-mails at all.
But she does have lots of saved chat files with him.
Pull them up.
"Bounce them for me, baby.
No, go faster.
" BRISCOE: This hump was watching her do it? Check the settings for a T-3 line.
Yeah.
Catch me up.
ED: She was running a live-camera website.
You type in your request, watch the action on the monitor and then charge it to your credit card.
Print the chats from Hotrod.
And we're gonna need his user profile and his credit card information.
No can do.
Your girl used a host company.
A host company? Yeah, they run the site for you.
Takes customer information, handles billing.
I doubt they can match the credit card user to the name he made up for the chat room.
Great, a dead end.
No, not a dead end, just a lot more work.
Hotrod says he's 38, rich, drives a Porsche, and he's well-endowed.
And he couldn't get a real date? At first, he's just telling her what he wants to see her do.
That goes on for about six weeks.
Then he wanted her to meet him somewhere.
She strung him along without saying yes, and he started threatening her.
"Don't say you love me, you slut, "if you loved me, you'd meet me.
"You're just using me.
" Duh.
"If I have to come after you, it'll be to kill you.
" Gets worse as it goes along.
I don't get why she didn't block him out.
$2.
99 a minute.
Got the credit card user profiles from the host company, and times everybody was logged on.
Let's match them up.
BRISCOE: Okay, March 17, 3:16 a.
m.
, Hotrod was chatting with the victim.
Don't these people ever sleep? Wait a minute.
I've got two people logged onto that site at that time.
Yeah, lollipop@tbl.
com and plantman@jointaccess.
com.
That's the second time Hotrod was chatting with her at the same time Plantman's credit card was being used.
So we've found Hotrod? Maybe.
Plantman first registered with the host company in March.
Hotrod was accessing the website before then.
Too bad Renato's alibi checks out.
You know, if this is the future of police work, I'm gonna start thinking about retirement.
More coffee? So who's Plantman? Um Lance Vernon, used his City Mutual card.
Four grand in one week telling a stripper how to take her clothes off.
You guys are such suckers.
I don't know what you're talking about.
A porno website.
$4000 charged to your credit card.
What? When? Three weeks ago.
Oh, my God.
Where were you March 23, about 5:00 a.
m.
? What the hell's going on? Where were you, Mr.
Vernon? I was in Nova Scotia looking at trees.
Look, I gotta go and call my credit card company.
Does anyone else have access to your card? No! Do you use it a lot? It's my back-up card, I've only ever used it once.
Damn.
All my friends have been telling me to shop online.
It's great, don't worry about security.
I'm such an idiot.
Okay.
Where'd you use it? I bought a book.
One lousy book from oldbookworms.
Com.
FLETCHER: Eight weeks ago, our firewall was breached.
This hacker calls himself Leapfrog.
He stole our customer files.
How do you know? He e-mailed them back to us with a demand for a quarter million dollars, or he'd sell them on the web.
Did you call the police? Yeah, we're coordinating with them, we're trying to track the guy through phone lines.
He must be leaving footprints.
He's pirating other people's e-mail addresses.
Go to the last page of that file.
That came in this morning.
We have till 10:00 a.
m.
Tomorrow to wire the money to Direct Money Express under the name Chris Roberts.
Which Direct Money Express office? Doesn't matter.
I mean, he could go into any office.
There's 96 in Manhattan alone, he could be in Bangkok for all we know.
Well, I'm looking at him for a murder in Soho, Mr.
Fletcher, so let's take a flyer he's local.
He says he'll call you tonight at midnight for your answer.
Gives us time to put a tracer on the call.
There's no point.
He said he'd know immediately if we did that, he'd publish the numbers all over the Internet.
We can't take that risk.
Okay.
Tell him the money will be there tomorrow.
But we can't Lie to him.
We'll take it from there.
I've been waiting for 20 minutes.
I'm sorry, miss, the system's overloaded, it should be back up soon.
Hey, wait your turn.
I don't think so.
We thought we'd leapfrog over you.
I'm not in the mood to do much of anything for her, Mr.
Watkins.
We've got her dead on extortion.
I wasn't really gonna do anything, I swear.
I just wanted to show them they need to tighten their security.
Someone has been using at least one of the credit card numbers you stole.
If it wasn't you, who was it? I'm still not hearing an incentive to cooperate.
Theft, blackmail, extortion.
Whoever used that card is a murderer.
Well, I didn't use it.
I sold some of them.
CARMICHAEL: Who to? I don't know.
Lance Vernon.
Plantman.
Who did you sell his credit card number to? Some guy, I don't remember his name.
He sent me a money order, I faxed him a credit card number.
You still have his fax? Yeah.
Sure.
ED: Excuse me.
Is Kevin Malone here? Why do you ask? We need to talk to him.
Kevin.
What's this about? What's going on, Mom? BRISCOE: You Hotrod? (EXCLAIMS) Let go of me! Shut up, all right? You're not rich, you're not 38, and that's not a Porsche.
I bet if we check under the hood, you'll be 0 for 4.
What's going on? What are you doing to my son? He's under arrest for the murder of Lorraine Shelby.
Lotus Blossom to her close virtual friends.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law You don't have a shred of evidence my client killed this woman.
JACK: He threatened her, graphically and repeatedly.
And he knew where to find her.
Because she gave him the address of the massage parlor and told him to "come on down, big boy.
" It's not the behavior of a threatened woman.
She knew they were playing a game.
Where's the crime? Using a stolen credit card, making threats COUNSELOR: So why are you holding him on suspicion of murder? He was home that morning.
I pulled him out of bed myself.
I'll pay restitution on the credit card he used, and we'll redirect his energies.
He's not a killer.
My son's a decent boy.
This is your decent boy.
"I want you so bad all the time.
I'm so hard for you.
" That's private! COUNSELOR: They're just words, Ms.
Carmichael.
"I have to have you.
" Repeated for a full page.
A month later he says, "I'm going to have you.
"I want you on your hands and knees.
" Stop it! "You'll see me or I'll kill you.
" My client was merely exercising a vivid imagination in cyberspace.
A jury will see these for what they are.
Vile threats against a woman who was then brutally murdered.
By your client.
Virtual threats, Mr.
McCoy, made in virtual reality.
Against a woman who is now more than virtually dead.
Motion in limine.
No jury ever sees those chat logs.
JACK: If Kevin Malone had delivered his threats by US mail, they'd be part of the People's evidence, no questions asked.
COUNSELOR: But they weren't delivered, not in any meaningful sense of the word.
These were lines in a nasty little theater piece with Kevin and Ms.
Shelby in the starring roles.
Counsel wants this court to see these words as mere masturbatory fantasy.
COUNSELOR: They're less than that.
Desires lived out at the moment in some place that isn't even a place.
I've read the transcripts of the chats.
How do I know they're anything more than defendant's flights of sexual fancy? Isn't that a question of fact for the jury, Judge? It's a complex problem, Ms.
Carmichael, open to more than one interpretation.
Your Honor, Kevin Malone stated his intent, "See me or I'll kill you," page after page and then he followed through.
A jury is entitled to hear these threats.
My client also wrote that he's 38 and rich.
It's all role-playing, Your Honor.
She was worried enough to ask for help.
Her paranoia has nothing to do with my client's intent.
I tend to agree.
Removed from their context, these transcripts are too prejudicial.
They're out.
If you'll excuse me, I'm due in court.
Without those chats, we can't connect Kevin Malone to the murder.
We'll just have to find some other route.
Talk to his friends.
I can't believe Kevin killed anybody.
He's just so not the type.
You talk to him a lot lately? Not so much.
He's been hanging out at home mostly.
He tell you about this girl he was chatting with? No.
Maybe he was spending way too much time online, but so what? So he had a problem.
Yeah, I guess.
He fell off the face of the earth.
Stopped playing sports, stopped going to parties.
Really bummed me out to see what was happening to him.
I think it bummed his dad out, too.
Mr.
Malone knew what Kevin was doing? I don't know, but he called me up asked me to set Kevin up with one of my sister's friends.
You know, get him out of the house.
And what happened? Nothing.
Kevin said he couldn't afford to take anybody out.
Did he say why? He said he had major bills to pay or his dad was gonna kill him.
Kevin Malone had been going online with Ms.
Shelby for a little over three months.
First month, a $368 charge on one of his father's credit cards.
$2.
99 a minute, a little over two hours.
Hardly excessive.
Month two, triple it.
Six hours in a month? Still far from being obsessed.
Month three, close to $50,000.
He maxed out six of his parents' cards.
What does that come to? Ten hours a day.
That rings the bell.
I haven't met the kid face to face, but I'd say he's an Internet addict.
Everything's an addiction now.
His grades go down, he's stepping back from his friends, and he's hunched over a keyboard ten hours a day.
What do you call it? Stupid.
Internet addiction is as devastating as alcoholism or compulsive gambling.
Divorce rate's up because of it, it's causing a host of physical ailments.
Like what? Backache, eye strain, all the problems attendant on sleep deprivation.
It's not an excuse for murder.
Yeah, that's what they said about Twinkies until a jury bought it.
So what am I up against? Standard addiction defense, compulsive behavior, loss ofjudgment, plus, in this case, confusion between fantasy and reality.
(LAUGHS) You might as well say, "Playboy made me do it.
" It's ridiculous.
With magazines you have fantasies.
This kid was having sex.
No more real than a Playboy-induced daydream.
Daydreams are solitary.
This was two real people having virtual sex.
This is interesting.
Letters between Mr.
Malone and his various credit card companies.
First he wants them to disallow the charges his son made and then he asks for the name of the woman who got the fifty grand.
Say what he was planning to do with the information? Wanted to talk to her, get his money back.
Then he threatens to sue them if they don't tell him.
Did they? "Please be advised we've forwarded your letters to our legal department.
"If you wish to pursue your stated course of action, "please address all further correspondence," etc.
What's the date of the last letter? Eight days before the murder.
He could've found the address of the massage parlor on his son's computer.
We didn't ask him where he was at the time of the killing.
No point in asking him.
You know that Kevin had the address of Ms.
Shelby's business because she gave it to him? She tried to lure him into that Where she worked.
He's just a boy.
She didn't know that, Mrs.
Malone.
To her he was a 38-year-old stud with a wad of money.
When did you and your husband find out that Kevin had the address in the computer? A few days before she Please, don't you understand what that woman was? What she did to my son? What about what he did to her? I told you, Kevin was at home.
Ms.
Shelby was killed at 5:00 a.
m.
You were awake that early? No, but I was at 6:00, and I woke Kevin at 6:15.
Could he have just sneaked back into bed? (SIGHS) He was out to the world.
Can your husband corroborate that? He may have looked in on Kevin before he left, he usually does.
What time was that? I'm not sure.
So he wasn't there when you got up? No, he went to work early that day.
(STAMMERS) He wanted to beat traffic into the city.
One other person from his office was in early that morning.
She says she didn't see Malone there.
Did you ask Mr.
Malone about it? He won't talk to us.
The police searched the house again this morning with a warrant specifying Mr.
Malone's clothes.
(PHONE RINGING) Schiff here.
Detective Briscoe.
Lennie.
Okay, thanks.
They found a pair of Mr.
Malone's wool gloves, torn, same color as the fibers found at the scene.
They match? Lab says yes.
ED: We asked Mr.
Malone where he was at the time of the murder, he said he was in the city, working at his office.
Did you check his alibi? Yes.
We spoke to a co-worker who was in the office at 5:00 a.
m.
That morning.
She told us she didn't see Mr.
Malone.
Did you subsequently ask Mr.
Malone to account for the discrepancy? He said he was there, that his door was closed.
But we checked with building security.
They hadn't seen him either.
And his entry key card hadn't been used in the elevators or the office suite.
Thank you, Detective.
Did you talk to anyone who saw Mr.
Malone at all that morning? Yes.
A waitress at a coffee shop in Queens.
She said he got a cup of coffee to go.
She could remember a casual customer from two months before but she couldn't say if he was wearing gloves? That's what she said.
Anyone else? Maybe someone who put Mr.
Malone closer to the crime scene than Queens? There were no witnesses on the street at the crime scene at the time of the murder.
That wasn't my question, Detective.
No one we found saw the defendant again until 9:00 a.
m.
That day at his office.
In investigating this crime, did you find that the victim had been arrested on any occasion? Yes, a raid at a strip club.
Objection.
Relevance.
The victim's character is often relevant, Mr.
McCoy.
I'll allow it.
Did you find she was a prostitute? Yes.
Did you find that she was enslaving other women and forcing them to perform sex acts with men? Yes.
Did you learn what percentage of the other women's earnings Ms.
Shelby confiscated? ED: Eighty percent to the house.
Eighty percent.
Was there a standard charge for, say, oral sex? $20.
So $4 out of every 20 went to the women who were forced to do the real work.
Did they get to keep the $4? They said Ms.
Shelby charged half for room and board.
And were they allowed to seek other accommodations? Not according to what they told us.
Thank you, that's all.
So he smeared the victim, what else is new? "My client didn't do it, but the victim deserved to die.
" And by the time Clayborn was finished, the jury thought so, too.
Who is the first defense witness? Mrs.
Malone.
Mrs.
Malone? She can't violate spousal privilege, what's her contribution? Probably broken hearts and violins.
Oh, cut her some slack, her whole family's been destroyed by a tidal wave of hardcore smut crashing into her home.
It's not illegal.
First amendment, Abbie.
Oh, I seem to remember something about "socially redeeming value.
" There's nothing redeemable about murder.
MRS.
MALONE: We tried so hard, we even found Kevin a therapist.
He wouldn't go.
CLAYBORN: Why not? He said it wasn't anybody's business but his.
How would you describe your son's obsession, Mrs.
Malone? It was like an addiction.
Nothing else mattered to him.
When the police arrested your son, did you believe he might have killed Ms.
Shelby? Of course not.
And when the police came back again and arrested your husband, did you think it was possible he killed her? Not remotely.
How many enemies must that woman have had? Thank you.
Can you shed any light on who killed Ms.
Shelby? No.
Can you give your husband an alibi for the time of the murder? No.
Did Mr.
Clayborn tell you why he wanted you to testify? Objection, relevance.
This witness knows nothing about the crime, Your Honor.
Her testimony is clearly intended to tug at the heartstrings of the jury, it's prejudicial.
I ask that it be stricken in its entirety.
JUDGE: I'll consider it.
You have any further questions for the witness? Anything I ask her, she'll just turn it into a sob story.
I take it that's a no.
Witness may stand down.
Did you know where to find Ms.
Shelby? I tried to find out, but the credit card companies wouldn't tell me, said they only had a corporation name.
Did you try to track down the corporation's address? It was a PO box.
Did you take any other steps to find Ms.
Shelby? I didn't know how.
If you had found her, what were you planning to do? I was going to beg her to leave Kevin alone.
Just Leave my son alone.
Sir.
Did you kill Lorraine Shelby? No.
Thank you.
The police testified Ms.
Shelby's business address was on your son's computer, Mr.
Malone.
I didn't know that.
JACK: Did your wife know? Objection.
Mr.
McCoy didn't ask Mrs.
Malone about this because he knew it was covered by spousal privilege, he can't get it in with an end run.
JUDGE: Sustained.
Move on, Mr.
McCoy.
You said you just wanted to talk to Ms.
Shelby, to ask her politely to leave Kevin alone, is that right? Yes.
Your son had put upwards of $50,000 in her pocket.
What in the world made you think that she would agree to stop seeing him online? I wasn't thinking straight, I just wanted it to stop.
I thought if I talked to her I Why not talk to your son instead? He was right there, wasn't he? You didn't have to track him down, did you? I did talk to him, I took away his modem, his cables, I had his phone line disconnected, he couldn't stop.
Without a modem and cables and a phone line, he still kept going? He bought a new modem, new cables, he tapped into our phone line.
Did you ever take away the whole computer? Yes, and he borrowed a laptop.
I did everything I could, Mr.
McCoy, but I couldn't watch him 24 hours a day.
It was her fault.
She destroyed my son and who knows how many others.
She deserved what she got.
And that was your decision to make? (STAMMERS) I Didn't say that, but don't ask me to be sorry she's dead.
If you didn't kill her, then can you explain how fibers from your gloves were found on the victim's body? I can only guess the police lab made a mistake.
Isn't it you that made a mistake, Mr.
Malone, when you accosted the victim and struck her and strangled her until she was dead? Isn't that why you're here? Objection.
Asked and answered on direct.
I have nothing further.
Thank you.
Counsel, the jury's asking permission to consider a lesser charge.
How much less? JUDGE: Man two.
The defense has no objection, Your Honor.
Mr.
McCoy? The standard for man two is recklessness.
How does that apply to deliberate strangulation? I'm inclined to agree with you, Mr.
McCoy.
How do you feel about man one? I don't think any manslaughter option is appropriate.
The victim didn't die by mistake, this murder was clearly intentional.
The jury clearly disagrees with the severity of the charge.
Because the defense bent over backwards to stir up sympathy for a cold-blooded killer! They should have sympathy for a greedy hooker? That's enough.
Tell the jury they can consider man one.
Your Honor, you're allowing a compromise verdict, that's not Sit down, Mr.
McCoy.
You might as well let them nullify.
Sit down.
It's now a guaranteed man one conviction and Malone knows that.
Six to twelve on an intentional murder.
Well, it happens sometimes when your victim is sleazier than your defendant, you know that.
Crime starts somewhere in China, ends up destroying a family in New York.
Not to mention ruining the lives of dozens of Chinese women.
What's the INS doing with them? Detained, pending the outcome of deportation proceedings.
They've applied for asylum.
Welcome to the global village.