Raising the Bar (2008) s02e06 Episode Script
I'll Be Down to Get You a Taxi, Honey
"I'll Be Down to Get You a Taxi Honey" Vince.
- Dude, where's your briefcase? - Strap broke.
Can you squeeze me in? I'll see what I can do.
She's in a mood.
You have got to be kidding me.
I have, what, 68 cases on my calendar today? I thought you told Brownfield I can't handle that.
I did, and he said that with meade out, we had to take at least two to help clear the backlog.
Oh, God.
Not today.
- My head is killing me.
- You want me to tell him you can't do it? No, that's not a fight I want to have.
Just cancel lunch.
We'll work through it.
I'll get you an aspirin.
Hello? I'm waiting.
Call the next case.
Calendar number 46 Henry Ryan, charged attempted murder, assault in the first degree.
I do not see a lawyer, Mr.
Ryan.
I do not see a lawyer.
This is, what, your your second adjournment? Your third adjournment.
I told you not to come back into my courtroom without a lawyer.
I know.
I'm sorry.
I tried.
I have.
Apparently, not hard enough! I believe you're the one that wanted to go to trial.
Which is why my lawyer withdrew.
She said I didn't have enough money to pay her for a trial.
My wife died.
I'm supporting our 6-year-old daughter.
There are bills.
I'm I am trying.
You know, perhaps my English is even worse than I thought.
I'm gonna try this one more tim Get a lawyer! - I can't.
I swear.
- You have an income.
I cannot and will not assign you counsel.
I'm gonna tell you one more time, Mr.
Ryan you get yourself a lawyer.
I'm gonna hold you in contempt, and you can try to find a lawyer - from the pay phone at Rikers island.
- Judge, please, I'm begging you here.
Jerry Kellerman appearing on behalf of Mr.
Ryan.
Uh, I'll be representing Mr.
Ryan, Your Honor.
Apparently, you don't understand me either, Mr.
Kellerman.
I said I am not assigning a public defender, but thanks for your interest.
I'm not gonna take this one as a public defender, Your Honor.
I'm taking this one pro bono.
Oh, yeah? Well, I'm sorry.
You can't just march in here Actually, judge, I just did.
Fine.
I will set this case for trial a week from today.
And don't you dare try to stall me.
Call the next case.
- I don't understand.
- Me, either.
I mean, you're my lawyer, just like that? No charge? Just like that.
Now that I'm your lawyer you want to tell me what happened? I ran over my lawyer.
My wife, Annie, had ovarian cancer, and Manhattan City hospital missed it.
I mean, they just they missed it.
And by the time they figured it out eight months later, it was too late.
So I got a lawyer Gordon Burke.
This guy I worked construction with recommended him.
He filed the suit.
Hospital settled $375,000.
- Good news, no? - I guess.
Annie was dying.
I'm thinking with that kind of money, I can make her comfortable, you know? I wanted to get her a decent bed, a good mattress, take care of her, take care of Ella, just take care of everything.
And? Settlement check came from Gordon's office - For $3,850.
- What?! I didn't know what to think.
I figured it was a down payment or something.
- There had to be more coming.
- But it never came? No, I kept calling him, asking him what was up.
You know, four months go by, five months go by.
I'm watching the love of my life die in front of me.
I'm watching my my daughter lose her mother.
And still, there's no money.
How long ago did Annie die? - 17 months ago.
- I'm sorry.
So, uh I borrowed money to pay for the funeral.
I'm driving a cab by then.
I go to see Gordon, you know, after my shift, to his house, and he has me in.
- He says, "I'll explain everything.
" - Did he? No.
He just snuck out, you know? And I just I flipped You know, I ran out to my cab.
He's crossing the street, trying to walk the wrong way up park so that I can't follow him.
I gunned it, just trying to cut him off.
Broken leg, shattered pelvis, assault in the first degree Attempted murder.
You still want to take the case? Wouldn't miss it for the world.
Mr.
Vasquez, my name is Richard Woolsley, and I'm gonna be your lawyer.
O okay.
You're here because they caught you inside Gaskan Diagnostics after hours.
That's bad, right? Bad enough to charge you with burglary, anyway.
- But I I didn't take anything, though.
- It says here the door was jimmied? Look, they must have, like, a silent alarm or something, you know? I I was barely inside when the guard come in.
- I I didn't have time to even - Woolsley, your cases are up.
Just being there unlawfully with intent is enough for them to charge the burglary.
So I'm screwed.
W what are they gonna give me for that? Well, it's a nonviolent offense.
Uhyou have no criminal record.
- Could be anything from probation - T that would be good.
up to 2 1/3 to 7 years.
My best guess a year, maybe two.
My fault for being so stupid.
S so, there's no way to fight it, huh? Woolsley, judge is waiting.
Coming.
There's always a way to fight, but, uh, sometimes making a deal early can save you some time.
Well, I did it, so Just do your best for me, okay? All right.
You're gonna love this.
What? Your attempted murder trial's on for next week.
Guy finally found himself a lawyer.
A week.
Really? That's not the best part.
Guess who he got to represent him? Jerry.
Have fun.
It's hard to believe it's this close to being over.
All you have to do is sign.
And in a week, it's sealed, delivered, and I'm divorced.
Kellerman, my office.
Pro bono case without even asking? You should have seen the guy, Roz.
Kessler was itching to lock him up.
Jerry, I really love the instinct, really.
But just once, I wish - you could walk by an injustice.
Just - You don't.
Have you thought about how it will affect your other cases? Yes, my plan was to figure it out later.
Uh-huh.
Do you know what you have next week? Six easy pleas on Monday, a suppression hearing on Tuesday.
- What happened to your briefcase? - Strap broke.
- Buy a new one.
- Give me a raise.
Put notes on them, leave them on my desk.
- What I can't do, I'll distribute.
- Thank you.
Really.
Thank you.
You owe me.
Really, you owe me.
He ran down his lawyer on Park Avenue.
And you wonder why he couldn't find someone to take his case for so long.
- Who's that, uh that guy again? - Who? What? What guy? The guy who can't ride past a windmill without fighting it.
- Don Quixote.
- Don Quixote.
I don't tilt at windmills.
I tilt at Kessler.
All right, you guys, who wants another? I'm buying.
- What are we celebrating? - I signed my divorce papers today.
- Yes.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
I'll help.
Jerry, I'm your friend.
But this case is a dog for you.
One-time offer because you were nice to help the guy.
Let's just plead it out.
Great.
Misdemeanor, three years probation, and he gets a certificate of release - Are you out of your mind? - from civil disability - so he can go back to driving his cab.
- Oh, that's just what this city needs - a cabbie who likes to run people down.
- Not people a lawyer who stole a settlement he got for his dying wife.
I'm sorry.
I missed that exception to assault one.
Was that in the statute? - Between the lines.
- This guy is a total scumbag.
He's been sued by nine other clients for ripping them off in exactly the same way.
Yeah, well, maybe if he had sued instead of I don't know running him down, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
How about four years, attempt assault one? There was no attempt! It was an accident! So he didn't do it.
But if he did, the guy had it coming? Nice.
You haven't even read the case files yet, have you? No.
Well, instead of researching the complainant, you might want to look at the facts of the case.
Final trial prep? Yeah, starts this afternoon.
I'm gonna get you a cup of coffee.
You look like you've been up all night.
- Two nights, actually.
- How's the case? Bad.
- What's the defense? - Accident.
- Have you got something good to hang that on? - Nope.
So, are you gonna plead it? He shouldn't go to jail.
I mean, this this guy got so screwed.
I mean, his his wife was dying of cancer, and this sleazeball lawyer basically steals the money that was supposed to help make her comfortable in her final days.
- I swear, I would have run him down myself.
- So, what, you're really gonna argue he deserved it? I'm the first juror, and if I feel that way, I figure I can usually make the other 12 feel that way, too.
So, yeah.
I argue accident, hope the jury acquits.
Even if they think he's guilty.
Kellerman's defense blame the victim.
If he's blameworthy, you bet.
- So, an "a" and a CD on Jackson.
- With two days' community service.
Bullet on Sanders.
Uh, if he waves 70.
30.
- What about Romeo Vasquez? - Romeo Vasquez 1 1/3 to 4.
- That's a first arrest.
You got the right case? - Yeah, the medical lab.
- Your guy gonna testify in the grand jury? - Not if you make me a decent offer.
- How about an "a" and probation? - It's after hours.
He's caught inside.
- I got him dead to rights.
- But four years it's not a state-prison case.
Okay, uh, six-month split.
Same lab just lost 50 grand in equipment two months ago.
There's a big black market for this high-end tech stuff.
- But he didn't take anything.
- Because the guards caught him.
And by the way his prints all over a specimen rack right next to their brand-new gas chromatograph.
Do the math, then tell your guy to take the 1 1/3 to 4.
Okay, how about I tell him to take a year and save you presenting it to the grand jury.
- Goes down first thing tomorrow? - Lighter load all around.
- Done.
- Great.
- What about Miyazaki? - Uh, Miyazaki So, a year? - That's what they gonna do? - Yes.
And how much do I do from that? With good time, it's actually eight months, but it's city time.
City time? You'll do it all right here at Rikers, not at some upstate prison.
Also, there's no probation or parole or anything like that just eight months, and you're out.
- And that's the best for me? - I think so.
So, you think I should take this? Yes.
Well, I mean, y you my lawyer, right? I had just come out of the building.
- Your building? - I'm a physician.
My practice is on the third floor.
Anyway, I had just come out and was heading to the corner to hail a cab.
And as you headed for the corner, what did you observe? Up the block, I saw a cab barreling down the street.
There was a guy heading north across the street, and the cab swerved hard to the left.
- To avoid him? - No.
Almost like he was aiming for him.
He hit the guy with the front-right side of the cab.
It made a terrible sound.
You don't know the relationship between the cabbie and the pedestrian, do you? No.
And you said the cabbie seemed like he was aiming? But you're not a psychic.
And you have no idea what his intent was, do you? - No, you're right.
I do not.
- In fact, what you saw - was a pedestrian run into the street.
- Right.
In the middle of the block, not the crosswalk.
- Right.
- And when he ran out i n the middle of the block, it was from between two parked cars.
Yes, I suppose it was.
Thank you.
He was my client.
I represented him and his wife in an action against Manhattan hospital.
- And what happened to that case? - It settled.
And what date was that? About six months before he ran me down.
I think the loss of his wife really unhinged him.
After she passed, he became obsessed with the case, accused me of, - uh, cheating him.
- And had you cheated him? No, no.
He he just didn't understand the expenses of litigation.
He signed a retainer agreement and, uh, a special addendum that spelled out all applicable expenses.
You said he was obsessed.
How? He called me constantly, demanding more money.
He would sit outside my office without an appointment.
He harassed my secretary, called me a thief in front of other clients.
I told him, uh, "we got the settlement it's over.
" He wouldn't accept that.
I told myself he was grieving.
I should be understanding.
Then he came to my home.
And what happened that day? My housekeeper told me there was a man at the door.
Said she was afraid of him so I went in to see if I could calm him down, but he kept making wild accusations, demanding money.
So I left.
I told Rosa to call the police, and I went out the basement door.
And what happened then? Mm, as I'm crossing the street, uh, I hear him shouting at me, and there's his cab coming right toward me.
I ran.
He swerves right into me.
That's all I rember till I got to the hospital.
Two surgeries, six screws, pins.
I'm in pain every day, but I'm still here.
I have nothing further.
Well, that seems like a perfect place to stop for the day.
We'll continue testimony at 10:00 a.
m.
Tomorrow.
And I remind you do not read or talk about this case until you have heard all the evidence.
- Your honor, one thing before we break.
- Be quick, counsel, I have a class.
Yes.
It's come to my attention that Mr.
Kellerman may try to impeach Mr.
Burke by referring to the previous lawsuits against him.
- So? - So I'm asking you to stop him.
Actually, it's not just one lawsuit, Your Honor.
- It's nine.
- Nine.
Separate lawsuits by nine former clients, all of whom were ripped off by Mr.
Burke.
They establish a pattern of fraud and deceit.
- Which is collateral and irrelevant.
- Irrelevant? There was no admission or finding of guilt in any of those suits.
Because he paid everyone off.
They were all disposed of through confidential settlements.
- We don't know the details.
- We do know the details.
I have copies of the complaints, and they catalogue an outrageous history of defrauding clients, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement money.
He was suspended by the disciplinary committee for six months - for doing exactly this.
- No.
- No? - No, you may not use any of this nonsense.
- Ms.
Ernhardt's motion in limine is granted.
- You can't be serious.
I will not permit you to make this a case about the conduct of the complaining witness a man who was run down in the street by your client.
He is the victim, and you will not put the victim on trial not in my courtroom! Do you understand me?! 46 days.
That's how long it was between the time you filed Mr.
Ryan's suit and when you settled it for $375,000.
Sounds about right.
And you worked on other cases during that time.
- Sure.
- So if you'd have taken one third of the recovery, you'd have gotten $125,000 for 46 days of part-time work.
- Right.
- But you took more.
Objection.
Your Honor, may we approach? Same objection as yesterday.
You ruled that the victim is not on trial.
This goes to motive and state of mind, both of which are totally relevant.
You're not completely wrong, Mr.
Kellerman.
You may inquire, but be advised you're on an extremely short leash.
Thank you, Your Honor.
- So you bill for overhead.
- Of course.
For example, you charged Mr.
Ryan $88,000 for office expenses.
Office expenses faxes, phones, computers.
Let let's let's start with phones.
$36,000 for delivery charges.
That's a lot of fedex.
I also have a car standing by in case something needs to be filed.
So instead of using a messenger service, you charged Mr.
Ryan for your chauffeured car.
- Objection.
- Sustained.
Short leash.
I mean, how many copies could you have possibly have made for the case? - Litigation's document-heavy.
- A complaint, three demand letters, and one set of interrogatories.
You copied less than 200 pages.
That comes out to 80 bucks a page.
That is some expensive paper.
- Objection.
Relevance? - Sustained.
I'm striking both the question and the answer.
You deducted $75,000 for "settlement consultants.
" Of course.
20% of the entire settlement to find out if it was a good deal or not.
Well, you never want to settle too cheaply.
Oh, uh, so you so you put together a whole panel of experts.
- Right.
- Those experts being his wife and each of his sons.
- Objection.
- They're invaluable resources.
- His wife has a high-school diploma - Sustained.
Stricken.
- and his oldest son is a dentist.
- Enough, Mr.
Kellerman.
Wrap it up now! Mr.
Burke.
Tell the jury, would you, of the $375,000, exactly how much did you send to Mr.
Ryan? Exactly? The exact figure is $3,850.
You kept $371,150 99% for you, 1% for him.
You stole his money.
I was hired to make the hospital pay for what they did to his wife.
I did my job.
- I made them pay.
- Oh, yeah, yeah.
You made them pay.
You made them pay you.
Thank you.
We'll pick this up right after lunch.
- Disposition, counselor? - Burg three and a year.
- On board, Mr.
McGrath? - Yes, judge.
Mr.
Vasquez, - you want to plead guilty? - Yes, judge.
Has anyone forced you or coerced you to take this plea? No.
Are you pleading guilty because you are, in fact, guilty? Yes.
All right.
A year? You let him take a year? I'm, uh How could you do that to him? He's a good man.
- O okay.
Um, and and you are? - Of course you don't know who I am.
You don't give a damn.
I'm Romeo's fiancée.
We were supposed to be married in september before you let him plea out to a year just so you wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of a trial.
Whoa.
Li I'm sorry you're upset.
I really am.
But I promise you, we discussed his options.
- The plea was what he wanted.
- But a year, for this? You're supposed to be a lawyer! He was caught inside a medical lab with his fingerprints all over some very expensive equipment, okay? - We didn't have a lot of room to run.
- Medical equipment? He wasn't there for no medical equipment.
He was there to steal my pee.
E excuse me? You even ask him what he was doing there? A couple of weeks ago, we were at a party.
They was passing around some weed.
I never tried it before.
Everybody was saying, "hit it! Hit it! Hit it!" And we did.
It was stupid.
Then, sure enough, next day I'm at work I take tolls at the Triborough I get there, and the boss calls us in.
Random drug test? So I'm freaking out freaking out! Romeo says, "don't worry.
" He'll take care of it.
Next thing I know He was just trying to save my job, get my sample back.
How you let him take a year for that? How's the trial going? - Fine.
- Fine? Really That's not what I heard.
What I heard is that Jerry Kellerman spent the morning making your victim look like he had it coming.
Jerry can blame the victim all day long, but if he wants the jury to let his guy off, he's got to give them something to hang it on.
- He's trying to say it was an accident.
- Any way he can make that fly? Sure.
His client's testimony.
But what he doesn't know is I have a crime-scene expert for rebuttal who can prove it's a lie.
I can't wait.
Be careful.
Don't buy your own hype on a case like this.
You want to be a really smart lawyer? Think like a juror.
Mr.
Ryan, how old was your wife, Annie, when she got sick? The hospital said she had irritable bowel syndrome, and they sent her home with some painkillers.
And how old was Annie when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer? 32.
Almost a year later.
Did that delay make a difference? Yeah.
92% of all women who are diagnosed early survive for at least five years, and we got less than two.
So, when you realized how bad it was, you got a lawyer.
Gordon.
He told me not to worry, that he'd take care of everything, and I said I just wanted enough to Take care of Annie, just make her comfortable and make sure that I could take care of our daughter aft - so, what happened to the suit? - We settled, and, uh, Gordon said we might be able to get more if we fought, but $375,000 is a lot of money.
- I really kind of needed it right about then.
- And did you get it? No, I got a check for less than $4,000, which covered a month of meds and a coffin.
W what what happened when you got the check? I called Gordon.
I tried to get an answer about where the rest of the money was, but he wouldn't answer my calls, - and he just gave me the runaround.
- So, what happened? Annie was in pain.
You know, she was alone 'cause we couldn't afford a nurse.
And I just wanted to be there with her.
That was the whole point of the money.
I just wanted to stay with her until she Until she died.
And after Annie died? I was drowning in bills and kept thinking, "oh, he's gonna send the rest of the money.
" - A and did he? - No.
And after the initial $3,850, have you ever received another cent from Gordon Burke? No.
- And the day you went to his house? - I rang the bell, and his housekeeper answered, and she told me to wait.
So I sat down in the living room, you know, and he comes in with a sheaf of papers, my accounting, and, uh, he told me he'd be back in a second.
So two minutes later, I see him hustling down the street.
So I run out to my cab.
I get in my cab, and I'm just trying to catch up with him.
You know, I'm just I'm trying to talk to him.
You know, I go to roll down my window, and he starts running across the street.
So I go to cut him off, and then You know, and I called 911.
I did.
And I waited.
It was It was just an accident.
An accident? Yes.
- You were in a car.
- Yes.
- He was a pedestrian.
- Yes.
- You chased him down.
- No, I didn't chase him down.
I was I was following him.
He he snuck out of the basement door, and I was I was trying to talk to him.
But you weren't trying to hit him, correct? No, I was trying to cut him off to try to make him talk to me.
But at some point, you must have realized that you might hit him.
Well, I It just happened all too fast.
I don't know.
But if you weren't aiming for him, you must have stopped when you realized - you were going to hit him.
- Yes, of course.
And to stop, you hit the brakes.
- Yes, of course.
- Hard.
Yeah.
As soon as I realized what was happening, I did all I could to stop.
Mr.
Ryan, you may step down.
- Does the defense have any other witnesses? - Uh, no, Your Honor.
- People, rebuttal? - Yes.
Yes, Your Honor.
Our crime-scene expert, Detective Maureen Riley.
Objection, improper rebuttal.
This should have been done in her direct case.
He opened the door.
Mr.
Ryan has just argued it was an accident.
True enough, Ms.
Ernhardt.
You may proceed.
Well, the cab here hit the pedestrian somewhere around there.
There was some blood on the street where he landed and a dent in the front-passenger side of the cab.
And from the information that you analyzed, can you say with a reasonable degree of scientific certainty how fast Mr.
Ryan's cab was traveling when it hit Mr.
Burke? Approximately 25 to 30 miles per hour.
And can you say with a reasonable degree of scientific certainty whether Mr.
Ryan hit the brakes before the impact? I can.
- He did not.
- Because? If he was trying to stop, we would have seen evidence, most importantly skid marks.
But a cabbie? A professional driver? He might be able to stop without skidding.
In the panic of a collision, your reflexes take over.
Even the best drivers are very likely to leave marks.
Your conclusion? The driver was not attempting to stop.
Thank you.
Pee?! You're telling me your guy was there to steal pee?! His fiancée's pee.
He stole urine for love? That's Romeo's story? I promise you, the guy would not know a gas chromatograph from a bunsen burner.
- He was there on an errand of mercy.
- Yeah, well, it's still called burglary, Rich.
Yes, but you never would have insisted on a year if you'd known.
It's over.
The plea's entered What do you want me to do? Okay, look.
I screwed up here.
It's my fault, and I should have figured it out before, but the guy should not do a year because I fell down on the job.
It's new information.
Just take it to the judge with me.
You want me to go to the judge and ask him to vacate a lawfully entered plea where we had a guy dead to rights 'cause the P.
D.
didn't get the story straight on his intent? Yes.
If my boss finds out, you want to tell me what I'm supposed to say to him? You say that the Say that you're not here to max everyone just because you can, and you say that the whole point of of of being a prosecutor is to use your discretion and and to choose when to bring down the hammer and when to take into account the outside facts.
You tell him that you're supposed to care about what's right.
I'll look in to it, and if the facts check out, I'll go to the judge.
- Thank you.
Thank you! Thank okay.
- Be cool.
I am cool.
Pee? That's right, Your Honor.
- I try to be sympathetic to mistakes - Then correct this one, judge.
but finality is important.
The system has to be able to rely on final judgments being final.
We got 300,000 cases a year going through courtrooms in New York City.
1% of them come in asking for do-overs and the whole place falls apart.
It's one case, judge this case.
Every single day in every single courtroom, we send people to prison and don't look back.
But every now and again, you you have to make an exception to put fairness above finality.
I don't hear you howling in protest, Mr.
Mcgrath.
No, judge.
I don't like it, but I'll sleep on it.
Come back tomorrow.
I'll let you know.
Henry Ryan did everything right.
He worked hard, married the woman he loved, started a family.
He followed rules.
But he made one big mistake.
He believed he could help his wife spend her last days on earth in peace and comfort.
Instead, he was robbed by his own lawyer, Gordon Burke.
You know, the real crooks in this world don't wear masks or tote guns.
They hire lobbyists, gut regulations, and smile from behind the tinted glass of their chauffeured cars while they use their power and influence to rob ordinary, hardworking people.
Now, he can sit here and call it accounting or settlement consultation, but there's only one word for it.
That word is "theft.
" 99% for him and 1% for the man whose wife lay dying in his arms.
Henry Ryan deserved answers when he went to see his lawyer that day.
What he got was the runaround.
And when confronted with the truth of his crime, Gordon Burke did what crooks and cowards always do he ran.
And, yes, Henry chased him, desperate for the answers that were so long overdue.
Did he cut him off? Yes, accidentally hitting him.
But Henry Ryan is neither a crook nor a coward.
He called 911, and he waited because it was an accident an accidentc aused as much by Gordon Burke and his theft as by Mr.
Ryan's millisecond of careless driving.
Henry Ryan has suffered enough.
You can't bring his wife back.
You can't undo the injustice he's already endured, but you can end his nightmare by giving him justice today.
It was an accident.
He's not guilty.
Hell of a closing.
Thanks.
No, I mean it.
You really made something out of nothing.
You, too.
Could have done without your crime-scene girl.
Yeah, that was good, huh? My guess is we both feel like this could go either way.
I'm hoping for mine.
I'll give him 2 flat, 20 months with good time.
Assault two and a year, and he stays out until sentencing so he can get things arranged for his daughter.
You know, it'll actually hurt me to ask for 25 years if you lose.
But you'd manage, right? Attempt assault two, one to three years.
He can make arrangements, but then he goes in and does his time.
Talk to him, Jerry.
Ticktock.
Jury comes back, it's out of our hands.
- How long? - Anywhere from six months to two years.
Six months to two years? Two years away from my daughter.
It's better than rolling the dice on 25 with a jury verdict.
I think you should take this, Henry.
Sun feels good, doesn't it? Okay.
Let's do this.
- No.
- No? - What? - I don't know what trial you two have been watching, but the one before me concerned an attempted murder.
- But, Your Honor, the people - A nonviolent "e" felony for a man who tried to run down his lawyer with a car? - I don't think so.
- If you could just please your client can plead to the indictment, Mr.
Kellerman, and I will sentence him accordingly, or he can go back outside and await the verdict.
Enjoy the weather, all of you.
- You have a motion, Mr.
Woolsley? - Yes, Your Honor.
I'm moving to vacate Mr.
Vasquez's plea.
The people got a problem with that, Mr.
McGrath? No, judge.
Seems like freaky friday, doesn't it, Mr.
Vasquez? - Umyes.
- To me, too.
Okay.
The plea is vacated.
Now, counselors, for the second and hopefully the last time, what are we doing with this case? The people offer trespass as a misdemeanor and three years probation.
Is that what you want to do, Mr.
Vasquez? - Yes? - Smart kid.
Fine.
The defendant is released.
I don't know who you pray to, Mr.
Vasquez, but keep doing it.
Thank you! Bless you, Your Honor! Yeah, yeah.
Eat, pray, love.
Get out of here.
Yeah, I know.
You owe me.
I know.
Hey, one more thing.
Her urine sample, the one from the lab, - I ordered it up as evidence.
- What for? It's over.
Well, you can never be too careful, and if I've got the evidence, they can't have her sample.
Now, they'll probably retest her in a couple of weeks, thought I'd give you the heads-up.
Hope that won't be a problem, will it? - No.
That would be great.
- Okay.
Hell of a wedding present.
I understand the jury has reached a verdict.
Yes, we have, Your Honor.
Will the defendant please rise? In the matter of the people of the state of New York vs.
Henry Ryan on the count of attempted murder in the second degree, how does the jury find? Not guilty.
On the second count of the indictment, charging assault in the first degree, how does the jury find? Not guilty.
And as to the final count of the indictment, charging assault in the second degree, how do you find? Not guilty.
Mr.
Foreman and members of the jury, I must say I'm surprised.
But your verdict is your verdict, and it will stand recorded.
You're dismissed.
So - I'm free.
- Yes.
Excuse me.
- It's okay.
- I'm sorry.
No, no.
We we won.
It's over.
I just really miss her a lot, you know? Oh.
I know that look.
- This is not good.
- Sorry, Nick.
I tried.
I tried everything I could think of.
They they acquitted.
- You tried everything? - My crime-scene person played.
I closed strong.
Th then I thought it might go south, so I even offered them a deal.
- You offered a deal without talking to me? - I couldn't reach you, and I was afraid the jury was gonna come back.
I tried to think like a juror, like you said.
I I just - I don't know.
- What did you offer? Well, we we closed at one to three, and he took it.
We had the deal, but Kessler bounced it.
I don't know what else I could have done.
Sounds to me like you actually did everything you could.
Hell, you sold a deal with jail time right before the jury brought back an acquittal.
Kessler dinged it.
That's on her.
Solid job on this one.
Go home.
Because nullification undermines the entire system! You can't encourage a jury to just ignore the law.
But they are allowed to ignore the law.
We just pretend they're not and refuse to tell them they have that option.
I'm just saying, be honest.
Tell them they're the conscience of the community.
"Conscience of the community"? Conscience of the Alabama community used to acquit white men of lynching black folk.
Okay, I'm sorry, but it was a great defense, and 12 honest people agreed.
- Charlie, talk to your friend.
- Maybe the system's working just fine.
Can't have runaway juries.
They have to believe that the law matters.
So, we tell them they have to stick to it, even though we know they don't.
That way, when they do deviate, we know it's a really exceptional case.
Jerry Kellerman I bought you a beer.
- Gracious losing becomes you.
- Oh, I just thought you might like a drink, you know.
You are now and forevermore the lawyer who got off a guy who ran his lawyer down in broad daylight.
How does it feel? - Actually, it feels kind of great.
- I might not drink that, dude.
- Make her take the first sip.
- Oh, no.
Wait.
No, no.
We we made a deal on this case.
Kessler was the one that let it slip away.
I'd love to stay, but I got to go.
Bye, guys.
- Anyone need another? - I'm in.
I'm in, too.
I'm kind of wiped.
Me, too.
Want my beer? Sure.
I took the first sip for you.
- How about us? - Huh? How about you and I go on a date? I'm officially single now.
Signed, sealed, delivered.
Turn on the light.
I want to see you.
Gavin! Oh, my God!
- Dude, where's your briefcase? - Strap broke.
Can you squeeze me in? I'll see what I can do.
She's in a mood.
You have got to be kidding me.
I have, what, 68 cases on my calendar today? I thought you told Brownfield I can't handle that.
I did, and he said that with meade out, we had to take at least two to help clear the backlog.
Oh, God.
Not today.
- My head is killing me.
- You want me to tell him you can't do it? No, that's not a fight I want to have.
Just cancel lunch.
We'll work through it.
I'll get you an aspirin.
Hello? I'm waiting.
Call the next case.
Calendar number 46 Henry Ryan, charged attempted murder, assault in the first degree.
I do not see a lawyer, Mr.
Ryan.
I do not see a lawyer.
This is, what, your your second adjournment? Your third adjournment.
I told you not to come back into my courtroom without a lawyer.
I know.
I'm sorry.
I tried.
I have.
Apparently, not hard enough! I believe you're the one that wanted to go to trial.
Which is why my lawyer withdrew.
She said I didn't have enough money to pay her for a trial.
My wife died.
I'm supporting our 6-year-old daughter.
There are bills.
I'm I am trying.
You know, perhaps my English is even worse than I thought.
I'm gonna try this one more tim Get a lawyer! - I can't.
I swear.
- You have an income.
I cannot and will not assign you counsel.
I'm gonna tell you one more time, Mr.
Ryan you get yourself a lawyer.
I'm gonna hold you in contempt, and you can try to find a lawyer - from the pay phone at Rikers island.
- Judge, please, I'm begging you here.
Jerry Kellerman appearing on behalf of Mr.
Ryan.
Uh, I'll be representing Mr.
Ryan, Your Honor.
Apparently, you don't understand me either, Mr.
Kellerman.
I said I am not assigning a public defender, but thanks for your interest.
I'm not gonna take this one as a public defender, Your Honor.
I'm taking this one pro bono.
Oh, yeah? Well, I'm sorry.
You can't just march in here Actually, judge, I just did.
Fine.
I will set this case for trial a week from today.
And don't you dare try to stall me.
Call the next case.
- I don't understand.
- Me, either.
I mean, you're my lawyer, just like that? No charge? Just like that.
Now that I'm your lawyer you want to tell me what happened? I ran over my lawyer.
My wife, Annie, had ovarian cancer, and Manhattan City hospital missed it.
I mean, they just they missed it.
And by the time they figured it out eight months later, it was too late.
So I got a lawyer Gordon Burke.
This guy I worked construction with recommended him.
He filed the suit.
Hospital settled $375,000.
- Good news, no? - I guess.
Annie was dying.
I'm thinking with that kind of money, I can make her comfortable, you know? I wanted to get her a decent bed, a good mattress, take care of her, take care of Ella, just take care of everything.
And? Settlement check came from Gordon's office - For $3,850.
- What?! I didn't know what to think.
I figured it was a down payment or something.
- There had to be more coming.
- But it never came? No, I kept calling him, asking him what was up.
You know, four months go by, five months go by.
I'm watching the love of my life die in front of me.
I'm watching my my daughter lose her mother.
And still, there's no money.
How long ago did Annie die? - 17 months ago.
- I'm sorry.
So, uh I borrowed money to pay for the funeral.
I'm driving a cab by then.
I go to see Gordon, you know, after my shift, to his house, and he has me in.
- He says, "I'll explain everything.
" - Did he? No.
He just snuck out, you know? And I just I flipped You know, I ran out to my cab.
He's crossing the street, trying to walk the wrong way up park so that I can't follow him.
I gunned it, just trying to cut him off.
Broken leg, shattered pelvis, assault in the first degree Attempted murder.
You still want to take the case? Wouldn't miss it for the world.
Mr.
Vasquez, my name is Richard Woolsley, and I'm gonna be your lawyer.
O okay.
You're here because they caught you inside Gaskan Diagnostics after hours.
That's bad, right? Bad enough to charge you with burglary, anyway.
- But I I didn't take anything, though.
- It says here the door was jimmied? Look, they must have, like, a silent alarm or something, you know? I I was barely inside when the guard come in.
- I I didn't have time to even - Woolsley, your cases are up.
Just being there unlawfully with intent is enough for them to charge the burglary.
So I'm screwed.
W what are they gonna give me for that? Well, it's a nonviolent offense.
Uhyou have no criminal record.
- Could be anything from probation - T that would be good.
up to 2 1/3 to 7 years.
My best guess a year, maybe two.
My fault for being so stupid.
S so, there's no way to fight it, huh? Woolsley, judge is waiting.
Coming.
There's always a way to fight, but, uh, sometimes making a deal early can save you some time.
Well, I did it, so Just do your best for me, okay? All right.
You're gonna love this.
What? Your attempted murder trial's on for next week.
Guy finally found himself a lawyer.
A week.
Really? That's not the best part.
Guess who he got to represent him? Jerry.
Have fun.
It's hard to believe it's this close to being over.
All you have to do is sign.
And in a week, it's sealed, delivered, and I'm divorced.
Kellerman, my office.
Pro bono case without even asking? You should have seen the guy, Roz.
Kessler was itching to lock him up.
Jerry, I really love the instinct, really.
But just once, I wish - you could walk by an injustice.
Just - You don't.
Have you thought about how it will affect your other cases? Yes, my plan was to figure it out later.
Uh-huh.
Do you know what you have next week? Six easy pleas on Monday, a suppression hearing on Tuesday.
- What happened to your briefcase? - Strap broke.
- Buy a new one.
- Give me a raise.
Put notes on them, leave them on my desk.
- What I can't do, I'll distribute.
- Thank you.
Really.
Thank you.
You owe me.
Really, you owe me.
He ran down his lawyer on Park Avenue.
And you wonder why he couldn't find someone to take his case for so long.
- Who's that, uh that guy again? - Who? What? What guy? The guy who can't ride past a windmill without fighting it.
- Don Quixote.
- Don Quixote.
I don't tilt at windmills.
I tilt at Kessler.
All right, you guys, who wants another? I'm buying.
- What are we celebrating? - I signed my divorce papers today.
- Yes.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
I'll help.
Jerry, I'm your friend.
But this case is a dog for you.
One-time offer because you were nice to help the guy.
Let's just plead it out.
Great.
Misdemeanor, three years probation, and he gets a certificate of release - Are you out of your mind? - from civil disability - so he can go back to driving his cab.
- Oh, that's just what this city needs - a cabbie who likes to run people down.
- Not people a lawyer who stole a settlement he got for his dying wife.
I'm sorry.
I missed that exception to assault one.
Was that in the statute? - Between the lines.
- This guy is a total scumbag.
He's been sued by nine other clients for ripping them off in exactly the same way.
Yeah, well, maybe if he had sued instead of I don't know running him down, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
How about four years, attempt assault one? There was no attempt! It was an accident! So he didn't do it.
But if he did, the guy had it coming? Nice.
You haven't even read the case files yet, have you? No.
Well, instead of researching the complainant, you might want to look at the facts of the case.
Final trial prep? Yeah, starts this afternoon.
I'm gonna get you a cup of coffee.
You look like you've been up all night.
- Two nights, actually.
- How's the case? Bad.
- What's the defense? - Accident.
- Have you got something good to hang that on? - Nope.
So, are you gonna plead it? He shouldn't go to jail.
I mean, this this guy got so screwed.
I mean, his his wife was dying of cancer, and this sleazeball lawyer basically steals the money that was supposed to help make her comfortable in her final days.
- I swear, I would have run him down myself.
- So, what, you're really gonna argue he deserved it? I'm the first juror, and if I feel that way, I figure I can usually make the other 12 feel that way, too.
So, yeah.
I argue accident, hope the jury acquits.
Even if they think he's guilty.
Kellerman's defense blame the victim.
If he's blameworthy, you bet.
- So, an "a" and a CD on Jackson.
- With two days' community service.
Bullet on Sanders.
Uh, if he waves 70.
30.
- What about Romeo Vasquez? - Romeo Vasquez 1 1/3 to 4.
- That's a first arrest.
You got the right case? - Yeah, the medical lab.
- Your guy gonna testify in the grand jury? - Not if you make me a decent offer.
- How about an "a" and probation? - It's after hours.
He's caught inside.
- I got him dead to rights.
- But four years it's not a state-prison case.
Okay, uh, six-month split.
Same lab just lost 50 grand in equipment two months ago.
There's a big black market for this high-end tech stuff.
- But he didn't take anything.
- Because the guards caught him.
And by the way his prints all over a specimen rack right next to their brand-new gas chromatograph.
Do the math, then tell your guy to take the 1 1/3 to 4.
Okay, how about I tell him to take a year and save you presenting it to the grand jury.
- Goes down first thing tomorrow? - Lighter load all around.
- Done.
- Great.
- What about Miyazaki? - Uh, Miyazaki So, a year? - That's what they gonna do? - Yes.
And how much do I do from that? With good time, it's actually eight months, but it's city time.
City time? You'll do it all right here at Rikers, not at some upstate prison.
Also, there's no probation or parole or anything like that just eight months, and you're out.
- And that's the best for me? - I think so.
So, you think I should take this? Yes.
Well, I mean, y you my lawyer, right? I had just come out of the building.
- Your building? - I'm a physician.
My practice is on the third floor.
Anyway, I had just come out and was heading to the corner to hail a cab.
And as you headed for the corner, what did you observe? Up the block, I saw a cab barreling down the street.
There was a guy heading north across the street, and the cab swerved hard to the left.
- To avoid him? - No.
Almost like he was aiming for him.
He hit the guy with the front-right side of the cab.
It made a terrible sound.
You don't know the relationship between the cabbie and the pedestrian, do you? No.
And you said the cabbie seemed like he was aiming? But you're not a psychic.
And you have no idea what his intent was, do you? - No, you're right.
I do not.
- In fact, what you saw - was a pedestrian run into the street.
- Right.
In the middle of the block, not the crosswalk.
- Right.
- And when he ran out i n the middle of the block, it was from between two parked cars.
Yes, I suppose it was.
Thank you.
He was my client.
I represented him and his wife in an action against Manhattan hospital.
- And what happened to that case? - It settled.
And what date was that? About six months before he ran me down.
I think the loss of his wife really unhinged him.
After she passed, he became obsessed with the case, accused me of, - uh, cheating him.
- And had you cheated him? No, no.
He he just didn't understand the expenses of litigation.
He signed a retainer agreement and, uh, a special addendum that spelled out all applicable expenses.
You said he was obsessed.
How? He called me constantly, demanding more money.
He would sit outside my office without an appointment.
He harassed my secretary, called me a thief in front of other clients.
I told him, uh, "we got the settlement it's over.
" He wouldn't accept that.
I told myself he was grieving.
I should be understanding.
Then he came to my home.
And what happened that day? My housekeeper told me there was a man at the door.
Said she was afraid of him so I went in to see if I could calm him down, but he kept making wild accusations, demanding money.
So I left.
I told Rosa to call the police, and I went out the basement door.
And what happened then? Mm, as I'm crossing the street, uh, I hear him shouting at me, and there's his cab coming right toward me.
I ran.
He swerves right into me.
That's all I rember till I got to the hospital.
Two surgeries, six screws, pins.
I'm in pain every day, but I'm still here.
I have nothing further.
Well, that seems like a perfect place to stop for the day.
We'll continue testimony at 10:00 a.
m.
Tomorrow.
And I remind you do not read or talk about this case until you have heard all the evidence.
- Your honor, one thing before we break.
- Be quick, counsel, I have a class.
Yes.
It's come to my attention that Mr.
Kellerman may try to impeach Mr.
Burke by referring to the previous lawsuits against him.
- So? - So I'm asking you to stop him.
Actually, it's not just one lawsuit, Your Honor.
- It's nine.
- Nine.
Separate lawsuits by nine former clients, all of whom were ripped off by Mr.
Burke.
They establish a pattern of fraud and deceit.
- Which is collateral and irrelevant.
- Irrelevant? There was no admission or finding of guilt in any of those suits.
Because he paid everyone off.
They were all disposed of through confidential settlements.
- We don't know the details.
- We do know the details.
I have copies of the complaints, and they catalogue an outrageous history of defrauding clients, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement money.
He was suspended by the disciplinary committee for six months - for doing exactly this.
- No.
- No? - No, you may not use any of this nonsense.
- Ms.
Ernhardt's motion in limine is granted.
- You can't be serious.
I will not permit you to make this a case about the conduct of the complaining witness a man who was run down in the street by your client.
He is the victim, and you will not put the victim on trial not in my courtroom! Do you understand me?! 46 days.
That's how long it was between the time you filed Mr.
Ryan's suit and when you settled it for $375,000.
Sounds about right.
And you worked on other cases during that time.
- Sure.
- So if you'd have taken one third of the recovery, you'd have gotten $125,000 for 46 days of part-time work.
- Right.
- But you took more.
Objection.
Your Honor, may we approach? Same objection as yesterday.
You ruled that the victim is not on trial.
This goes to motive and state of mind, both of which are totally relevant.
You're not completely wrong, Mr.
Kellerman.
You may inquire, but be advised you're on an extremely short leash.
Thank you, Your Honor.
- So you bill for overhead.
- Of course.
For example, you charged Mr.
Ryan $88,000 for office expenses.
Office expenses faxes, phones, computers.
Let let's let's start with phones.
$36,000 for delivery charges.
That's a lot of fedex.
I also have a car standing by in case something needs to be filed.
So instead of using a messenger service, you charged Mr.
Ryan for your chauffeured car.
- Objection.
- Sustained.
Short leash.
I mean, how many copies could you have possibly have made for the case? - Litigation's document-heavy.
- A complaint, three demand letters, and one set of interrogatories.
You copied less than 200 pages.
That comes out to 80 bucks a page.
That is some expensive paper.
- Objection.
Relevance? - Sustained.
I'm striking both the question and the answer.
You deducted $75,000 for "settlement consultants.
" Of course.
20% of the entire settlement to find out if it was a good deal or not.
Well, you never want to settle too cheaply.
Oh, uh, so you so you put together a whole panel of experts.
- Right.
- Those experts being his wife and each of his sons.
- Objection.
- They're invaluable resources.
- His wife has a high-school diploma - Sustained.
Stricken.
- and his oldest son is a dentist.
- Enough, Mr.
Kellerman.
Wrap it up now! Mr.
Burke.
Tell the jury, would you, of the $375,000, exactly how much did you send to Mr.
Ryan? Exactly? The exact figure is $3,850.
You kept $371,150 99% for you, 1% for him.
You stole his money.
I was hired to make the hospital pay for what they did to his wife.
I did my job.
- I made them pay.
- Oh, yeah, yeah.
You made them pay.
You made them pay you.
Thank you.
We'll pick this up right after lunch.
- Disposition, counselor? - Burg three and a year.
- On board, Mr.
McGrath? - Yes, judge.
Mr.
Vasquez, - you want to plead guilty? - Yes, judge.
Has anyone forced you or coerced you to take this plea? No.
Are you pleading guilty because you are, in fact, guilty? Yes.
All right.
A year? You let him take a year? I'm, uh How could you do that to him? He's a good man.
- O okay.
Um, and and you are? - Of course you don't know who I am.
You don't give a damn.
I'm Romeo's fiancée.
We were supposed to be married in september before you let him plea out to a year just so you wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of a trial.
Whoa.
Li I'm sorry you're upset.
I really am.
But I promise you, we discussed his options.
- The plea was what he wanted.
- But a year, for this? You're supposed to be a lawyer! He was caught inside a medical lab with his fingerprints all over some very expensive equipment, okay? - We didn't have a lot of room to run.
- Medical equipment? He wasn't there for no medical equipment.
He was there to steal my pee.
E excuse me? You even ask him what he was doing there? A couple of weeks ago, we were at a party.
They was passing around some weed.
I never tried it before.
Everybody was saying, "hit it! Hit it! Hit it!" And we did.
It was stupid.
Then, sure enough, next day I'm at work I take tolls at the Triborough I get there, and the boss calls us in.
Random drug test? So I'm freaking out freaking out! Romeo says, "don't worry.
" He'll take care of it.
Next thing I know He was just trying to save my job, get my sample back.
How you let him take a year for that? How's the trial going? - Fine.
- Fine? Really That's not what I heard.
What I heard is that Jerry Kellerman spent the morning making your victim look like he had it coming.
Jerry can blame the victim all day long, but if he wants the jury to let his guy off, he's got to give them something to hang it on.
- He's trying to say it was an accident.
- Any way he can make that fly? Sure.
His client's testimony.
But what he doesn't know is I have a crime-scene expert for rebuttal who can prove it's a lie.
I can't wait.
Be careful.
Don't buy your own hype on a case like this.
You want to be a really smart lawyer? Think like a juror.
Mr.
Ryan, how old was your wife, Annie, when she got sick? The hospital said she had irritable bowel syndrome, and they sent her home with some painkillers.
And how old was Annie when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer? 32.
Almost a year later.
Did that delay make a difference? Yeah.
92% of all women who are diagnosed early survive for at least five years, and we got less than two.
So, when you realized how bad it was, you got a lawyer.
Gordon.
He told me not to worry, that he'd take care of everything, and I said I just wanted enough to Take care of Annie, just make her comfortable and make sure that I could take care of our daughter aft - so, what happened to the suit? - We settled, and, uh, Gordon said we might be able to get more if we fought, but $375,000 is a lot of money.
- I really kind of needed it right about then.
- And did you get it? No, I got a check for less than $4,000, which covered a month of meds and a coffin.
W what what happened when you got the check? I called Gordon.
I tried to get an answer about where the rest of the money was, but he wouldn't answer my calls, - and he just gave me the runaround.
- So, what happened? Annie was in pain.
You know, she was alone 'cause we couldn't afford a nurse.
And I just wanted to be there with her.
That was the whole point of the money.
I just wanted to stay with her until she Until she died.
And after Annie died? I was drowning in bills and kept thinking, "oh, he's gonna send the rest of the money.
" - A and did he? - No.
And after the initial $3,850, have you ever received another cent from Gordon Burke? No.
- And the day you went to his house? - I rang the bell, and his housekeeper answered, and she told me to wait.
So I sat down in the living room, you know, and he comes in with a sheaf of papers, my accounting, and, uh, he told me he'd be back in a second.
So two minutes later, I see him hustling down the street.
So I run out to my cab.
I get in my cab, and I'm just trying to catch up with him.
You know, I'm just I'm trying to talk to him.
You know, I go to roll down my window, and he starts running across the street.
So I go to cut him off, and then You know, and I called 911.
I did.
And I waited.
It was It was just an accident.
An accident? Yes.
- You were in a car.
- Yes.
- He was a pedestrian.
- Yes.
- You chased him down.
- No, I didn't chase him down.
I was I was following him.
He he snuck out of the basement door, and I was I was trying to talk to him.
But you weren't trying to hit him, correct? No, I was trying to cut him off to try to make him talk to me.
But at some point, you must have realized that you might hit him.
Well, I It just happened all too fast.
I don't know.
But if you weren't aiming for him, you must have stopped when you realized - you were going to hit him.
- Yes, of course.
And to stop, you hit the brakes.
- Yes, of course.
- Hard.
Yeah.
As soon as I realized what was happening, I did all I could to stop.
Mr.
Ryan, you may step down.
- Does the defense have any other witnesses? - Uh, no, Your Honor.
- People, rebuttal? - Yes.
Yes, Your Honor.
Our crime-scene expert, Detective Maureen Riley.
Objection, improper rebuttal.
This should have been done in her direct case.
He opened the door.
Mr.
Ryan has just argued it was an accident.
True enough, Ms.
Ernhardt.
You may proceed.
Well, the cab here hit the pedestrian somewhere around there.
There was some blood on the street where he landed and a dent in the front-passenger side of the cab.
And from the information that you analyzed, can you say with a reasonable degree of scientific certainty how fast Mr.
Ryan's cab was traveling when it hit Mr.
Burke? Approximately 25 to 30 miles per hour.
And can you say with a reasonable degree of scientific certainty whether Mr.
Ryan hit the brakes before the impact? I can.
- He did not.
- Because? If he was trying to stop, we would have seen evidence, most importantly skid marks.
But a cabbie? A professional driver? He might be able to stop without skidding.
In the panic of a collision, your reflexes take over.
Even the best drivers are very likely to leave marks.
Your conclusion? The driver was not attempting to stop.
Thank you.
Pee?! You're telling me your guy was there to steal pee?! His fiancée's pee.
He stole urine for love? That's Romeo's story? I promise you, the guy would not know a gas chromatograph from a bunsen burner.
- He was there on an errand of mercy.
- Yeah, well, it's still called burglary, Rich.
Yes, but you never would have insisted on a year if you'd known.
It's over.
The plea's entered What do you want me to do? Okay, look.
I screwed up here.
It's my fault, and I should have figured it out before, but the guy should not do a year because I fell down on the job.
It's new information.
Just take it to the judge with me.
You want me to go to the judge and ask him to vacate a lawfully entered plea where we had a guy dead to rights 'cause the P.
D.
didn't get the story straight on his intent? Yes.
If my boss finds out, you want to tell me what I'm supposed to say to him? You say that the Say that you're not here to max everyone just because you can, and you say that the whole point of of of being a prosecutor is to use your discretion and and to choose when to bring down the hammer and when to take into account the outside facts.
You tell him that you're supposed to care about what's right.
I'll look in to it, and if the facts check out, I'll go to the judge.
- Thank you.
Thank you! Thank okay.
- Be cool.
I am cool.
Pee? That's right, Your Honor.
- I try to be sympathetic to mistakes - Then correct this one, judge.
but finality is important.
The system has to be able to rely on final judgments being final.
We got 300,000 cases a year going through courtrooms in New York City.
1% of them come in asking for do-overs and the whole place falls apart.
It's one case, judge this case.
Every single day in every single courtroom, we send people to prison and don't look back.
But every now and again, you you have to make an exception to put fairness above finality.
I don't hear you howling in protest, Mr.
Mcgrath.
No, judge.
I don't like it, but I'll sleep on it.
Come back tomorrow.
I'll let you know.
Henry Ryan did everything right.
He worked hard, married the woman he loved, started a family.
He followed rules.
But he made one big mistake.
He believed he could help his wife spend her last days on earth in peace and comfort.
Instead, he was robbed by his own lawyer, Gordon Burke.
You know, the real crooks in this world don't wear masks or tote guns.
They hire lobbyists, gut regulations, and smile from behind the tinted glass of their chauffeured cars while they use their power and influence to rob ordinary, hardworking people.
Now, he can sit here and call it accounting or settlement consultation, but there's only one word for it.
That word is "theft.
" 99% for him and 1% for the man whose wife lay dying in his arms.
Henry Ryan deserved answers when he went to see his lawyer that day.
What he got was the runaround.
And when confronted with the truth of his crime, Gordon Burke did what crooks and cowards always do he ran.
And, yes, Henry chased him, desperate for the answers that were so long overdue.
Did he cut him off? Yes, accidentally hitting him.
But Henry Ryan is neither a crook nor a coward.
He called 911, and he waited because it was an accident an accidentc aused as much by Gordon Burke and his theft as by Mr.
Ryan's millisecond of careless driving.
Henry Ryan has suffered enough.
You can't bring his wife back.
You can't undo the injustice he's already endured, but you can end his nightmare by giving him justice today.
It was an accident.
He's not guilty.
Hell of a closing.
Thanks.
No, I mean it.
You really made something out of nothing.
You, too.
Could have done without your crime-scene girl.
Yeah, that was good, huh? My guess is we both feel like this could go either way.
I'm hoping for mine.
I'll give him 2 flat, 20 months with good time.
Assault two and a year, and he stays out until sentencing so he can get things arranged for his daughter.
You know, it'll actually hurt me to ask for 25 years if you lose.
But you'd manage, right? Attempt assault two, one to three years.
He can make arrangements, but then he goes in and does his time.
Talk to him, Jerry.
Ticktock.
Jury comes back, it's out of our hands.
- How long? - Anywhere from six months to two years.
Six months to two years? Two years away from my daughter.
It's better than rolling the dice on 25 with a jury verdict.
I think you should take this, Henry.
Sun feels good, doesn't it? Okay.
Let's do this.
- No.
- No? - What? - I don't know what trial you two have been watching, but the one before me concerned an attempted murder.
- But, Your Honor, the people - A nonviolent "e" felony for a man who tried to run down his lawyer with a car? - I don't think so.
- If you could just please your client can plead to the indictment, Mr.
Kellerman, and I will sentence him accordingly, or he can go back outside and await the verdict.
Enjoy the weather, all of you.
- You have a motion, Mr.
Woolsley? - Yes, Your Honor.
I'm moving to vacate Mr.
Vasquez's plea.
The people got a problem with that, Mr.
McGrath? No, judge.
Seems like freaky friday, doesn't it, Mr.
Vasquez? - Umyes.
- To me, too.
Okay.
The plea is vacated.
Now, counselors, for the second and hopefully the last time, what are we doing with this case? The people offer trespass as a misdemeanor and three years probation.
Is that what you want to do, Mr.
Vasquez? - Yes? - Smart kid.
Fine.
The defendant is released.
I don't know who you pray to, Mr.
Vasquez, but keep doing it.
Thank you! Bless you, Your Honor! Yeah, yeah.
Eat, pray, love.
Get out of here.
Yeah, I know.
You owe me.
I know.
Hey, one more thing.
Her urine sample, the one from the lab, - I ordered it up as evidence.
- What for? It's over.
Well, you can never be too careful, and if I've got the evidence, they can't have her sample.
Now, they'll probably retest her in a couple of weeks, thought I'd give you the heads-up.
Hope that won't be a problem, will it? - No.
That would be great.
- Okay.
Hell of a wedding present.
I understand the jury has reached a verdict.
Yes, we have, Your Honor.
Will the defendant please rise? In the matter of the people of the state of New York vs.
Henry Ryan on the count of attempted murder in the second degree, how does the jury find? Not guilty.
On the second count of the indictment, charging assault in the first degree, how does the jury find? Not guilty.
And as to the final count of the indictment, charging assault in the second degree, how do you find? Not guilty.
Mr.
Foreman and members of the jury, I must say I'm surprised.
But your verdict is your verdict, and it will stand recorded.
You're dismissed.
So - I'm free.
- Yes.
Excuse me.
- It's okay.
- I'm sorry.
No, no.
We we won.
It's over.
I just really miss her a lot, you know? Oh.
I know that look.
- This is not good.
- Sorry, Nick.
I tried.
I tried everything I could think of.
They they acquitted.
- You tried everything? - My crime-scene person played.
I closed strong.
Th then I thought it might go south, so I even offered them a deal.
- You offered a deal without talking to me? - I couldn't reach you, and I was afraid the jury was gonna come back.
I tried to think like a juror, like you said.
I I just - I don't know.
- What did you offer? Well, we we closed at one to three, and he took it.
We had the deal, but Kessler bounced it.
I don't know what else I could have done.
Sounds to me like you actually did everything you could.
Hell, you sold a deal with jail time right before the jury brought back an acquittal.
Kessler dinged it.
That's on her.
Solid job on this one.
Go home.
Because nullification undermines the entire system! You can't encourage a jury to just ignore the law.
But they are allowed to ignore the law.
We just pretend they're not and refuse to tell them they have that option.
I'm just saying, be honest.
Tell them they're the conscience of the community.
"Conscience of the community"? Conscience of the Alabama community used to acquit white men of lynching black folk.
Okay, I'm sorry, but it was a great defense, and 12 honest people agreed.
- Charlie, talk to your friend.
- Maybe the system's working just fine.
Can't have runaway juries.
They have to believe that the law matters.
So, we tell them they have to stick to it, even though we know they don't.
That way, when they do deviate, we know it's a really exceptional case.
Jerry Kellerman I bought you a beer.
- Gracious losing becomes you.
- Oh, I just thought you might like a drink, you know.
You are now and forevermore the lawyer who got off a guy who ran his lawyer down in broad daylight.
How does it feel? - Actually, it feels kind of great.
- I might not drink that, dude.
- Make her take the first sip.
- Oh, no.
Wait.
No, no.
We we made a deal on this case.
Kessler was the one that let it slip away.
I'd love to stay, but I got to go.
Bye, guys.
- Anyone need another? - I'm in.
I'm in, too.
I'm kind of wiped.
Me, too.
Want my beer? Sure.
I took the first sip for you.
- How about us? - Huh? How about you and I go on a date? I'm officially single now.
Signed, sealed, delivered.
Turn on the light.
I want to see you.
Gavin! Oh, my God!