The Whole Truth (2010) s01e02 Episode Script

Thicker Than Water

No! My dad! Help! Help! My dad! Help! Ma'am! Give me your hand.
My My dad's out there.
My twenty-twenty- twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated nothing to do, nowhere Mr.
Brogan? I wanna be sedated get me to the airport, put me on a plane Ms.
Keller, I'm sorry for your loss.
Please have a seat.
How can I help you? I I see you in the papers all the time, and my neighbor told me I might be in trouble, and I was like, "what?" And he said maybe I should come down here.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Why would you be in trouble? Last night, they pulled me out of the water and took my dad's body away.
Uh, this woman from the D.
A.
's office she asked me a lot of questions.
First she was real nice, but then she got weird, like she thought what happened on the ferry wasn't an accident.
The pretty lady? Brown hair, like yea high? Yeah.
She she said she was deputy something.
Yeah, she's deputy something, all right.
Hey, Rhonda.
Get Kathryn Peale on the phone, please.
It's your old law school buddy on line one.
Peale.
Good morning, Ms.
Peale.
Ah, Mr.
Brogan.
So bracing to hear your voice so early in the morning.
Monica Keller is in my office.
Oh, she is, is she? Oh, yes, she is.
Well, that saves me a few phone calls.
Tell her there's a warrant out for her arrest murder two.
Oh, and don't bother bringing her downtown.
What do you mean? I'll have some nice people from my office come over there and take her into custody.
Katie, you've gone too far.
You're jumping to conclusions - Bye.
Ah.
Look, not even arresting an innocent woman can destroy your appetite, huh? Actually, it's the guilty ones that make me ravenous.
It was a terrible accident.
Really? Remind me never to ride the ferry with you.
Come on, Katie.
She's not a killer.
She's a nice girl who took care of her dad.
I'll say.
Come on, Jimmy.
Don't let her pretty face fool you.
We've talked to a lot of people that said some not-very-pretty things about her.
Yeah? Care to enlighten me as to who these people are? Okay.
"Patience is a virtue some cannot wait for.
" Ah, thank you, Confucius Peale.
Can you tell me something? Sure.
Who told you I was here? My connections in the Chinese mafia.
Thanks.
Thanks, Jimmy.
Frank Wannamaker, decorated Navy veteran, drowned in the harbor on his way to Staten island, his home for seven decades.
His daughter, Monica Keller, was his caregiver.
When his diabetes got worse three years ago, she took him into her home Where he lived a virtual prisoner, dependent on his daughter's negligent care.
Monica has never been in trouble with the law.
A witness saw Miss Keller tampering with the protective gate on the ferry moments before her father went into the water.
Another observed her physically abusing him in their home.
- To pay his medical expenses, she works overtime at two jobs.
One of which is dancing at Billy's bikini bar, where she fraternizes with organized crime figures and prostitutes.
In light of the horrific nature of this crime Horrible, horrible accident.
And the charge of murder, people request remand without bail.
She has no means for flight, no money to go anywhere.
People charged with murder tend to find a way.
The defendant is remanded.
Yes.
Next.
Don't worry.
Okay? I promise you.
Do not worry.
Docket number 6-4-2-5.
Where where do you get these? "The Whole Truth: S01E02" "Thicker Than Water" Original Air date 29 September, 2010 Where where do you get these? The D.
A.
Wants you to keep working with Chad Griffin.
And, edge, as my supervisor, you told him that was absolutely out of the question.
He thinks the young man has a lot of potential.
Mm, "potential" being code for what, "powerful father"? Kathryn, just show him the ropes.
I'm I'm not here to be anybody's mommy.
Don't be a mommy.
Be a mentor.
You know, why do I have to pick up the slack for the D.
A.
's campaign payback? I thought the days of privileged white boys' club was supposed to be over.
What'd I miss? Nothing, Chad.
Here's what we're building.
Monica Keller may have started off a loving daughter, but after three years of being nursemaid, her bank account decimated, her marriage is destroyed.
She turns her rage on the person she holds responsible, her father.
They take the late ferry.
She knows it's gonna be deserted.
She seizes her opportunity.
The witness who saw her tampering with the ferry gate also saw her standing on the deck a few minutes later doing nothing But watching her father drown.
It doesn't get more cold-blooded than that.
I have icing for your cake.
A search of her apartment turned up a recent travel brochure, and Monica applied for a passport Ooh.
Last week.
I want witnesses to her state of mind and her relationship with her father.
I have a visiting caregiver that saw Monica strike him.
That's good.
Any relatives? A sister, a nun nothing but nice things to say about everybody.
That's bad.
Co-workers? Uh, she worked in a toll booth on the Verrazano bridge and at Billy's bikini bar.
There are no co-workers in a tollbooth.
Check out the bikini bar.
Yes! I mean, yeah, of course.
Kathryn, your witness is here.
I was on the ferry, coming home from work.
I saw the old man in the wheelchair and his daughter at the gate.
She was fiddling with it.
And then I went to the side of the boat where the statue of liberty is.
When I heard a splash, I went back to see.
The gate was open, and the man in the wheelchair was gone.
The woman when she realized I was watching her, she dove in, but swam away from her father.
Am I being helpful? Yes, Mr.
Baatar.
Very.
ooh, la la Yeah, Monica and I worked the same shift.
And Monica hated her dad, was always going on about how he was holding her back from the things she really wanted to do, like go to Mexico, learn how to scuba dive, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, which, okay, I don't know how she was ever going to do on our crap salaries anyway.
Like Anything else I can help you with? Probably a million things, Barb, but I have to get back to the office.
Jimmy.
Hey, if you need any singles, I got a roll.
Who's that girl? That's Veronique.
Uh, she and Monica are really tight.
La lathe guy that saw Monica on the ferry is solid, and the deckhand will testify that he personally checked and locked the gate ten minutes before Mr.
Wannamaker went into the water.
The lock is missing.
The deckhand thinks it went overboard.
You think Monica somehow unlocked it? No, she would have needed a tool of some sort.
It was made out of steel.
Send some divers down.
Tell the NYPD that I approve the cost.
Good.
Give me more good.
A dancer at Billy's bikini bar will testify that Monica constantly bitched about her dad, and she was planning a trip to Mexico.
Oh, well, who doesn't need a little R&R after rolling your father off the Staten island ferry? Passport, brochures, plans this is all adding up very nicely.
Yeah, but Jimmy was there, too, talking to another dancer who claims that Monica is a total goody-goody who lode her dad.
Should we be worried? No.
I think two bikini dancers cancel each other out.
I think there's case law to that effect.
Behold Mr.
Wannamaker's life insurance policy.
And the beneficiary of $200,000 is his bikini-dancing daughter.
So just how mercenary is Ms.
Keller, what is her true financial situation, and w did she really feel about her father? Dangerously so, much better than we thought, d very cranky, indeed.
I have a hunch the husband will corroborate.
You think he'll say bad things about his wife? Bob Keller filed for divorce a month ago, citing cruelty, which is not something husbands usually charge less their wife is, well, cruel.
Talk to me, carefully.
What did we decide about the bikini dancer? Let's go.
Yeah.
Man, I tried everything I could to keep us together.
Now she's working at that Place.
Forget it.
All her time went to her dad anyway.
Did she ever complain about him to you? Only always.
She was having a real brutal day a few weeks back.
She knows that I know guys on the job who, uh, take pills, do drugs, you know? She asked me if I could maybe get some to maybe "take care" of her dad.
Put him out of his misery.
And what did you say to her? I was like, "whoa, are you serious?" And you didn't pursue the conversation? Hell, no.
Not even a little? I told her I'd ask around, just to get her off the subject.
But that was the last straw for me.
Any woman that could talk about her dad that way? I gotta figure I'm next.
Look, I gotta get back to work.
You guys need anything else, just give me a holler on my cell, all right? Thank you.
Yeah.
That's pay dirt, you know.
He's our new star witness.
Husband can't testify against his wife.
Spousal privilege.
Ah, there are exceptions, and he just gave us one.
Jimmy and Alejo.
Uh-oh.
Aha.
Mr.
Brogan, welcome to Nutley.
If you want to talk to my new witness, he's right over there.
Oh, that's fascinating.
You think he's your witness.
I think he's the killer.
I hate it when he does that.
where where do you get these? The city might have liability regarding what happened on the ferry.
If we run the trial right, we can lay the groundwork.
Thanks, Lena.
We were pretty good at running trials even before you got here.
Simmer down, you two.
Okay, let's get to it.
What do they got? What do we make of it? Moments before her father went overboard.
She was checking to make sure with the gate was safe? That's what I'd do if my old man were near it, Lena.
Next.
Alejo? The autopsy shows bruises consistent with physical abuse.
Those bruises could have occurred when he went into the water.
Went into the water by accident.
Their search turned up travel brochures, and our investigator wants us to know that Monica applied for a passport last week.
Uh-oh.
No "uh-oh.
" Maybe she was gonna drive up to Toronto to catch a blue jays game.
Okay, here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna see if the ferry gate was faulty, we're gonna see if the wheelchair brake was faulty, and Wait, wait, wait We're gonna see if Monica's dad was faulty.
He had advanced diabetes, he was a proud vet suicide well, if I were in his condition, Alejo, my friend, I'd consider rolling myself off a ferry.
Would he have the strength to open the gate and get himself over the side? My dad's in a wheelchair, and he can do a hundred push-ups.
Yeah, my old man's in rehab.
He could tear through a phone book.
He's had a little off-and-on drug problem for, oh, 30 years.
30 years? That's so look into Monica's dad's moods and his meds.
All right? I'll talk to Monica.
We'll all tackle her friends and co-workers.
I mean, this is an accident or a suicide.
People let's work it out! My dad got those brochures for me and told me everyone should have a passport.
Oh, he wanted me to see the world like he did.
His happiest time was his years in the Navy.
That's why he wanted to sit close to the water.
Okay.
They got a witness who saw you do something with the gate.
I was checking to make sure it was safe.
Then I sat down on the bench and Fell asleep.
Yeah, but you dove in to save him.
I'm amazed, and a jury will be, too.
Of course the prosecution is going to try to make you look bad because of your job at the bar.
Where else am I gonna get a part-time job that pays that much in tips? And we needed it.
You ever talked to anyone there about your dad? Did you say anything you might regret? Look, I know all sorts of thugs' come up when you have a parent who can't take care of himself.
Yeah, maybe I said things Venting things, but never to him.
You know, just ask my sister.
Anyway, it was about to get a little easier.
What do you mean? Dad had an insurance policy.
He was gonna cash it in to help pay the bills.
Going to, but hadn't done it yet? No.
What? What is that bad? Is it? Jimmy.
Hey, if you need any singles, I got a roll.
la la la, come on, y'all hey, get anything? Just grossed out.
Wh and decidedly not titillated.
You? Ah.
Yeah, Veronique over there, good friend of Monica's, says she'll testify that Monica only ever said the nicest things about her dad.
I hope she doesn't wear that on the stand.
Can we go? No.
I just ordered a burger.
You get anything with the insurance policy? Yeah, the redemption value's $14,000, but the face value is 200k.
So if Monica's dad cashed it in, he gets $14,00 but if he died before he cashed it in, Monica gets 200 grand.
So if Monica did want to kill her father, now would be the time.
Of course fathers everywhere list their children as beneficiaries.
Yeah, but fathers everywhere don't end up in the drink.
We need a witness to paint Monica as a truly loving daughter.
Besides Veronique? I was thinking Monica's sister.
Who, it turns out, is an actual sister.
She's black? Yeah, in a way, yes.
Monica would never lay a hand on our father.
I don't care how much money was involved.
And you'll testify to that? Everything she did was for our father's well-being, even taking that job in that unspeakable place.
Of course I'll testify.
Well, did she ever complain about her burden to you? She had a right to complain.
She had no help from her husband, and, well, my life is here.
And your dad was here the night he died.
Any idea what was on his mind? The Mets.
He was disappointed in their pitching.
What was his mood? He had a lot of health issues, so was he depressed, did he have dark thoughts? My father had just volunteered to talk about the Navy at a local elementary school.
He was making plans for Christmas.
What you're implying is out of the question.
Joy shulac how is my favorite investigator? Day six without a cigarette.
Sorry.
Monica's dad was not seeing a shrink, and he was not on antidepressants.
Okay, a chink in the suicide angle there.
But he was taking a medication which has dizziness as a side effect.
Help with the accident angle there.
As far as their eyewitness on the ferry, he emigrated from Indonesia, where he was a successful doctor.
Now he's a physician's assistant in the Bronx.
Wait.
A successful doctor moves across the world to become an assistant? If you're a person of color It happens all the time.
Well, look at you two, agreeing with each other.
Best for last the security camera on the ferry deck was broken, but the boat passed liberty island.
Camera there caught a long-distance view of the ferry right before the accident.
There's Monica's father in his wheelchair.
She must have been on a bench just out of sight.
And who's that? Beats me, but he's wearing a Chicago cubs hat.
I'm trying to get it blown up for a better look.
Monica's husband's from Chicago.
And one of their neighbors told me that it was the husband who used to rough up the old man.
Verry interesting, especially considering, until their divorce is final, Monica's insurance windfall becomes Bob's windfall, too.
Smell suspect.
Where can we find him? Working construction in Nutley.
Alejo, my friend, your favorite words we're going to Jersey! Yeah, Bob works for me off and on whenever I need a hothead with anger management issues.
Is he worth it? A good worker, just a little bitter his wife wears a bikini to work.
Wouldn't you be? Somehow I don't think that would faze Alejo.
Plus, he's convinced she's cheating on him.
Says all the chicks that work there are hookers.
His whole marriage went to hell ever since his wife's old man moved in with him.
What's Bob doing over there? He's cutting rebar.
Thanks.
We'll be in touch.
Bob Keller he's got financial motive A grudge against his wife and her father And a tool that can cut through a ferry gate.
Let's give Kathryn Peale some bad news.
A.
Mr.
Brogan, welcome to Nutley.
If you want to talk to my new witness, he's right over there.
Oh, that's fascinating.
You think he's your witness.
I think he's the killer.
Bob Keller, ladies and gentlemen.
I want the head in that Chicago cubs hat to be his.
Lena, was joy able to get the video blown up? Not without distorting the image.
Anything on Bob's alibi? He was with his construction buddies that night, but they were all so drunk, no one remembers exactly when he left.
Well, I can work with that, but while I do, what does Kathryn Peale think that Bob is gonna testify to? Well, how can he testify against his own wife? Well, case law nerd, what are the exceptions to spousal privilege? Spouses' communication wasn't intended to be confidential, if it was made in the presence of a third party If they were conspiring to commit a crime.
Like murder her father? Let's talk to moca.
So Jimmy Brogan thinks bookseller's the real killer? Yeah, well, Jimmy Brogan could make a suspect out of a ham sandwich.
Who checked Bob's alibi? Six of his construction buddies say he was in Jersey that night.
Good.
Well, I suggest you get Mr.
Keller in here and make damn sure that Jimmy is not right.
You said your wife talked about ending her father's life, but how did you feel about it? Meaning? Meaning he had a $200,000 life insurance policy, and if the money came in before your divorce was final whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Are you out of your mind? I have no idea what Bob could say about me.
I didn't do anything.
He's got nothing on you? He's never seen you so much as get a jaywalking ticket? We've hardly talked in over a year.
I was nowhere near that ferry.
He's the abusive one.
He's the one who wanted us dead.
I was cruising around with some buddies that night.
Just ask the neighbors the rages, the broken windows.
It was my wife that wanted to kill the guy.
I ought you wanted me on the witness stand so I could talk about that.
The guy is pretty skivvy.
Yeah, well, he gives us firsthand testimony that Monica was planning her father's murder.
So we go with skivvy Bob and hope for the best.
Assuming you can get the judge to break spousal privilege.
Oh, Chad, you have so much to learn.
All I have to do is cite people vs.
Watkins.
Spousal privilege does not apply when said spouses discuss the commission of a crime.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Monica told her husband she wanted to kill her father.
He said he would look into getting her some pills.
Even if he didn't pursue the scheme, that still lays the foundation for co piracy to commit murder.
Monica's father drowned, your honor.
There weren't any pills.
It doesn't matter, your honor, if the defender changed her mind about how to commit the crime.
What crime? Isn't that what the trial is supposed to decide? The state is presupposing a verdict of guilty to help it justify a a witness who will help it obtain a verdict of guilty.
This is logic wrapped in nonsense chasing its own tail.
Which reminds me of my sister.
She bought me a coffeemaker from Iceland, which had way too many bells and whistles.
But you know something? After reading the directions Which were remarkably lucid, I figured it out, and it makes a damn good cup of Joe.
The motion is granted.
Mr.
Keller can testify.
Next.
Wait up.
Her coffeemaker from Iceland? I don't appoint the judges.
I just win the motions.
Listen, I know this case hasn't been easy.
Yeah, I was doing okay until the judge went insane.
Right.
I've jg about some of the issues surrounding it, you know, like parents who need to be taken care of, and and children's responsibility, and your dad and his struggles, and Ah.
And I know you take care of him, which has always impressed me, because I'm sure you've been a lot better son than I have been a daughter, but I listen, Katie, I'm running a little late here, so why don't we get all sensitive about our parents some other time, okay? I'm just trying to tell you that I knocks me off my game by talking about my dad? Not your best work, counselor.
If Kathryn Peale wants Bob Keller to testify, fine! Let it blow up in her face.
We'll expose him as a liar.
We'll talk about his motive, his temper, his bolt cutters, bring in the video of the guy on the ferry with the cubs hat who is the same size as Bob! By the time we're done with him, he'll be reduced to a guilty ball of festering primo suspect numero uno! Or not.
I checked Bob's alibi in Nutley, showed his photo to the local P.
D.
Turns out that they're looking for him.
The exact time Monica's dad fell off the boat in new York harbor, Bob Keller was careening around north Jersey with his drunk buddies, beating up people out in front of gay bars.
Whoever the guy in the cubs hat is, it's not Bob.
Monica Wanted me to get pills and to find out how many it would take.
How many pills it would take to do what, Mr.
Keller? How many pills it would take so her dad would never wake up.
And did you and your wife have many other conversations along these lines? She kept saying she couldn't wait till he was gone.
It killed me to hear her talk about him like that.
Where were you the night that your wife's father died? I was with some buddies at a bar.
And what did you and your buddies do after you left the bar? We drove around.
You drove around and attacked the patrons of three different gay bars in new Jersey? Objection, your honor.
Work with me, Mr.
Salazar.
Isn't it true, Mr.
Keller, that new Jersey police questioned you about your participation in gay-bashing incidents that evening? I didn't do anything.
You always said he'd be a risk.
Please don't remind me of what I always said.
You prep the deckhand.
I'll prep the visiting caregiver.
Once she's on the stand, we start to lift the veil on the Keller House of horrors.
You really believe all that House of horrors stuff? I mean, it's all so black and white.
Gray is not a winnin color.
Then Ms.
Keller smashed a glass of water on the ground, and she began striking her father in the chest.
And what was he doing? Poor thing was trying to defend himself.
Ms.
Jean-Philippe, this is a photograph from Mr.
Wannamaker's autopsy report.
It shows bruises on his torso.
Do those bruises match the spots where you saw Monica inflict the blows? Yes.
There and there.
But you were aware, Ms.
Jean-Philippe, that Mr.
Wannamaker had diabetes? Of course I was.
And that his diabetes occasionally made him hypoglycaemic, which can cause confusion, which can sometimes result in a violent response? Oh, I was only there a few hours a week.
That's all the V.
A.
Would send me.
Do you know that diabetic confusion can only be relieved by glucose pills? Not aware of that, none that what you saw was not Monica smashing a glass of water and striking her father but Monica desperately trying to get her father to swallow glucose pills in the midst of a violent hypoglycaemic episode? Objection.
Overruled.
Ms.
Jean-Philippe? I'm not a doctor.
Did Mr.
Wannamaker ever have one of these violent hypoglycaemic episodes when he was with you? Even though I was only there a few hours a week, I've been the old man's caregiver for months, and no, I never saw such an episode.
Is there a reason I had to meet you here? Yes.
The wine is superb, and you should try the brunello.
Not while I'm on a case.
Ah, yes, the solitary drink You allow yourself at the end of every trial.
You know, edge, you should step away from the brunello.
We're not on terra firma yet.
Bob was not exactly a home run, and you Excuse me, madam? Yo, Kathryn.
That inebriated person over there It's Chad.
He says he's with you.
Hey.
this is how you represent the district attorney's office? Yes.
Look, listen, I I was gonna prep the deckhand at the office, and then he called and said, "no, let's meet at a bar.
" I get to the bar, and he won't talk unless I have a a drink.
Look, I might be wasted, but he is a total drunk.
What about his story about checking and locking the gate on the ferry? He has no idea if he locked the gate.
And because the divers couldn't find the lock, we can't be sure if it was even in place that night.
Which totally screws us.
Who do you have tomorrow? Uh The witness from the ferry and Barb, the bikini dancer.
I love Barb.
Chad, get up.
This is the person I'm supposed to be mentoring? She complained about her dad all the time.
Angry, said he ruined her life, which really offended me.
I'm a daddy's girl.
Isn't it true, miss Leone, that you had some professional jealousy regarding Monica? Uh, no.
- Not even when she was promoted to the dance pole by the door, a position you asked for because it involved a raise? I didn't care about that.
Because who wants more money, right? Why didn't you want that position, miss Leone? Because I'm retiring.
Yeah.
Um, one of the regulars propped to me.
He's a cop.
So, you know, thinking ahead to summation, I I could say, you know, something like, all of us have peoe in our lives who need caretaking and and, uh, how much, uh, uh no, no, no, no how much a drain it can be, how we can resent them, even hate them at times, but it doesn't make us murderers, you know? Just someone's child.
You know, I find it interesting that you're willing to bring up your dad to discuss the case but you're not willing to actually, I don't know, say, visit him? Oh, right, like you and your dad are all hearts and flowers.
My dad kicked me out when I told him I was gay.
Yeah, my dad hoovered my mom's retirement fund up his nose.
Just choose a piece of fish.
Yeah, joy, talk to me.
Yeah, he's their next witness.
What about it? I understand you saw Monica Keller on the ferry that night.
I watched her for a long time.
But she was just standing there at the edge of the boat, not doing anything.
And what happened next, Mr.
Baatar? Finally she saw me, her eyes got big, she took a deep breath, and then she jumped in, but swam away from her father.
Mr.
Baatar, would you please read the headline of this newspaper? "250 feared dead after Indonesian ferry sinks.
" You were on the ferry, weren't you With your family? Where is this going, please? I'm pondering the same, Mr.
Brogan.
Your honor, one minute.
Mr.
Baatar? Um My family My wife and my two daughters they died on that ferry.
But you did not.
No.
I'm sorry I have to ask.
Do you ever think that you could have saved them? Uh, objection.
Overruled.
I couldn't see them anywhere.
There were so many people shouting and crying.
Are you absolutely certain then, that Monica Keller hesitated before she jumped in the water, or is it possible that you could have been thinking about another ferry in another country, about a moment when you stood on a deck, unable to save your own family? Thank you, sir.
You wanted to see me? Yes.
Um, regarding witnesses we can check their employment history, their criminal records, their credit reports, their known associates, but it is impossible to find everything, and Mr.
Baatar was not forthcoming about the accident in his past, I assume because, to him, it was just that In his past.
However, I should have looked deeper and now regret not doing so.
All by way of saying, I'm sorry if I'm sometimes hard on you.
I, uh, see Jimmy's first witness's is.
Is, uh, the defendant's sister.
I can't believe I have to cross-examine a nun.
You want me to do it? I do kind of have an altar boy appearance.
This meeting is over.
Which one of you left the addiction literature on my desk? Thanks, but no thanks.
Okay? It's either suicide or an accident.
Monica is no killer.
We'll put her on the stand.
She's sympathetic, she's attractive, Here's five men on the jury.
But they've heard some negative testimony about her.
It wouldn't hurt to warm 'em up with some pro-Monica witnesses.
Her sister the sister? Exacta undo, then the neighbor who saw the household in action, and then Monica.
Eeny, meeny, miney Sister Theresa can't come to the phone.
It's prayer time.
Well, every time I call, it's prayer time.
They are nuns.
The mother superior says she wants you to come by and was to talk to you.
Uh-oh.
Someone's in trouble.
Wh You won't let her testify? These are worldly concerns.
We are concerned th the eternal.
25 years in prison is pushing close to eternal.
Sister Theresa will not testify and put a soul in jeopardy.
Well, she could be jailed for contempt.
.
Brogan, I have a feeling not even you would arrange for the arrest of a nun.
The back of my house faces theirs.
I've been their neighbor for five years.
I would see them sitting in the yard.
And how did Mr.
Wannamaker's mood seem in the weeks before his death? Well, the few times we talked, he'd say he missed the Navy.
I thought, I guess, he was depressed.
How depressed? He told me that when the sun came up and he opened his eyes, he really didn't see the point of getting out of bed.
And other than these few backyard chats, did you have any interaction with Mr.
Wannamaker? Not really.
And every time you did see him, he had indeed gotten out of bed, hadn't he? Yeah, I guess he had.
My dad got those brochures.
He wanted me to have that passport.
It was a horrible, horrible night.
When you realized your father had gone overboard, what did you do, Monica? Jumped in after him.
Did you hesitate? Wait until you had a witness? No.
No, I I had to get up the courage.
I stink at swimming.
There were other people on that boat, Ms.
Keller.
Why were you sitting where no one could see you? Dad liked it there.
So you were familiar with that part of the deck.
You knew it would be deserted at that time of night.
He wouldn't sit inside.
Well, did you always do what he wanted to do? Not always, no.
Sometime he was, uh Stubborn.
So you two had issues.
Doesn't everybody? Yes, but you found a way to solve yours, didn't you? But not by murdering your dad.
When I got frustrated with him, I would scrub the floors or eat pints of ice cream or yell at my husband, but I never took it out on him.
I swear on my soul.
Whose soul is everyone talking about here? Yours.
No.
Mother superior said that sister Theresa's testimony would put a soul in jeopardy.
Whose? Monica's? Nice.
Monica's being judged by humans.
Only God can judge a soul.
Nice.
Monica's being judged right.
By humans.
Whose soul is God judging this very moment? Monica's father.
I'll catch you later.
All right.
You know something about your father that can save your sister.
I've taken a vow of obedience.
Well, surely, you're familiar with rons 12, verse 13.
"When God's people are in need, be ready to help them.
" Your sister's in need.
She took care of your dad for years, picking up your slack while you stayed here and prayed.
Don't guilt-trip a nun, Mr.
Brogan.
I can only do what God wants.
Well, get him on the horn A.
S.
A.
P.
Court is in session at 10:00 A.
M.
, and you are on my witness list.
It's 9:55.
Come on, sister.
Come on.
All right, let's pack it in.
I mean, I've been around the block three times.
Mr.
Brogan! It's me, sister Theresa.
Wow.
Sister, you clean up nice.
You don't happen to have your nun outfit in there, do you? Jurors like a bit of show.
I do.
And I ought this.
All right, come on.
The defense offers into evidence a letter written by Monica's father And sent to his other daughter, sister Theresa Benedicta, a week before his death.
Sister Theresa, would you please read the first sentences of this letter? "I know you think prayer helps, "but the pain is a bear.
The pills don't work anymore.
" "This is no life for a tough guy like me.
" You were reluctant to come here today, weren't you, sister? My mother superior forbade it, and, well, I didn't think I had anything relevant to say.
Sister Theresa, what happens to the soul of someone who commits suicide? That soul goes to hell.
Were you reluctant to come here because it meant you'd have to testify that your father might have committed suicide? Based on the things he told you, based on the letter, isn't it possible? May God have mercy on his soul and have mercy on me for not coming to my sister's aid sooner.
Yes.
Hello, sister.
Could you please read the the last paragraph from that letter? "I'm sorry for everything I've done, everything I've put you through.
" What was your father sorry for? You're under oath, sister.
When we were young, our father would drink And become violent.
Terrible rages.
He broke my sister's arm once, and it just go worse.
I got out to the convent, where he couldn't reach me, but Monica stayed.
As he got older, his rage subsided and Monica forgave him.
I know she did.
The defense would have you believe Monica Keller forgave her father, but did she? The defendant's own sister testified to a dark history of family abuse.
Our experts tell us the effects of such abuse never go away never especially if the abuser remains present year after year, decade after decade.
Is it not understandable that Monica's rage would come out? And she began striking her father in the chest.
We heard this from Bob Keller, who, no matter what your opinion of him, testified here, under oath, to his wife's murderous intentions.
Monica wanted me to get pills.
Pills to end her father's life.
And like many abused women, Monica Keller did not seek help.
She remained locked in a world she could not escape, did not know how to escape, until finally, she reached her tipping point.
Decades of fury that she had been repressing erupt.
And then, in the space of one week, she applies for a passport, she researches a getaway, and she boards that ferry.
And once there, on that deserted deck, she draws close her unsuspecting father, the man who ruined her life.
Checked the brake on his wheelchair, checked the gate he wanted to be near, and then sat back to catch a breath after a brutal week.
When her father saw she was asleep, he acted on the wish his other daughter told you about.
May God have mercy on his soul.
He summoned what strength he had left to stand and open that ferry gate, a gate, as far as we know, was never locked in the first place, a gate that might have been opened by a mysterious stranger in a Chicago cubs hat, allowing Monica's father to walk a few feet to the edge, and he'd be set free of his pain, of his disease, of his regret having abused his family.
He really didn't see the point of getting out of bed.
Not one person saw Monica commit a crime.
So do not punish a woman who sacrificed her life to take care of her father a father who determined the course of his family's destiny for far too long.
Thank you.
Well, this isn't like you.
That cashier tells you when I'm here, doesn't she? She thinks I'm cute.
Look, what you said about my dad know you weren't trying to knock me off my game, thank you.
I appreciate you checking in about him.
You know, half the time, I want to push him off a ferry myself.
So I'm sorry.
Pay for the duck to prove it.
All right.
U know, he asks about you, you know? He does? He's got good taste.
Yeah.
He's also got a good son.
And will the foreman please read the verdict? We, the jurors, find the defendant, Monica Keller Not guilty.
There you go.
Oh.
"The younger rises when the old doth fall.
" Bob Dylan.
King Lear.
Okay.
Back to the salt mines catch a new case? I have to call my mother.
Well, before you go It wasn't the D.
A.
That picked you to mentor Chad.
It was Chad himself.
He thinks you're an exceptional prosecutor.
In fact, he wants to be just like you someday.
Well That's not gonna happen.
God.
I can't believe it's over.
It seems like a nightmare I'm just waking up from.
It's all over.
And with your divorce final, we don't have to pretend we're just neighbors anymore.
What do you think really happened, Brian? Do you think my dad killed himself? I don't think we'll ever know.
But now it's time to enjoy yourself.
I mean, you've money, time.
You can do whatever you want with your life.
Our life.
I don't know how I'd have gotten through this without you.
And now we're going to cancún.
Ohh.
Mm.

Previous EpisodeNext Episode