NARRATOR: In the criminal justice system
the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups,
the police who investigate crime
and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
If you want your children to say no to drugs,
no to premarital sex, no to so-called alternative lifestyles,
then you have to give them a strong moral foundation.
And that foundation begins at home.
One more question.
How do we counteract corrosive cultural forces
like the internet, and television, and the media?
It's not easy.
You can start by buying my book.
(LAUGHING)
Thank you all for coming.
And God bless to all of you.
LAURIE: Unbelievable.
The guy's being sued for sexual harassment,
and he has the gall to stand up in public and preach family values.
Hasn't stopped people from buying his book.
We're almost sold out.
And I thought we were living in a blue state.
I guess there's no such thing as bad publicity.
(WOMAN SCREAMS)
Somebody, please! Call 911, somebody's been shot!
Victim's Larry Shea.
The talk show host?
Book signing. Stepped outside around 9:00 p.m. and bang.
That's one way to get out of a court date. What's up, Brody?
Single gunshot wound to the back of the head.
From the stippling, I'd say the shooter was one to two feet behind him.
CSU found a nine-millimeter casing over by the fire hydrant.
Any witnesses?
Uh, Shea's limo driver.
That's it? So far.
Thanks. Friday night, Union Square, thousands of people,
and there's one witness.
FONTANA: Wanna tell us what you saw, Sir?
I was by the car, waiting, uh, for Mr. Shea.
And he comes out of the store, I go around to open the door for him,
I hear a shot.
I look around, and he's lyin' on the sidewalk.
I see someone break out of the crowd, run into the subway.
What'd this person look like?
Uh, darkjacket, uh, red ski cap with, like, a white patch on it.
Short, tall, fat, skinny, black, white, male, female, what?
I don't know, kinda average?
I'm sorry. It all happened so fast.
That's okay. Look, how did Mr. Shea seem to you?
What do you mean?
Well, was he nervous, what kind of a mood was he in?
Oh, he was in a great mood.
Even gave me an autographed copy of his book.
That's one that won't have a happy ending.
ED: We found a nine-millimeter pistol
near the 17th Street entrance to the park.
It's a Luger.
A Luger? A real German Luger?
It's a World War Two souvenir.
Doesn't have a serial number, but it does have a print.
We're trying to match it now.
Oh, well, that's a start.
We also have a unit going through the trashcans
and combing Union Square
in case the shooter dumped somethin' else.
We're circulating flyers at the dorms in the area.
So what do we have here? Celebrity stalker?
Mark Chapman and John Lennon?
Or maybe somebody who disagreed with Shea's politics.
And then there's his wife, if he was hitting on his co-workers.
You talkin' about the sexual harassment lawsuit?
You think the woman's lying?
Well, I think he's an easy target.
High profile, successful TV show, and rolling in moolah.
I might sympathize if he wasn't on TV every night
telling women their place is in the kitchen.
Preachin' them old school politics.
Yeah, like Neanderthal.
Let's start with the wife, work from there.
Get out of here.
I keep expecting him to walk through the door.
ED: Ah, well, we're really sorry
to intrude like this, Mrs. Shea.
I understand. Please, sit.
So, uh, this is just for the record, but,
we need to know where you were last night.
I took my son to Barney's to buy him some clothes.
I can't believe we were out shopping while...
Larry was bleeding to death on some sidewalk.
Mom, I'm goin' out for awalk.
Okay, honey. I'll see you later.
Will worshipped his stepfather.
Larry adopted Will when he was 10.
He treated him like his own.
Now, Mrs. Shea, we know that this is a sensitive issue,
but we have to ask some questions
about the sexual harassment lawsuit.
Melinda Phelps?
She made that whole thing up out of whole cloth.
For the money?
Not just for the money.
Larry said that the trouble started
when he promoted a male producer instead of her.
The lawsuit was settled last week.
We didn't hear anything about that.
It hasn't come out yet.
Trust me, she did very well.
Did he have any problems with, um, hate mail, things like that?
I wouldn't know.
All his mail came to his office.
People don't like someone, how hard is it to change the channel?
It's New York. Everybody has at least one opinion.
Hey, most of it's harmless.
Anything in particular raise a red flag?
There's this independent filmmaker named Tyler Browning.
He's making a documentary.
He sent Mr. Shea a number of letters.
Some of 'em were pretty confrontational, shall we say?
Just letters?
He showed up at the studio last week,
tried to force his way into ataping.
What happened?
We asked him to leave. He wouldn't,
so my guys had to escort him out of the building.
Let me get you his letters.
Larry Shea's TV show is part of the right-wing noise machine
that's trying to take this country back to the Dark Ages.
That's the reason you used to crash his show?
I wanted to confront him on camera.
Make him answer some tough questions, for a change.
Look, you wrote, "You're a miserable lying liar.
"Crawl out from under the rock you came from,
"and tell the truth to the American people,
"or I'll make your life a living hell."
I thought if I could made him mad enough, he'd lose his cool,
so I could get him having a meltdown for my documentary.
Well, did it work?
Man had no shame. Just kept blowin' me off.
So you threatened to make his life miserable?
I just meant I'd follow him around with my camera crew
until he fessed up.
Shea was always portraying Afghanistan like this Holy War.
You know the real reason we invaded that country?
Have you been downtown lately? Seen that hole in the skyline?
Bin Laden was the excuse they were waiting for.
This administration wants to build
an oil and gas pipeline from Tajikistan...
Tajikistan, Afghanistan, as long as the gas finds its way into my Benz,
I don't really care where it comes from.
ED: All right, all right.
Why don't you tell us where you were Friday night around 9:00?
On a plane. Coming back from Houston.
Rupert Murdoch was speaking at a media convention there.
What airline?
I always fly American.
Hey, Ballistics confirmed the Luger you found at Union Square
is the murder weapon.
All right, later, Walt.
So now all we need to do is find somebody to connect it to.
Yeah, but there are no hits on the fingerprint.
The wise-ass documentary guy didn't pan out?
Airline confirmed that he was on flight 420 from Houston,
landed at La Guardia,
(CELL PHONE RINGS) 11:00 p.m. Friday night.
Yeah? Vvhatabout Miranda Shea?
Barney's confirmed that she and her son were shopping
until well after closing time.
And she has her own personal shopper, by the way.
All right, thanks.
Hey, Canvass found an NYU law student who might have seen the shooter.
And when the police came around,
I suddenly remembered this woman I saw on the subway.
She had on a red ski cap.
Did it have any markings on it or anything?
Yeah, like a white oval, uh, some kinda logo on it, maybe.
And you're sure it was a woman?
Ah, I was getting off the train, and she was getting on.
She was in such a hurry, she practically knocked me down.
What train?
R train, Union Square. Around 9:00.
Can you describe her?
It's hard to say, she had on this bulky down jacket.
And I couldn't see her hair because of the ski cap.
Hey, if anything comes of this,
you think you could identify her in a line-up?
Mmm, it all happened so fast.
I didn't get a good look at her face.
Look, I have a class in, like, five minutes.
FONTANA: Yeah. Is it okay if I...
FONTANA: Thanks. Well done. All right.
A woman? There's gotta be plenty of women that wanna see Larry Shea dead.
Startin' with the one who filed a harassment suit against him.
Melinda Phelps.
We should go to his office, get some background on her.
I can't imagine who could have done this to him.
How long did you work with him?
Ten years.
So you know Melinda Phelps?
Melinda worked here for two years.
Talented woman.
What happened between her and Larry Shea?
Larry was from a different generation.
He grew up in a different time.
His views about women were a little old-fashioned.
Well, there's a bit of a leap from old-fashioned to sexual harassment.
All I know is they worked together very closely,
and everything seemed to be going fine and then...
I couldn't believe it. She hated him.
How did Mr. Shea react when he found out she was filing charges against him?
I've never seen him so angry.
He accused her of extortion.
We heard he settled.
The network settled.
ED: What do you mean?
It was their money.
They gave it to him so it wouldn't look like
they were giving in to threats.
Sets a bad precedent.
How much was it?
Three and a half million.
Well, if there was nothing to the allegations,
and the network didn't want to set a precedent, why would they settle?
There were rumors that she'd recorded some of the things he said to her on tape.
Personally, I never believed the tapes existed.
I have a confidentiality clause.
I can confirm the suit was settled a few days ago, but that's it.
So you weren't happy with that?
I'd be happier if the whole thing had never happened.
If someone handed me three and a half million dollars,
I'd be on the first plane to Tuscany.
This wasn't some hobby for me, this was my career.
I worked hard to get this far.
So you just get anotherjob.
Ever hear of the old boy network?
Everything in my field is run by men.
It's like I'm on some blacklist now.
And you blame Larry Shea for that?
Who else?
And how'd you know the amount of the settlement?
A little bird told us.
It also told us that you threatened Shea with tapes you made.
Yeah, you recorded him hitting on you?
All I can say is that I could prove everything I said he did,
and that's why they settled.
It just doesn't seem fair to me
that you can't get a good job comin' off with somethin' like this.
I know where you're going with this, Detective.
You can't possibly think I had anything to do with this.
Come on, Miss Phelps. You just admitted that the guy blacklisted ya.
ED: Where were you on Friday night?
My apartment.
I came home around 5:00 and stayed in all night.
She says she was alone, nobody saw her.
When we were going through her bank records,
we found an ATM withdrawal at 7:05 p.m.
This was after she told us she came home at 5:00 and stayed in all night.
Three and a half million is a lot of incentive to shut up and be happy.
So what's her motive?
Well, she claims since she filed the suit,
she's been persona non grata in the TV industry.
She blames Shea for ruining her career?
More like her whole life.
She claims that he blacklisted her.
All right, I'll get you a subpoena for the ATM surveillance tapes.
What was the time of the withdrawal?
7:05.
ED: Can you stop right there?
Nah, she's not wearin' the ski cap.
Is she hailin' a cab?
Mmm-hmm.
Can you get close up on the medallion number?
Yeah, I think I can help you with that.
Ah? Now we can find out where she went.
(sums)
Chanterelle? Mmm-hmm.
Never been there.
Really?
'Cause the cab driver remembers
dropping you off there Friday night at about 7:30.
And the maTtre d' lD'd your photo.
Said you were havin' dinner with some guy.
Brown hair, in his 40s. Any of this ringin' a bell with you?
You know what I think, Detective Green?
I think that her boyfriend is married
and she doesn't want his wife to know.
That's ridiculous!
It was a business dinner.
Then why did you lie to us? You said you were home all night long.
Ah, come on, Miss Phelps, give us the guy's name!
Why does it matter?
Because you have a credibility issue with us, okay?
I did not kill Larry Shea!
You had motive, you lied about your alibi,
and come to find out you were at a restaurant right near the crime scene.
His name is Greg Esterman.
He knows an editor at The Daily News.
I gave him the tapes
of Shea hitting on me.
What about all of this confidentiality agreement stuff?
People thought he was this moral, righteous man.
They thought I made the whole thing up.
I had to set the record straight!
You should've thought about all of that before you took the three and a half million.
I deserved every cent of money!
And why would I kill him? I wanted him alive.
I wanted him to have to face the music!
I wanted everyone in the world to know that Larry Shea was a hypocritical dirt bag.
My only regret is that he won't be around tomorrow morning
to see the headlines.
Looks like Phelps got the last word.
It's gonna cost her a bundle.
We're workin' on gettin' the full transcripts now.
Lord knows what we're gonna find.
What about her alibi?
Greg Esterman confirmed that he had dinner with her the night of the murder.
Afterwards they went back to her apartment, she gave him the tapes.
(PHONE RINGING)
Van Buren.
Where is it now?
Okay, thanks.
Maintenance found a red ski cap at the 23rd Street Station.
ED: Find anything besides subway grime?
A single strand of bleached blond hair.
Please tell us it had a root.
Intact. It's at the DNA lab now.
So what about this cap?
Uh, the material is a wool and acrylic blend.
And the combination of waffle and honeycomb weave
helped me narrow down the manufacturer.
Did they mention anything about this insignia? "Serenity 2004?"
I mean, it seems like some sort of specialty advertising.
Well, the manufacturer said it was ordered by a company
in Jersey called Venture Treks.
Uh, they organize wilderness retreats.
We do over 100 retreats a year, so,
all our inventory is on the computer.
You said 2004?
Yeah, uh, March.
Here we go. We did a retreat for Danford House.
The Serenity ski cap was part of their package.
Danford House? Isn't that a drug rehab?
Wejust supply the guides and the gear.
We need a list of everyone who was at the retreat.
Okay, just take a look while I print out a hard copy.
All right, thanks man.
Hey, Joe, look at this.
Never figured her for a dope fiend.
Or a nature buff.
A few years ago, I had back surgery.
Pain ended, but the Vicodin didn't.
Before I knew it, I was up to 30 a day.
ED: So, when did you check into Danford House?
Last March. I did 30 days of outpatient treatment,
and a six-day retreat in upstate New York. Been sober ever since.
We understand that they gave you a red ski cap at the retreat?
They gave us a knapsack full of promotional gear, why?
Do you still have the cap?
I use it when ljog.
It should be in the front closet. Let me check.
What does the ski cap have to do with my husband's murder?
Well, we think that the killer wore one just like it.
This one? Yeah, that's it.
Well, it doesn't make any sense.
Those people never even knew Larry.
Did you develop any personal relationships when you were up there?
I was there to get sober, not to make friends.
How about afterwards? You keep in contact with anybody?
I was just happy to be home with my family.
I had a lot to make up for.
You know, if we start nosin' around the Danford House,
all we're gonna get is that doctor-patient privilege thing.
Well, we still have the list from Venture Treks,
so let's see who else was on that retreat.
I didn't really hang out with Miranda Shea.
Why's that?
She's a phony.
She only gave you the time of day when she wanted something.
Was she close to anyone on the trip?
This Karen woman. Karen who?
I don't remember her last name.
Was it Karen Nix? Nix, yeah, that's it.
She and Miranda shared atent.
So, they were friends?
If you could call it that.
Miranda just sat around complaining
like the spoiled rich bitch she is
while Karen lugged all their gear around.
It was like she was Miranda's personal Sherpa.
Yeah, Miranda's great. She made rehab bearable.
Have you seen her since then?
I don't think her husband wanted her hanging out with anyone from rehab.
It didn't seem to fit his media image.
Did Miranda tell you that?
Well, she didn't have to. I mean, have you ever seen his show?
He was a pompous ass.
Miss Nix, uh,
where were you Friday night between 8:00 and 10:00?
Just because I called him a pompous ass, you think I killed him?
We've been interviewin' everyone.
And you're not the only person with that opinion of Larry Shea.
No, there must be millions of people who think that.
I was here working.
Place closes at 8:00.
And I was working late, catching up.
I'll let you know as soon as I have something. Okay.
Press is all over me on this. What's up?
We ran a background check on Karen Nix.
She had a restraining order taken out on her
two years ago by another woman.
"Alana Sinclair. No written, verbal or physical contact of any kind."
Do we know why?
We're about to go talk to her now. She works in Midtown.
What else do we have on Nix besides the fact
that she was at this retreat with Miranda Shea?
She's got bleached blonde hair like the sample we found in the ski cap.
Well, let me know what this Sinclair woman has to say.
Some friends of mine had this woman's tennis group.
One night someone brought Karen along.
She was a great doubles partner.
Did you socialize after that?
Played tennis a few times, went to a couple movies,
but after awhile I got the impression
she wanted more than just a friendship.
You sayin' she's gay?
I guess because I'm straight I didn't pick up on the signals at first.
Told her I wasn't interested, she didn't want to hear it.
What happened then?
She started calling me five times a day,
inundating me with emails, sending me letters.
Did she ever threaten you? No.
But she showed up here at the office with flowers.
I think she was drunk.
She kept going on and on about how we were soul mates.
How we knew each other in another life. Scared me half to death.
That's when I got the restraining order.
Did that put an end to it? Yes.
You mentioned that Karen sent you some letters. Do you still have them?
Turned them all over to my lawyer.
Bingo. The DNA from Nix's letters to Alana Sinclair
matches the hair we found in the ski cap.
So, we can prove she was wearin' the ski cap.
But what about prints? She's not in the database.
There were fingerprints all over those letters.
Latent matched one to the fingerprint on the gun.
Works for me.
KAREN: Who is it? NYPD.
Karen Nix? What's going on?
You're under arrest for the murder of Larry Shea.
What? That, that's crazy!
You're gonna have to come with us, ma'am.
Can I at least get my coat?
Tell me where it is, I'll get it.
It's in the bedroom closet.
Hey, Joe! Come here.
Wow.
We were hoping for a plea.
Somewhere in the vicinity of Man Two.
Man Two?
We have your client's fingerprints on the murder weapon
and her DNA on...
I'm aware of the evidence. I'm talking about mitigating circumstances.
BORGIA: Such as?
Such as, Karen Nix committed this crime
to protect Miranda Shea from her husband's abuse.
Justification? You can't be serious!
My client and Miranda have been romantically involved for over a year.
Miranda told Karen she was afraid
her husband was gonna kill her.
You have any proof? If we're talking about physical abuse...
It was emotional. He was into humiliating her.
Trying to break her spirit.
In what way?
Like, he would force her to have sex,
and then he would tell her that she was repulsive.
He would taunt her about getting older.
He told her that the reason he was into that Phelps woman
was because at least she didn't need surgery
to make her breasts pretty, evil stuff like that.
Why didn't she leave?
He would fly into these violent rages,
and threaten to kill her whenever she tried to leave him.
Is there any proof of that?
Did she ever call the police? Report the alleged abuse? The threats.
Miranda said that nobody would believe her.
And this alleged affair between the two of you? Can anybody confirm that?
Most affairs are shrouded in secrecy. This was no exception.
Most affairs leave a trail of evidence.
Hotel bills. Gifts, phone calls, letters.
If this really happened, you should be able to offer proof.
JACK: Is that another no?
For now.
You're gonna have to do a lot better than that to get a deal.
This is insane. I shared a tent with the woman.
That's it! Period.
So there was no affair?
Don't be ridiculous.
What about the abuse allegations?
I don't know what she's talking about. There was no abuse.
Larry was a very loving person. A very kind man.
He would never try to hurt me.
Why do you think Miss Nix would make up these stories?
Maybe she went off her medication?
Medication?
She told me that she had some emotional problems,
and she needed to take medication in order to keep it under control.
Where'd she get the pictures of you?
(SIGHS) For her so-called shrine?
Ah, she must've taken them at the retreat.
'Cause that's the only time that we were ever together.
(DOOR CLOSING)
You must be Will.
Hi.
MIRANDA: Where are you going, darling?
Out.
Do you have your cell phone?
(DOOR CLOSES)
(SIGHS) He's been so angry since Larry died.
WILL: Snake River, Idaho. We'd go there every summer.
Fly-fishing? Yeah. You fish?
I do.
So, why are you here, anyway?
I just thought we could talk.
About what?
When I saw you at your mom's apartment earlier
you seemed upset.
Yeah, well,
things are kind of rough for me right now.
There's been an allegation that your father may have mistreated your mom.
Where'd you hear that?
Did my mother say that?
Is it true?
It is totally not true!
Nothing like that ever happened! He loved her.
Did your mom ever mention a woman named Karen Nix?
My mom has a lot of friends.
Look, I'm gonna be late.
Do you know if your mom ever saw anyone else while she was with Larry?
Saw?
Did she ever have an affair?
I think we're done here.
I mean, these are my parents you're talking about!
I'm sorry.
I know how difficult it is.
Just leave me alone.
You were asking a teenager about his mother. What did you expect?
I thought it was worth a try.
I finally finished checking Miranda Shea's credit card bills.
And?
There were several charges to the Millennium Hotel.
If she was there with Karen Nix, I'll buy you lunch.
Here we are. Miranda Shea.
She's stayed with us several times.
Was she ever with this woman?
We get hundreds of people in here every day.
What about a credit card?
All of the charges were put on Mrs. Shea's card.
Oh, wait, there's a restaurant charge here
which was signed to the room by someone else.
Do you have a name?
A Thomas McGrath.
McGRATH: I was Miranda's trainer.
When I read about her husband,
I knew it was only a matter of time before it came out.
Yeah, we had a fling.
For how long?
Lasted about seven months, called it quits last summer.
What happened?
It was mutual.
You know, the spark was gone and all that.
Did Miranda ever mention being with anyone else?
She told me she was married.
There was also some chick she was with.
She ever mention this chick's name?
She might have.
I must've blocked it out, you know, I'm not into competition.
What about from Miranda's husband?
He was 30 years older than she is. What do you think?
She told us she had a pretty good relationship with him.
With him or his money?
What do you mean by that?
She told me she had this recurring dream
where he got in some kind of accident, left her with all his dough.
How did you interpret that?
Truthfully, it scared the hell out of me.
So when McGrath didn't take the bait,
Miranda moved on to Karen Nix?
From what I can see she was working 'em both at the same time.
Miranda had been married to Shea for eight years.
What caused her to decide to get rid of him now?
Well, the sexual harassment suit could've been the catalyst.
Her husband's attention was beginning to stray.
Maybe she was afraid he would leave her for another younger woman.
They had a pre-nup. In the event of divorce,
her payout would have been about half a million dollars.
Instead of the 20 million she now stands to inherit.
I think it's time we had a heart-to-heart with Karen Nix.
You still owe me lunch, Jack.
We can confirm Miranda was having an affair, but it wasn't with Miss Nix.
It was with her fitness trainer, Tom McGrath.
That's a lie. Miranda wasn't into men.
She didn't even sleep with her husband.
Karen, please.
I met with Mr. McGrath.
He and Miranda saw each other for seven months.
Steadily. And that affair we can p TOVQ .
This was at the time she was professing her love for you.
You'rejust trying to mess with my head.
Here are the receipts from the hotel they stayed at.
Miranda paid, of course.
JACK: You know what Miranda told us?
That you made this all up because you're mentally ill.
I can't believe she's doing this to me.
She said that we were in this together.
She said that she was gonna help me.
Has Miranda come by to visit you?
Ever tried to contact you, even once?
She doesn't want anyone to see us together.
Why? So Larry won't find out?
Larry's dead, Miss Nix. You killed him.
Miranda said that Larry
was doing a bunch of public appearances around his new book,
and that it was just a question of waiting
for, for the right moment.
She said that the police would think
that it was someone who hated Larry's politics.
Where'd you get the gun?
My grandfather has, um, an antique gun collection.
And she said to use one of those.
So no one would be able to trace it?
I had to do it, do you understand?
She said that he was gonna kill her.
She pleads to Man One and testifies against Miranda Shea.
Ten years.
She's gonna hand you the person who masterminded the murder, Mr. McCoy.
She's the one who pulled the trigger. Miss Nix?
Miranda planned the whole thing.
She said that if I really loved her, I would do this for her.
(SOBBING)
(sums)
Our star witness is a confessed killer with a mental disorder.
She's been on medication for years.
It's under control.
The defense will point to that,
as well as her record of stalking,
and her obsession with Miranda Shea.
Her history of mental illness is a two-edged sword that works for us, as well.
Karen Nix was avulnerable woman,
Miranda Shea manipulated her to kill her husband.
So now, it's not actually a conspiracy, but a manipulation?
She formulated a murder plan with the shooter. I'd call that a conspiracy.
Well, I hope that's gonna fly with the jury.
I know I'm threading the needle here, Arthur.
Karen Nix is my whole case against Miranda Shea.
Miranda and I met at a drug rehab facility.
JACK: Could you tell us about your friendship?
We hung out a lot during rehab.
At some point, things turned physical.
We fell in love.
When was that?
During a camping trip.
We shared a tent.
Did you know that she was married?
Yes. To a much older man.
What did she tell you about him?
That he had a bad temper. That he abused her.
Abused her. Physically?
No, emotionally.
How did that make you feel?
I wanted to protect her.
I didn't understand how he could hurt someone as wonderful as Miranda.
Did you ever ask her why she never filed for divorce?
She said that he would come after her if she did.
She said that the only way out of the marriage was if Larry was dead.
Did Miranda Shea ask you to kill her husband?
She begged me to.
What do you think about that now?
I think that
she lied to me about everything,
including being in love with me, and that
I took a man's life for no reason.
You're, uh, currently taking medication for a mental illness.
Uh, Borderline Personality Disorder, isn't that right?
I hate that term.
It sounds a lot worse than it actually is.
It's more like a mood imbalance.
Has this "mood imbalance" ever caused you to have impaired judgment?
Not since I've been on my medications.
And were you on medication when you met Miranda Shea?
Yes. Were you on medication when you killed Larry Shea?
Yes.
Do you think you exercised good judgment when you did that?
No! I regret doing that!
So if your judgment wasn't impaired,
what gave you the impression that
Miranda was romantically interested in you when you first met?
She sent signals.
Signals? Like the ones you got from Alana Sinclair?
I thought Alana was interested in me.
Not only was she not interested in you,
she took out a restraining order against you.
That's a pretty clear signal of not interested, don't you agree?
That was different.
Really? Because I see a pattern here.
You fall in love with a woman. They don't love you back.
So, you stalk them!
Objection, argumentative.
Sustained!
In fact, you killed Larry Shea
because you wanted him out of the way,
so that you could have Miranda all to yourself, isn't that right?
That's not true.
The funny thing about truth, Miss Nix,
is that everybody seems to have their own version.
No further questions.
We'd get together when her husband was out of town or working late.
Did Miranda ever mention to you that she was gay?
She told me she was bisexual, she'd slept with women before.
In fact, she told you she was seeing a woman
at the time she was seeing you?
That's correct.
Mr. McGrath,
did Miranda Shea ever tell you that she wished her husband was dead?
Not in so many words.
What did she say?
She kept talking about this dream she had
where he disappeared, and left her all his money.
She said that would make her life perfect.
No further questions.
Miranda Shea made the decision to end your little tryst, didn't she?
I didn't have a problem with that.
Really?
That watch, that suit, the shoes you're wearing.
Didn't Miranda buy all those for you?
Uh, not the shoes.
You asked her for money even after she stopped seeing you?
I was hoping to open up my own gym. So, I asked her for a loan.
Which she refused?
Yes. And that made you angry.
I wasn't asking for much.
So now you've found a way to make her pay.
By coming in here and making false accusations!
Objection!
JUDGE: Mr. Wills, re-phrase.
I'm done with this witness, Your Honor.
Larry and I had a strong, stable marriage. I loved him very much.
Nonetheless, you admit to having an affair with Tom McGrath?
It was a mistake.
I know it's not an excuse, but I was on painkillers at the time.
Have you ever had any other affairs?
Once was enough. I couldn't take the guilt.
Have you ever been romantically involved with Karen Nix?
Absolutely not.
Are you gay or bisexual?
No.
Have you ever been sexually involved with another woman?
No.
Well, that's not what Tom McGrath said you told him.
That's Tom's little fantasy. I only told him that to turn him on.
And how do you explain her story?
I think Karen lives in her own little world,
aworld that doesn't really exist.
It's actually very sad.
In your version of events, everyone else is lying.
Karen Nix. Tom McGrath.
Is that right?
Yes.
You testified that you and your husband had a strong, stable marriage?
That's true.
Then why did you cheat on him?
When the sexual harassment charges were filed against Larry,
it almost destroyed me.
I guess I just was looking to hurt him as much as he'd hurt me.
You told the police you thought those charges were untrue.
Did you, or did you not, believe them at the time?
I think somewhere deep down
I, I thought that Melinda Phelps was telling the truth.
Did you ever confront him about that?
No.
Mrs. Shea, under the terms of your prenuptial agreement,
what would you get in the event of a divorce?
Five hundred thousand dollars.
And in the event of your husband's death?
The entire estate.
Twenty million dollars?
This trial's beginning to look a little like Rashomon.
I'm not sure the jury knows who to believe at this point.
It'd be easier if we could prove
Karen Nix and Miranda Shea had an affair.
How did our star witness hold up?
I think she lost a little credibility
when Wills introduced the restraining order.
Who else is on the defense list?
Just a few character witnesses.
Well, nothing pulls at ajury's heartstrings
like a child testifying on his mother's behalf.
Actually, Will Shea's not on the list.
Now that sounds a tad unnatural to me.
I haven't even seen him in the courtroom since the trial began.
Maybe we ought to call him.
Alexandra, go and talk to the boy. See what's on his mind.
I'm not taking sides.
I think you already have.
What am I supposed to do?
My mother is on trial for murdering my stepfather.
I can't imagine what that feels like.
It must be
horrible.
You know the day I came to your dorm room,
and you showed me those photos of you and your stepfather?
Fly-fishing.
My father and I were
very close, too.
I can't imagine how I would feel
if something like this happened to him.
Some secrets shouldn't be kept.
JACK: Mr. Shea, tell us why you're here today.
Because you subpoenaed me.
But you understand you're still sworn to tell the truth?
Yes.
We heard testimony from your mother,
in which she admitted to having an affair with Tom McGrath.
She also testified that that was the only affair she had
whilst she was married to your father, Larry Shea.
To the best of your knowledge,
was her testimony truthful and accurate?
Objection!
The defendant herself opened the door.
Overruled. You may answer the question.
Was your mother's testimony truthful and accurate?
No.
In what way?
She lied.
How do you know?
Because I saw something one time.
What did you see?
Mr. Shea, please answer the question.
It was Thanksgiving.
Uh, I came home
a day early.
I walked into the apartment and I heard something.
What did you hear?
Voices.
My mom's and someone else's.
What were they saying?
They weren't talking.
They were, uh,
like, moaning.
What did you do?
I walked toward my mom's bedroom to see what was going on.
What did you see?
Answer the question, son.
I saw my mother having sex with another woman.
Do you recognize the woman in this photo?
Yes.
She was the one that was in bed with my mother.
Karen Nix.
What did you do after you walked in on them?
I took off. Went to a friend's.
Did you ever tell anyone about what you saw?
No.
Not until, uh, Miss Borgia came and talked to me yesterday.
Isn't it a fact, Will, that if your mother is convicted of killing Larry Shea,
you stand to inherit his entire fortune?
I've been told that, yes.
Twenty million dollars?
And you're the sole beneficiary.
Yes.
But... No further questions.
JUDGE: Has the jury reached a verdict?
We have, Your Honor.
Will the defendant please rise?
You may read the verdict.
FOREPERSON: "In the case of People v. Shea,
"on the count of Murder in the Second Degree,
"we find the defendant, Miranda Shea, guilty."