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.
Oh, my God! (CRYING)
No! No!
Greg Emerson, 50.
Venture capitalist, owns his own firm.
FONTANA: Business must have been good.
Any idea on how the killer got in or out?
There's no sign of forced entry.
He could've gone out the front.
The dead bolt was off and the door locks from behind you.
Is there an alarm system?
Housekeeper said it was off when she came in this morning.
Was there anybody else in the house?
Mrs. Emerson is away for the weekend. We're trying to reach her.
We're still waiting on the M.E.
Not that we need anybody to tell us how this guy died.
We're homicide detectives. We don't assume anything, and neither should you.
There's a safe in the closet and it's open.
There's not much left.
Some bonds, a little jewelry.
Well, maybe Mrs. Emerson can tell us what was in there.
Hey.
The bed is stripped and the sheets are missing.
ED: So, what are you thinking?
Maybe he carried away bloody evidence in the sheets.
Along with what was in that safe.
Well, why leave the weapon?
Panic?
We should talk to the housekeeper. See what she has to say.
Empty safe, rich victim. It's a burglary, right?
What did I tell you about assuming?
ED: So, is the alarm usually off when you come in for work?
Mr. Emerson gets up early. He turns it off.
Unless he's away.
So you know the code?
It's like a PIN number, you know? I have my own.
FONTANA: Does anyone else have one?
Besides Mr. and Mrs. Emerson? No.
When was the last time you saw Mr. Emerson?
Yesterday morning. Sunday is my night off. I go home.
And was the bed made in the master bedroom?
Yeah, I made it before I left.
And how about that safe upstairs?
Do you have any idea at all what they kept in it?
No, sorry. No idea.
Did you notice anything else missing?
Jewelry, money, art, silver, anything?
(SIGHS) No. I took a look around,
but I didn't see anything.
When did Mrs. Emerson leave?
Uh, Saturday morning.
You know where she was going?
I told the officer. Massachusetts.
The Golden Gate. It's a spa.
She should be back this afternoon.
We noticed there was an art studio upstairs?
She's a painter. They converted the nursery.
No. ED: They don't have any kids?
Did they have a good marriage, Luisa?
I never saw them fight.
I hardly ever drove the two of them at the same time.
Different interests, different schedules.
She's a lot younger than he is.
Was.
How much younger?
Like, 20 years?
So, that's what I'm saying.
A lot of nights he'd stay in, I'd drive her to some concert or some opening.
FONTANA: Alone? Sometimes. Sometimes with friends.
Any special friend?
What do you mean? You know what he means.
Did either one of them have
a little "something, something" going on, on the side?
Older husband, younger wife.
Honest! I never got a whiff of that, from either one.
Hey, so where were you yesterday?
My big day off.
I was home all day. I was vegging on the NFL.
FONTANA: Do you have a key to the house? No.
No access to the alarm?
The only thing I know about the alarm is they just put a new one in.
Supposed to be state of the art.
Why did they put a new one in?
They just did a major renovation.
Redid the whole place, top to bottom.
We know from the records that the system was turned on last night at 10:00.
Turned off at 11:28.
We know by who?
We should. With the individual PIN codes,
there's a record of whoever turns the system on and off.
Plus, when it's working, 24-hour digital surveillance of all the entrances.
Beautiful.
Huh, look at this. The hard drive is missing.
What do you mean, it's missing?
Well, someone removed it, and without it, the system is inoperable.
How difficult would it be to take the hard drive out?
This is a high-end, sophisticated setup.
Well, who would know where the alarm is?
How to take the hard drive out?
Besides Mr. and Mrs. Emerson?
Me.
And the people who helped install it.
I'll give you the name of the general contractor.
TREMONT: I can't believe this news about Mr. Emerson.
He was a really nice guy.
Hey, uh, Jimmy?
When you get a second, can you take this drywall
and bring it over by the front windows, please? Thanks.
So, uh, let's see. It was, uh, me and my peeps.
Two guys, plus the dude from Renfield Security
to bring it online once we put it in.
That was a job, wiring that house.
Well, we need the names of the guys on your crew that put the alarm in.
Oh, no problem.
Were you the contractor for the whole renovation?
Oh, yeah. Start to finish.
We're gonna need a list of everybody that worked for you,
even if it was for a day.
Oh, yeah. That'll take some time.
Hey, uh, Mikey, these are for the new windows.
Thanks. Uh, it was a big job.
16 months, almost 100 guys.
You must have had access to the house while they were away.
Well, there was a temp PIN in case we needed to get in.
Once we were done, they canceled it. Took us off the system.
And how easy is it to tamper with that system?
Not hard. Main box is right where you'd expect it to be, in a closet by the front door.
Let's say you wanted to take the hard drive out.
Well, you'd pop it open, disconnect the drive.
Probably take you five minutes if you know what you're doing.
And wouldn't that set off an alarm signal somewhere else?
As long as the system is not armed, no.
So you have to turn the system off to take the hard drive out?
TREMONT: Right.
And for that, you need a PIN code.
Correct.
Okay. Thanks, bro.
So, what do we have here? A robbery gone bad,
or a homicide made to look like a robbery?
We don't know yet.
The contractor gave us a list of everybody working on the renovation,
so now we're doing background checks.
We also have a call in to the Manhattan Robbery Squad.
See if this fits into any crime patterns that they might be working on.
What about the wife?
The spa confirmed that she was there all weekend,
but she's on her way back to the city now.
We're supposed to talk to her this evening.
All right. In the meantime, why don't you go have a talk with the M.E.
No surprise. Blunt-force trauma.
CSU find any prints onthexueapon? None.
Do you have a time of death?
Oh, say between 11:00 or so Sunday night and 12:30, 1:00 Monday morning.
Well, that fits the timeline on the alarm.
The company said it was turned off Sunday evening at 11:30.
Hmm. He was struck several times from behind.
He was probably standing when he suffered the first blow.
I'd say the killer was left-handed, male, and at least six feet tall.
Any signs of a struggle?
No. The first blow alone was enough to knock him unconscious.
But the killer kept hitting him.
Several more times. Probably when he was lying on the floor.
Burglars don't usually do that.
The good ones? You never knew they were there.
Somebody didn't like this dude.
There's nearly $200,000 missing from the bedroom safe and most of my jewelry.
$200,000 cash? Didn't your husband trust banks?
Well, Greg didn't feel secure unless he had a lot of cash on hand.
Especially after 9/11.
He would say, "What if there is a terrorist attack
"and the worldwide banking system fails?"
And I'd say, "Honestly, darling, what if?"
Your jewelry. What was it worth?
Several million, give or take.
Who else knew about the safe?
Just me and Greg.
(SIGHS) Poor Greg.
What a horrible thing to have happen.
VAN BUREN: All preliminary background checks
on the guys that installed the security system came back pretty clean.
A few DWIs, misdemeanors, except Kenny Tremont.
I knew it, the contractor. What's he got?
Assault, credit card fraud.
I assume she benefits financially from her husband's death.
We're assuming the same thing, but we've got to run down the details.
She couldn't have been more distraught if her neighbor's goldfish went belly-up.
So if Mrs. Emerson is involved in this,
she hired it done, or had an accomplice.
Someone who knew how to beat that security system.
I'm betting Kenny Tremont.
All right. Talk to the housekeeper and the driver again.
See if they know something they don't know they know.
ED: Housekeeper told us that Kenny Tremont has been around a lot in the last few weeks,
even though most of the work was already done.
Sorry, I never drove Mr. Tremont and Mrs. Emerson.
FONTANA: You never seen them together?
Sure. Talking about the renovation.
Usually, she was chewing him out over one thing or another she didn't like.
Hey, wait, she got a temper?
Oh, yeah. One time she burned all of Mr. Emerson's suits
and threw his desk out an upstairs window.
That kind of thing happen a lot?
She has a short fuse.
Hey, so when you drive her, where do you normally go?
Shopping, mostly.
And, what, you just sit around and wait?
Usually, I drop her off and come back.
The woman is aworld-class shopper. She can shop for hours.
She have any, uh, favorite destination lately?
Well, there's this one place on Madison.
All these shoes. Shoes are like crack to women.
Hey, with me, it's shirts and ties.
Gentlemen. Can I help you?
Yes, I'm Detective Fontana, this is Detective Green.
New York City Police Department.
Yeah, we need to ask you about one of your customers, Marley Emerson?
Oh, such a shame what happened to her husband.
You don't expect that kind of thing in this neighborhood.
Yeah. When was the last time she was in here?
Let's see, she was just in. It was probably last week.
No, I think it was two or three months ago now.
Let me check my records. If you'll excuse me, just a minute?
Two or three months ago?
If she wasn't buying shoes, what was she doing?
She's a rich woman. She could do whatever the hell she wants to do.
No. it was longer than that, in fact. Closer to six months.
Okay. Thank you. Although...
She did just have something delivered two weeks ago.
A pair of alligator pumps.
Delivered to her home?
Uh, no. To the Hotel Daniel.
Just across the street and down the block.
I'd hate to violate the privacy of one of our guests.
Oh, no, it's okay. We're authorized.
Several afternoons a week for the last year and a half.
They order room service, a bottle of wine.
Yeah, that's the gentleman. I don't know his name.
Who pays? She does. Cash.
That's nice work, if you can get it.
Can you give us a printout of the charges?
Detectives, are you threatening me with a subpoena if I don't comply?
Why, yes, ma'am, we certainly are.
In that case, and under duress...
FONTANA: Your objection is duly noted.
This may take a while.
Mrs. Emerson's charges are quite extensive,
several hundred thousand dollars worth.
That's a hell of a lot of room service.
I sure hope he was worth it.
The people we talked to said that she was a struggling artist
when she met Greg Emerson. She married up?
Well, yeah, way up! The dude's a billionaire, and she's from Cincinnati.
Her father worked in an art museum there.
Well, when did she start having this affair with the contractor?
According to the hotel records, three weeks after
they started the renovation on the townhouse.
And no one knew?
Apparently, they were pretty discreet about the whole thing.
All right, look into his alibi for the night of the murder,
and talk with some of her girlfriends.
If she was having an affair, I bet one of them knew.
You forgot to mention that you were sleeping with Mrs. Emerson,
and that you have a criminal record,
and you knew how to take out that alarm.
You can't prove I had anything to do with it.
Oh, we're halfway there, bro. We have motive, we have opportunity.
So, let's hear your alibi for Sunday night.
I grabbed a bite with my girlfriend and went to a movie.
The Sunshine, down on Houston.
This French flick. I still got the ticket stubs.
Yeah, yeah. How about after the movie?
After the movie, we, uh, walked down to Little Italy,
grabbed some cannolis and caps at Ferrara's,
and then walked back to her place.
And you were with her all night? All night.
Okay. So now we need your girlfriend's name and number.
Fine. Linda Ziman.
Lives down on Ludlow Street. And she'll vouch.
I'm sure she will.
Hey, look, guys, I didn't do it.
So you can't prove that I did.
LINDA: We got some dessert in Little Italy.
ED: Where?
That big place on Hester Street?
I can't remember the name.
Ferrari's? Ferrara's.
That's it. Uh, Kenny told us
that the two of you ran into a friend of his at Ferrara's.
Did you happen to remember his name?
Oh, right, right.
Um, it was a friend of his from work. I can't remember his name.
Did he ever talk to you about the Emersons?
He said they were nice. Nice enough, for rich people.
Yeah, he spent a lot of time over there.
Well, it was a big job.
He spent a lot of time with Mrs. Emerson.
She was in charge.
You should ask your boyfriend about the Hotel Daniel.
Hotel Daniel?
Yeah, him and Mrs. Emerson had a lot of meetings there.
Middle of the afternoon meetings.
Look, if you change your story, give us a call, all right?
Thank you.
JULIA: I've known Marley since she first came to New York.
We were both waiting tables in the East Village.
Greg used to come downtown, mingle with the Bohemians.
(LAUGHS) They, uh, hit it off.
You were together all weekend?
We used to go to the Golden Gate two, three times a year.
I know it well.
It has the best wraps and peels on the East Coast.
She ever talk about her husband?
Uh, they had their ups and downs, like any married couple.
Did you know she was having an affair?
Um... With Kenny Tremont?
Oh, God.
She swore me to secrecy.
Um, but if you already know...
What did she tell you?
She'd been seeing him for a while,
and that the sex was to die for.
She ever talk about leaving her husband?
Oh, she wouldn't have done that.
She liked being Mrs. Greg Emerson too much.
Really? Well, that's not the information we got.
She may not have liked Greg that much,
but she never would have divorced him.
She would have lost her place. In the art world.
Mr. Emerson know about the affair?
She said no. But she didn't care if he did.
He was having one of his own.
I thought you were investigating the possibility of a burglar.
Well, we are. But now that we know
that you and Kenny Tremont are having an affair...
We like Kenny as the burglar, and we think that you gave him a key
and a code to the alarm.
That is ridiculous. Is it?
He knows the system.
He knows the hard drive needs to be taken care of.
Kenny was with his girlfriend that night.
How would you know something like that?
Because he called to say how sorry he was about Greg.
It came up in the conversation.
How's that sit with you? Him having a girlfriend?
Well, I was hardly in a position to complain.
Look, Kenny is, um, fun.
He's my boy toy.
And my husband didn't really like to have sex.
At least not with me. So...
Wait, we hear that he was having an affair, too.
Who have you been talking to?
Look, give us a name. We need to check it out.
I would love to, but I have no idea what their names were.
And I doubt he did either, most of the time.
She say he was into rough trade?
According to her, he'd pick up guys
and bring them home when she wasn't there.
And when she was? We're looking into his financials
and his phone records to see if anything pops,
like maybe a hotel or an apartment
that she didn't know about. But so far, nothing has.
And you talked to her housekeeper and the driver?
Yeah. Both of them swear that they never saw him pick anybody up
or bring anybody home, male or female.
Detective? Latent's done running the prints from the townhouse.
Uh, Mr. Tremont's prints are everywhere.
Yeah, well, he's been working on the house for the last year and a half.
But there's a very clear print on the security system alarm pad.
ED: Well, he put the system in and he's got a PIN code.
And you can't date fingerprints.
But it's on the deactivate button.
It should have been obliterated from subsequent use by now.
Unless he was the last one to turn it off.
Precisely.
You rock, Beck. Thank you, man.
With his record, we might be able to get a warrant.
Well, let's get a friendly judge.
If we can't, I have an old one in my locker.
Not everybody reads the fine print.
(LAUGHS)
(CHATTER ON POLICE RADIO)
You guys gonna put everything back?
Nah, that's your problem.
That doesn't seem fair.
The Fourth Amendment protects you against unlawful search and seizure.
It doesn't say anything about being neat.
Hey, Detective.
What's this?
It looks like a hard drive, Kenny.
Why would an innocent man have something like that squirreled away?
It's for my laptop.
Prove it.
Well, what do you say, Casanova?
You wanna change your story?
The lab tells us that the hard drive that we found
was from Emerson's security system.
FONTANA: You know, the system that you helped to install.
ED: Your print was on the alarm pad,
which means you were the last person to turn off the alarm.
Now, let's see what we've got here.
We've got means, motive, and opportunity.
Certainly enough to send you away for the rest of your stinking life.
Okay. Okay, look. She asked me to take it out.
The hard drive.
Mrs. Emerson? Yeah.
Yeah, she was nervous. Her husband was away on business a lot,
she said it wasn't working right,
she asked me to take a look at it.
That's why my print's on the pad.
(LAUGHS) Come on, Kenny. You can do better than that!
It's true, okay? I came by Saturday morning,
before she left for Massachusetts.
Now, we know that's not true because the alarm was still on, on Sunday night.
Mr. Emerson turned on that alarm at 10:00,
and you turned it off an hour and a half later, just in time to kill him.
(KNOCK ON DOOR) Now, if you wanna work on your story,
start from scratch, we can forget about all those lies you just been telling us.
Hey, Joe.
Think about it.
What's up?
Crime lab just called. Hard drive's been erased.
Did he admit anything?
He admits the affair. They both do.
And his story about when and how he removed the hard drive from the security system?
She corroborates what he says, of course, but it doesn't hold water.
The monitoring company records contradict everything they said.
So she's involved, too?
She'd have to be. How else would he get in the house?
And why would he do it, unless she was gonna give him a piece of what she got
when her husband got eighty-sixed?
Well, maybe he just assumed she would.
What are you saying? He just went out and killed him on his own?
Well, he makes it look like a burglary,
now she's a widow, who does she turn to?
Her boyfriend. Yeah.
So, can we arrest him?
You should start playing them against each other.
Poke a little hole in his alibi first.
I'm willing to bet one of them will sell out the other.
He said he'd never been to the Daniel Hotel, or whatever it's called.
ED: Did you ask him about his affair with Mrs. Emerson?
He said there wasn't one. Except employer-employee.
Look, Linda, the reality is they went to that hotel
four times a week for the last year and a half.
We can show you copies of the bills if you want.
Here's the deal. Kenny is gonna be arrested for the murder of Greg Emerson.
No. Oh, yes, he is.
And when all the details come out about his affair with Mrs. Emerson,
your picture's gonna be on the news, too.
And you might have to give a deposition, maybe even testify.
And if you don't tell the truth, that's perjury.
And instead of just Kenny going to jail,
you go to jail, too.
ED: So the real question is, do you wanna go to jail for a punk like Kenny?
I mean, he was cheating on you with Mrs. Emerson.
How many other women you think he got?
KENNY: Oh, no.
Oh, yeah. You're under arrest for the murder of Gregory Emerson.
I didn't do it. That's not what your girlfriend says.
My girlfriend? Yeah, you know.
The one you were cheating on with Mrs. Emerson.
Yeah, we just came back from talking to her.
And guess what? She changed her tune completely.
She says you never ate a cannoli that night.
Bitch.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.
"Docket 45732, People v. Kenneth Tremont.
"One count of murder in the second degree."
Mr. Solomon? Not guilty, YourHonoL
Ms. Southerlyn? The People seek remand, Your Honor.
Mr. Solomon, your views on bail?
Since this is not a murder one charge, Your Honor,
we believe reasonable bail is in order.
The defendant has a prior serious criminal record, Your Honor.
Two felony convictions. As stated, the People oppose bail.
Just entertain the notion for a moment.
I think a million dollars seems reasonable.
SOLOMON: Your Honor, Mr. Tremont does not have access
to those sorts of funds.
He does by virtue of his relationship with Mrs. Gregory Emerson.
District Attorney's assertions are unfounded, Your Honor.
Nonetheless, bail is set at one million. Cash or bond.
You might as well remand him.
If that's what you want.
We will take the bail, Your Honor.
We know you didn't do it alone, Mr. Tremont.
He didn't do it at all, Jack. That's right, I didn't.
Let's talk about Mrs. Emerson.
She posted bail for you, I see.
SOLOMON: Speaking of Mrs. Emerson,
she's the one who benefits from her husband's death, not my client.
If she was involved, we're dying to hear about it, Mr. Tremont.
You really think that she'll be waiting for you when all of this is over?
I don't know who killed Mr. Emerson. It wasn't me.
Think about making a deal, Mr. Tremont. This is a heavy charge.
We can make it a little lighter for you
if you don't insist on carrying all the weight yourself.
Aaron. Jack. Serena.
You think he'll hold the line?
It takes two to keep a secret like that.
Allow us, my man.
Detective. Ma'am.
The District Attorney would like to see you.
Am I under arrest?
You have information regarding the murder ofyourhusband.
I don't have any information regarding Greg's murder.
You did lie to us about giving your boyfriend that hard drive.
Oh, I... (STAMMERS) Kenny, it was his idea.
You can save all that for the prosecutors. You mind?
You can call your lawyer from the car.
What are you offering, Mr. McCoy?
In exchange for her truthful testimony against Mr. Tremont, hindering prosecution.
She does one-to-three years.
Six months.
LWlflfinkaboutH. h1anfinhnum securfiyfacflfiy.
That I'll agree to. Bail?
A million dollars. She surrenders her passport.
House arrest. No house arrest.
That's not negotiable.
Kenny told me he did it.
You made the right choice, Mrs. Emerson.
Did I? Absolutely.
I hope so.
Kenny?
Uh. Marley.
How you doing?
Mr. McCoy, Ms. Southerlyn. SERENA: We'll be in touch.
Mr. Tremont, Mr. Solomon. Thank you for coming back on such short notice.
What is she doing here?
She just agreed to testify against you before the Grand Jury.
Really? I don't think she'd do that.
Haven't worked out all the details yet, Mr. Tremont,
but she's looking at somewhere between six months and three years
for hindering prosecution.
And you're looking at 20-to-life for murder two.
Doesn't seem equitable, does it?
Now's your chance to tell us if she was involved.
SOLOMON: Kenny?
I don't care what she says. I didn't do it.
I don't know anything about what happened that night.
He told me that he wanted us to be together.
I had no idea he was planning to kill Greg.
You had no part in the planning of this crime?
No.
How did he get into the house?
He had a key.
He must have used my access code to shut off the alarm.
He said you met him the day before the murder
and asked him to take the hard drive from the security system and repair it.
That isn't true. He told me that he did that Sunday night when he killed Greg.
JACK: But when the police asked about that,
you confirmed Mr. Tremont's story.
I lied for him.
If you had no part in it, why didn't you come forward?
Why conspire with him afterward to cover it up?
I was horrified by what Kenny did,
and I never had any intention of anything like this happening.
I wasn't even thinking of divorcing Greg.
But I loved Kenny.
And what was done was done.
Going to the police wasn't going to bring Greg back.
You say you loved Mr. Tremont?
(CRYING)
Yes. (slsl-ls)
Tell us truthfully, Mrs. Emerson. You're under oath.
Did you love him enough to conspire with him to kill your husband?
He did that all on his own.
FONTANA: The defendant told us that Mrs. Emerson had given him
the hard drive on Saturday,
the day before the murder, for some repairs.
Did you investigate his story?
We contacted the company that monitors the alarm system,
and they confirmed that the system was activated
and then deactivated on Sunday night.
So the hard drive could not have been removed on Saturday as he claimed?
That's correct.
Nothing further.
You investigated every lead?
We looked into a number of possibilities suggested by the evidence.
Such as?
Open robbery and burglary cases.
We conducted extensive background checks
on everyone that worked in the Emerson town home.
And you settled on my client, largely because of his affair with Mrs. Emerson?
That, and his intimate knowledge of the alarm system,
and of course his extensive criminal background.
SOLOMON: Your Honor?
Please strike the witness' last remark. The jury will disregard.
When you, uh, spoke with Mrs. Emerson about their affair,
did she acknowledge it? Yes, she did.
Did she say anything else on the subject of fidelity in her marriage?
She said that her husband was having some affairs of his own.
Objection. Relevance.
Your Honor, if the police, in their zeal to convict my client,
have overlooked a promising avenue of investigation...
I'll allow it, subject to Mrs. Emerson's corroboration.
But confine yourself to what she told Detective Fontana.
She told you her husband had affairs with other women?
No. With other men.
(LAUGHS) Well, did she say anything about these affairs?
Yes, uh, she said that he, uh, enjoyed the rough trade.
What? "Rough trade"?
Sex with strangers of a physical nature.
SOLOMON: Physical? You mean violent?
Well, that's your word, Counselor, not mine.
Well, did you look into this?
We did. And we didn't find any evidence of Mrs. Emerson's allegations.
(LAUGHS)
In the course of your investigation of the crime scene,
you determined that the sheets on the bed were missing.
That's right. The bed had been stripped.
And your deduction?
Well, there was a lot of blood. An awful lot of blood.
We believe that the killer was wearing an extra set of clothes
that he stripped off, bundled up into the sheets
to get rid of evidence, as well as carry away the money and the jewelry.
Or maybe it was another kind of DNA he was interested in concealing.
Objection! Semen, perhaps?
Sustained. Don't try my patience, Mr. Solomon.
Your Honor.
Lieutenant? It's for you. Line two.
Van Buren.
I'd say between 8:00 and 10:00 last night.
Autopsy's just a formality.
The cherry red color? It's carbon monoxide poisoning, no question.
SERENA: It was an accident? Please.
That's what it's supposed to look like.
Do they have a new heating system?
Yeah, recently installed. By the guy she was gonna testify against.
You'll let me know.
Me, too.
Yeah. We'll let you know.
Tough case to make without Mrs. Emerson's direct testimony.
We have her Grand Jury testimony.
Tremont's attorney is moving to dismiss the charges.
We know this wasn't an accident.
The M.E. says that this could be the result of a new heating system.
Which Kenny Tremont installed. He'd know how to sabotage it.
It just happened to be the housekeeper's night off again.
Dangerous night at the Emerson household.
Good luck with your dismissal hearing.
SOLOMON: Mrs. Emerson's unfortunate demise
renders it impossible for the People to convict my client.
Unfortunately, your client probably killed her.
Unless Ms. Southerlyn can back that up with some evidence...
Mr. McCoy, can you continue without the witness?
Difficult, Your Honor, but not impossible,
and People v. Heflendbrand permits us to use a witness' Grand Jury testimony.
When it can be demonstrated that the witness' unavailability
was caused by the defendant.
How much clearer can it be?
Are you asking me to prove that your client killed Mrs. Emerson
before I can prove that he killed Mr. Emerson?
At the moment, Your Honor, there's not even a ruling from the Medical Examiner
that Mrs. Emerson's death was a homicide.
Is there any proof that Mr. Tremont is involved
in any way with Mrs. Emerson's demise, accident or otherwise?
We're investigating Mr. Tremont right now.
In other words, no.
If you can give us just a little more time.
No, Mr. McCoy. I can't hold ajury indefinitely while you look for evidence.
I'm sorry, but absent that evidence, the Grand Jury testimony is out.
I'm going to dismiss the charges against the defendant
and I'm releasing him from custody.
So, he can't be retried.
The courts. Who can figure 'em out?
There was no way this particularjudge was gonna hold ajury
while we finished our investigation.
What'd you guys find on Mrs. Emerson's death?
ED: Well, it's just like we thought.
The leak was caused by a loose connection.
Deliberate? Well, you could never prove it definitively,
but these connections just don't come loose by themselves after a couple of months.
And his fingerprints are everywhere?
They're all over the place.
The arrogant son of a bitch didn't even bother to put on gloves.
He might have slipped up this time, though,
'cause CSU found a little drop of blood on the exhaust flange
just above that loose connection.
So, if he cut himself and it's his DNA?
It's a start. How did he get in again?
The alarm was off, there was no forced entry.
We figure she must've let him in. Again.
What about his alibi?
We were just gonna go check that out. Excuse me.
I was with my girlfriend.
Again? Player. Which one this time?
Uh, my new one. Tina. She's a bartender in the East Village.
(LAUGHS) This guy is amazing. He has an endless supply of alibi girlfriends.
I was hanging out with her at the bar all night.
Hey, did anybody else see you hanging?
Well, it was Sunday night, so it wasn't really that busy.
Nobody I know. I mean, there were strangers.
Friendly guy like you, you ain't talked to nobody?
Just Tina. But, hey, talk to her.
Yeah, yeah, we know. She can vouch for you.
You need to wipe that smirk off your face.
We ain't done with you yet.
Excuse me. (LAUGHS)
Yeah, Kenny was in here all night.
Sat down at the end of the bar.
All night, huh?
Tina? Do you have any regular customers?
Yeah, sure.
Any of them here on Sunday night?
Uh, let me think.
We need one of them to corroborate your story.
What do you mean?
Well, what he means is, is that we need someone besides yourself
to tell us that Kenny was sitting down at that bar all night drinking.
Well, um, I don't think that I knew anybody else that came in that night, so...
Okay. What's your manager's name and number?
What for?
Well, maybe your manager can remember who was here on Sunday night
and n anybody saw Kenny at the end oi the bar.
All right. So I showed Kenny's photo to a half a dozen patrons.
Anybody remember him?
No. But nobody can swear he wasn't there, either. How about you?
The Medical Examiner's office called.
The blood they found on the flange was definitely Tremont's,
and it was less than a week old when they collected it.
That's good. Good enough for the Medical Examiner
to call it a homicide.
That puts him in the basement after the trial started,
just before she was supposed to testify against him.
Add that to a shaky alibi... Let's call the D.A.
JACK: We can show that Mr. Tremont had the opportunity
to sabotage the heater in the Emerson mansion,
and that he murdered Mrs. Emerson to keep her from testifying against him.
The People can't even prove that Mrs. Emerson's death was a homicide,
much less that the heater was tampered with
or that my client did the tampering.
We have DNA evidence that places him in the basement
at the time and on the site of the loosened connection
that caused the fatal leak.
Mr. Tremont did extensive work on the premises,
and it's our contention the bloodstain dates well before Mrs. Emerson's death.
We think not.
Your Honor, the fact that Mrs. Emerson testified against the defendant
and was going to appear as a key witness against him
should be sufficient to allow her Grand Jury testimony to come in.
The probative value of her testimony is far outweighed
by the prejudice to the client.
Judge, People v. Mofineaux. You can allow us to paint a broad picture.
At least permit us to establish motive.
If you plan on convicting my client
before the trial... JUDGE: Relax, Counselor.
I'll limit Mr. McCoy to the broad strokes.
You can establish that Mrs. Emerson was going to testify against Tremont
in a serious criminal matter, but no details.
Nothing of the crime itself.
If you allow Mr. McCoy to refer to a serious criminal matter,
then everyone's going to know what he's talking about.
Unless you've been living in a cave.
And what would you suggest, Mr. Solomon?
Change of venue.
The crime occurred in thisjurisdiction. It ought to be tried here.
You can relax, too, Mr. McCoy.
A more extensive and thorough voir dire
should suffice to empanel an objective jury.
The DNA found from the blood on the exhaust flange matched the defendant's, Mr. Tremont.
Were you able to determine when that blood was left at that site?
Uh, well, based on the size of the bloodstain and the environment that it was in,
the high ambient temperature, and plus the fact that
we were still able to extract the DNA from the sample,
it couldn't have been there for more than a week.
Dating bloodstains.
It's not a very accurate or definitive science.
No, studies have shown that bloodstains can be accurately dated.
Accurate within a week. Yes.
Ah. Even though the blood sample was left on a heating system,
and heat destroys DNA.
Yes.
And even that estimate could easily place the sample on the flange
up to a week before Mrs. Emerson's death.
Yes.
Nothing further.
The People rest, Your Honor.
Mr. Solomon?
We'd like to move for dismissal of all charges, Your Honor.
The People have failed to meet the minimal threshold of proof.
Oh, I think they've done that, Mr. Solomon. Motion denied.
Recess until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.
(BANGS GAVEL)
For a minute, I thought Solomon was gonna win another dismissal.
Eventhough everyone knows Tremont did it.
Knowing and proving, always two different things.
Who's testifying for the defense tomorrow?
His alibi witness.
One of his girlfriends.
Why would anyone take up with a man accused of murdering his lover?
You're not a woman. I get it.
He's charming, attractive, he's an outlaw.
He's a classic bad boy.
What?
I worked my regular shift, from 6:00 till closing.
What time did you leave?
Um, about 2:00. I had to clean up.
Did you see the defendant that evening?
Kenny came in about 7:00, around there.
And he sat right at the end of the bar till closing.
SOLOMON: And then what?
We went home together.
And where was Mr. Tremont the rest of the evening?
With me. The whole time.
You were with Mr. Tremont all evening?
Yes.
The police were unable to find anyone
who remembered seeing Mr. Tremont with you that night.
They remember you, but not him.
I don't know what to say. I mean, he was right there with me the whole time.
JACK: How long have you known Mr. Tremont?
Six months. Six months?
Then you must have been aware of his previous legal difficulties.
Your Honor? You know the parameters, Mr. McCoy.
Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE: Witness may answer.
When you met Mr. Tremont, he was on trial for a serious offense.
Yeah. Yes, I knew that.
And were you aware that before her death,
Mrs. Emerson was scheduled to testify against him?
Yes.
And were you also aware of the exact nature
of the criminal matter Mr. Tremont was on trial for?
Yes.
And that Mr. Tremont and Mrs. Emerson
had been in an intimate relationship?
I read the papers. Watch the news.
Did Mr. Tremont ever talk to you
about his relationship with Mrs. Emerson?
Mr. Solomon... SOLOMON: Objection, YourHonoL
Mr. McCoy's question is vast, without limit or focus.
Relax, Mr. Solomon.
Mr. McCoy, please confine your questions about their relationship
to the period prior to the aforementioned legal proceedings.
Did Mr. Tremont tell you how their relationship began?
Um. (CLEARS THROAT) He...
He said that they started seeing each other after he started working for her.
And did he tell you how he felt about her?
Said he liked her okay.
Did Mr. Tremont voice a different opinion about Mrs. Emerson
when he learned that she was going to testify against him?
Objection! Move on, Mr. McCoy.
Did Mr. Tremont ever express anger or resentment against Mrs. Emerson?
Your Honor?
Please answer the question.
(STAMMERS) Yeah, uh, yes, I guess so. Yes.
JACK: What did he say?
He said that she ruined his life.
Ruined his life? Did he say how?
(STAMMERS) I didn't know what he meant, I swear.
Can you tell us what he said?
Um...
He said that, um...
That it was her idea from the beginning
(CRYING) and he just did what she wanted.
Objection! Objection, Your Honor.
Counsel will see me in chambers.
Your Honor, I move for an immediate mistrial.
She's your witness, Mr. Solomon.
I merely asked a question.
Perfectly proper cross-examination.
She just about accused my client of conspiring with Mrs. Emerson.
Actually, Judge, that's exactly what she did.
Your Honor, this is too damaging.
Now, you told Mr. McCoy to stay within parameters.
JACK: If Tremont and Mrs. Emerson
were in on her husband's death all along...
Your Honor, my client's not on trial for the murder of Mr. Emerson.
True enough, but if Mrs. Emerson
was a co-conspirator in her husband's death,
the jury has a right to know the details.
You opened the floodgates, Mr. Solomon.
The Grand Jury minutes, her sworn statements. It all comes in. Everything.
Your Honor, you can't do this.
I would have designed my case in an entirely different way.
This is grounds for appeal.
Appeal away, Mr. Solomon.
WOMAN: Question.
"What did Mr. Tremont tell you about the murder of Mr. Emerson?"
Answer. "Kenny told me he did it.
"I didn't ask him to.
"He said he wanted us to be together.
"I had no idea he was planning to kill Greg.
"He did that all on his own."
The jury came back fast. Nicely done.
We could still get reversed on appeal.
Are you worried?
I'm sure Mr. Tremont has exhausted his illicit resources by now.
He won't be able to afford a lawyer like Solomon the next time around.
Quite a case.
Sex and money, money and sex.
Where would we be without them?
Out of business.