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.
Freezing my ass off for a nicotine hit, it's pathetic.
(LAUGHS)
Come over to my place.
Uh-uh. Too dangerous.
What are you afraid of, one drink?
(SIGHS) I really think we ought to take it slow.
I won't put the moves on you, promise. Unless you want me to.
You see, that's exactly... (GASPS)
Oh, my God, that man shot himself!
OFFICER: Kids that saw it happen said they were on a first date.
Dinner and a show?
Not exactly what they had in mind.
What about the victim? On his way to Bellevue.
No, is he likely?
EMS said he was still breathing.
If he's not DOA, he's a house plant.
FONTANA: 9mm.
There's the shell casing.
What time did this go down?
Witnesses said just after 11:00.
He called somebody at 10:59.
Get this stuff vouchered, will you? Have any ID?
Richard Ranson. Twenty-eight years old.
Hello? Hi, ma'am, I'm sorry to call you so late,
this is Detective Green, New York City Police Department.
Yeah, may I ask who I'm speaking to? Okay, do you know a Richard Ranson?
Ah, yeah, I understand.
Wife?
Yeah, they're separated.
That figures. Family trouble.
He's on his way to Bellevue, ma'am.
Self-inflicted gunshot wound.
We don't know, we don't know. We're on our way there now.
Excuse me?
Do you have an address?
She thinks he may have killed somebody else.
You're kidding me. Where?
Uh-huh.
Over there.
ED: I'm assuming those are his prints on the knife.
And assuming he dies, it'd be a murder-suicide.
He shot himself in the head and kept breathing?
He must've flinched.
Room's registered to a Richard Ranson. Thank you.
New York license.
Maryann Miller. Sullivan Street. She's... 29?
It's a hard 29. Looks more like 39 to me.
Look at the left side of her arm and face.
Yeah, she's got a suntan like she'd been driving.
Not in New York. Not this time of the year.
He's a lucky man.
Bullet creased his skull, exited the scalp.
That's because he wasn't fully committed.
Excuse me? To dying.
A wound like that means that
you turned the gun away at the last possible second.
I see. But he has a concussion, hairline skull fracture.
But it sounds like he's gonna make it.
Barring unforeseen complications, he should end up with no more than
a bad headache, temporary double vision. Down the road,
maybe a little cosmetic surgery.
Well, we're gonna need to talk to him at some point.
Just give me a day or two, I'll let you know.
She's in here. Thanks.
Mrs. Ranson?
Detective Green. This is my partner Detective Fontana.
Hi. Did you go to the hotel?
Oh, my God.
Richard, what have you done?
Who? Do you know?
Well, we were hoping that you might be
able to help us with that.
The victim was in her 30s, pretty, brunette.
Her 30s?
Maryann Miller, no, I don't know her.
FONTANA: Probably from out of town.
Well, you have her license, can't you just...
It's a fake. There's no such person, no such address.
Mrs. Ranson, what made you send us to your husband's hotel room?
MRS. RANSON: He'd left me a message.
What was the message?
He said he had finally done what he needed to do his whole life.
And it was the hardest thing he'd ever done.
And why would that mean he would kill somebody?
He'd been talking about it for months.
FONTANA: About killing someone?
Anyone in particular?
His mother.
Richard grew up in a cult.
I didn't know they still had cults.
His mother, Mrs. Shelby, is the leader.
The founder. She's the queen bee.
Even the members call her "Mother."
She live in the city?
They have branches in Mexico, in Asia, and she's usually out of the country.
What about his father?
Oh, who knows?
The Children of the Divine...
Wait, that's what they call this thing?
It was founded in the '60s.
They believed in free love, drugs,
salvation through sex, enlightenment through ecstasy.
Well, there was a lot of that going on back then.
Richard was a product of what they call the "soul seduction."
The female members would go out and try to seduce men to get them to join.
So Richard's father took the sample, but he didn't buy the package.
It was a one-night stand. I don't think he ever met him.
I can understand why Richard resents his mother, but why kill her?
The Children of the Divine practice what they call the "sexualization of children."
That doesn't sound good.
Adults had sex with the children, the children had sex with each other,
while their parents watched.
They said it was natural.
It's what God intended in the Garden of Eden.
And all this happened to Richard?
Big time. He was the Crown Prince.
The Chosen One. Mother's successor.
Richard didn't buy into that.
He hated it.
Couldn't wait to get out.
He left when he was 19. He escaped, really.
How long you two been married?
A year and a half.
He thought we were gonna make it.
ED: What happened?
About six months ago, he got really angry and depressed.
Went into a complete tailspin.
You know why?
He wouldn't tell me.
Then two weeks ago, he hit rock bottom.
He moved out, and he said it'd be the best for both of us.
RICHARD ON TAPE: Taking a human fife was the hardest thing I've ever done.
Not that it made any difference. I'll never escape the past.
I know that now.
Thanks for trying. I love you.
And he shot himself.
"I'll never escape the past."
There's a website for survivors, cult members who've walked away,
and they all tell the same story. Physical abuse,sexualabuse.
Drug overdoses, suicide.
Mmm. Parents who'd do this to their own children.
And the kids who rebel? They get sent to the Philippines to
these "victory camps," where they're disciplined, punished,
until they get their heads straight.
Do we have any idea why he killed this Maryann Miller?
We're thinking because of the phony identification that she has some
connection with the cult. They're into fake names, passports.
So they could stay one step ahead of the law. What about Mr. Ranson?
We won't be able to get a crack at him for the next couple of days.
He worked at a travel agency. We were gonna go check out his office.
All right.
Rich was always easy to get along with,
and then, I don't know, last six months or so,
he just stopped talking,
stopped going out for lunch with the rest of us. It was dramatic.
What about the last couple of weeks or so?
Beyond blue.
His wife said he moved out.
Oh, my God, that explains it.
I thought it was the phone call.
What phone call?
Some woman, uh, Richie picked up...
I swear he turned white, he heard who it was,
like he was talking to a ghost.
He say anything about it?
Just rushed outta here. Came back a couple of hours later,
he was a wreck. Nervous, twitchy.
Hey, when did that phone call happen, do you remember?
Couple weeks ago, maybe. The day after this really complicated
charter to Lithuania, that was a Monday, so it wasn't last Tuesday,
but the Tuesday before that.
Hey.
Look at this. Look how it's written. That's the day of that phone call.
Looks a little shaky. "Empire S-T." Empire Street?
We're gonna borrow this stuff.
Yeah, I seen him a couple of times. Came by to see her.
Who's her? Miss Porter.
Miss Porter have a first name?
Sunny. Real California hiPPv-dippvivpe-
Blonde hair, always complaining about the heat, as in not enough of it.
If you find her, let us know, she still owes us for her last three days.
Do you have her address?
Yeah, but I assume it's phony.
Phone number was. We still have her bag. Suitcase.
And being the good citizen that you are,
you're gonna turn over this suitcase to us
as found property, am I correct, sir?
Yeah, the tag on the back says she flew in from San Francisco.
Oh, it looks like Sunny and Richard were more than friends.
Oh. "Christmas '92, Manzanillo."
That's Mexico. Yeah?
Uh-huh.
Okay. Thank you. Sunshine Porter flew one way from
San Francisco to Newark. She got here the day after Richard got that phone call,
and she checked in the same day at the Empire State Hotel.
Sunshine? This whole thing is starting to sound like
a bad acid flashback from the '60s.
And guess who sold her the ticket?
The Travel Planet.
Richard Ranson.
ED: You're sure you don't recognize her?
No, I'm positive.
Well, this photo would've been taken, like, 10 or 12 years ago.
What was her connection to Richard?
FONTANA: We don't know yet.
What makes you think there was one?
Well, Richard was in the picture with her. We cropped him out.
Why?
We wanted to show them separately.
What were they doing in the photograph?
Oh, this must've been before he left the cult, so...
Was she a member, too? We don't know.
She looks about 13, 14.
They were just kids. It wasn't their fault.
Yeah, we know.
(PHONE RINGING)
Not again.
Are you gonna answer it?
Hello? These hang-ups are driving me crazy.
When did they start?
Since everything happened.
When that happens, hang up,
pick up again, dial star-57. We can trace the call.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Open up, it's the police! MAN: Who is it?
I said it's the police!
MAN: How do I know you're really the police?
Read the badge, Einstein, what's it say?
MAN: Could be fake.
Yeah, it could be, but it's not.
Now open up, or we're gonna kick the door in!
Where's Sunshine Porter? She's not here.
Where'd she go? I don't know.
FONTANA: What's your name?
Jared. Jared Weston.
All right, come on, give me your ID. Give me some ID. Come on!
Can I ask you a question? FONTANA: It depends.
Is he gonna be okay? Who?
Daniel. Who's Daniel?
You know, Richard Ranson. The guy who shot himself and killed that lady.
That's why you're here, isn't it?
Why do you call him Daniel?
That's how we knew him. Whoa.
Growing up, that was his name before he left
Children of the Divine.
Are you Sunshine Porter?
Yes.
She wasn't hiding from you.
We thought Mother sent you.
Mrs. Shelby?
Why are you afraid of her?
We just don't want her to know where we are.
Were you in this cult with Daniel?
After Daniel left, we left.
What was your relationship with Daniel?
I'm his sister.
Why did you call your brother's house and hang up?
I wanted to apologize to his wife.
But I didn't know what to say.
And the woman he killed?
Dolores.
She was our nanny.
The nannies were these girls who took care of us most of the time.
They had sex with us, and got us to have sex with each other.
And your mother condoned all of this?
She believed in it. It's written in the teachings.
God is love,
and the purest form of love is sex.
So...
It's all in the Book of Daniel.
What's the Book of Daniel?
Mother wrote it. It tells you how to raise a child.
By having sex with them?
A couple of weeks ago, you called your brother.
I heard Mother was gonna be in New York for a meeting with some of the American Elders.
I thought if Daniel could just confront her about what happened when he was a kid,
maybe he could move on and get over it.
So you told him about the meeting?
Yeah, but I didn't know where it was gonna be, so he asked me to
put him in touch with Dolores.
He thought he could get to your mother through Dolores?
I guess Dolores wouldn't tell him where Mother was.
I was just trying to help.
I didn't know he would do what he did.
Dolores Diamond, 40, been living in Mexico City, FBl's had a file on her
for more than a decade. Along with her boss, Mrs. Shelby,
and the rest of her inner circle.
What is the Feds' interest in these people?
International investigation. Child abuse. Argentina, Mexico, Belgium...
FONTANA: Any luck? A few arrests, a few trials, no convictions.
Well, you'd think with all those survivor testimonies on the website,
they'd be able to prosecute.
Well, they claim they cleaned up their act
a long time ago, but no one's been able to find the cult leaders
long enough to prosecute them.
Well, I'd like to spend an hour with one of the little creeps,
and teach 'em a whole new meaning to the expression, "See the light."
Hospital called. Said your boy's well enough to talk.
I did it. I killed Dolores.
Not that you need my confession.
FONTANA: We'll read you your rights.
I waive my rights.
Let 'em do whatever they want to me,
throw away the key, lethal injection.
If you're looking for help from the State of New York to finish the job,
you're outta luck. You should have done her in Texas.
Whatever.
Why did you kill Dolores?
She deserved it. They all do.
You know how many suicides there have been?
Among the children who grew up in this...
Abomination? How many drug overdoses? And that's not counting the addicts,
and the alcoholics, the walking wounded and the living dead.
We know what went on in the cult, Daniel.
Then you know why I did it.
You know what the worst thing was?
Even as she was about to die,
she still didn't get it.
Dolores?
She's dying. She's bleeding to death.
She looks me in the eye, and says, "Why?
"Why, Daniel, why?"
She still doesn't understand she's ever done anything wrong.
Does he really deserve murder two?
I could live with man one.
What if we could use Richard to get at his mother?
She's really the culpable party here.
I agree, but for what?
I've been going over his file, his grandparents were awarded
custody of Richard when he was a toddler.
They were his legal guardians?
He was living with them when Mrs. Shelby abducted him.
Did they file a complaint? They did.
But she took him to Mexico and they never saw him again.
That could be construed as kidnapping.
I thought so.
It could also be construed as a custody dispute.
Not to mention the statute of limitations.
If he was taken for the purpose of performing a sexual act,
that's a Class A felony, no statute of limitations.
Kidnapping involving a parent is tricky.
Under New York law, it's an affirmative defense if the defendant's a relative
and the reason for the abduction is simply to assume control.
So we have to prove Richard was abducted for sexual purposes.
Without corroboration.
We'd have his sister's testimony.
We'd have to find Mrs. Shelby first.
I'm just ajourneyman lawyer on retainer. I handle the more mundane
legal matters for Mrs. Shelby.
Why does the District Attorney need to
know where Mrs. Shelby is?
Dolores Diamond was her assistant.
We'd like to ask some questions concerning the case.
Well, I can assure you Mrs. Shelby knows nothing about this tragic incident.
Are you familiar with the website run by ex-cult members?
"Cult" is such a negative word.
What would you call it?
A religion. One person's cult is another person's way to God.
A religion? The Children of the Divine?
The IRS thinks so, and so do the courts.
The people who post to this website seem to think that Mrs. Shelby
had a lot to do with this incident.
That in some real way, she was responsible.
Bitter apostates who bear a grudge.
Can you blame them?
No, not if their claims are credible. They're not?
Any misdeeds you may be referring to were perpetrated by a very small faction
of the group, who were dealt with and expelled years ago.
The cult no longer practices sex with children?
The Children of the Divine never did. Only a few renegades who
misinterpreted the teachings. I can get you a set of press releases
if you like, and transcripts of the trials abroad, which absolutely exonerated
the organization. Maybe you could just show us
a copy of the Book of Daniel. Or tell us where we can get out hands on one.
We wouldn't have to bother Mrs. Shelby.
There is no such book.
That's not what Daniel, Richard Ranson, tells us.
Is he well enough to speak to you?
Because I know that Mrs. Shelby would like to call him,
just to see how he's doing.
He's in jail. He isn't going anywhere.
All she has to do is come and visit.
I'm afraid that would be highly unlikely.
You think that lawyer's in touch with Mrs. Shelby?
I definitely got that feeling.
Maybe he can help us find her.
How? If Sunshine sends her a message
through him.
I'll call Fontana and Green.
Sunshine, you can do this.
Yeah, she scares me.
We'll be right there with you.
I don't know how to get in touch with her.
You call her lawyer, you tell him that you wanna meet up with her.
Yeah, she won't wanna see me.
She will if you tell her that you have a message from Daniel.
I am so happy to see you, darling!
I missed you so much.
You and your brother.
Hi, Mother.
Have you talked to Daniel?
Yes, Mother. I went to visit him once.
Mr. Jackson said you have a message to give me from Daniel?
Yes.
Well, what is it? What did he say?
ED: He said you're under arrest.
Under arrest for what?
Kidnapping him 20 years ago.
ED: You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
My client is a religious leader with an international reputation.
International indeed, Your Honor.
She's been investigated in a number of countries on a variety of charges.
Spurious, trumped up, discredited, and dismissed.
Thank God we still live in a country where one is allowed to worship
as he or she chooses.
Mr. Granger, please.
Save the First Amendment for your closing, should you get that far.
Given Mrs. Shelby's international connections and resources,
we're asking that she be remanded.
GRANGER: Mrs. Shelby has no intention of fleeing.
The Children of the Divine have consistentlyjumped bail when facing trial.
Sweeping generalization, Your Honor, and what others may or may not
have done is irrelevant.
It is not irrelevant, any more than
it would be with the leader of any other criminal organization.
The Children of the Divine have a long record of dealing deceptively with
civil and judicial authorities,
part of their standard operating procedure,
promulgated by Mrs. Shelby.
You've convinced me, Ms. Borgia.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Bail is set at $2 million.
Your Honor.
Defendant will surrender her passport.
Your Honor. Happy? No? Good.
This isn't kidnapping, it's a twenty-five-year-old custody dispute.
Your client took her son from his legal guardians.
Her parents, the boy's grandparents.
JACK: For sexual purposes.
That's a lie.
To rectify an erroneous court decision and
reunite a son and his mother.
The abuse Richard Ranson suffered as a child at the hands of his mother and others
led directly to the murder of Dolores Diamond.
That's his self-serving justification.
He wasn't abused.
On the contrary, Daniel was the most pampered little prince. He was royalty.
As for the sex acts.
We have his sister's corroborating testimony.
My daughter is a disturbed young woman.
And your son is a murderer and a would-be suicide.
Your point?
Your revolutionary child-rearing techniques
seem to have fallen a little short of the mark.
I am not saying that I was the best mother that ever was.
But these allegations,
they're unbearable.
GRANGER: Not to mention incredible.
And as you say, look who's making them.
Then you're not interested in a plea?
What would I plead to, Mr. Mo Coy? Trying to bring my children closer to God?
Making them aware of the divine spark that burns within?
And now I'm being persecuted for it? Hmm?
I'm afraid Granger's right. Nojury's gonna put much stock
in a murderer's sordid fantasy about his mother and his babysitter.
Or the sister he had an incestuous affair with.
We could use a witness who wasn't a member.
Not much chance of that.
We could use a copy of that book.
According to Richard Ranson, as soon as
the authorities got on to what they were up to,
Mrs. Shelby ordered every copy burned.
We'll just have to make do with what we got.
Facing her mother would be hard for Sunshine Porter on her best day.
I'll do what I can to shore her up.
Nobody forced us to have sex.
Isn't that a direct contradiction of what you told the police?
It's just the way things were in our world.
You were expected to, and you did. Everybody did.
What if you'd said no?
Mother would have been angry.
Okay, then. That's pressure. It's coercive. You were a child.
I guess.
What about the victory camps?
I never had to go to one of those.
What about Daniel?
When he was 17, he had to go to the Philippines for a year.
Did he ever tell you about it?
Mmm, he didn't wanna talk about it, really.
Said it was no big deal.
The website testimonies make it sound...
Brutal.
Beatings, isolation.
Daniel was the Chosen One, there was only so much they could do to him.
Other kids had a harder time of it?
I know our brother David did.
I didn't know you had another brother. I'd like to talk to him.
You know how I can get in touch with him?
Mmm, he died last year.
HOW?
Drug overdose.
They found him convulsing on the floor of his hotel room.
Never had a chance.
His death coincides with the onset of your depression.
So?
It could be used to undermine your testimony.
You blame your mother for David's death?
I do.
You look vindictive.
I am!
You fabricate these fantastic tales of childhood abuse in order to get back at her.
I'm telling the truth!
Wish we had a copy of that book.
So do I.
The book is gone.
What about Sunshine?
I'm cautiously optimistic.
You don't know what you're up against.
SUNSHINE: Dolores would,
you know, sex him up.
JACK: How old was he when this started?
Six or seven.
How old were you?
I'm three years younger than Daniel.
So you would have been three or four. And you remember this? Really?
Oh, yes.
I remember Mother
bringing me into the room to watch.
By Mother,
you mean the defendant, Mrs. Shelby?
Yes.
She was aware of what was going on?
It was part of the teachings. Her teachings.
She condoned it?
It was her idea.
JACK: How long did this relationship
between your brother and Ms. Diamond go on?
SUNSHINE: Until he was about 17.
How do you know?
I'd watch. Sometimes I'd participate.
You'd have sex with your brother and Ms. Diamond?
Yes.
Was your mother aware of this, too?
She encouraged it.
Your mother
encouraged you to have an incestuous relationship with your brother?
Yes.
She did.
(SNIFFLES)
How long did this incest go on?
SUNSHINE: Till Daniel left.
Why did he leave?
He told Mother he didn't believe in
the teachings anymore and he wanted a normal life.
And what was her reaction?
She was upset! She sent Daniel to victory camp in the Philippines.
Victory camp, what's that?
A place where you studied the teachings
until you understood them better.
Where they punished you?
Yes. How long was he there?
A year. And when he returned?
He was angry.
Bitter.
Was this, uh, anger directed at anyone in particular?
SUNSHINE: Our mother.
Is that when he left?
Moved to New York.
And changed his name to Richard Ranson?
Yes. What about you?
Were you upset when your, uh, brother left the community?
Of course. That's natural. He was your lover.
That's not why. It isn't?
Isn't it true that for many years, your mother had no idea what
you and your brother were doing?
She knew from the beginning.
Do you know how preposterous that is?
That any mother would condone, let alone encourage, such a thing between
her young children?
In our community it was normal.
That's what parents did.
You and your brother were lovers as teenagers, after puberty, were you not?
(LAUGHS) Yes.
For several years, until Daniel called a halt to it.
(SIGHS) Yes.
Isn't it a fact that that's when this incestuous relationship started,
when you were teenagers, living in an isolated, self-contained community
in a foreign country? No.
It was before that.
And when your mother discovered that
you and your brothers were lovers, isn't that why she sent him away for a year?
No! Far from condoning this illicit relationship,
wasn't she horrified?
She wanted us to be together.
And that upon his return, didn't you and your brother concoct this outlandish story
to get your revenge on her?
Objection, Your Honor,
what is the foundation for all this?
I'm getting to that, Your Honor.
See that you do.
This is a transcript of a sworn statement
you made to the Mexican authorities
investigating similar allegations
you and your brother made against
Mrs. Shelby and the Children of the Divine.
Would you please read the highlighted section?
"Miss Porter: Daniel and I made that up.
"Investigator: Made it up? Which part?
"Miss Porter: All of it.
"Investigator: Why?
"Miss Porter: We were mad at Mother for sending Daniel away.
"Investigator: Then these allegations are false?
"Miss Porter: Yes, they are. Completely."
GRANGER: Which is it, Miss Porter?
Were you lying under oath then, or are you lying under oath
HOW?
Judge Huse had no choice but to dismiss the charges.
Sunshine was doing so well, too, even with her mother giving her the Death Ray.
I'm going after her for murder. Mrs. Shelby?
For the death of her son David.
Where do we start?
Talk to the FBI, they have a cult task force.
See what they've got on the Children of the Divine.
I'll get on it right away.
Before she leaves the country again.
There are ongoing investigations against
Mrs. Shelby and the Children of the Divine
in Argentina, the Philippines.
They claim they've cleaned up their act.
Well, it's maybe not as egregious as it once was, but sex abuse still goes on.
Do you have any idea where we could find a copy of Mrs. Shelby's book?
The legendary Book of Daniel?
We're trying to build a murder case against Mrs. Shelby
for the death of her son David.
It would help corroborate Richard and Sunshine's
testimony against their mother.
We can't find it.
I can get you a copy.
You can?
I've got a photocopy of a manuscript that was seized in a raid years ago
on Mrs. Shelby's compound in Buenos Aires.
A photocopy. Can the original be authenticated?
It's in her handwriting.
The book is explicit, Arthur.
It's not just doctrine or some crazy how-to manual for child rearing.
It documents specific instances, many of them involving Richard Ranson.
It can help us establish a clear pattern of abuse.
They gave them drugs as well?
How else do you get a 10-year-old to
have sex with a 40-year-old and claim it's consensual?
I wanna go back to the Grand Jury and get an indictment for murder
against Mrs. Shelby for the death of her son David.
Walk me through it.
Immigration says Mrs. Shelby was in
New York at the time of David's death.
She and David had flown in from Mexico City.
During their visit, David Shelby died of an overdose of Quaaludes.
An empty prescription bottle belonging to Mrs. Shelby was found at the scene.
If she smuggled them in and gave them to her minor son David
while he was in her care...
For the purposes of sexual exploitation.
Depraved indifference, murder two.
Let's re-arrest Mrs. Shelby.
David was my half-brother. We have the same mother.
JACK: When was the last time you saw your brother?
About ten years ago, when I left the cult.
How old were you?
RICHARD: 18. David was five.
Do you recognize this?
It's the Book of Daniel.
It's a book describing how I was raised.
It's also a book of my mother's teachings.
Who wrote the Book of Daniel?
She did.
Does it accurately describe how you were raised?
Yes, it does.
The Book of Daniel claims that you were initiated into sexual activity
at a very early age, is that true?
Yes.
Who was the first person you ever had sex with?
My nanny, Dolores Diamond.
How old were you?
Six.
She would have been about 17 or 18.
Would you tell the court what crime you have been convicted of,
and are presently awaiting sentencing for?
RICHARD: Manslaughter.
Who did you kill?
Dolores Diamond.
Your nanny. Why?
I hated her for what she did to me when I was a kid.
It's all in the book.
Was that the only reason that you killed her?
I wanted her to tell me where my mother was. She wouldn't.
Why did you wanna know that?
I was hoping to kill her, too.
After you killed Dolores Diamond, what did you do?
I shot myself. Why?
I felt guilty.
For killing her?
For my brother, David.
I should have taken him with me.
But I left him behind,
with her.
She was doing to him what she did to me.
Giving him drugs,
and making him have sex while she watched!
Did your mother give you drugs?
Phenobarbital, Quaaludes, Ecstasy.
The adults,
our parents,
always gave us drugs before they had sex with us.
JACK: Do you know how your brother died?
An overdose of Quaaludes.
You were so angry with your mother, you wanted to kill her?
RICHARD: Yes.
So you killed another woman instead?
Dolores was as close as I could get.
Ah, that makes a lot of sense.
How did you kill Dolores Diamond?
With a knife.
How many times did you stab her?
I don't know.
I can help you with that. According to the Medical Examiner's report,
you stabbed her five times,
and then slit her throat.
Each wound was a fatal one.
If that's what it says.
You invited Ms. Diamond to dinner, asked her back to your room,
and then you stabbed her to death with a weapon you had purchased earlier that day.
Yes.
A premeditated, violent, vicious slaying,
and you're serving a term for manslaughter?
Objection. Sustained.
Dolores Diamond molested you when you were a child.
Dolores Diamond gave you drugs. You were so angry with her,
you lured her back to your hotel room to kill her.
Your Honor, does counsel intend to ask a question?
Mr. Granger?
Isn't it true, Mr. Ranson, in return for a manslaughter plea,
you concocted this story
against your mother in order to please the District Attorney?
No.
It's the truth.
Nothing further.
You didn't write the Book of Daniel?
I did not.
The People's expert witness testified that the manuscript was in your hand.
It's a forgery.
Did you ever believe in what it advocates?
When I finally obtained a copy of it
and read the book, I was distressed.
I ordered the book destroyed, and anyone who believed or practiced
its precepts expelled.
Why would someone go to all the trouble
to forge this document?
To discredit me and our community.
Why?
We're a threat to the established social order.
To governments and churches.
A threat? How so?
We believe in God's laws, not man's.
Your own son and daughter testified against you.
I feel so sorry for them.
Are any of the things they said about you true?
Not at all.
Are they lying?
I think they believe what they're saying.
They've been manipulated.
They have false memories.
They feel guilty about what they did.
About their relationship.
And...
That's why I feel sorry for them.
I think...
I think they're victims, too.
Thank you.
Did you ever give your children drugs?
No, never.
You never gave your son, David, Quaaludes? You had a prescription for them.
He may have taken them from me without my knowledge, but I... I don't know.
And you never encouraged any of your children to have sex with each other,
or with adults?
Of course not.
And all of the testimony we've heard from ex-members
which contradicts what you're saying?
I have a lot of enemies.
Because you're such a threat to the established order of things.
Yes.
How many followers do you have, Mrs. Shelby?
We're flourishing in a number of countries.
According to the FBI, you have less than 10,000.
That's a gross underestimation.
With many of the younger ones leaving as soon as they're able.
That's not true. They want to diminish us.
And charging you and your cult
with sexual and physical abuse.
This campaign against us has
been going on for decades.
This conspiracy against you.
All lies.
There may have been a few instances, a few excesses early on,
but we dealt with them.
Why, Mrs. Shelby?
Why would all these people, these agencies
and governments, your own children,
conspire against you?
Every great spiritual and religious leader throughout history
has been mocked, scorned, persecuted.
You should know that.
For instance?
Jesus. Muhammad. The Buddha.
Joseph Smith. Galileo. Saint Francis.
Mary, Queen of Scots.
And you put yourself in their company?
I do.
How do you find?
We find the defendant guilty.
Let's go.
Mother Shelby. Her performance.
"Smile and smile and be a villain."