.
- 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.
- How is everything?
- This turkey meatloaf thing is sublime.
- I hope that means good.
- It means amazing.
- It's all about the mint.
- How long are you gonna be here in this location?
- Another two weeks.
I hope to see you real soon.
Hey, what's up, man? - Hey.
I've been waiting on your call.
- Sorry, I've been real busy.
- Okay, so?
Well, I'm here now.
- Now is not a good time.
- Wait. Wait, for real?
- Come on, man.
- Oh, I forgot.
You're a big shot.
- Hey, don't make a scene.
- Or what? Huh?
- Hey, whoa, whoa, take it easy.
- Hey, man. Walk away.
- Hey, come on, Cheese.
Get out of here, now.
[tense music]
- I'll see both of y'all real soon.
♪
[camera shutter clicking]
- One victim, male, Black,
appears to have been stabbed in the chest.
- Vic got a name?
- Uh, Jordan Bryant.
He's the owner of the pop-up, whatever that means.
- Have we recovered a murder weapon?
- Not yet.
- Any sign this might have been a burglary?
- Cell phone's there. Wallet's on his body.
- Let's bag those knives, have them tested
for fingerprints and DNA.
- Got it.
- Cameras?
- Yeah, but the security system has been shut off.
- "Eat like it's your last day on Earth."
That's a catchy slogan.
- Until it becomes true.
[dramatic music]
♪
.
- Jordan and I were, uh, cleaning up for the night.
And, um, I felt like a smoke, so I walked over to a bodega,
and I bought a pack of cigarettes.
When I walked back into the restaurant,
I saw all this blood, and then I saw Jordan.
He was on the floor, and--
- Hey, it's okay.
Just take your time.
- So I--I started to walk over to Jordan,
and--and I heard someone, so I grabbed a knife
and I chased him out to the street.
- And then what happened?
- Then he, uh--
he jumped into a car and he drove off.
- What kind of car?
- BMW, black.
- You happen to get a look at the plate?
- No.
Sorry, my-- my head was spinning.
- Hey. It's okay.
You're doing great.
- What about the guy? You get eyes on him?
Tell me, uh, skin color, height, build--
- White.
Maybe Latino.
Average height, thin.
- How about clothing?
- He had a New York Islanders cap on.
And, uh, he was wearing a shiny green puffer jacket,
one of those expensive ones.
Had an M on it.
- Like a logo?
- Yeah, on the left sleeve.
- All right, this is great, Chris.
Thank you.
Now, earlier in the night, did anything unusual happen?
- Yeah, uh, now that you mention it.
- So the waiter's our only eyewitness.
He said the victim got into a heated argument
earlier in the night, almost came to blows.
He had to break it up.
And then lo and behold, a few hours later, the vic is dead.
- So was the guy in the restaurant the same guy
the waiter said he saw running from the murder scene?
- He doesn't think so, but you never know.
I mean, it could be more than one person involved, right?
- So does the waiter know the first guy's name?
- He doesn't know his name, but he kept saying that the vic
referred to him as "Cheese."
He noticed a snake tattoo on the forearm,
so he's running the tattoo and the alias
through the database now.
- All right, so what do we know about the vic?
- There's not a lot of data in the system,
which is kind of weird.
So, I mean, his credit cards, his driver's license,
utility bills-- nothing tracks back
before 24 months or so.
- Hey.
Just confirmed our eyewitness's statement.
He was, in fact, out buying cigarettes.
Bodega he went to was about 10 minutes away
from the restaurant, so theoretically,
our victim was alone for about 20 minutes.
- But is there any chance the waiter could have done it?
I mean, just because he was buying cigarettes
doesn't mean he's innocent.
- I get it, but we don't like him for it.
- No, there was no blood on his hands or his clothes.
His story checks out.
- All right. How about that black BMW?
- Yes, we got video of that.
It passed by an automotive repair shop
a few blocks from the scene
about two minutes after the 911 call.
- And I don't suppose the video captured the plates.
- Did not. - [knocks]
Hey.
So that snake tattoo comes back to the Brooklyn Vipers.
There's one dude in the gang database
who goes by the alias "Cheese."
His name is Nick Perez, and he has a pretty good rap sheet.
[suspenseful music]
♪
- This look our guy?
- Nick Perez.
- Yeah?
- Need to talk to you about last night.
- [sighs] Last night? What you mean?
- Word is you got into a beef with the chef.
- What, you're here about an argument?
- Nah, we're here about a murder.
- Murder? - Yeah.
The guy that you were arguing with last night
ended up getting stabbed.
We're trying to figure out what happened.
- Maybe you were involved? Maybe you know who was?
- I don't know nothing about that.
- Where were you last night from 10:00 to 12:00?
- Nah, nah. I ain't playing this game.
I want a lawyer.
I've been wrongly accused of too many things.
- I bet you have. Come on. - Then we'll make that happen.
Let's go. Come on.
- [speaking Spanish]
- First off, my client didn't kill anyone.
- Okay, if you say so.
But we're gonna need a lot more than that.
- I liked Jordan.
We grew up in the same apartment complex,
Hamilton Gardens.
They always give, uh, housing projects
such nice names, you know?
- So you and Jordan were friends, then.
- Yeah, you could say that.
- And you could also say you guys got in a fight
last night at his place of business.
- We did not get into a fight.
We got into an argument. We argued.
Then some pretty boy waiter tried to get in the middle,
and that's it.
That's all that happened.
- Where were you last night
between 11:00 p.m. and midnight?
- My apartment.
Uh, I got home at, like, 10:30.
Check the security cameras on my apartment complex.
- All right. We're gonna do that.
- Help me out here.
So why did you go see Jordan in the first place?
- To talk business.
I'm trying to expand my operation.
I'm trying to buy a few food trucks,
so I thought my boy Walker would be the perfect fit.
But then he changed his mind, so we got into it.
- Hold on a second. Who's Walker?
I had the ME run Jordan's fingerprints.
Turns out his birth name was Jordan Walker,
not Jordan Bryant.
- Court records show he changed his name two years ago,
a few weeks after he was released from prison.
- Prison? What was he in for?
- Served 12 years for the rape and murder of a little girl.
- What?
- But he was exonerated based on DNA evidence.
- [sighs] Damn.
Guy finally gets a taste of freedom
only to wind up with a knife in his chest.
.
- Jordan Walker was released 26 months ago.
Changed his surname to Bryant shortly thereafter.
- Was Jordan actually innocent?
- We finally tested the DNA on the victim's body.
Wasn't his.
- So how was he convicted in the first place?
- Same way most people are.
Bad ID.
It's more common than you think.
Once that mighty ball of justice gets rolling,
it's hard to stop.
- Sounds like a cop-out. - More like a fact.
And in this particular case, there was a lot of pressure.
Victim was a young, affluent white girl.
You know how it is.
- I sure do.
- How's it going, gentlemen?
- Hey, DA Baxter.
- Good to see you.
- How are you? - Good.
- Kim was telling me about what happened to Mr. Bryant.
I want you to know we're here to help,
anything you guys need.
- Thank you. We appreciate that.
- Any leads so far?
- At the moment, we're just trying
to unravel what happened.
How did he end up in prison in the first place
and how he spent his time after he was released.
- Right.
Well, like I said, we'll do whatever you need.
You know, I worked a couple wrongful conviction cases
when I was in private practice, pro bono.
I loved it.
Probably the most exhilarating cases I've ever tried.
- I bet.
- Yeah, it's gotta be an amazing feeling,
getting someone exonerated.
- I wouldn't know.
I was 0 for 2. [scoffs]
The only two trials I've ever lost.
- He's right.
It's really hard to actually get someone exonerated,
innocent or not. - Yeah.
- Powerful people hate admitting they screwed up.
- That is true.
Now, turning back to Jordan for a second,
are you aware of any problems
he was having since his release?
Anyone harassing him, threatening him?
- Not to my knowledge.
- How about family?
Was he married, any kids?
We still have to make a notification.
- He died last night?
- He did.
Around midnight.
- We're very sorry for your loss.
- Ms. Walker, we do have a few questions, if that's okay.
Do you know if your father was involved in any fights
or altercations recently?
- Not that I'm aware of.
- Did he have any enemies?
- Well, there are the fellas from the old neighborhood,
the ones who never visited him in prison,
the ones who couldn't care less that he was suffering
in some concrete hole.
The second he collected that $10 million settlement,
they acted like he had some sort of obligation
to share it with them.
- Your dad actually got paid? He won 10 million?
- I'm not sure he won anything.
But yes, he reached a settlement with the city.
But the truth is, we weren't that close.
I tried.
But it was really hard to connect with him.
Just because somebody gets exonerated
doesn't mean you snap your fingers
and the world is suddenly perfect
and the past 12 years didn't actually happen.
[pensive music]
He tried, though.
Gave me $100,000.
I was able to pay off my student loans.
- We just have a few more questions, okay?
We're almost done.
Can you tell us the last time that you spoke to your father?
The last time you saw him?
- A couple of days ago.
- And did he mention anything unusual then?
- He was upset.
He'd just split up with his business partner.
It got pretty ugly too.
- Jordan was a great chef and a terrible businessman.
He just--he didn't seem to understand that the goal
was to actually make money. - All right, look.
This is a video of you and Jordan
arguing outside his apartment two days ago.
- So?
- So you wanna tell us what you were fighting about?
- Money.
Or to be more precise, the lack of money.
He was overspending on everything.
He blew five grand on cutlery, another ten on artwork.
And then, just when things couldn't get any worse,
he and his buddies decided to throw an after-hours party
and drink ten bottles of our most expensive wine.
So yeah, I was pissed.
And sad, too, you know?
I--I really wanted it to work out.
- You mind telling us where you were last night
between 10:00 and 12:00?
- At a charity event in Harlem for at-risk youth.
I'm on the board.
- All right, Charles, if there's anything else
that you know, or if you have any idea
who might have done this...
- The father of that girl who was raped and killed
14 years ago, he wasn't too happy
about Jordan getting released.
He refused to believe he was actually innocent.
- How do you know?
- He showed up at one of our pop-ups a few months back,
and he went after Jordan hard.
He told everyone in the damn place
that Jordan was a rapist and a murderer.
[suspenseful music]
He threatened to kill him too.
♪
.
- I can't believe Jordan's dead.
It's crazy.
It's like the punch line to the worst joke ever.
I mean, Jordan never should have been arrested,
let alone convicted.
But that's on me.
I'm the one who ID'd him, in court, under oath.
- So you recognize that Jordan was innocent?
- Yeah, I do now.
- Even though you were harassing him?
You chased him down to a restaurant.
You called him a murderer.
- I'm not proud of the way I acted, trust me.
I just--I didn't wanna believe he was innocent.
Then I talked to the woman
at the post-conviction justice unit.
I asked her to go over the case,
show me the actual DNA results.
I realized I was wrong.
- We noticed that you made ten phone calls to him
the week prior to his murder.
What were you two talking about?
- I was trying to help him.
- With what?
- Life.
Even though Jordan was free, he was struggling.
He didn't seem to have much money, either--
or access to money, anyway.
So I helped him out.
I loaned him $20,000.
- What are you talking about?
The guy just won a $10 million settlement.
- So we did a deep dive into Jordan's finances.
Turns out he was almost broke.
Had about 15 grand in his various accounts.
- Well, where'd all the money go?
He had a $10 million settlement.
- I know, but somehow, he only ended up getting about 1.1.
And he blew through that pretty quick too.
Nothing crazy, but typical stuff--rent,
clothes, business expenses.
Gave his daughter 100 grand.
- All right.
So where did the other $8.9 million go?
- Well, according to the city comptroller,
a lump sum of $10 million was paid
directly to Jordan's lawyer.
- [scoffs]
- I hate to break the news, fellas,
but getting justice for someone isn't cheap,
whether or not they're innocent.
- I never said it was cheap, but still,
I mean, he was awarded 10 million
and he only deposited 1.
- Yeah, well, it is what it is.
- Can you be any more specific?
- We worked on his criminal appeal for free, pro bono.
Didn't charge him a penny.
But it costs over a million in hard costs--
private investigators, paralegals, forensic examiners.
This is money he has to pay back with interest.
- What else was deducted?
- My fee, 55%.
- That's pretty high.
- I take a lot of risk, spend a lot of my own money.
- Still pretty high.
- Maybe, but I'm worth it.
But why are you guys really here?
What does any of this have to do with Jordan's murder?
- Well, that's a very good question.
We were kind of hoping you might be able to tell us.
- I'm sorry. I--I don't have a clue.
- Were you aware of any problems or issues
he was having with anybody harassing him
or threatening him?
- I'm not sure.
I'm guessing the answer is a resounding yes.
- Now, why would you say that?
- The man spent 12 years in prison.
I bet he made a lot of enemies.
- This article says Keith Palmer has the highest number
of exonerations in the state.
- Great. He gets results.
Doesn't mean he's not a crook.
Two things can be true at once.
- Looks like Jordan wasn't too happy
with his attorney's fee structure, either.
He filed a complaint with the New York Bar
two weeks ago, claims Keith Palmer
conned him out of $3 million.
And it looks like he was about to go public with it too.
- Good for him.
- The question is, is that enough of a motive
for someone like Palmer?
I mean, would he really kill over that?
- It's possible. - Why, you got something?
- Well, I've been looking into Palmer, too,
and it looks like he's about to be appointed a judge.
- So yeah, now would be a really bad time
to have your pants pulled down by a client,
especially one as sympathetic as Jordan Bryant.
- All right, go back and talk to the waiter again.
Let's see if he can ID Palmer.
- Mm-hmm.
- It all happened pretty fast.
I'm not sure that I'll be able to remember
what he looked like.
- It's okay.
Let's take a look at these.
If any of them jump out, go ahead and point, all right?
No pressure.
- I've definitely seen this guy before.
- How do you know him?
- He used to come to Jordan's pop-ups with his wife.
They were nice.
Good tippers too.
- How about the guy that you saw running out
of the restaurant that night?
If he's there, let us know.
- He was wearing a shiny green jacket,
and he had a New York Islanders hat on.
- Yeah, um, you already told us
about the hat and the jacket, so.
- We're gonna focus on the faces for now.
The man that you saw running out of the restaurant,
if you see him there, point.
If not, don't.
[tense music]
♪
- I'm happy to help you figure this out,
but this is actually not a great time for me.
So if you don't mind--
- Look, we can talk about this here or the precinct.
It's up to you.
- What's going on?
- I'm good.
Don't--don't worry about it, sweetie.
- Ma'am, you need to step back, all right?
We're gonna talk to your husband for a minute.
- Step back?
This is my house.
- Mandy, it's fine.
Just give us five minutes, okay?
- I'll be upstairs.
- Mr. Palmer, where were you the night
that Jordan was murdered?
- Are you serious right now?
- Please just answer the question.
- This is preposterous.
- You have a black BMW registered
to your business, correct?
- Thanks for coming by. I'm done talking.
I want a lawyer.
- Well, if you're officially done talking,
there's only one thing left for us to do.
- And what's that?
- Arrest you for the murder of Jordan Bryant.
- Hands behind your back, please.
- You're making a mistake.
- You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be held against you.
.
- Calling docket ending in 9009, People v. Keith Palmer,
charging murder in the second degree.
- Where's the defendant?
- My client is in custody.
He waived his presence and asked
that a plea of "not guilty" be entered on his behalf.
- The People object.
We ask that he be brought into the courtroom for arraignment.
- Why should I allow his absence, Mr. Delahunt?
- This case relies on a questionable
eyewitness identification.
I plan to file a motion to suppress.
My client's face in this courtroom
would defeat the purpose.
- Are you seeking bail?
- The People seek remand.
The defendant is alleged to have murdered
his own client, Jordan Bryant.
Mr. Bryant had accused the defendant of stealing
his settlement money.
He filed a complaint with the State Bar Association,
and he was also considering filing
civil and criminal complaints.
On the night of the murder, the defendant went
to Mr. Bryant's restaurant to confront him.
They got into an argument.
The defendant grabbed a knife and plunged it
into Mr. Bryant's chest.
- What is the defense asking for?
- A reasonable cash bail.
My client is not a flight risk, and he has every reason
to fight this case in court.
He is an esteemed member of the New York State Bar
and a valued member of the community.
His wife Amanda is prepared to post $1 million.
- Let's set a short trial date.
I don't wanna see him sitting in Rikers unnecessarily.
Until then, the defendant is remanded.
[gavel bangs]
- Eyewitness identifications are the leading cause
of wrongful convictions.
In fact, 70% of all DNA exonerations
involve eyewitness testimonies.
And the numbers are even worse
when you factor in cross-racial identification.
- What were the circumstances surrounding
the identification in this case?
- It was late at night, the lighting was dim,
and the killer was wearing a hat,
running away from the witness.
- Mr. Price?
- The defendant was known to the witness.
He'd seen him around the victim's
restaurant several times.
Research has proven that familiarity
increases the likelihood of an accurate identification.
- On the night of the murder, Mr. Wu made no indication
that he knew or even recognized my client as the person
that killed Mr. Bryant.
- That's true, but there's a difference
between describing and recognizing.
- Your point?
- This whole argument goes to the weight,
not the admissibility, of the evidence.
The jury can hear the witness's testimony
and decide for themselves
if his identification was credible.
- I agree with Mr. Price.
The defendant's motion to suppress is denied.
- I knew Keith Palmer.
When I was U.S. attorney, he was a federal defender.
He's a good lawyer.
I heard he was about to be appointed to the bench.
It's hard to imagine he could--
- I know, but the facts are the facts.
- You're confident in the evidence?
- It's not perfect, but I think we have
enough to get a conviction.
- I mean, we have Chris Wu's identification,
plus the corroborating evidence.
The witness said he saw the killer
wearing a shiny green jacket
with the letter M on the sleeve.
- We never actually found that jacket or the murder weapon,
but we do have credit card receipts showing
that Mr. Palmer purchased a jacket matching
that description five months ago.
- What else?
- The witness also saw the killer jump into a black BMW.
- Keith Palmer has two BMWs registered to his business.
One of them is black, and we can
place the car near the crime scene
at the time of the murder.
- So what's the motive for stabbing the guy
he just helped get out of jail?
- Palmer was worried about his reputation,
about his plans for a judgeship.
Bryant claimed that Palmer stole his settlement money.
- Did he?
- Technically, no, he didn't steal it,
but he took over half the total award in contingency fees,
and then he charged exorbitant amounts
for paralegals, private investigators,
expert witnesses.
Bryant felt like he'd been taken advantage of,
and he wanted the world to know about it.
- Okay.
Let's bury the bastard.
[reporters clamoring]
- Mr. Baxter, did Keith Palmer actually kill the man
he helped exonerate?
- Your office convicted an innocent man.
- Listen, sending an innocent man to prison
is anathema to the criminal justice system
and to the human spirit.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try,
mistakes like this occur from time to time,
and good people are convicted of crimes they did not commit.
That's why our post-conviction review unit is so vital.
In fact, I've just authorized the hiring
of ten additional lawyers.
I wanna do everything that I can to make sure
that wrongfully convicted men and women
are released as soon as possible.
Now, as for Keith Palmer, on the one hand,
he's done some good things.
He helped exonerate several innocent men.
On the other hand, he is a cold-blooded predator
who exploits the very people he sets out to free.
And in the case of Jordan Bryant,
he not only took the lion's share of his money,
he murdered him.
That's all for now. Thank you.
- DA Baxter, what evidence do you have that Keith Palmer--
- I was ten years old when they took my father away from me.
Had to grow up without really knowing him.
We all knew he was innocent, but the police,
the prosecutors, they wronged him.
They wronged our whole family.
- Tell the members of the jury what happened.
- My dad was arrested for raping and killing a girl.
He told us he didn't do it,
that he'd never seen that girl before.
But the DA's office prosecuted him
and sent him to prison for life
because that girl's father said he saw my father
near the crime scene.
No one thought, wait a minute.
Maybe he's wrong.
Maybe it was someone else.
They just believed him.
- DNA ultimately exonerated your father?
- Yes.
- After he was released, did he seek compensation
for this tragic mistake? - Yes.
His lawyer, the one who helped him get out of prison,
filed a lawsuit against the city.
- You're referring to the defendant.
- Yes.
- Did the defendant negotiate a settlement with the city?
- For $10 million.
I found out my father only ended up with about 1 million.
Palmer stole the rest.
- Objection. Hearsay.
- Sustained.
The jury shall disregard that last comment.
- Nothing further.
Thank you, Ms. Walker.
- While your father was in prison,
he built quite a reputation for himself.
He was involved in several altercations.
- Objection. Facts not in evidence.
- Ask a question, sir.
- Are you aware that your father
committed a total of 11 infractions
while he was in prison?
- Objection. Relevance?
- What are you trying to do? - Your Honor--
- Who cares what he did?
He was just trying to survive.
- May the witness be instructed to please answer--
- Your Honor--
- My father has been through enough.
How dare you drag him through the mud?
- Enough, Ms. Walker.
I want to see counsel in chambers, now.
[tense music]
- This line of questioning is completely out of bounds.
The defense has no legitimate reason to vilify the victim.
- I'm just inquiring about the 12 years he spent in prison.
- How is that even remotely relevant?
He shouldn't have been in that prison in the first place.
- Don't blame us.
You guys are the ones that put him in there.
- Why is any of this admissible, Mr. Delahunt?
- Jordan Bryant made a lot of enemies
while incarcerated, Your Honor.
Some of them are now free or have gang affiliations.
You have fights with other inmates,
threatening guards, possession of illicit drugs.
- I'm going to allow it.
- Your Honor, how many times do we need to destroy this man?
- Stand down, Mr. Price. I've made my ruling.
♪
.
- My name is Adam Paxton.
I'm the warden at Elmira State Prison.
- Did Jordan Bryant, the victim in this case,
serve time under your supervision?
- Yes, he served 12 years and 3 months.
- He went in when he was 28.
He was released 2 years ago when he was 40 years old?
- Yes.
- Could you describe Mr. Bryant's time in your prison?
- I'd say he made the best of it.
- Can you be more specific?
- He took cooking classes, he worked in the kitchen,
and he earned his associate's degree in business.
- That sounds like he remained optimistic about his future.
- Yes, he did as well as he could for someone
in his predicament.
Jordan remained upbeat and productive.
- Thank you.
- Jordan Bryant almost killed another inmate, didn't he?
Stabbed him with a razor blade attached to a toothbrush.
- He was attacked by a known gang member.
- And this gang member was serving time
for a triple homicide. - Yes.
- And this gang member has hundreds of known associates
outside the prison gates?
- That's my understanding, yes.
- So it's entirely possible-- in fact, it's likely that
Mr. Jordan Bryant's death was a retaliation for that incident.
- Objection.
There is no evidence to support that claim.
- Sustained.
- Nothing further.
- Redirect, Mr. Price.
- Jordan Bryant didn't initiate any violence while in prison.
He was simply protecting himself?
- Correct.
- The gang member Jordan fought with is still incarcerated.
- Yes, he is.
- And there's no evidence that he ever reached out
to another gang member in order to exact revenge
on Jordan Bryant?
- There is no evidence of that.
- Thank you. Nothing further.
- Thank you.
You are dismissed.
- The People call Chris Wu.
- A few days after the murder, detectives came to my work
and asked me to look at some photos.
- These are the pictures they showed you?
- Yes.
- Did you tell the detectives that you recognized someone?
- Yes, Keith Palmer.
I told them he was the guy I saw
running out of the restaurant the night Jordan was killed.
- Showing you a photograph from a store catalog.
Is this the jacket he was wearing?
- Yes.
- Your Honor, I would offer a credit card receipt
showing that the defendant purchased
this jacket from Bergdorf Goodman
approximately five months ago.
- I'll allow it.
- Finally, did you see the defendant
flee the scene in this car?
- I did.
- Thank you.
- You waited on my client and his wife
several times before, correct?
- Yes, two or three times.
- And yet, when you first spoke with the police,
you didn't identify him by name.
You just described his physical appearance in a general way.
- That's correct.
- How come?
- Well, I--
I didn't immediately put it all together.
And I didn't know his name. I just knew him by face.
- You knew him by face, yet you didn't
tell the police that you knew the man fleeing the scene?
[tense music]
♪
- Like I said, I didn't realize it was him at the time,
and my friend had just been murdered.
- Did you consume any alcohol that night?
- No.
- Okay. Did you smoke any marijuana?
- Do I have to answer that?
- [scoffs] Well, I think you just did.
- Answer the question.
- I smoked a little, about an hour before all this happened.
But I still saw what I saw.
- And what you saw was a man in a shiny green jacket
and a New York Islanders hat.
Nothing you said was specific to Keith Palmer.
You didn't mention his hair or his eye color
or his approximate age.
You just saw a white man in a shiny green jacket
and a New York Islanders hat.
- Yeah, I guess.
- Thank you.
Nothing further.
- Mr. Wu, do you see in this courtroom
the man who was running from Jordan Bryant's dead body
on the night of the murder?
- Yeah, right there.
- Indicating the defendant.
The People rest.
♪
- I liked Jordan Bryant, a lot.
I believed in him, and I tried my best to help him.
- And what did you do to help?
- Well, for starters, I got him out of prison.
Then I got him a lot of money.
When he told me he wanted to open a restaurant,
I gave him advice.
I helped him secure permits, licenses.
- Did you ever go to this restaurant, Mr. Palmer?
- I was there all the time.
My wife loved the food.
Jordan used to joke he was gonna name something
on the menu after us, the Heart of Palmer salad.
- Mr. Palmer, did you kill Jordan Bryant?
- Of course not. - Okay.
Where were you the night he was murdered?
- I had dinner with a client.
- Let me be more specific.
Where were you when the 911 call came in at 11:44 p.m.?
- I was driving to our country house.
- And can you prove that?
- As a matter of fact, I can.
- Is that you? - Yes.
That was taken by a traffic camera.
Apparently I had run a red light on the corner
of 42nd and 8th at 11:47 p.m.
- And is that the ticket? - Yes.
It shows I was six blocks away from the murder scene
at the time the 911 call came in.
- Your Honor, we had no notice of this.
- This just happened.
Mr. Palmer had no idea he'd been photographed or cited.
Ticket came into his office by mail just yesterday.
Please, have a look at the postage stamp.
♪
- I'll allow it.
- So, Mr. Palmer, there's no way you could have
committed this murder?
- Absolutely.
Like I said, I was six blocks away, in my car.
- Thank you.
Nothing further.
- Okay, let's break for the day.
Members of the jury, we will reconvene
tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m.
[gavel bangs]
.
- Hey.
I checked with the Department of Transportation.
- [sighs] Their records confirm Palmer's story?
- Palmer ran the red light on 42nd and 8th at 11:47 p.m.
- We know the 911 call from the restaurant
came in three minutes earlier.
Did Riley and Shaw do a test drive,
see if it's possible to get from point A
to point B in three minutes?
- Mm-hmm. And they drove it four times.
Took anywhere between 2 minutes 45 seconds
and 9 minutes, depending on traffic.
- They drive at 11:47 p.m.?
- Mm-hmm. Took 3 minutes and 35 seconds.
- [sighs] So it's possible.
Sort of.
You were standing here?
- Yeah, more or less.
- What about the lighting?
- It was darker, probably.
It was late at night.
- All right, where was the killer
when you first laid eyes on him?
- Over there, about 10 feet from the door.
- And you were high?
- No, I wasn't like high, high.
Maybe just a little buzzed.
You know?
[tense music]
♪
- Oh, God, I need to know how certain you really are
about this ID.
- What do you mean, like on a scale of 1 to 10?
- Yeah, sure-- on a scale of 1 to 10,
10 being the most certain.
♪
- [whispering] 10 being the most certain...
- [sighs] I am worried about our case.
- In what regard?
- I'm not sure we're trying the right person.
- Excuse me?
- I'm beginning to think that Keith Palmer might be innocent.
- Innocent?
What are you talking about?
- [sighs] It's been gnawing at me
for the past few days, and I--
I can't point to one thing in particular.
It just doesn't seem to add up.
- You mean the evidence? - Yes.
There's nothing glaring.
There's no smoking gun, so to speak.
But it's more like, everything we have is gray.
It could go either way, and you start wondering if--
- I get it.
- You do? - Mm-hmm.
Having said that,
I've been following this case pretty closely.
I don't necessarily agree with your analysis.
I understand it's a complicated case--
for all of us.
I mean, we wouldn't be here if it weren't for the fact
that we screwed up.
We're the ones that set this horrible tragedy in motion.
Maybe that's affecting your mindset,
the possibility of history repeating itself?
- I'm sure it is, but it--
- We're not gods, Nolan.
We don't have some sort of magic window into the truth,
into what actually transpired.
It is an imperfect process.
It really is.
But it's also the best one there is,
and we have to trust it.
♪
Look, you are a lot closer to this than I am.
So all I can say to you is do what you think is right.
[door buzzer blares]
- Why are we here, Nolan?
- I wanted to tell you in person.
I'm going to be filing a motion to dismiss
as soon as I get back to the office.
- You're dismissing the case?
- Correct. - So you finally believe me?
You realize I'm innocent?
- We no longer think you killed Jordan Bryant.
- Well, does that mean you know who did?
- It means we're dismissing the case.
♪
[door buzzer blares]
Detective Shaw?
I just notified Palmer that we're dismissing his case,
but something occurred to me.
- [chuckles] Good ol' Nolan Price.
His plan worked like a charm.
- Got the confession right here on tape.
- Grab your gun, partner.
- Where are we going?
- To arrest Jordan Bryant's real killer.
- Earlier today, this office dismissed
the murder charge against Keith Palmer.
I think it's important to point out that prosecutors play
a critical role in protecting the innocent
from wrongful conviction.
We are, I suppose, their final defense.
If all else fails, we are the ones
who must stand tall and admit that a mistake has been made.
I commend prosecutors Price and Maroun for their integrity
and for their dedication to seeking the truth
irrespective of the consequences.
It is now evident that this was a case
of mistaken identity.
To put it simply, our eyewitness
identified the wrong person.
The good news is, we found additional evidence,
and we now believe that the killer is Mr. Palmer's wife.
We have a recording of a phone call
between Mr. and Mrs. Palmer where she confessed
to killing Jordan Bryant.
- Amanda Palmer.
You're under arrest.
- She was trying to protect her husband's misdeeds
from becoming public,
but Amanda Palmer has been apprehended
by the detectives of the NYPD.
We have charged her with second-degree murder.
And I assure you, justice will be served.
♪
[dramatic music]
♪
[wolf howls]