by two separate, yet equally important groups.
The police, who investigate crime
and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
She says she wants to stop sucking her thumb
before she turns six in two weeks.
So I say I think that's a really good idea,
if she really, really wants to.
So she gets real serious on me.
She says, "I really, really want to, Daddy,
but my thumb just wants to get sucked."
( laughing )
Yeah, here's one I can settle with.
Oh, yeah.
Just as easy to marry up as it is down, huh?
Paige?
You awake?
Paige?
( horrified gasping )
Captioning sponsored by NBC/Universal
You know, with her hair pulled back like that,
she's not a bad- looking lady.
Hey, Doc, the girl's got a crushed larynx.
Can we get on with it?
Is she going to live?
I've got a trach tube in her but, uh...
I don't like the shock.
We're waiting for an O.R.
Paige Bartlett, 24.
She a hooker?
No. Eastside kid.
Called in by her roommate.
Came home from a party and found her.
Address is on the back side of that top sheet there.
Brownstone apartment.
Front door locked.
Windows and bedroom open to fire escape-- no bars.
Anybody could have climbed in.
Rape?
Well, the kit's on the way, but if it wasn't,
whoever she was with has one hell of a way
of showing affection.
So, Libby, did Paige have a job?
Real estate.
What's the name of the agency?
Worthington and Corey.
It's on Madison Avenue.
You think she brought someone home?
When Paige goes to bed alone--
like, to sleep--
she always wears these ratty flannel pajamas.
Last night?
She wasn't wearing them.
She bring guys home often?
I've only been here a few months
but she didn't sleep around, if that's what you're asking.
She's not like that.
She wants to get married.
All I'm asking is how much interviewing she did
for Mr. Right.
Do you know any of their names?
We weren't here at the same time that much.
She have any other roommates?
One, but she got married.
Does this person have a name?
Polly Norris.
Paige belong to a gym?
Two of them.
She said it helped work out her frustrations.
24 years old.
Doesn't sound like she spent
many nights wearing those old flannel pajamas.
What, she's 24, what's she supposed to do?
Act like a nun?
Mike, kids today...
They do drugs, sex is like a drink of water.
No wonder they get in trouble.
Oh, wow, and I thought my old man
was a pain in the ass.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Where we going: gyms or married roommates?
Whichever's closer.
Repetition gives you tone; weight gives you bulk.
I go for tone.
What about Paige Bartlett?
She went for tone too.
Seen her recently?
Mm-mm. Not this week.
Hey.
Help me with this, would you?
Grab my forearms while I let them back.
Three? Four?
Max, please.
Come on, how many?
Knock it off.
She was interested. She was...
Look, how many times would you go out with her
before you went to bed with her?
Once.
Hey, what do you want, a bedtime story?
I'd wait until the honeymoon?
Did you ever hear about a new disease they got, called AIDS?
Did you ever hear of a new invention called condoms?
You really need to get your circuits examined.
I'm hot-wired.
I'm going to live forever.
Is she going to be okay?
It's touch-and-go.
It's unbelievable.
Why is it always the special ones?
Special?
Nice, clean-living.
Do you know what she did on Saturdays?
Pediatric volunteer at New York hospital.
She was the daughter my mother always wanted.
What do you know about her personal life?
Well, she seemed really depressed for a while.
She broke up with her boyfriend about four months ago.
She thought they were gonna get married.
Lately?
She seemed really happy.
She'd met someone new.
Know his name?
No, I don't, uh... but there's this friend
that she used to work out with.
That would be, uh, Polly Norris?
Yeah. Talk to her.
If you grew up where we did...
ever heard of Waverly, Pennsylvania?
It's the Greenwich of Scranton.
We met the first day of kindergarten.
Grew up together.
Roomed together at Emma Willard and Vassar.
It's a good life, but it can be a straitjacket.
With a mink lining.
If you've only worn mink,
you want to know
what denim feels like.
Well, you sure didn't marry denim.
I grew up.
My husband's a banker.
Williston, Williams, MBA from Wharton.
He's a great guy.
All our friends know each other.
It's very comfortable.
It's just what Paige thought she had
with her old boyfriend.
We heard she met somebody new.
Denim.
Was it serious?
I never met him,
but Paige talked about him a lot.
You got, uh... this "denim's" name?
Sorry.
She and denim hang out anywhere special?
Coopers, B.Z., Le Bar.
She said he liked the hot spots.
GREELEY: High-priced bankers.
So how do they drink all night
and then go to work in the morning?
Who says you've got to be sober to steal money?
Sergeant Greevey, Detective Logan.
I guess I don't offer you guys a drink.
You know this girl?
Whoa.
What kind of party was she at last night?
What kind of party did you have here?
Hey, guys, I saw her,
but it was before the prizefight.
She had lillet on the rocks.
Couple of them, with lemon, about 9:00, 9:30.
He had beer.
Who's he?
Ponytail.
Down to his shoulders.
You know the kind?
to swim upstream? Always got
Ponytail and the girl in the photograph,
they meet here?
Nah. No way.
They had an argument.
Wasn't their first.
She wanted him to leave.
He didn't want to go.
She cried; he got P.O.'d.
She pouted two, three minutes.
Then she stuck her tongue in his ear,
he put his arm around her, and they left.
You guys excuse me for a second?
There's a lesson in this.
Don't argue in front of bartenders.
They listen.
That kind of thing
doesn't usually happen to our kind of people.
Your kind of people?
Well, how romantic is their evening going to be
if we waltz through this bar
asking them if they've seen the girl in this picture?
I believe that she was in last night around 1:00.
With a guy wearing a ponytail?
No, alone.
Anyone buy her a drink?
One gentleman.
I didn't recognize him.
Was he your kind of people?
Cashmere blazer? Hermes tie?
My kind of people.
And way up there in the looks department.
A young Warren Beatty.
Are we your kind of people?
You make it in the looks department.
The wardrobe needs a lot of help, though.
Okay. Ponytail dumps her, so she picks up Warren Beatty.
Yeah.
Let's drop by the hospital,
see if she's out of the woods.
Paige Bartlett?
Bed three.
If she can't talk, maybe she can write.
Excuse me.
Bleeding in the brain.
We couldn't stop it.
She's gone.
Paige ever talk about her boyfriend?
We knew Ned, but that ended a while ago.
Since then,
we didn't pry.
Were there ever any...
indications of other types
she might have been involved with?
What do you mean "indications"?
Were you ever suspicious of maybe an involvement
she didn't want you to know about?
She did not bring this on herself.
We're not suggesting that, Mr. Bartlett.
It's just, sometimes, the smallest piece of information
can occasionally grow into a lead.
No one who knew Paige would be capable of hurting her.
LOGAN: Libby?
I need to know about the two men.
Ponytail, or the one who looked like a movie star.
The one with the ponytail's name is Steve.
Paige was nuts about him.
What about Mr. Gorgeous?
The only guy I ever saw her with was Steve.
Well, does Steve have a last name?
Paige had one of his magazines.
Ah.
There it is.
He's creative.
Well, there's no name.
There's just an address.
Personal credit for work is bourgeois.
What?
Steve said that.
You should have told us about him.
What is this?
It's called Cyberfunk.
I can read.
Makes Heavy Metal look like Alice In Wonderland.
It's cartoons.
You think this is funny?
Hey, would you stop taking it so seriously?!
The kids who read this take this seriously.
It messes up their heads.
Yeah, that's what my second-grade teacher
said about the Beatles.
The Beatles were great.
This is garbage.
( knock at door )
Who buzzed you in?
Sergeant Greevey, Detective Logan.
You Steve Feinstein?
WOMAN: Steve?
I'm kind of busy right now.
WOMAN: You keep me waiting and I won't be interested.
It will just have to wait.
WOMAN: Steve?
Oh. A foursome?
They're cops.
So much the better.
So?
What?
I forgot to file a mailing permit?
Paige Bartlett.
You get arrested these days
for breaking up with emotional cripples?
When did you break up with her?
Sunday night.
Did you have an argument?
What's this about?
Somebody beat her up...
Steve.
I didn't touch her.
You know what she is?
An uptight WASP.
I was trying to help her loosen up.
You loosen her up on Sunday night?
We go out for a drink.
She knows I have an important dinner-- my biggest backer,
and she wants to come back here and jump my bones.
I didn't want to see her anymore.
I told her from the start: no commitments.
All of a sudden, she's talking marriage.
Paige Bartlett's dead.
What?
When?
Tell us some more about Sunday night.
Whoa, whoa. Slow down a moment.
I left her and went to dinner at Eleanor Phipps,
as in the Phipps Building.
As in they sell all the plumbing supplies in the world.
You'd better hope her story matches yours.
WOMAN: Henry Luce wanted to change the way
people looked at sports.
For years, he lost money doing it.
Your comic book lose money?
Steve and I want to change
the way people look at the future.
Sunday night.
Six investors-- friends.
Drinks, 9:30; Dinner, 11:00.
These investors-- friends--
would you mind giving us their names?
Steve dazzled them.
My friends don't dazzle easily.
Did Mr. Feinstein stay here all night?
Mm-hmm.
Till 3:00 in the morning?
No.
Until 3:30, actually.
My wife's sister? Smart, good-looking.
All she can talk about
is how she can't find a man.
This one found two.
Two?
Miss Bartlett had sexual intercourse
with two different men.
We talking the same night?
That's what the DNA says.
And DNA, unlike the morning news,
doesn't lie.
Ponytail.
Again?
Mm-hmm.
Hey, I thought
you guys would never come back.
You left Paige Bartlett
and then went to dinner? on the sidewalk
You got it.
And you never wanted LOGAN:
to see her again? And you told her?
And you didn't sleep with her?
I just did it to shut her up.
Why didn't you tell us?
Just to shut us up.
What are you guys, the sex police?
I told you where I was.
Are you gonna arrest him?
Seven people.
Because if you're not, let us get back to our lives.
You call this a life?
LOGAN: You don't know much about women, do you?
Excuse me, Mr. Casanova?
She gets dumped by ponytail.
Where does she go to feel wanted?
Back to her own kind.
Let's go pay a visit to Warren Beatty.
POLLY: Does that look like Warren Beatty?
20 years younger.
Beatty's better looking.
Ned Loomis.
All-American boy.
Exeter, Princeton, Harvard Business School.
He dated Paige up until this Spring.
Her parents loved him.
Did she love him?
She didn't love him.
She worshipped him.
They were sort of engaged.
What happened?
Ned comes from one of those families.
Great Grandpa started a widget company.
Made enough money to last forever--
except for one thing.
Someone spent all the dough.
Ned got left with a great name, no money.
So?
He couldn't afford to get married?
He met Rebecca Byrne.
Her father's Seaforth Byrne?
Owns half of Manhattan, the Staten Island, the Bronx.
So he dumped Paige for Rebecca.
How did she take it?
Like she had a safe dropped on her.
You don't like Ned too much, do you?
Ned is a very angry guy.
MAITRE D': His hair's shorter.
A little less mousse.
He was with Paige Bartlett?
That is definitely your man.
Lunch meat.
Oh, he made a big impression on you.
He swaggers in,
doesn't wait to be shown to a table,
picks up the phone, uses it.
Had a creepy little smile.
Her?
Yeah, they were together here on Sunday night.
Can you tell us what time?
They didn't like the chicken florentine,
said the spinach wasn't cooked
and the muscadet wasn't cold enough.
It was 1:00 in the morning, and guess what,
it was a lousy tip-- what's the problem?
The girl's dead.
I'm not surprised.
Ten to one, he did it.
Off-track betting doesn't make arrests.
How are the witnesses?
It's the victim who's trouble.
The girl's attitude.
If she was sleeping around...
Come on, Max, it wasn't like that.
You saying she didn't do two guys that night?
The point is: one of them's got an alibi.
All right, all right.
You have an address for this Loomis?
See if you can get him to come in and talk.
I wouldn't make book on that.
If he'll come in without the collar, fine.
If not, also fine, okay?
Fine.
GREEVEY: We're investigating
Paige Bartlett's murder, Mr. Loomis.
Oh, God.
Terrible.
I actually saw her the night she died.
Look, could we schedule this for, say, tomorrow?
These people are very close to an offer.
Look, any help you can give us...
the appliances, right? You're leaving
Yes, everything.
That includes the Wolf range
and the Sub-Zero.
The furniture?
You can move right in.
Excuse me, what agency are you with?
Homicide.
Oh.
Is something wrong?
A friend of Mr. Loomis's has been murdered.
Do you think this will affect the price?
Why don't we go look at the dining room area?
You hear that?
Do you have any idea how soft the co-op market is?
I'm very sorry, but we'd really like you
to come down to the precinct for an interview.
Am I under arrest?
No, no.
Why?
Do you expect to be arrested?
Why don't I just give my lawyer a call
before we leave.
Polly Norris, your old friend,
thought that you might be able to help.
Polly... I heard she got married.
Oh, forgot to send a present.
I've tried to help you. Look,
to help at all. You haven't tried
everything I know. I've told you
I'm not, am I? Now if I'm not under arrest--
I'd like to go home.
What's going on here?
Who's the ADA in charge?
Paul Robinette.
Dick Berkley. How do you do?
My client-- is he in custody?
And if he's in custody, have you read him his rights?
If you haven't read him his rights, I want him out now.
Sergeant Greevey, read Mr. Loomis his rights.
If he wasn't in custody,
and he didn't feel free to leave...
Counselor, he accepted our request for an interview.
Oh, really? Really?
An interview, as opposed to an interrogation.
That's a very interesting semantic hair split, Detective.
Mr. Berkley...
Mr. Robinette,
you look like a nice fellow.
I'm a nice fellow; we're all nice fellows,
but you know and I know
that this case has been mishandled since hour one.
What are you trying to do, set up an appeal right here?
That's exactly what I'm trying to do.
LOOMIS: Damn it!
That little bitch!
Why couldn't she just leave me the hell alone?
( banging )
Damn it!
All right, all right, come on.
I can't believe this is happening to me.
I can't believe this is happening to me!
STONE: Paul, I want a yes or a no answer.
Did Loomis think he was in custody
before they mirandized him?
I was there maybe two minutes before Berkley showed up.
We could have a serious problem here.
He wasn't in custody.
He came voluntarily.
( whispering ): When did they arrest him?
Edward Loomis.
JUDGE: Mr. Loomis, the charge against you
is murder in the second degree.
How do you plead?
The defendant pleads not guilty.
Your Honor, if it pleases the court,
Mr. Loomis is a trustworthy young man
of impeccable reputation.
I could bring you many character references
and you would find him to be as fine a citizen as I do.
All of that aside, Mr. Berkley, he's charged with murder.
Get on with it.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Mr. Loomis has recently suffered financial reverses
and bail would be a severe hardship.
We ask that you release him on his own recognizance.
Your Honor, hardship or not...
I'm there before you, Mr. Stone.
Bail is set at $50,000.
How did you hear about this, Sally?
Oh, I get messages from a filling
in my back tooth. How are you, Paul?
These messages tell you to bring a photographer?
Great story. Great characters.
Real people.
Sally, you didn't invent them.
Can I quote you on that?
Who's the woman?
Ned's fiancée?
Rebecca Byrne.
Sweet, innocent, rich.
Hmm, outside of Cole Porter, those words go together?
Well, she thinks he's Mr. Wonderful.
You know what her friends call her?
The socialite nun.
Princeton, top eating club, Harvard Business School.
Making $350,000 a year before he was 28.
Hey, you're not going after Al Capone here.
Adam, that's ridiculous.
I'm not talking merits of the case.
Any jury takes one look at him,
you're already down for the count.
Until they look at the evidence.
Maybe they decide just 'cause you're handsome,
doesn't mean you get away with murder.
Yeah, what do you want me to tell you?
Hamburger is filet mignon?
You've got absolutely no witnesses to anything
after they left the bar,
and you're prosecuting every mother's dream for murder.
You're going to need a hell of a lot more than moral indignation
to be able to get a conviction on this kid.
What would you like?
A confession?
That would be nice.
Waitress says that he was with the victim
at 1:00 in the morning.
Roommate came home at 2:15.
Loomis says he was home alone.
Feinstein?
He's a slime ball,
but he's got an alibi wrapped in concrete.
It gets better and better.
So, what do we go? Loomis was with her
an hour before she was attacked.
They had an argument.
We got a blood sample, we know he took her to bed.
Not much.
Loomis is never what he seems.
To the girlfriend, he's Mr. Wonderful.
To Polly Norris, he's mean, he's frustrated.
Snooty maitre d' called him "our kind of people,"
but the waitress, in ten minutes, she knew he was a jerk.
What did she call him? "Lunch meat."
He changes identities like he changes underwear.
Any surprise one of them is killer?
I don't know. I think Schiff's right.
Jury looks at him, they see a tattoo across his forehead:
"Born to win."
The State is asking for the most extreme invasion
of my client, Your Honor.
If the words "unreasonable search and seizure"
have any meaning at all.
The motion on the table
is not for open-heart surgery, Mr. Berkley.
Just a blood sample.
Please permit me to point out that the State's case
is less than compelling.
I know the precedents.
Mr. Stone?
Your Honor, this evidence is crucial.
It will, or it won't
establish the defendant's presence
at the scene of the crime.
I think the State has a compelling interest here.
Mr. Loomis will give a sample of his blood
to the medical examiner.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Girlfriend's not here today.
Knock on her door.
When I first met Ned, six months ago,
he was having a hard time himself.
I mean, me, I didn't expect
that my problems would come first.
My brother was very sick, almost died,
and Ned flew to Maine to see him.
Just left the office, went to the airport
because he knew it would make me feel better.
Ned was having a hard time?
His brokerage business failed.
But talk to his partner.
Talk to Loren Belknap.
He's a very successful man, and he just loves Ned.
The night Paige Bartlett was assaulted,
did you talk to Ned?
I saw him the next day.
He was fine.
Belknap and Loomis, kings of Wall Street.
Did you ever watch anybody do Cole calls?
Cold calls?
Cole calls-- reverse phone directories.
Addresses first,
names and numbers second.
So you find your best customers.
Ned Loomis was 22, 23.
11 hours straight on the phone, peddling municipal bonds
when nobody wanted them.
By 9:00 at night, brokers in business 20 years
would have sold their wives for the list he built in one day.
But your business went under.
Bad times-- they come, they go.
My house on Nevis, I'll buy it back someday.
Ned successful with women?
Swordsman-- he sits down at a bar,
women line up like Zabar's Sunday morning.
Even after he was engaged?
A real entrepreneur... in every field.
The piece of trash.
He's fighting with that girl,
the one who died, looking real involved.
He was just patting my butt at the same time.
Well, maybe that just makes him overenthusiastic.
Last spring, the blonde at the bar?
He hit on her.
He could have hit on 100 girls,
and 99 would say yes, but this one said no.
So he threw a drink in her face so hard,
the ice cube bruised her eye.
Excuse me.
Worst thing you can say is he fools around
and he's got a temper.
Not a clean bill of health.
But not the plague.
( phone rings )
Stone.
Send it over.
DNA match on Loomis.
He wouldn't admit being there, but he slept with her.
Run down every address he ever lived at since puberty.
I want a check on him from here to Hawaii--
every speeding, every jaywalking ticket he's ever gotten...
WOMAN: Excuse me, sir, you can't go in there!
MAN: I've got to see him right this second-- right now!
WOMAN: Try to calm down!
I can't calm down-- have you seen this?
I've got to see him right now!
I'm not-- no!
Mr. Bartlett. Is this the way you run your office?!
Look what they're doing to my daughter!
I've seen this and I'm terribly sorry.
They've interviewed any man she even winked at.
How do they know these things? Sir...
those leaks did not come from us or from the police.
It's bad enough losing a child,
but this smut is like killing her all over again!
I understand, sir.
This Packard article.
What's wrong with her? She's a pawn, Adam.
The night Loomis was booked, he called her.
He's feeding her everything he gets in discovery.
Gets worse.
I have the defense's witness list.
Your ponytail, the guy with a perfect alibi, he's on it.
Why isn't he on ours?
He's putting ponytail on the stand
to turn Paige into a tramp.
I'll call him on direct.
Who the hell's on trial here?
The victim. Wonderful.
Thanks.
Ben.
Six years ago, Boston,
while Loomis was at Harvard Business School.
Charged with assault
and sexual assault and battery.
A conviction?
Never went to trial.
The charges were dropped.
Hmm... is she reachable?
Married, still living in Boston.
Call her, tell her you have to see her
and that you can be there by plane
in an hour and a half.
( raspy voice ): Mr. Robinette, I told you on the phone
I have nothing to say.
Yes, yes, I know,
but you did file charges against Mr. Loomis.
The charges were dropped.
It was a mistake.
What was the mistake?
Filing the charges or dropping them?
I don't want to talk about it.
Look, I'm sorry you went to all this trouble to find me.
Ms. Brody...
Mr. Loomis has been charged with the murder of a woman
he assaulted.
I'm sorry.
I have nothing else to say.
( sighs )
( door closes )
Do you think I'm stupid?
Away from my apartment, in neutral territory,
you thought I'd tell you things.
I'm not an idiot.
I may be young,
but I understand some things about human nature.
Your fiancé's human nature.
What do you understand about that?
You talked to Ned that night
when Paige Bartlett was attacked.
When anyone ever asks Ned for anything-- anything...
...a favor, a friend, someone on the street,
he's the most generous person I know.
The night Paige Bartlett was attacked.
He came to my apartment around 2:00.
He was drunk.
Upset.
About what?
His business going under.
Having to sell his apartment.
He's been dependent on me for money.
That makes a man unhappy.
How unhappy?
Ben, she knows he killed her.
You read minds?
If I put her on the stand?
She'll never say it.
( intercom buzzes )
Yeah?
WOMAN: Mr. Stone, there's a Mr. and Mrs. Brody are here to see you.
Send them in.
Mr. Stone, I'm Alex Brody.
How do you do?
My wife, Elise.
Nice to meet you.
And my associate, Paul Robinette.
We've decided that she has to talk to you.
Please, be seated.
A last-minute trip?
Not exactly.
For a long time, I thought it was my fault.
I met Ned at a mixer at B school.
I was Simmons, junior year
and they, uh,
they were Harvard Business School.
He was very sexy.
He came back to my apartment, and...
I was very inexperienced.
He wanted...
He's not judging you.
Oral sex.
And he got angry.
He tried to force me.
And he pushed my head, and he...
He choked her.
I told my parents it was a car accident.
They still don't know.
I'll testify now.
I can't let you testify.
What?
STONE: Rules of evidence.
A defendant's previous behavior cannot be admitted in a trial.
Even if Loomis had been convicted of assaulting you,
it would be very difficult.
You mean this guy can go around hurting women,
and they won't listen?
That's the law.
Now, this shouting match between Mr. Loomis and Miss Bartlett,
You testified that it happened at 1:00 a.m.
Was there loud music playing at the time?
Yes, but I could still...
And were other patrons shouting
just to heard over the music?
Yes.
At any time
did you see Mr. Loomis strike Miss Bartlett?
No.
Did you see him touch her at any time?
No.
Based upon the results of those tests,
have you formed an opinion
to a reasonable degree of scientific accuracy?
Yes. The blood sample taken from Mr. Loomis
came from the same person
as the semen recovered from the body of Miss Bartlett.
Can you state the likelihood of such a test as this
resulting in a false match?
It's virtually impossible.
Perhaps a few years ago, I wouldn't be so certain,
but now, I have no doubts.
Nothing further, Your Honor.
"Virtually impossible" to make a mistake.
Is that what you just stated:
"virtually impossible" to make a mistake?
That's correct.
Now, don't those same tests
also indicate Miss Bartlett had sexual relations
with more than one man the night she died?
Yes.
How many?
Miss Bartlett had sexual intercourse
with two men that night.
No further questions.
Now, you testified that you were at the dinner party
from 9:30 in the evening
till way past 3:00 in the morning.
Is that right?
That's right. And you never left?
The food was good.
You normally eat dinner till way past 3:00?
I don't have breakfast until noon.
( light laughter )
BERKLEY: Now, the night that Paige Bartlett
was attacked, you testified
that you had drinks with her at a club called Coopers.
Now, did you argue with her there?
Objection. Mr. Feinstein is not on trial.
JUDGE: I'll allow it.
Answer the question.
We had an argument.
Was it a serious argument? Shouting?
Yeah, I shouted a little.
But you didn't kill her? No, I didn't.
So we know it's possible to fight with somebody
and to not kill them.
JUDGE: Mr. Berkley.
The jury will disregard that last remark.
Mr. Feinstein, were you surprised to find out
that Miss Bartlett had had sex with two men on one night?
Objection-- irrelevant!
Overruled.
Mr. Feinstein's perception of that night
may be relevant.
I wasn't surprised, no.
When you dating Miss Bartlett,
how many other men was she sleeping with?
Objection-- Mr. Loomis is on trial, not Miss Bartlett.
Sustained.
Mr. Berkley, you will stop that line of questioning now.
I don't like the idea any more than you do.
We plead him, he gets three years.
You don't plea him, he does no time at all.
He killed Paige Bartlett.
I don't want him walking into a barroom,
turning on that cheap smile and his preppy patter,
and taking another girl home.
I don't want him on the street ever! Ben...
Take a plea!
You be the one to tell the Bartlett's.
Their daughter's life for three years in jail?
Girlfriend?
If somebody was going to shoot him,
she'd put her body in the line of fire.
Get the woman from Boston on the stand.
Impossible.
It's difficult.
Try.
It's wrong.
If Elise Brody testifies, you'll hang my client.
There's lots of precedent here, Judge.
Jones v. State.
United States v. Beechum.
And the crime bears Loomis' signature.
What he did to Elise Brody is precisely what he did
to Paige Bartlett.
Slight problem, Mr. Stone.
He wasn't convicted of assaulting Miss Brody.
Huddleston v. United States.
According to Brody's testimony,
the jury can reasonably believe that he attacked her.
Quote, "We have leaned over so far backwards
"to protect the rights of defendants,
"that we are at risk of putting the justice system
flat on its back."
Who wrote that?
Rehnquist.
Scalia?
I did, last spring.
Iowa Law Review.
And I believe it.
There are killers walking the streets
who should be in jail
because we keep excluding evidence
that would put them there.
Your Honor, you can't allow this woman...
Sit down, Mr. Berkley.
Mr. Stone, no one will ever accuse me
of setting a murderer free,
but whatever I feel about defendants' rights,
in this case, I'm going to turn you down.
The law is shaky on the subject,
and this woman's testimony would be grossly prejudicial.
I told you, I have nothing else to say.
Miss Byrne, I'd like you to meet Elise Brody.
This is what Ned Loomis did to me.
Oh...
What time did he get to your apartment, Miss Byrne?
He woke me.
It was 2:30 in the morning.
And what did he tell you?
He said he had hurt Paige.
He said it was an accident.
It was her fault.
An accident.
Did he tell you what he meant?
He told me he was drunk.
She wanted him to...
have kinky sex with him.
He said he didn't want to, he was engaged.
And she dragged him into bed.
And when he fought her off, he hurt her.
Do you consider Ned Loomis to be a trustworthy person?
BERKLEY: Objection!
Irrelevant. Mr. Stone is asking her whether she believed him.
Overruled.
The witness may answer the question.
No.
No, I don't find him to be a trustworthy person.
STONE: And would you tell the jury why.
Objection-- Your Honor, now he wants an opinion on an opinion.
Overruled.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Once again, Miss Byrne,
why do you consider
the man you are engaged to
to be untrustworthy?
The night that it happened,
Ned told me that nothing like this
had ever happened to him before.
And I believed him...
until I spoke to a woman
who told me he had choked her.
Objection! Your Honor, hearsay!
Mr. Stone knows damn well
that you can't allow. Sustained!
The jury will disregard
that last statement.
And you pull that again in my courtroom, you'll regret it.
No further questions.
Ben, they're coming in.
Three hours, 12 minutes.
That's way too fast.
We're dead.
Has the jury reached a verdict?
Yes, Your Honor.
Will the defendant please rise.
JUDGE: As to the sole count of the indictment,
murder in the second degree, how do you find?
As to the sole count of the indictment,
we find the defendant...
guilty.
( light cheering, murmuring )
ROBINETTE: Feel good?
STONE: Well, it's just preventive detention.
Loomis destroyed every life he ever touched.
We didn't change that one iota.
At least we gave them justice.
It's over.
Justice doesn't give you grandchildren.