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.
Bypass triage. Straight to E.R.
Exam room 6.
Exam room 3.
Don't forget your paperwork.
Exam room 5, please.
Gunshot wounds before sprained ankles.
Go on, sit down. Go on.
Rhonda, Luther Vandross-- next week at the Garden.
Oh, Lucas, your mother's going to love that.
You're missing something wonderful.
I know. The concert.
Did you send me a myocardial?
Who else is going to send him?
He's got indigestion. Not for two days, he don't.
Run back there and stick him on an E.K.G.
Now!
Rhonda!
Oh, my God.
Call the code.
Dr. Orton, exam area stat. Code blue, E.R.
Dr. Orton, exam area stat.
Let's move it. Get Dr. Barg.
This baby's stone-cold.
( sighs )
Phil.
Somebody left the box after 10:30 janitor's last sweep.
You got a perfect I.D., right?
Yeah. I saw a white guy put the box down at 11:00.
I saw a woman put it at 10:30.
She was tall, he was a midget.
We got prints off the box-- maybe we'll get lucky.
The body's ready to pick up.
What do you think, Doc?
I'm an intern, not a pathologist.
Hazard a guess.
I've been in E.R. for a week.
Don't quote me. He froze to death.
CERRETA: That doesn't make sense.
This is a clean, well-dressed baby,
not a homeless kid.
How do you know?
You can't keep
a kid clean without a home.
Otherwise healthy, no signs of exposure.
They must have been covered.
What's a kid like that doing out in the cold?
What's any kid doing out in the cold?
Captioning sponsored by NBC/Universal
No babies are reported missing.
The prints on the box were partials. And smudged.
Don't they take babies' footprints?
They put them on birth certificates.
Hospital keeps them a couple of months,
then throws them away.
Great. So somebody walked in there,
left a box with a baby in it, and we got no witnesses.
You don't go to the E.R.
to watch the scenery.
That baby was left on the floor like trash.
Nobody even noticed.
You got a photo of the kid?
Let's assume whoever left him lives in the neighborhood.
We could start with day care.
There's three churches, two community centers.
Talk about a haystack.
It beats ringing every doorbell
on the lower east side.
Oh, yeah, we used to take babies before the federal cutbacks.
LOGAN: What do you call these? Toddlers.
So you tell me-- better to pay
for a few more fighter planes or to take care of kids?
What about the churches?
There is St. Julia's on East 12th.
They had a day care for babies.
Let me ask you something.
Do you know a woman who doesn't work?
What are we supposed to do
with our kids?
WOMAN: Bye. I'll see you tomorrow.
Okay.
This kid asleep or dead?
Do you recognize the face?
What a beautiful world.
This the one they found under the westside highway?
Could you just look closer at the picture, ma'am?
We put them on a waiting list at this age, but...
I can't recognize a face.
I got to check out these kids.
I turn around, somebody will snatch
one of them.
What do we got?
We got the baby, the box, and the clothes.
Let's check out the bunny suit.
CRAGEN: Okay, so where does that leave us?
Bunny suits were manufactured and shipped from Taiwan
to a single wholesaler.
It was last year's big item.
So, the one the baby was wearing--
was that new?
Wholesaler had 30 cartons left from last season.
Went to a job lot guy on Warren Street.
Job lot shipped 20 cartons all over Jersey.
One carton each
to ten different stores in the city
three to the lower east side.
A dozen suits to a box.
Down from a thousand doorbells to ten stores-- that's progress.
Unless, of course, it's a gift from an aunt in Jersey.
It's unbelievable.
The lady at the church asks
"Is this the one from the westside highway?"
This wants to know
if this is the kid from battery park.
How many kids died this weekend?
Well, we got one more store down here.
This baby I don't remember.
Wait, wait! Wait a minute!
Come on.
You looked at this picture
all of two seconds.
Take a good look.
You had one carton.
Six blue, six pink?
You sure he didn't get one?
You remember the lady.
No, I don't, Fernando.
FERNANDO: She bought the playpen, right?
We don't remember, Fernando.
Nothing.
You know, we got a baby that's frozen to death.
I don't need your attitude.
What about the playpen?
I took it home for her.
3rd Street between A and B, two flights.
She said she was sorry she couldn't tip me.
3rd Street?
Do you remember the number?
No. A lot of iron gates on both sides.
Tenement. Real pit.
Thank you.
LOGAN: You understand what I'm saying?
The woman with the baby, okay?
Hermana.
No, that's sister.
Hermana y niño-- como se llama?
Ward.
First name. Primo, primo.
Yo no se.
Want to try for a description?
I'm doing the best I can with seventh grade Spanish.
Ward es young, old? Blanca, negra?
Si, negra. Veinte, veinte y uno.
2-B.
Black. 20, 21.
She lives in 2-B.
It's a romance language.
( sighs )
( wind whistling )
Leave me in this wind tunnel, I'd freeze, too.
Left in a hurry.
They got out in a hurry.
What are we looking at here?
Crack-head?
I don't know.
Your guess is as good as mine.
The baby dies, she dumps it,
just clears out...
like it was nothing.
Anyone else home?
En casa?
The lady in 3-B.
Fourth floor-- nobody.
Oh, now you habla ingles well, huh?
No, no very good English.
Vamos?
WOMAN: I don't know nobody named Ward
and I don't want to.
She lives beneath you.
I knew the lady who lived there-- Mrs. Loftus.
I didn't like her either.
Noisy people with a noisy baby--
cried at night.
Well, that's what babies do.
Oh, tell me about it.
I've had five of my own.
I'm sure they were very devoted.
Anybody live over there?
It's empty.
What about there?
No home.
But somebody lives there.
Aqui esta.
Mr. Turner.
Is there a problem?
Should there be?
You don't look like you're from Con Ed.
Mr. Turner-- Sergeant Cerreta.
Detective Logan.
We're looking for a neighbor of yours,
a woman by the name of Ward.
I'm not your neighborly kind of guy.
Mind if we come in
and have a little chat?
You look like nice people, but it's a mess.
I'd only invite my friends in.
The woman downstairs
with the baby-- have you seen her?
A lot of people took the buyout.
Landlord's offering five grand to leave.
It's a real good deal.
It's obviously not that good.
I'm on disability-- bad back.
I pay $248.65 A month--
rent control.
Bad back, huh?
Must give you trouble in the gym, right?
I like to work on myself.
Develop-- what do you call them?
Compensatory muscles.
The $248-- where do you send it?
Corman Equities
over on First Avenue.
I'd let you in to get the exact address...
Oh, yeah, we know.
You only invite your friends
into the inner sanctum.
WOMAN: Remember the old song
"Where have all the investment bankers gone?"
Two bedrooms renting for the price of one.
Ward, Ward, Ward.
There's none here.
Which building?
736 East Third Street, apartment 2-B.
Oh. That building.
I was offering buyouts.
I figured I'd renovate
and get those hip upper westsiders
who want to live downtown, but the way the economy is...
You're looking for tenants with style?
That, a lot of cash.
Adele Loftus, 2-B.
This lease goes back to the '50s.
We're looking for a young woman named Ward.
What can I tell you?
What can you tell me?
Loftus has a bargain-- $230 a month.
Yeah, that building-- bargain.
Thanks for your time,
Miss Corman.
The medical examiner guarantees the kid was dead
at least two hours before he was put on the floor.
So what do we got?
A lease from the '50s, different last names...
Are we going to turn up Miss Ward?
That building is half empty. It's a dump.
Why does it need a full-time super?
I don't know, Phil. Copper plumbing.
A couple junkies could strip a brownstone
faster than they could shoot up.
No Adele Loftus in the five boroughs.
Why do I doubt anyone there
used an assumed name?
I checked social security.
She died a year ago.
The death certificate says she's buried at St. Stephen's.
Well, if only the dead could talk.
They don't need to,
unless, God forbid, someone moved the body.
Somebody's paying to maintain the grave.
I've always liked graveyards.
Don't tell me-- a quiet, peaceful place
where you can contemplate your own insignificance?
No. Every spring my mother used to take us out
to Grandma and Grandpa's grave-- it's an Old-World thing.
She would plant flowers and wash the stone.
Then she'd spread a tablecloth
and we would have a beautiful picnic
with Grandma and Grandpa.
You'd picnic on their graves?
Well, were we going to picnic on strangers' graves?
Maintenance for Adele Loftus
is paid for by Charlayne Ward--
Long Island City.
And if you'd like to pay your respects,
Miss Loftus is buried in quadrant G-7.
I've marked it right on the map here.
Thanks a lot. Okay.
CERRETA: Who is Adele Loftus?
Adele Loftus was our grand-mama.
My sister Jackie took care of her.
Your sister have any kids?
A little boy, Henry.
Charlayne, here we are
two police officers
asking about your sister and her son
and you don't seem too worried.
You don't even ask why.
When was the last time you talked to Jackie?
Jackie don't have no phone.
Couldn't pay the bill.
Look, man, we ain't talked to her.
We haven't even seen her.
Mike, did we ask if he'd seen her?
And she doesn't call?
If I was in trouble
I'd talk to my only sister.
Look, man, Jackie did not call, okay?
Here's what we can do.
I can leave Detective Logan here.
I'll go get a warrant
and when I come back, we'll search the place.
We can pass the time--
two, three hours, watch some TV.
Does that sound like fun to you?
Or you can just let us look now.
You're about as far into my home as you're gonna be.
So why don't you just go on and get your warrant.
( door opens )
Jackie!
Sorry, Charlayne.
I did the wrong thing, so...
where else am I going to go?
CERRETA: She left him alone in that apartment.
I didn't...
You just watched him
freeze to death.
Detective...
I had to go to work.
Mrs. Hillyard-- I was serving at one of her parties
and Serena Price, a neighbor, comes right after school.
Henry's never alone for long.
Long enough to freeze to death.
CERRETA: Where's the father?
Truck driver-- killed in an accident.
I thought Serena would be there.
I get home, I don't know, around midnight,
and the apartment is dark,
freezing cold, and...
Henry, he wasn't moving.
I took him
to the hospital.
And left him.
I was out of my head.
I didn't mean to leave him there.
He was...
he was... he was so cold.
I kept hoping, you know...
I didn't know what to do.
Gentlemen,
can we...?
She's responsible for that baby's death.
Open and shut.
The only thing open and shut here
is your mind.
The D.A. might go
for endangering the welfare of a child.
The law says she has to exercise reasonable diligence.
ATTORNEY: The law says
she had to knowingly or intentionally
or recklessly or negligently
cause harm.
I don't think any of those apply.
We can hand the D.A. a solid case for negligence.
Has she talked to the baby-sitter since the boy died?
She panicked.
We'll check her story.
With your busy schedule, maybe you could squeeze it in
before you indict her.
I'll talk to the D.A.
Meantime, she stays at Central Booking.
Look, it beats Rikers.
She's a good mother.
She loves Henry.
Were you supposed to be there, Serena?
I got stuck--
the subway coming uptown.
It's not her fault. She feels bad enough as it is.
SERENA: Jackie said she might have to leave.
I have a key to the apartment.
The super says
there's no way
he opens the front door for a stranger.
Like that place is something to protect.
You'd been there before?
He opened the door for me once,
but now he says he doesn't know me from Adam.
I told him about Henry,
but he said Jackie and Henry were gone.
I thought Jackie must have been mad.
She'd never want me to come back.
A black girl-- negra senorita?
She tried to get into the building.
Yo no se.
Here we go again.
Jackie Ward's baby-sitter.
She's a young black girl
about 16 years old.
Her name is Serena Price.
Excuse me.
Oh... Mike.
Look at this.
He bought out
the whole hardware store.
Pretty cold, huh?
Hace frio?
No heat.
Since when?
The morning.
I fix it tonight.
Yeah.
Six space heaters and the furnace just went out.
If Jackie's telling the truth, it was off two days ago.
First time we were here, was the heat on?
The old lady on the third floor
had her coat on inside.
The building's half empty and a wreck.
You get a message?
The landlord would be thrilled
if the tenants left.
Maybe the heat was off accidentally on purpose.
736 East Third, owned by Iris Corman.
Corman Equities.
You got a contract on it?
Thank you.
Any changes in the amount
over the last six months?
I'll be getting back to you, okay?
Petrillo Oil contracted to service the furnace.
No reports of trouble.
But in the last six months, no change in oil consumption.
Colder in February than September.
Shut it down, burn less.
We prove harassment
Jackie's behavior is going to look better.
You want to make this stick?
Find somebody
who was driven out.
Department of Housing and Community Renewal.
They keep leases on computer for four years.
And talk to Jackie Ward again.
If she knew the heat was off, she is still on the ropes.
LOGAN: Tell us about the building.
There was never that much heat, ever.
Sometimes it was off an hour or two.
They said it was an old furnace.
Did you complain?
It wasn't my lease.
It was my grandma's.
I complain, they find out she's dead
they get me out in a minute.
LOGAN: The law changed.
You lived there when she did, you're entitled to a lease.
I didn't know that.
I was scared we'd end up in a shelter.
The tenants that left-- did they complain?
What am I hearing?
I kept to myself.
All I know is
the Spanish guy takes over-- the new super--
and it gets worse.
He wouldn't do nothing.
ATTORNEY: The heat was off
intentionally?
We're trying to establish
whether it was done to harass the tenants.
Wait, wait, wait.
Wait.
You mean to tell me that they did this on purpose?
Iris Corman?
What a gem.
We got a whole desk devoted to complaints on her.
Hampton-- cops are asking about Iris Corman.
Sweet Iris--
Scum Landlord of the Year three years running.
Lock her up and throw away the key.
Or in one of her buildings.
No water, broken windows, floods.
A textbook on how to empty a place.
Is she trying to empty the place on East Third Street?
Look, I'm a city employee.
For me to accuse her...
Why don't you take the records, make your own conclusions.
Moved out. September.
Really bad problems.
Water's coming down the bathroom walls.
The super turns the water off.
Two days later, the flood's gone.
No hot water.
You think it was intentional?
Come on, I went down.
I tried to turn the water on.
The basement was locked up.
Many buildings keep it locked.
Never before.
I took the buyout.
I had as much as I could take.
My lock was broken.
The super pretended he didn't understand.
He's got trouble with English.
The trouble is he's alive.
I put a chair against the door.
Middle of the night-- boom-- the door's down,
and that creep Turner's in my living room.
Is he angry with the whole world, or is it just you?
That guy is a tenant like I'm the Queen of England.
I never saw him at night-- he's sleeping somewhere else?
I try to get the heat back on,
I got to get past Turner.
He's a thug, pure and simple.
This is Turner's
sixth building for Iris Corman.
He clears out tenants-- that's what he does.
He's got three priors-- assault and menacing--
tenants trying to get heat.
Depraved indifference homicide-- murder two.
There's another building.
Old lady gets pneumonia.
Lack of heat. She dies.
No charges filed
because they can't tie them together.
Charging Jackie Ward may be pointless
but murder two?
We have to prove intent.
Turner's been doing this for years.
Which doesn't prove the heat was cut off deliberately the day the baby died.
Tirado didn't have six space heaters for no reason.
They were all brand-new.
It's a reach, but... maybe Tirado, okay?
Turner-- we have no link to the Ward baby.
Maybe we do-- the baby-sitter.
Serena Price. You remember she said
the super wouldn't let her in, didn't recognize her.
You think Serena speaks Spanish?
No, of course she doesn't.
It wasn't the super who kept her out.
it was Turner, she talked to Turner.
Thank you. It's been bothering me. Hah?
Jose Tirado, step outside, please.
You're under arrest
for the murder of Henry Ward.
Put your hands behind your back.
Come on, you've done this before.
Where's Turner?
Turner no home.
( pounding )
WOMAN: Stop! Stop!
Stop!
TURNER: The lock is broken.
It has to be replaced.
You're not the super.
Turner!
Just give me an excuse.
No way.
( drops hammer )
You just got nailed.
Joseph Turner, you're under arrest
for the murder of Henry Ward.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say will be used against you in a court of law.
Do you understand that? Yes.
You have the right to an attorney...
You have to wonder how these people sleep at night.
The connection between morality and sleep.
I guessed I missed that in law school.
Tossing little old ladies into the street.
Going for manslaughter
is very admirable, but how do you prove intent?
I aim a gun at you. Is that intent to harm?
It is if the gun goes off.
cut off the heat? Why did they
To cause harm so people would leave.
That's intent, and that's manslaughter.
How do you sell it to a jury?
Turner's crimes have a common scheme.
I get his prior convictions admitted,
the intent to harm is clear.
His record gets admitted as pattern crime.
On a bad day with a tired judge, we can sell tickets to that.
ROBINETTE: Or maybe we get lucky.
Roll the super on Turner.
Get Turner's record admitted.
He rolls on the landlord.
Turner's worked a long time
for Iris Corman.
They hang together or they don't hang at all.
Thanks for your optimism.
I didn't say don't try.
Where are we, Cuba? This is justice?
Reckless endangerment one if your client testifies against Mr. Turner.
The idea of responsibility...
You think the charge is inflated?
We're testing it with a jury.
With no evidence.
One, Mr. Tirado had separate heat.
Two, he told the police he ordered
a furnace part-- no order.
Three, the contractor said there was nothing wrong
with the furnace.
Okay. Just a damn minute.
Esta gente quiere encerrarte.
Si yo testigo puedo estar muerto.
Oh, no, no, tell him
no one will kill him.
Everybody knows what muerto means.
Reckless endangerment two.
He does no time.
Who turned off the heat?
The feed pipe, Turner, he pull it.
He say we get these people out, we get paid more money.
( speaking Spanish )
He wanted to fix the furnace.
Turner stopped him.
MAN: Obviously, Mr. Tirado is lying.
That illiterate moron.
The idea that I'm... Please, please.
And Tirado is so credible?
He's the super.
You make this crime a habit.
Two prior assaults, menacing.
A jury sees his history and...
Call Bellevue, make a reservation.
You're out of your mind.
You couldn't bribe a judge to get that allowed.
Convicted this time
you don't do one or two years,
it goes up to 25.
Oh, heavy. You can see I'm terrified.
Marc, tell him the facts of life.
What, the birds, the bees, the penal law?
He knows them better than we do.
convictions. He has two felony
One more, he goes up as a persistent offender.
My first conviction
was appealed.
I didn't serve a day
until after my second conviction.
That counts as one offense, not two.
You convict me, I get six to 12.
I'm out in two years.
We're submitting a motion
to have your prior convictions admitted as evidence.
I'll bet it's beautifully written, Ben.
And it's worthless.
I'll see you in chambers.
Now, you can't allow this.
The jury hears he attacked three tenants,
they'll beg you to execute him in the courtroom.
Relax. We don't have the death penalty anymore.
virtually identical, Three cases,
in which Mr. Turner assaulted tenants
who were trying to restore the heat.
That's my point.
They're assault cases.
They're not about heat.
this straight. Let me get
Making the buildings unlivable is intent to cause injury.
That's the common scheme. Yeah, but you're not gonna...
It's a novel theory...
and I like it.
This court rules that Mr. Turner's
previous crimes may be introduced into evidence.
Thank you. Mm-hmm.
ROBINETTE: We thought Turner was a thug.
He's no saint.
The buildings Iris Corman owns, Turner owns them with her.
Won't put her away so quick.
He wants to protect his investments.
That's not the only reason.
They own a house together. 600 grand.
Sands Point.
They live in it together?
Love makes the world go 'round.
Also makes plea bargains difficult.
We convict, maybe he turns on Corman
for a sentencing recommendation.
And then she confesses.
I wouldn't count on it.
WOMAN: Mr. Turner showed up in august.
I moved out a little after Christmas.
The incident
where Mr. Turner assaulted you--
how did it begin?
I went to the boiler room.
Turner's there, screwing in a lock.
I try to get into the room.
He smacks me across the face.
Did you sustain any injuries?
He split my lip. I had six stitches.
The vicious jerk.
Objection.
Sustained.
The jury
will disregard that remark.
SERENA: I was standing
at the front door of the building, pounding.
He wouldn't let me in.
Do you see him in the courtroom today?
He's sitting right there.
Would the record show
that she is indicating the defendant, Joseph Turner.
Let the record so indicate.
Had you seen the man before?
Every time I went to take care of Henry.
I told him Henry was inside, but this man--
he said he didn't know me.
He said Jackie took Henry with her.
Thank you.
Your witness.
Miss Price,
how did you describe Mr. Turner
to the police?
Well, I...
I... I didn't.
Is that so?
Didn't you tell them
he was the building superintendent?
Yes.
But he's not.
If you'd been there that often
how come you didn't know that?
How was I supposed to know?
He's there a lot,
so I thought...
You didn't know who he was?
Now, is it possible that he didn't know who you were?
Objection.
He's asking the witness what was in another person's mind.
Sustained.
TIRADO: Yo le dije a Joe
que teniamos que poner el steam.
Y trate de abrir la puerta del cuarto del boiler.
I told Mr. Turner
we had to turn the heat on.
I tried to open the door to the furnace room.
And what did Mr. Turner do?
¿Y que hizo el Señor Turner?
Turner me dijo que lo dejara
apagado.
Yo lo queria prender.
Pero el me ordeno que me fuera
que me largara.
Turner said to leave the furnace off.
I was going to turn it on, but he pulled me away.
Mr. Tirado, in the past, did you help
Mr. Turner at all to harass other tenants?
¿Tu ayudaste al Señor Turner
a hacerle daño a los inquilinos?
Si. Ayude.
Yes, I did.
WARD: I thought it would only take a few minutes
and he'd be fine.
How long was Henry alone?
Seven hours.
When you left, what was the temperature
in the apartment?
Um... I had a sweater on, but it was okay.
It wasn't too cold.
And when you returned?
I could see my breath in the air.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Now, Mrs. Ward, I know this is very difficult
so I only have a few questions.
You testified that you didn't call the apartment
because you had no phone.
Did you think of calling a neighbor?
Um... I didn't know them too well.
No one in the neighborhood?
No. I pretty much kept to myself.
Did you think of calling Serena price's mother,
to make sure that Serena
was in fact taking care of Henry?
I didn't think of that. No.
Then who's really responsible for Henry's death?
Objection.
Withdrawn.
No further questions.
Will the defendant please rise?
The people v. Joseph Turner,
on the sole count of the indictment
the charge of manslaughter in the second degree
how does the jury find?
We find the defendant guilty.
I thank the jury.
Short date for sentencing.
Your Honor,
the people request a pre-sentencing conference
at which Mrs. Ward be permitted to address the court.
The court will consider the people's request. Court is adjourned.
There's a reason I want you there. I want you personally to ask for the max.
It won't affect the sentence.
Whatever Turner and Corman are paying Menakerarc menaker,
he's earning every dime.
What's that? A juror, number seven--
he's white, but he speaks fluent Spanish.
There's some question about Tirado's testimony--
a mistranslation.
I don't know how serious it is.
Menaker probably called every juror.
Desperate but clever.
Asking for a mistrial?
I talked to Judge Barry's clerk.
He'll probably get it.
Son of a bitch.
"Turner said leave the furnace off.
I was going to turn it on, but he pulled me away."
That's not an accurate translation.
How far off is it?
What would be accurate?
I... I misheard.
I got the verb wrong.
It shouldn't have been "pulled away."
He said "ordered away."
MENAKER: It's the heart
of the pattern crime issue, Judge.
In previous cases, Mr. Turner was violent
but not this time.
If a juror translated it for them
we will never know what they thought.
At the worst, it's a minor linguistic difference.
Maybe.
Mr. Norman, you discussed this with the other jurors?
I told them what I heard.
He said "ordered," not "pulled."
Mr. Norman, do you know why we sequester juries?
Before the trial began, I said the jury
mustn't consider evidence not heard in the courtroom.
Now, you told the jurors something only you heard.
But I only told them what he really said.
That's true. You did.
No blame here.
It's a mess, gentlemen.
It's a mistrial,
and the people will have to retry
Mr. Turner.
We got a conviction once, we'll get it again.
Every jury is different.
They're not stupid. I'll put your client away, and he'll
serve the max, if I have to show for every parole hearing myself.
If it gets that far.
We're not taking a deal unless you give us Corman--
same crime, evidence, and conviction.
I'm moving to have Turner's records
excluded from the second trial. Won't happen.
If I were you, I would look at what the appellate division
has been doing lately.
Suppose you win the second trial.
You'll never survive an appeal.
Mr. Turner will take reckless endangerment two.
Misdemeanor-- in his dreams.
What looks better on the news at 6:00--
his dreams or yours, hmm?
STONE: It's a bluff.
It's a hustle.
And it's a possibility. Menaker's no fool.
If the jury doesn't hear of Turner's record
we don't get a conviction.
They will hear it, and it will stand on appeal.
I'd like to play poker with you.
Leave the table with your clothes.
Six of your jurors told reporters
that they convicted because of Turner's record
not because they believed intent to harm the baby.
Court of appeals gonna like that?
Maybe we give Turner reckless endangerment one
if Corman will plead, too.
Great. A child is dead
and you're offering a "d" felony?
SCHIFF: Offer it to Turner
on two conditions:
Corman pleads, they both sign a consent decree
not to harass tenants in the future.
Still a walk. Stinks.
I don't believe this!
You want me to plead guilty? She hasn't even been judged.
STONE: If we don't get a deal
we'll take Mr. Turner to trial
and work on getting Miss Corman indicted.
You have some nerve. I can't heat a building
for what tenants are paying. If the rent laws didn't let
people live there forever that baby would still
be alive, and none of us would be here. Iris, please.
I don't believe this.this. It'sIt's not your fault; it's the rent laws?
For destroying the value of my property, yeah.
I ought to sue that Jackie Ward.
I'm sorry about her baby
but she wasn't even a legal tenant.
The hell she wasn't.
That's enough.
You knew the law when you bought that building.
Round one, that's it, over.
CORMAN: You can't believe
we meant to hurt that kid.
Did you care either way?
You got nothing
and if Tirado hadn't rolled on me...
CORMAN: Maybe Jose Tirado's memory
won't be so clear this time.
Iris, enough.
He's on record.
Maybe he'll change his testimony. Iris, shut up.
You admit threatening him?
No, she is not. Maybe he'll say that
the D.A. forced him to make up a story!
That's an "e" felony. You know that?
She didn't say a word. I didn't mean it.
None of this happened.
She blamed the rent laws?
STONE: For the death of a baby.
You'll be lucky to touch her, and she knows it.
We may have just drew an inside straight.
For two years, Corman rings up so many complaints
they can't record them fast enough.
A year ago, all of a sudden, no more complaints.
Attack of bad conscience.
ROBINETTE: No, then housing inspector changed.
So?
This new inspector's pretty generous--
16 complaints against Corman--
all of them resolved in her favor.
What? Bribes?
Let's chase the money, and see if we can prove it.
You got 15 minutes.
We're both on the same side.
I live in a small world.
Don't we all?
Who inspects Iris Corman's buildings?
Albert Boxer.
Does he take bribes?
I didn't hear that question.
February 1990, you were covering Corman's buildings.
Why did you change assignments?
My wife works at Merchant Bank.
She's in at 6:00.
A new schedule, I could take the kids to school.
Iris Corman ever offer you a bribe?
She hinted.
I stopped it before she had a chance.
Suppose she pulls out a couple hundred bucks.
Maybe before I know what happens,
I start thinking about new snow tires.
Albert Boxer-- is he buying new snow tires?
I don't know you.
I was never here.
ROBINETTE: Inspector Boxer used to take $100 a week
from his checking account.
11 straight months, he didn't withdraw a dime.
That doesn't prove he took bribes.
His wife paid for groceries by check for three years.
The past 11 months, every week, she paid cash.
So they live on cash. Iris Corman's not stupid.
She's not going to give them checks.
What if somebody offered Boxer a bribe?
And...?
He takes it.
We turn him against Corman.
You got a place to do this?
I'll find one.
Set it up.
Testing, one, two.
Where the hell's Profaci?
Phil, you could play the landlord.
No, we were both at D.H.C.R.
Boxer might have seen us.
( phone ringing )
Yeah, stone.
Uh-huh. Oh, great.
Profaci's caught in traffic.
Boxer's on the way.
Paul, take your coat off.
CERRETA: Yeah, and your tie.
Hey, I can't do it.
You're all we got.
All right.
Great.
BOXER: You don't look like your name's Gagliardi.
ROBINETTE: He manages my building.
Home with the flu.
Simpson, Louis.
Mr. Simpson, Inspector Boxer.
You got heat in your building?
We've had two complaints.
Boiler's off.
We're having it fixed.
You been having it fixed for two days.
I should take a look, I have to write a summons.
Is that necessary, a summons?
It is the law.
It will be fixed tomorrow.
It's not working today.
Come back tomorrow.
Maybe I don't have to.
Well, what would stop you?
Think of something.
Wait till he asks.
Give me a general idea-- a suggestion.
I'm sure you're
pretty familiar with the neighborhood.
Ball park.
Five hundred.
Five? 250.
Guess I'm going to have to write that summons.
Three. 300.
Cash. Now.
Albert Boxer, you're under arrest
for bribe-receiving.
Come on, you can't do this.
You bet your ass we can.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you do say can and will be used...
All right, give me my coat back, man.
It's entrapment. You offered a bribe.
ROBINETTE: You can lead a horse to water.
You can't make him steal it.
He solicited a bribe on tape.
It's a "d" felony.
Two years at Clinton.
You look a little out of shape
for two years' hard time.
Come on, Ben, no judge will give him two years.
I didn't kill anybody.
So I look the other way for a few days.
So the temperature was 50 degrees inside, not 70.
ROBINETTE: Twenty.
Not fifty.
A baby froze to death.
STONE: I'll make it easy on you.
Here's what you're going to do.
You'll plead to a misdemeanor.
You won't fight the city about your pension.
You'll testify against every landlord and super
you ever took a bribe from, or you'll go to jail.
Who do you want first?
Iris Corman.
STONE: when greed is glorified.
Anything is acceptable.
We must decide where to draw the line.
We must decide when greed has gone far enough
to be called murder.
The people will prove that the defendants
Iris Corman and Joseph Turner
turned off the heat in an apartment building
they own.
The people will prove that their acts demonstrated
a recklessness that led to the death
of a ten-month-old baby.
The people will show that they willfully, knowingly
and without a shred of concern
for the consequences of their acts
placed the value of their real estate
above the value of a human life.
A baby died--
a boy named Henry Ward--
and they didn't shoot him, they didn't strangle him
they didn't run over him with their car.
In fact, they never even met him
but they did kill him.
Now, putting the defendants
Iris Corman and Joseph Turner in jail
will not bring Henry Ward back to his mother.
Putting them in jail, however, is the only remedy we have.
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