.
- 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.
- Mr. Zanford! Mr. Zanford! - How do you feel about
your wife serving you with divorce papers
on the floor of the stock exchange this morning?
- Blindsided. How the hell would you feel?
- Um, excuse me! I have one more question.
Do you have a minute? - Toxicity and negativity
are contrary to everything Mark Zanford
has spent the last 20 years building.
His app, Connectivity, promotes healthy,
positive connections, and so does Mark.
- Will your personal problems impact the company?
Do you think that's why the stock price is off 10%?
- Mark's wife tried to ruin his moment in the sun.
That alone should tell you what kind of a woman she is.
- This whole nightmare is your fault.
- I'm not the one shagging a 20-year-old yoga teacher.
- Just do your job.
- [exhales]
- DOA is Dana Clarkson.
43 years old, single, no kids.
Lives on Central Park West.
Possible strangulation.
- [whistles, sighs]
Bruises on her face, abrasions on her hands.
She put up a fight.
- Have the MLI bag her hands and get a sexual assault kit.
- You get a time of death?
- MLI puts it at some time
between 8:00 and midnight last night.
- Witnesses?
- Woman who runs the laundromat called it in.
Found the body on the stairs when she came to open up.
- How about cameras?
- Nothing so far.
- She's still got her credit cards and cash.
- Her phone is missing,
assuming she had one with her, of course.
Found this on the ground.
[tense music]
- Connectivity.
Must have been at some sort of event.
- Looks like she was a crisis consultant.
- Yeah, well, some things aren't fixable.
[dramatic music]
* *
Dana Clarkson was at your event last night.
- That's correct.
- What were you two arguing about?
- Arguing?
This whole nightmare is your fault.
- I'm not the one shagging a 20-year-old yoga teacher.
- I was venting.
Half of Dana's job is putting up
with loudmouthed alphas like me.
- Where did you and Ms. Clarkson go
after you got in the car?
- I went to my apartment.
Dana was supposed to go to hers.
- Supposed to? - Yeah.
She got a text.
Uh, made her really mad,
and she asked my driver to pull over.
And she got out of the car.
- Can you think of anyone who didn't like Dana?
- Yeah, lots of people.
She had sharp elbows.
That's why I hired her.
- Did any of those people show up to your IPO party?
- My crazy soon-to-be ex-wife tried to crash the event.
- What, Dana got involved in that?
- She did, yeah, she called security,
had them toss her out.
That's what a crisis manager does.
Then my wife went crazy.
Started swearing at Dana.
She threw a glass at her.
And she threatened to kill her.
She blames Dana for ruining her career.
- Did she?
- I didn't pay Dana 500 grand for nothing.
- Hey, I just got off the phone with the medical examiner.
Cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation.
She thinks the killer may have used some kind
of soft piece of clothing.
They found some blue and white and maroon fibers
on her throat. - Necktie?
- They think it's a scarf.
Forensics shows some kind
of high-end mulberry silk. - DNA?
- Yeah, they found some skin cells
underneath the victim's fingernails,
so we're just waiting on the results now.
- Well, it wasn't Zanford. The driver backs up his story.
- Does the driver know why Dana got out
of the car so suddenly?
- Nah, he just pulled over and she just hopped out.
- What about Zanford's wife?
- She's bitter as hell, that's for sure.
Her social media is a-- practically a tribute
to her hatred of Dana Clarkson.
- Yeah, and she doesn't just talk the talk.
There's violence in her past.
Last year she was accused of assaulting her assistant.
- Well, last night she was assaulting martinis.
This is her at the Lava Club.
- Is that in Midtown?
- East 53rd.
- Not far from the murder scene.
- Yeah, and I bet she owns a few silk scarves.
Let's find out where she lives, get a search warrant.
- Why is the story of a crazy woman so compelling?
- Pretty simple--you threatened to kill Dana Clarkson
a few hours before she was killed.
- Okay, do you know how many people hated Dana?
- So you admit, you hated her?
- Yes, definitely.
She planted fake stories about me having affairs,
being an alcoholic.
Last night she paid a photographer
to trip me outside of some club
just to make me look like a drunken fool.
- What do you got? - Ms. Zanford...
You wanna explain this?
[tense music]
- Um...
[handcuffs clinking] It's...
it's--it's not-- it's not what you think.
- Well, I think you're under arrest
for the murder of Dana Clarkson.
.
- Like I keep telling you, I didn't kill her.
- The shirt is being tested for DNA.
When the blood comes back as Dana Clarkson's,
the time for explanations will be over.
Now is your chance to get out in front of this.
- Uh, blood on that shirt isn't Dana's.
It's mine.
[somber music]
* *
- You self-harm?
- Yes.
I started when I was a teenager and...
then when Mark and I separated,
people started attacking me online.
I just felt very alone.
* *
- Uh, forensics. Not a match.
- You're free to go, ma'am.
- Officer Preston's gonna show you out.
The skin cells found under the victim's fingernails
weren't a match.
The DNA belongs to a man, so...
- So we're looking for a man with no criminal record.
- Mostly likely someone with a personal grudge
against the vic. - That's right.
So we're gonna keep digging.
We're gonna look into her personal life,
into her professional life.
Someone with a job like that is bound to have a lot of enemies.
* *
- Dana was a never-let-'em-see-you-sweat
kind of woman.
Came from nothing, grew up in rural West Virginia.
Her father was a coal miner.
She worked like hell to build her firm, her life.
- The day of the murder,
anything out of the ordinary happen?
- She had a lunch with someone.
The name wasn't on her calendar,
which was weird.
- Well, everybody's got secrets.
- When she came back from lunch,
she asked for the nonemergency number
for the local police precinct.
- Where was this lunch?
- I'll get that for you.
- I just-- [sighs]
I--I can't believe Dana's dead.
- How'd you know her?
- Well, we've been friends for, like, 20 years,
since college.
We get together ever time I'm in the city.
I--I live in Zurich full-time.
But she is--
was an amazing woman.
I always told her, if I weren't gay,
I'd have proposed years ago.
[chuckles]
- Did anything happen during lunch,
something that would upset her enough to call the police?
- Dana was worried about this ex-boyfriend.
- Was he harassing her?
- More like stalking.
I mean, he reappeared in her life a few months ago.
And she told him, like, "Leave me alone,"
but he wouldn't let it go.
She was terrified.
- Was he ever violent with her?
- Yeah, when they were together,
she ended up in the emergency room.
I mean, at least once.
Maybe twice.
- You got this guy's name?
- Dana and I had dated a few years ago,
even lived together, on paper at least.
- What does that mean?
- She wasn't ready for real intimacy.
- She broke it off? - It--it was amicable.
We wanted different things. - Amicable?
We checked her hospital records.
She was admitted to the ER at least twice
while you guys were dating.
One for a cut above her eye,
and the other for a broken wrist, so...
- What the hell are you trying to say, that I had something
to do with that?
- Correct. - Well, you're wrong.
- Maybe.
Just have a few more questions
and we'll be out of your hair.
When's the last time you spoke to Dana?
- A while back.
At the height of the pandemic, she reached out.
- Why is that? - She was lonely.
That was the last time we spoke.
- Yeah, we're not buying a word of this nonsense.
Phone records show that you and Dana exchanged phone calls
as recently as three days ago.
- Excuse me.
- Oh, sorry.
- What's going on? - It's all right, honey.
These men are just leaving.
[tense music]
* *
- Well, he's lying through his teeth.
- Yeah, we got enough for a search warrant.
Let's get patrol to come seal off the location.
- Whoa, whoa. Hold up.
- What you got?
* *
- Does that look like silk to you?
Maroon, blue, and white like the ME said.
- Uh-huh.
- What are you still doing here?
- Sir, you mind stepping outside?
Just step outside.
Let's go.
We need to talk to you down at the precinct.
* *
.
- I've never seen that scarf before.
- We found it in your trash.
- I didn't kill Dana.
I would never do something like that, ever!
- So why did you lie to us
about being on the phone with her recently?
We have the phone records.
- I just got married.
I didn't want my wife to find out.
She gets jealous of ex-girlfriends,
especially Dana.
- Still doesn't explain why
you were on the phone with Dana recently.
- She was having money problems.
- So she hit you up for money?
- Yes, which was concerning
because she never asks for help.
She solves everyone else's problems, you know?
So I knew that she was in some real trouble.
- Did you lend her any money?
- No, I was trying to figure out a way
to broach the subject with my wife, but--
- That still does not explain the scarf,
the murder weapon that we found outside of your house.
- If I really killed her with that scarf,
would I be stupid enough to just toss it
on the top of a damn trash bin?
- Ay, forensics and the scarf came back.
So Dana Clarkson's DNA and blood are all over it,
but no trace of Dr. Royce.
- And his story about Dana's financials checks out.
She was underwater.
Bank account was near zero,
mortgage was 90 days delinquent,
and she owed over 200,000 in credit cards.
- But she was successful, right?
I mean, she had a thriving business.
- Sure looked that way.
- So where'd all the money go?
She have an addiction?
Drugs, gambling, private planes maybe?
- No indication of anything like that,
but a few hours before the murder,
her credit card was frozen.
A dinner charge was declined for 3,700 at Chez Roget.
Check out the time of the charge.
- 9:17 p.m.
- That is about the time she was in Mark Zanford's car.
- Cannot be in two places at once.
- You better shine your shoes, fellas.
You're about to go to a restaurant
that charges $3,700 for dinner.
- [whistles]
- No, she doesn't look familiar.
- You remember a card being declined
for a $3,700 dinner?
- I do, but it was a man using the card.
- What was his name?
- Uh, his name was Dana Clarkson.
- If the card was declined,
who ended up paying the bill?
- The woman he was with.
- Can I have her name?
- Our regulars rely on our discretion.
- Yeah, we're homicide detectives,
not gossip columnists.
- Grace Pollard.
- The lawyer?
[suspenseful music]
Huh.
- I know who she is.
* *
- Two nights ago, you had dinner at Chez Roget.
Your companion's credit card was declined,
and you ended up paying the bill.
Can you tell us who you were with?
- Unfortunately, I can't even confirm
I was at that restaurant.
- Miss Pollard, the man you were having dinner with
tried to use the credit card of a woman
who was found strangled and beaten to death
less than two hours later.
- Are you asserting attorney-client privilege?
- I can neither affirm nor deny,
and if you don't have a warrant,
I'm going to have to ask you to leave.
* *
- Why the hell would Grace Pollard
stonewall a homicide investigation?
- Maybe she was with a client, trying to protect him.
From what is the question.
- We could get a subpoena,
force her to give it up in the grand jury.
- No, no, she would rather go to jail
than break confidentiality.
- Yeah, as long as the media covers her story.
- Hold on a second.
This woman has done a lot of good.
She's responsible for getting date rape codified
as a felony.
She's a pioneer.
She's been leading the charge for women
long before any of us even knew about Me Too or Time's Up.
- Fair enough. - No arguments. She's a boss.
[knock at door] - Hey. I got something--
security footage from outside the restaurant
about 15 minutes after the card was declined.
- Can you punch in on that face?
- I can send it to FAS for facial rec.
- Don't bother.
- It's the guy who had lunch
with Dana Clarkson,
the college friend from Zurich.
- Pierre Briones.
- I'll check for an address.
Here he is, Pierre Briones.
Rents a townhouse on 38th and 3rd.
- That's three blocks from the murder.
* *
This guy wasn't visiting from Zurich.
He lives here.
- Hey, Detective, come look at this.
- What you got?
Nice work.
Thank you.
Andrew Hilton.
Julian Matias.
Vincent Balanza.
Jeez.
Dana Clarkson's bank account info.
Bag all this.
This guy's got more passports than James Bond.
He's got a pile of Dana Clarkson's
financial records, credit card applications,
loan information, all in her name.
- Wow, this guy's a real pro.
- Yeah, he is.
[both laugh]
[tense music]
Stop, police!
* *
[car horn honks] - [grunts]
- Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you doing?
* *
[car horns and alarms blaring]
[both grunting]
- [groans]
- Pierre Briones, you're under arrest
for the murder of Dana Clarkson.
- Too bad she's gone.
You could use a good crisis manager.
.
- Calling docket ending in 9604,
People v. Pierre Briones, also known as Julian Matias,
also known as Andrew Hilton, also known as Vincent Balanza,
also known as-- - What's his actual name?
- The defendant's true name is Devon Miller.
- Mr. Miller pleads not guilty.
- I assume the people are seeking remand?
- He's the very definition of a flight risk.
He has eight aliases and nine dates of birth.
- My client has never been convicted of a crime.
In fact, he's never even been arrested before.
- I'll hear your argument, Ms. Maroun.
- The people's theory is that the defendant
romanced the victim, Dana Clarkson,
conned her out of almost $1/2 million,
and when she found out, he killed her.
The victim's body was found three blocks
from Mr. Miller's home.
He lied to police about both the nature
of their relationship and his true identity,
and his DNA was found under Ms. Clarkson's fingernails.
- The DNA merely proves there was physical contact
sometime that day.
And the prosecutor failed to mention
that the murder weapon was found at another man's home.
- Sounds like the people have their work cut out for them.
Bail is set at $1 million.
[suspenseful music]
- Uh, one sec.
Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Yeah, I mean...
- Mr. Miller will post bail forthwith.
- He's got profiles on four dating sites
mostly catered to older, affluent singles.
- And the two women we know he's dated
are both sophisticated, intelligent women.
- It's not about intelligence.
He's an emotional predator.
Thank God I'm in a relationship.
- Lucky you.
It's--it's hard meeting people these days.
[chuckles] Online dating is a nightmare.
- That's how I met my partner.
It's a numbers game, but you have to put yourself out there.
- Oh, I put myself out there.
I met my first husband the old-fashioned way,
drunk as hell at a biker bar in Queens.
And then my second husband I met through mutual friends.
I'm single now.
I did get the Financial Frauds report back,
and this guy has conned a slew of women.
He's run up their credit cards.
He persuaded them to get car loans, mortgages,
to wire money into his account.
And judging by all the timing of these transactions,
he's just using one woman to pay for the next.
- Wasn't he having dinner with that lawyer Grace Pollard?
- Yeah. - You think it was a date?
- Possibly.
I mean, we tried to question her,
and she invoked attorney-client privilege.
- I followed up. She refused to speak with me,
so I issued a subpoena, but she got it quashed.
- Look, we will get you a list of all his other victims.
- Thank you. - All right.
- None of the victims are willing to testify.
- Subpoena them.
- These women were conned, but they're not stupid.
We force them on the stand, they'll refuse
to admit they were duped.
- The financial records will refute that.
We have documents.
We have evidence that shows he has their money.
- They'll call it a loan,
say they expect him to pay them back.
Good news is, we have a clear motive.
Dana Clarkson was planning to expose Miller.
[phone vibrates]
- What?
- Miller just fired his lawyer.
He's gonna represent himself.
- This is a thinly veiled attempt
to manipulate the process.
The defendant is trying to create an appealable issue.
If he's convicted, he'll ask for a new trial,
claiming ineffective counsel.
- Also going pro se allows the defendant
to cross-examine and intimidate our witnesses.
- It also allows him to speak directly to the jury
without being placed under oath
or being subject to cross-examination,
which means he can say whatever he wants with no repercussions.
- So what are you asking me to do?
- To appoint stand-by counsel, a lawyer who is required
to comply with the rules of professional responsibility
who Ms. Maroun and I can confer with.
- What do you say about that, Mr. Miller?
- They can confer with me.
I am happy to confer.
And I should be able to handle the rules of evidence
as I did graduate summa cum laude
from Harvard College, and then I went to Columbia Law School,
so I should be fine.
- He was expelled from Columbia for cheating.
- Excuse me. The Sixth Amendment
to the United States Constitution
affords me the right to represent myself.
- Okay, Mr. Miller.
I'm allowing your application.
You may act as your own lawyer.
- Thank you, Your Honor.
[tense music]
* *
.
- The defendant preyed on intelligent,
accomplished women,
women who worked hard to earn their money,
but also their reputation.
And who would rather face financial ruin
than go public and report what had happened to them.
But he underestimated Dana Clarkson,
a crisis manager who was determined to expose him
and make him pay for what he had done.
On the day of the murder,
Ms. Clarkson met with the defendant
at Soho House for lunch, demanding her money back.
He made empty promises to repay her,
but later that night,
when Ms. Clarkson discovered
that he was still using her credit card,
she went to his home to confront him.
And in response,
he savagely beat
and strangled her to death.
Don't be fooled
by the defendant's charming demeanor.
After you've heard all the evidence,
you will learn what Dana Clarkson learned
the hard way...
He's a con man.
And a cold-blooded killer.
- Hi. Good morning.
[exhales]
I'm not a big-shot lawyer like Mr. Price over there.
And I'm fighting for my life.
So please, I just ask, be patient with me.
I loved Dana Clarkson.
I loved her. She was a beautiful person,
inside and out.
Brilliant. Talented.
So please, I just ask, let's not speak of her
like she's some piece of evidence
in this sham of a trial.
Look, I didn't kill Dana.
I would never, ever hurt her.
Yes, I saw her the day she died.
Lots of people saw her after our lunch.
Any one of them could have harmed her.
She spent the evening with the notoriously volatile
tech mogul Mark Zanford.
Maybe he killed her.
Or it could have been her abusive ex-boyfriend.
Police found the murder weapon at his home.
[laughs]
But it's not my job to figure out who killed Dana.
I have news for you: it's not your job either.
You know whose job it is?
His.
The prosecutor's.
[tense music]
And you'll see he has fabricated a case against me.
Mm.
A case full of gaping holes.
And in so doing, he has deprived Dana Clarkson,
my Dana, of the justice and respect she deserves.
Thank you.
* *
- Mr. Price, you may call your first witness.
- People call Detective Jalen Shaw.
- Objection.
- What's the objection? [laughs]
Witness hasn't even taken the stand yet.
- Detective Shaw's testimony should be excluded.
I was never advised of my Miranda rights.
- The time for a motion to suppress hearing
has long passed.
- I agree
under normal circumstances.
But since Mr. Miller is a pro se defendant,
I have no choice but to allow some latitude.
I'm excusing the jury while we hold an evidentiary hearing.
- Thank you so much, Your Honor.
* *
- Detective Cosgrove and I spoke to Mr. Miller
for about 20 minutes.
- Can you characterize the conversation?
- It was cordial.
- The defendant lied to you.
- He did.
He said his name was Pierre Briones,
that he lived in Zurich,
that he and Dana Clarkson were old college friends,
and that he was gay.
- Thank you. Nothing further.
- There were two of you, yeah?
- I was with my partner, correct.
- Both of you were carrying
fully loaded automatic handguns, yeah?
- We were on duty.
- You ambushed me.
You told me I wasn't free to leave, didn't you?
- Absolutely not.
- No, no. I stood up.
I asked to consult with an attorney.
You told me to sit down,
that I wasn't "going anywhere" till you were done.
- That never happened.
- You grilled me for over an hour.
- If you're gonna let the defendant testify,
can we at least place him under oath?
- Sit down, Mr. Price.
- You violated my rights under Miranda v. Arizona.
Your Honor, I request that you allow my application
to suppress.
- The burden falls on the prosecution.
You should have videotaped the defendant's statement.
- He wasn't even a suspect at the time.
- I'm granting the defendant's application.
- Thank you, Your Honor. Thank you.
- So you can't tell the jury about Miller's lies
to the detectives,
but you should be able to prove your case.
- Well, it's not just the lies.
He'll explain away the DNA found under her nails
with a false claim that she touched his arm
earlier in the day.
And we don't have any other women
to show that he has a pattern of fraud.
- You're telling me if the case were to go
to the jury today, you'd lose?
- We might not even make it over the rail.
Judge could dismiss it outright for lack of evidence.
- Sounds like he's playing the judge and jury
the way he played your victim.
- Just about sums it up.
And if he's acquitted, he'll be right back at it.
- You need to pivot.
Link Miller to the murder weapon.
Put the scarf in his hands. - Tried.
No one saw him plant it.
We checked surveillance video,
subpoenaed GPS in his car and phone.
- Focus on the scarf, not the defendant.
If the fabric is as rare and expensive
as forensics indicate,
only a handful of stores sell it.
Find out where he bought it.
- Men like Miller don't buy their own luxury items.
- Then track down whoever bought it for him.
- I can prove you bought the scarf.
Sales clerk remembers selling it to you.
I have a video of you in the store,
and I have your credit card statement.
- It was a client gift.
- We both know that's not the nature
of your relationship.
You bought it on Valentine's Day.
I know this must be difficult.
- You have no idea what you're talking about.
If you call me to testify, I will assert privilege.
- I'll challenge it and win.
- I'll take the Fifth. - I'll immunize you.
- And if I refuse to comply?
- Every survivor,
every prosecutor in the country owes you a debt of gratitude
for all that you've done to give a voice
to sexual assault victims,
promote equal pay for equal work,
women's healthcare, Title IX.
But you're an essential witness in a murder case,
in the murder of another woman.
And you and you alone can put the murder weapon
in the defendant's hands.
- My detractors have been searching
for a way to undermine me and the causes that I champion
for years.
You are handing it to them on a silver platter.
- People will understand.
You were looking for connection and companionship.
[suspenseful music]
That doesn't make you weak.
It makes you human.
- I'm begging you, Ms. Maroun...
if you believe in the women that I have helped,
put your money where your mouth is
and do not put me on the witness stand.
* *
.
- Grace Pollard, of all people,
should be leading the charge,
helping us send Devon Miller to prison.
- Her ego is getting in the way.
- No, it's about legacy,
preserving all the causes she's advanced.
- And therefore, I hope you're not suggesting
we dismiss a murder charge.
- We could offer a plea.
Man One, 15 years.
Miller goes to prison.
Grace Pollard retains her reputation.
- Murder trumps humiliation.
Grace Pollard and her causes will recover.
- Easy for you to say.
- Excuse me?
- Men bounce back from scandals,
not women.
You have no idea how hard she had to fight
to accomplish what she has.
This will stain her and all she's fought for.
It'll be the excuse not to take her
or her causes seriously.
- I hear you.
But Grace Pollard is gonna have to testify.
Subpoena her if necessary.
- Ms. Pollard, were you involved
in a romantic relationship with the defendant?
- Your Honor, I'd object to that question
as being overly broad.
- Ms. Pollard, please leave the objections
to counsel on the case.
- And who's representing my interests?
The people certainly aren't.
- I'm instructing you to answer the question.
- We were involved briefly, yes.
- For about ten months, correct?
- Approximately.
- You ever loan him money?
- I'm out somewhere in the neighborhood
of $200,000.
Did you ever give him gifts?
- Let's just cut to the chase, shall we?
I gave him a silk scarf.
- This silk scarf?
- Yes.
Was this in his possession
the night of Dana Clarkson's murder?
- It was.
- Thank you.
- [exhales]
Hi, Grace.
You were in my brownstone
the night Dana Clarkson was murdered, weren't you?
- Objection. No foundation.
- Overruled.
[tense music]
- I was.
- You heard Dana bang on the door, call my name?
- I did.
- An old flame had reappeared in my life,
and you were understandably angry,
maybe even jealous?
- Your Honor, he's badgering the witness.
Can he step away from the witness box?
- Step back, Mr. Miller.
- Yeah, of course.
Sorry.
- I wish I'd have known who you really are.
- Mm-hmm, you were so angry, in fact,
that you grabbed that scarf and ran out the door.
- That's a lie. - Objection.
- That's just-- - You killed Dana Clarks--
- That is absurd! - Your Honor--
Your Honor! - Didn't you?
- That is--that is-- - All right, all right.
Let's everybody calm down.
You have anything to back that up, Mr. Miller?
- I do, actually.
Yeah, I have a tape.
- I--I have never heard about a tape.
This violates the rules of discovery
and it's unfair surprise.
- I will see you all in my chambers now.
* *
- A sex tape, are you serious?
- How is that even remotely relevant?
- It was taken in my home.
It puts Ms. Pollard right near the scene of the crime,
and it goes to her state of mind at the time,
which you'll see from the tape,
she was in a rage.
I mean, angry enough to kill.
- Play it. - Your Honor, I object.
- I wanna see if it has any evidentiary value.
Play the tape.
- There you go.
Take off your blouse. - [sighs]
- Yes, sir.
Tell me what you want.
- Don't talk.
Get on the bed.
[both moan]
[knock at door] Ah, who's that?
- Pierre, I know you're in there.
- It's an ex, okay? Don't worry.
- Get rid of her. - Open the door!
- Get her the hell out of--
- This tape is a pretext to publicly shame a woman
for being vulnerable, intimate, for--for trusting someone.
Are you really gonna allow that tape to be aired
in your courtroom?
- Watch yourself, Ms. Maroun.
I find the tape to be exculpatory,
and distasteful as I find it,
I'm granting you your request.
- Thank you. - But I warn you,
tread lightly.
- If you didn't consent to the recording,
I can go back in there, ask the judge to suppress it.
* *
Well, he's not allowed to play the entire tape.
It will be limited in scope. - I am half-naked, Mr. Price,
asking a man, that man,
to take charge of my body.
Do you understand how that looks?
- It looks like a woman engaged in a consensual act,
making a choice.
- It will be my undoing.
- The jury will see right through his whole charade.
- I've seen thousands of women torn to shreds on the stand.
It always comes down to one thing:
sex.
- You've made a career out of encouraging other women
to stand up for themselves.
Now that it's your turn, what,
you're just gonna try and look the other way?
You can do this.
- Judge is waiting.
* *
- It's an ex, okay? Don't worry.
- Get rid of her. - Open the door!
- Get her the hell out-- - Okay, all right.
That was you on the tape?
- You're trying to slut-shame me, Mr. Miller?
- I'll take that as a yes.
- Okay, Mr. Miller. Let's move on.
- So you admit you were in my home
when Dana Clarkson was banging on the door that night?
- Yes, I was. - And you were livid, correct?
- No, I was annoyed.
I wanted to have sex.
[jurors mumbling indistinctly] - Hmm.
Nothing further.
- What Mr. Miller just did in this courtroom
reveals who he is,
not who you are, isn't that true?
- Objection! Leading.
- Overruled.
- Yes.
He's a liar and a ruthless sociopath
with no regard for others.
- And that sex tape was a cheap ploy
designed to intimidate you, wasn't it?
- If it was, it didn't work.
- Mr. Miller tried to demean you?
- I will not be demeaned for being a woman,
for being a human, in full.
At times, I'm a professional,
at times, I'm a a friend,
at times,
I am a woman seeking physical intimacy.
When I fight for the rights of women,
I fight for their right
to enjoy the full human experience.
It is what we all hope for in life.
* *
- Did you kill Dana Clarkson?
- No, I did not.
Mr. Miller killed her.
- What makes you so sure?
- He left the house with the scarf.
He was gone for about 20 minutes.
When he came back, he was disheveled,
and he poured himself a tall glass of whiskey.
- And why should this jury believe you?
- I'm sitting here,
exposing the most intimate details
of my life.
I have everything to lose and nothing to gain.
* *
- No further questions.
* *
- How do you find?
- We find the defendant, Devon Miller,
guilty of murder in the second degree.
- Thank you for your service.
[handcuffs clicking]
* *
- Ms. Pollard.
That verdict was a referendum on his guilt and your courage.
- You think this is a victory?
* *
- You feel like a drink?
- I can't.
I have a date.
- Well, have fun.
- And make sure he only has one passport.
* *
[dramatic music]
* *
[wolf howls]