(male announcer) 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.
Ms. Bailey, can I help you?
Heh.
Here.
Stick that person to table 21.
I'm sorry, Ms. Bailey.
Table 21 is your table.
Bill Collins of the Ledger
will be taking photos of the people here.
Not the losers at table 21.
Ms. Bailey, I can't let you change--
Yes, you can.
Because I'm on the organizing committee.
Because my ex-husband cosponsored the legislation
that created the conservancy.
And because, if you don't,
I'm going to rip that surgical marvel
you call a nose off your face
and feed it to the fish in that pond.
[scoffs] Now, out of my way.
Nicole Bailey.
She wants to switch tables
so she can get on the society page.
What some people won't do
to get their picture in the paper.
15 impacts and counting,
with penetration into her brain case.
Based on her rigor, I'm guessing it all went down
between 10:00 p.m. and midnight.
I'm gonna hold you to that, Washington.
[camera clicks]
Matches the set inside the apartment.
Maid said the front door
was locked when she got here this morning.
And there's this.
Blood, probably, from the perp
grabbing on when he hopped over.
He left the way he came.
Let's get somebody checking the access doors
and the stairwells.
And, word to the wise,
mind your Ps and Qs on this one.
It's the ex-wife of an ex-senator.
Chief of Ds is gonna be all over us.
Detectives, you gotta see this.
There's a foreign object in her vagina.
That looks like a wooden handle.
So I'm gonna guess a wooden spoon.
Washington, you don't share this
or your guesses with anybody except for your boss, okay?
Mm-hmm.
Ps and Qs, Nina.
Struck out with the neighbors.
Nobody heard anybody on the roof last night.
Anything good?
Gin, straight up.
Lipstick's the same shade
Ms. Bailey was wearing.
See this water spot here?
There was a bottle there.
Now it's over here in a million little pieces.
She threw it at her attacker.
So he picked up the poker and came after her.
I don't understand why she didn't use
one of these knives to defend herself with.
I'm guessing there's a good reason
nobody heard anybody running across the roof.
If the perp put his bloody hand down here
to hop over,
the blood would smear outward,
away from us.
This blood is smeared toward us.
So the blood is planted to make it look like
the perp took off across the roof.
Meaning he probably went out the front door.
He wasn't an intruder. He knew her.
She probably invited him in.
Then he comes at her with a poker.
And rapes her with a wooden spoon.
Can't wait to catch this guy.
Well, it implies
sexual rage, jealousy.
A boyfriend. Any draft picks?
Well, the housekeeper says there's been a lot of guys
since her divorce from the senator.
TARU's working on getting Ms. Bailey's phone dumps.
The only thing on tap for last night
was a benefit-- New York Parks Conservancy.
Well, she might have had someone
walk her down the red carpet.
Or at least hold her up.
Housekeeper also said
Ms. Bailey likes her booze a little too much.
Heads up.
Senator Bailey. I'm Lieutenant--
Lieutenant Van Buren.
It's good to meet you.
You must be Detectives Cassady and Green?
My office said you called.
Then I heard the--
Please, why don't we go to my office?
This way.
In my worst nightmares,
I never imagined it would end this way for Nicole.
I mean, despite all that happened between us,
I only wished the best for her.
Well, we're very sorry for your loss, Senator.
When was the last time you spoke to her?
Last night.
She called me at home, uh, a little after 9:00.
What did she call about?
Our son, Chaz, is living with me
while he goes to college.
They had a falling out,
and she wanted me to help mend the fences.
Where was your son last night?
It's all right, Lieutenant.
I know that members
of the immediate family are always the prime suspects.
Chaz was at home.
With me.
(Green) Do you know if Ms. Bailey was alone when she called you?
(Bailey) Alone?
(Green) Mm-hmm.
She didn't say. I didn't ask.
But, since you bring it up,
Nicole hated to be alone.
And, no doubt,
you will discover that she was involved
in all kinds of, um...
high-risk behavior.
I managed to keep it out of the papers all these years.
And I'd like it to stay that way, if possible,
for the sake of our son.
We understand.
Well, I appreciate everything you're doing.
Uh, if anything develops,
I expect you to call me.
In the meantime, I'll...
have my lawyer get in touch with you.
All right. Bye.
That's a smart politician.
Wants to put out the fires before they start.
The New York Parks Conservancy...
let's see if Ms. Bailey found a cure for loneliness.
(man) Hello! Big smile!
Lovely. Thank you.
Of course I know who you are.
Mr. Collins.
Detectives Green and Cassidy.
We need to ask you about some pictures
you took last night at the Parks Conservancy dinner.
Which pictures?
Hello! Big smile!
Lovely.
Thank you.
Pictures of Nicole Bailey.
I got a few of her.
Could we see them, please?
As long as you're being nice about it, sure.
They're in this camera.
Use this button to scroll.
Don't touch anything else.
Hello! Big smile.
Lovely!
(Green) There she is.
Hello! Big smile!
Thank you.
(Cassady) This looks promising.
Could be her hook-up.
[cell phone ringing]
'Scuse me.
Who is with Nicole in this picture?
(photographer) Beats me.
Someone gives me a look like that, I "amscray."
Okay, would you mind emailing us these photos?
Sure.
All right, thanks.
Nicole's phone dump confirms she called the senator at 9:05.
But right after that, she made two more phone calls
to a Trina Bailey, stepdaughter.
Senator's kid from his first marriage.
That was about ten minutes after those photos were taken.
Wonder what took her attention off Mr. Hot Sauce.
It was money.
She just got off the phone with Dad.
They had an argument about her alimony.
She thought I'd be sympathetic.
Well, your dad said that she called him
about their son Chaz.
Chaz, divorce, alimony, money.
That's how their conversations always went.
So were you sympathetic to your stepmother?
(Trina) Dad bullied her into a settlement.
So, sure, I was sympathetic.
I liked Nicole.
I was eight when my dad married her,
so of course, at the time, I hated her.
Until I realized that it wasn't all about me.
Narcissism, the nation's number-one killer.
And there's no cure. [laughs]
[cans clatter]
You okay? Your arm seems to--
I just, uh...yoga.
I must have pulled something.
And what happened here?
Looks like someone kicked it in.
There were some workmen here.
Ms. Bailey...
is everything all right?
Of course.
(man) Damn it!
Every time I come home, I trip over your stupid shoes!
Trina! Trina, where the hell are you?
(Trina) Detectives, this is my husband, Jim Kirkpatrick.
Jim, say hello to the police.
They're here about Nicole.
We were just asking your wife
about the last time she talked to her.
Do you mind if we ask you the same thing?
I saw her last night.
At this charity thing in the park.
You spoke to her?
Yeah...just to say hi.
I ran into some of my old students.
Jim's a ski instructor.
But now I'm into leisure industry websites.
Sounds interesting.
Yeah.
Excuse me.
(Cassady) Again, I'm very sorry about your stepmother.
Going by those photos,
the conversation didn't stop at hello.
Yeah, he's beating his wife and banging her stepmother.
Our ski instructor's on a slippery slope.
And he's got a temper.
If Nicole threatened to blow the whistle on him...
Rage and lust.
That would explain the wooden spoon.
ME's ready for us.
She got 19 whacks from the fire poker.
Most of them directed at her head.
She has bruises on her hands, broken nails,
which might be defensive.
She might have hit her attacker.
Sexual assault?
No semen, no differentiated pubic hairs.
But there was a wooden spoon.
Yes, but, again,
no abrasions, no lacerations.
And the spoon was inserted once,
not repeatedly in and out,
which is more typical of a sexual attack.
Reminds me, I have to bake a cake for my nephew.
Whatever he said to her doesn't look like good news.
Could have been what set her off
to call the senator and the stepdaughter.
A chain reaction that ended up with this.
Maybe someone used it to make a point.
I pulled the phone records for the entire family.
At 21:00 hours, the switchboard lit up.
Nicole calling Trina and the senator.
Jim calling Trina. Trina calling the senator.
Senator calling Nicole and Trina.
Maybe it's time we touched base with the senator.
[sirens]
What's up?
911 call.
10-10, shots fired.
(Bailey) You better damn well start doing what I tell you to do!
I swear to God, I'm gonna--
You can't come in here!
Drop the gun now!
Drop it!
For cryin' out loud.
I'm only protecting my daughter.
He was trying to kill us!
I shot into the floor, you moron!
I don't take that from you!
You stick it-- Come here.
Uh! Oh!
Hey, hey, hey! Those are my first editions!
My crime books! Hey!
Get him to the 2-7.
[panting] Ms. Bailey...
do you want medical attention?
No. No, I just wanna go home.
Ed, up here.
[weakly] Hi, I'm Chaz.
(Bailey) It's for his own good.
He's a drug addict.
Right...I'm the Bailey with the problem.
[chains clank on floor]
She attacked me!
She's just as crazy as her dad.
Does it have anything to do with this?
Oh, that, we--
We were just comparing notes on the Baileys.
You compare notes all the way back to her place?
Me and Nicole? Come on, no.
I went home. What time?
I don't know! I had a lot to drink!
Ask Trina. She knows I went home.
I sorta did something to her arm.
She told me when I woke up.
Your alibi for the murder
was that you were home beating your wife?
Jim came home about 10:30.
He was loaded. I was sick of it.
We had an argument, and, yes...
he twisted my arm.
You know, you can get an order of protection.
That's not our style.
Even today this guy didn't mind hitting on you,
in front of your father.
Jim knows better than to do anything in front of Dad.
You mean today... it was your father?
We were having an argument
about what's best for my brother Chaz.
And...I mouthed off.
Your dad hits you, and you blame yourself?
Did he abuse your stepmother too?
I'm not implicating him in her murder.
But he could have done it, right?
He had that rage against her?
[scoffs]
[sighs]
Okay...
Now I'm going home.
So my attorney says I got nothing to worry about.
I got a permit for the gun.
I discharged it in my home without endangering anyone.
All perfectly legal.
Sweet, except for the part
about chaining your son to a radiator.
I'm weaning Chaz off of heroin.
He consented to being restrained.
If he wasn't, he'd be out on the street buying drugs.
And don't talk to me about rehab.
We've already tried that.
This family free-for-all...
what was that about, Senator?
Well, obviously we were all under a great strain.
So you take it out on each other.
Is that a question, Miss?
Who hit your daughter?
[sighs]
Well, I might have.
She said something despicable about her stepmother.
You do that often-- hit your daughter?
Easy, easy.
You went to see her.
Are you deaf, or are you just stupid?
I told you I was with my son at home!
Sit down.
I have been completely honest with you.
No, not completely.
We found some calls you didn't mention.
One to your daughter,
one from her to you, and another one to your ex.
Yeah, well--well...
There's a good explanation for that.
(Green) Maybe it's time we heard it.
[sighs]
Okay.
But I'm not saying anything in front of this pissy bitch.
(Green) Nina.
Nina!
You know, I bet it just kills you
you can't just smack me like you do
all the other women in your life.
Nina! I do what?!
Uhh!
Cuff him!
Cassady, out!
Take your hands off of me.
[cuffs snapping]
He was this close
to making a statement.
This close!
And then you had to get all cowboy on him.
Lieu, I'm sorry.
Please.
What is your issue, Cassady?!
You're always leadin' with your chin.
Always playin' tough.
It's not smart.
A good cop never takes the bait,
never escalates.
You better decide quick what you wanna be:
a good cop or a cop with no place on my squad!
Come in.
Bailey clammed up.
He's waiting on his lawyer now.
There's no point in moping about it.
He gave us an alibi. Nail it down.
We're sorry about your mother, man.
Yeah.
Do you remember where you were that night?
Hugging the radiator.
Except when Dad let me use the bathroom.
With the door open, of course.
He kept an eye on you all night?
It was cozy.
Me on methadone, nodding out on the floor.
Him passed out drunk on the bed.
He was home the whole time.
Believe me, if he went out,
I would have found a way
of ripping the radiator off the wall.
Damn. What are those bruises from?
Skateboarding.
Try again.
Your dad?
Those round ones look older.
Is that your dad too?
Uh-uh.
Your mom?
Mom only ever broke my arm.
Trina?
Bingo!
When I was five, she took one of Dad's cigars
and used me as an ashtray.
What my parents dished out to her,
she passed on to me.
The ultimate fighting Baileys.
I'm a dues-paying member.
I gotta meet a guy.
Chaz at five, with cigar burns.
Chaz at four in the E.R.
with a broken arm.
Chaz at eight, with a black eye.
(Cassady) And here's six-year-old Trina with a busted rib.
Nine...
a broken wrist.
11, multiple abrasions to the buttocks.
Oh, my God.
All attacks were variously attributed
to one or the other parent.
Or, in Chaz's case, to his half-sister.
(Cassady) "Case dismissed, case dismissed.
No charges filed. No charges."
No one was ever prosecuted.
Senator Bailey must have called in a truckload of favors.
Look at this.
(Green) Whoa.
Her stepmother beats her with a wooden spoon.
And now, 16 years later...
What'd you say about making a point?
Trina have any history of violence as an adult?
Two arrests for assaulting an officer
during DWI stops.
Her only alibi was her husband,
the ski instructor,
and he was too hammered to remember anything.
I'll draw up a warrant.
Police!
We have a search warrant.
[thuds, struggling]
Drop the knife!
Do it now!
Drop it now!
Now!
She came at me.
Look, she stabbed me!
She was gonna kill me!
She killed Nicole!
That little bitch killed my Nicole!
When I came in, Bailey was on top of her,
stabbing her with the knife.
Green saw this too?
He was clearing the other rooms.
I drew my gun and ordered Bailey to drop the knife.
That's when he started poking himself
in the stomach with it.
Poking?
Poking.
Then he started screaming she tried to kill him.
Check this out.
This blue glass is like the broken bottle
in Nicole's apartment.
If forensics makes it official,
that means Trina killed her stepmother.
(bailiff) All rise.
Ah, except for you, Senator Bailey.
Docket number 07549.
People v. Randall Bailey,
Murder in the Second Degree.
The Honorable Barry K. Dilwynn presiding.
All right.
Your plea, sir.
Not guilty.
Uh-huh.
You getting this?
Judge.
There are no cameras allowed in the courtroom.
Does this look like a courtroom?
Are--are you in pain, Senator?
Can we get this man an extra pillow?
Thank you. I'm fine.
People request remand.
The defendant was caught literally red-handed
stabbing his daughter to death.
Whoa, matter of opinion, Your Honor.
My client is a former U.S. senator
and presidential candidate.
He's hardly a flight risk.
Right.
And...obviously,
under the weather.
I'm not sure
we need any bail here.
You're releasing a man charged with a brutal murder?
I'm sure that that'll put the viewing public at ease.
On further consideration,
bail is set at $2 million.
Judge Dilwynn? Never heard of him.
He rotated in from surrogates court.
This trial deserves better.
He's brutalized his family
for 30 years.
Man...you just never know, do you?
This time, he went way beyond abuse.
Thanks.
A motion in limine to offer evidence
about Trina's prior bad acts.
Including evidence she murdered her stepmother.
Only one reason they'd do that.
Bailey must be claiming self-defense.
Hmm.
Still the brilliant campaigner.
(Dilwynn) Oh, hold on, hold on.
You're moving to preclude what, Mr. McCoy?
Any and all evidence
that the victim killed her stepmother.
That fact is highly relevant
to Senator Bailey's state of mind
at the time he was viciously attacked by his daughter.
It's neither relevant nor a fact.
All right, people...
I have another concern.
I see here that Senator Bailey has a son.
Do we really want this young man
subjected to the intimate details
of his mother's murder in open court?
Well, he's already being subjected
to endless speculation.
Isn't he better off with some closure?
Chaz Bailey's well-being
should have no bearing on this motion!
[scoffs]
Are you that hard-hearted, Mr. McCoy?
Maybe closure is the best thing for this poor boy.
I'm ruling that Mr. Glover may submit evidence
that Trina Bailey killed her stepmother.
Have you even read our brief, Judge?
This evidence is highly prejudicial.
Oh, Mr. McCoy, there's a family here
drowning in tragedies.
What's the right thing to do?
Th-th-there's the law.
With a--a capital "L."
And there's people too!
But I'm not supposed to think about them.
But I am thinking about them.
Judge...I'm going to ask
that you recuse yourself from this case.
It's clear that your service in surrogates court
has not prepared you to preside over a murder case.
I'm not prepared?
[sniffs]
Well, now, I am...insulted.
And you...are denied...
Mr. McCoy.
[pounds gavel]
[softly] This man is not qualified
to judge a pie-eating contest.
We better make sure we get all our ducks in a row.
Okay, so...you wanna know what it was like
between my dad and my sister?
All right.
How about, he got her drunk when she was ten.
How about, he let one of his buddies
grope her when she was 12.
How about, he let her go to Cancun by herself
when she was 14.
You were a little kid.
How do you remember all this?
Trina wrote everything down.
Where? In a diary?
I used to sneak into her room
and read all the crap that my parents did to her.
Where are those diaries now?
She took 'em when she moved out.
She still has 'em.
How do you know that?
The night Mom was killed, Dad was on the phone with Trina.
Sounded like she was gonna use them to write a book.
Sit tight.
There was nothing in the warrant returns.
The police didn't find any diaries.
The tell-all memoir about this family
might explain why they're murdering each other.
Maybe that's what Trina's husband
went to talk to Nicole about the night she was killed.
Maybe that's what got the ball rolling.
Those diaries must be somewhere.
Get the police on it.
We searched Bailey's apartment twice
after we arrested him.
We searched Trina's place. No diaries.
Check their vacation homes, any storage facilities
the family may have rented.
No problem, and, uh...
here's my 61, as requested.
Okay.
Listen, on the stand,
you'll have to tell the narrative
without all the police jargon.
By jargon, you mean words like narrative?
You know, Nina, your run-in with Bailey
in interrogation is gonna come up.
Look, I may have botched an interrogation,
lost control, but I don't have anything against the guy.
They'll say it's why you're lying
about Bailey stabbing himself.
And, frankly-- Frankly what?
I saw him.
They can say whatever they want.
I am 100% on that. Nina...
Bailey's lawyer is good.
You come off like a hothead the way you are now,
it plays right into his hands.
How's our star witness?
A work in progress.
We struck out on the diaries, Jack.
We may not need the actual books
if we can prove they're unavailable
and have indicia of reliability,
Chaz can testify to the contents.
[electronic ring]
It's a message from Detective Green.
Chaz OD'd last night.
He was rushed to St. Vincent's.
Gonna pull through?
Apparently.
They shipped him off to rehab this morning.
In Switzerland.
Continuance, huh?
What grounds?
A key prosecution witness,
Chaz Bailey, will be unavailable for two months.
Oh, no.
Did something happen to this young man?
He's in drug rehab-- in Switzerland.
Ah. Thank God.
I see he's finally--
finally getting the help he needs.
(McCoy) He's beyond our subpoena power.
I suspect Senator Bailey had something to do
with the choice of facilities.
Mr. McCoy, how can you stand there and vilify this man
for trying to save his son's life!
(crying) And I only hope that you and I never experience...
Ah.
Oh.
Huh.
Oh.
I only hope that you and I never experience...
the kind of heartbreak this family has suffered.
(McCoy) So, Your Honor,
you're granting the People's application
for a continuance?
No, I'm not delaying this trial.
Senator Bailey's entitled to his day in court.
He's not in jail.
There's no prejudice.
Yes...but I have to weigh
the human cost of a delay.
Isn't that the true meaning of justice?
This family has been in limbo
long enough.
Motion for a continuance is denied.
Trial starts next week.
Oh.
Get Cassady ready.
Work in progress or not,
it's all on her now.
(Cassady) When I entered Trina Bailey's bedroom,
I saw her father straddling her
and stabbing a knife into her chest.
I drew my weapon
and commanded him to drop the knife.
That's when
Mr. Bailey started to poke at his own stomach
with the knife until he started bleeding.
When you first saw him,
was there any blood on his shirt?
Not a drop.
When my partner entered,
Mr. Bailey dropped the knife
and said, "She came at me.
"She stabbed me. She was gonna kill me.
"She killed Nicole.
That little bitch killed my Nicole."
How convenient.
There's no one to corroborate your story.
Withdrawn.
Remind us how long you've been a detective.
Eight months.
Eight short months.
Detective Cassady, two days...
two days before you arrested Senator Bailey,
you lashed out at him in an interview.
Isn't that right?
(Cassady) I did not lash out.
I responded to him calling me a pissy bitch.
You responded by losing your cool to the point
that your superior officer removed you from the room.
My lieutenant asked me to leave
when Mr. Bailey started ranting
and breaking furniture
and had to be restrained by three police officers.
But it must have been humiliating.
Wasn't it?
To be given a time out by your boss.
No. No.
You wanted to get back at my client.
Didn't you?
And you got that chance two days later,
when you found him defending his life.
That's when you decided to frame him for murder.
Mr. Glover...
if I really had it in for your client,
I could have dropped him with a justifiable shooting
when I found him stabbing his own daughter to death.
But I didn't.
Because I exercised the control
I learned in my training.
That control is why your client is alive today.
Hmm.
Nice answer.
Mr. Glover.
Nothing more.
Trina asked me to come over to discuss
an intervention for my son Chaz.
For Chaz's sake, I went.
A decision I regret with all my heart.
Right away, Trina started attacking me...
on my parenting.
Um...I tried to keep the focus on Chaz.
But that just infuriated her.
She accused me of not caring about her.
She called me all kinds of filthy names that I--
I can't repeat here.
Then she--she ran into the kitchen
and grabbed a knife.
Why didn't you just leave, Senator?
I thought she would do harm to herself.
She'd slit her wrists as a teenager.
So naturally, when I saw the knife,
that's where my mind went.
(Glover) What happened next?
My paternal instinct
was to get the knife from her.
And...somehow we wound up in her bedroom.
I was wrestling her for the knife
and she was stabbing me in the stomach.
She was screaming that she was gonna kill me
like she killed my ex-wife.
She had...this look of rage in her eyes.
But...
I finally got the knife away from her.
I could feel the blood draining out of me.
But she kept coming at me.
So...
Lord forgive me for...
My--my instinct to defend myself kicked in
and...
I turned the knife on Trina
to stop her from attacking me.
Thank you.
(McCoy) Let's be clear.
You stabbed Trina 13 times, didn't you?
I was acting on instinct, Mr. McCoy.
13 separate thrusts
piercing her liver,
lungs,
stomach--
It was a life or death struggle, sir.
Between a strong, vigorous man
and a slight woman.
And your wounds miraculously were all superficial?
I told you, I was restraining this madwoman
with all my might!
How?
How were you defending yourself
when she was stabbing you?
With your hands?
Yes! With my hands.
And yet,
you sustained no cuts to your hands,
your arms-- no defensive wounds.
I'm supposed to let myself get cut to pieces
just in case I get accused of murder?
Now, you say that my daughter
was a small woman.
Now, I say, look at her behavior.
Time and time again, I bailed her out of jail
for bar fights.
For trying to run over a boyfriend with her car,
For God's sake, twice-- twice--
she assaulted police officers when she was high on drugs.
It's all on the record.
There are other things on the record,
Senator Bailey.
People's 26 to 33.
These are photos of injuries
sustained by your daughter between the ages of 6 and 11.
Broken ribs... broken limbs...
bruises across her back.
Playground injuries.
All of them?!
Who was she playing with, the New York Giants?
Watch your sarcasm, Mr. McCoy.
Senator.
No, of course not all of them.
I'm sad to say that...
when she'd had too much to drink,
Nicole...sometimes victimized poor Trina.
And you, Senator Bailey,
when you had too much to drink?
Isn't this the imprint of your hand
on your daughter's face?
Objection, Your Honor!
These matters were investigated.
No charges were filed.
Mr. McCoy... have you no shame?
(Bailey) Uh, this is nothing new, Your Honor.
After 30 years in public life,
I've seen it all.
Oh, it's not enough for them to frame you for murder.
They're out to destroy what little I've got left.
My memories as a loving father
raising a young family.
God.
It's inhuman.
[sighs] Any further questions, Mr. McCoy?
Defense rests, Your Honor.
(Dilwynn) All right, very good.
Witness is excused.
Rebuttal, Mr. McCoy?
Absolutely, Your Honor.
The People call the Assistant Chief Medical Examiner.
(Rodgers) The records indicate Mr. Bailey had eight puncture wounds.
None of them was more than a half inch deep.
They were uniform in nature
and clustered to avoid vital organs.
Now, in my opinion, they were inconsistent
with a stabbing by an enraged attacker.
In my opinion, they were self-inflicted.
Self-inflicted.
Thank you, Doctor.
Can you determine from the wounds
the position of the knife blade
when it entered Senator Bailey's body?
The wounds indicate that the knife was positioned
with the cutting edge down when it pierced the skin.
As if the attacker held the knife sharp edge down.
Stabbing from above.
Not conclusively.
Well, Doctor, if Senator Bailey had stabbed himself,
wouldn't the cutting edge be positioned upward,
not down?
Not if the senator
reversed the position of the knife in his hand,
so that the cutting edge was facing downward.
What are you saying?
In the heat of the moment,
with the police suddenly at the door,
my client cleverly thought of this trick?
Well, there's nothing all that clever about it.
He could have picked it up from a crime novel, for example.
A crime novel?
You've an expert in crime novels now.
[laughs]
I've read my fair share.
I remember now your resume listed
one of your hobbies as reviewing crime books
for small magazines.
My client collects first edition crime novels.
Of course, that doesn't make him quite the expert you are.
I didn't say I was an expert.
Yes, but you said the stabbing trick
could be found in a crime novel.
Can you tell us which one?
That's not the point.
You made the statement, Doctor. "It's in a book."
You wouldn't say it unless you knew which one,
unless you were just speculating.
It wasn't speculation.
Your Honor, she's being unresponsive.
I move to strike her-- Lance Drury.
The trick was used in a book
by Lance Drury.
Two-Lane Blacktop,
published in the '70s.
One moment, Your Honor.
(Glover) One last question, Doctor.
You didn't examine Senator Bailey's injuries
yourself, did you?
No.
Nothing further.
Doctor, in the book you alluded to,
a character raises a claim of self-defense
at his murder trial?
That's right and he was acquitted
because the jury was fooled by his self-inflicted wounds.
I have here a police inventory
of the books found in the defendant's library.
Can you tell us what you see here?
He collects Lance Drury first editions.
He's missing only three titles,
including Two-Lane Blacktop.
If I were him, I'd wanna get rid of it too.
It wasn't instinct, but premeditation,
that governed his actions.
Right down to a defense
scripted by one of his favorite authors.
It's too...cerebral.
We need to show his brutality.
We have the knife. We should use it.
Hmm.
[knock on door]
Hello, Doctor.
Who died?
[chuckles]
Besides my reputation?
Oh.
That book that I mentioned on the stand today...
I finally found it in a used bookstore.
There is no self-defense trick.
I remembered the wrong book.
I confused it with another book
by a different author.
This is a letter to the judge explaining my mistake.
I'm sorry.
If it's any consolation,
the actual book is one that a fan like Bailey
would have read.
We have to disclose it.
Why? It's not exculpatory.
It's mistaken testimony.
It wasn't intended as such.
You give this letter to that publicity-seeking gas bag
they call a judge,
and you can kiss this trial good-bye.
I don't agree.
I'm cutting the book reference from my summation tomorrow.
We are not splitting hairs for this hypocrite
who brutalized his wife and kids!
Now, Bailey got his phony defense from a book
and I want the jury to hear it.
Arthur, you could probably find 50 prosecutors
who'd agree with you.
And 50 who wouldn't.
Count me among the latter.
Fine.
Connie, you're up.
[scoffs]
Looks like you're closing tomorrow.
Jack, Arthur's right.
To have Bailey walk because of an inconsequential mistake
would be obscene.
That should make it easy for you.
(Grover) Trina Bailey was a troubled,
violent woman on a rampage
to right the imagined wrongs
of her childhood.
First...
she beat her stepmother to a bloody death
with a fire iron.
Her next target was her father.
And when she attacked him,
Senator Bailey was forced,
despite all the paternal love
that he felt for his sick... daughter,
to do what any reasonable person would
when confronted by a raging psychopath
with a kitchen knife.
He defended himself.
(Connie) There is nothing imagined about the wrongs
of Trina's childhood.
Whatever she was in her adult life,
she learned from a master.
Randall Bailey had a pathological need
to abuse his daughter.
A need that he finally took
to its logical, deadly conclusion.
And thanks to a tricked-up claim of self-defense
that has been a staple of crime fiction for decades,
he thinks he can get away with it.
But consider this.
Six-foot, 180 pounds...
versus five-foot-five,
110 pounds.
Consider 13 deep, devastating stab wounds.
Versus eight pinpricks.
Consider what it took
to drive this knife
through meat and bone...
into the body of his own daughter.
Not once.
Not twice.
But 13 times!
This was not paternal love.
Or instinct.
No! It was murderous rage!
Has the jury reached a verdict?
We have, Your Honor.
On the charge of Murder in the Second Degree,
how do you find?
We find Randall Bailey...
guilty.
You're a hack, Dilwynn!
You're a pinheaded idiot!
I'm gonna make it my business
to see you thrown off the bench!
(Branch) Heard you pulled a rabbit out of the hat.
Sometimes you just get lucky.
What's this? My letter of resignation.
You obviously need someone who's more in tune
with your point of view.
If I'd wanted a yes man,
you'd have been out on your butt
a long time ago.
I need someone who can...
tell me when my britches are unbuttoned.
You took me off the case.
If you don't have confidence in my judgment...
This is not mathematics, Jack.
If every one of these cases could be prosecuted
by applying some equation in a book,
then you couldn't get me out of bed in the morning.
And I know you feel the same way.
Now, just tell me
that you'll think this over some more.
You know, one day, this chair is gonna be empty.
I'm no politician, Arthur.
Yeah.
Everybody says that.