Original subtitles

This is the city— Los Angeles, California.

It's the largest city in the United States.

Los Angeles has a lot of everything—

People,

a Police A dministration Building and I 6 geographical police divisions—

North Hollywood Division,

Wilshire Division, West Valley Division,

Van Nuys Division, Hollywood Division.

Los Angeles has one of the largest artificial harbors in the world.

This is San Pedro.

It has a baseball team. This is where they play— Dodger Stadium.

It has a sports arena. This one will handle ice hockey,

a rodeo, a championship fight or a national political convention.

It has Hollywood, and it says so on the side ofa mountain.

It has golf courses, lots of 'em, public and private.

You can trace the history ofman, his habits, his progress, right here—

The Los Angeles County Museum.

A lot ofpeople are born in Los Angeles every day.

Many of them here at the County Hospital.

A lot ofpeople die in Los Angeles every day.

A lot ofpeople get married.

A lot get divorced.

When a marriage falls apart, and it happens here, it's a job for lawyers.

When it doesn't, sometimes it's part ofmyjob.

I carry a badge.

It was Tuesday, March 24. It was cold in Los Angeles.

We were working the day watch out of Homicide Division.

The boss is Captain Hugh Brown.

My partner's Bill Gannon.

My name's Friday. We were workinglate.

We heard an ambulance shooting call on the air— Code 2.

We were in the vicinity, so we drove over to check it out.

The storyyou are about to see is true.

The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Police officers. What happened here? He's in there.

I called for an ambulance. Who is he?

My husband. What's his name?

Carl Hamlin. It's locked.

He has a gun. He said he was gonna kill himself.

All right, come on, Hamlin, open up.

- Do you have another key to this door? - No, I don't.

All right, let's hit it.

It's no use. Is there another way into this room?

- No, this is the only door. - How about windows?

- What? - Is there a window in the room?

- Oh, yes, off the porch. - You wanna show us?

He came in here drunk and caused a scene.

The shade is pulled down.

Yes, ma'am.

Here. Here's a knife.

It's locked. I'm gonna have to break this.

I don't care, as long as you get to him.

Cruiser unit. I'll tell 'em to stand by. Right.

Hurry. Please hurry. Watch the glass.

Is he still alive?

I can't tell.

That'll be the ambulance. Will you show them where this room is? Oh, yes.

He must have wanted privacy real bad.

Looks like he got it.

.38 Colt.

One round fired.

He's in here. I'm his wife.

Let's roll him over.

He's dead.

May I have his full name? Carl Hamlin.

He have a middle name? Martin.

Age. 43.

He live here? No.

We have a little house over on North Bronson, 947.

Do we have to go through all this?

That's all, Mrs. Hamlin.

Here's your D.O.A. slip. See you later, Friday. Gannon.

Yeah.

All right if I use your telephone, Mrs. Hamlin?

Yes. It's all so wrong, Carl being dead. It's all so wrong.

Would you like to go in there and sit down?

Would you like us to call your family doctor for you?

I've already called him for my mother. He'll be right here.

Where is your mother now? In the bedroom.

She's lying down. This—This whole thing has been such a shock.

- I understand. - When I talked to our doctor,

he said for me to give her one of the pills he's prescribed.

It's supposed to make her sleep. I see.

- You gonna have to talk to her? - Yes, ma'am.

I hope you won't have to do it tonight. She's not too well.

- We'll try to avoid upsetting her. - I'd appreciate it.

I released the cruiser unit. All right.

Now, Mrs. Hamlin, there are a few questions we have to ask you...

ifyou feel up to answering them. Yes.

- Do you wanna tell us what happened? - Well, Carl came over tonight,

drunk, and caused a big scene. Your husband doesn't live here then?

- No. No, we're separated. - I see. Anyone else here when it happened?

- Just Mother and myself. - Anyone else living here?

Just the two of us. All right. What time did Mr. Hamlin get here?

I'm not sure. I-I was asleep.

- I beg your pardon? - I was asleep.

You weren't expecting him then? No.

Last time I saw him, I told him to leave me alone.

I-I said I'd get a court order if I had to.

Yes? Well, we've been separated about a week this time.

- Is that right? - There have been other times.

This was the worst. I-I told him I was finished,

that I didn't want anything more to do with him.

- Would you go on, please? - Well, he's—he's been calling here...

and—and where I work, and most of the time he was drunk.

He kept asking for reconciliation.

Saying how sorry he was and asking me to take him back.

- Yes. - Oh, I'm not blaming it all on him.

I-I know some of it was my fault.

- Yes, ma'am. - But he called this afternoon...

and said he— Said he had to see me.

Had it all worked out so we could get back together again.

- Yes, ma'am. - Well, I told him I didn't wanna see him.

I said for him to stay away.

I came home and told Mother about it...

and said Carl might come over tonight.

- That if he did, I-I didn't wanna see him. - Yes.

I kind of half-expected him to show up, but—but he didn't.

And well, I went to bed after the 10:00 news,

- and Mother stayed up to read. - Yes, ma'am.

The first I knew there was anything wrong was when I heard the shot.

I got up, and I came right downstairs. Yeah.

Well, Mother was standing in front of the study door.

She told me that Carl had locked the door, and that he'd shot himself.

I see. I tried to call to him.

First I thought he was playing some kind ofa— a joke. Yes, ma'am.

Well, Mother said she'd heard Carl fall down in the room.

I-I called you right away.

- Anything else, Mrs. Hamlin? - No, that's all.

All right, Mrs. Hamlin. We'd like to talk to your mother now.

She's over 60, Sergeant Friday.

A thing like this isn't easy to go through at that age.

- Yes, ma'am. We understand. - Carl and my mother didn't get along.

He's always said that she caused the trouble between us.

Told me a couple of times that if she'd kept her nose

out of our business, we might be able to get along.

- I wonder if we could talk to her now. - Oh, do you have to?

Yes, ma'am. We'll try to be as brief as possible.

- I'll go see. - Thank you.

- I made the notifications. - Yeah.

Well, as soon as we get a statement from her mother...

and the coroner shows up, we can take off.

Yeah. Wanna stop by the house on the way home?

Eileen bought a bunch of stuff for me at the delicatessen.

Is that right? Make you a real good sandwich.

Bottle of beer. Yeah?

Head cheese and bologna on garlic bread, a little mayonnaise, horseradish, mustard.

How's that sound to you, Joe?

I'll just have a bowl of soup at the apartment.

Thanks anyway. Just don't see how you can sleep nights the way you eat.

Mother, these men wanna ask you some questions.

My mother, Mrs. Gaynor, Sergeant Friday and, uh...

Gannon's my name. How do you do, ma'am? How do you do?

Couple of things we have to know, Mrs. Gaynor.

Now, we'll try to be as brief as possible.

Mother, if you get tired, just tell them. They'll stop. All right, dear.

What time did your son-in-law get here tonight, ma'am?

I'm not sure. I think it was about 11:30.

- Yes, ma'am. - Nora told me Mr. Hamlin might be coming over.

But that time of night, you'd hardly expect anybody to come calling, would you?

- No, ma'am. - He did.

He always was doing something nobody else did.

I think he just sat around and tried to figure things to do that was different.

Yes, ma'am? Like tonight.

He came in drunk. He yelled about how he wanted to have a showdown.

- I didn't know what he was talking about. - Yes, ma'am.

He started to yell at me. Told me how their

breakup was all my fault. Started to curse at me.

Yeah. I'm 62, Mr. Friday.

I've seen lots of things, met lots of people.

There isn't anybody who can talk to me like that.

I told Mr. Hamlin, told him to get out of the house.

That's when he pulled this gun out of his pocket. He pulled a gun?

Had it right in his coat, outside pocket.

Yes. Would you go on, please? I told him.

I said, "Mr. Hamlin, you just stop this foolishness and get out of here."

- That's what I said. - Yes, ma'am.

He looked at me and said, "Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Those are the exact words.

Then he told me how he was gonna kill himself to just show me.

- Go on, please. - I thought it was some kind of dramatics.

Mr. Hamlin was that kind, you know.

Always playacting around. Yes, ma'am.

Not this time. Next thing I know, he ran into the study and locked the door.

After that, there was a shot, and I heard him fall down.

Right then's when— When Nora came into the room.

He went into the study, and you heard the shot, is that right?

Yes. Then I heard him fall on the floor.

All right, Mrs. Gaynor. I think we have everything we need.

- Okay if I go back to bed then? - Yes, ma'am, you go ahead.

- All right then. Mr. Friday? - Yes, ma'am?

Anything more you want to know about Mr. Hamlin, I'll tell you.

Well, I don't think there'll be anything else. Thank you, Mrs. Gaynor.

- If there is, I'll tell you. - Yes, ma'am.

I'll be in my room, Nora.

All right, Mother. I'll be right there.

She's taking it a lot better than I thought she would.

- Yes, ma'am. Mrs. Hamlin— - Yes.

Did your husband ever mention suicide before?

Oh, yes, several times. Matter of fact, just this week.

I thought he was being dramatic again. I didn't pay much attention to him.

It was so hard to tell if he was drunk, or if he really meant something.

- I see. - All the years we were married,

I don't think he was ever really serious.

He was this time.

I 4 a.m. The police photographer

arrived at the house and took pictures of the room.

The coroner removed the body to the county morgue.

37 a.m. Bill and I left the Gaynor house and returned to the office.

2:03 a.m. We filled out the D. B. report,

listing the death of Carl Martin Hamlin as suicide.

The body would be posted at I 0:00 a.m. the next morning.

Wednesday, March 25, I I: I 5 a.m.

We got a call from Ray Murray in S. I. D.

He wanted to see us.

Ran the normal checkout this morning. Fired

a test shot from the Hamlin suicide revolver.

Checked it against .38 Colt unsolved murders.

Weapon's clean. Your case isn't. What do you mean, Ray?

Take a look at this one.

Yeah, six left.38 Colt. So?

Picked this one up from the coroner this morning.

- I was there when Hamlin was posted. - Yeah?

Lodged in the back muscle near the spine.

Slug's good and clean. No damage.

- Passed between the ribs. - What are you getting at, Ray?

Be my guest.

Yeah, I was expecting a quarter.

And I handed you a penny. A bad one.

Six right. Automatic ammunition, isn't it?

- That's right. Nine millimeter. - What do you think, a Luger?

Either that or a Browning. Both are common. Yeah.

This fella Hamlin pulled a pretty neat trick, didn't he?

- He sure did. - He killed himself with a bullet...

that couldn't possibly be fired from the gun he was holding.

Yeah. You two better tear up your reports on this one.

No suicide here. Yeah.

You gotta find a murder gun.

32 a.m. Bill and I, along with Ray Murray,

drove out to see Nora Hamlin, the victim's widow.

From the physical evidence on hand— The way the door had been locked,

and the fact that the window had been bolted from the inside—

It appeared unlikely that anyone could have left the room...

after Carl Hamlin had been shot.

However, from the information we'd gotten from Ray Murray,

there had to be another weapon involved in the killing.

It was I I:44 a.m. when we got to the house on Whitmore Drive.

Oh, I didn't expect you back. I wonder if we could come in, Mrs. Hamlin.

Well, yes, of course.

Mrs. Hamlin, this is Ray Murray from our Scientific Investigation Division.

Mr. Murray. How do you do?

We'd like to take another look at the study.

Oh, why? We'd like to check it again.

Well, all right. If you need me, I'll be in the living room.

Thank you.

Right in here is where we found him, Ray. Mm-hmm.

You can see where we had to break this window to get in.

Yeah, I see. Body was lying along here.

Head down there. Feet about here.

About on line with the sofa, huh? Right.

What about the gun? It was near his right hand.

Was the gun in his hand when you found it? No, no, near his right hand.

The pictures from the photo lab will bear that out.

Even if it wasn't for the variance in the slugs,

none of it adds for two cents. Well, how's that?

I talked to the doc when I picked up the death slug. Yeah.

It entered the right center of his chest, about here, and traveled straight.

Yeah. Came to rest in his right back muscle.

Line of travel's all off. No right-handed man's likely to shoot himself that way.

Nope.

What about the doors when you found him?

Well, we'll show you the way they were when we got in.

This bolt was thrown. This key was turned.

And this chair was propped up under these knobs like so.

What about the key? Was it still in the lock? Yeah.

Yeah, the place looks solid enough.

Plaster walls.

Not much chance anyone getting through 'em.

Did you check those bookcases? Any of them move in any way?

No, they appear to be solid.

Well, what do you think, Ray? Well, I don't know.

The way that door was barricaded, the rest of the room,

nobody could have shot him and gotten outside.

And they couldn't have come through that window. That's for sure.

No, you had to break it. Right.

Well, the way it's set up, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a suspect.

How's that? Find a butler built like an envelope.

Hey, uh, you didn't see anything of an empty shell casing last night, did you?

No. There was no reason to look for one.

There's sure no sign of any now. Let's see if we can turn it.

Yeah, it looks to me like the rug's been vacuumed since last night.

Let's talk to the Hamlin woman.

Mrs. Hamlin? Yes. Somethingyou want?

Has anyone been in the study since last night?

I didn't know I wasn't supposed to.

You didn't say anything about it. Did you clean the room?

Well, yes, I told you. I was straightening up the house.

- Did you see an empty shell casing? - I don't know what you mean.

Like this. The brass part. See?

No, I didn't see anything like that.

- Did you use the vacuum cleaner this morning? - Yes, I did.

Have you emptied it since you used it? No.

- Wonder if we could see it. - I don't know what this is all about,

but if you want the vacuum, I'll get it.

I'll give you a hand with it. It's not heavy.

Do you want the attachments too?

No, ma'am, just the vacuum itself, please. And a piece of newspaper.

All right.

Here it is. Thank you.

I wish I knew what this is all about.

There it is. What's the caliber, Ray?

Nine millimeter.

Mrs. Hamlin, do you have another gun in the house?

- No. - You sure about that, are you?

Yes. What makes you think there might be another one?

- How many shots did you hear last night, Mrs. Hamlin? - One.

- You sure about that? - Yes. Why?

We have reason to believe there were two shots fired.

- What difference does it make how many there were? - It might make a lot of difference.

Why? My husband killed himself.

I can't be sure how many times he might have fired the gun.

Once, twice, three times. What difference does it make?

I'll try to explain it to you. Your husband was

holding a.38-caliber revolver when we found him,

but the bullet that killed him was fired from a nine-millimeter automatic.

I don't know what you're talking about. What are you trying to say?

Mrs. Hamlin, we don't believe your husband killed himself.

- You're not serious. - I'm afraid we are.

- This whole thing's ridiculous. - Not according to the evidence.

Well, who'd want to kill him? Who'd have a reason?

- That's what we're trying to find out. - Would you get your mother, please?

- What do you want to talk to her about? - Would you get her, please?

She's not well. She's had enough trouble.

There's no reason foryou to make any more for her.

Don'tyou worry about it, Nora.

Mother, you shouldn't be up.

I heard you talkin'. I've been listenin'.

Haven't seen you before. Murray's my name.

How do you do? Jessie Gaynor, Nora's mother. How are you?

Now, what's all this about Mr. Hamlin not killing himself.

- That's right, Mrs. Gaynor. - What makes you think it is?

Several things. Do you have a gun in the house?

You mean a pistol?

- An automatic. - Might. Why?

- Where is it? - In the table drawer in the living room.

- We'd like to take a look at it. - All right.

In there.

German Luger.

Does that gun belong to you, Mrs. Gaynor?

Yes, My husband had it. It's mine now.

Mrs. Gaynor, it's our duty to advise you of your constitutional rights.

You have the right to remain silent. Any statementyou

make may be used againstyou in a court oflaw.

You have the right to the presence ofan attorney.

Ifyou desire and cannot afford an attorney,

one will be appointed before any questioning.

Yes, I understand, but what sense does it make to tell me all that legal mumbo jumbo?

All this talk about Mr. Hamlin not killing himself.

If he didn't do it, who did?

That's what we're trying to find out here.

Uh-huh. But you've got somebody you're looking

at, haven't you? Somebody you figure did it.

- That gun belongs to you, doesn't it? - Uh, yeah.

You're the only one who witnessed the shooting, isn't that right?

- That's right. - Well, now why don't you tell us about it?

Because if I did, you'd never believe it.

- Try us. - All right.

Mr. Hamlin came here last night, like I said.

He was drunk. Came in and startedyelling.

I was sitting right here, reading.

He started to curse at me, using foul language.

Yeah? I didn't pay him no mind.

Told him to go away, that— That Nora was through with him.

- He wouldn't go. - Yes, ma'am.

All of a sudden, he pulled out a gun and started waving it around.

Said if I didn't get Nora, he'd kill himself.

Well, I thought it was just some more of his playacting.

- Yes, ma'am? - I didn't pay any attention to him.

Figured when he was through, he'd go away.

I went back to readin' the book.

Made him madder than ever.

- Go on, Mrs. Gaynor. - He grabbed the book out of my hand...

and shot it, shot right at it.

Then he threw it into the fireplace.

He shot your book, and then he threw it into

the fireplace? Now, did he shoot at you?

No, no, at my book, not at me.

Just all of a sudden,

something happened to me.

I don't think I've ever been so mad.

I took the gun out of the table there and shot him.

He got real scared and ran into the study.

- Closed the door behind him. - Yes, ma'am?

I heard him lock the door and start moving the furniture around.

- Then what happened? - Well, right after that, I heard him fall down.

And then—then Nora came into the room.

Mother, why didn't you tell me?

There wasn't any reason to. I had to think about it,

- what I had done and what I had to do. - Yes, ma'am.

I was gonna call you men this morning and tell you the truth. I really was.

Yes, ma'am. I really was.

Just all of a sudden last night when he shot my book,

I-I've never been so mad.

I really wanted to kill him.

You remember it all pretty well, don't you?

Yes. Yes, I do.

All right, you wanna get a coat, Mrs. Gaynor? We'll have to take you downtown.

Yes, sir. I'll get my coat.

Is it going to be all right? We don't decide that, ma'am.

But she told the truth. Isn't that going to make a difference?

We'll put it down that way.

Ray. Yeah.

There's the book.

There's the slug. What's left of it.

The storyyou have just seen is true.

The names were changed to protect the innocent.

OnJuly I 4, trial was held in Department I 86,

Superior Court of the State of California,

for the County of Los Angeles.

In a moment, the results of that trial.

The defendant pled not guilty and not guilty by reason ofinsanity.

The jury found the defendant guilty.

However, she was found to have been insane...

at the time of the commission of the offense.